Chapter Text
One year, three months and two days ago, you were happy.
One year, three months and two days ago, you were loved.
One year, three months and two days ago, you were… alive.
.
.
.
“Is this… safe?”
You mumbled, looking at the old house with a flat glare. It was large, which was nice, sure. Sturdy(?) wooden walls and a tiled roof with good shingles, but it was awfully cheap. You couldn’t help but be wary as you, Sans and Papyrus all stood on the driveway to admire the house you just bought together.
A cheap house this big was too good to be true. There had to be a catch.
“OF COURSE IT IS! THE NICE ESTATE LADY SAID SO! SHE HAD A TRUSTING GLINT IN HER EYE!” Papyrus confidently puffed out his chest and gave you a firm pat on the back, looking down over your shoulder to peer at the blueprints and photos of the brothers old house in your hand, a box of some your stuff held under your spare arm.
“AND THE HOUSE ALMOST HAS SEVEN BEDROOMS! WHICH I HEARD IN A CASINO, IS A LUCKY NUMBER! REDDIT TOLD ME!”
“Why are you on reddit..? And how did you hear that from a casino and Reddit? Wait. Almost? How many rooms are there actually?” you raised a brow, but rolled your eyes with a wry chuckle under your breath. Never mind that, you’d keep that in mind though. Maybe if you guys ever needed cash Papyrus could be a good gambler?
“THERES NINE! I.. DON’T KNOW WHAT SPECIAL MEANING THAT NUMBER HAS, SO WHY MENTION IT?”
Good point, kinda…
Letting out a huff you turned back to the pictures, you were sure they mostly just bought this place because it resembled their old home from the underground, just bigger. And without Christmas lights, snow and a.. pirate flag? Ahhh yes, all the things a home needs.
You resisted the urge to roll your eyes and ignored Papyrus’ rambling to think about what you should do with what you had now.
You make a note to buy that stuff later, can you buy snow? Or should you paint the roof white? Buying the Christmas lights shouldn’t be too hard, Christmas was coming soon anyways. And you wanted this place to be spick and span by the time that happened so guests won’t judge you.
While you were frowning at the papers you missed the way Sans gave Papyrus a small nod, signalling him to go ahead. Papyrus gave him a wink in return, (while saying ‘WINK!’ Aloud) before running off to explore the inside, several moving boxes in hand.
You could hear the plates inside one of the boxed shatter with every large step he took… sigh. That wasn’t helping your headache.
“don’t stress it too much, that’s not your job. your job is to sit around and look good doing it.. and helping me tinker. we wouldn’t of bought this place if we thought it was dangerous.” Sans stepped forward to stand next to you, giving you a shoulder bump to get your attention. You gave him an annoyed look but settled on letting out an unamused hum.
You weren’t sure you believed him, these skeletons were more durable than you. So maybe what they considered safe was dangerous for you? No, you’ve known these guys over a year now. Surely they know how fragile and soft a human was by now?
You were already regretting your decisions coming here. Sure, you were happy to move in with your two friends, splitting rent in this economy was always a plus, living out in the woods was pretty cool too. But it was probably a hundred years old, and you were out here with two monsters..
No, don’t think that. You’ve known these two for a few years now, three soon. And even though you were very hesitant to allow a goat monster, Toriel, adopt your little sibling Frisk, they assured you they were good people.
And the two brothers had yet to do anything to prove Frisk wrong.
“Yeah yeah. I know, …I trust you guys. But it’s so old. I’m kinda worried there’s gonna be a little door in the wall leading to a coraline world, or something..”
You glanced around you, eyes squinting into the trees.
“Or a skinwalker in these woods.”
When you finally tore your eyes off the trees you offered a sad attempt of a confident grin, not too comforted by his words. You were happy you were all finally moving in together, you felt like a functioning adult. Finishing college, getting a house. It was a dream come true. It should be a dream come true.
You licked your teeth as you mulled over if this was a wise decision to move in with your friends, both being monsters and guys. Your teeth felt weird without your braces anymore, but it was just a sign you were mature now. Right?
You were 35, it was about time anyways. You’ve already spent too much time doing crime and spray painting random buildings like a teen.
If it weren’t for Sans advice and push to take the more ‘serious’ courses and join his classes, you’d probably be in some shitty apartment right now. Drowning in bills with nothing but unsold drawings to keep you company. Like a loser.
Now look at you, a responsible member of society! Getting a degree in science and quantum physics. Now that was useful.
“pap was wrong about the number of rooms, there’s a big attic. with one of those big circle windows, like in that british bear movie.” Sans pointed up to the near top of the house, and there was a small circle window where the roof pointed up.
So... there’s actually ten rooms? Nice to know.
“You mean Paddington?” You raised a brow and looked back at the blue prints, it didn’t say anything about an attic..? It sounded nice though, but creepy..
“whatever, point is. you can get your own space, i…” he trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck. When you glanced over you noticed the guilty and shy look on his face, cute.
“i want you to have an art room or something, if that’s what you wanna use that space for. i know you haven’t had the time or space to do something that isn’t related to work or with the machine, so i just wanna let you know.. it’s there for you. if you ever need it.” He shrugged an stuck his hands in his hoodies pockets, a habit of his when nervous.
You stared at him for a long hard moment, before letting out a grin and a hum of acknowledgment, trying to will the warm feeling in your soul down.
“i’m.. here for ya.” He glanced at you, and when he realised what he said and the fact you were looking at him, his cheek bones were dusted in a light blue before he backtracked. “we all are, i mean. you know, pap, toriel, undyne-“
“Oh shut up.” you cut him off, pressing a finger to his smile. He went quiet, a bashful grin on his face as he shrugged again, trying to play the moment off.
