Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Rolling over, Chara tried to avoid the sun’s light. It was the weekend and Chara planned to take full advantage of the later morning.

All hopes of that were dashed as a knock rang out on the door. “Are you awake, boys?”

Chara groaned as he sat up and crawled out of bed. “I’m up, Dad.”

Asgore opened the door and walked in. He took a glance at Chara prying himself off the floor, then shifted his gaze over to the desk. On the desk was a potted plant that was lying down and curled up like a cat. “Flowey, may I assume you’re awake as well?”

“Yep. Plants don’t sleep,” Flowey muttered, straightening his stem.

“I’m sure they don’t,” Asgore replied, holding in a chuckle.

Flowey protested, “That was a momentary vegetative state!”

Chara finally rose to his feet. “Why have you entered, Father? I thought we weren’t going to Gerson’s until this afternoon.” It hadn’t been that long, had it? Chara hoped he would feel a lot more well-rested by then…

“No, no. You see, it turns out that Gerson is very sick, so he can’t take care of you while I’m out of town,” Asgore explained.

Flowey cringed a bit as he inquired, “Doing what again?”

Chara glared at Flowey. “For someone who brags about possessing all knowledge…”

Asgore rolled his eyes as he walked over to Chara’s desk and pulled out the chair, then sat down on it. “We’re meeting with the UN to discuss monsterkind’s citizenship, then we’re going to talk to US officials about the Monster Inclusion Act. It’s getting rather close to passing…”

“Oh yeah. That,” Flowey muttered.

Chara sat down on his bed and grabbed their blanket. “So if we can’t go to Gerson’s, where are we going?”

“Well, before I decided I wanted to talk to you boys,” Asgore explained. “Your mother would be perfectly willing to have you stay there.”

“That madhouse? For, what? A week? Hard pass!” Flowey exclaimed.

Chara snuggled with his blanket, willing for sleep to overtake him soon. “I love Mom, but I do not want to spend that much time surrounded by all of those other children. It’s simply too crowded.”

“She said you could get your own rooms,” Asgore offered.

“The other kids will bother us anyway,” Flowey argued. “Still no.”

“She thought you two might say that,” Asgore admitted. “If you don’t want to stay there, then what would you suggest? And I don’t want to hear ‘jail’ or ‘juvenile detention’ this time?”

“Is prison better?” Flowey asked.

Asgore sighed. “No.”

Chara admitted and let go of his blanket. “Dad, could you pass me a paper and pencil? A clipboard as well?” he requested.

Asgore quickly opened the desk drawer and grabbed the supplies, though his speed caused the desk to wobble a bit.

“Hey, not so quickly, Dad! I’m on this desk!” Flowey protested.

“Of course, I’m sorry,” Asgore apologized.

“You’d better be…” Flowey muttered.

Asgore stood up and handed the supplies to Chara. “What do you need that for anyway?”

“A list. We can think of whose homes are truly options in the first place,” Chara explained. As he did so, he put down “Toriel” and “Gerson”, then crossed them off.

“Then let’s get some names on there!” Flowey exclaimed. “This boring conversation shouldn’t be taking this long. So, Undyne and Alphys, Papyrus, Mettaton.”

“Don’t put Mettaton on the list. Even if he is available, he’s not an option,” Asgore requested.

Chara added “Undyne” and “Skeletons”.

Asgore sat back down at the desk. “Well, Undyne, Alphys, and Papyrus all have royal positions and as such are all coming with me.”

“I keep forgetting Papyrus is the Royal Ambassador,” Chara admitted.

“Sans may very well inexplicably be there when we land,” Asgore added, “So staying with the skeletons would not work.”

“I wouldn’t willingly stay with just Sans either,” Flowey added with a sneer.

Chara crossed off “Undyne” and “Skeletons”, then asked, “Who does that leave us with?”

Asgore scratched his beard as he thought. “Not all too many people, I suppose. I don’t personally know all that many citizens, nor do you besides a few classmates and the other humans.”

