Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

 Monster in the Mountain

(Iterum Occurrens Arc)

Inspiration Song: Don't Dream It's Over by Crowded House

There is freedom within
There is freedom without
Try to catch the deluge in a paper cup
There's a battle ahead
Many battles are lost
But you'll never see the end of the road
While you're travelling with me

The sun beamed across the world and glinted gold in Frisk’s hazel eyes as they stared hard at the dark hole in the ground as they stormed up toward it. 

Eleven years ago is when it all started.

Mt. Ebott had once been a mountain shrouded in mystery and ancient history, stories of monsters, magic, and battles, until one day, there was an explosion that rocked the city and when they went to inspect the source, they found a very tall and very wide door sized hole, it looked as if it had always been there.

The mistake they made was going in.

 Because anyone who went in… never came back out…

It started with a few simple expeditions, but after getting no response and only static off their walky-talkies, the simple expeditions soon turned into rescue missions.

Until one day, a walky-talky was tossed out of the abyss of the doorway, and what they heard on the receiver was one warning threat spoken in a deep growling voice…

 ‘To the moronic, brainless, humans who have been stalking around the mountain …you have NO IDEA who you are dealing with, stay away if you plan on keeping your souls, you will never know heaven or hell once I have you,’ 

Immediately after the message was received, the doorway was blocked off permanently, keeping the world outside of it safe from whoever and whatever lay inside for a decade.

But today the soul-stealing beast inside was about to get a visitor as twenty-year-old Frisk had figured out a way in, as directly on the other side on the top of the mountain there was a much smaller hole in the ground.

They had seen it in their dreams, they knew the pathway to the hidden entrance like the back of their hand… and yet… they had never been anywhere near the mountain until now. 

The young adult had formulated a plan, come prepared and dressed to the nines in protective gear and harness, they had a strong feeling it would be a long drop down and were going to have to be careful when they scaled down.

Frisk stood before the hole and held their breath, mentally and emotionally preparing themselves for the adventure ahead, attempting to will away the terrifying rumors they had overheard over the years, they needed their mind clear and focused. 
Because today was the day someone was going to stop the Monster in the Mountain. 

Then, they exhaled and began their way down.

Down…
                                          

                                                                                               Down….

                      
         
                                                                                                                                   Down…
                                                

                                                                                                     Down….

                Down…

The climb felt like hours, with legs beginning to tire and feel heavy and arms and hands aching, Frisk kept on, the raw Determination to avenge the humans who had risked their lives to enter the mountain and the strong itch to solve the mystery pulled at them like gravity.

It of course didn’t stop their fear, they knew fully that they were risking their life by coming here, it had not been blocked off for no reason after all, brave or just stupid, they just couldn’t help themselves, they wanted to finally meet the Monster and put an end to his soul-stealing ways.   

At some point Frisk looked down and noticed they were around ten feet off the ground, a flood of relief and excitement rushing through them.
“Thank goodness,” they said under their breath.

But the second they said that they heard an odd noise from off in the distance, causing an echo that shuddered through the tunnel, effectively spooking them and causing them to lose their footing-

-dropping them suddenly a few feet down, the rush stealing their breath and stopping their heart for a few milliseconds.

“Ughh!!” they grunted roughly, the harness twisting painfully around them.

When they regained focus and gained better footing, they looked down… they weren’t too far from the ground anymore, letting out a tired sigh, they stopped for a moment.

Then finally noticed the near overgrowth of golden flowers on the ground.

  …It was such a beautifully nonthreatening sight that Frisk nearly forgot where they were for a second, they tensed their frown, they couldn’t allow themselves to get distracted.

They scaled down a little more until finally they unclipped themselves free and touched back down onto the Earth…

 They were here.

But first, before they did anything, they pulled out their cellphone from their jacket pocket, holding it into the air as they studied the screen.
Yep, just as they thought, absolutely no bars, even the internet was of no use… if they somehow got trapped down here… well… they’d made this decision knowing how dangerous it was, but they were going to push through, they couldn’t give up, no matter what. 
“Just got to keep positive,” they said to themselves, clicking the phone off and sticking it back in their pocket, it was time to find out exactly what Mt. Ebott was hiding inside…

And what Frisk found was amazing.

It was old ruins from what looked like an ancient civilization. 

What made them sweat and send a cold chill down their spine was that the ruins was completely devoid of life, which they guess made sense, it was ruins after all…

 What if the Monster in the Mountain was responsible for this?

Frisk grit their teeth, pulled off their gear and harness, stuffing all of it into their backpack, and stubbornly pushed on, because no, just… no… they had talked themselves up too much to go back now, they were going to do this no matter what, besides, hadn’t they heard a noise earlier? 

Besides they had just gotten here, there was a good chance that there was more to see and maybe the creatures were somewhere else? It was a pretty big mountain after all…

Fortunately, as they walked and concentrated on keeping their thoughts clear and positive, the anxiety slowly began to pass. 

In a few rooms, they crossed what looked like puzzles that appeared to maybe serve as locks that had once already been solved, for some reason Frisk couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed, even though the solved puzzles definitely made their journey easier and much, much faster.

And then… finally, to top off their confusion and worry about the emptiness of it all, they approached what looked like an average (and rather cute) home in the middle of the vast dead vacantness of the ruins. 
As they peered in they knocked on the blocks on the outside.

“Hello? Anyone home?” they asked politely.

But there was no response. 

“...I’m letting myself in then,” they mumbled quietly. 

So, gingerly, they walked in, and what they found was a continuation of the average house, it seemed so out of place compared to everything else, it was so strange.

The first room they entered lead to a basement-like area that consisted of… an uncomfortably long and creepy hallway… . .     .       .

So Frisk decided to check the main part of the house first, looking and studying around for as much evidence as they could before moving on.

They found an old calendar, a quaint unlit fireplace, and a comfortable old chair.

Until they stopped at the bookcase and picked out a book…

‘ Trapped behind the barrier and fearful of further human attacks, we retreated. Far, far into the earth we walked, until we reached the cavern's end. This was our new home which we named... "Home."
…As great as our king is, he is pretty lousy at names.’

Oh, a king? So that must mean this whole place had been run under a monarchy…

That made sense considering the stories they had studied up on, remembering the columns and enchanting look of the ruins when they had first entered, they hoped they would get to see a palace at some point. 
How very interesting and informative…

They thought of reading more, but their curiosity for the rest of the house got the best of them, moving on to find a kitchen devoid of food, three doors inside a hallway that lead to an empty room with red painted walls, a mostly empty bedroom with blue painted walls, the last door, however… was disappointingly locked.

As Frisk began to feel like they saw everything, something began to dawn on them…

In nearly every part of the house, there were vases and flower pots of all sizes and shapes, but none of them held plants of any kind, not fakes or even dirt.

 They didn’t think anything of it at first, but the more they did… it began to bother them, they just didn’t know why. 
With a forlorn sigh, Frisk made their way back to the entrance room and braved their way down the stairs to the creepy long hallway, they walked and walked until they found themselves back in a room that looked more like the ruins.

Very soon they entered a dark room that held a large doorway and a lonely patch of grass, Frisk had noticed a similar room just like this one at the beginning of the walk, for some reason, they felt as if they should wait… wait for… something…

…..…Someone?

But they shook their head at themselves, brushing off the vague feelings of melancholy and loneliness that being in these ruins had put over them, pushing forward once again.

Over the years, Frisk sometimes had nightmares of frightening snowy woods that held deep paths that appeared as if you could walk forever and never be able to find your way out of…
And so, when they stepped out, they immediately wanted to step back inside, if they had known those nightmares were part of their whole ‘Mt. Ebott Dream Set’, they would have prepared their selves better because at the sight- they let out a fearful sound, their heart drumming hard in their chest and their mind going dizzy. 

But they held themselves up, leaning their weight against the door and closed their eyes tightly, reminding themselves why they were here and what they had to do, willing themselves to calm down, breathing the cold air deeply through their nose and exhaling it out slowly.

They could do this, they just needed to be brave. . . 

The breathing exercise had helped to an extent, but they agreed with themselves that turning back was just not an option, scared or not, so, they opened their eyes and clenched their fists, and forced themselves to move.
“Mister… or Miss… Monster…,” they spoke up, nervously swallowing a lump in their throat “…wherever you are…I hope you’re nowhere nearby, because if you are…I have to hand it to you, I’m pretty scared, and I hope you’re the only monster down here…because if you aren’t the only one here…I hope the other monsters are much nicer…,” 

Once again, there was no reply… and Frisk had mixed emotions about that.

Holding their still clenched fists to their hips, they walked a little longer, until a strangely shaped…hmm… bridge? Came into view, the sight of it having an interesting calming effect on them, it made them feel better about being in the nightmare woods, deciding this place just looked frightening but was probably just..  harmless.. . hopefully.  . .

And as Frisk looked ahead, relief fueled them as they saw that the taller dark trees tapered off and there were signs of some kind of life ahead…

So carefully, they walked across.

But when they came closer to those signs of life, they noticed a peculiarly placed lamp that sat in the snow and a little sleepy wooden sentry station…with unfortunately no sentry to be found. 

They looked over at it closely to inspect if anything was hidden, but there was nothing, just snow everywhere. 

Walking on, they noticed a nicely wooden carved chest with a sign next to it.

‘This is a box.
 You can put an item inside or take an item out.
The same box will appear later, so don’t worry about coming back.
                       Sincerely, a box lover’ 

For the first time since they started the adventure, Frisk smiled in polite amusement, taking the chance to put away some of their heavier gear, but when they attempted to open the box, their smile faded as they struggled to pull it open. 

Visually, there wasn’t a keyhole, neither was there a lock keeping it closed, apparently the box had either been jammed closed or this box wasn’t free to use as advertised. 

After attempting to get it open and repeatedly failing, Frisk let out a rough sigh and sat down on the box for a rest, at least it was handy for that. 

They thought things over for a moment, they had their doubts back in the ruins, obviously other creatures had lived here, but the place still seemed completely deserted, as if everyone had left in a hurry, it caused a chilling theory to return to their mind. 

  What if the monster that had taken the people and their souls, had also taken the other creatures that lived down here? How many had it taken in general? 

Despite the low temperatures, a cold sweat fell over Frisk.

What if they were an over-ambitious idiot and this trip was all in vain and they were going to die?

They fidgeted, shaking their legs, but gripped their hands into fists, glaring down at their feet, they had to stay strong and resist their fears, there still had to be a possibility that there were others living here instead of just the soul-stealing monster! 

Maybe they were hiding in secret for their lives?

They continued their attempt in motivating themselves, which was proving to be difficult this time around, until… they finally noticed it- the sound of rushing water nearby meeting their ears, fighting their fears with curiosity, they got back on to their feet and followed the pleasant sound.

They, of course, were met with the sight of a peaceful river.

Until they noticed something scribbled in the snow ahead, they narrowed their eyebrows in confusion and walked over to it, reading the words…

  ‘C o m e  to  W a t e r f a l l ! =] ’

“Waterfall?” Frisk questioned under their breath. 

But their eyes widened in shock, they nervously stepped back and sharply looked around.

“HELLO?! IS SOMEONE THERE?” they cried out “don’t be scared! I won’t hurt you!” but once they said it, they clenched their fists to their sides in regret, what if they were being tricked? Telling a soul-stealing monster they weren’t going to hurt them probably wasn’t the best message to be sending out right now.

…Well…they didn’t want to actually hurt the monster as much as they just wanted to make it stop It’s ways and teach it a lesson, Frisk didn’t technically consider violence a particularly good option for anything, even if they were being threatened, they believed in other ways to disarm others. 

But, Frisk wasn’t completely naïve, they were grown up enough to realize that not everyone could be stopped with understanding and support, some people were just too gone or simply craved sadism. 
So they knew they would have to do what they could to stop this monster, even if it meant fighting back or killing them, they hoped they wouldn’t have to. 

As they waited and carefully eyed the trees, they soon realized they weren’t going to be greeted.

Whoever had written them the message had been watching and had done a perfect job at staying hidden and had even given them a location to go to…even if it was majorly vague.
No, this person was definitely staying hidden, maybe not even coming out until Frisk made it to wherever this waterfall was. 

Frisk let out another sigh and watched the river, maybe it would lead them to the waterfall?

Slowly, they absentmindedly (and finally) zipped up their black jacket, turned around, and walked away, going forward until they spotted a wilted cardboard box, it leaned to the side from what looked like years of neglect, but they perked up excitedly when they noticed a sign, it was a bit dirty and torn from wear and tear, but they managed to make out all of the words.

‘YOU OBSERVE THE VERY WELL- CRAFTED SENTRY STATION.
WHO COULD HAVE BUILT THIS, YOU PONDER…
I BET IT WAS THAT VERY FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN!
(NOTE: NOT YET A VERY FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN!)’

They automatically grinned in impressed amusement, ah, of course, every good monarchy needed good royal guardsmen, Frisk found themselves hoping that this courageous and funny monster achieved his dreams. 
With their morale now boosted and feeling a little more positive about the journey, Frisk pressed on.

They then very soon spotted a real sentry station, but before that, there was a sign.

 ‘Absolutely NO MOVING!!!’

Frisk froze in their spot at the words for a few seconds, legitimately nervous again, obeying it until they noticed the age on this sign too and realized nothing was going to happen at that moment.

