A shop bell rang as the hair bow wearing loox trudged off, operating the door while carrying her fresh bouquet of flowers. As soon as she'd been left alone facade drooped back to normal. The delinquent's features felt like they'd been stuck up with duct-tape. Smiling bright and tight, wasn'tmeant for faces like hers.

If only there were less customers, she thought as her feet thumped on the desk and the her spiky back leaned in her chair. Her idle hands swiped a packet of flower seeds to munch up hungrily, fistful by fistful. They were seeds meant for planting, but that did little to stop her. The pesticides were nice and spicy.

It wasn't the worst place to work… It was clean enough, natural light, paneled floors, nice view— the flowers were an eyesore but she couldn't do anything about those. It was hotter than she'd like because while they had air conditioning, it was meant for the plants, so the store was stuck at about 70 degrees. Outside was over 100.

Fifteen minutes passed, and nothing happened. She started counting every pipe, panel and pot in sight. Pretending to be niceto old ladies and middle-aged monsters was soul-rending, but having nothing to do was another kind of hell. It was boring enough to make her want to get a book and… No, not that bad, she was joking.

Luckily, pinko was there to take care to massage stuff over and pay her visits, to make sure she wasn't bouncing off the walls.

‟Suz."

‟Yeah, pinksqueak?" - She goaded him on, mouth filled with seed rinds.

‟Are you sure those aren't going to sprout inside you?"

‟The seeds, you mean? Heh, now that'd be pretty cool. I'd eat dirt and drink pondwater to make 'em grow."

‟And stuff a lightbulb down your throat?"

‟Yeah! Maybe it'd make my breath fresher, who knows? I'm 'bout to become a greenhouse!" - She said, stuffing down the entire packet.

‟… Wouldn't you be a pink-house?"

‟Nah! Maybe YOU'RE pink all over, but I'm purple. And don't get them twisted again!" - Because pink was for girls. She opened another packet.

Bad news for her remaining sanity, the voice in her head was fun to hang out with. He was most likely insane, which made two of them. Thoug it was better than being left with her own thoughts, she'd have broken a window or eaten an entire sack of soil by now. They were only hanging because the voice had no choice but to stay with her, so she wasn't receiving help from nobody. It was banter that was good for 'em both. Reminded her of studying with Kris 'cuz they were both stupid. Except English, Kris was good at that.

…Wait, was he?

‟Hey Pinko…" She looked out the ambering sun blinking through the trees, ‟So you like… you actually think about…"

‟Oh! I definitely think you have a chance with Kris."

‟… If that's what the voice in my head says." - She mouthed off, not really thinking about her words. She had her doubts… but imagining it brought her some kind of joy. And guilt.

‟Don't worry! Once we get past these two weeks we'll get enough cash to buy so—"

The pink shine of the windows disappeared like mist in the sunshine. Down the stairs came Mr. Dreemurr. The packets flew from her hands under the desk and she straightened her posture.

‟Was there a customer just now, Susie?"

‟S-Sure was, boss! They bought a whole bouquet! Even gave a good tip, 10 bucks."

‟Then that must have been the old loox, every Saturday she buys flowers to mourn her late husband."

‟Oh."- It was messed up to think they made money off the dead. The world sucked.

‟Do not look so glum! If our flowers have brought joy to even one soul, then I think we have done a good deed. Now, I have something for you! Do not turn yet."

She tried to look over her shoulder at him, but couldn't spot what he was holding until it was draped over her shoulders.

‟T-This is?" - She looked down, past his thick arms.

‟Since your clothes have been soiled and dirtied from working in the the… dirt and soil, I suppose… I thought I should prepare a sort of employee outfit. What do you think?"

It was a light-beige apron, the material went down all the way to her knees and had a simplistic, overly happy drawing of a sunflower on the chest. It wrapped around and tied at the back, being tight on her chest. She tried it on and looked at herself faintly in the windows. It was made of some canvas stuff that didn't let her skulk like she was from notre-dame, and it stuck to her figure. Her fists were clenched so hard that her claws almost pierced her palms and hooked her bones.

