You've found yourself settling in nicely to your new home, despite the rough start.
You've managed to settle into a domestic routine with your new roommate. In the morning, you cook breakfast for when Papyrus gets back from his early morning training, and then in the evening, Papyrus cooks dinner for the two of you, which is always some form of pasta.
You really don't mind the pasta, especially since you made Papyrus very aware that humans can only eat specific edible glitter.
You were going to mention that spaghetti sauce doesn't generally get glitter anyway, but the kicked puppy dog look he got just from learning you couldn't eat what he was cooking was just too much to continue on.
You found yourself looking forward to each meal. You still had several weeks until spring classes would start so you really just needed to settle into a job and maybe find a hobby? You'd put out a few applications locally, but you had enough saved to make it another two months if it came down to it.
You've been here a few days now, and the constant worry that your parents would show up at the door any moment was slowly starting to ebb away. With Papyrus' warming presence and the ease at which you had slipped into a daily routine you found yourself really starting to relax.
The soreness in your throat from your encounter with the murderous skeleton and his equally murderous brother had curiously gone away. You would have bet money that it should have taken at least two weeks for the mottled splotches around your neck to clear.
Thankfully you hadn't seen either of them since that morning. In fact, you hadn't seen Sans since that day either, which you supposed was to be expected as they're technically in a completely separate living area, but you'd just thought since Papyrus was his brother he would be over a little more often.
Sans seemed alright, if a little too easygoing.
Despite constantly insisting his brother was a lazy, no good, bag of bones - you could tell Papyrus loved his brother more than anything.
You flipped the final pieces of bacon off the skillet and onto some paper towels.
The sweet cinnamon roll you lived with should be getting back from training any minute now and you were just about finished preparing breakfast. You switch the pot of gravy to low and walk to the sink to scrub the light dusting of flour off your hands. Over the spray of water, you can hear confident, striding footsteps make their way around the porch outside and towards your front door. Drying your hands on your shirt, you turn, expecting your roommate to open the door.
You were instead surprised to see his edgier doppelganger.
"HUMAN." He greeted, sneering over at you as he hangs a long leather trench coat by the door.
He was wearing the same outfit as before. A black crop top that exposed part of his spinal cord, tight black leather pants, a tattered red cape, matching gloves, and heavy red combat boots.
If he wasn't so damn terrifying, you'd be tempted to say he was attractive.
You've found that the more time you spend with Papyrus, the more you are getting over the whole uncanny valley skeleton thing. (It especially helps that Papyrus is the sweetest, most gentlemanly guy you've ever interacted with.)
"Skeleton." You greet, just as flippantly.
Despite having his fingers imprinted on your neck, you still don't know who the hell this guy is.
He stares at you coldly, the dull red lights shrinking to pinpricks as he absorbs the insolent look on your face. There's a moment of pause, and then in just four long strides he is across the hall and in the kitchen. You quickly retreat backwards, putting the kitchen counter between the two of you.
Noticing your retreat, he slows to a stop at the entrance of the kitchen.
"YOU DARE ADDRESS THE GREAT CAPTAIN PA-" He falters, but only for a moment.
"THE GREAT CAPTAIN BLACK, WITH SUCH DISCOURTESY?" He places his hands firm on the counter and his eyes hunt your face for a response.
Any bravery you thought you had shriveled in your chest at the stare. You unconsciously reach up to your neck and stammer out an apology.
"I…I apologize, I didn't know your name." You pause for a moment, rocking on your heels you wring anxiously at your hands before adding,
"Captain."
You weren't usually one for groveling, but you also weren't stupid either - Captain Black was dangerous. He'd proven that already.
"I- I…IGNORANCE OF THE LAW IS NOT INNOCENCE! But I will let you off with a warning, just this once." He warns you; he turns sharply from the counter and towards the table, but you catch what seems to be a dark crimson spreading on his face.
"YOUR ROOMMATE IS RUNNING BEHIND ON HIS DUTIES TODAY AND HAS ASKED ME TO JOIN YOU FOR BREAKFAST. YOU HUMANS ARE TOO DANGEROUS WHEN LEFT TO IDLE."