Still, they walked very carefully and very slowly toward the sentry station, admiring the craftwork of the very cute dog face.
So… that must meant that had not just royalty but also dogs too.

 
Frisk was officially impressed.

They then came across a sizeable patch of ice with a sign in the middle, thankfully their weather-proof hiking boots made things easy as they slid over the patch, gliding coolly straight to the sign.

‘North: Ice
South: Ice
West: Ice
East: Snowdin Town
 (…and ice)’

“Snowdin…,” they echoed, unable to stop themselves from smiling in amusement at the word pun, glad that they finally had an idea of a map in this place, but by the looks of it, there wasn’t much place else to go but east anyway, so to Snowdin town it was. 

Now in a new more positive mood thanks to the new destination, they pressed onward. 

But after that, Frisk began another lonely and long walk down the snowy path, nothing really interesting popping out except for a regular ol’ snowman, more trees until they stopped at two joined sentry stations with carved cute doggy faces placed on each.

One was labeled ‘His’ and the other was labeled ‘Hers’.

In the middle sat a sign that read…

 ‘SMELL DANGER RATING

Snow smell - snowman
WHITE Rating
Can become YELLOW Rating
Unsuspicious Smell - Puppy
BLUE Rating 
Smell of rolling around.
Weird Smell - Humans
GREEN Rating
Destroy at all costs!’

                                     
“…Good thing there’s no one here, I know I must smell super weird…,” Frisk mumbled to themselves. 

After that, the lonely snow road continued on for a while, they noticed even more puzzles and traps that had already been solved, which still made them strangely disappointed.

Walking and more walking, the feeling of sadness coming back over them when they came to a sign that read…

 ‘Warning:
              Dog marriage’

 As cute as it was, Frisk couldn’t help wince as they came to terms that there were not going to get to meet an actual married dog couple, feeling disappointed for reasons they knew better of this time, walking on again.

They traveled quicker this time, getting impatient and frustrated as they walked past more of the already solved puzzles, everything was just starting to look the same without much reward.

At some point they came across another doggy-related sentry station, casually they walked up to the sign, this one seemed a lot more friendly.

  ‘AWARE OF DOG
              Pleas pet dog’ 

Frisk smiled gently and continued on, not missing the oddly shaped giant lumps of snow strewn around the area, it looked as if something big and wonderful had been once built but lost its shape over time... 

They then came in sight of a much larger patch of ice ahead that ventured off to a more forest-filled area, and on the right led to another path, out of curiosity they went right, they never knew when they might see a waterfall. 

But what they found in that path terrified them. 

 Someone…most likely the monster following them…had built a snowman of Frisk.

 But not just them as they were now, but as they were when they were a child.

 Hesitantly, Frisk stepped toward it…

 It looked as if was the right height for the age, which looked to be around ten? Maybe nine? The young snow Frisk was small and slightly on the pudgy side, short hair with bangs, wore an oversized long-sleeved shirt, and a tall set of boots that were pulled over their pants.

Their expression was kind and sweet.

The current real Frisk, could do nothing but stare at it, comparing themselves to it, they weren’t snowy, quite the opposite- they had tan olive skin, light hazel eyes, and chestnut brown hair, and they were grown up now, about five feet, four inches tall actually, but had kept the bangs (which could probably use a good trim by now) but had grown out their hair long and safely held up into a ponytail, they'd long ago lost all their baby fat, and today was, of course, wearing a black faux leather jacket with comfortable hiking pants and matching dark hiking boots, still lugging around their backpack full of handy gear, a change of clothes and packaged meals. 

The real-life Frisk’s expression however was full of fear and perplexed confusion.

How in the world did the creature know what they looked like as a child?! To their recollection, they never met a monster… but then they finally realized something…

Their dreams of the way to Mt. Ebott began ten years ago, roughly the same time its front doorway opened. . .

Before all this, Frisk always believed the dreams were possibly visions of the future, as if it were their destiny even.

...As if maybe they were sent here by some other forces at work?

But as they stared at the snowclone, a terrible burst of theories and worse case scenarios invaded their thoughts… because, what if…

What if it was the Monster themselves who had sent them here? Was it possible that it was psychic somehow? Was it able to send visions? Did it track the minds of humans? Or maybe it was also invisible? 

It was terrifying to think about, but they couldn’t avoid the evidence and the fact that… sometimes the answer is the most obvious one.

And it was clear, that for some reason, this monster had seen and spied on Frisk since they were a child and was obviously very fond of them… or… trying to fool them, either way, it had (probably?) practically beckoned them here with the dreams, it had even made an actually very nice snow sculpture and had attempted to give them directions…

But why?

All their life Frisk’s highest praised personality traits were that they were kind, positive, relaxed, respectful, unselfish, peacemaker, almost too forgiving, and a pretty decent listener. 
Other traits were that they were amazingly flirty, funny, and as shone on this journey…highly curious.

It was easy to say that they often got along with people, perhaps this is what had lured the monster in, perhaps it was looking for someone pleasant, or pleasant looking- which Frisk didn’t usually brag, but they definitely were NOT ugly. 

But they felt they definitely weren’t ‘model material’ either so…?

Frisk wondered if this monster knew about their flaws too and knew just how forgiving they were… maybe he wanted someone who could easily be manipulated.

 If manipulation was the case, then hopefully the monster wasn’t aware of just how stubborn Frisk was.

Again, as they did earlier in front of the river, they looked around for any signs of life, deciding to avoid thinking about any other dark reasons why this monster was stalking them, they didn’t need to be anymore scared than they already were. 

“Hey, th-this is pretty good, and I’ll admit, it’s…a little creepy that you made it at all.. . but it’s gotten my attention! I don’t know what you want or what any of this means, but I’m coming to meet you okay? Please, don’t hurt me when I do! I only want to talk!” they called out. 

They waited for a few seconds, for any sort of response or movement, but as usual, nothing happened.

So, hesitantly, they slowly backed away from the area, biting their bottom lip as they left the area, their fear temporarily shaking off as they slid across the pathway and glided through the thick forest, quietly chuckling as they brushed the pile of snow from the top of their head that had fallen from the branches.

They soon found themselves with more of the same, until again, they noticed a single path to the right.

Letting out a sigh, they took it, walking and walking until they were met with an amazing and curious landscape view, realizing that Mt. Ebott was much larger than they’d realized. 

Far, far, far away in the distance, they saw miles and miles of stretched-out forest, but what caught their eye was the single house in the middle of nowhere, such a normal sight in a strange place. 
It reminded them a lot of the home back in the ruins, more so as they took note that this house also seemed empty from the lack of light in the windows. 

After a moment of taking it all in… they finally noticed the tall gaping hole in the cave wall directly next to them, which of course they entered.

They found themselves walking down a much more warmer and very mysterious turquoise hallway, gasping in amazement as soon as they noticed the white sparkling particles that floated aimlessly around, they walked until they entered a small room with four white and blue glowing mushrooms decorating the area.

But at the center, a familiar purple door stood, quickly recognizing the rune etched into it, the image had been stamped sparingly around back in the ruins, they wondered what it meant…

This door looked exactly the same, except…there was no handle present, perhaps it was a push door?

They pressed their hand against it, attempting to push, but it was no use…

Again they sighed, turning their attention to the glowing mushrooms, curiously they walked over to one, casually leaning over to give it a playful poke, jumping in surprise when it squeaked and the light went out.

Now disappointed and concerned, they hesitantly gave it another more gentle poke, giggling quietly in relief and delight as the light came back on, realizing it was just like a touch-activated lamp.

“This whole mountain is made out of magic. . .,” they whispered to themselves before they began poking at the mushroom, gleefully turning it off and on a few times in amused glee.

But then, then they realized how all four of the mushrooms were all symmetrically arranged around the door, perhaps it was a puzzle to open it? Imagine, a puzzle in this place that hadn’t been solved yet… 

At that line of thought, Frisk grinned in excitement and moved to begin poking at all the mushrooms to turn them off and on in any patterns they could think of.

But as they very soon ran out of options, eyes scanning the room for anything else that could be the key but found nothing, their excitement fading, frowning deeply as they crossed their arms. 

It seemed disappointment was becoming a regular feeling during this adventure.

Still, this entire place was gigantic and amazing, this room may have stopped them, but they knew for sure that there must be so much more to see…

And amazing sights aside, they were getting side-tracked, they were supposed to be looking for a waterfall, weren’t they? And maybe, once and if they ever found this monster and things went well, they’d tell him how beautiful his home was, maybe ask them where everyone went (hopefully not dead), or probably where the key to this freaking door was at. 

So as usual, they pressed on, leaving the room behind.

Chapter Text

Inspiration Song: Every Breath You Take by The Police

After a few more minutes of walking through another snowy path and across a long wooden bridge, they came across what looked like what used to be a comfortably pleasant snowy town, taking notice of the large adorable sign a few feet away.

'WELCOME TO  SNOWDIN’ 

They found it very difficult to stop themselves from smirking approvingly at the word pun.

They continued walking on, instinctively turning their attention to the first building, it was a conjoined shop and inn, pausing as they debated whether or not to go in or just keep a move on.

Out of itching curiosity to see what kind of products these people made, they made a beeline for the shop-only to find the door was locked.

They let out a rough disappointed sigh, and in vain tried the inn as well, their expression growing sour as they found this door was locked too. 

“It’s weird that there are so many locked doors in an abandoned place…,” they mumbled to themselves, eyeing the festively decorated Christmas tree in the distance, not thinking to question its existence due to it fitting in so well with its environment.   
But then their eyebrows raised as they noticed something strange.

The colorful lights strung around the tree were on. 

That’s when they noticed something else, out of all the buildings in the village, only one was lit up from the inside…

Was the monster… guiding them? ………Or did the owner just not think to turn off the lights?

Frisk hoped for the latter, and despite that hope, found themselves growing nervous as they finally noticed something peculiar about the nearby building, the main lights were out, but inside they could see a faint glow, but from what they were unsure...

 
They read the name of the building…

 ‘GRILLBY’S’

Oh, so… a diner? There was even an Open sign…

Hesitantly they made their way over and peeked through the window, in the very dim light was able to see that it was indeed a diner, and as they suspected, there were no customers or even a cook or manager to be found, and at this distance was able to see that the mysterious glow was emanating was from…wait, hold on… was that a jukebox?

“Oh, so cool,” they whispered, they couldn’t remember the last time they saw one of those in public, realizing that there was something definitely eerie about the sight, but against their better judgment, curiosity got the best of them and they found themselves at the door, growing excited when it opened with ease.

But as they stepped inside, their excitement instantly died down as they got a better view of the lonely lit-up jukebox in the still lifeless diner, it was as if it was beckoning to them.

Frisk hesitated, standing there for a few seconds before they shook away the nervous feeling in their stomach and finally collected themselves and ambled over to it, trying their best to ignore the creaky floor as they made their way over.

They took their time to study and admire the jukebox... before finally, they reached out to touch a button.

But before their fingertip could press down, a song abruptly began playing, causing them to flinch, jerking their hand back in alarm, stunned and frozen in their place as they listened.

HEY, hey, hey, hey!
Ooohhh...whoooaaa!

-Bbbbzzzrrt-!       
Won't you come see about me?
I'll be alone, dancing, you know it baby
      Tell me your troubles and doubts
Giving me everything inside and out and-
     Love's strange, so real in the dark
Think of the tender things that we were working on
     Slow change may pull us apart
When the light gets into your heart, baby

Frisk swallowed the nervous lump in the throat as they found their legs and slowly backed up, their hand blindly finding one of the booth’s seats, leaning against it for support as they continued to listen to the singer’s words, finding themselves both fearful and entranced at the same time, never had they ever found this song spooky until now. 

Don't don't don't don't don't don't- don't you.. forget about me
                  Don't, don't, don't, don't!
        Don't you.. forget about me

                                  
 Will you stand above me?
                                 Look my way, never never never never never- never love me
              Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
                                  Down, down, down, down down down
                                 Will you recognize me?
                                Call my name or walk on by?
                                 Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
      Down, down, down, down 
SsSSSSHHHHpph-!

       Hey, hey, hey, hey!
                                     Ooohhh...whoooaaa!

                                   Don't you try to pretend-end end end end end
                                It's my feeling, we'll win in the end
                                I won't harm you or touch your defenses
                                      Vanity and security
                                 
SHHHHHHHHHHH-!  

                                  Don't you forget about me
                           I'll be alone, dancing you know it baby
                                Going to take you apartttSSSHHHHHHHHzzzzt!
                           I'll put us back together at heart, baby

                               Don't you... forget about me me me me me me me
                            Don't, don't, don't, don't
                             Don't you… forget about me
BBBbbbzzz-!

 As you walk on by
                                Will you call my name?
               As you walk on by
                              Will you call my name?

When you walk away
                            Oh will you walk away?
    Will you walk on by?
                           Come on, call my name
                                Will you call my name?

I say:
La lala… la la la la…lala la~

Seconds after it was finished, Frisk jumped as the power to the entire jukebox abruptly shut off, leaving them in a pitch-black room, their heart beating fast in their chest.

It was then that, from close behind, a dark, husky male voice spoke closely into their left ear, one they had never heard before-

“Don’t you have somewhere better to be?”