‟I think it suits you quite well, what do you think?"

‟…I-It's great."

‟I am pleased to hear!" - Asgore said, genuinely jolly, ‟then, that was all I wanted to do! I will be back in a while!"

While her wearing that was settling in, he got a fistful of flower pots and left outside.

‟…"

‟(This sucks!)" - She put her arms over her face and spoke into it. Almost screamed into it.

‟It looks cute on you!" - Pink Kris had no idea about how she was feeling.

‟I don't want to look cute."

Her cheeks were a rosy pink. Her chest cavity was fluttering like bony butterfly. She looked right at home in a flower shop. She hated it. And she was scared that she didn't hate it enough. It felt like she was naked with that piece of clothing on. She didn't want to look appealing for anyone to get anything at anytime anywhere. It was gross… But then, she felt it was a feeling she could tolerate, almost naughtily.

She wanted to punch her reflection to regain her femininity. She looked normal.

Alone, on a Thursday night, a teenage deerling was flipping through channels. A million little things floating in mind, the screen in front of her nothing more than a colorful backdrop. Then the ting of a doorbell caught her divided attention. It was not the electronic kind, as was at the entrance of her gate, but a more unusual sound, the ring of her front door's ringing. As she got up to greet them, she thought it a lost mailmonster, or maybe some out of season carolers. She shook all those thoughts off, it was probably someone she knew with an urgent request. She opened the door to the dark of night… And there it stood.

ICE-E. Covered in blood. Ready to suck her body through a disposable straw.

She yelped out and fell backwards, hands over her tiny face. She was mortified, her eyes turned to hung-up globes. Just then, it became very quiet, so much so that she calmed down through her palpitations. ICE-E wasn't dark red, it was a pink statue of the boogeymonster. The boring reality was that it was a completely harmless prank.

Then it moved.

She screamed her lungs out. Her fear won over her judgment as she put her hands over her face and shut her eyes.

Noelle Holiday, gone too soon, disappeared one night, her body never found.

‟…Did I getcha?" - The beast decapitated itself to reveal Kris, with the worst shit-eating grin she's seen him wear.

‟K-Kris!? Don't do that!"

‟You seemed to like it!"

‟Like it!?, I was about to die! If ICE-E hadn't killed me I'd have had a heart attack! I…" - She had her palm on her poor little chest, ‟don't do that again! That suit is horrifying."

‟Now step in! It's hot outside." - She offered him entrance, how scared she was seemingly disappearing into the starry night.

‟Happy you liked it."

‟I did!"

‟I also bought pizza." - He said, box next to him on the porch.

‟I-I'm glad Kris, but it's like 10 PM and you know I'm on a diet… besides, it's ICE-E pizza?" - She said side-eyeing it. Like he should know how bad it is.

‟You're not wrong. It's all flash-frozen." - She was going off her diet with other things anyway. She could at least get a slice to not make him feel stupid.

He turned his back to her to get help with the zipper, horrible spot they put it in.

‟Sorry, can I use one of your showers? This suit reeks."

‟Feel free! How was work?" - She said as she slowly peeled the pink entertainer suit.

‟With half the staff not working we're at capacity. The big, uh, warrior guy who used to be the chef came back for a day, then had another heatstroke."

‟So quick? What happened?"

‟He came into work while we were on lunch break, in the 8 foot suit, and screamed something about getting back in the cage to fight a rematch against 'the barbaric eye living in the sky'. Pizzapants gathered his courage to say somethingbut obviously he got ignored, since Ice Wolf had 'fortified his suit against the sun's evil rays of death'."

‟I'm… afraid to ask what he did."

‟Filled it with frozen ketchup packets, which we found out thirty seconds later. He collapsed like a tree, hit the pavement, and literally exploded into blood everywhere. There were some kids playing nearby and they were too scared to even cry."

‟W-Was he okay? Were you?"

‟He was fine, but of course I had to put on my suit and carry him to the hospital. I think there's a photo in the paper with me dragging him on the pavement, giant trail of 'blood' behind us. Obviously the cops came."

‟Uh, U-Undyne?"