“That’s it!” Flowey exclaimed. “We could stay with Clover!”

Chara added it to the list.

Asgore thought for a moment. “I suppose so. I could call Martlet and ask her, though admittedly I don’t know that she’d agree. I don’t know her that well.”

Flowey deadpanned. “Dad, you’re the king. Everybody loves you. She’ll probably say yes, and if she doesn’t, then we just need to mention it to Clover and she’ll start a riot for us!”

Asgore tried to suppress a sigh. “I don’t intend to start any riots, but you are most likely correct. Chara, you’d be okay with this?”

Chara put his clipboard back on the bed. “Yeah, Clover’s pretty tolerable. Besides, it would only be the three of us, which is infinitely less crowded.”

“But when considering that those two are Flowey and Clover, nearly as chaotic,” Asgore commented.

“They can keep each other entertained fairly well,” Chara retorted. “And at least they won’t pounce on the temporary residents like a half-dozen famished tigers.”

Asgore stood up. “Then, if that’s decided, I’ll give Martlet a call right now.”

“Does that mean I can return to my bed?” Chara asked.

“Not yet. Martlet hasn’t agreed-”

“Yet,” Flowey interjected.

Asgore paused to give Flowey a look, then continued. “Besides, you do have to shower, get changed, eat something, and brush your teeth before you go.”

“And you’ve gotta put me somewhere less boring. Maybe give me a bit of fertilizer as well,” Flowey suggested.

Chara sighed and crawled out of bed again before grabbing his brother’s pot.

“Now if you will excuse me, I’m going to call Martlet.” Asgore opened the door to leave.

“Wait, how about we call her together?” Flowey suggested.

Flowey whispered just loud enough for Chara to hear. “She can’t tell all of us no.”

Asgore shrugged. “I don’t see why not. I’ll call her now.”

Clover shoveled a handful of cereal in her mouth as she paced in the living room. If only she could remember where she’d put her six-shooter last night. Her Mom must’ve rubbed off on her, because she had no clue where it was.

On the brink of giving up, Clover sat down on the couch and suddenly felt vibrations.

A startled Clover jumped into the air and turned around. That wasn’t her gun firing, was it? As Clover dug through the couch cushions, she desperately hoped she had put safety on the gun… though she doubted it.

Suddenly, Clover felt something metallic. She tore it out from between the couch cushions to reveal… Martlet’s phone.

The phone automatically showed its lock screen, where Clover saw Martlet’s numerous notifications, most recently a missed call from “His Magesty”.

Who would that be…?

Oh. Martlet had a missed call from Asgore. The king.

Clover ran to Martlet’s room, phone in hand. She knocked on the door once, then squirmed in place for a moment. She listened in as she heard a groan, followed by “Five more minutes…”

With those words as her confirmation, Clover opened the door and sprinted in, making her mother sit up and flap around in shock.

“Ack! Did I oversleep for something? I didn’t sleep through your soccer practice, did I?!” Martlet cried out.

“No, I don’t even have soccer practice!” Clover exclaimed.

Martlet calmed down, leaning against her headrest. “Sorry, you did in my dream. What’s happening? Was there something this morning I forgot about? It still is morning, isn’t it?!”

”Yes it’s morning. No you didn’t forget anything (I think). Now can I talk?” Clover requested.

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry,” Martlet muttered, scratching her head.

“You have a missed call from Asgore.”

“Ack!” Martlet once again flew into a blind panic; sheets flew off of the bed and feathers scattered across the room. Martlet leaped out of the bed onto her feet, though she did it so fast that she immediately fell onto her face.

“Ow…” Martlet muttered as she lay on the ground.

“Do you want me to call him?” Clover asked.

“Yeah, sure. Just give it to me and I’ll unlock it.”

Clover paused. “Uh… too late.”

Martlet sat up and stared at her child, who avoided eye contact.