Your eyebrows shoot up in surprise. You really didn't mind eating breakfast by yourself, especially if the alternative was eating with Black.
"I appreciate you joining me, but you really don't have to eat with me if you don't want to." You really hope he doesn't want to. Black slides into a seat that allows him to face you and he stares at you with an intensity that makes your chest burn. You reach up a hand and clutch your chest tightly in an attempt to extinguish the feeling. His gaze follows your hand and lingers there for a moment.
""DO YOU PRESUME THAT I'D ACT AGAINST MY WILL?" He drawls languidly, raising his brow at you.
You flush and turn back towards the food.
"Um, let me make you a plate then." You begin loading a plate with the fresh bacon, biscuits and gravy.
"AT LEAST YOU KNOW YOUR PLACE THEN, SLAVE." Your hands still as you snap your head to look over at him.
He's staring at you, his chin resting on steepled hands. the raw intensity of his gaze almost distracts you from the calculative look upon his face. He's testing the waters, trying to see how far he can push you.
Self-preservation be damned, he's going to find out real quick that it's not far at all.
You clatter the plate to the counter and reach for a fork.
"Oookay, nah. Nope, not doing this. You can take your weird roleplay fetish and shove it up your ass." You stare him down hard as you stab a whole biscuit off the plate and take a comically large bite, chewing crudely. You swallow after a moment.
"Make your own damn plate, Captain."
Black only raises an eyebrow, seemingly unfazed by your outburst. Your heart beats loudly against your chest, but eventually, he smirks.
"FEISTY, AREN'T WE? I LIKE THAT." He remarks, leaning back in his chair.
You continue to glare at him, unyielding, and proceed to enjoy the rest of your breakfast. The silence between you stretches, interrupted only by the occasional sound of your defiant munching.
After a few moments, Black sighs theatrically and rises from his chair. He moves towards you, towards the kitchen, and inspects the array of breakfast items you've prepared.
As he silently begins to assemble his plate, you observe him from the corner of your eye, seething with irritation.
He picks up a fork and leans against the counter next to you, taking a small bite of what you'd created. He nods once in approval and continues to eat.
After a few minutes, the tension slowly dissipates, and a semblance of normalcy settles in as the two of you share a quiet breakfast in the kitchen.
As your irritation wanes, you find a sense of curiosity building.
"So, what exactly are you the captain of?"
Black pauses for a moment, spearing another bite off his plate before answering.
"IT IS… COMPLICATED." He looks frustrated at the question, but not at you.
After a few moments in silence, you think that is the end of the conversation, but he glances down, studying your face for a moment. His eyes linger lower for a brief moment, but you get the feeling that he's not looking at your chest exactly.
You feel like you're missing a crucial piece of a puzzle.
"WHAT BRINGS YOU TO EBOTT?"
You walk over to the trash can to scrape off your plate before placing it in the dishwasher.
"It's… also complicated." You begin cleaning up the remnants of breakfast and the silence settles over the two of you again.
As Black makes his way over to the trash can with his plate you continue.
"I came here seeking a fresh start." You tell him truthfully.
Black glances over at you, giving you an inscrutable look before scraping his plate off into the trash can as well.
"THERE IS NO SHAME IN A TACTICAL RETREAT." He advises.
Black hands you his scraped plate, and you load it into the dishwasher, closing it and rinsing your hands off in the sink.
Without further ado, Black makes his way out of the kitchen and towards the front door. You call out to him.
"Captain," He turns around, a flicker of surprise crossing his face before its stamped out with a look of indifference.
"Thank you for joining me for breakfast." He turns back and hastily exits the house and you swear you can see a crimson glow against the glass as he leaves.
After Black left you decided you wanted to go for a brief walk. You'd eaten a little more than you normally would out of sheer spite and were feeling uncomfortably full.
Bundled up in your warmest sweater you made your way outside and around the porch towards the front of the house.