“I know, I appreciate it. I have been itching to make something that aren’t equations and files, maybe I can paint us a portrait and hang it up all regal like, like they did in the medieval times. We can all pose fancy too. It’d fit the creepy ancient thing this house has.”
You pulled away and wacked him softly on the head with the papers in your hand, a mean chuckle leaving your lips at the expression on his face.
“cmonnn, it’s just a house with old bones. with pap’s and undyne’s help we can renovate this place into a home. ” Sans paused, his smile widening. “guess you could call it… new home.”
“You’re not funny. Only reason I agreed to this is because I love you.” you rolled your eyes at his immature pun about one of the monsters old home, you’d never say it to Asgore’s face but he sucks at naming things.
“i know, you make it so obvious.” He leaned forward and rested his chin on your shoulder, like a clingy cat. You wrapped an arm around him to give him a side hug before gently pushing him away, feeling your cheeks warm up.
“Being nonchalant doesn’t make you cool, just makes you look like a lame tsundere or something. Saying it back won’t kill you. Edge lord.”
You knew he loved you though, even if he never said it aloud. You had all the time in the world to wait for him to be ready, you weren’t sure what you two were.. yet. But the possibilities of your shared future filled you with hope.
You snickered and shoulder checked him as you walked past, as you did Sans grabbed the back of your hoodie with a low chuckle so you’d drag him up the drive way since he was too tired to do so. A soft smile on his face all the while as he stared into the back of your head.
“At least the basement is big..” you mumbled, looking over the pictures once more. Meant more room for the machine so it wouldn’t be an eye sore being placed in the living room or something..
.
One year, three months and two days later.
.
“YOU SMUG LITTLE SHIT! GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!!”
You woke up with a start, the sound of yelling and banging come from downstairs wasn’t at all a pleasant way to wake up.. but sadly that was the new norm as of lately.
It was another shitty day in a shitty household, but maybe you were being too harsh on the environment? I mean, it was a good house, multiple stories and good bone structure now that you guys fixed the place up. Way better than any dingy one room apartment you would live in on your own otherwise.
It’s who lived here with you that soured the environment you once called your home.
God.. how long ago was it again? A year ago since the incident?
You were down in the basement (now turned lab) with the machine, you did most of the heavy lifting and mechanics while Sans handled the boring numbers, just the way you liked it.
You remembered it so… vividly. Wearing your lab coat because he insisted it helped you two have a ‘evil scientist’ vibe, even if it was just the two of you down there. Your one had a few burn marks on the ends of the sleeves but nothing to get a new coat over, besides, it made you look badass!
In the mouth of the machine, was where you were. The thing resembled a giant metal box surrounded by wires and screens, and you were inside it fixing wires with the help of Sans’ old blue prints.
When it turned on.
You… don’t remember what you saw, you know you were in between something while it was on. You know you saw something, peeked into a world you shouldn’t have.
You couldn’t remember if it was seconds or years before you were pulled out by Sans and Pap, Sans insists it was a minute, tops. But it felt like centuries.
“shit- y/n? y/n! are you okay? what did you see?” Sans was shaking you desperately while you laid on the ground, nearly going as far as slapping you out of it until Papyrus stopped him.
You were hoping they would tell you what you saw, just so you could make sense of it. But you- that didn’t matter, not when the machine spat out hims and Papyrus’ all over the basement floor, the machine having scanned their magic when they reached inside and pulled copies of them from other world.
It was chaotic ….probably. The whole time the skeletons panicked and argued over what was going on you were laying on the floor drooling, pupils expanded more then they should with a bloody nose as you processed what you saw in that dark machine.
…
You still don’t know what you saw, no matter how hard you think about it. Last thing you remember was holding a ripped off piece of metal over your head, about to bash it into a Papyrus look alike’s head from under you where he was pinned on the floor.
that further soiled any chances of these guys trusting you, seeing you almost attack one of them out of nowhere when they just arrived.
Things were tense when they were forced to live with you three, disrupting the lifestyle you were trying to build. Especially with you being the only human in the house surrounded by monsters who had bad blood with them. But you could barely focus on it.
Eyes, in such great horrifying detail, stared back at you from the void.
Ones and zeros ran across your vision, codes and commands you couldn’t understand being whispered into your ears. You could still hear them when things got too quiet.
You saw something more than god that day.
You kept blacking out, sometimes for a few seconds, or minutes. Other times, for days. And you’d have no memory of what happened. And you felt terribly apathetic of everything, were you just depressed? Why did it feel like something was missing? Like that machine took something of yours?
The others would say you’d move around like normal when you’d ‘black out’, fully conscious and able to speak. Most the time they don’t notice anything. Other than a few key pointers.
* your pupils are always expanded, they said it made you look high and unsettling.
* You’re meaner, when you black out. Or so you’re told. Antagonising the new skeletons and nearly causing fights, not helping getting you on their good side at all.
* A prankster too, scaring the others when it thunders since they’re afraid of the sounds. Said it reminded them of the sounds you’d hear in the underground before the rocks above them would collapse.
You’d never scare someone in a situation like that, surely not. Right?
It was worse in your sleep.
They’d keep complaining about you trying to go into their rooms later at night, when it was locked, you apparently went as far as scratching and clawing at the doors. But you never spoke when you sleepwalked. So that was something..
Sans and Papyrus vouched for you best they could, said you were just traumatised from what you saw in the machine, that you were adjusting so many new skeletons around, that you were just a human and this was normal.
You stopped sleeping, or tried to.
Tried handcuffing yourself to the bed and give Sans the key, but in the morning you were always found passed out infront of the basement door with wrists rubbed raw. And the cuffs smashed.
Tried simply locking yourself in your room from the outside. But all night you’d pound and bash on the door, keeping everyone awake.
So they reluctantly let you do your own thing.. roaming around at night.
There was an unspoken rule in the house. Lock your doors at night, and don’t leave your room.
