Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You set off for school. Enveloping you is a cacophony of a busy morning. The crash of an old apartment complex’s door behind you, the rattling of keys, the tapping of shoes down a set of grainy stone stairs, crunching leaves on the way down, and the rustling of an inside-out sweater in your hands. As you land on the sidewalk, the discordant arrangement of noises gives way to a kind silence, and your feet tap away from the inside’s cozy warmth into the open chill of the outdoors. A nibbling cold gnaws at the hairs of your arms as you flip your sweater’s sleeves properly. In the process, you take your phone out of the sweater’s pocket and continue fixing your sweater with it in hand. You squeeze yourself through your sweater, praying that in your brief moment of darkness you dodge any of the sleepy pedestrians slowly filling the streets. Your head pops out the neck hole, and as a final touch you readjust the single strap of your backpack hanging off of your shoulder, ensuring it’s in just the right position to make you look cool.

Brushing the hair out of your face, you narrowly evade three vibrant oddities racing your way.

“Hey, try not to walk so fast when you can’t see!” a blue giantess shouts back at you. After letting out a mumble of an apology, you notice the three in better detail. A tall, blue fish with a single eye and crimson hair, a nerdy yellow reptilian, and a purple spider girl, with nearly as many eyes as she has arms. Monsters. Before you can count the spider’s arms and eyes, you turn back around and resume your trek to class; you don’t have time to waste. Without a second glance, you leave the monster trio be and weave yourself into the crossroads of a Monday morning.

It was only a few years ago when monsters first started showing up. A single child that went missing quite some time ago resurfaced out of the depths of Mt. Ebott, a place said to be a death sentence. The child brought with them the entire monster population who was thought to be locked away for generations. Society buzzed, cried, cheered, and threw up every sound possible over this arrival, but you didn’t mind either way. You sleep in the same bed, eat the same food, talk to the same friends, and go to the same college. Why would this change anything?

You turn a corner as you near your class’s location, and lower your eyes onto a dull orange leaf. Your step quickens as the desire to step on such a potentially crunchy leaf grows. Just before your foot meets the leaf, you feel a poke on your right side and an arm forcefully tug your left sleeve back. You gasp as you’re spun in a whirl of shock, then you catch yourself turned around. You lay your eyes upon Sara and Russel, the chuckling culprits to such an uncool crime; your friends.

“Been a while since we caught ya on the way to class,” Russel celebrated, “you’re usually such an early bird we rarely get the time for pranks.” He walks over and pats your back, pushing you back on the right path as Sara trails around to your other side.

“Yeah, how come you’re not already there?” She said.

“I skipped out on some sleep,” you murmur, “so I had a kinda slow start up this morning.” Using your quiet tone as a distraction, you stick out your foot to trip Russel, and he tumbles in an instant. You hear a muffled “Dickhead!” from Russel before you all erupt in laughter. “Six to four,” you smirk. The three of you talk away for the remainder of the walk. The cold gray morning feels warm among their presence. Russel’s boundless energy and Sara’s tenderness place you at home. Russel breaks away to his classroom, waving you and Sara off as you chat about the upcoming season of a show you both like.

The two of you swing open the doors and make your way into your first morning class, ripping yourselves away from the grasp of the unsatisfied cold. As warmth reunites with your body, the buzz of the old ceiling lights greet you upon sitting down. You and Sara wrap up your conversation and you prepare for class.

In the middle of the professor’s droning, you run away to the margins of your notes to doodle. Your brain shuffles around to throw forward a drawing prompt, and you catch it. You try your best to draw the three monsters you saw earlier in the morning. After a couple of wacky scribbles of the blue fish and yellow reptile, you find yourself most proud of the drawing of the purple spider. Hm, seems you remembered her appearance the most, for whatever reason. The three monsters, now made of mechanical pencil lead, stare at you with eyes that demand more art. Whatever lecture the professor is trying to waste your time with joins the background buzzing of the lights as your inspiration takes control of your hand. You sketch the rest of class away drawing all sorts of unique characters; some you had drawn before, and others you designed on the spot.

The snapping of binders and sliding of chairs takes you back to reality. Class felt a little too short. You reach your eyes up to the clock in the corner of the room, and scoff at the fact the professor still hasn’t fixed it. Ah well. You reach into your pocket for your phone to verify the time, but feel a dreadful lack of rectangular technology in your hand. Shit. As everyone in the classroom rushes out, Sara fails to catch you.

“Wait, h--” Sara starts.

“Tell me later,” you shout over the crowd, “gotta go back and find my phone!” You nearly wipe out on the wave of people gushing out of such tiny doors. Rushing back along the path you walked earlier, the air feels a little warmer now that the sun has placed itself comfortably in the sky. As you cross streets and slip through busy sidewalks your eyes dart around for any sign of a dropped phone. Your search is pretty hopeless, but you’d rather not deal with your mom about this one. Before the last bit of fight within you burnt up, you felt a pointy tap on your shoulder. You turn around and lay eyes upon the purple spider girl from this morning. Looking at her this close, you realize your drawing actually kinda sucked. Her eyes were much shinier and her skin was much more vibrant and smooth-looking than you remembered. Wait, did she always not have a nose? Maybe you should check if you gave her one in your drawing earlier.

“Ahuhuhu~!” A bubbly laugh chimes.

“H- Wha..?” You respond, taking notice that the spider girl was now laughing at you, one hand over her mouth.

“It’s fine,” she responded, “but come on.” Her giggling continued as she wiggled around another one of her hands that you failed to notice amid your staring. Your phone!

“Oh! Thank you so much!” You beamed, “Where’d you find it..spider, uh...lady?”

“Muffet,” she confirmed, “and it was right where you dropped it after bumping into us this morning.” The smile on her face wouldn’t fade; she found this situation all too funny.

“Ngaaaah!!” The blue fish woman roared as she approached with her yellow sidekick. “You didn’t even give us a chance to hand it back, you speed demon!”

“I w-was the one that picked it up..b-but” the reptile forced out, “you had already v-vanished among the other people when I looked up.”