 
Barely conscious of the shiver that ran down their spine, Frisk let out a sharp gasp, spinning around to investigate the owner to the voice-

                                 Only to find no one was there. 

With their adrenaline now coursing through Frisk’s veins and the front door only a short distance away in front of them, they ran faster than they ever ran before, escaping from the diner as quickly as they possibly could, tripping on their own feet in the process on the way out and falling face-first into the cold snow.

For a moment, they didn’t move, they were too stunned to, their mind blank and numb. 

                               . . .   .    .   .

 But soon enough, the pin and needle pain from the ice shocked sense back into them, urging them to move again.

“Ughhh…,” they moaned wearily, pushing themselves up with one arm and rubbing the snow from their face and hair with the other, going in there had definitely not been one of their smartest choices during this trip.

They sat up and looked behind them, staring up at the dark diner that loomed over them, mixed emotions bottling up inside them.

“That was you, wasn’t it?” they whispered hoarsely, thinking back to the voice that had spoken to them, that just had to be the Monster, this was more than enough evidence to reveal that he was following them.

He was probably even watching them right now, probably closer than they wanted him to be.
Damn, they could practically still feel his breath on their ear, finally registering the tingle his voice had sent down their spine. . .

But this was no time to get distracted now…

Slowly, they got back on their feet, brushing the rest of the snow from their clothes, they looked around for a moment, a burst of courage and frustration coming over them, balling up their fists.

“Why are you trying to scare me? Why can’t you speak to me now? You’ve made it obvious that you’re watching me!” they called out “and where IS everyone?!” 

They waited for a response, but as usual, they got none, the dead quiet of the mountain wearing back down their courage, their anxiety beginning to return.

“F-fine…be that way…,” they mumbled out weakly.

They then walked out a little more, looking left but from where they stood it just seemed to be a few vacant houses and a dead-end to the river, so, they turned their attention back to the only lit building in Snowdin, walking out a little further they found that it was a library or…wait…

“Li-brarby??” Frisk whispered in question, cracking a small amused grin. 

It only took them a few seconds to decide whether or not they wanted to go in, with again their curiosity winning out, unsure how they felt when they found that this door was unlocked as well.

“Alright, no weird games, okay? I just want to relax for a moment, please let me have this,” they spoke out and looked around, sighing to themselves as they had no response, finally stepping inside.

They were met with the sight of the smallest library they had ever seen in their life with a total of only six bookcases in stock, at least it was nice and cozy. 

They began at the far right bookshelf filled with dark green books.

 ‘Love, hope, compassion… 
This is what people say monster SOULS are made of. 
But the absolute nature of “SOUL” is unknown. 
After all, humans have proven their SOULS don’t need these things to exist.’

Frisk narrowed their eyebrows in response to the information, during their trip, they had gathered more than enough information to know that lots of monsters once lived here were definitely lovable creatures, and there was an increasingly upset nagging feeling inside them the more they saw how abandoned everything was, where were they? Did the humans do this to them too? 

  …Again, hopefully, the soul-stealing monster wasn’t responsible.

 
Shaking their head, they moved to the nearby bookshelf.

‘MONSTER HISTORY PART 4
Fearing the humans no longer, we moved out of our old city, Home.
We braved the harsh cold, damp swampland, and searing heat…
Until we reached what we now call our capital.
 “NEW HOME”
Again, our King is really bad at names…?’ 

“Harsh cold, damp swampland, and searing heat…,” Frisk quoted, then remembered the message in the snow and how it had been worded.
“Is ‘waterfall’ another town..?” they whispered out thoughtfully, it certainly sounded correct after reading this new information.

They shrugged, again there was only one way to find out…- once they were done with these books, shuffling over to the next bookcase.

‘Because they are made of magic, monster’s bodies are attuned to their SOUL.
If a monster doesn’t want to fight, its defenses will weaken.
And the crueller the intentions of our enemies, the more their attacks will hurt us.
Therefore, if a being with a powerful SOUL struck with the desire to kill…
Um, let’s end the chapter there…’

Absentmindedly, Frisk nodded, still not completely sure what they were going to do when the Monster finally showed himself, they absolutely didn’t want to fight, but at least now they had an idea of what to do if things got rough.
They moved to the fourth bookcase.

‘(Here I am… 
Writing this book.)
(A person comes in and picks up the book…)
(They start reading it… !)’

At that Frisk looked up and spun around, finally expecting to find the Monster standing there, but as usual, there was no one, still, they held their breath.

“Mr. Monster…?” they asked nervously.

They waited for a few seconds before it finally dawned on them that this was either another mean joke or the author simply had not finished, it didn’t matter, they were embarrassed now, quickly turning back to put the book away.
Uncomfortably itching at a place behind their left ear, they moved to the fifth bookcase.

‘While monsters are mostly made of magic, humans beings are mostly made of water.
Humans, with their physical forms, are far stronger than us.
But they will never know the joy of expressing themselves through magic.
They’ll never get a bullet-pattern birthday card…’ 

“That’s true… I definitely don’t know the joys of magic,” they mumbled in agreement. 

They soon came to the last bookcase, finding what appeared to be a school report about monster funerals…

‘Monster funerals, technically speaking, are cool as heck.
When monsters get old and kick the bucket, they turn into dust.
At funerals, we take that dust and spread it on that person’s favorite thing.
Then their essence will live on in that thing…
Uhhh, am I at the page minimum yet? I’m kinda sick of writing this.’ 

Cracking a sad smile, finally taking in the realization that there were a lot of books on the subject of death and the comparisons between monsters and humans, and how much stronger humans are than them. These kind creatures had been oppressed and forced into this underground world and made the best of a terrible situation, still, it was easy to see that there was an apparent sadness that lingered in their lives.

For the first time since coming down here, Frisk’s perception of the Monster changed.

Was the fabled horrible Monster that had stolen the souls of the humans- actually horrible at all?

The idea had crossed their mind a few times before, but killing was wrong- always.

But that was the thing, Frisk didn’t know the full story, what if the humans who had seen him tried to kill him first and he had to protect himself? The books did say humans were much stronger. . . 

         What if he was forced to fight back in defense? What if the deaths were accidents? 

When he had spooked them in the diner, that could have been an attempt to get them to hurry up and meet him… or maybe to just… leave? 
. . .  . No, the message in the snow told them he was probably very eager to see them.

But that was another issue that was bugging them, it was very apparent that he didn’t want any humans in the mountain, but why did he choose them? What was so special about Frisk?

So many questions, so little patience left...

“Time to go,” they said and with a turn of their booted heel, walked out of the librarby. 

As they got back into the journey, they were quickly stopped again when they got a better view of the house next door, again they were finding something that seemed to draw them in, unsure of the deep pang of sadness the came over them as they gazed at the cheerful Christmas lights strung all around it, the oddly placed skull and bones pirate flag, and the cute wreath hung upon the front door. 

They then noticed the two mailboxes, both were empty but the one on the left was a little worse from wear and bent around the edges (as if it had been once overstuffed) while the other one next to was in perfect condition and was labeled… ‘Papyrus’. 
Unable to help themselves, they went for the front door, but… they let out a weary sigh when they found it locked, their hand lingering against the knob for a moment. 

Why were they getting sad anyway? What was it about this place? 

Well…   whatever it was, they had to shake it off, they couldn’t allow themselves to get too distracted, not again after what happened in the diner. 

So they pushed on, biting their lip as they took note of the river nearby the path, noticing how the water flow seemed to be going a little faster than before. 

They also certainly noticed the misty air thicken around them as they continued on, walking faster as their view became filled with nothing but whiteness. . . holding their breath as they hurried . . .

. . .    .       .               .

But fortunately, just as fast as the mist came, it was soon gone, allowing Frisk to let out a sigh of relief, and fully unzip their black jacket as they noticed the temperature had become much warmer. 

And because of that, the snowy path that they had become well acquainted with began to recede, allowing them a return view of the dark purple ground underneath, their whole surroundings becoming more and more cavernous the further they walked, the whole area seemed to become darker actually from the lack of white snow, but there was a few noticeable (magic?) glowing rocks embedded into the mountain walls. 

Frisk had become so entranced by the new sights that they just b a r e l y  noticed the small white almost translucent creature lying down on the ground nearby another sentry post… who didn’t quite seem to notice Frisk either.

Instead, their eyes naturally drifted to the glowing cyan flower nearby, so of course, they walked over to it, they gaped in surprise as an unknown voice emanated from it. 

‘Never trust a flower… that’s one of the constants in this world,’

That was weird, did it have a mind or…?

“Hello?” they asked it quietly, unsure.

'hello?’ it repeated.

“How are you?”

‘how are you?’

Frisk had to laugh at themselves  “you just repeat things like a parrot, don’t you? I had a toy like you once,”

'you just repeat things like a parrot, don’t you? I had a toy like you once,’

“I love you, you’re good looking and I hope you have a beautiful day,”

‘I love you, you’re good looking and I hope you have a beautiful day,’

Grinning in satisfaction, they turned their attention away from the flower, which was when they finally took notice of the creature lying on the ground, freezing where they stood, their mouth gaping open in shock, but they were unable to keep quiet for too long.

“Oh my goodness! I finally found someone!” they uttered out, which, of course (finally) grabbed the creature’s attention, sitting up and revealed themselves to be what looked be a ghost. 

It was then that Frisk realized the situation “no- wait, are you the Monster in The Mountain?” 

The ghost looked puzzled before finally, they spoke “…ummm, yes? I’m a monster… and I’m…in a mountain, I guess?” 

Frisk was filled with relief as they heard their voice, this one was definitely not the creature they were looking for, there was not even a speck of malice in their white wide eyes. 

So, they smiled calmly “I apologize if I surprised you, it’s just really nice to meet you, I was really worried there was no one here but the soul-stealing monster and me,”

The ghost stared vacantly at them for a few seconds before It’s frown deepened “…oh…..this is awkward, I’m sorry to disappoint you… but it was just us……now i guess there are only three of us…,” 

Frisk narrowed their eyebrows, their frown dropping “just you two here?” 

“...yeah…..i woke up one day with him standing in front of me… and…… no memory of anything… he said that i belonged to him…like a permanent servant, i guess… except he doesn’t really bother to talk to me anymore unless he wants something…… it gets really lonely sometimes……and-  ah… you probably didn’t want to hear all that ….sorry,”

They held a defensive hand, their expression sad “no, it’s okay, I don’t mind,” 

The ghost paused for a second until something seemed to pass behind their eyes “oh…. i just remembered something… i hope this isn’t weird, but is your name frisk?” they asked.

They nodded slowly “yeah, how did you know?”

“he said you were coming… and that he’s been…… waiting…,” they said.

Frisk grimaced “yeah, I kind of noticed, I’ve got a question myself, but does this area doesn’t happen to be called… ‘waterfall’ by chance?” 

“yeah . . . it is…. and it’s the only place where i’m allowed to be. . .,” the ghost said in a weary sigh.

With that comment, Frisk swallowed a lump in their throat, hiding how nervous they actually were, and walked over to them “that’s not fair, this mountain is gigantic and so is the rest of the world, you should be able to go where you want, you should be free,” 

The ghost didn’t say anything to that, they only looked up at Frisk with a deep hopeless morose expression, a few ghostly tears falling from their eyes. 

Forgetting all of their fears, Frisk frowned sympathetically, leaning down to the ghost’s eye level “it’ll be okay, I promise I’ll help you, so, what’s your name?”,” they asked.

“... i… don’t know… i guess i forgot it with the rest of my memories… but I decided to call myself t-drop… since…crying is all I seem to be good at…,” T-Drop mumbled out, letting more tears drop. 

They smiled a little at that “I’m sure there’s a lot more you’re good at, and y’know, not to be rude, but ‘T-Drop’ sort of sounds like a DJ name, it’s very cool,” 

T-Drop’s eyes lit up briefly at that “do you think so? i… always really liked music… i’ve tried to make my own music… but…… he…he.. always told me that i was wasting my time, that no one is ever going to listen,” 

Frisk shook their head “as long as no one gets hurt, nothing is a waste of time if you enjoy doing it, the monster is just a big giant bully,” 

T-Drop’s wide eyes grew big at that “sssssshhhhhhhh…! be careful of what you say.. . he has a temper,” 

Frisk’s frown became stubborn, as scared as they were about meeting the monster, running into someone like T-Drop had suddenly renewed and revived their courage and anger to put a stop to his ways once and for all! 

“It’s fine, I can handle him, so don’t you worry about anything, okay?” Frisk promised. 

T-Drop seemed unconvinced “but….how do you know…?”

Frisk’s let out a weak laugh “…I don’t…but I gotta try, that’s all we can ever do, y’know?” 

“you’re…. a lot braver than i could ever be……..i hope he doesn’t kill you,” T-Drop whispered.

Frisk was quiet for a few seconds before they let out a sigh…

 “Yeah, me too, so… do you know where he is exactly?” 

T-Drop motioned to the pathway ahead where there was an area of water that overflowed over the edge, and a small bridge that went out and winded in front of it to nowhere in particular.
 
But before Frisk could ask any more questions, T-Drop faded from view, disappearing.

