Holly stared up at her ceiling fan, her shoulder blades pressing comfortably into the plush mattress. Her eyes mindlessly tried to catch the individual blades and follow them, but otherwise she was motionless.

The Christmas season was coming up soon. Work had been nearly unbearable; Holly was certain that if she hadn't befriended Alphys and Undyne, she would have had a breakdown by now over rude customers and demanding managers. But she had made friends with them—real, actual friends. It felt strange, having the knowledge that people she cared about lived very close by. It was like when she was young and the neighbor kid would be available any time to play or spend the night. She could rely on someone being there when she needed them.

Holly rolled onto her belly, tucking her chin into a pillow. Could she rely on them? Could she really have actual friends that cared about her for more than just watching fun anime and laughing over dinner? She frowned into the fabric. Once upon a time, she'd had friends. A group of them who laughed and pretended to care, but then averted their eyes and ignored her when suddenly she was the girl with a tragic back story. To them, she was uncomfortable to be friends with, and Holly had started noticing when they quit inviting her everywhere. She started noticing when she was being left out of conversations. It wasn't intentionally malicious; they were good people, and of course they hadn't meant to make her feel isolated. But there was a day when Holly realized that she was constantly craving their company, to the point of becoming excited like a puppy when they gave her a scrap of affection. Begging for attention.

…Thinking about it again was probably not a good idea. She had an inner debate about getting up and finally did, meandering over to her laptop. A conversation with Alphys was on the screen, the window blinking.

Alphys: hey you said you have have crunchyroll right?

Alphys: me and undyne want to watch more hunter x hunter but you don't have all of it on your dvds, and we looked it up on our netflix and it doesn't go up to the newest episode

The side of Holly's mouth curved up into a small smile.

Holly: yeah I've got crunchyroll. You guys have Netflix? I have Hulu and I think there's a few shows that only go up on there

Alphys: oh good, now me and undyne have to figure out what else we wanna watch ^ _ ^

Holly: oh that reminds me, do you know about ? it's a site where you can track what shows you've watched and what you plan on watching and there's reviews on other shows and stuff. It's pretty handy

Alphys: yeah I have an account already :P you? I can follow you and we'll figure out what we've already seen and stuff

Holly: yeah sweet, let's nerd out efficiently lol. I don't remember my username, I haven't used it in a while

Holly: but I can try to find it again and reset the password, just remind me to give you my username

Alphys: HEY ONLY I CAN CALL ALPHYS A NERD lol hey loser what up

Holly snorted, an easy grin coming to her face.

Holly: heya undyne lol, me and alph were talking about myanimelist

Alphys: yeah, I share my account with alphys on there. We watch everything together so no point in making one just for me

Holly: haha aw you guys are super cute :P

Alphys: we are NOT!

Alphys: well, okay alphys is

Holly: lmao! guys wanna come over tonight?

Alphys: yeah sounds awesome! Let me tell alph and we'll be over

The grin nearly split Holly's face in half at this point, her earlier thoughts completely forgotten. The pair of monsters were over within twenty minutes, and Holly's apartment felt much less empty. Undyne was raucous as usual, comfortable enough with Holly that she would actually jump up and stand on the couch cushions when feeling particularly passionate about certain parts of the show they watched.

That night, after a particularly amazing episode of Hunter X Hunter that left the three of them pumped up, Alphys excitedly asked Holly to dance with her.

"I j-just… well, Undyne got to dance with you, and I wanted t-to… dance with you, too," Alphys stammered, cheeks puffed out in a pout.

"Wow, yeah Alph! You do… uh, what was your dance?" Holly laughed.

"Alphie here does K-pop, sometimes J-pop," Undyne piped up, giving her pointy grin. Holly pursed her lips.

"How do you guys know what the dances are called? I mean, I guess you would have researched it on the surface…?" she asked, curious.

"Oh, w-well yeah, there is that. But we knew a lot of the names of the dances before we came up here, too," Alphys said. Holly squinted. "A lot of trash from the surface got dumped into the Underground. I think we were part of a landfill? I never looked into that. But, yeah, from all the info we gathered with humans' trash… we figured out what some of our dances were. Some of them we've known a long time, like, um, waltz and stuff."