“Ah, I’m so sorry,” you apologized softly, “I was in such a rush to get to class, I had no idea.” You worry that these three had to go out of their way to find you again, but your thoughts get cut off by the erupting laughter of the blue fish.

“Bahahaha!” she booms.

“What’s so funny?” you respond.

“Nothing,” she starts, “it’s just your sweater.” She points at your sweater and the three girls share a soft smile. You look down puzzled at your simple striped sweater. “It just reminds us of someone we know.”

“M-maybe it’s symbolism!” the reptile raises. Before your next awkward response, your hand is met with the crushing confident grip of the crimson-haired fish.

“Undyne!” she growls with a smile, “and that’s Alphys.” she states, cocking her head back to the yellow reptile. You put your phone back into your pocket and face the three.

“Thank you again Undyne, Muffet, Alphys. Sorry if this caused trouble for you all.”

“No worries,” Undyne cheerfully reassured, “if anything, maybe it was meant to be!” You tilt your head in confusion, and Muffet giggles.

“The three of us happen to get along pretty well with weirdos in striped clothing,” she says, “and after that strange staring contest you fit the bill, deary.” You awkwardly laugh as the three share a pretty good snicker.

“Well,” Undyne calmed down, “we oughta be heading back to our place.” The other two prepared to take off with her. “We monsters are pretty friendly though, so hopefully we see you around some more!” As Undyne proudly waved goodbye, Alphys nervously wiggled her hand, and three of Muffet’s slender arms raised to say farewell.

“Bye!” you shout back before you begin to make your way home for the day. Those three really didn’t seem so bad. Monsters, huh? Why do people hate them? In fact, you actually really want to see them again! The crunching leaves and occasional sliding of your shoes against the sidewalk became the soundtrack to your thoughts. They seemed to like me, although hopefully Muffet didn’t think I was that weird. …Muffet. You couldn’t exactly place it, but there was something about her that stuck with you all the way home. Was it her voice? Maybe her fashion sense, or her hair, her five eyes, or the silly way she talked to you? Hm, it could even have been all of the above. You feel a warmth in your chest that makes your next steps hesitate. The ground you walk on no longer feels familiar; you’re stepping into something new, but that’s okay.

You let out a sigh. “Whatever…” you make your way inside and up to your room. The slim beams of light shining through your blinds frame a cool, dim room. You toss your keys aside, drop your bag by the door, and throw yourself into your bedroom. You allow your shoes to land wherever fate decides, and you land on top of your bed. You press the power button on your phone, and as the blue light from a social media app pours into your eyes, you can’t help but think a little bit about the hand that held it last.

From now on, maybe you should always take more time getting ready in the morning.

Chapter Text

Your eyes burst open to the shock of a cell phone to the face. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to get so comfy. You lift your phone back up with the hand that desperately tried to keep it away from your once slumbering face. The screen is off, and you catch the reflection of yourself in the glass; what a mess. Underneath your tired eyes you feel a strange nervousness within. Giddiness? What exactly are you feeling...did something happen?

Before your mind catches up to the present, your phone shakes out a light buzz into your hand as its screen lights up, leaving you with a perfectly timed text message. While one of your favorite pastimes is ignoring texts, this one’s from Russel, so you decide to give it a read.

“Hey, I caught up with Sara earlier,” his text reads, “Hope you found your phone, or you won’t be reading this I guess!” You laugh a little at the stupidity of the text. “If you are reading this, though, then come get a bite to eat with us. You know where we’ll be, same seats as always.” Guess it’s decided then. You were reading it, after all. Your blankets and sheets whisper a terrible tune with your groans and grunts as you lift yourself back into the day. You start to remember everything that’s happened today as you slip your shoes back on. You met monsters today..huh. That thought makes that nervous feeling try to crawl up your throat, but you push it down with a swallow, a deep breath, and some distracting thoughts as you take off into town again.

3:17 your phone says. Lucky that today was your one class day.

“Ugh.” you groan at the encasing heat surrounding you. Since fall is just breaking in you’re not able to enjoy a single day without bizarre weather changes. The cold of dawn is nowhere to be seen, and you aggressively yank off your sweater and tie the sleeves around your waist. Now the warmth doesn’t feel so bad, but you always preferred colder weather, so you continued walking with a warm dissatisfaction.

As you make your way through town, your eyes dart around to check the identity of every face walking past. Nobody you look at seems blue, the streets don’t have a single reptile, and every person you pass has the standard two arms and eyes. Wishful thinking. Trying to control your next encounter becomes too much to think about, so you pick up the pace of your walking and head straight for your favorite fast food place.

You step into a building you know just as well as your own place, and you step with pride and excitement to the super cool and comfy booth seats in the back. You squeeze into a comfortable position right next to Russel and Sara, who were considerate enough to have already ordered your usual favorite for you. The conversation starts after you smack down the price of your meal onto the table, leaving it for whoever generously bought your food.

“Hey hey, thanks,” you say, “pretty good guess considering you guys didn’t even know I got my phone back.”

“I saw that you read my text, dumbass.” Russel said, scraping the money off the table into his pocket.

“Oh. Yeah.” you respond, queuing Sara and Russel’s joint laughter. Sara cuts her laughter short to get the full story.

“So, where’d you lose it?”

“Not too far from my apartment, I just dropped it as I was putting on my sweater.” You answered. Russel scoffed.

“I’m surprised one of those new monsters didn’t grab it and run.” he pushes through a suspicious snicker. You feel uneasy at such a statement, and spit out the first words that come to mind so the conversation doesn’t hang on an awkward pause.

“W-well, guess I got lucky then, cause I found it fine.” you chirp. Why did you say that!? The fries in front of you now look gross to your diminishing appetite. You look over at Sara and her face looks as though nothing is wrong. Come on. To salvage the situation, you shovel some food into your mouth to build your defenses. Through the barricade of flavor, you speak back to Russel. “What’sh sho bad about monshtersh anyway?” Sara giggles at the way your face looks. Russel, however, isn’t so pleased by your question.