“Mental note: I need to change my passcode,” Martlet muttered.

Clover had every intention of making sure Martlet forgot. “Calling Asgore…”

Martlet slowly rose to her feet, but she felt a bit shaky and so she sat back down on her bed.

A voice came through the phone. “Howdy! I’m glad you called.”

“Uh, of course! Now, uh, what do you need?” Martlet sputtered out.

“Well, as you may be aware, I’m going to be out of town,” Asgore began.

“Yes, of course!” Martlet exclaimed. Clover could see clearly on her face that she in fact had no idea of that until this moment.

Asgore continued, “Well, I was wondering if you would be available to take care of my children in the meantime. And if money is a concern, then I’d be willing to give you some amount of compensation.”

“Wait, so Flowey would be coming?!” Clover asked.

“Yes, that is what I was suggesting,” Asgore answered. “He, along with Chara.”

“That would be amazing!” Clover cried out. “Please let them come,

“I’d, uh, be more than happy to take care of your children! And don’t worry, m-money will, uh, be no issue!” Martlet insisted. She tried to mask her nerves.

“I told you she’d say yes, Dad!” Flowey boasted.

“I’m grateful, Martlet. What time would you like me to drop off the children?” Asgore asked.

“A-Anytime would be fine!” Martlet answered.

“Can we go now?” Flowey asked.

“I still need to get ready,” Chara retorted.

“Fine, right after that?” Flowey asked.

Chara muttered, “I wanted more sleep…”

“Sleep can wait till night! It’s a long weekend, you’ll get plenty!” Flowey argued.

“Yeah, come on over soon!” Clover insisted.

“Fine…” Chara muttered.

“Then it is settled,” Asgore stated. “Chara, get ready. We’ll head over in an hour.”

“Yeah, okay,” Chara replied, his voice more distant from the phone.

“Goodbye and thank you, Martlet,” Asgore added.

“Of course, your majesty!” Martlet replied.

“Oh, I’m not calling as the king. I’m calling as the father of your daughter’s friend,” Asgore explained.

Martlet’s eyes widened. “Oh.”

“Now once again, goodbye.” Without another word, Asgore hung up.

“That makes a lot more sense,” Martlet muttered.

“Yeah, he’s Flowey’s dad,” Clover added.

“Yeah, I’m not the most intelligent right when I wake up,” Martlet admitted. “But now that I’m up, I’m going to get some cereal.”

Martlet stood up and walked side-by-side with Clover out of the room, only for the two to look at their living room. It had papers, remotes, boxes, and just… stuff strewn around everywhere. The only commonality between the items was that they were contributing to a disaster scene.

“They said they were coming in an hour, right?” Martlet asked.

“Yep,” Clover muttered, looking around the room with borderline horror.

Martlet turned and put her hand on Clover’s shoulder. “We’re going to need to…” she trailed off.

The two looked at each other and themselves. They each had stained pajamas and bad cases of bed heads. Martlet’s feathers were every which way on and Clover’s hair was sticking out of their hat at every angle.

“So do we clean up, then shower?” Clover asked.

“Our hair won’t be dry then. We’ll clean ourselves, then the house,” Martlet declared.

“Okay. Just curious though, where are Flowey and Chara staying?” Clover asked.

“The guest room of course!” Martlet exclaimed.

Clover looked to the side. “The one that’s…”

Martlet face-palmed. “The one that’s covered in chip crumbs. Right. We won’t have time for that, so once they get here, I want you to distract them while I clean the guest room, got it?”

“Yep. Now, is that all?” Clover asked.

“It’d better be!” Martlet turned around and began to close her bedroom door. “At this rate, the guest room won’t be the only thing we don’t have time to clean!”

Clover nodded and dashed away to her bathroom to clean herself up.

Chapter Text

“This place is even more messy than I thought…” Martlet muttered as she took crumpled pages of homework out of a basket so she could put the remotes in it.