"I didn't know what mine was, or if it was even a dance," Undyne added, shrugging. "I just thought I liked fighting so much that I turned it into my style. Turns out it's a thing."

"Huh," Holly mused. "I didn't know what Capoeira even was until you guys mentioned it. I looked it up though—it's kinda interesting. Though, Undyne, your style is a little bit… different?" Holly remembered seeing the dancers she'd looked up on YouTube performing Undyne's signature dance. Hers was very similar, with the circular spinning motions and a focus on elegant fighting, but she'd also moved in a way that reminded Holly strongly of hip-hop dancers from old 80's movies.

"W-well, our dances are usually individual and unique. Undyne mixes her dance up with others sometimes, and it's so c-cool!" She blushed at the last comment, but then scrunched her nose up when Undyne kissed it.

"Yours is super cool, too, cutie," Undyne chuckled, and Alphys's face was suddenly a bright orangey-red. Holly put her hand over her mouth to keep from giggling. "C'mon, I'll put your favorite song on to dance to and you can show Holly your stuff!" Undyne shouted.

They didn't have a CD of Alphys's song, but Undyne typed it into the search bar on YouTube and turned the laptop speakers up. The sound wasn't great, but Holly's laptop was of decent quality so it was at least clear.

Alphys's dance was much less aggressive, and far more suited for cooperation than competition. It reminded Holly a bit of choreographed line dancing, which a focus on moving the hands around and doing coordinated, easy moves. Holly made a lot of mistakes at first, but Alphys would repeat the moves again and again, allowing Holly to eventually learn them and start moving to the beat. Their souls resonated much more quickly than when Undyne had danced with Holly, but Holly figured it was because she and Alphys were already friendly with one another. Alphys's was a soft, buttery yellow, throwing light like sunshine across the room. Holly's soul appeared again, in a shade of bright violet. It sort of reminded her of a flashlight shining behind the petals of an orchid.

They stopped, giddy and laughing. Holly felt happier than she had in a long, long time, and she took the moment to stop and just look at her two friends with affection. She was positive it was because of the dancing. At the moment, however, she didn't care all that much where it was coming from. Such a strong feeling came over her, caring and overjoyed and energetic and impulsive, and Holly leapt forward to put her arms around them.

"I… I'm so glad I met you two," she said sincerely.

"H-Holly…"

"Aw, Holl."

The two monsters returned the embrace and Holly felt hot tears slip down her cheeks. Undyne pushed back to look at Holly's face.

"We… we're glad we met ya, too," the tall monster admitted, gaze shifting.

"Y-yeah, you're such a nice person, and…" Alphys fiddled with her claws. "I think both of us have been a lot happier since we started h-hanging out. It's nice," she finished. Her cheeks were flushed with happiness.

Holly sniffled a few times before backing away and wiping her face. "Heh, I'm sorry, I just… I missed this," she apologized, waving her hands in their general direction. "I haven't had friends other than people I talk to sometimes online in, well. It's been a few years. And my sister is so far away now, I don't see her much…" She trailed off, eyes averted. "We talk, but, it's—"

"H-hey, it's okay! You don't have to explain," Alphys interrupted, grabbing Holly's hand with both her claws. "We—I mean, I-I—totally understand what it's like. When you're… alone." Her brows furrowed the tiniest amount and she glanced away.

"You don't gotta worry about it anymore, loser," Undyne snorted. She tapped her chin, suddenly looking thoughtful. "Hmm… remember that guy I told you about before? Papyrus?"

Holly nodded, rubbing her eyes to rid herself of the leftover tears.

"Well, I was gonna go train with him tomorrow. Eh, I guess 'spar' would be a better word for it, since he's not really training for anything anymore. Now it's just a tradition," Undyne said. "I mean, if you're friends with us, you're gonna meet everyone eventually anyway. Plus, Frisk'll be happy that there's another human around."

Holly's interest peaked at the mention of Frisk. They'd talked about the kid who saved monsterkind before, but Holly hadn't gotten the chance to meet them. Holly remembered seeing their face on the news—the hero of monsters. Frisk had claimed in an interview that they were the "ambassador of monsters and humans", which gathered a few laughs from the reporters. A ten-year-old ambassador was quite silly, but it seemed that most monsters weren't very good at judging the ages of humans and hadn't known Frisk was far too young for such a task.