Of course, this was the perfect time an old college ‘friend’ came to your front door begging for help. About needing a home.
She was a pretty rabbit monster, but that’s all she was good for.
You were going to say no, slam the door in her face and tell her to piss off. But the skeletons saw her and felt so much remorse they cleared out your art room and gave it to her.
You hated her.
You were sure she was plotting against you. Spitting lies from her foul mouth to turn the others against you, no doubt she was a human hating racist. Right?
But you said nothing, let her in. Wouldn’t look good for you if you were the only one against the idea of her staying.
But it wasn’t all bad.
You found yourself being able to easily bond with the more energetic brothers, mostly Lucky. The ‘swapped’ version of Sans.
It was so… odd, to see ‘Sans’ face be so cheery. But you got used to it. Kind of…
He’d bring you your breakfast while Papyrus was at work, kept you company and spoke about getting a job as an astronaut. He was so much like Papyrus it was impossible not to grow a bond.
Until one day he just.. stopped talking to you. Avoided you and looked really uncomfortable around you.
Why? Did you black out and do something?
No..
Judy probably told rumours about you.
The lazy Papyrus’, Stretch and Mutt, seemed wary of you at first but never hostile. They weren’t boring or lame either like Lucky was. They’d watch horror movies with you and always offered you a cigarette when you caught them on their smoke break on the porch.
Red would tag along too sometimes, he seemed the most creeped out by you thanks to your sleepwalking habit, but never did anything outright rude. Just ignored you, sometimes he’d join in on your mean spirited fun and prank the others. But outside of that? Nothing.
Until, apparently, you trashed their rooms and their belongings. Judy says she found you all full of their weed while everyone else was out at a restaurant, giving you the reputation of a junkie.
That wasn’t true, you didn’t do that!
Edge and Cesare were the hardest to approach, both stuck up and distrusting of humans. They were also in the royal guard as captains in their universes, from a world full of killing and ruthless murder.
You never got close to those two, they’d make snide comments about your species. Edge especially, he seemed downright appalled that your Sans and Papyrus let you live with them. He was loud and mean.
Cesare was… a weird one, he made his distaste in you very clear. And had a very uptight tone to him, pretending he was the most reasonable one in this house. but even he had his moments, starting arguments and snapping when you got on his nerves.
So… it was actually all bad.
You combed your fingers through your hair, wincing at the knots you tugged on along the way. You hadn’t realised how long it’s gotten… whatever, it was early (it was already 12 in the afternoon) and you didn’t see why you should dress to impress. You could look like a million bucks and those… monsters would still treat you like dirt under their shoes. So why even bother?
Your outfit wasn’t your best either, but it was a classic. Your favourite sweater (you’ve refused to part with it to wash it) that matches with Frisk’s but with your own colours, some sweatpants and.. that’s kinda it.
You stared long and hard at your reflection, having locked yourself in the bathroom to splash some water on your face and wake yourself up. You were aware of the harsh knocking on the door behind you, but just for a few seconds you ignored it.
“WHO’S EVER IN THERE, QUIT DILLYDALLYING AND GET OUT THIS INSTANT!” A loud yet deep voice urged, the knocking turning into pounding upon the doors poor wooden surface.
You wished you had your headphones with you, so it’d be easier to tune out everything and pretend whatever’s happening isn’t. But alas, Red ‘accidentally’ broke them. And you knew better than to blast your music off your phone wherever you went, or else you’d face someone’s wrath.
With a sigh you pushed yourself off the sink, having been hunched over it. And braced yourself as you opened the door with a audible click and creak, just to be met with Edge’s furious mug.
“OF COURSE, ITS YOU.” He all but sneered at you, looking down at you in mild disgust and he didn’t seem impressed with what he saw. Fair, but rude.
“WHAT WERE YOU EVEN- WHATEVER..” he gave up trying to come up with a cruel joke, maybe something like how you should ‘get our own outhouse, outside. Away from everyone and for humans only.’
Edge was also still in his pyjamas, surprisingly…
His pyjamas consisted of a black silk button up with small red bones patterns. His bottoms were long and a vibrant red colour, as well as some kitty slippers to resemble his beloved cat Doomfanger (whom weren’t allowed to talk, touch or even see.)
You couldn’t help but let out a little giggle behind your hand at his outfit, it was rare to see him not wearing something edgy and intimidating.
Edge saw you laughing and his face went red with anger and embarrassment, crossing his arms with his towel still in hand as if to cover himself.
“THAT BATHROOM BETTER BE SPOTLESS WHEN I GO IN THERE! I DON’T WANNA SEE A SINGLE STAIN OR HAIR!” He stomped his boot down on the wooden floor, firmly making his point and his repulsion in humans and their bodies. Or maybe just you specifically. Who knows?
He didn’t bother waiting for you to step out the way before he gripped your shoulder too tight for comfort and pulled you aside so he could go in himself. Grumbling about ‘humans being dirty’ or something... You kept your mouth shut, it was too early to start a fight over nothing.
He used to be more.. tolerant when he first arrived, scary, but it wasn’t like he’d start fights with you.
You, instead, made your way downstairs, keeping an ear out for any voices or footsteps, though that was kinda useless when half the roommates here could teleport. Which was a nightmare in on itself.
Just as you rounded a corner you felt your face hit something hard, you stumbled back with gritted teeth, holding your nose before hearing an unconcerned hum.
“oh, you. hey.”
Still rubbing your nose, you tilt your head up and saw Stretch looking down at you with a blank face. You didn’t like him, he was the hardest to get a read on and always teetered the line of being an asshole th not enough that you could say anything.
Stretch was wearing some stupid black T-shirt with a Garfield face on the middle, and some orange sweatpants.