“You can say that again,” Clover replied as she removed a marble set from a cabinet in order to put a rice cooker in.

Martlet adjusted a stool, only to find a hot wheel under it. “I’m shocked we still have some of this! I thought this car disappeared years ago.”

Clover grabbed the hot wheel. “Yeah, it did. How the heck did it get there…?”

Suddenly, the doorbell loudly chimed.

“They’re here already?!” Martlet shouted.

Clover glanced at the clock. “Yeah, it’s that time. It’s been an hour and five minutes.”

“I thought they lived more than five minutes away!” Martlet yelled. She looked at their living room, which was still a complete wreck.

Clover shrugged. “Should I answer the door?”

“I’ll answer it,” Martlet replied. “You shove all that stuff in the closet as fast as you can. Oh, and remember to distract both kids while I clean the guest room. We haven’t touched it!”

Clover saluted as Martlet walked out of the living room, through a hallway and to the front door. She opened it to see a cardboard box. Just mail. There was no one on the porch.

“Oh, I’ve been expecting this!” Martlet grabbed the package and placed it inside, then closed the door. She leaned over and opened it. “Yep, this is the new hammer. It’s been hard to woodwork since I lost that last one.”

Martlet stood up, cupped her hands, and called out, “They’re not here yet, Clover!” Martlet heard a distant sigh.

The doorbell rang again.

“Uh, nevermind. They’re here.”

Martlet swore she heard some laughter. Ignoring it, Martlet turned around and, after waiting two seconds, for Clover’s sake and to make herself not seem like a creep who waited at the door for an hour, Martlet opened the door. Standing on her porch this time were Asgore, Chara, and Flowey.

Asgore was, rather unusually, wearing his royal armor and cloak. It probably had to do with why he was going out of town. In his hands were a suitcase and Flowey’s brown flower pot, with a small design Martlet couldn’t distinguish. It was easy to tell that this was Flowey’s pot due to the aforementioned flora residing in it. Finally, Chara wore tan cargo pants, along with a yellow and green hoodie.

Martlet attempted to sputter out some words, but Asgore beat her to it. “Thank you once again, Martlet.”

“It’s no problem!” she assured them. “Come on in!”

Chara stepped in, dragging a suitcase behind him.

Asgore held out a duffel bag with Flowey’s pot precariously balanced on top of it. “Martlet, could you take this?”

Martlet took Flowey. “Do I need to do anything specific to take care of him?”

“I’m right here!” Flowey yelled.

“She knows, but you might give extra needs, such as a lollipop. I love you, but you are not trustworthy,” Asgore replied.

Martlet decided not to correct Asgore’s explanation.

“Now, for his needs, it is mostly just to water him,” Asgore explained. “Now, could you take Flowey’s bag as well?”

“Oh, sorry!” Martlet exclaimed, promptly taking the bag.

“Thank you once more Martlet. Goodbye, boys! Have fun with Clover and stay safe,” Asgore called out.

“Bye Dad,” Flowey and Chara called out, waving.

Asgore promptly turned around and left.

Martlet closed the door and turned to see Chara staring right at her.

“Where’s our room? I’d like to put our stuff there?” Chara asked.

Oh right. The messiest room which they hadn’t bothered even trying to clean.

“You can leave your stuff here. How about you start by playing- er, hanging out with Clover?” Martlet requested.

“Yeah!” Flowey cried.

Chara shook her head. “I’d rather just get some sleep. School’s been taking that from me all week.”

“Well, Clover’s dying to play with both of you, so maybe just do it for just a bit,” Martlet suggested. She internally pleaded for this to work.

“Both of us?” Flowey asked. Of course Clover wanted to play with Flowey, her best friend, but why would she want to play with Chara just as much?

“Both of you!” Martlet insisted. That… probably wasn’t true. Clover and Chara were more of acquaintances than anything else, but Martlet needed them both distracted, and they could get to know each other better.