‟Luckily not, Napstablook texted me a playlist called 'sternly-worded lo-fi beats for when you get caught doing crimes', got too awkward to give me a fine, then left."

‟W-Wow Kris! You sure seem to have a lot of… 'fun' in there, do you ever, like… get any work done?"

‟Even when we don't, it's more effort than you think."

Whenever something was to be done outside, they called him. Whenever they had to deliver pizza, he had to walk over and hand it over. He was the only one who actually dared to go under the sun, and without Kris ICE-E P'E'ZZA wouldn't have been operational these past two weeks. It was tiring, physically and mentally. Maybe it wasn't that bad, but he wasn't used to it. He'd started sleeping 2 more hours a night because of it. And obviously he thought it sucked…

Of course, he didn't say it since he didn't want to seem a baby in front of his girlfriend.

‟We do work, even a pizza store has things that need to be done every single day."

‟Every day? You're working only 4 a week, Kris."

‟…I guess… At least I got my first paycheck." - He said, taking out his sweet-sweet, minimum-wage dollars.

‟Great! What're you spending it on? Or are you being responsible and saving it?" - Of course that's what she asked.

‟Uh," he scratched his nape in quick thought, ‟Dates, right? That, and there's some video games I wanna try."

‟Video-games, Kris? Don't you need money for driving lessons?"

‟That? Toriel said she'll pay for my lessons."

She sighed, and he rolled his eyes again. It annoyed him.

‟Kris, I told you we should stop relying on our parents!"

‟Big words for someone who got her job as her mom's secretary." - He didn't say it. For a moment he so wished he did.

‟Yeah, yeah. But she insisted! She really was happy when I told her."

‟… Fiiine~! Just go take your shower, you smell like a gym sock." - She said, still holding his suit. She didn't seem to be as repulsed as Kris thought she'd be.

‟Love you too!" she said as he ran to the bathroom. He forgot to say it back.

‟What's up?" - He asked, after the shower with a towel around him. At this point he'd kept a change of clothes at her house for the regular sleepovers they spent together, tonight included.

‟I was just watching TV." - She said, still in a metal band shirt she had thrown-off haphazardly. She was completely spent, lazing on the couch.

He chose to take the spot right next to hers. ‟Want to watch a movie?"

‟Right now? It's a smidge late, I think. I'll watch TV a bit more and go to sleep."

‟Alright, you're the boss." - He said, putting his hand on her thighs. He went to her house specifically because they were boyfriend and girlfriend and hanging out is what they were supposed to do.

Just putting his head on her shoulder was enough to get sand on his eyes, ready to fall asleep. Noelle, despite her often protests, made the best pillow.

‟Aw, c'mon, don't sleep with your hair wet! Stay up a bit longer and we can sleep in my bed!"

‟Yeah…" - He mumbled some declaration of love under his breath, too low for her to be able to hear.

‟H-Hey, Kris? I had an idea while you were taking a shower."

‟…What?"

Worry lines appeared on his face. They were just about to have some tired cuddling, and she could hold onto her teddy bears while he held onto her. He'd learned to be afraid of her opening her mouth with that tone. It was always something stupid.

‟Can't you use your paycheck to buy some books that could help you in college?"

‟I rent from the library." - Does Kris read? Sometimes, when Snake fails him. At lunch break, a small bit.

‟No, I'm talking like, manuals, or there's got to be a list of recommended reading material for the courses."

‟… It's writing, Noelle, there's no established theory like in economics."

‟Sure there is! If you can get a degree, it means there's tests to check what you know. I've been studying some too! It's a better way to spend your time than staying on the computer or playing video games."

He bit his tongue. Then the young boy mumbled something he won't dare leave in writing. He wanted to get up and just go home.

‟…Fine. Whatever."

‟Here it is! It is not much, but I hope it does not upset you."

‟Don't worry about it, anything's better than what I was living on."

She said her goodbyes to her new boss and immediately bit the envelope off to get the cold hard cash inside. She'd been counting the minutes until since the moment she signed the contract.

Money… real money! In her hands! She's never even seen bills like these!