“Ohh,” he groans, “don’t tell me you’re one of those people.” You nervously swallow out of fear and the fact that there’s a lot of food in your mouth. You freeze in your seat, and before your muscles can shock you back into another response, Sara jumps in with exciting news regarding a huge content update to a game you all play. The tension shatters as your lungs stretch out a sigh of relief. You turn your head to see Sara giving you an interesting look, and take the opportunity she gave you to turn the tide of the conversation.

You, Russel and Sara spend nearly two hours in the restaurant talking about this content update. So many new features, changes you’ve been waiting on for years, and some scary bugs that the developers seem to be ignoring. After you’re all finished reading, your combined six eyes fall onto a singular phone screen as you all sit down on a bench outside. The videos of the new update’s biggest additions are a perfect distraction to the clouds sneaking up in the sky. As your shadows grow timid, you boom and burst with excitement about the game and any tangents the conversation brings, speaking the minutes off the clock.

A single drop of water jumps into your conversation, splashing onto the face of one of the lead developers during a recording of his Q&A livestream. Russel pauses the video and puts his phone away, which was barely enough time to prepare for the absolute devastation currently on its way to meet the three of you. Rain started to pour down, pounding the idea into each of your heads that the weather doesn’t care about how unfair it is. You try to jump back under the covered walkway, but your foot is caught by a shoe of betrayal, and your face meets the ground below.

“Six to five!” Russel hollers as he laughs his way down the sidewalk. “Later, fellas!” are the last words of the man who used the weather to get even. You pick yourself up and say goodbye to Sara. Checking your phone under the walkway’s protection, your phone tells you it’s 6:42. Damn, so much for fast food. Since you ought to be heading back anyway, you step along the sidewalk back home. Above your quiet footsteps you hear the chaotic marching of hundreds of waterdrops chasing you above the cover of the walkway. Reaching the end of the block, you despair at the sight of a crosswalk. Either your sweater soaks up above your head, or you get a free shower on the way home. Small feet tap up behind you as you pick your poison, and the sound gets loud enough to turn you around.

“I-It’s okay, I’ve got y--” a familiar voice triumphantly stutters, swinging open an umbrella directly into your face, sending one of its tips right into your eye.

“Ow!” You shout, stepping back. Your weight is caught by a soft warmth pressing against your back, and suddenly you’re pushed back to neutral standing by whatever you nearly fell into. With one hand over your eye you try to get a good look at who or what just ambushed you. Your vision is greeted by Muffet and Alphys. Muffet is smiling, and Alphys is in a panic.

“O-oh my GOD, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to!” She squawks. You take your hand off your eye and reassure her that it’s fine as it slowly opens back up. At the very least, the warmth of your eye’s irritated skin is a nice contrast to the cool breeze the storm has brought in. You can hear Muffet’s signature laugh now that all the commotion is over.

“Here,” you suggest, extending a hand, “since I’m the tallest, let me handle the umbrella.”

“Brilliant th-thinking!” Alphys says, trying to make up for her attack with confidence and agreement. She hands over the umbrella, and the three of you start walking across the street from within the bubble of safety provided by the umbrella.

“Headed the same way, deary~?” Muffet asks. You laugh a little.

“Oh, you guys are going this way, too? I thought you two were just trying to be nice with the umbrella.” You turn your head to see Muffet carrying multiple bags of every baking ingredient you could think of. In fact, some of the containers and labels your eyes land upon through the plastic bags are completely new to you.

“No no,” Alphys rings, “we’re headed on the optimal route back home, see?” She points to her phone to show you her brilliant plan. It was Google Maps.

“Well then,” you say, changing your voice to mimic a dramatic hero, “straight ahead!” The two giggle at your little bit. You turn your attention back to Muffet while facing the path ahead. “So what’s with the bags, and how come you’re carrying them?” You ask, “I know you’ve got all the arms and everything, but wouldn’t Undyne be much better with all of that?”

“Ah, she’s out coaching for the rest of the day.” Alphys responds. Muffet sounds happy that you noticed the bags, and she steps slightly closer behind you.

“It’s for baking, if you couldn’t tell!” She says, “I’m trying to start up a bakery in town, so I’m getting everything I can to work out some splendid recipes with non-spider ingredients!” You laugh, but your laughter turns to shock as you look at Muffet and see her expression gives no indication of her joking about previously using spiders in her baking.

“Are Alphys and Undyne working with you, then?” You ask.

“No, no.”

“Then how come you’re always with them and not at this upcoming bakery already?” The positivity in Muffet’s voice fades, and your heart drops after realizing the rudeness of your words.

“W-well…” Muffet stutters, “things haven’t exactly been working out.” She looks over to Alphys, and a smile returns to her face. “But it’ll be alright, Undyne and Alphys are letting me room with them until my bakery makes its debut.”

“With all of those ingredients, I can only assume you know your stuff,” you say in an attempt to encourage her, “what’s causing issues in your plan?”

“It doesn’t seem like many people want to accept business from someone that looks like this.” Muffet says looking down at herself. You stop in your tracks, and the beating of the rain upon your umbrella gets louder, as if to listen to your next words.

“Well please don’t give up.” You say, looking back into as many of her eyes as you can. “I could never fully grasp your situation, but as someone who hopes to be an artist one day, career struggles aren’t unknown to me.” You consider ending your little speech there, but you want to leave it with a little more of a positive end. “If it were me, I’d buy your entire stock. I’m sure someone out there will give your bakery a chance to thrive.” Alphys cracks a little smile as she looks at Muffet, who’s staring back at you with a new, hopeful sparkle in all five of her eyes. You all stand there in silence for a moment.

“Um…” Alphys interrupts, “are we gonna keep walking?”

“Oh, yeah.” you say, resuming your step with Muffet giggling behind you. You aren’t looking back at her, but you feel a little warmth and the occasional cloth rub against your back. Did she get even closer? You tense up a bit, but looking out from under the umbrella to see the tranquil blue-gray sky and the crashing of rain all throughout it allows you to relax again and enjoy the moment.