Mutt was behind him and peeking over his shoulder even if they were the same hight, eyeing you silently. Looks like they were happily chatting until you came around. He slowly pulled his furred hood over his head and looked away so you couldn’t see his face. Hm.
He was wearing his usual, his black leather jacket with an orange sweater underneath and some black baggy pants a size too big. With some gold dog tags around his neck.
You couldn’t say you had much of an opinion on mutt, even before everything he never said a word to you. It’s only recently he’s starting to socialising with everyone but you. He sorta just… followed others more than anything. Mostly his brother.
You haven’t even heard him talk yet. You were both curious and offended.
“Hey.”
You replied curtly, already feeling a migraine coming along. Today was supposed to be your chill day, where you didn’t slave away down in the basement for hours and pass out in your room. You just wanted to fill your belly and back to your room.
“you’re out of your room. come down for some food? must be pretty hungry, you’ve only eaten all of my bros tacos last night.” Stretch’s smile widened, closing his eyes. He nearly looked friendly, if it weren’t for the way his hand came down on your shoulder in a bruising grip.
“I didn’t-“ you weakly tried to defend yourself, unwilling to meet his gaze.
“were they good? i wouldn’t know. you ate ‘em all, although.. they were supposed to be our dinner last night.. huh. Must be because you’re made up of less magic, and just have that human instinct to be greedy and consume everything around you.”
Stretch put a hand on his chin and rubbed thoughtfully, Mutt’s sharp teeth quirked up at the dramatic display. His golden canine glinting in the afternoon light of the hallway.
“Not like they were that good anyway.” You muttered, though truth be told you never ate Lucky’s cooking. Or anyone’s. When everyone gathered up for dinner it wasn’t a good idea to test fate and go out at the same time.
All of the monsters who hate you in one place? Yeah, no thanks. You’ll stick to sneaking out of your room at night to get snacks.
Point is, you’ve given up trying to defend yourself ages ago. It just dragged things out, made them yell at you longer to get you to ‘admit it’. So you’ve learned to simply nod your head and wait for them to leave you alone.
You tried to step past them just to make it to the kitchen. That’s all you wanted, a snack. Why was everything in this house such a chore?
You didn’t miss how Stretch and Mutt shared a silent look, before spinning on their feet and following you into the kitchen even though you knew they were just leaving. And you could already guess why.
They didn’t trust you to be left alone with that judas, you couldn’t blame them. They thought you to be a danger to monsters, so being left with one would just be stupid.
Except it wasn’t true.
“Y/n! There you are, you nearly slept the whole day away!” A brown and cream furred bunny monster smiled at you too bright for it to be sincere, because no way was she soooo happy to see you. When she’s the one who’s been pinning everyone against you.
She played with one of her brown curls, hair hair was long and big, with hot pink streaks here and there. It made her stand out more since brown fur was pretty plain, and it matched her cute pink outfit.
You ignored the fact you could see her black bra sticking out of her shirt a little.
You knew her briefly in college as well as Sans and Papyrus, while you were studying science with sans she studied.. nursing? You weren’t sure, you don’t even think a job like that suited her.
She was nice back then, or.. was she just clingy? You remember her trying to get into your courses and dorm constantly before you moved here without contact, and then she showed up at your doorstep one day, looking for help since she failed her courses and had no money. How could you refuse?
More like, how could the brothers refuse? One look at her and they welcomed her with open arms. They even gave the attic to her.
Even though it was originally reserved to be your safe space for art… whatever.
“You look half dead! Do you want to borrow some of my make up? I can put it on for you!” She leans in closely, pushing her bangs out of the way of her face. But they fell right back into place, covering her right eye. She placed one of her paws on your face, but you leaned out of the way before she could.
“Morning, Judy.”
You didn’t grace her with a smile in return and ignored her offer, you felt like a reply was enough. Marching straight to the kitchen, you could feel the stares of the three boring into the back of heard, disapproving of your rude silence.
While Mutt leaned against the wall opposite to the fridge behind Judy, Stretch walked over and looped an arm around Judy’s shoulders and smiled down at her, it was always daunting to see the skeletons be so sweet on her. So soft… like they hadn’t treated you like shit moments prior.
It was like looking at a whole new person. You felt envious.
Crack!
Your chest hurts…
“speaking of dead, i’m craving some pancakes like a zombie craves brains.” Stretch yawned dramatically and shot Judy a wink when she giggled at his joke, he stepped up next to you and opened up the cupboard to get some syrup and pancake mix, the door nearly hitting the side of your head but stopping an inch or two short.
You didn’t flinch, he’s done that little scare hundreds of times since he’s arrived. But your grip on the fridges door did tighten before you grabbed a handful of blueberries from the fruit drawer before slamming the door shut.
You hated their harmless pranks, because you felt stupid for ever bringing them up. He’d just play you off as being sensitive.
“Omg I love pancakes! Don’t use too much syrup this time, you glutton!” Judy cooed at the sound of a sweet breakfast and grabbed Stretch’s up to tug him away from you, the two of them giggling amongst themselves. Gross.
You resisted the urge to roll your eyes and just got your snack, no need to linger any more than you have to and risk bumping into any more skeletons.
“Y/nnnn! Don’t you wanna eat with us? You’re getting thin.. you spend too much time in your room and that god awful basement. Humans need sunlight!”
Judy noticed you eyeing the doorway out and she quickly pushed aside Stretch in order to get to you, wrapping a paw around your arm to tug you back so your back was against her chest. You had to admit, she was attractive, curvy, pretty… and soft against your back.
But her looks weren’t enough to make you forget the fact she’s framed you for so much shit in this house. Why? To isolate you? To keep the skeletons to herself? Why did she insist on spending so much time with you then? To rub it in your face??
“I’m.. good. I got work to do.” You resisted the urge to shiver and pried her hand off your arm to step away, ignoring the looks being bored into the side of your head from Stretch before he walked over to stand between the two of you and try to get her attention again.