There was like…. 250 bucks! For just two weeks of work!? Her mind was overwhelmed with possibilities. She could buy anything she wanted with this much—

‟Susie." - The voice boomed, from the hollow of a tree, ‟Don't."

‟What?"

‟I know what you're thinking… You must notspend your whole paycheck on cola flavored gum wheels."

This mind is a prison.

‟Can I at least buy one? And a sandwich?"

‟Fine, you can buy one."

For the first time in forever she ate REAL food on a REAL park bench! Looking less like a homeless freak and more like a bored, freshly-dumped teenager. Being a Saturday evening, the path was swarmed with monsters of all different hues and magnitudes of sizes, and as the sun set long orange shadows over Hometown, pairs of twos holding hands started dotting the park. It was a bit annoying, but a full stomach meant nothing was bothering her anytime soon! The gum wheel she just bit once to see how it felt. She dunked the packaging in a trash can and went home, it was late enough to avoid suspicion.

The remaining hoardof cash she'd placed in a secretive dark pocket dad had no knowledge of. In the back of her jacket, next to the base hem was a tear in the fabric, and now a patch she had sewn a long time ago, the stitching was starting to come off. So she carefully cut the top string off the cloth square, just enough that she made a small, completely hidden pocket. She was most proud of that one, but it was one of many hidden groves she'd built for herself. Oh, she'd used a similar one to stash the apron inside, since Asgore was adamant she keep it (and offered to wash it when it got dirty).

There's her street.

All her impressions of her friend's dad were comically wrong, guy was the nicest fluffiest middle aged guy in hometown. Even nicer than Catti's dad, who used to throw her bones from his barbeques and leave out milk for her. She assumed there was something wrong with him since Kris never talked about his dad much, and he didn't live with the rest of the family. So that meant he hit his wife and kids… Yeah, her mind was screwed up.

She walked up to her apartment.

And, she didn't think it out loud, but she was wonderin' in her head if Mr. Dreemurr was why Kris was like that. Since his mother was super fluffy and awesome and baked pie with the purple dino, and his brother was a fluffy ball of sunshine that would glomp him from 20 feet, so it had to have been his dad who'd done something to scar him into a shambling zombie that he was up until last year. But nope!

Opened the door to her house.

His dad was even fluffier and sweeter than his Mrs. Dreemurr! He had a flower shop! How the hell, Kris? Made her think of how they went to the cinema and he saw Noelle and… wait what? No-no, she doesn't remember that.

‟Am home!"

What kinda RPG black magic did y'all do to make him like that, then?… Did they all leave all her negativity into him? Or, thinkin' about it… in what state was he before they adopted—

‟Hey." - She heard her dad's voice, whatever fun thoughts colored her world blew off in smoke. She was back in her hovel of a disgusting green and brown house with walls half-peeled off.

‟What'd you do today?"

‟I-I did fine, dad!"

He grumbled quietly, ‟You say the same shit every day."

‟I said I'll do better, so I will! I promise, just… You know!"

He was having a flare-up, or there was nothing good for him to watch on his precious TV. He sits there all day then has the gall to be picky about what's on. She tried to slink past but a stake was driven into her neck.

‟Wait. Something's different about you today."

‟W-What?"

‟…You're hiding something. I just know."

‟Huh? What're you talking about, dad?"

G-God damn it! He's a damn idiot, why was it always with her that he'd notice?!

‟What's in your pockets, Susie?"

‟Nothing but the keys and phone!" - She emptied them for him.

‟…Give me your jacket."

‟…"

‟Didn't you hear me? Give me the jacket."

‟… S-Sorry dad, last time you ripped the hood, I got no other clothes left."

‟What, you're cold in the summer? Give me your jacket."

‟I already said Da— D-Don't touch me!"

‟Don't speak back to me."

‟Leave it, dad! This is all I got left!"

She said, rushing back towards the door. He grumbled something and decided it wasn't worth it. She stammered something and slammed it behind her.

Limping off and doubling over in stress on the stairs. She was out of breath and felt like choking up.

She'll be hanging in the park some more. No choice now.