Chapter Text
The workshop surrounding you laid barren, except you, hand cupped into your chin while scrolling on your phone as if it was the only entertainment left.
Even after leaving that stupid ass household, did that homesickness come every now and then. It was trauma, at best, with the countless discipline you had left behind. A family member scarred by their own bloodline, that kind of poetry would never get old for a storyteller. Each post you had swept through left you with some kind of emotion-either it be guilt, shock, anger or simply nothing. You didn't find it anything unfamiliar anyways, as that is what you've usually done during empty days in Cityville.
Cityville was a "sister" town close to Hometown, a monster town of which people either were scared to live in, or were genuinely okay with their presence (you were, in fact, one of those people). Cityville, in comparison, was a fully human town-one that you gladly live by yourself and work in, with your assistant coworker, Maddie. Of course, Cityville's history with Hometown was nothing more than a myth, but to tell the truth, you weren't some historian who enjoyed the taste of things you found to be everywhere... so, in the end, both towns saw it as the truth.
And like any other person you were, you followed (despite some of it... not making sense at all).
Cityville and Hometown were originally enemies, after all, both of their towns were very different within their species (this was basically racism, you supposed). Because of that, they formerly had a border between the two towns-not allowing children to cross those specific towns by telling them false tales and such. This went down for generations (which told you that they obviously REALLY hated each other), till a monster from Hometown and a human child from Cityville met one another.
Realizing they weren't so bad, they told their elders, which they hardly ever accepted and told them not to go again. But day by day, both children slowly became best friends without the elders knowing. Finding out a plan, both children told their elders that the other town would make a road to the border, and whomever was first got to keep the other town. And as if luck was in their stead, the two towns ambitions to build rose immediately-building a road to their borders quickly, but, in the end, ended up at the same time.
They didn't expect this... but the children told them,
"Instead of fighting, you can call it a tie and be happy!"
Or whatever they said.
Whatever kind of convincing they did, it worked, and they became "sibling towns", of what people called it. Of course, knowing logically, that unfortunately did not make sense to you. Well, at least you weren't born in that era anyways.
The doors were pushed opened and from it, your wide smiling and warm assistant coworker, Maddie Corman, finally arrived while holding groceries in another hand.
"Heeeyyy!!" She perked up, hopping over to you while placing the groceries on the counter, "I got what you wanted from yesterday! Remember? You texting me, mmm?"
Your tired eyes only gave a little spark, you were quite tired after all. But, you still gave that same stereotypical store clerk smile-plain and boring. Maddie looked down at you with a squint, as if thinking of your well-being.
She frowned, hands on her hips, "Damn, did you sleep good or something?"
"Nope." An instant reply, head slipping from your hands before slamming onto the counter, groaning.
Admittedly, you barely got any sleep in. Remembering back, you found yourself in a position where your boss was screaming your ears off, your microwave AND fridge broke, your door to your bedroom fell off its hinges, and worse of all, a rat infestation all in yesterday. You couldn't find anything worse than inconveniences of living in a house all by yourself. Even if your sleep schedule was fairly strict, you were past the schedule by 3 hours and slept at 11 PM before waking up on a 4 AM Friday.
In simplification, you got only 5 hours of sleep.
Explaining all that to Maddie made her pat your head pitifully as if it'd fix anything.
"All in one day?"
"Yes."
"You live by yourself?"
"Yes."
"...And you only got 5 hours of sleep?"
You simply nodded, eyes groggy from a lack of sleep.
God, you needed something to distract you all the time. That was probably why your eye bags looked heavier than before, even when you tried to hide it under face mask tutorials online. You woke up at 4 am JUST to find more ways to hide eye bags, so customers wouldn't ask constantly about it, which only made your bathroom look like a mess afterwards. You couldn't even think straight without a cup of coffee, ugh, your luck was just awful this week...
Maddie went behind the counter, lifted you up by the back of your shoulders—forcing you to stand, and patted your back.
"Well, if you REALLY need a break, I'll take over for you, just for a day!" She offered, patting her chest with a wide grin.
Your eyes widened, stress taken away, "Really?"
"Of course!"
She chuckled, grabbing all your things-from your headphones, phone, equipment, everything and packing it into your bag, all before placing it into your hands with a light pat, "That's what friends do, right? One day, and you better not be more sleep deprived next time I see you!"
