Frisk managed to convince Toriel to let them out after they'd finished their schoolwork, a little before dinner. They asked if they could stay out for dinner, which she sighed about, but gave her permission- clearly both pleased that they'd asked, but also feeling like she had little choice if she wanted them to keep asking.
They took the other tubs of spaghetti and put them in the small backpack Alphys had found for them, before running as best they could through the cold of Snowdin Forest. The route was very familiar now, but although they more often headed to the house of the skeleton brothers, today they turned to where the riverperson waited in their boat- the route they took to the surface. They were there as usual, and took them to Hotland.

It wasn't a long trip, once they'd reached Snowdin, to get to the castle. Between the boat and elevators it was fairly easy- although busy nowadays, with so many monsters heading to and from the surface. More and more monsters were just staying up there now; some homes were finished- mostly the few treehouses, with the help of Muffet and her spiders- but many monsters were choosing to stay in unfinished homes or even sleeping under the stars when it was dry. Undyne, however, liked to sleep out in the rain. There was still a lot of traffic though, and a lot of monsters called to Frisk- more than they knew by name.
It didn't really slow them though, and they were able to make their way without much fuss. They took a deep breath when they reached New Home. It saw a fair amount traffic- the king had managed to arrange a tunnel that meant not everyone heading out of the Underground had to go through his home when the elevators were busy, but a lot of monsters chose not to use it. Frisk knew that they thought the king didn't mind- Frisk suspected that he just chose not to say anything. After all, having people wandering through your house at all times would wear on anyone's patience.

They hadn't seen a great deal of the king recently. They were always nice to him - it was clear he felt a great deal of guilt over his actions, not only in regards to Frisk, but in general. There was more to it, though- a memory that was only ever completely clear in their nightmares, but still lingered in their waking hours. Of when Toriel hadn't come to protect them. Of them begging him not to fight, of refusing to strike back.

Of him killing them.

Of when they did fight back, managing to show him that they wouldn't give up. Him begging them to take his soul. Them throwing their dagger at his feet. Him promising to look after them, to be... A family.
Him dying.

Nobody else remembered these things. Frisk had their suspicions about Sans- he always seemed to know a lot, and dropped hints about knowing even more- but he didn't know about this, either. He would probably listen, but... How to even start talking about it? And Asgore certainly could never know. He could never know that Frisk's blood had once stained his hands; nor that Frisk had then seen him turn to dust.

They took a deep breath and went in.
He was in the kitchen, presumably starting to prepare himself dinner. He had been dressing far more casually since the barrier was destroyed; Frisk supposed it was because of how hands-on he was being with helping his people build their new homes. He heard them enter.
"Oh? Who's there? One moment!" He turned around, a box of snails in his hand
"Frisk! Oh- I was about to make myself some food, but..." He looked down at the snails, "I don't think you would want to partake, would you?" He turned to put the box back in the fridge. "Do not worry, it can wait!"

"Um, actually..." Frisk held out the tubs as Asgore turned back around, closing the fridge.
"Gosh!" Asgore looked from the tubs to Frisk's face and back. "You... brought me food?"
"I brought two tubs. In case you wanted some company?"
"Golly, Frisk, that's very touching! Thank you." He took the tubs. "Spaghetti? I have heard from Undyne about how her and Papyrus love to cook! Did they help?"
"Uh, Papyrus did." Frisk grinned awkwardly, deciding not to tell him how that was something that would put most monsters off. "It's- it's not great, because we didn't have much in the way of spices and stuff, and it needs reheating and it's probably not as good once it's been warmed up-"

Asgore waved away Frisk's concerns. "I'm touched by the thought! I'm sure it will be lovely, and no matter how it tastes, the fact that you thought of me... Well. Thank you, Frisk." He gave the human a broad, whiskery grin before turning away.
He hummed to himself as he brought some water to the boil and emptied both tubs into a heat-proof dish. "Oh- you need not wait here, if you don't wish to, Frisk," he said. "There are plenty of books in the other room, and if you wish I can bring you some tea?"
"Th-thanks. I'd like that."

Frisk left the king to potter around the kitchen and inspected the bookshelf. It was fairly easy to work out which books where his, and which had been left behind and he hadn't had the heart to move. Frisk's heart ached for him, looking at the shelves with cooking books and books on snails, and the kid's books on the bottom shelf. They picked one out- it was a little young for them, but even if it wasn't, after all they'd learned about Asriel and Chara, reading their books was a little unnerving. Instead, they pulled out a couple of books belonging to Asgore- a dusty beginner's guide to gardening, and one on monster fables and stories.