“I suppose I will oblige her…” Chara resigned.

“Score! Being with both of you will be a blast!” Flowey yelled. If Clover had decided she was friends with Chara, that was just better for Flowey. He could play with two of his favorite people at once!

“Where is Clover anyway?” Chara asked.

“Yeah, can you take us to her?” Flowey requested.

“Yeah sure, let’s just put the bags against this wall first,” Martlet replied.

Martlet plopped Flowey’s duffel onto the ground, with Chara placing his suitcase next to it. Martlet silently pleaded that Clover had enough time to put everything away. Then, resigned, Martlet led Chara and Flowey to the living room.

As the three entered the living room, they found it (almost) perfectly clean. Martlet hoped they didn’t notice that the carpet hadn’t been vacuumed, the trashcan was overflowing, and there was still some junk between the couch cushions.

“Hey, Clover!” Flowey exclaimed.

Clover was panting in front of a closet door with beads of sweat on her forehead. She wiped her forehead with her sleeve and walked over. “Howdy, Flowey! Howdy, Chara!”

“Greetings,” Chara replied.

Flowey raised an eyebrow. “Clover, that’s a bit of a half hearted effort at cowgirl attire. Is there a reason why? Don’t tell me you’re secretly a normal person!”

It occurred to Chara just how unusual Clover’s current attire was. She wore just cargo shorts and a steam train t-shirt, along with her obligatory hat. In addition, her ponytail was quite messy.

Clover scratched her head. “Don’t worry. I’m still every bit the cowgirl you know me to be. I was just being lazy this morning cuz I didn’t know I’d have company.”

In reality, Clover had rushed to get ready as quickly as she could so she would have the most time to help her mother clean. Though, of course, Clover had made sure to grab her signature hat.

Martlet interrupted, “Hey who wants to hold Flowey? I don’t want to awkwardly run after you guys if you dash outside or upstairs.”

“I’ll take him,” Clover and Chara answered in unison. They both looked at the other and sighed.

“I feel so validated!” Flowey exclaimed. “How about you play rock paper scissors for me?”

Clover groaned. “You’ve got some nerve.”

Chara pushed Clover to the side. “Of course, your majesty, we’ll play your game.”

“Hey, Flowey doesn’t need an even bigger ego,” Clover argued.

“You didn’t let me finish,” Chara replied with a smug smile. “The loser gets stuck with the plant.”

Clover giggled. “Of course! On three.”

“Hey! You’d get blessed with my company!” Flowey protested.

Chara replied, “We know we’d get your unwavering company. That’s why we’re trying to avoid it.”

Clover and Chara turned back to back.
“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!”

They turned to face each other, both wielding scissors.

Chara and Clover narrowed their eyes as they glared right through their opponent. Then, they turned back around.

Chara rapidly considered his options, strategizing. He pondered, “What should I play next? Well, it depends entirely on what Clover will do. Clover just played scissors, which ended up as a tie. Since it didn’t end with anything meaningful, Clover is most likely to switch to something else, either rock or paper. It doesn’t matter which is more likely, because if I choose paper, I won’t lose to either.”

Meanwhile, Clover’s thoughts went as such: “Okay, I did scissors. Guess I’ll do rock.”

After a cry of, “Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!” they turned around again and Clover was disappointed to see that she lost.

“Lucky…” Clover muttered.

Chara decided to keep his psychological outmaneuvering to himself.

Clover ran over and took Flowey from Martlet’s hands. Flowey exclaimed, “Congrats on your prize!”

“Yep,” Clover replied. She turned back to Chara. “Anyway, now that we’ve gotten this sorted out, let’s go to the game room!”

“Okay, sure,” Chara replied with a shrug.

Clover started running to the gameroom. Chara was surprised, but quickly took off after her.

“Have fun!” Martlet called out.

Clover and Chara dashed upstairs, down a hallway, past several doors, and into the one at the end of the hall. Inside were several scattered toys, handmade cabinets, a fairly large mounted TV, and a torn couch with three cushions.