You tip toed away like you were a kid trying to sneak out of the house, eating a few blue berries as you stepped up the stairs with a sense of urgency and determination. The blue berries made you feel a little better.
Until they didn’t.
You were surprised to see Papyrus and Lucky talking to eachother outside of their rooms, mostly because you thought they’d be outside by now. It was a sunny day after all, with the birds singing and flowers blooming you would’ve thought they’d be outside to see them.
Maybe you should do that today, nah… better not.
“AND THEY THINK I’M TRYING TOO MUCH, TO A CONCERNING DEGREE. IS CHIVALRY DEAD? IF I GIVE SOMEONE A TREE INSTEAD OF A FLOWER, SURELY IT SYMBOLS MY AFFECTION IS A MILLION TIMES GREATER? ITS JUST A BIGGER FLOWER.”
Papyrus was wearing a red and white jacket that reminded you of something a jock would would wear, as well as some ripped jeans, although they looked handmade, like he ripped them himself to look cool. His outfit was of course paired with his bright red scarf, gloves and high boots.
He was rubbing his chin as he mused over something, loudly. It was impossible not to hear what they were talking about. You were curious, and if you could, you’d join in just to see what the hell the context was. But sadly, you couldn’t.
Sometimes, you liked to listen to everyone else converse through the walls and pretend you were part of it, part of their family. Although.. that was pretty pathetic.
“WHAT KIND OF TREE WAS IT? MAYBE THAT WAS THE PROBLEM. IF I WERE TO GIVE SOMEONE A TREE, I’D GET A APPLE TREE. SO THEY CAN HAVE A PRACTICAL USE FOR IT SUCH AS EATING!” Lucky tutted and shook his head, but mirrored Papyrus and rubbed his own chin.
Lucky, was wearing a thin striped blue button up shirt, the sleeves pushed up and some black slacks. As well as his iconic blue handkerchief tied around his neck with his gloves and boots.
How they pull that off so well, was beyond you.
“YEAH BUT THEN STRETCH WOULD MAKE A WHOLE ‘YOU’RE THE APPLE OF MY EYE’ PUN AND MAKE ME WANT TO NECK MYSELF.”
Papyrus squinted and then shook his head bitterly at the thought, but you didn’t miss the way his sockets crinkled with a poorly hidden smirk for his own pun, though played it off as a hypothetical. Much to Lucky’s disdain who groaned and rolled his blue eye lights, but froze when he spotted you at the end of the hall listening in, like a creep.
Uh oh.
“HUMAN.” Lucky straightened his posture like his sergeant caught him lacking. Like a trigger word, Papyrus snapped into shape as well but refused to look at you. But from here you could see them sweating now that they knew you were here.
“WE.. AHEM, DIDN’T SEE YOU THERE.” Papyrus averted his eyes from you, his hands behind his back.
They were by far the nicest people in this whole house, they didn’t yell at you, or give you rude looks. But just like Mutt, they ignored you. Avoided of you. Was that worse…?
It hurt to see monsters so confident and friendly as these two just.. give up on you, not even bothering to befriend you just because of rumours. You had history with papyrus, yet it seemed you were nothing but a stranger in your own home.
CRACK!
“Hm. Didn’t know you guys were the type to let their guard down.”
You responded in a unimpressed tone, shoving your hands into your pockets and making your way forward if only to pass by. Lucky and Papyrus separated to give you more than enough room needed to walk by, they were practically squished against either side of the hall’s walls to get away from you.
Behind you, you heard their loud stomps run away in the direction of the kitchen. Now you were finally all alone in the hall.
When Judy first moved in, and told lies about you. Papyrus would still sneak around to talk to you behind is brother back, leave a small puzzle for you to solve in your room. And when you’d finish it, you’d put it back in his room and wait for him to give you a new challenge.
It was comforting, even if you two didn’t do much together.
Until one day, Papyrus found his favourite puzzle he gave to you broken and smashed into pieces. And he came running down the stairs to confront you about it with angry tears in his eyes, everyone turned on you.
Judy was the first to comfort Papyrus, telling him it wasn’t his fault, how his puzzle was probably too complex for a human to understand, so you must of took your anger out on it.
That wasn’t true. You didn’t break it, you never did. Sure, it was hard. You struggles for a few days to figure out the prism like puzzle, but you never smashed it. It meant a lot to him.
That was the day Papyrus truly did give up on you. And soon, so did the other eccentric skeletons. Worried you’d break their belongings out of anger.
…
You felt yourself light up a little as you reached your door, gripping the doorknob you froze when you hear a door creak open loudly beside yours.
Oh what now?
There was five rooms on the second floor, away and down the hall was Edge’s and Red’s, and right next to the stairs was Papyrus’ yours and Sans’. And you knew that creaking couldn’t be papyrus’ since he oils his door. And the fact he just left.
“Sans.”
You glanced over to your right, but refused to turn your head to face him. Out of all the skeletons here, even the more hostile ones, you had to say sans was the worst one. Your grip on the knob tightened as you steeled yourself for a painful confrontation. Emotionally, at least.
Because you knew him before everything went to shit, before Judy. Even more then papyrus. You guys had something..
Or at least, you think you did.
“heya, human. surprised to see you out.” You didn’t miss the way his eyes flickered down to your chest for a split second before his eye lights dimmed. But his smile didn’t waver.
He was wearing a black shirt with a skeleton print on the front, his signature blue hoodie on as always and some black sweatpants. He looked tired, he always has, but not as much as he used to before he met Judy.
It was almost nice that he’s been learning to take it easy from the machine and getting his mind off his traumas if the underground. Almost. A sick part of you wanted him to suffer again, to go back to staying in his room for days by himself.
Why did Judy bring him out of his shell while you couldn’t?