"Frisk? That's the kid who saved you guys, right?" Holly asked, still incredulous that such a young child could have done such a momentous thing. Undyne gave one of her proud smiles.

"Yup! No idea how they did it, especially with us tryin' to kick their butt the whole time. Toriel had a heck of a time getting to keep Frisk in her house as their mom. Humans have a lot of paperwork and stuff for that. Though if a kid doesn''t have any parents, it makes sense that someone like Tori would be a good replacement."

Holly raised both eyebrows at Undyne's casual mention of trying to attack a small child. "Wait, you guys fought with Frisk?" she asked. Undyne had the good sense to look abashed.

"Heh, yeah. Monsters have kind of a bad history with humans. But, uh, it ended up okay!" she insisted, her webbed hand rubbing at the back of her neck. Holly's eyebrows drew together, recognizing the lie. Undyne wasn't very good at hiding her emotions, but Holly didn't want to push her for answers. At least… not right now.

"I guess so," Holly relented, still wondering how the hell a ten-year-old survived a bunch of monsters like Undyne going after her. The moment was interrupted Undyne's phone began ringing a peppy tune.

"Oh, speak of the devil, it's Paps," she announced, her voice pleased and resigned at the same time. She hit the 'answer' button. "Hey Papyrus."

A loud voice on the other side, high-pitched but male, answered. Holly could hear most of what he said—he sounded like a very boisterous person. They chatted a few minutes about tomorrow's training day, Undyne rubbing her forehead at one point. "Paps, no, we're not gonna get up at three in the morning for training. Besides, I have a friend who wants to come over, maybe?" The last word sounded like a question, and Holly saw that Undyne was giving her a look. Realizing it was directed at her because she'd never answered, Holly nodded with a grin. "Yeah, friend is definitely coming over. Haha, yeah, you'll like her, she's—no, she's not related to Frisk. Not all humans are related, Papyrus," Undyne sighed. Holly had to stifle a giggle. "How about ten? Yeah, I know, it's sorta late for you but—yeah, okay, I'll ask her. I'll text you and let you know. Yeah, you too, Paps. Tell Sans I said hey. Mmkay, bye!"

"Sans? Who's Sans?" Holly asked nosily before she could stop herself. Alphys, who had flopped back on the couch, answered.

"Oh, that's Papyrus's older brother. He's not q-quite as, uh… outgoing," she said.

"Yeah. You heard, right? We're gonna meet up over there at ten, okay? Sorry if that's a little early, Paps is, uh… he doesn't sleep much," Undyne grumbled, looking exasperated.

"That's fine. I have to go to work earlier than that most days anyway," Holly said, waving Undyne's apology away. "Are we going in your car?"

Undyne nodded. "Yeah, 'cause you don't know where their house is anyway. Hey Alph, you comin' with?"

Alphys made a displeased sound. "Eh, no… I have papers to grade," she sighed. "I would do it at Papyrus's place, but…"

"Yeah, he's a little loud. Plus, Sans would probably start talking about geek crap with you again."

Holly was making a few mental notes of the skeleton brothers in her head as she gleaned information from Alphys and Undyne, so she had an idea of what to expect. Papyrus was loud and energetic, Sans was chill and probably book-smart, like Alphys. Sans was also the older brother, which already made Holly interested in getting to know him. Being the eldest sibling was an experience that wasn't understood very well except by those who were also big brothers or sisters. She wondered if he had a protective streak when it came to Papyrus, like she did with Michelle. Holly sighed, suddenly thinking of her younger sister. Maybe she'd text her tonight later.

"Oh yeah, Paps wanted me to ask if you like spaghetti, but, uh… you really don't wanna eat his cooking," Undyne laughed. "So you should probably eat something before you get there. Trust me, I'm the one who tried to teach him. He's awful at it. And he literally only knows how to make spaghetti, so he makes it all. The. Time."

Holly's look of bewilderment just made Undyne laugh. "He's a great guy, you'll like him. He can just be a little, uh…"

"Oblivious?" Alphys added. Undyne pointed at her girlfriend.

"Yeah, that."

Holly laughed. "All right, then. I'm probably gonna head to bed, since we're getting up a little early. When are we leaving? I don't know how long it takes to get to their house."