Clover took a look behind Chara into the hallway, where he saw Martlet entering the guest room with a vacuum and giving Clover a thumbs-up. It took a moment for Clover to register that she had been asked a question.

“So, what are we supposed to do, Clover?” Chara asked.

Clover raised her eyebrows. “You’re asking me? No, Flowey always comes up with the ideas. He’s better at them than me.” After answering, Clover sneakily closed the door behind Chara.

“I come up with what games we play most of the time,” Flowey clarified. “Please don’t misconstrue this as me attempting to control Clover’s entire life.” The “again” was left unstated.

“That might be a bad idea,” Chara warned.

“Oh shush! It’s always fun this way and we’ve got plenty of ideas. Besides, if we let Clover pick the game, she’d always choose cowboy role play,” Flowey argued.

“I was actually thinking about playing Mallow Karting X,” Clover admitted.

Flowey bore his fangs. “Didn’t you just say I was choosing?!”

Clover put her hands up defensively. “Yeah, yeah! I was just defending against your accusations.”

Flowey sighed. “Am I… mostly correct?”

Clover smile became a grimace. She then broke eye contact with Flowey and stared into space. “Maybe…”

“That’s what I thought,” Flowey muttered.

“So, wise one, what are we going to do instead of Mallow Karting?” Chara asked.

“A game that is genius in its simplicity!” Flowey exclaimed. “Truth or Dare!”

Clover and Chara looked at the other, each half-expecting a veto, but instead they each shrugged.

“Now, let me start,” Flowey continued. “Chara, truth or dare?”

Clover interrupted. “Flowey, I dare you to give us time to sit down.”

“Fine,” Flowey muttered. He was set down on the ground. Clover sat next to him and Chara sat last, forming a circle.

“Now, Chara…?” Flowey reminded

“Truth,” Chara answered.

Flowey stopped for a moment. “You know, I don’t think that’s fair. We’re brothers and you don’t have any friends, so I know just about everything about your life.”

“Hey!” Chara yelled.

“Sorry, without a soul I don’t sugarcoat anything. I guess though there’s something I wouldn't know…” Flowey smirked.

“What?” Chara asked.

“Is there anyone you- wait, let me rephrase. Who do you have a crush on?”

“And if I said nobody?” Chara asked.

“I’d ask why Odysseus caught your eye,” Flowey smugly responded. “Not choosing anyone is not an option.”

“Then you’ve forced my hand,” Chara replied, “I choose ’anyone.’”

“Har har. You know what I meant,” Flowey flatly stated.

Without missing a beat, Chara replied, “And you knew what I meant.”

“Which is why I responded to that too, along with making my joke! So please, do me that same favor,” Flowey argued.

“My initial statement was the only applicable answer to that question,” Chara retorted.

“Hey, uh, could you guys speak in English please?” Clover requested. She looked back and forth between them, not following what they had said.

“Yeah Chara, just say who you like!” Flowey pressed.

“There is no one in particular that I am invested in having a romantic relationship with,” Chara answered.

Flowey groaned, but there was no more argument. He just looked around, hoping for Clover to object or Chara to provide a more satisfying answer. Chara was staying silent to reinforce that he had no current object of affection. Clover was looking off to the side, towards Chara, and lazily smiling.

“Okay, Chara. It’s your turn,” Flowey muttered.

Chara turned to face Clover. “Truth or dare?”

Clover quickly turned back to Chara, her breath hitching. “Oh, yeah. The game. Uh… truth.”

Chara thought for a moment before he asked, “Why were you excited to interact with me to the same extent as Flowey when you barely know me?”

“It’s not the same extent, admittedly,” Clover answered.

“But why at all? We barely know each other; we’re mere acquaintances,” Chara questioned.