The rest of the way is quiet, at least on your end. Every now and then, the silence is broken by Alphys and Muffet discussing some subject you know nothing about. Despite your exclusion from the conversation, it feels like Muffet hasn’t gotten any further away from you this whole time.

You reach a set of stone stairs, now a glistening deep gray from the relentless rain. “This is my stop.” you say.

“Oh, oh, before you go!” Alphys shouts, “Here!” She hands you her phone, and when you look down at the screen, it’s a blank contact sheet. You let out a nervous laugh, but a happy one, and start filling out the contact information. For your contact icon, you select some random meme from Alphys’s camera roll and crop it down to a silly face. After you save yourself into her contacts, you hand the phone back to her and gaze up at the door to your apartment building. There’s no cover up the stairs to the door.

“Now, how’re we gonna do this?” you ask. You came up with a plan that was pretty stupid in retrospect, but it was fun to carry out.

All at once, the three of you hop up each stair, letting out a synchronized “hup!” with each little jump. Laughing as you all reach the front door, the three of you stand victoriously, nearly at the end of your journey. You open the door and try to ensure a way inside while still covering yourself from the rain. As you slowly inch through the door, you extend your umbrella hand further out the door to keep Muffet and Alphys shielded from the rain. Now fully inside, you start to close the door, moving your hand closer in and giving Muffet and Alphys less room.

“Hurry,” you laugh, “one of you grab it!” As your hand is nearly at the door Muffet places one of her hands on top of yours to take the umbrella from you. You let out another nervous laugh, and she giggles at you as you awkwardly squeeze the umbrella into her hand. Alphys and Muffet wave goodbye at you through the crack of the door, and you wave back with a hand that became way too sweaty after only being touched for a couple of seconds. As they turn around and walk away, you close the door and rub the palm of your sweaty hand on your sweater.

You calmly step back into your room, and only now do you feel the warmth of a smile reaching the corners of your cheeks. How long have you been smiling? You try your best not to sweat it, but despite your efforts your palm is just as bad as it was when her hand was on it.   Your shoes go flying as you fling the rest of your body once again, this time landing in an office chair instead of your bed. This isn’t for an office job, though. You just can’t afford one of those fancy gaming chairs. As your shoes plop down in some corner of your room, you pull your chair up to your PC and just lay back for a moment, taking in all the crazy events that happened today. You let out a sigh and smile, then place your hand on your mouse and begin to click away.

Aw man, now your mouse is all sweaty.

Chapter Text

After a dreamless night, your eyes give way to the growing light of a new day. It’s much earlier than you had aimed for, but the time was simply a consequence of the nap you took yesterday. Tossing and turning garners no results. Yesterday’s memories catch up to you, and your heart is struck with a timid warmth at their arrival. With this, there’s no hope in going back to sleep, so you decide to mope around your room for a bit before making your way out to class earlier than usual. With your sweater already on there’s no fear of losing your phone again, and your shoes scrape along the stone, leading you into a cool and quiet morning. You made it out of bed before the sun was fully in view, and while the morning cold fails to get beneath your sweater, you’re instead embraced by a numbing isolation. Yesterday was so lively. You met new friends and had a fun time with the friends you already had, but this lonely dawn only reminded you that such bright days weren’t meant to stay.

The rest of the week seemed to agree. Sara ran into you a few times, while Russel seemed to be doing his own thing. Your phone went quiet, and through the following days not a single text, call or invite appeared. You didn’t run into the monsters again, and every morning you made your way to class earlier than the last until not even the sun was there to greet you. For a single day you forgot how small you are.

For a handful of years now Sara and Russel have been your only consistent friends. You hoped that the monsters would have been the start of something similar, but Tuesday, Wednesday, and now Thursday were evidence of the contrary. Maybe you just happened to be one of the first humans that they had held a conversation with, and now that the interaction was over they were already past you. The memory of a sweaty hand claws at your emotions. There’s no way it was all for nothing, right? That day felt special, and you’ve felt different ever since. Let it have meaning. Please.

After your last class on Thursday, you begin another lonesome walk home. Your insecurities and discouraging thoughts are shattered by a piercing noise.

“Hey!” a voice yells from less than a foot to your right. You jump and turn to see Undyne towering over you at a calm pace. You look down to see Alphys walking by her side. She waves at you.

“Oh, hey guys!” you gleefully respond. No sign of Muffet.

“S-sorry I failed to contact you,” Alphys nervously begins, “We’ve all been a little swamped this week. I got a new job, and-”

“She’s a biomedical engineer!” Undyne roars, “No idea what that means, but doesn’t it sound cool!?”

“Yeah,” you laugh, “That actually sounds great!”

“So what’re you doing around here?” Undyne asks.

“Ah, just walking back to my place now that I’m done with classes for today. How about you?” You ask. Undyne jokingly flexes, even though her joke flex is way more impressive than any serious flex you could do.

“Just keepin’ in shape with Alphys.” Undyne answers. “We’ve got our jobs, but our bodies have to work, too! Well, mine does, but I’m more than happy to spend time with Alphys as she gets her body work in.” The two seem to be in a really good mood, and such bright energy is contagious. You stand a bit taller, not even realizing a smile begins to rest on your face.

“I was gonna ask through text,” Alphys chirps, “but since you’re here now I guess it’ll save me the time. W-would you want to come by our place tomorrow, whenever your classes are done?” Your heart lights up.

“Muffet is going crazy with her baking,” Undyne adds, “And she says that she wants to experiment with the ingredients she has left. Any additional arms could really help her six out.” You accept their offer, and Undyne laughs happily. “Reminds me of an anime you showed me,” Undyne says as she turns to Alphys, “a human having fun with a group of cute monster girls!” Undyne laughs herself into a roar before she looks back at you. “Hey,” she says in a playful tone, “this cute monster girl is off-limits, though!”  She puts an arm around Alphys’s shoulder and picks her up, making Alphys turn red.