They let out a deep sigh, crossing their arms out in front of them anxiously…. trying their hardest to keep it together, keeping their breathing slow and steady as they tried their hardest to continue to think positive thoughts. 

They could do this! They HAD to do this! They just had to stay strong!

Pulling their arms back down to their sides, they let out one last sigh.

“…Alright, ready or not, here I come,” they whispered to themself and forced their legs to move on. 

Chapter Text

Inspiration Song: Dark Horse by Katy Perry

“…Alright, ready or not, here I come,” they whispered to themselves and forced their legs to move on.

They even ignored the sign by another (probably also locked) box nearby, there was no time for stalling.

By the looks of it, the nearby waterfall that flowed over the ground looked to be only a foot deep, it was safe to walk across.

But… as soon as they stepped down…a hidden door behind the waterfall opened up.

    Suddenly it was like the world was moving in slow motion…

Gliding out from the doorway was an elegant and slender, maybe eight feet tall, white-furred monster dressed in a long black ragged robe- with a familiar rune displayed on the chest.

His wispy ripped-up collar flaring behind his head, with long thin floppy ears that reached past his shoulders and great wavy thin sharp horns that slicked backward that pointed upward in the back, and had a dramatic fringe of hair that swooped out from his forehead.

Once he saw them and their eyes connected, he stopped in place, a distinct smile forming on his long goat muzzle, showing off his many fangs.  

But the very first thing Frisk noticed and couldn’t look away from- was the monster’s eyes, it was like something straight from out of a horror sci-fi movie, his sclera was alarmingly pitch black, while the iris was a striking crimson red, and the pupils…were diamond-shaped, much like a cat’s or snake’s.

Underneath his eyes, was a symmetrical thin black patch of fur in the shape of a waning crescent.

“For someone who has come to subdue me and had all the time in the world to prepare, you have made a huge mistake in not bringing a weapon,” he spoke, it was clear he was the owner of the same husky voice they had heard in the diner.

Frisk had finally found the great Monster in the Mountain.

But their thoughts were ...elsewhere.. as they were still caught up in looking him over, realizing that while yes, he was grandly intimidating and fearsome, he was also at the same time grandly beautiful and alluring, it was clear Frisk was losing concentration of the gravity of the situation.

“Whoa, hot…mamamia,” they rasped out, their cheeks warm, “you are definitely not what I expected,”

The monster raised a skeptical eyebrow “and what did you expect...?”

“Not this tall, dark, and handsome creature standing before me that’s for sure,” Frisk boasted in all honest seriousness.

The monster was silent for a few seconds, his diamond pupils dilating, the only evidence that he was in some way affected by the compliment.

But Frisk took his silence as disapproval, maybe even disgust, finally realizing that they shouldn’t have flirted with an abusive, soul-stealing, monster in the first place, a strong feeling of shame washing over them in waves.

“Good looks aside, it’s not going to stop me from putting an end to your ways!” they announced, their hands curling back into fists.

“Again, with what? Do you intend to swing your backpack at me? Strangle me with your climbing rope? I think not,” he teased, as he opened his mouth wider, Frisk could see that the inside of his mouth was black, even his sharp tongue was a dark grey.

Frisk pursed their lips together for a moment, staring at their opponent hard, “how do you know what I do or don’t have?”

The monster laughed “I have been watching you for far longer than you know, and since you were coming to see me, I was curious to see what you would bring, tsk-tsk, it’s clear your planning skills need work,”

Frisk squinted a judgemental eye at him, well that definitely confirmed their suspicions “oh, I can tell you’ve been spying on me, I saw that snowkid clone of me back there, what was that all about? It was really creepy,”

At that, the monster scowled, “shut up, you came here to put an end to me, stop wasting your time and fight and get it over with if you think you’re so high and mighty,”

They let out an uncomfortable sigh, but they kept a stiff upper lip “alright, fine, can you at least tell me your name first?”

He then grinned wide, again showing off his sharp teeth in the process, cackling in anticipation, it was clear that he usually didn’t a get chance to do this often.

 “You can call me- The Absolute GOD of Hyperdeath!”

Frisk’s eyes widened, they could feel the blush from earlier along with all the blood in their face drain and go pale, had they heard him right?

“Did you say… that you…were a… ‘god’?”

He cackled again, crueler this time “I did indeed, not so confident anymore, are you?”

Frisk grit their teeth, no… they had set on this trip knowing full and well that they were going against a powerful creature that was able to steal souls and clearly go anywhere without being seen.

 God or not, this creature was someone who needed to be STOPPED, no matter what. 

They just wished they hadn’t forgotten to bring a weapon, feeling incredibility stupid right now…until-wait no, they had a multitool pocket knife! They had completely forgotten it until now, it wasn’t practical for this type of situation, but it could still be used as a weapon! Ohoho, this God was sneaky!

“No, I’m still confident, y’wanna know why? Because I’m never, ever going to stop fighting for what’s right, and you want to know something else? I do have a weapon!” they announced and stuck their hand in their pants pocket, revealing the multitool proudly “I’ll admit, it’s not much but- viola!”

They felt uncomfortable flicking out the knife out, but pushed the feeling away and positioned themselves in what felt like a defensive fighting stance, holding their weapon out in front of them.
 “I consider myself a pacifist and didn’t want things to escalate to this, but if fighting is the only choice I have to stopping you, then let’s fight Mr. Hyperdeath!” they insisted.

Instead, the God caught them off guard when he let out a much heartier laugh, clapping “well done! I honestly really didn’t think you had it in you! You’re an idiot, but a very brave and tenacious idiot nonetheless, it’s quite admirable actually,”

Frisk blinked, still keeping the multitool raised protectively, but now utterly confused “…what?”

His amused grin grew smug “that’s right, I have no interest in 'fighting you’, I was just messing with you to see how you’d react, because you see…as much fun as it would be to see you swing that tiny thing around only for me to obliterate you, it would be a waste of time and energy- for you mostly, as you’d never stand a second with me with or without that useless thing, and well, I simply have no desire to get rid of you, you are much more interesting to me alive than dead,”

Frisk’s lips twisted at the news, now more unsure than anything now, a part of them felt that they should be relieved, instead, they felt only awkward and uneasy, finding it hard to put the tool back in their pocket.
“Okay, I...guess that’s good, th-then… I…uh…then I’ll do what I came to do instead and… negotiate peacefully, so…um, what do you want? What can I do for you to…behave?”

As the words left Frisk’s mouth, they immediately felt stupid, but they quickly reminded themselves of T-Drop, becoming certain of one thing, and it was to save the poor little ghost from the beast.

The creature’s eyebrows raised and he smiled at them mysteriously.

 “That is a very loaded question, I want a lot of things, most of which are things that I can acquire on my own, and most of which I have already done, but there is one constant issue that has been plaguing me for quite a long time, which is boredom and loneliness… and as you can see, it has just been only me and my little ghost friend-,”

“I can see that you’re controlling and horrible to them, as far as I can tell you don’t deserve them and you probably wouldn’t be lonely or bored if you just treated them with respect!” Frisk blurted out boldly, their anger returning and flaring at the mention of T-Drop.

At that, he snarled his fangs at them “don’t interrupt me! That ghost would have no singular idea what to do without my guidance, and I wouldn’t have treated them the way I have if they didn’t WHINE AND CRY all the time!”

Frisk waved their hands out in disbelief and exasperation, “excuse me? That’s no reason to abuse someone! That’s like- the very opposite thing you should do!”

He rolled his eyes “did you not hear me earlier? I am a GOD, which means I am entailed and entitled to do anything and treat anyone the way I want! Or have you and your tiny brain not comprehended that yet?”

Frisk glared and let out a long sigh “oh yes, I’ve comprehended too much…,” they said, biting back any more bold complaints, remembering themselves and who exactly they were talking to, it didn’t feel wise to anger this creature any more than they already had…

 “But.. let’s get back on track, what do you want? You’ve been watching me longer than I want to know and it’s super clear you’ve practically lured me here with whatever godly powers you have, but…why? Why, out of all the other humans, did you pick me?”

To their dismay, he didn’t immediately answer them, instead, he glided over the water, stopping until he was a few feet in front of them, his presence now, even more, overwhelming in this short distance.

“An- and…what do I have to do make you stop, and change your ways?” Frisk added with one more small spark of courage, the rising fear in the tone of their voice betraying them.

But what surprised them was the pained looked that appeared in his black and red eyes.

“I don’t want to say… but maybe you will cooperate if I show some honesty… you see, a decade ago, after a horrifying event that I won’t go into- I came into my god powers, at first all I could think of was the raw power I held, I… reveled in my strength,”

He paused, smiling strongly “I did everything you could possibly imagine and more, the first action on the list was breaking the barrier that held my kind here for thousands of years, and a part of my powers is that I have the ability to go back in time… but…,”

His smile then faded as his focus drifted from Frisk’s face, his expression turning bitter.

“Unfortunately…  I have found that in every timeline where I venture out into the city and make myself visible- the humans group up, gather the best of their firearms, guns, missiles, bombs, you name it- and try to kill me, and to my amazement, they always almost succeed, so, instead of having the complete freedom that I deserve, I have decided to lock myself away in here inside my empty kingdom,”

Frisk’s mouth gaped open in surprise… “so, when the people who searched mountain came and saw you…,”

“They were scared and wanted to kill me, yes, most humans will aim violence at anything they can’t fathom, so, I had to protect myself, I had to teach them to stay away, the… hard way, and as you have noticed have made the correct move in boarding back up the doorway, but I’ll always be prepared with my own backup plans… just in case they ever change their minds,”

“I see..,” Frisk said, conflicted, so they had been right about their suspicion back in the library, still, it didn’t change the fact that this God was still terrible and violent.

“After a year or two of the solitary confinement was when my problem began, I grew incredibly bored and…  lonely, my ‘ghost friend’ just wasn’t enough to fully entertain me, so, one day, neck-deep in monotony, I decided that enough was enough, so- undetected, I searched the city for any kind of entertainment I could find, even if it was human-related, and in my search, I spotted you…,”

He pointed to Frisk for emphasis.  

“This… tiny infuriatingly soft but stubborn human who understood so much but never judged… and then that’s when I saw your powerful soul, it was like a… ‘beacon light’ compared to all the other souls around you… at first, I thought of stealing it, but realized it would be too much of a waste without you attached to it, no, instead, I felt that… perhaps I could find a… let's call it… a ‘friend’ in you, the only problem was that I could never show myself to you without risking other humans finding out about me, so, I did the only thing I could and psychically linked myself to you, which has allowed me to pinpoint you, finding you wherever may be, watching pieces of your life since you were a child, all from the mountain,”

Frisk stared up at him silently, thinking hard with mixed emotions, not completely convinced of the ‘friendly psychic attachment’ part and could certainly tell he was trying his hardest to butter them up, if he was lying about all this they couldn’t dismiss that he was a pretty good actor.

But then again, what if he was being honest? Frisk was never one to judge or at least judge harshly, and apart from the god’s story and his blaring mean streak, they barely knew anything about him, so, what if he was telling the truth? He seemed genuine enough. . .

A part of them wanted to sympathize and help somehow, give this big bully the benefit of the doubt, but at the moment it was becoming increasingly difficult to feel any sincere feelings when they were currently being blindsided due to being very creeped at finding out that had spent a good chunk of their life being SPIED ON!

“How much of my life have you seen exactly? How old are you?” they blurted out with a second thought, almost immediately regretting it for multiple reasons.

The God’s current frown deepened and he nodded, looking rather uncomfortable himself “…right, I knew that part most of all would bother you…,”

“Yes, it definitely bothers me, wouldn’t it bother you if you found out that you’ve been watched by an unknown source for several years? It’s just… creepy! And sleazy! Ju- just tell me the truth okay? …You owe me that much,”

He grew stiff, visually uncomfortable, quiet for a moment as if he were embarrassed (at the situation or with himself they’d never know) and almost even shy, but he begrudgingly confessed
“Fine, the truth is that I only watched you when I was bored or disconsolate,”

Frisk narrowed their brows, not completely convinced, maybe it was best to just get to the point “…I see…and…is there a chance that…you… ever happened to see me…y’know… naked?”

The God winced uneasily, his voice dripping with shame “I never tried on purpose, but…there were times… I believe… that I… might have accidentally seen too much-,”

Frisk audibly gasped, completely appalled and embarrassed, showing signs of wanting to run away.

 The God of course was quick to add- “-BUT I ALWAYS looked away! Because watching you wasn’t some… some..  . . perverted hobby I had, or…or …ugh.. ‘got off’ on, no, to me, it wasn’t too much different than watching birds or animals out of curiosity, I’m a civilized God, I have standards- unlike most of you filthy humans… and, if it makes you feel any better, I’m somewhere in my twenties… I’ve… lost track of the exact age, no thanks to my ability to time travel, all I know is that I am only a little older than you, there, are you happy?”

At the news of his age, Frisk ran a hand through their bangs, several thoughts running through their head “so- no… wait… that would have made you a child too when you became a God…is that right?”

He nodded “that’s correct,”

Ah… they never would have suspected this, it didn’t make things better or worse but it really turned the whole issue on its head, didn’t it? He wasn’t ancient or as entirely all omniscient as they suspected, it actually explained why he was so desperate for a friend and had spied on them, he had been a (most likely depressed) lonely overpowered child who had been forced to lock himself away. . .