Clover looked at the ceiling, then at the TV, or really anywhere but Chara as she tried to think of an answer. She accidentally locked eyes with Flowey, who was looking at her suspiciously. Sweat formed on Clover’s brow and she racked her brain.

In truth, she hadn’t cared about playing with Chara much at all. That was not to say that she minded; Chara was quite agreeable, but he was right; Clover barely knew him. However, this was the best way to keep Chara out of the guest room while Martlet cleaned it, and Clover was fairly certain that was why she had said it.

Still, that meant the truthful answer was both hurtful and a secret. Clover couldn’t even think of a believable alternate answer…

“Dare?” Clover asked, turning back to Chara.

Clover didn’t like the way Flowey stared at her from the corner of her eye.

“I dare you to answer my question,” Chara replied.

Without a beat, Clover stated, “I wanted you to join so I could shoot you.”

Chara and Flowey’s jaws dropped to the ground as they stared.

“You never said it had to be a truthful answer,” Clover argued.

Both Chara and Flowey groaned.

“So now, Flowey, truth or dare?” Clover asked.

“You guys have been so boring!” Flowey exclaimed. “I’ve got the guts to say dare.”

“Uh…” Clover muttered. “I didn’t think this far.”

“Did you have an interesting question for truth?” Flowey asked, holding out a smidge of hope.

“...No,” Clovera admitted.

“Ugh,” Flowey muttered. “Just think of something.”

“I dare you to… there’s just not a lot of things you can physically do, you know, being a plant,” Clover explained.

“I resent that!” Flowey exclaimed.

Clover shrugged. “How about… you let yourself get juggled?”

“That’s boring, dangerous, and the funniest outcome is me getting dizzy! What’s the point of this?!” Flowey demanded.

“I think it would look really funny,” Clover defended.

Flowey’s retort died on his non-existent lips. He sighed. “Yeah, it probably would.”

Chara looked at Clover with a question on his lips. Slowly, he muttered, “...Do you even know how to juggle?”

“...No,” Clover replied.

“OhmygoodnessyouresostupidClover,” Flowey quickly sputtered out.

“What was that?” Clover asked.

“Nothing,” Flowey muttered, rolling his eyes.

Chara took off his jacket, placing it on the ground. “Well Clover, you’re quite lucky that I can juggle.”

As Chara removed his jacket, it showed his black tank top and exposed his rather defined muscles. Hearing a short whistle, Flowey and Chara looked at Clover, whose eyes were pointed straight away from Chara.

Clover looked back at the brothers. “What?”

“Oh it’s nothing,” Flowey assured her.

Suddenly, Flowey screamed as Chara lifted him into the air and began throwing him into the air and catching him.

“Can you juggle anything else too?” Clover asked.

“It’s not really juggling until three. Throw me two balls,” Chara replied.

Clover searched around the room, opening up several drawers with random assortments of toys and similar items. Eventually, she found a ping pong ball and a miniature basketball and threw them at Chara.

Flowey let out a cry as the miniature basketball slammed into his face. Chara ignored this and added both balls into his juggling act, though the different sizes and weights increased the difficulty immensely. After a moment, Chara came to realize he was not as good of a juggler as he had thought.

At once, the balls and Flowey all tumbled to the ground. Clover dived forward and slid across the floor, catching Flowey’s pot just before it shattered on the ground.

Flowey’s head slowly spun around in a circle as his unfocused eyes darted around the room. “Can w- we be… done?” he stuttered out.

“With juggling or Truth or Dare?” Clover asked.

Flowey shook his head, trying to rid himself of dizziness. After a moment, he processed Clover’s question and answered, “Juggling. Truth or dare should be fun…”

“Okay, then… ask me one,” Clover urged.

“Wasn’t Flowey previously directing his question at me?” Chara pointed out.

“We can just change the direction so it feels a bit newer,” Clover replied.

“I suppose that works,” Chara agreed.

“Glad we got that sorted out,” Flowey interrupted. “So, Clover, truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

Flowey smirked. “I dare you to call Frisk and invite them.”