They made arrangements for when they would leave, Alphys thanking Holly for the dance. Holly hopped into bed, excitement buzzing in her head at the prospect of meeting new potential friends. She eventually dozed off, a small smile gracing her features.

The drive took about an hour, and Holly was undyingly grateful when they finally arrived at the skeleton brothers' house. Undyne's driving matched her personality—aggressive and terrifying. She didn't necessarily break any laws, but she was impatient at lights and stop signs and snarled whenever anyone cut her off or did anything even slightly slower than what she thought was appropriate. Holly found herself clinging to the hanging handle on the passenger's side and stomping on imaginary breaks every so often.

They drove onto a street with actual houses, not apartments. The houses were all the same boring shape and color, so Holly assumed these were probably rental homes. Undyne pulled into the driveway of one of the houses that had already been decorated for Christmas—lights were wrapped meticulously around the columns by the front door and hung in a draping pattern on the lip of their roof. Matching lights winked from within a manicured bush, and Holly realized it was a one of those net-patterned lights specifically for that purpose. A snowman, which Holly assumed to be fake given the lack of snow, smiled from the center of the yard. Looking at the windows, she could see vinyl cling cutouts of snowflakes decorating the edges.

Undyne had barely knocked on the door (or in her case, banged with a fist) when it opened, as if the person inside had been waiting right by the door to open it. A skeleton, nearly as tall as Undyne and somehow broader, grinned out of the doorway. His face was long and very much not like a real human's. Though she didn't have skeleton anatomy memorized, she was sure his bones were not anything like a human's. In fact, his face was lively and animated, like skin. Holly couldn't help but to stare.

"Hello Undyne! Ready for our super-private, personal training? Oh, and I can't forget your new friend!" He charged right towards Holly after Undyne wisely moved to the side, smirking.

Holly felt herself being lifted off the ground and squeezed by two hard, bony arms. The skeleton hadn't even strained at all when picking her up, which was mildly disconcerting.

"Uh, h-hi! Papyrus!" she wheezed, both amused and taken aback by his behavior. He gasped loudly.

"You already know my name! I-I mean, of course you know who I am, who wouldn't!? Well, don't be intimidated by The Great Papyrus's coolness and fame, human. You can treat me like a normal monster!" he insisted, putting Holly down and putting a hand to his chest. Holly noticed that he was wearing a set of red mittens and armor that made his chest and shoulders look very broad. It didn't really help her get rid of the RPG skeleton monster image in her head, though.

"I-I won't? Uh. I'm Holly," she introduced, smiling through her confusion. She put out a hand for a handshake, which Papyrus took with both of his and shook vigorously. Her teeth rattled with the force of it.

"Holly, eh? Well! It's so good to meet new people! Come inside, I've made my specialty that I save for new guests!"

He dragged Holly inside by the hand, which he'd never let go of, and Undyne snickered as she followed the two of them into the house. Holly's nose was immediately assaulted with the scent of burnt tomatoes as they went in. She automatically looked around to see if she could catch sight of the other brother, her curiosity aroused. If Papyrus was already this colorful, she could only imagine what Sans would be like.

Papyrus sat Holly at a table, clasping his hands together and giving her an excited smile. His prominent teeth made it extremely endearing.

"Human! Is there anything I can get for you? Something to drink, maybe? Or are you hungry?" At the last question, his eyes (eye sockets, Holly reminded herself) seemed to sparkle. How he managed this, she could only guess. 'Magic, probably.'

"Uhh… I'm not really hungry, but maybe just a glass of water would be good?" Holly suggested, at which Papyrus clapped and zoomed into the kitchen.

"Of course, of course! Here you are," he said, coming back with the drink with inhuman speed.

"Th-thank you," Holly said politely, still not quite processing all of his energy. Undyne came to Holly's rescue, giving the human a teasing glance.

"Hey, Paps, let's get started on that training, huh?" she suggested. Papyrus blinked, then gave Undyne a sheepish smile.

"O-oh yes! I didn't forget about it, Undyne. I'll meet you out back!" He zoomed outside, the room going quiet for a few ticks of the clock, when he popped his head back inside.