CRACK!
Sans eye socket twitched, snapping yourself out of your thoughts as you winced and held back on the urge to rub your sore chest. You both stood there in awkward tense silence. You refused to answer, what would you even say? Small talk? But you also didn’t want to go to your room yet, ironically.
Just bask in his presence one last time.
Finally, you tore your eyes off the wood of the door and finally met his eye, or there lack of. And ate some more of the blueberries in your hand.
“Big plans tonight? Any break throughs?” You were taking about the machine, of course. Though lately it’s felt as if you’re the only one in the basement trying to fix the damn thing, everyone else was too busy having fun with Judy at the beach or something else ripped out a movie. So why were you even asking him?
Honestly, you were surprised they even let you in the basement. But you knew it wasn’t out of trust, more so because they were lazy.
“eh, nothing new with the machine yet, but that’s better then it spitting out more me’s and him’s. we’re going out to grillby’s later. thought we could use a break.”
He shrugged and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. You noticed how they were clenched tightly as well as his teeth, but were too busy seething over what he said.
They needed a break? They needed a break!? You were the one slaving away in that god forsaken basement! And for what? You don’t get paid, or even treated with respect here for it. Even though you’re actively helping them just because. Only good thing you get out of this is the hope all those other skeletons finally fuck off and go to their universes where they belong.
Why did they love Judy soooo much? She wasn’t doing anything useful staying here. Unlike you.
You take a deep breath and close your eyes, not the time. You won’t have to worry about that kind of stuff much longer, not after tonight. You peered down at your hand and noticed you squished the blueberries in your hand… yuck.
You finally focus back on Sans and notice his smile seemed more strained than usual. What’s got him so tense? What did he see when peeking into your soul earlier
You also noticed how he didn’t even bother to invite you to their hangout to grillbys, why would they? It was a monster filled place, a human would just sour the fun.
“what about you? any big plans?” There was something in his tone, like he knew but he just wanted you to say it. How lazy.
“Nothing important.” You said easily back in reply, eyes bored as you stared eachother down. He opened his mouth briefly to speak, but nothing came out. You raised a brow, curious, but before you could continue, another skeleton appeared out of thin air beside sans.
“oi! vanilla.” Red had a large grin on his face, but you could tell he was angry about something. He wrapped an arm around Sans’ shoulders and squeezed him tightly, Sans’ own grin went tight at the interruption.
“thought i told ya to keep da’ fuck outta mah room, found all my good magazines graffitied.” Red growled and thrusted his bunny monster playboy magazine in sans face, and on the cover you saw all the expose bits were drawn over with crude pink scribbles.
Of course it was of bunny monsters, sick perv was probably daydreaming about Judy since she was a bunny monster. He wasn’t slick at all.
“wasn’t me.” Sans smile didn’t reach his sockets, trying to shove Red off and discreetly nod his head over to you. Red glanced over at you and instantly his smile dropped into a real scowl, now he really was upset.
“you do this? you like to draw, don’t ya? got upset to see a monsters body?” Red snarled and ripped his arm off of sans shoulders to step toward you, the magazine bunched tightly in his fist, his other hand pointing a claw accusingly at you.
“I don’t draw anymore, I’m too busy fixing the machine for you monsters.” You frowned and slapped his hand out of your face, surprising you and the other two skeletons. Looking at each other silently.
It was true, you’re so preoccupied with the machine you don’t have any spare time. And when you do? You’re too tired to do anything.
Sleep. Work. Eat.
Rinse and repeat.
…
You missed drawing..
“Maybe Stretch did it, didn’t you prank him with that whole ‘beehive’ thing?” Sans was looking between the two of you. but didn’t step in to defend you. Of course. The fucking coward.
“maybe, but i’m onto you. bitch.” Red poked your chest harsh enough you could feel the pain in your sternum, you knew if Sans wasn’t here right now he probably would’ve done worse. For now he just gave you and Sans a nasty look before stomping down the hall and down the stairs out of sight. Off to start a fight.
You didn’t understand why they toned down their shit when Sans was around, he’s too lazy for confrontation..
The silence was heavy and tense, Sans cleared his throat and stuck his hands in his hoodies pockets, looking like he was going to make a joke to lighten the atmosphere. Please.
“don’t.. do anything stupid, yeah? because someone out there really cares about y-“ what?
“Bye, Sans.” You said dryly, your tone final as you cut him off. You didn’t wanna hear it. You turned the doorknob and stepped inside, you heard Sans start to say something, but he was cut off by the door slamming in his stupid face. Good.
You didn’t hear him walk away unlike Papyrus and Lucky, he probably ‘shortcutted’ away. How lazy..
You looked down at the squashed blueberries in your hand and sighed, licking it off your hand before rubbing the spit and juice off the side of your pants. You couldn’t be bothered to leave the safety of your room to wash your hands.
You stepped over the dirty clothes and figurines on the floor to make your way to your bed, or more specifically, under it. You reached far into the darkness after getting on your hand and knees to pull out a small wooden box, something you were gifted from a gift shop years ago. The details were foggy..
Everything felt foggy…
You sat on the your bed with an audible creak, the box in your lap safely before you lifted the lid. You peered inside with lidded eyes, nothing new was in here.
Mostly old pictures, either of you with old friends from school, family. Most were from before college, before you met sans..
You pushed those to the side.
There was old notes you made for your ‘future self’ when you were bored, some dried out flowers you remember Toriel giving you the few times you met her to visit your little sibling, Frisk. You trusted them in her care, really, but you missed them.
Nothing too interesting. Until..
You dug out an old heart shaped locket, a small smile as you lifted it up. You never did find out if the gold it was made out of was real or not, but you couldn’t find it in yourself to care.