As much as the news put a surge within their emotions- his history explained his behavior, but it would never excuse his actions, Frisk couldn’t allow themselves to get completely wound up in his problems, they had to approach this situation carefully.

“So.. . it’s my friendship you’re after…?” they asked.

“I wouldn’t exactly call it a ‘friendship’ anymore, what I’m after is your prolonged presence,” he finally admitted.

Frisk stared at him skeptically “I don’t know about a ‘prolonged’ stay, maybe if you learn to control your emotions and be considerate of others feelings- then maybe I can make monthly visits,”

He smirked at that “hmm, while that is a very nice offer, what if we went a step further and I promised to behave if you made weekly visits? Mind you, a God NEVER goes back on their word,”

Frisk winced, and backed up, a bad feeling rising in their chest.
 “Oh no, no, no, no- I’ll admit I’ve made some stupid choices, but I’m not that stupid, and I realize that you’ve been in pain for a very long time, but I’m not just going to stop my life to stay with you on a whim only to end up having you treat me the way you treat T-Drop!”

The monster paused, confused “who…?”

“The ghost! That’s exactly what I’m talking about, you don’t even know their name!” they fumed.

He sneered “alright, I suppose I can understand where you are taking this, but…hm,” the God’s features shifted as an idea crossed his mind, a cool, sly, smirk growing on his muzzle.

 “Perhaps… we can make ‘T-Drop’ part of a… deal?”

“No way!” Frisk answered a little too quickly.

Bad move, Frisk’s mouth gaped open in fear as the God of Hyperdeath’s smirk dropped in an instant, showing his fangs again in an angry snarl.

With one fluid movement he crooked over dramatically until his face was inches from Frisk’s, making it difficult for them to look away or at anything else, and when they attempted to move away he firmly grabbed at their arm with a long but skinny hand that dwarfed their entire forearm.

“You WILL listen to me you vapid idiot, I am suggesting a deal for T-Drop’s complete freedom, are you interested in that?” he inquired, his voice low, deep, and dangerous in their ears.  

“...I am…,” they said, sounding as bold as they could.

“Part of this deal entails that I will never harm or kill another soul…or ghost… ever again, do you like the sound of that?” he questioned further, daring to lean in a little closer.

They swallowed a lump in their throat, they were sure he could hear their heart pounding away.

 “Yes, yes I do, I just don’t like how your borderline threatening me to get my attention, you’re- you’re... ah, sending me very mixed messages,”

He let out a deep throaty chuckle that sent chills down their spine, but at the same time they felt themselves growing hot and becoming acutely aware of the way he began to playfully brush his thumb over their wrist, the action making Frisk now fully realize that they weren’t just scared, but now pretty turned on too…

“Fine, there will be no more threatening either, all you need to do is take T-Drop’s place and do my bidding, oh, and to bind the deal, I will need your soul,”

Frisk’s eyes widened and fearfully jerked back, now more scared than anything, they’d do anything to help another person in need, but…

“My soul? You mean-,”

“No you fool, I thought I made it clear that I am not going to kill you, I can make it so that you can survive without your soul inside your body, you’ll still be linked to it and it will continue to keep you the same, but it will be in MY possession,” he informed.

They gave him a deeply skeptical expression “…you won’t be able t-to… ‘mind control’ me, will you?”

“No, your autonomy and independence is more fascinating to me, except… with your soul in my possession, you won’t ever be able to leave the mountain… but I’m not entirely ruthless, maybe if you do something nice for me, then maybe I’ll let you out once and a while..,”

They stared at him with a deep firm frown “you say that as if you already know that I’ll make the deal,”  

“I don’t,” he then grinned, his expression thoughtful, his eyes glimmering at them…

“But I do know you were living a painfully boring life in a painfully dead-end job, all alone in that apartment with not even any plans of college or even an idea for the future, and… in my own way I know how all of that feels, and I know you hate the silence just as much as I do, we are not so different in these regards, so, tell me you wouldn’t like the idea of a new life? I wouldn’t abuse you- that would be breaking the deal, no, by my side- I can show you places and things you could never imagine,”

Frisk’s frown deepened, thinking things over, when they had prepared for this trip, they had gone over the possibility of somehow getting trapped and never being able to leave… they had left a goodbye note near their front door if that had been the case.

They had been so hopeful that they’d be able to go back home safely and crumple up that note.

The deal was almost too good to pass up, and yes, the idea of getting to rescue T-Drop and preventing any other people from getting hurt was exactly what they wanted in the first place, and getting away from their boring life and lonely apartment was just the icing on the cake, and maybe, if the God liked them enough as much as he said, there was always a chance they could somehow persuade him into freedom…  ‘if you truly love someone, let them go’ wasn’t that part of the saying?

But then again… there was always a chance The God could be cruelly deceiving them and break the deal and harm T-Drop or harm them, they knew they would be absolutely powerless to stop him if he caught them off guard.

“How can I know you won’t break the deal? How can I really trust you?” they asked.

This piqued the God’s attention, he had to think this over for a moment, standing up straight and easing up his grip on Frisk’s arm.

But it didn’t take him too long to answer, speaking with a more normal, much calmer voice.

“I will create binding rules for the both of us in a contract and will keep your soul locked away in view on a shrine, perhaps in the throne room, if either of us breaks the deal, the shrine will break, and who ever broke the deal- the other will receive the soul,” he explained.

“So, if you hurt T-Drop, me, or anyone else…?”

“The deal is broken, the shrine will break and you will get your precious soul back. Now, if you try to leave the boundaries of the mountain, the same will happen, except I will receive your soul and will be very angry with you,”

“What if you accidentally hurt someone?” they asked.

“It’s all the same, if I mess up I will have to bear the consequences, I am mature enough to realize that, are you?” he questioned.

Frisk nodded firmly “yes,”

“Good,” he then let go of their arm, floating a few feet away to give them back their personal space, “should I give you a moment alone to process this conversation, or have you made up your mind?”

“I think I’ve gotten it figured out, I just want to know one thing,” they asked.

“What is it?”

“How long do you intend to… uh… ‘keep me’?”

He grinned mischievously at that “we’ll have to see, it all depends how well you are able to keep me entertained,”

Frisk puffed up their cheeks and exhaled the air out, squinting a Look up at him, “if you keep wording things in that ‘way’, that I’m not sure you’re going to get this deal you want,”

His grin dropped, his expression blank with confusion.

Frisk shook their head “c’mon, ‘do something nice for me’, ‘keep me entertained'? I don’t want to know how much you saw of my love life, and I know you’re a God and all and that you think you can get anything you want, but pal, I can see through that ‘civilized’ act, and I swear by all the salt in my body, I am NOT or will EVER be your prostitute!”

The God’s eyes widened in scandalized shock, pupils a pinprick and his jaw dropping almost comically, “THAT WASN’T AN ‘ACT’ YOU OBSCENE LITTLE FREAK! YOU PERVERSELY MISCONSTRUED MY WORDS! I MADE IT ABSOLUTELY CLEAR that I was NOT interested in treating you that way!”

They waved their arms out in confusion “then what DID you mean?!”

“Go out and do things for me! Solve intense difficult puzzles! Say something interesting! Anything other than what you were thinking in your tiny little FILTHY brain!!” he yelled, pointing a clawed finger at their sweet pony-tailed head for emphasis.

For the first time since meeting him, Frisk couldn’t help but crack a smile, biting their bottom lip to hold back their embarrassed laughter “alright, I get it already! You’re asexual! Stop making fun of me!”

The God snapped his jaw closed with an audible click, staring at them with wild perplexed eyes, still holding out an accusing finger “you assume too much, I never said that I never said anything like that, I was merely repelled by your comments because the very idea that I could ever be interested in a human in that way is disgusting, you are disgusting!”

Feeling ever so slightly disappointed and even more now embarrassed, but still able to find the conversation pretty funny despite the rejection, Frisk awkwardly ducked their head down.

 “Wow…uh… well..  now that you mention I guess I did assume a lot, I’m sorry…I guess it makes the spying thing you did a little less terrible? Not that you’re off the hook for that or anything, it’s still weird,”

The God let out an odd annoyed groan in response “it’s obvious your mind is too clouded to think properly, I should let you be to air everything out, if you decide you want to make this deal, meet me up ahead and we shall go over the rules, I’ll be waiting further down the hall, next door to the room with the bell, it will be obvious, just follow the flowers,”

They looked up at him “and if I decide not to?”

“Then stop wasting my time, turn around and never come back,” he instructed, his voice full of venom.

And with a swift movement and a shift in the fabric of space, he warped away from them, leaving Frisk stunned for many different reasons, vacantly recognizing the bizarre sound to the same strange sound that spooked them when they scaled down inside the mountain.

He really had been following them every step of the way, hadn’t he?

But the realization was short-lived as they suddenly grew frustrated as they made a new realization, anger building up inside their chest.

This Godly creature had watched them for a decade, practically lured them into this mountain, watched from afar, knowing their intentions and probably knowing how scared they were, having the gal to frighten them in the diner, then charmed them with a cool entrance and good looks, made them feel sorry for him- then attempted to make a deal with them for their life!

And then worst of all, he tried to make them feel guilty if they decided to turn him down!

“Waste your time? You’re the giant jerk who’s been manipulating me,” Frisk grumbled under their breath, standing there in growing frustration as they stewed over things.

They had come to teach him a lesson, to an extent they still wanted to, in fact, this almost made them want to try more, but they refused to be used like this…

There was also the big issue with T-Drop, they didn’t want to leave the poor ghost alone with the God anymore than they already had, there just had to be a way to rescue them-

It was then that Frisk had a very brave idea, making their next decision then and there.

They turned around and made a short walk back to the previous room, thankful to see T-Drop now lying on the ground next to the glowing flower.

They made a point to casually sit next to them, “so, I… just had a…uh, very interesting talk,”

“...you’re… mad at me aren’t you…?”

Frisk narrowed their eyebrows, “why would I be mad at you?”

The small ghost sniffed back a few tears “i…….i… should have warned you…that he was a god… but i didn’t, i was afraid you wouldn’t believe me…,”

Frisk let out a small chuckle, “heh, after coming here, I’ll believe in anything…but no, I’m not mad at you, nothing could have prepared me enough for the person I just met back there, but you were right, he does definitely have a temper,”

“.……..i heard him yell at you….i was really worried…. i wanted to stop him………but i… couldn’t move, i guess i’m just too pathetic, i’m sorry,” T-Drop admitted tiredly.

Frisk shook their head gently “no, you’re not pathetic at all, you’re just scared and you’ve been through a lot, no one can blame you if you freeze up sometimes, none of this is your fault, all that matters that in the end, is that you wanted to,”

More tears fell from T-Drop’s eyes, a gracious smile appearing on their ghostly face “….thank you… you’re really nice…,”

Frisk smiled back then let out a nervous sigh “I wish we could talk more, but I need to hurry, the God is waiting for me to make an important decision about a deal, did you hear our conversation about it?”

T-Drop’s smile dropped, staring at Frisk carefully for a moment “…no…after he yelled…i blocked everything out,”

Frisk nodded curtly “that’s probably for the best… anyway, I have decided to decline his deal, I’m going back home and I was really hoping if… you would like to come back with me? I’ll take good care of you and can create as much music as you want, but most of all, it’ll mean you can finally get away from that big ol’ donkey once and for all,”

Frisk had been sure they would have said yes… but a terrible sinking feeling began to grow in their chest as T-Drop’s eyes welled up with more tears than before, watching as the little ghost’s lower lip trembled as they struggled with their answer.

“that sounds really great…. and.…..I really want to…. but i…can’t……..,” they uttered out weakly.

“Why not?” Frisk asked, beginning to feel as if they were going to cry too, the very idea of leaving them with the God was something they couldn’t bare.

But what came out of their new friend’s mouth made them want to sob.

“...this is my home…this is all i’ve ever known… and my family…… i don’t even remember them…but i know my family is going to come back someday… ….everyone will…. i can  f e e l  it, frisk…,”

“Did…did he tell you that?” they uttered out.

“no…i just know… and…and i want to be there when they do come back……..whenever it might be, and i know the god of hyperdeath is mean, but……. . sometimes i feel like he’s the way he is because he’s tired of waiting for his family too…,”

At that, Frisk’s heart dropped, and they began to rub at their wet eyes and let out a defeated cry, folding their knees up and hiding their face into them, curling into themselves and finally, they couldn’t hold back any longer and started to quietly sob, of course things had to go this way…of course it did…

T-Drop was of course alarmed, floating up and off from the ground in concern “.….oh….i didn’t mean to make you cry…i’m sorry frisk……i had no idea freeing me was important to you,”

“It is…I don’t want to leave you here to suffer any more than you already have,” they sniffled “and…it’s funny…for years… after the God of Hyperdeath did what he did to those people…I’ve been having dreams of the way to get inside this mountain without ever coming here…I…I always took it at as a sign of destiny to stop him, but I’m starting to get the feeling it was just his twisted use of his powers to get me to come here so he could trap me,”

“.…but then you met me… now… you don’t want to leave without helping….oh..oh no… this is all my fault,” T-Drop said, their eyes wide with guilt.