The red convertible was parked behind you in the driveway, and you could see Sans leaned against it, deep in conversation with Papyrus.
Noticing you on the porch Sans waved lazily at you.
Papyrus turned around and greeted you with an enthusiastic smile.
"I AM SORRY I COULD NOT ATTEND BREAKFAST WITH YOU THIS MORNING. I KNOW THERE IS NO REPLACEMENT FOR MYSELF, BUT I HOPE BLACK WAS A CLOSE SECOND?"
Papyrus looked hopeful, and honestly, after the rocky start to breakfast, you had to admit you felt like you had more of an understanding with the captain.
Sans had a sweat drop forming at the top of his forehead.
He combed over your appearance, looking for any sign of distress, stopping at your chest for a moment but quickly looking elsewhere, fleeting panic appearing on his face.
"You had breakfast with Black?" He asks, tone tinged with concern.
You smile shyly at him; it was cute that he was worried. Hell, you had been worried when Black stepped into the house.
"I actually ate a little more than I meant to - but we just finished so If you two are hungry the leftovers in the fridge should still be a little warm!" you give them a small, but warm smile as you continue trekking off the porch and towards the sidewalk.
Sans scratched at the back of his skull nonchalantly, but there was a glimmer of relief in his eye.
Papyrus, on the other hand, beamed with pride,
"I JUST KNEW YOU TWO WOULD GET ALONG! BLACK JUST HAS A VERY UNIQUE WAY OF BUILDING FRIENDSHIP!"
You blushed, recalling the intense, teasing way Black had gazed at you after he'd taunted you at the table. Friendship... yeah, something like that.
Sans chuckled, a deep, smooth sound, adding with his trademark grin, "Yeah, unique is one way to put it."
You stop for a moment, looking back at the pair as you reach the sidewalk.
"I'm actually heading out for a quick walk right now. Would you two like to join me?" You were hopeful. As much as you'd appreciated the time alone the last few days between meals you really were needing a little more human ... er, social, interaction.
Sans exchanged a glance with Papyrus, who nodded enthusiastically, eager to extend the newfound camaraderie with you to his brother.
"Sure thing, kiddo. A walk sounds nice."
The walk was nice.
You were only gone about 10 minutes, just looping around the block once. You were pleasantly surprised by the easy-going nature of Sans. He was like the calm yin to Papyrus' overactive yang.
The two complimented each other nicely, and the conversation flowed easily.
"AND THEN UNDYNE CAUGHT THE HOUSE ON FIRE." An unexpected laugh escapes your mouth as he finishes a story about his friend from when they were back in the Underground. An unexpected gust of wind blows your hair loose around your face.
"So, is Undyne the one you train with in the morning?" You ask, brushing part of your hair back behind your ear.
Sans watches the movement intently.
"UNDYNE IS THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD. I HOPE TO ONE DAY SURPASS HER AND BECOME THE CAPTAIN MYSELF."
You frown, thinking back to Black's cryptic response to your question this morning.
"Was Black the captain of the guard at some point?" You press curiously.
Papyrus sputters and glances nervously down at Sans. Sans pushes his hands into the pockets of his coat.
"It's uh, complicated, kid." You only nod in response. It wasn't really your place to pry into that anyway, but that didn't stop the curiosity you felt. As you approach the sidewalk in front of the house again you decide to ask him about the other two.
"So, are you related to Black and Red? I know you look really similar, but I'm really not familiar with how genetics works with Monsters." Sans has to pause for a moment before responding.
"They're our cousins." He answers as the three of you approach the front porch.
You nod, yeah that makes sense. The only thing bothering you about it was that this morning, it almost sounded like Black had started to call himself Papyrus.
Sans heads into the front door, hand on the doorknob, but he doesn't go in just yet watching from behind as you and Papyrus make your way around the porch and into your part of the house.
"I AM VERY GLAD TO HAVE YOU AS A ROOMMATE. WHEN BLACK AND RED MOVED IN WITH US, I HAD TO COME MOVE INTO THE EMPTY SIDE OF THE HOUSE AND IT WAS VERY LONELY." You furrowed your brow in confusion.