You opened the locket with a small click, one side was a music box, the other had a small picture inside. A picture of you hugging Frisk to your chest while you smiled too widely at the camera, Papyrus and Sans on either side of you. Although Papyrus had to crouch down to get into the frame with the rest of you.
Your graduation, all three of you. Dressed in your black robes and silly hats. You and sans finished your science course, and Papyrus with his Food and Hospitality courses.
You twisted the small key of the locket, a small familiar tune playing from the music box. You sat there quietly, zoning out with the soft music as your only company in the darkness of your room.
Your theme.
You kept thinking about what ifs, what if you never met sans and continued your art major? Anywhere was better then here…
Just as you closed your eyes, not quiet asleep but not too aware either, a loud knocking was at your door. You flinched and nearly dropped the necklace, quickly you snapped it shut and sat there, tense. You waited for bated breath, hoping whoever it was would just give up and leave.
“HUMAN.” A deep and commanding voice spoke out, a yes.. Cesare. Mutts older brother.
You resisted the urge to cry, why did you have to interact with every skeleton in the house today, why today. Your special day. It’s like they could sense it.
“I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE, I WON’T FORCE YOU OUT. BUT MY BROTHER WANTED ME TO DROP YOUR SCRAPS OFF FOR THE DAY.”
the door creaked open, of course he wouldn’t ask before coming in, you weren’t given that much respect.
In came Cesare, he was wearing his purple handkerchief over his black vest, silver buttons keeping it together, along with some black pants. He wasn’t wearing his gloves though..
In his gloveless hand was a plate of your dinner, but that was being too kind. It was really just their leftovers from last week, how generous..
“Okay.” You answered back, your voice small. You didn’t want to give him attitude like you usually did, you were tired and just wanted to be alone for tonight. So why drag it out more than you had to?
“HMPH. MUTT WAS RIGHT, YOU ARE WORSE FOR WEAR. YOUR SOUL HAS BEEN CRYING OUT ALL DAY.”
He let out an unimpressed huff, stomping forward and kicking your things out of his way instead of simply stepping over it. He paused to place your plate down on your cluttered desk, as he did so you hid the box and necklace behind your back on the bed before placing your hands on your lap in tight fists.
You kept your eyes to the floor as he stepped forward, a little over eye level thanks to you sitting. You refused to raise your head to look at him, and waited for him to say more. You knew he had something to say, they all did.
“WHAT ARE YOU EVEN SO UPSET FOR? IF YOU HATE LIIVNG HERE THEN SIMPLY LEAVE. WE HAVE NO NEED FOR YOU HERE.” His tone was dismissive, but it felt he was trying to not so subtly command you to leave, to drill it in your head how unwanted you were. As if you didn’t already know.
You tried leaving, once. When the other skeletons first turned on you, at the time they had just arrived at the lodge and were confused about being in a whole other universe. And you were some human to them, of course they didn’t trust you. And Judy didn’t help by feeding into their fear of humans with lies.
So you packed up your shit, nearly made it out the front door too. But Sans stopped you.
Sans begged you to stay. He promised it would get better, that these skeletons were only temporary and it could just go back to you, Sans and Papyrus again. And you could have your art room again.
So you stayed, because Sans never broke a promise before.
You wish you were stronger..
“I KNOW YOU HUMANS ARE IGNORANT TO YOUR OWN SOULS, BUT BE MORE CONSIDERATE. ITS HARD TO HAVE A PEACEFUL DAY WITH YOURS MAKING A FUSS.” He leaned down, you looked up just a little to stare at him though your bangs, his striking purple eye lights sharp as he met your gaze unblinkingly, his eyes wide and narrowed.
“ITS A NUISANCE. IF YOU WONT SHUT IT UP, LEAVE.” He hissed, and stood back up. Looking down at you like a parent would when their kid would through a tantrum, and for what? Because you were sad? You couldn’t control if your soul spilled out emotions, you didn’t even know it was doing that. That was unfair.
“I will..” your hands clenched tighter on your knees, knuckles white. Your throat felt like it was burning, and you wanted to sob. But why? Right now, he was being nice. They all were. Usually, they wouldn’t even call you ‘human’, they’d just call you names.
‘PEST’
‘attention whore’
‘FILTH’
‘leech’
Cesare was quiet for a long moment, staring you down before tsking and standing up straight again, his arms crossed over his chest as he took in the state of your room.
“…IF YOU PLAN ON DOING ANYTHING FOOLISH TONIGHT,” he started, his eyes finally falling back on you with a look you couldn’t place. But it wasn’t anything good. “CLEAN YOUR ROOM FIRST, DON’T BE A BURDEN EVEN AFTER YOU’RE GONE AND LEAVE US TO CLEAN THE MESS YOU LEAVE BEHIND. BE SYMPATHETIC FOR ONCE, WONT YOU? YOUR SOUL IS THAT OF KINDNESS. ISN’T IT?”
You felt your stomach drop, usually you’d just assume he meant for when you move out. But no…
You knew what he meant by that.
He knew what you were planning to do
Did they all know it?
Did they all know you were planning on killing yourself tonight?
Why aren’t anything of them trying to stop you!?
THEY HEARD YOUR SOUL CALLING FOR HELP? AND NOBODY CAME!?
“O-Kay..” your voice cracked this time, and you offered a little nod. You hated how pathetically sad you sounded, but you didn’t have a lot of fight left in you. You hoped your last day here would be peaceful and quiet, but it seemed everyone had it out for you today. Was that just their way of giving you a final ‘fuck you’?
You hadn’t realised he already left the room until the door slammed behind him, making you flinch as you wee succumbed to darkness once more.
You glanced over to the plate of leftovers on your desk, but couldn’t bring yourself to eat. If it was going to rot in here with you, good. You wanted to be an inconvenience for them. Let them deal with your body, the mess of our room..
…
“FUCK!” You stood up with a start and kicked some empty soda cans hard enough they hit the wall, but it did little damage or effect.