Frisk gasped, looking over at T-Drop with alarm “no, it is not! It’s beautiful that you’ve held onto your beliefs this strongly, you’ve been so hopeful for so long, I could never take you away from that,”

And as they said that, a return of light flickered inside of Frisk, a light they hadn’t even realized went out, but they felt it now and it rejuvenated their spirits, a slow grin appearing on their wet face.

“And you know what? If you truly believe everyone will come back, I want to be here when it happens, I’ll wait with you!” they exclaimed.

“but…. what about the god?” T-Drop asked in concern.

“Oh, don’t you worry about him anymore, I have this strange feeling that after I talk to him again that he won’t be too much trouble, at least for you anyway, you may be surprised by the results,”

T-Drop narrowed their eyes at Frisk in concern “…but what about… you..?”

Frisk let out a wary sigh “I seriously don’t know, I don’t really know what to expect from this guy, but part of the deal we made was that he isn’t allowed to hurt anyone ever again, if he does, the deal will be broken, so… I’m not too scared of him anymore… I guess? I’m just still really mad at all the things he’s done,”

“...he confuses me…he always rants about how he hates humans……but every now and then…. he’d talk about how you’d be more entertaining to talk to than me…. or … trying to cook a meal he said that he saw you eat,” T-Drop admitted.

Vacantly amused by the image of the giant terrifying immortal creature standing over a stove in a dainty kitchen, wearing a colorful floral apron, test tasting his soup out of a ladle appeared in Frisk’ mind, but they quickly brushed it away, at the moment they refused to think of him in a softer light.

“...Yeah…it really sounds like he’s treated my life like a reality TV show, but the way he explained it… I was concerned for a second that he had a crush on me or…uh, heh, something of that nature…but no, he’s made it very clear that that’s not the case, all I can hope that it’s not an obsession,”

“...he obviously wants to be your friend…,”

Frisk let out a weak chuckle “he actually told me he didn’t, that he only wanted my ‘presence’, it was kind of weird,”

T-Drop made an unsure expression at that “…yeah…..it is…but...i wonder if he said that because he didn’t want to seem…… desperate…?”

Frisk shrugged their shoulders “who knows, I try my best to read people but I can’t be looking for 'subtle hints’ all the time, I need real genuine honesty or I’ll never know how someone truly feels,”

There was a few moments of silence between the two before there was a sudden strange soft growling sound, which startled the ghost, making them twitch and look around quickly.

“what was that..?!”

Frisk could only laugh gently “it was my tummy, I’m hungry, which makes sense now that I’m thinking about it, I’ve done a lot of walking today and had one too many surprises, but it’s cool, I’ve brought food,” the said, taking off the backpack and pull it around, zipping it open to search for one of their meals.

“i thought you said you need to hurry?” T-Drop asked in concern.

Frisk let out a tired sigh as they unzipped the plastic bag that contained a grilled chicken sandwich.
 “Yeah, yeah… I do… but if I’m going to talk with this guy again, I’ll probably be better off safe than starving, besides, I don’t know when I’ll get a chance to eat again,”

As Frisk began to chow down, T-Drop continued to sit next to them, staying politely quiet.

After a few minutes of eating and gulping down a bottle of green tea, Frisk began to put everything away back into their backpack, but instead of getting up immediately, they stretched their arms out and took a moment of mental preparation.  

That was until T-Drop finally broke the silence.

“...what was the other part of the deal…?”

At that, Frisk winced and pursed their lips, they didn’t have it in them to tell the ghost that they were going to trade their soul for their freedom.

Instead, they rubbed at their tired eyes and stood up with a soft groan, it suddenly seemed a good time as any to get this over with, deciding that they’ve had enough mental preparation, and with that, lifted up their backpack up and pulling it back on

“.……Frisk…?” T-Drop pressed on “…what are you going to do…?”

They only grinned brightly at him.

 “Just be patient buddy, you’ll find out soon enough, everything is going to be fine, I just know it,” and then without waiting for a reply, turned away, making their way back toward the waterfall.

“.….be safe…,” the ghost rasped out, trying their hardest to blink back the tears.

Chapter Text

Inspiration Song: The Other Side by Bruno Mars

As Frisk walked past the waterfall and into the tall grass, repeatedly eyeing the caverns on the second ground floor above their head, they found themselves holding their breath in nervous anticipation, their hands beginning to sweat, they were trying their damn hardest to think positive, but it wasn’t as easy this time around…

“It’s okay…it’s okay…you said it yourself Frisk, everything is going to be fine…,” they chanted to themselves under their breath “giving your soul up to a twenty-something-year-old God will tooootaaally have no painful long term drawbacks… you got this aaalllllll under control baby,”

‘Oh no, what if he’s listening to me? What if he heard the whole conversation with T-Drop? WHAT IF HE HEARD ME CALL HIM A DONKEY?!’ they thought loudly to themselves, gritting their teeth in horror.

They were so deep in their worries, walking with their vacant gaze drawn to the ground, but were caught off guard when their boot suddenly landed on a large pretty flower lily floating over a dark pool of water- all their thoughts and movements halting in surprise.

Now free from their anxious musings- they were now able to pay full attention to their surroundings again, seeing that there were a few more flower lilies, all in a line over the water, looking exactly like a bridge, a very adorable pink flower bridge.

Still, they pressed their foot down, testing the fragility just in case, in awe when it didn’t sink down, instead, it held up firmly and was slightly bouncy, so, they crossed it, walking until they entered a new room.

They were met with the sight of two streams of water that went in opposite directions, four glowing mushrooms, and… their mouth going dry when they spotted a golden bell on the wall.

‘I’ll be waiting further down the hall, next door to the room with the bell, it will be obvious’

‘ just follow the flowers’

Their gaze dropped to the end of the room ahead, and low and behold, saw that there was another lily bridge over the nearby stream that connected to a real bridge that seemed to run off to another area that wasn’t visible from their angle.

Okay… this was it…

Taking advantage of their last moments with their soul still in their body and their freedom still intact, they closed their eyes..

….took a long deep breath

 ..Focused on all of the good things that could come out of this…

And slowly exhaled it through their nose..

And opened their eyes “well, here I go,” they said to themselves and walked on, carefully stepping onto the next flower bridge and onto the new wooden one which took them to a hidden room where they found the God of Hyperdeath, sitting patiently on a quaint white park bench.

He was staring hard at the ground, but as soon as they walked in, a satisfied smile curled on his muzzle, without looking at them, he spoke.

“That took quite a long time, I was beginning to think you ran off,”

Frisk crossed their arms “I almost did, but I refuse to leave T-Drop behind, despite your poor treatment, they don’t want to leave this place, I think they’re braver than you realize,”

He finally eyed them “or more foolish than I realize, I don’t think they’ve figured out yet that I stopped caring about having them around years ago,”

Frisk squinted at him in great disapproval, unsure if they should grace the comment with a response, they decided against saying anything when he crossed his long legs underneath his black robe and floated up into the air, moving away from the bench.

“Sit, let’s properly go over all the rules of the deal, we need to make sure everything is in order and clear between us” he ordered.

“This is a pretty nice improvement from grabbing my arm and growling in my face,” Frisk mumbled quietly as they walked to the bench, sitting down, attempting to get as comfortable as they could.

“I tend to react that way around idiots, you’ll have to excuse me,” the God deadpanned.

“I will if you apologize,” Frisk bit back.

“Hmph, there are many things I need to apologize for, I am not about to start now,” he replied, floating around until he was few feet in front of Frisk, making sure he was at their eye level, then reached into a pocket inside his robe, pulling out a near translucent golden piece of paper which he began looking over.

“Let’s get this over with, hm? Rule one, the God of Hyperdeath cannot kill or harm anymore, or steal any more souls, with the only exception of Frisk’s soul,”

“Oh…that’s weird…,” Frisk blurted out.

He narrowed his eyebrows at them “what is?”

“That’s the first time you’ve said my name out loud, it feels weird to hear you say it,” they said, now feeling awkward as they second-guessed themselves.

At that he became visibly annoyed, snapping his fingers at them a few times “focus you nitwit! I know it’s hard to with your minuscule attention span, but this isn’t something to take lightly, just tell me that you agree to rule one,”

“...I agree..,” they sighed, annoyance lacing their tone.

“Alright, rule two, ‘T-Drop’ is to have their complete freedom back once the switch is made, the God of Hyperdeath is never allowed to force them to do anything ever again, do you agree?”

“I definitely agree,”

“Rule three, Frisk’s soul is to be kept safe and locked inside a magic shrine inside the throne room at all times, no one is to ever touch it with the exception that the God of Hyperdeath lets them borrow it for a short period of time to leave the mountain, if they do not come back in time, the deal is broken and the God of Hyperdeath gets their soul, do you agree?”

“..I agree.”

“Rule four, if Frisk has not been given permission by the God of Hyperdeath, Frisk is never allowed to leave the inside of the mountain, if they do, the deal is broken and the God of Hyperdeath gets their soul, do you agree?”

“...Yeah… I agree…,”

“Rule five, Frisk is to do whatever the God of Hyperdeath wants, do you agree?”

“...Wait, what if I end up getting hurt in the process of doing one of your ‘biddings’? Would that violate rule one? Or what if you do something awful like…hm…uh, tell me to… hurt myself?”

The God raised his eyebrows at that, impressed “sneaky, but, no, if you accidentally get hurt- that is just you hurting yourself, I had no part in that, and neither will I tell you to hurt yourself- because…yes, I think would violate rule one, I won’t make such an easy mistake,”

Frisk’s frown twisted into disgust “…‘easy’ huh?”

“It’s a joke. So, do you agree?”

“What if I don’t agree to a rule?”

“Then you have to alter it to your liking, but I have to agree to the altercation and so forth,”

“Is that a magic list? Does the deal only happen if we agree to all the rules?”

“Asking the important questions a little late aren’t we? But...yes it’s ‘magic’…and yes, once you have agreed to everything it automatically becomes binding, and you can’t sneak your way out of it or the process, that is- unless I tear it up,”

“But why did you make it when you could just go ahead and swipe my soul?”

“Because I told you, I’m civilized, and you won’t believe how many deaths and disasters happen to powerful entities who jump into things headfirst and don’t make binding contracts, deals or checklists first, the meek are notorious for figuring out how to rise to freedom,”

“Did you just imply that I’m a notorious meekling?”

Finally, the God caught on, sneering at the cheeky little human in front of him “stop distracting me! Do you agree or not?”

“Fine, yes, I agree, but… this list appeals more to you than me, is it possible for me to add a rule?”

The God scoffed “yes- but this is a deal for ME to have ownership of YOUR soul, why should you get to have a rule?”

Frisk glared at him hard “because I ‘owned’ it first, and you owe me for invading my private personal space,”

The God was taken aback at that, seemed to be at lost for words for a few seconds until he looked away and down, letting out a sigh.
 “Alright…I suppose you are right about that, and I can’t expect to receive respect if I don’t give it first…,” he admitted, his voice tight and uncomfortable.

And without another word, he handed Frisk the paper.

“Just write it down with your index finger and erase with your middle,” he explained.

Frisk took a few seconds to admire both the God’s thoughtfulness and his handwriting (which was a mix of print and cursive) this was really nice, unable to stop themselves from peeking at him from the piece of paper.

“Thank you, this means a lot,”

“Mmhm..,”

They knew exactly what to write, taking less than a minute to write their rule down, handing it back to their captor.

“Hm, ‘rule six, The God of Hyperdeath is no longer allowed to view or track Frisk in secret, doing so harms Frisk emotionally and breaks rule one which breaks the deal’, I guess I should have seen this coming, since you are here now it’s not much of an issue anymore… but let’s say… if you, for some reason, are far away from me in the underground and I don’t know where you are, that I still have to find you without the use of my powers?”

Frisk looked thoughtful for a moment before they nodded “I didn’t think of that scenario, but yeah, it sounds right, just look for me like any other person,”

At that, the God grinned “sounds like it could be interesting, perhaps... I could make a game out of it,”

“...Like advanced hide and go seek?” Frisk suggested warily.

He laughed in response, his grin turning dark “I was thinking more along the lines of cat and mouse,”

Frisk grimaced “please tell me your joking again before I take that back and edit everything,”

He shook his head, chuckling to himself “I’m joking, I will behave as you wish, so, are you satisfied with what you wrote?”

Frisk let out a sigh “yes…do..uh, do I have to ask if you agree to it?”

“Yes,”

“Do you agree?”

“I agree,”

“I… have another question, and it’s serious, but… how much do you time travel?” Frisk asked, when he had first spoken of the ability, they had been overwhelmed with not a lot of time to process everything, but now the subject had returned to their thoughts and it seemed like the perfect time to act.

He perked up at that “hm, I was worried you would never ask, I used to abuse my time travel powers all the time, but after years of doing all I can think of, I have lost interest, I can only go backwards to certain saved points anyway, I’ve never been able to flash forward,”

“I see..and…ah…have you…um, used your power since I’ve come here? Would I know if you used it?” they asked, trying to hide the return of their nervousness.

“No, you wouldn’t, and… no, I haven’t used my power for months, these days I use it to clean up insignificant mistakes, why do you ask?… Are you afraid that I could do something to you and you would never know?”

Letting out a weak, anxious chuckle, Frisk held out their hand for the paper “can I add one more rule?”