Gods bless you that you had such an amazing coworker-!
BAM! Door slammed behind you, realizing you've been pushed outside right then and there.
Finally breathing in a sigh of relief, you were reassured you can finally take a day off. Just for a day... Honestly, being one of the two only day in and day out engineers between both Cityville AND Hometown wasn't the greatest decision you've made. Of course, you've won a lottery of grand things before, but your bad luck and life's cruelty of crushing things to pieces was still there to torture you. You swore that you in the past wouldn't have been so much more depressed than now.
You closed your car door, eyes groggy yet filled with relief. Maybe finally you can try and check out the latest episode of your favorite podcast, only so you could relax just a little more than before. But, you were exhausted. You just promised Maddie that you'd take an actual rest rather than giggling to yourself, listening to hot topics! Really, really tempting hot topics! REALLY REALLY REALLY tempting hot topics! Ugh, shut it! You promised, and promises are made to be kept-
—not broken by a podcast consisting of your favorite ASMRs murmuring into your ear like a bedtime story, rumors and secrets that made you laugh your heart out, and even your favorite channels and more on other shows online! And that only tempted you even more!
Frustrated, your head slammed into the wheel during a red light, a loud beep echoing from it.
...God, you really need sleep, do you?
A sigh left you, again, before a green light shone beneath the blue sky. Cars around you started moving, so did you. Hometown, unlike Cityville, you realized, to be much less busier than you had expected. Of course, you didn't find it as a bad thing—the town had its own fair share of kind residents and rows of houses, yet not quite like the busyness of Cityville, vehicles driving everywhere. In fact, you had visited Hometown before to visit a regular, called Toriel Dreemur.
Toriel was a kind mother, and to you, a regular who had always been your most kindest and loyal customer, but also one of your top priorities when it came to helping her with things other than what you're supposed to. She was like a sweet grandma who'd give you cinnamon-butterscotch pie whenever she visited your house, which tasted warm and nice every single time. You could say she was an expert at it.
Despite you never meeting her family, she has spoken about them before. Asgore, Asriel, and an adopted one named Kris—her family was warm with familial love. But, each day, she slowly stopped visiting, with each visit becoming shorter and shorter to the point of only ever talking by phone because of "family troubles". Was it Asgore? Or maybe a deeper one? You didn't know, but, you rather didn't want to find out. It wasn't your place to know, after all. You were simply her reliable engineer buddy.
Parking your car in its respective parking spot felt like a slow ending to your worst day ever, despite your tired eyes and lack of energy.
And opening the door to your house was the familiar scent of your living room, and especially your couch.
And heavens bless did you feel that peace and quiet as soon as you closed that door, taking off your shoes and backpack, to flop on your couch while your hair flew all over the place. Cuddling your pristinely white pillow you've stubbornly kept clean all these years from stains, you finally felt... relieved.
Eyes drowsy, you finally started closing your eyes...
A nap, just for a while, just... for an hour or more...
...
RRRRIIIINNGGGG!!
WHAT THE HELL?! WHY NOW?!
"Who is it?!" You yelled out of impulse, before shoving a hand to your mouth.
Hair messy, you got out of your couch—sliding a hand down your face, while your walking mimicked that of a zombie. Unlocking the door, you found yourself before two children—who you could assume to be from Hometown by their looks.
They blinked, especially the purple lizard girl with long hair, who looked at the only other human child next to them with a look that said, you sure this is your mom's bud?
Only to be met with a deadpan shrug by the other.
You leaned against the doorframe, obviously tired and done eyes looking down to them as if you hadn't got sleep in days.
"...You need anything?" You asked, eyes squinting.
"Hey, uh," the girl stuttered, genuinely questioning if you were the actual person they're looking for, "you're Toriel's regular engineer, right?"
Hearing the familiar name, you nodded slowly, "Yeah. She visits me with pie, and I help her fix things."
And yet, the girl looked conflicted. Not sure whether you were actually the responsible adult, or probably some hobo Toriel spoke to in secret.
"Yeah, great. You lying or did we get the wrong person?" She was still not convinced.
You sighed, you didn't really have the energy to do this, "Okay, I am Toriel's buddy buddy, but that does not mean I am always a sunshine lollipop!" You groaned, tired breath swiping away both of their hair by a slight, "Just, tell me what you want, and then we can settle this inside."