"Wait, do you and Sans own this whole house?" You had thought he was renting a room out as well.
"YES, WE BOUGHT THIS HOUSE NOT LONG AFTER WE EMERGED FROM THE UNDERGROUND. THE BRIGHT SIDE OF DEALING IN GOLD AS A CURRENCY IS THAT WE HAD NO TROUBLES WITH MONEY AFTER THE EMERGENCE."
You think of the shiny red convertible in the driveway.
"So why couldn't Black and Red just stay on this side of the house together?"
"SANS NEEDS TO KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON THEM." Papyrus responded immediately, eyes widening as he realized what he'd said.
"B-BECAUSE THEY ARE TOO MESSY, AND TOO LOUD, A-AND SANS NEEDS TO KEEP THEM IN LINE" He stammers out waving his arms around frantically.
"Righhht…" You move toward the stairs. You know you'd said you wanted a little social interaction, but between breakfast and the walk, you feel like your social meter was high enough. You wanted to go to your room and chill out for a while.
"Yeah, that totally makes sense. Anyways I'll see you later. I'm gonna go on up and catch a quick cat nap." Your housemates were turning out to all be a little on the odd side.
Papyrus stares after you as you ascend the stairs.
"Y/N?" He called out. You stop, looking down to him. He looks like he wanted to say something, but just shakes his head.
"NEVERMIND. HAVE A GOOD NAP. DO NOT MAKE A HABIT OF IT THOUGH. I DO NOT WANT YOU TO BECOME LIKE MY LAZY BROTHER!" You gave a weak chuckle and continue up the stairs.
You didn't actually take a nap. You spent a few hours scrolling your phone and catching up on the latest episodes of your favorite anime.
You'd gotten a few responses from the applications you'd sent out, and even managed to set up an interview for Monday at the universities' planetarium.
You were extremely hopeful to get this one, even though it would just be working the front counter. It was a step in the right direction as you were currently pursuing a degree in physics with a minor in Astronomy. You'll be an astrophysicist one day. That, you're sure of.
You didn't have a bookshelf, so you had most of your books stacked on top of the dresser and the floor. You had so many books from school. The only bit of the money you got from grants you were allowed to keep was just enough to get your books for the semester, so the only reading material you had was what was assigned for the semester.
These books have gotten you through many long nights and days at home. Many nights of reading by moonlight through your locked window, learning about different constellations, peering out the glass and trying to find them all.
You plucked one from the top of a pile, grabbed your blanket, and made your way downstairs to the couch. Just because you were taking the winter semester off didn't mean you could slack.
Papyrus wasn't downstairs anymore, and the silence of the house was comforting.
After a while, curled up on the couch with the hum of the furnace in the background you dozed off.
You awoke to the sound of quiet conversation. Something that took your brain a moment to catch up with because you weren't aware that Papyrus could be quiet.
You roll off the couch and stand, stretching your arms out and cracking your back loudly for good measure, your shirt pulling slightly and exposing part of your stomach. This couch had absolutely just trashed your back, but damn if that nap wasn't amazing.
You noticed that the noise had stopped. You could see the dining room from where you were, and apparently its occupants could see you as well.
Sans and Red were looking at you, eye sockets as wide as dinner plates.
"Jesus, didn't know I'd be coming over for dinner AND a show." Red let out a low wolf whistle. Sans stood from the table, a dark blue dusting his cheeks. You threw yourself back down onto the couch and peered over at them from behind the cushions.
"P-pervert!" You called out, wishing that the couch could just swallow you whole.
Unexpectedly, Sans chimed in.
"Tibia fair, you were the one cracking your spine all Sansually. " Your face flushed, so that was what got them wound up? Cracking your back?
You couldn't stand the smug look on Red's face. He looked ready to say something else when suddenly a devious idea popped into your head.
Pulling your knees under you and sitting up, a devilish smile forming on your lips, you put a hand to your chin. Maintaining eye contact with Red you sloooowly cracked your neck to the left, right, and then to the left again for good measure.