“I’m not sure I can do that…” Clover muttered. “Not without my Mom’s permission.”

“Martlet wouldn’t mind!” Flowey assured her.

“Truth?” Clover pleaded, fluttering her eyelashes.

Flowey smiled cruelly. “Wouldn’t this be more fun with Frisk here?”

Clover heaved a sigh. “It probably would be.”

“Well then, how about you-”

“I get it,” Clover interrupted, glaring at Flowey.

Clover reached over into her satchel… before realizing she didn’t have it on her. Yet, Clover had been certain that she brought her phone…

It took a moment before Clover remembered that her shorts had pockets. She reached into one and retrieved her phone.

Chara’s eyebrows raised. “Wait, those pockets are genuine?”

“Yeah, I know!” Clover replied.

“I was under the impression that women’s pockets didn’t exist,” Chara admitted.

“They’re sure as heck a rarity,” Clover replied.

“More common than plant pockets,” Flowey muttered.

“You don’t even have hands to make them useful,” Clover retorted.

“Another common irritant of plantlife…”

Chara asked, “Clover, are you going to…?”

“Right!”

Clover unlocked her phone and called Frisk.

The trio waited patiently as the phone rang, until Frisk picked up.

“Hi,” Frisk said.

“Howdy!” Clover greeted. “You wanna come over to my house?”

“Why?” Frisk asked.

“Flowey dared me,” Clover explained.

“Hey Frisk!” Flowey cut in, “Me and Chara are here, but he and Clover don’t seem to know how to have fun.”

“I’ll be there,” Frisk said.

Clover raised an eyebrow. “After you ask your Mom.”

“Bye.”

Frisk hung up, filling Clover with subtle worry. She pushed it to the back of her mind though, after all she was spending time having fun with friends… and distracting them.

“Great job, Clover!” Flowey congratulated. “You did your dare! Now, it’s your turn. Now please, think of something interesting.”

”Okay, right. Chara… truth or dare?” Clover asked.

“Truth.”

“Uh…” Clover muttered. “Do you… go to the gym.”

Flowey stared blankly. He put a few pieces together and then sighed.

Chara meanwhile just raised an eyebrow. “Every few days, but not for long sessions. Why?”

Clover twirled her hair. “It’s just, uh… the only question I could think of.”

Chara shrugged. “I feel as if I was let off easy, but I suppose it’s my turn, so… Flowey, truth or-”

A shriek escaped from Clover’s lips as she heard tapping on the window.

As Flowey snickered at her, Chara rose to their feet and walked over to the window, just outside of which was Frisk, sitting in the windowsill like a gremlin.

Chara turned back to face Clover. “May I let them in?”

“Sure, but uh… I’ve got some questions for Frisk,” Clover replied.

Chara opened the window, letting Frisk crawl in.

“Why did you come through the window?” Clover demanded.

“Locked door,” Frisk stated.

“…And you didn’t think to ring the doorbell so I could let you in?” Clover asked.

“No.”

Clover heaved out a sigh.

“Wow, you already made Clover question her faith in humanity!” Flowey exclaimed. “Record time Frisk!”

Frisk gave a thumbs-up.

“Now, let’s get back to our game!” Flowey exclaimed.

Frisk looked at Flowey. “But they suck at this game.”

“They certainly do!” Flowey exclaimed.

“Then play a game they’re good at,” Frisk suggested.

Flowey groaned. “I invited you to make Truth or Dare more fun!”

“We could play Mallow Karting,” Clover suggested.

Frisk smiled and pointed a finger gun at Clover.

“Mallow Kart’s quite enjoyable,” Chara agreed.

Flowey grit his teeth. “Fine, fine, fine!”

“I’ll get things set up!” Clover exclaimed, rising to her feet.

Everyone stood up and made their way over to the TV, (somewhat) excited to play Mallow Karting.