“Th-that means y-you are, too!” Alphys manages to force out in response. All three of you share a laugh.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” you say as your laugh calms down, “you two aren’t the ones that I…” You try to catch yourself in the middle of digging a verbal grave, but it’s already too late. Undyne drops Alphys. You look back to see Undyne and Alphys staring at you with the most ridiculous and excited expressions you’ve ever seen. Without thinking, you break into a sprint to try and escape the spotlight of embarrassment beaming down on you, but Undyne catches up to you in an instant. She grabs you, and after whirling you around for a second you find yourself being held on her shoulder. You look down at her nervously as Alphys catches up.

“No way!!!” Alphys shouts when she sees your shaken face.

“Just let me go home.” You grumble in defeat.

“Uh,” Undyne grins, “which way is your place again?” You point in your home’s general direction, and Undyne begins to walk with you still on her shoulder. “Man, Muffet’s really filling up her schedule on the surface, huh?” Undyne remarks.

“I just think she’s kinda cute!” You yell to try and cover your tracks. You really suck at this. “Just don’t worry about it if she’s so busy, alright? She barely even knows me and she seems like she’s already got it all figured out, so I’d rather not get in her way. Just forget I said anything, I’m sure it sounds dumb.” Alphys runs around Undyne to get closer to the side you’re on, and she looks up at you.

“Trust me,” she says with complete sincerity, “it’s not dumb. I kn-know how you feel.” Undyne lets out a little chuckle of understanding, and she places you back on the ground. After a somewhat awkward silence, Undyne places a hand on your shoulder.

“In all seriousness, though,” she starts, “Muffet’s got a dream she wants to fulfill on the surface...we all do. You better not do anything to get in the way of that dream or her happiness, alright?” Undyne’s harshness stings a bit, but you know it doesn’t come from a bad place.

“Of course,” you respond, “I’d never want to do anything like that. All I’d want is the opposite.” The grip on your shoulder releases, and turns into a warm pat.

“Then you’ve got my support!” Undyne says, smiling from fin to fin.

“Mine too!” Alphys shouts. Despite this conversation taking a horrible turn, Undyne and Alphys’s support feels so uplifting. You return a smile to match theirs, and as if they perfectly understand your feelings the three of you return to a normal conversation all the way home.

Through the rest of the day you relax inside and have the occasional conversation with Alphys through text until you’re ready to sleep. In the dark of your room you slowly drift off into the next day. Your thoughts are filled with both the love of Undyne and Alphys’s smiles, and the aching feeling of worry creeping up to put an end to your excitement. This kind of thing has happened too many times for you to remember. You like someone, and as soon as word of it gets out it all comes crumbling down. These feelings are put to rest along with you, and your calm descent into sleep causes your senses to be oblivious to the vibration of a notification coming from the phone next to your pillow.

You made it to Friday, and since you managed to not take a nap yesterday you spent a little more time sleeping last night. You step outside into a morning where the sun is already waiting for you. Around you is the cool of morning being warded off by your sweater, but within you is hope for a great day ahead of you.

Your hand runs through your pocket and extracts your phone. Eager to kill some time on the way to class, you turn it on, and your eyes dart like a paddleball to make sure you keep walking safely. Your eyes fall upon an unread text from Russel.

“I’m going over to Sara’s place to chill out around 4 today, wanna come?” You sigh. After what happened when you were eating, maybe it’d be a bad idea to let Russel know you’re about to skip out on your main crew to hang out with a group of monsters. Your breath stutters for a moment, and you turn your phone off before placing it back into your pocket. The cool morning’s presence is more welcoming than the idea of facing Russel’s potential anger.

As you approach your class, you hear a voice call out to you.

“Hey, wait up!” It’s Russel. He catches up to you, but he doesn’t seem as energetic as usual. “You doin’ alright? I sent you a text last night.”

“Yeah, sorry,” you mumble, “I fell asleep and I missed it. What’s up, though?”

“I saw you read it not too long ago, idiot.” Russel half-playfully punches your shoulder. “So, you comin’?”

“Uh…” you hesitate, “I might, I’ll let you two know if I decide to swing by.”

“No worries, you can just say no if you don’t think you’ll be there.” Russel sounds disappointed, but you can’t feel any anger behind his words. You don’t know how to respond. Russel breaks off from walking next to you and heads around a corner toward a different building. “See ya around, then.” he says, waving goodbye.

You don’t go back home throughout the school day. You don’t have much of a break between your classes today and you even decide to have lunch on campus. Sara and Russel run into you and sit down.

“Hey,” Sara starts, “no worries if you can’t hang out today. At least we can still chill out here for a bit, y’know?” The three of you have a pretty normal conversation, but your attention periodically gets diverted to respond to messages from Alphys.

“I’ll be in town for a bit today, so if you wanna walk with me to our place when your classes are over, let me know where to find you!” her text reads.

“What’re you up to?” Russel asks looking down at your phone.

“Just messaging a friend.” you respond trying too hard to sound nonchalant.

“Oh, meet someone online recently?” Sara asks.

“Nah, nah, it’s someone I met in town earlier this week.” you might have said too much.

“Well I guess that’s what’s keeping you busy today.” Russel comments, his tone jabbing at your conscience.

As your conversation comes to a close you head off to your last class, which drones on for longer than you’d like. On your way out, you catch Russel who seemed to be waiting there for you. “Sorry if I’ve been a little aggressive lately,” Russel says, “I’ve noticed you’ve kinda withdrawn, and I guess I was overreacting.” Before you can accept his apology, Alphys approaches the two of you excitedly.

“Hey,” she says, “you ready to go?” She waves at Russel, who slowly waves back.

“Yeah.” you respond. “See you around, R-” as you went to walk away, your foot was caught by another, sending your face to the ground. You quickly sit up and laugh. “Ah, guess that means we’re tied, huh?” You look over to see Russel already making his way down the sidewalk.

“A-are you okay?” Alphys asks, panicking as she rushes over to you.

“Yeah, don’t worry, it’s just a little game Russel and I play.” you respond as Alphys helps you back up to your feet. You have a simple and friendly conversation with Alphys as she leads the way back to her place. From what Alphys has told you, Undyne and Muffet are already there, and Muffet already knows you’re going to be there. As you feel a bubble of nervousness swell from your heart up your throat, Alphys chimes in.