After the first crack Red's grin faltered, by the second sweat began to form on his skull and by the third he was standing up from the dining room table, clearly uncomfortable.
"WOWIE!~ THAT SURE WAS SOMETHING!"
Your head snaps to where the voice came from. Papyrus stood next to Black in the doorway. Oh my god, kill me now.
Papyrus had a light dusting of orange on his cheeks, and Black couldn't even look you in the eyes.
Keeping his eyes downcast, Black made his way across the entry hall towards the kitchen, Sans and Red fleeing the room as well right on his heels. Once he was safely out of sight Black cleared his voice loudly trying to regain his composure.
"HUMAN. I AM MAKING LASAGNA. AS YOU ARE A RESIDENT OF THIS HOUSEHOLD, YOU ARE INVITED TO PARTAKE IN MY MOST ESTEEMED DINNER." Papyrus walked over towards you, smiling, but a clearly a little flustered himself.
Grabbing your blanket from the couch you look around frantically for your book so you can make your retreat upstairs. You were so embarrassed you could just melt into the floor.
"Y/N, WE ALL HAVE DINNER TOGETHER EVERY FRIDAY AND I WOULD BE SO HAPPY IF YOU COULD JOIN US TONIGHT FOR FRIENDSHIP LASAGNA!" You nod anxiously at Papyrus, mumbling a quiet 'Okay' as you retreat to the stairs. You couldn't even look towards the kitchen as you passed through the hall.
Downstairs, in the kitchen, Black, Red, and Sans shared a rare moment of uncertainty.
"Do ya' think she knows?" Red asks quietly, not wanting to draw the attention of either of the other residents of the house.
There was no way she could know she was their soulmate. It took each of the three present meeting her twice to figure it out. Papyrus just didn't have enough experience with souls to realize on his own.
"No way, she couldn't know. Papyrus hasn't even realized, and he lives with her. Besides, most humans don't even know that they have souls- she wouldn't even know it was a possibility." Sans crossed his arms uncomfortably and turned his gaze towards the stairs.
"IT DOES NOT MATTER IF SHE KNOWS OR NOT. SHE IS OURS. " Black growls out, trying his best to keep his voice low but the possessive compulsion to rush upstairs and demand... well he doesn't know what exactly he would demand, but it would be something!
Red's grin grows dark as he studies the other two, his competition.
"All's fair in love and war boys. She's might be made for all of us, but only one of us gets the bragging rights of getting her first." Red's eyes light up maliciously at the other two, his red tongue lolling out of his mouth lewdly. Black stared down hard at his brother, hatred seething from his soul. Red immediately lost his grin.
Sans gives the two a cold glare.
"Soulmates are rare, even among monsters. We don't even know if she can feel the connection, and if she doesn't, we could just scare her off."
Black's teeth pull into a grim line of displeasure at the thought of not being able to just lock her in his shed back underground.
"You're lucky you didn't scare her off the first day. I bet she's still got the bruises to show for it." Sans spat, eye flashing a manic blue. It had been one thing when it was his brother's roommate being attacked, sure, yeah, we don't want any human's getting killed and attracting unwanted attention, but to attack their soul mate?
"IN MY WORLD IT IS KILL OR BE KILLED. THERE WAS A FILTHY HUMAN SNOOPING AROUND OUR PROPERTY, OF COURSE I ATTACKED HER!" He shouldn't have to defend himself here. He was only trying to protect them!
In his outrage Black had raised his voice a little too loud. Papyrus wandered over, drawn by the commotion.
"BLACK, I'M NOT SURE WHAT ALL HAPPENED WHEN YOU MET Y/N, BUT TRUST ME WHEN I SAY SHE WILL FORGIVE YOU. SOMETHING IN MY SOUL JUST TELLS ME THAT." Papyrus smiled warmly at the others in the room, obviously not reading the room.
Sans smiles softly back at his little brother, patting him on the arm.
"Yeah bro, I'm sure you're right."
Black just turned his back to the three and began pulling items out of the pantry to prepare dinner.