They climbed into the huge chair by the warm fire- it was far too big for them to use as a normal chair, but they could curl up in it. They picked up the first book and started trying to get into it.
It was tough going. Frisk hadn't really had much interest in gardening- the possibility of having their own garden had never crossed their mind, and they'd always liked the woods and more natural green areas to the perfectly landscaped parks in town. They weren't unhappy when Asgore interrupted them with tea- although his beam at seeing what they had picked out made it worth it. They settled back in, determined to get into it, when their phone rang.

"Hey, punk!" It was Undyne. "Where are you? Why aren't you here?!"
"Uh... Where is 'here'?"
"Papyrus' house, of course! He said you helped him make dinner! You should be here to suffer with us!"
"Suf- you don't like it?" Frisk tried to hide the hurt in their voice.
"We haven't tried it yet- the pair of 'em are heating it now, but come on! You know what his cooking is like!"
"Well, maybe I'm a good influence on him?"
Undyne groaned. Frisk could just imagine her rolling her eyes. "Come on, Frisk- you know I like ya, but there's no way your influence is that strong!"
"Maybe just... try it?"
"Urgh, alright, hang on..."

There was a pause as she put the phone down. Frisk could hear talking, too muffled to make out, and they sipped their tea while they waited. She came back on the line after a couple of minutes.
"Alright kid, since you didn't manage to burn the house down in the attempt, I'll try it!" There was a pause- sounds of Undyne eating, then she yelled. Frisk winced and held the phone away from their ear.
"Hey, Alphys! Come and try this!"
Frisk could clearly hear Alphys on the other end of the line. "D-do I have to? I was just... going to eat when I got home..."
"Come on, Alphys, you have to try it!"
Frisk waited. More sounds of eating. "O-oh, that's... That's pretty good!"
"Yeah! Maybe I should try cooking with Frisk again some time..."

Someone took the phone from Alphys' hand. "Hey, kiddo. Good job. You even managed not to burn our house down. Where are you?"
"Oh, I'm, uh... I'm with Asgore."
"Tell him I said hi!" yelled Undyne.
"Alright buddy, guess we'd better leave you to it, then. Asgore won't be than-'king' us for distracting you."
Frisk heard Papyrus yell in the background. They grinned. "I'll, um, see you all soon?"
"You'd better, punk!"
"Y-you can come and w-watch some anime with me some time, if you like."
"Come over and cook with me again, human!"
"Heh. I think that's a positive. I'll have some books on hand, just in case."
Frisk blushed and grinned, thankful that Sans didn't explain that to the others.

In the end, they hadn't managed to read enough to talk about it with Asgore at the dinner table. Not that the king didn't try- he was a little disappointed and started to explain some of the basics of gardening to Frisk, who was too polite to stop him to eat. Finally, he seemed to realise.
"Oh, gracious- I've been letting the food get cold! I am sorry, Frisk." He loaded up a fork and didn't hesitate to eat it. Frisk watched anxiously.
"Mm- that is nice! If you like, Frisk, I will get any ingredients you and your friends need. I'll be interested in seeing what else you can cook!"
"Th-thanks!" Frisk swirled some spaghetti around their plate. "I, um, could use some spices... And definitely some garlic. And I could make some mushroom balls if I had some oats and other ingredients..."
Asgore laughed. "It sounds like you'd enjoy a cooking book more than a gardening book!"
"Maybe. I don't really know how to cook that much... I just learned some from, um, a lady I stayed with for a little while."

There was silence for a little while as they both ate. Once they were done, Frisk finished their tea as Asgore leaned back in his chair.
"Ahh- it's been a while since I had a good meal like that. Thank you very much, Frisk." He got up from his chair and fetched a notepad and pen from the kitchen. "Now... What is it you need? I can see what other cookery books I can find, and we can get you some ingredients to try some different meals from those as well."
"Well, garlic, for sure... And maybe some ginger..."

Frisk found they were smiling on the walk back. There had been some moments of awkwardness- that was inevitable- but Asgore had done his best to try and make them feel comfortable, and it had worked better than they had expected. They'd gone through old cookery books- a few times Asgore seemed sad, but he always shook the memories off. He'd shown Frisk more of his gardening- and Frisk had even asked if he'd consider making a bush sculpture as a favour. When they left he had seemed more at ease with them and the situation.

Not to mention... They would be moving to the surface officially very soon. Their house was about ready, and had only taken as long as it had because they'd pointed out to Toriel that there was a lot more space, and with all their friends they might need it. They suspected that the brothers would move when they did, so they didn't even have to miss being close to them.

Today had been a great day. And Frisk had high hopes that there was going to be many more.