“Don’t worry,” she says, “we’re all your friends, so just try and have fun, alright?” You nod. Her words are coming straight from the heart. “I can tell you’re a little uneasy, b-but we wouldn’t have invited you if we didn’t want you around.” Her voice brings a gentle confidence to you. You’re still nervous, but now it’s out of excitement, not just fear. Alphys takes you inside an apartment building, and the unfamiliar sight and smell of the building’s interior make the whole experience surreal. You step into an elevator with a feeling similar to the morning of your birthday. Ahead of you lies an unopened present, and inside could be memories you either cherish or detest. The doors to the elevator close, and as the machine lifts you up, the weight of your anxiety tries to cling to the ground floor. The elevator stops, and as it rumbles you feel your worry slingshot up through your heart and to the top of your mind. Alphys grabs you by the hand before the elevator’s doors close again, and she drags you along to the door to their apartment. You stop tripping over each step and stand before the source of your unease. Alphys looks back at you and gives an encouraging smile before she lets go of your hand and begins to open the door.

Chapter Text

The last your senses could register was the creaking of a door. Suddenly, your mind let go of everything aside from the wonderful smell of baking. The nervousness from earlier vanished, and a calm smile led you into the apartment.

Your eyes took in every last detail of the living room, adding further to the sensory delights welcoming you into the home you feared so intensely only a small time ago. The apartment was simple. A few colorful decorations found themselves along the walls, and in the corner on the other side of the couch stood a punching bag. The punching bag was conveniently placed in front of holes in the wall. A head rose with excitement directly into your view. Undyne was sitting on the couch, and she bolted up to greet you and Alphys. After giving Alphys a quick peck on the cheek she picked you up as if to give you front row seats to her smile.

“You made it, little buddy!” she cheered.

“Oh?” you heard a curious voice ask. You turn to the source of the voice and see Muffet on the other side of the kitchen’s island. Her hair was still tied in pigtails, but her t-shirt and sweatpants were proof she didn’t dress for every occasion. Undyne excitedly marched into the kitchen.

“I’m finally allowed in the kitchen for today!” Undyne raved.

“Allowed?” You asked. Alphys came out of a dim hallway in a change of comfortable clothes.

“Oh, um,” Alphys muttered, “Undyne can get a little carried away with her cooking, so she’s only allowed in the kitchen when multiple people can watch her.” Undyne looks back at you and comically shrugs, leaving you to laugh at the absurdity of these three.

“Are you just gonna keep looking, or are you gonna help?” Muffet teased looking over at you. Her comment made you realize you were pretty much just standing in the middle of the living room like a weirdo.

“O-oh, uh, yeah!” You barked out as you speedwalked to the center of the action.

“‘Yeah’ to which one?” Undyne said through her teeth. You shot her a death stare on your way over, and she gave you a yellow sneer in return. As you arrive in the middle of the kitchen, you do a complete 360, noticing some sort of ingredient, utensil or appliance resting on every inch of the counters. Your observation is cut off by a poke on your shoulder.

“Could you put three cups of flour into that mixing bowl over there?” Muffet asks. She points toward the bowl in question, but you notice the rest of her attention is focused on a mix of her own. Muffet sends you, Undyne and Alphys on kitchen mission after kitchen mission. Despite the claustrophobic workout, you can’t help but admire how thought-out each step of Muffet’s treats are. Your current kitchen trek is interrupted by a splash of donut batter on your face.

“Ah! Who put Undyne on mixing duty!?” Muffet shrieks.

“Um, you.” Alphys responds.

“Then someone stop her!”

“Don’t worry, I got this, guys!” Undyne yells through the erupting batter. You rush over and begin a furious whisk wrestling match with Undyne. You’re holding on with the last bits of strength you have left, but Undyne’s muscles and determination to paint the walls with batter are too much. Just before you’re defeated, Undyne flashes purple and she’s ripped away from the bowl, bringing with her the whisk as well as you.

“Let the human finish the mixing!” Muffet growls, releasing her control over Undyne.

“Fine, fine,” Undyne grumbles, “just chill out with the magic.” Undyne hands you the whisk and you do your best back at the bowl. Once you think you’ve done an alright job, you carry the bowl over to Muffet’s workspace. For a moment, she turns to look at the bowl you’ve brought, and her serious expression shifts into a twinkling smile for a moment.

“Oh, great job, deary!~” One of her arms reaches out and pats your shoulder and another hands you a spider-shaped cookie cutter.

“Th-thank you!” you sheepishly respond, taking the cookie cutter and returning to your diligent work. Your eyes land upon a smiling Undyne, who winks in response to the little interaction between you and Muffet. Was that her goal all along!? You try not to take note of Undyne’s scheming as you turn the tray of cookie dough into a tasty spider nest.

Muffet walks across the kitchen and ends up right next to you. You shift your gaze to see her looking down at a composition book. Her eyes are running along a checklist, labeling ingredients and durations. She checks boxes next to several of these listings, and behind her the rest of her hands are still working away to prepare another batch. Her eyes lift off the pages and she catches you looking at her. A cute grin stretches out and she blows a tiny raspberry as she boops your nose with a frosting-covered finger. She giggles and turns around to head back to her usual post, and you blush as you wipe off and lick the frosting that she placed on your nose.

Your work starts to slow down, and the oven begins to open and close. You, Undyne and Alphys all gather around Muffet each time she goes to open the oven to witness firsthand the treats you’d worked so hard on. Some came out beautifully, and others looked a little ridiculous, but with each result Muffet wrote little notes, whether beaming with success or laughing at the blemishes. The final creation is retrieved from the oven: a batch of spider cupcakes! They look so great that Muffet gasps with a twinkle in her eyes, four of her hands clapping as the remaining two place the pan onto the counter. The four of you celebrate and help yourselves to some cookies, donuts and cinnamon rolls. They may all appear spider like, but Muffet promises she didn’t mix in a single spider this time. Even the cookies or donuts that look a little funky taste delightful, and when you’re all done stuffing your face, you go to sit down in the living room. Alphys goes into the hallway and Undyne joins you in the living room. Muffet takes a cupcake, boxes it, and then places it in the fridge before sitting next to you on the couch. As she calmly sinks down into the couch your heart screams as it tries to jump out of your mouth. You hold it in. The three of you talk for a while, and your eyes find themselves looking out the window to avoid direct eye contact with Muffet. It’s starting to get dark out. Time really does fly, huh?