The God of course- did not move “why?”

“Because you could cheat the deal by time traveling and you haven’t given me very many reasons to trust you yet,” they explained, hoping he’d let them have this.

He furrowed his eyebrows in deep thought “well. . .,”

They continued to hold out their hand “please? I promise I won’t ask to add anything else,”

Again, without a word, he handed them the magical piece of paper.

“Thank you,” they said graciously.

Still silent, he merely directed his gaze to somewhere at the ground between them.

They knew what to write this time as well, still, it took them a little longer to gather their thoughts about to word this one, trying to make sure everything was clear, time travel was always a tricky subject.

But soon enough they handed it back.

He read it out loud “... ‘The God of Hyperdeath cannot do harm on purpose and break the deal and then use his time-traveling powers and go back in time to change the event, it is considered cheating and unfair, and in doing so, will break the deal and Frisk will get their soul back’,”

Bothered and worried by his sudden stoic behavior, Frisk fidgeted in their seat “is there a problem with it?”

“No…it’s just that I’m vexed that you caught this loophole at all, it could have proven useful, but, I will allow you to have it,”

“I mean- I have no problems with you time traveling, as long as you don’t do anything bad,”

“Just ask me if I agree,” he grumbled.

“Do you agree?”

“I agree,”

Frisk watched as the God stared over the piece of paper for a few moments before nodding firmly to himself.

“The deal has been finalized, there’s only one thing left to do to make it binding,” he then rolled the golden magic piece of paper up and stuck it back into his robe, gazing at them in contemplative silence, his expression becoming momentarily gentle.

But too soon he shook whatever thoughts he was thinking away in his head, proceeding to unwound himself from his floating sitting position into a standing one, towering over the human intimidatingly once again.

“Are you ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” they said in a sigh.

He then motioned them to stand “good, then get up, I would like to fly you to the throne room to do this,”

They paused any movement in hesitation “fly me?”

“Yes, it’s a long walk away and I’d rather not wait on you and your tiny twig legs again, that… and I do not think your body could handle warping…or…maybe it could… I haven’t had anyone living to test it on yet,” he explained, thinking out loud.

“Ah…okay,” they uttered out, unsure of how excited they should be as they got up from the bench.

“Okay, first, give me your backpack,” he requested.

They frowned, raising their hands to grab onto the straps protectively “why?”

“I’m going to give it back, I just want it off because it’ll be less of a hassle to hold to you that way, besides, you’ve had it on for practically four hours, I’m assuming your back is sore by now,” he explained.

Frisk looked a little embarrassed “I was going to put some of my things in the box… thing, but it was jammed or something…did you do that?”

“I may have. But that’s not important anymore, can I have the damned bag already or are you going to keep asking follow up questions?” he snipped.

Frisk said nothing more, slipping off the backpack and handing it out for the God, sighing a quiet sigh of relief at the loss of weight, watching as he took it from them…

… But then was sure they were going insane when he looked to the right of him and raised the backpack at and into something invisible, their mouth dropping in shocked bewilderment when suddenly the backpack completely vanished.

 When he looked back to Frisk he was caught off by their dumbfounded expression, letting out an absurd laugh.

But Frisk was not having any of that “don’t laugh at me, what was that?! What did you do with my stuff?!”

The God still couldn’t help but snicker, “oh, I did nothing terrible, it’s perfectly safe, I promise, I simply put it away in my Universe pocket, I created it by warping and bending a pocket into the fabric of reality, it’s become very handy,”

Frisk was now even more dumbfounded and baffled than before  “ h o w ? ”

The God frowned at them with judgment “with my great cosmic powers, that’s how. Honestly, why does me being able to turn back time and ability to float and vanish to other places not shock you, but you cannot comprehend that I can bend reality?”

“...Because… it’s . . . scary? And…should… be impossible… for everyone?? Even Gods????” Frisk managed to utter out, still having trouble putting their thoughts together.

At that he gave a big sarcastic shrug “well, I can, and I’m capable of much more too, and if I have to be honest, it takes extensive focus to bend and rip into reality…so I don’t really bother with it much, besides, I enjoy my reality the way it is, so you have nothing to fear, just be content that you don’t have to carry your backpack,”  

There was a pause from Frisk as they looked off into space “ oh my goodness…...…it’s backpackseption, a bag within a bag,”

“Why, yes it is, Frisk! How smart and clever you are,” The God said in an extreme patronizing tone, even leaning over to give Frisk a congratulatory pat on the head.  

At that, Frisk regained composure, snapping their gaze back to him with an annoyed frown, swatting him away “stop being rude, it’s not every day people see things like that,”

He smirked coolly at them “you should watch more magic shows then, but don’t worry, you’re about to have your mind blown again,”

Frisk then let out an alarmed yelp as the God abruptly bent down, hooked an arm underneath their knees and the other one behind their back and neck, scooping the entire human up in one fluid movement.

Their heart jolted as a white light flashed and they caught a magnificent, unfathomable sight as two enormous bright spectrums of interchanging color wings shot out from The God of Hyperdeath’s back.

It took them a few seconds for them to pull their eyes away from his wings and finally register that he was now flying high into the air, their jaw going slack as he expeditiously navigated the long, winding, dark and glowing caverns of Waterfall with ease.

“Wow!!” was all they could chime out, deciding that out of all of his ‘Godly cosmic powers’ and ‘magic tricks’, that this was one of their most favorite, even if they haven’t seen the others yet.

 Fortunately, Frisk’s senses slowly began to come back to them and they were able to speak again.

“What can’t you do?” they exclaimed in pure awe.

In response, he let out a hearty laugh, a genuine smile on his mug but it disappeared as fast it appeared as he suddenly inaudibly gasped in surprise when he caught view of a sudden low hanging cavern ceiling wall.
            “At the moment I can’t phase through walls- hang on,”

Despite the warning, Frisk still couldn’t help but let out a squeak as the God shifted his arms to hold them closer to his chest protectively and pulled a sudden sharp nose dive to avoid crashing.

The close contact didn’t last long as he re-found a more stable flying position and relaxed his arms on them, though…Frisk had a little trouble shaking off the confusing flustered yet dazed spell they were now under, unable to unglue their eyes off from the powerful monster, something about being this physically close while seeing him from this angle was messing with their head in a funny way, becoming hyperaware of his entire left hand that snugly held the underneath both their thighs, the heat in their face returning.

But they caught themselves, shutting their eyes tight at the same returning shame from earlier.

 No, JUST NO.

‘NO, NO, NO, NOnononononoNONONONOOOO! NO! BEHAVE!’ Frisk yelled at themselves in their thoughts, because this was NOT the time NOR the place to let their sensitive hormones act up, especially when they were in the middle of being flown out to have their soul and freedom removed by the creature doing this to them!

They briefly wished he wasn’t so dangerously gorgeous, because this whole predicament would be thirty times simpler if they didn’t have to focus so hard on not being both frightened and turned on at the same time, literally God damn it, they wish they had access to a cold shower right now to freeze away their shame.

Taking in a breath and promising themselves they wouldn’t look at his face again until they landed, they opened their eyes again and gasped, any more lascivious thoughts or feelings involving the God of Hyperdeath taking a trip to the backseat as they were greeted again by the mysterious and enchanting view of Waterfall once again, now even much higher than before.

Things were quiet for a little while, until a question popped into Frisk’s head, one they couldn’t hold back on asking.

“So. . .what’s your name?” they asked.

The God hesitated for a few seconds before he answered.
 “I told you already,”

“...‘The Absolute God of Hyperdeath’ is not a name, it’s a title, and you must have a name because earlier you implied you were once a regular monster,” Frisk explained.

“Hmph, I did, didn’t I?” he grumbled in annoyance, more to himself than Frisk.

“Is it true?”

He let out a long sigh “…yes, I was once- a very long time ago- ‘a regular monster’, but I never want to catch you using that as a reason to treat me as a ‘commoner’,”

“Heh, I think it’ll be hard to when you use words like that, so… uh, were you born into a royal family? I recognize the rune on your robe, I spotted it a few times back in the ruins . . . or um, is it something you wear as a sign of respect to the missing monsters?”

The God of Hyperdeath went dead silent for almost a solid minute, slowing down ever so slightly, as if the comment had taken him off guard, but he seemed to shake it off.

“Mmm, you surely do pay close attention to detail for a vapid moron, but…yes, I… came from royalty,” he admitted.

Frisk bit their bottom lip, a handsome God AND royalty?! If this guy wasn’t so possessive, mean, violent, or assumingly notorious for ‘hyperdeath’ he’d probably be one of the most perfect creatures they had ever met.

“Well, I dunno, the regal-ish way you talk also kinda gave me a clue, that and the fact you’re taking me to a throne room,”

“Yes, well, despite that, I felt that if I was going to be a God, I should at least behave like one, it just seemed like the natural thing to do, thankfully for my background I already had the training,”

“Or behave like you think a God should behave, cuz I have a pret-ty strong feeling you’ve never even met another God or Goddess before,”

He didn’t answer, but Frisk could practically hear him scowl, they decided to shift the subject for the better.

“I know I’m rambling now, but if you don’t mind me asking, what were you? Were you the King or a duke, or prince or…?”

“I was a prince,”

Ahh, now his spoiled rotten baby boy habits were making much more sense.

Frisk was about to ask another question when the scenery around them began to show signs of dramatically changing, which caught them completely off guard, their eyebrows raising as they noticed the bright red horizon and tall old industrial towers in the far-off distance.

And right in front of them was a very large very rocky opening to another cavernous area.

“On foot, this cave will take you on a very long walk through Hotland and the CORE- which eventually leads to New Home, that’s around where the throne room is located, fortunately, I, of course- as you can clearly see- have wings, which unfortunately for you means that we will get to take the fastest shortcut,” he arrogantly explained, and with one extravagant flap, propelled the both of them upward, proceeding to fly over it all.

Ah… they’d distracted themselves too well, the reminder of what was going to be happening soon causing their anxiety to return, deciding to be quiet for a while and keep their full focus on the world below, trying hard to stave off their worse thoughts.

For awhile, directly under them, there wasn’t much to see except for jagged rock, so instead, they kept their eyes on the red glow further ahead, becoming more and more skeptical of it as they grew closer, that was until they passed the cave and revealed Frisk’s suspicions to be again correct-

The red glow was the glint of miles and miles of lava, with thankfully tall (and winding) pathways, machinery, walls, buildings, and towers to keep safe from.

Frisk was again, astounded and amazed by the vast earthly beauty of the underground.

But- phew, Hotland was true to its name! Even at the distance that they were flying at, Frisk found themselves wanting to take their thick jacket off.

Instead, they decided to persevere through it, not wanting to make any more complaints…

Yet…not long after the temperature had risen, they noticed the God flying even higher in the air and let out a small huff of annoyance, perhaps he was affected by the heat as well? It was an interesting theory considering the fact he was clearly immortal and indestructible, perhaps the intense temperatures that lava consisted of were one of his flaws…  it was probably a subject to bring up later.

As they flew, a frightening re-returning thought waved heavily through Frisk’s mind, they couldn’t put it off again, they just had to know.

“...I have another question, and I want to know the answer before we reach the throne room,” Frisk began.

“It all depends on what it is,” he responded.

“I’m sorry if this is a sensitive subject, but…wh- what exactly happened to…um..to all the other monsters?” they asked.

The God was very quiet, as if he were hesitant to respond…
 “Perhaps I will tell you later on, but not now,”

Frisk swallowed the nervous lump in their throat, their next words especially hard to get out.       
 “Please! You have to tell me, if you… killed them, just let me know, I- I want a full idea of what kind of person I’m living with, I want to be prepared,”

As they spoke, Frisk felt the God’s arms stiffen around them, clearly, they didn’t have to look at his face to know he was becoming upset.

“No, I can assure you, I did not kill them… something else happened to them- I promise I will explain it in better detail later, just not at this moment. Now drop the subject before I drop you,” he growled out.

“I’m sorry,” Frisk said quietly.

He let out a soft sigh, his intense mood noticeable subsiding “...don’t apologize, you’re not in the wrong for wanting to know these things, I just do not have the patience right now to take the time to tell you everything,”

“I understand,” they replied.

A few seconds passed before Frisk couldn’t help but speak up again.

“Would you have really dropped me?”

“Yes, to teach you a lesson, I’d of course would catch you before you hit the lava, I need you after all, remember?” he explained.

Frisk wasn’t sure if that was a joke or not, blowing air from their cheeks anxiously.

Not another word was spoken after that, Frisk was too deep in concentration as they grew closer to the two particular buildings that connected in the middle, but both vastly different than the other.

The first one- which was lit up from the inside, looked spectacular, they could even spot a shiny golden neon sign at the two front doors, but they were too far away to make out the words or anything else.

The second building-  as connected to by a bridge, was by far, the largest and tallest creation in Hotland and maybe even the underground, Frisk had seen its great phenomenal mysterious presence looming in the distance, but at this magnitude, it was even more impressive and intimidating.  

It appeared to have been built by twisted and winding metal pipes and cogs of all sizes, and maybe even circuitry giving the electric blue light that escaped from the doorway.