The girl before you looked reluctant for another while, before giving in finally with a long exhale through her snout.
"...So, we got a CRT over here," she pointed behind her on a red trolley, "Kris's mom, Toriel, wanted to throw it away but uh, we have to keep a promise." She pointed to the human child alongside her, who you could only assume to be Kris, nodding at you.
"For who?" You squinted your eyes, asking.
"Secret person."
... Well, okay? You thought to yourself, eyes blinking twice, as the girl continued.
"Question is, do you want it?"
You thought for a while, humming, "Is it free?"
"Yeah."
"No charges?"
"Nope."
"And-"
"He just needs more fixing," she interrupted you, making you feel a little frustrated yet didn't have the mindset to get angry at them, "that's all."
"...He? You talking about your CRT?" You asked curiously.
The girl froze up from head to tail, trying to—"Imaginary friend," Kris answered, "the one who used to have it had it as an imaginary friend."
You stared, consumed in your thoughts for a while before sighing. Though, you could've sworn you saw the CRT's antennas twitch, as if offended by Kris's statement.
"Alright alright, whatever you kids say... Get inside." You swung your door open, the girl relieved while Kris seemed ever so bland, "Want me to help with the CRT?"
The girl shook her head, lifting it up effortlessly, "Nnnoope! I hope!"
... You swore that this girl was similar to Maddie, you just couldn't prove it though.
The girl huffed, placing the CRT TV on your shelf, under it being many souvenirs you had made throughout your college years. Either electronical, or simply tinkers you've done with friends you never met again after graduation day. Only one friend you did meet from time and time again, however, was Maddie, who was actually not only your assistant, but a junior back in university (which was why you called her your assistant engineer in the first place).
You were glad she had put up to be working with you, since you've always been the quiet but hardworking one at college at that time. Though, you didn't get why she would dare to be working with you in the first place—you just felt, glad.
"Thanks," you sighed, seeing her place it comfortably and meticulously, "I'm not very strong, so I would've failed instantly all by my own."
...You should remember that and not try and murder yourself by requesting to help earlier, you thought to yourself with a twitch in your smile.
In reply, she wiped her forehead before blinking. She gave you a thumbs up, before smiling with a toothy grin, "Oh yeah, I haven't introduced myself yet, right?"
You blinked, walking towards the kitchen for the fridge, "..No?"
"Susie!"
Ah. "Good to know."
Kris, however, lounged on the couch before the girl, who you may comfortably call Susie, flopped aside from them.
"Susie," you heard Kris murmur, "got the remote?"
"'Course I did man!" She took out a black remote control, twirling several times before playing on the TV.
You bended down, grabbing a few sodas or more and brought it over to Kris and Susie. You flopped down, before realizing the CRT's condition—oddly, it was broken but still functionable... Well, at least so. One of its antennas were wrapped with cloth and fractures on the screen taped at the edges.
You squinted your eyes, before turning to Susie, "Mind if I ask something before I go sleep?"
"Yeah, what's up?"
"...Uh," you thought for a moment to say it in a ... polite way, "how did your CRT TV break so horribly? It looks like shit."
Fuck. Now you sound like someone who doesn't care shit and sounds sarcastic!
"Eh, something happened," yeah, SOMETHING, you told yourself as Susie continued, shrugging, "but I think it's best you don't know."
You didn't blame kids and their imaginary friends, especially since you did have one before back then. All before your own family broke your imagination, taking away your so called "best friend" from your head, which, you didn't know whether to thank them for it or cry about it (which was exactly what you did back then). But, whichever kid these two held this promise to broke the TV badly—HORRIBLY. You couldn't imagine a single kid who'd have friends with a TV of all things and get into some sort of argument with it.
"I see," you nodded, getting off the couch, "look, I'm not going to say you can be squatters in my house but, I really need to get my sleep in. Stay until 10 am in the morning, and I better see you gone."
The two squinted their eyes, Susie especially, who looked a tad bit upset in your strictness, "Okay okay, fine! Sure. Just let us watch TV for a bit."
"Sure will." The door to your bedroom slammed behind you, your precious calm haven.
Flopping on your bed, you were sure... you can finally... rest peacefully...
Good night folks...