Alphys stamps in holding a Nintendo Switch and begins to set it up with the TV. You all spend the next few hours playing games and chatting. The only controllers available for the Switch are its two Joy-Cons, so you’re only able to play games two at a time. Regardless, the moon comes by to watch the fun through the window. You pass the controller off to Muffet and sit back, allowing the couch to swallow you further. Even though Muffet is concentrating on the game, she sits back too and sinks into the couch until the two of you are on an even plane. Your eyes inch over to her and you notice she isn’t looking at you at all. Then it was just a coincidence, right? Muffet loses a Smash Bros. 1v1 against Undyne and hands the controller to you.

“Aw, come on! You spammed the whole match!” Muffet grumbled, turning her body in your direction to face Undyne.

“Still won, though!” Undyne retorts before she rolls around in her chair laughing. Now it’s your turn to face the fierce Undyne, but as the match begins, you notice Muffet hasn’t fully turned her body back to its original position. Is she trying to watch you play and look at the screen?

After an intense match, you rise to your feet roaring victoriously. Even though you were going easy on Undyne, it still felt really good to win with five eyes on you. You sit back and await your next challenger. You face off against Alphys and win yet again. At last, you come to the greatest dilemma known to humanity. Alphys hands the controller over to Muffet, and you must now decide if you should let her win or keep your crown. You dive back into the couch next to Muffet. The round begins and while you haven’t made up your mind yet, Muffet is now down to a single stock.

“Don’t get too close, you two!” Undyne laughs, breaking your concentration. This quick moment of hesitation allows Muffet to take you down to your last stock, too. You groan as you sit up from your couch pocket, and every now and then you look over at Undyne to see her still giggling a bit. Your divided attention puts your hands on autopilot, and before you can catch yourself, you beat Muffet and take another victory. Ah, you didn’t even realize. If only you weren’t so amazing at video games.

“Ahh, so close!” Muffet pouts. You feel a slight buzz in your pocket, and put the Joy-Con down to check your phone for a moment. Your lock screen shows a generic notification, but it brought your attention to the fact your phone’s battery is at 14%, and it’s now almost 9:30 pm.

“Uh, I think I might head out for now, my phone is almost dead and it’s getting kinda late.” you suggest.

“Nooooooooo!!!” the other three wail in unison. They understand, however, and Alphys gets the Joy-Cons and undocks the switch before returning to the hallway she retrieved them from.

“Oh, oh, wait a moment!” Muffet exclaims before scurrying down the hall past Alphys. You look over at Undyne, exaggerating your stare to let her know that you’re joking while also acknowledging the comments and faces she’s made about you and Muffet. Alphys returns from the hallway and your faces make her snort with laughter.

“Don’t worry,” Alphys says as she climbs back into her chair, “Undyne is just trying to give you a little push. She isn’t going t--” Alphys immediately stops talking when you hear footsteps approaching from the hallway. Muffet goes straight to the fridge, now wearing nicer clothing more suited for the cold. You can’t see what she’s doing over there, but you get up and hug Undyne and Alphys before heading to the door.

“Wait wait!” Muffet says, scuttling up behind you. “Is it alright if I walk back with you?” Your eyes widen and you brush the hair out of your face.

“I-I mean, you don’t have to go all that way this late at night. You can if you want, but…” Your eyes flicker back to Undyne and Alphys who are silently jumping and exploding with waving hands and thumbs raised. Your unreadable expression becomes a smile. “Sure, why not?”

“Yay!” Muffet celebrates, “Undyne and Alphys have run into you more than I have, so I wanted to catch up somehow.” You and Muffet exit the apartment, and within the first few seconds you realize you’ve never been so unprepared for anything in your life. Neither of you say a word. Nothing but footsteps into the elevator. Nothing but mechanical whirring down to the ground floor. Nothing but shoes tapping their way out into the frigid night. You walk along the sidewalk guided by street lights. You look over, and even in the darkness between street lights you can’t help but endlessly peer over at Muffet’s eyes, watching them glitter beautifully. Above the two of you is a blanket of stars, gleaming vibrantly. They shone so intensely it was as if the sky was filled with moons. They were alright. The glint in Muffet’s eyes struck you more as she turned to return your stare. “Sorry if things were a little crazy, or if I was a bit rude, or--”

“It’s alright,” you reassure her, “I haven’t had that much fun in a while. If anything, I should be apologizing for being so bad at that stuff.”

“So you’re not experienced with baking, then?”

“N-no, I wouldn’t say so. Sorry.”

“Aw, then I guess my list of potential employees is even smaller..”

“Hey, I don’t remember agreeing to work at your bakery!”

“I know, I know,” Muffet giggles, “I’m just kidding.~” You may have beat Muffet in Smash Bros., but she was much better at talking. After the nice little conversation she started, she asked about your classes, school life, your friends, and more. It was as if that entire week you spent worrying about where everyone had gone, they were worrying about the same thing. Your voices are the only sounds echoing in the night, and all the lights watch as you pass by and outshine them.

You finally arrive at your apartment building, this time Muffet following you inside and up to your place. “Anyway, thank you for coming by today, it was a lot of fun.” Muffet says.

“Yeah, it was great! Hopefully this is the first memory of a long list.” you respond, unlocking your door and beginning to enter. Before you make it all the way in, you feel a tug on your sleeve, and you turn around to see Muffet holding out a box which she had carried in a bag with her the whole way. “Huh, what’s this?” you ask.