"Nyeh! Human, you should come and watch us! My battles are always a treat to watch, after all," he stated importantly before going back out. Holly took a sip of her water mechanically, her eyes lingering on where Papyrus had left. So, there was someone out there who was louder than she was.

"…So that's…" Holly began, voice strained.

"Yep, that's Paps, all right," Undyne laughed, seeing the stunned look on Holly's face. "He can be a little overwhelming, but he's a good guy. You'll get used to him," she winked.

Holly giggled, Undyne's reassurance making her relax. "He's very… energetic," she commented. "But he's friendly." Undyne ruffled her hair.

"Yup. I'm gonna head out now before he blows a gasket. Come with and watch us, but stay on the steps by the door. I need to know where you are so ya don't get hit by any stray magic," she warned. Her lips pursed. "Hm, actually…" Undyne's hand glowed a greenish-teal color and a solid, pointed object formed.

"A spear?" Holly asked, grabbing it when Undyne offered it to her. The glow reminded her of a lightsaber from Star Wars, only this didn't burn when you touched the light.

"Ha, yeah. I forgot you haven't seen me fight before. It's my magic." Undyne sounded smug. "Makes sense, 'cause spears are badass."

Holly tested the weight of the lengthy weapon. "It's… light," she commented, surprised. Undyne chuckled.

"Yep, helps me to swing and toss 'em quicker. My spears are good at blocking incoming attacks, but you have to be pretty vigilant to do that. Just make sure you pay attention and use it, just in case," Undyne warned. Holly now suddenly had doubts about going outside, but when she looked up, Undyne's face was alight with excitement. She couldn't wimp out now. Undyne would be disappointed… and probably accuse her of being a weenie.

"Uh, o-okay, Undyne!" Holly chirped with false enthusiasm.

The weapon hummed in her hands. It stayed very warm, almost like she was touching Undyne herself and not magic, but the undulating green light that somehow stayed solid in her hands reminded her that the weapon was very much magical.

Undyne headed out back, propping the door open for Holly. The yard was a decent size—enough for a dog to live out back and run around. There was even a privacy fence wrapping around the yard, likely just the same as the other houses in the neighborhood. The grass, however, was dead in several places, and deep gouges ripped into the earth in so many places that the ground seemed as if it would cause anyone walking on it to stumble. Holly sat at the concrete steps as Undyne had requested, clutching the spear tightly. She noticed a strange pattern in the gouges, like a bunch of lines were parallel. It reminded her of really big claws shredding the ground like carpet.

Undyne stand squarely in front of Papyrus, a broad, fierce grin on her face. Of course she would find pleasure in sparring with a friend…

"Ready?" Undyne called, and Papyrus nodded, adopting the same stance as the other monster. A flash of deep blue light appeared by his hands, only to turn into a large, club-like bone. Holly smiled to herself. A skeleton monster using bones to fight just seemed like something she should have expected, but with magic, it was hard to expect anything.

The two of them circled one another, proving that while Papyrus was excitable, he also had the ability to focus, as his eyes never left Undyne. And then Undyne ducked in to make the first attack, her movement lightning-fast. Papyrus dodged just as quickly, his gangling limbs somehow graceful as he danced away.

Holly frowned, noticing the way each of them moved when they attacked and dodged. Undyne would summon a spear as she made the familiar, circular movements of Capoeira, throwing a spear using the momentum from the movement. Papyrus would dip and dive out of the way in a sort of strange pattern. Were they… dancing? Holly remembered Undyne mentioning that monsters danced when they fought. It had sounded strange and unnecessary at the time, but now, watching them… Papyrus's arms swept with long, graceful movements as he summoned his magic, and the rows of bones rising from the ground and circling Undyne to corner her followed the same motion.

So, the dance was useful to them because it directed their magic? Holly watched, fascinated and awed by how beautiful and destructive the two of them were. Fresh slashes appeared in the ground with each wave of bones Papyrus summoned; spears whizzed through the air and stabbed the ground where the skeleton had been moments before. She wondered vaguely at what Papyrus's dance was. It seemed much more coordinated than Undyne's, like a lively ballroom dance.

"My brother's pretty cool, huh?"

A baritone voice came from her left. She squeaked and looked up to see another skeleton staring down at her, a wide grin spread across his face.