You let out a sob, your face in your hands. Clawing at the skin harsh enough to leave red marks, you tried to sober yourself up. To toughen up. Now wasn’t the place.
Were you really going to kill yourself because you were petty? To get back at them? It’d probably be more in their favour if anything, finally getting rid of you. This was self pity at its finest.
It’d be stronger of you to just.. move out. Right? But then what? You didn’t know how to live alone, without Sans or Papyrus. You hated how much you loved them, but you hated them even more. Were you really that lazy to just kill yourself instead of moving on?
No wonder they all hate you.
…
You looked behind you, at the box.
…
You dragged your feet back to your bed, put the locket on and twisted it as many times as you could so the music box could play for a long long while.
You felt like you were watching yourself through a screen, just going through the motions as your mind raced but your body was sluggish. As the music played through the room like a lullaby you stumbled to the closet, digging around for some rope. The same you used to hang up a disco ball for when Mettaton came over for your first Gyftmas in your new home.
If it was reliable to hold up a disco ball, surely it could hold your weight?
You stood on your bed, on your tippy toes to reach the fan. Biting the inside of your cheek as you tied it around. And hummed an old song about ‘how to tie a noose’ under your breath, you couldn’t bring yourself to smile at the nostalgic though dark song.
You felt like if you made a single sound you’d break down, and back out.
You wrapped the end around your neck, being more mindful of the locket than yourself in the moment. And looked at the messy floor as you held your breath, getting ready to jump off the edge of your bed and simply.. hang.
It’s going to hurt.
…
It would be long before you pass out.
…
It’d be more painful to live.
…
You’ve decided.
.
Your soul cried out for help, but nobody came in time.
.
“get off me, your greed is sickening.” Sans grunted and pushed Stretch off of him with a snicker, barely being able to stand on his own two feet as the lankier skeleton was laying his whole body on top of him while they walked inside the house.
“wouldn’t it be sloth then?” Stretch mumbled, pulling away and wobbling into the kitchen to get some food while Sans walked up the stairs, one hand on the wall to brace himself. The taller monster probably looking for something like pretzels to soak up the alcohol and help himself sober up.
Everyone else was still at Grillby’s, but Sans insisted he be teleport back home. Since he couldn’t do it himself in his current state and the least drunk one here was Stretch. He wasn’t sure why, but Sans had a sinking feeling in his stomach.
Was it the alcohol? Did he drink too much again..?
Sans rubbed his sockets with a heavy frown, feeling a headache coming along. Was he getting an early hangover? Fuck, he hopes not.
Several times Sans nearly slipped as he made his way upstairs, why? To go to his room? Sure.. that was the reason. He felt his hoodie slip off the side of his shoulder, but he couldn’t be half assed to fix himself. His soul was tugging him to his room..
No… past it.
Your room.
The hallway seemed to stretch on forever, the lights up here were off, but the warm glow from downstairs was enough to help him see. He didn’t feel warm at all however, he felt cold. And Sans was sure if he has skin, he’d have goosebumps.
“classic?” Stretch called out over his shoulder, his ‘brows’ furrowing as he stared at the stairs where Sans disappeared off to. Shoving a few salty pretzels in his mouth before calling out again, no answer.
“sans?”
Did he fall asleep on the way to his room? Can’t say he was surprised, he’s done so several times himself. But even he felt something was off.
Sans felt as if the air was foreboding, his eye lights sharp yet dim as he finally found himself standing in-front of your door. There were several dents, scratch marks and poorly rubbed off words on it. Nothing nice, mean pranks from Red or Edge trying to kick your door down when you spent too many days in there. Just to rile you up.
…
“…y/n?” Sans called out weakly, ignoring Stretch trying to get his attention. His hearing was muffled, he could barely hear himself think let alone speak.
You didn’t answer.
Which.. which was fine. You rarely ever answered whenever someone on the off chance needed you, this was fine. You were fine. Nothing to stress over.
So why was his breathing getting ragged? He could feel his soul pounding in his skull.
This wasn’t a hangover.
“y/n!” He stepped forward and stumbled, leaning against your door as he pounded a fist against the poor woods surface. Sounding unlike himself with his voice raised.
“okay, that’s it.” Stretch sighed and pushed himself off the kitchen counter to make his way up the stairs slowly, getting annoyed at Sans for yelling and at you for ignoring him. Resulting in the yelling, ugh.
Sans pressed his forehead against the door, staring at the floorboards with shallow breaths as he listened for the sound of your soul. Always making a sad tune whenever he walked by your room, always sad but showing you were still there.
…
It was dead silent.
With a grunt sans slammed the door open, a bit too harshly since he hadn’t expected it to be unlocked. Right. That’s right.. Cesare insisted they take the locks off your door so you couldn’t hide anything.
…
Sans stood there, so still he could be mistaken for a Halloween decoration. Staring out into the darkness of your messy room, he could barely see. He could only make out the trash on your floor and the vague shape of your furniture. You could give sans a run for his money, this was a pigsty.
Then he saw you, infront of your bed. The sound of your music box playing softly, comfortingly.
Oh thank fuck.
Relief flooded Sans’ bones, he let out a sigh and relaxed. You were okay, you were standing right there. Sans felt his eye lights brighten a little upon the news.
…
When sans eyes brightened the room lit up just a little more, and sans could finally see that your feet weren’t touching the floor.
Stretch frowned when he saw your door open, did sans go in there? God, what did you do this time?
“you better not had trashed anything while we… were..”
Stretch’s eyes widened as he stood in the doorway, his arms falling limply by his sides, both he and sans stood in frozen silence as they took in the sight of your body hanging from the ceiling. No one was breathing, especially you. The room devoid of sound except of your music box still playing from around your bruised neck.
“y/n..?”