“Well, you helped make all of today’s treats,” Muffet started, “so it’s only fair you get to keep at least one of them, right?” You blush and laugh a little, taking the box and passing through your front door. You say goodbye to Muffet and close the door, inviting yourself to a warm silence in the isolation of your living room. You head to the kitchen, and open the box to take a look inside. It’s a spider cupcake. You close the box and put the cupcake in your fridge, deciding to save it for another time. You get ready for bed, your heart thumping as your brain tightly hugs all of the events of the day. You take one last look in the mirror and laugh. Your nose was still a little purple.

Chapter Text

Amidst pure darkness a rumble begins to echo. It stops. Good.

…

It starts again. It’s too much to ignore. The rumbling grabs a hold of your mind and shakes it violently before ripping you out of the entangled vines of your droning slumber. Your eyes soon begin to follow, slowly adjusting to the blue light that continues to expand into them as your eyelids creep away like the curtains of a stage.

You have found yourself holding your phone. The sun is not up, you’re wrapped in blankets, your face feels like sludge and your body feels like it isn’t yours. You don’t know what day it is, nor do you have an idea of what time it is, aside from night. When your brain reminds your eyes they’re in reality, they respond to your brain with the image of a phone screen.

“Alphys, Incoming Call.”

The rumbling continues in your hand. That hand and the forearm it extends from feel like the only part of your body that’s alive, and despite reading the incoming call, your mind refuses to respond, and your fingers remain static. Eventually the call fades. 9:43 p.m. your phone screen tells you. You blink, and soon after your phone screen automatically turns off, and you’re returned to a pitch darkness similar to the one you recently emerged from. You slam your head back down into your pillow. The only sounds you can hear are the rubbing of cloth as you readjust your position and the buzz of your apartment. You close your eyes again.

Goodnight.

Chapter Text

Droning. A deep, unfeeling hum rings in your ears, its low song keeping you trapped in a lull. Your walls and the makeup of the building are great at disconnecting you from the outside. As your mind scrapes for thoughts, you slightly shift beneath your covers. The movement was so uncharacteristic to your senses that the sound of your hand drawn across the fabric steals all attention from your ears. You’d never even thought about the sound of fabric until now.

A louder sound clashes against your ears now. The door to your apartment. You lunge out of bed like a possessed corpse, and your head pounds in unison with the chunky hand beating the other side of that door. Your feet carry you without the help of your mind, and your own apartment blurs around you until you find yourself before the door. Your head, weighed down by an invisible burden, and your face, glistening with oils and sweat, turn down to look at the shiny doorknob. You unlock it, and open the door just slightly,

“O-oh! You’re here! Sorry, I–” Alphys’s eyes darted around nervously, looking up at you through the crack in the door until her senses returned, “I’m glad you’re okay.” You feel a warm tingle behind the whole of your face. “I was worried you’d gotten hurt or you thought we were really weird and were just ignoring us or something,” Alphys explains, fidgeting with her hands,

“No, no! I’m fine. I was just, um,” You have no explanation, “I was, I was really tired.” Your hand digs into your pocket. The light from your phone screen makes you squint as your eyes strain to adjust to the blue light. It was 7:21 p.m. Has it been almost an entire 24 hours since Alphys tried to call you? It feels like ages have passed, “Sorry, I should’ve responded,” You apologize, your hand subconsciously cracking the door open just a tad more. The little yellow reptilian monster adjusts her glasses and looks up at you. Her facial expression scrunches up a bit in a mix of surprise and worry,

“Are you alright? You look a little…” She trails off,

“Bad?”

“No, you just-”

“Bad.”

“I’d describe it more as-”

“Bad. I look bad.”

“Yeah…yeah, you look bad.” Alphys finally admits, scratching her brow as she looks down. “Are you doing okay?” She asks with a level of sincerity unfamiliar to you. The warm tingle scratches behind your face again.

“Well, I think I missed a couple classes today. But that’s no big deal. I should probably freshen up. Thank you for checking on me, Alphys.” You respond earnestly. Your hand pulls back to close the door, but before you can, Alphys’s clawed hand grips tightly and stops the door’s motion,

“W-wait! You didn’t answer my question.” She says, sounding determined.

“Huh?”

“Are you doing okay?” She asks again.

“...I’m doing fine. Thank you.” You give her a smile that, judging by her expression, instills no reassurance in her. Nevertheless, she lets go of your door.

“Alright. I’m glad you’re okay. Um…I hope you come over again some time! It would be nice to see you again.” She offers. After lingering for a moment longer, Alphys’s expression turns almost stern as she turns around, your eyes watching her step down the hallway towards the stairs to leave the apartment complex. She takes out her phone, and she begins to type like a machine. You close the door and lock it once more.

You turn around to see the last light of the day beaming in from behind the curtains covering your windows. You stand and stare at the curtains for a minute. Then, you walk forward and pull them aside. Your ears take note of the delicate sound of fabric, and your hand gripping it as you slide the curtains away, giving you a better look at that amber sunset. Even if you were only catching it right before it was gone, it was nice to see. It was worth it to pull the curtains aside.

“Alright…shower time. No getting out of it.” You mutter to yourself, moving about your apartment to get ready to freshen up as you promised. You flick on your bathroom lights and step into the bathroom, towel and a change of clothes in hand. As you step inside, your head turns to look at your reflection in the mirror on the wall. Well…it’s you. You turn the shower on, and while you wait for the water to get warm, you go to the fridge to grab a glass of water to drink.

You pull open the fridge door, the appliance’s electric hum getting louder as it opens up. You grab the water pitcher. Before you turn away and close the door, your eyes lock on to a little box inside the refrigerator. Muffet’s cupcake. The warm scratching behind your face returns in full force, winning the struggle at last. Before you can even think to control your emotions, your vision blurs, warm tears trickling down to wet your cheeks as your breath hitches. You close the fridge, leaving one hand on the door as the other wipes away your tears and rubs your closed eyes. In your head, the image of the little box is as real as everything on the other side of your eyelids. You continue to weep gently, so wrapped up in your own emotions that you can’t even feel the smile on your face.