“That’s the CORE, it was created by a former Royal Scientist whose story is a mystery even I am still trying to figure out, it converts geothermal energy into magical electricity, it requires around the clock blocks of ice that need to be sent from Snowdin, or else it will overheat, there used to be a family of ice wolfs to deposit it, but I’ve long ago created a magic portal system to solve that issue,” he explained.

“Will it explode if it overheats?” Frisk asked worriedly.

“No, it has a safety shut off mechanism, and I had the choice to leave it be, but I have decided I like my home to have power, the more power the better,”

After that there was more silence as the God flew around the CORE, coming into a new view of many, many buildings clustered together, but what made Frisk fearful was the nearby sight of what was clearly a palace that was linked to the CORE.

The God was flying straight toward it.

 “You’re scared,” he suddenly stated.

“I’m about to lose ownership to my soul, of course I’m scared,” Frisk said, their voice a near whisper.

“And, are you scared of me?” he asked.

“...Sort of… I don’t know, I know what you promised, and that you’ve been nice enough to me, but, you’ve also been extremely cruel, I… I don’t know what to expect from you,” they said, still speaking quietly.

“I cannot promise I will always behave as you wish, but…will it make you feel better to learn my true name? To not associate me as a cold and merciless God all the time? My sole intention when making this deal was never to hurt you, and I’ve… realized I cannot enjoy your presence if you are going to be afraid of me,” he admitted.

At first, Frisk was at loss for words “I… see…that’s good, I guess,” they looked down at their lap, they guessed they were glad that he had figured that out, they weren’t sure how learning his name made what was supposed to make them feel any less scared.

They eyed his chest, “so, what is your name?”

“Asriel Dreemurr,” he announced.

They looked up at him in awe, then away when they caught his gaze, feeling a little shy “that’s…a beautiful name… um… how do you spell it?”

“A-S-R-I-E-L, D-R-double-E-M-U-double-R,”

Frisk narrowed their brows, thinking over something in their mind.

“So… what do I have to do to make you less scared of me?” they asked firmly as they could muster.

The God scoffed, chuckling, “what are you even talking about? I’m not-”

“Yes you are, why else would you need my soul to make the deal? You don’t trust me at all, you’re obviously frightened by humans, me included,” they explained, a slight ache in their tone.

The God didn’t respond, and finally flew down to one of the palace’s bridges in between buildings, landing gracefully, putting away his colorful wings and allowing Frisk to get back to their feet- who, instead of checking their surroundings as usual, turned around to face him, they still wanted to finish the conversation.

He frowned deeply, then looked away, “you’re nothing like those humans who attacked me, that is why I chose you, remember? My problem with you, Frisk, is that you do not ever give up, not ever, if I don’t take your soul… you’ll easily slip away,”

Frisk shook their head, becoming increasingly frustrated “I won’t! I told you, I’m not going anywhere without T-Drop, and T-Drop isn’t leaving until their family comes back! But I have no idea if that’ll even happen!”

At that the God cracked a bitter smile, rubbing at his eyes as if he were exhausted “…why are you still so naive?” he whispered, going unheard, silent for a moment as he worked out something in his head, but shook it away and gazed down at them.
“You have a strong point, but even if the others never come back, I know you Frisk, you could still find another way around,” he then scowled at them “I’m already certain you’ve already worked some kind of plan together to free your soul after it’s locked away …I’ll admit, you’re unbreakable positive tenacity is as annoying as it is charming,”

Frisk’s mouth gaped open, their eyebrows raising because he was right.

They then smiled weakly, sticking their hands modestly in their pockets “alright… I guess you’ve really got me figured out,” they then shifted their weight awkwardly onto their left foot as they attempted to change the subject…

“Your real name, can I call you that instead?” they asked, their tone polite.

Asriel’s mouth twisted in something between annoyance and deep thought before he finally gave them an answer “sparingly, I’d rather you call me by both names,”

“Now,” he pointed to the other side “begin walking, I will be behind you,” he directed.

So, Frisk did as they were told, walking and walking until they were met with a very familiar view.

“Oh… this looks just like the house back in the ruins…,” they noted.

“That’s correct, the one you saw belonged to my mother and this one belonged to my father,” Asriel said, giving them a quick tap on the back “keep going,”

They waved a hand back at him at the unnecessary touching “okay, okay,” and began walking again, both making their way inside, but was further shocked.

Despite the color palette difference, and a few obvious furniture changes here and there, the inside of the house was built exactly the same as the one back in the ruins.

“‘The western room is the eastern room’s blueprint’,” Frisk echoed, remembering a particular sign they had seen, they then turned to look up at Asriel, “what happened? Why didn’t they live together?”

“They didn’t see eye to eye after a traumatic incident and had a divorce, my father persistently stayed and ruled here while my mother stormed off and locked herself away in the ruins, your regular basic royal family drama I guess, it doesn’t matter anymore,” he said and floated passed them to the staircase, motioning to it gracefully “come, you’ll have plenty of time to look around later,”

They entered another, very, very long hallway.

“Was it hard for you?” Frisk asked suddenly after a while of silence, gazing at the view of the empty buildings below as it came into sight, absentmindedly slowing their pace.

“What was?”

“The divorce, I mean- you don’t have to tell me what happened, I’m just wondering how it affected you, I hear divorce can be really tough on kids,” Frisk said.

“I don’t know, I don’t… really think about that part of my life anymore, quit trying to play therapist anyway, I’ve already explained that it won’t get you anywhere with me,” Asriel grumbled.

“Alright, then, new topic. .. uh, do you have a favorite food? T-Drop mentioned something about you having an interest in cooking,” they said.

A subtle scowl appeared on his face “...did they now?”

Frisk reacted quickly “uh, they didn’t say a lot- just don’t be mad at them for gossiping, they were just trying to talk to someone who was actually listening to them for a change,”

“Fair enough, but.. yes, I have some interest in cooking, I don’t need to eat, but I sometimes enjoy the process of making a meal, I also still have taste buds so getting to use them is a plus as well,” he explained.

“Soooo, favorite food?” Frisk repeated.

“Ah… yes, uh, well, I’m partial to escargot, and any type of dessert, but cinnamon butterscotch pie has always been a favorite too,” he said, sounding as if he was rather liking this conversation.

“And unfavorite food?”

“Eh, hm… asparagus, anything from goats, maybe hominy, other than that, there aren’t many foods I dislike,”

Frisk took a pause in their thoughts “wait… wait a hot second, how do you get the food?”

“Oh yes, well, for a while I stockpiled on the hidden gardens that the underground has, but I had no interest in figuring out how to keep all that produce alive and going on my own, so I have been summoning food from the surface since then,” he explained.

Frisk stopped in their footsteps, looked up at Asriel with judgment “are you trying to say you’ve been stealing?”

But of course, he was unaffected, giving them an uncaring shrug “I only steal from the unworthy humans and only when I need to cook, besides it’s not like I let anything go to waste,”

“...Have you ever stolen things from me…?” they asked, unsure if they wanted an answer.

“You’re not unworthy- but yes, to taste of a few things you’ve cooked, but never anything other than that, I have no interest in taking your personal belongings,” he said.

“Oh…so… do you like my cooking…?” they pressed on, mildly hopeful.

“Actually, yes, except I think you use too much unnecessary spices, but- whatever, let's stop with the idle chatter and focus on the task at hand,” he said, then placed a hand on their shoulder and turned them back around.

Exhaling through their nose at being physically touched and moved again by this creature, not entirely sure how much they enjoyed it at the moment, they wondered if this was going to be a regular thing with him, deciding to voice their concerns about this for later.

Instead, they began walking again.

“I was just trying to lighten the mood, and maybe try to figure out some ideas for any future meals if… y’know, eating was a thing with you or not,” Frisk said, stuffing their hands in their pockets.

He didn’t voice a response to this, instead he floated up ahead of them to the end of the hall to the right, next to a large doorway, waiting patiently as they took no time to hurry, following behind again as they went in.

He almost bumped into them when they again stopped in their tracks as they got a clear view of the wide ornate brightly lit golden hallway.

“What is it now?” Asriel complained, floating around them to inspect the issue.

They continued to stare around the hallway, silent and caught up in their thoughts, “this is one of the places from here that I’ve dreamed about, it’s funny, some of the places here give me a strange… sort… of nostalgic vibe almost, even though I’ve never been here,” they explained.

They then looked up to him expectantly “you planted these places in my mind, didn’t you?”

Asriel smirked, holding back a chuckle “you catch on fast, don’t you? But yes, I had to inspire you to come here somehow after all, the nostalgia is likely a side effect of receiving another person’s memories,”

Frisk nodded, it sounded about right, letting out a sigh of wonder as they continued on “it’s gorgeous in here, was it a ballroom?”

Asriel shrugged “I guess it could have been, but for a long time it had one main purpose, it was the place where a monster would pass judgment over visitors before they spoke to the King,”

“So, that means we’re close to the throne room…,” Frisk said, tightening their hands inside their jacket.

“It does,”

Not another word was spoken, and soon they left the hallway, entering a much smaller one where Asriel hovered over to the main door, stopped, and turned to them.

“This is it, is there anything else you want to ask or say before we go in?” he asked.

Frisk bit their bottom lip as their thoughts ran over all the options, their eyes flickering back and forth between the floor and the God’s gaze.

“...Do I have to pray to you?” they asked, a nervous smile on their face.

But Asriel was genuinely skeptical of the question “you can…? But I’m… uh, not that type of ‘God’, so unless I’m within earshot, I don’t think I will hear you,”

There was an awkward pause between them.

“That was an attempt at a joke, wasn’t it?” he finally asked.

Frisk let out a soft chuckle “yeah, it was, but I’m glad you took me seriously anyway, it was nice,” running a hand through their bangs they looked down to their boots.
 “But, I guess I do have a real question…,” they dared to eye him “… will it hurt?”

Asriel grimaced at that, for almost a second Frisk was sure they saw a glint of guilt in his eyes, but it passed too quickly, “I will make sure it doesn’t, I believe it may affect the deal somehow if I let it,”

Frisk nodded, taking in his words “okay… and.. you’re sure I’ll be the same after..?”

He floated to them, reaching out to gently hold the side of their left arm comfortingly.
 “Yes, I wouldn’t be doing this if it altered you somehow, because as I explained, your soul will still be perfectly connected to you, just not… within you, do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand…,” they said, focusing their gaze now at the long hand that was currently enveloping their entire upper arm, and then, something dawned on them, turning their attention back to Asriel with suspicion.

“You.. DO want me as your friend… don’t you?” they asked, their voice gentle.

At the suggestion, he instantly released their arm as if he suddenly realized he was doing it, his frown twisting uncomfortably, he stared back down with a mixed expression of sadness and disgust.

“Do you really honestly believe that a person who would do what I’m about to do would be interested or capable of making ‘friends’?” he criticized, his voice low and judgmental- but at who, Frisk was unsure.

Frisk could only gaze at him with deep thought for a few seconds before they smiled gently and let out a sigh.
“It’s hard to tell, you’ve been giving me mixed signals since we met, but… I can tell you’re really trying to do something, even if you keep denying it,”

He folded his arms and stared back at them cautiously “hmph… okay, since you seem to think you have me figured out, what are you trying to play at? Are you really trying to say you’d actually be friends with… me? After everything I did? Or even after what I’m about to do?”

Their smile grew sad, but gave a playful little shrug.

 “Well. . .yeah. . . maybe if things go right, I know, it sounds kind of bad, doesn’t it? But I’ve decided that I’m going to show you compassion and make the best out of this situation, even if it means I decide to make friends with my ‘captor’, and.. I don’t know… I’m starting to realize that maybe you’re not as horrible as I originally thought,”

At that he glared daggers and arched down to their height, much like he had done when they first met earlier and leaned in dangerously, this time though, he clasped a hand on the side of their face, a clawed thumb pressing roughly…but painlessly against their cheek and languidly pulled them in close until they were inches from his face.

It was easy to say that Frisk was caught off guard by this, their breath catching in their throat, unable to look away as his intense scarlet red eyes locked onto their bright hazel ones.

…Yet…this time, they couldn’t exactly say they were entirely… scared.

“You’re trusting me much too early, Frisk, you shouldn’t make decisions that you know you might regret later,” he growled.

At that, something occurred to Frisk and they dared to smile at him, their expression brave, trying their hardest to keep their head clear and ignore the hard drumming of their heartbeat or how their body was heating up again.

“I agree, I’ve definitely made many difficult and terrifying choices today, ones that I wasn’t sure about at first- but in the end, I’ve made my choices knowing in my heart that they were the right ones, and I believe this one won’t be any different,”

Asriel was taken aback, his mouth gaping slightly in surprise, seemingly lost in his thoughts as he stared at them, it was clear he had no idea what to say anymore.

Frisk, however, was finally and completely coming to terms with the deal, they knew what to do, raising a hand up to tenderly clasp their hand over the much larger hand that still held the side of their face- watching in fascination as Asriel’s diamond pupils dilated in response and catching the glint of desperation in his expression.

Relief flowed through them as they finally realized they had more control than they previously thought.

“It’s okay Asriel, do what you feel you need to if you think it’s the right thing to do, I’ve decided I’m done being scared of you, and if we don’t become friends, that’s okay too, I have T-Drop, but… I have a feeling deep inside that it might be nice to be friends with you, no matter what you say,” they said, then took hold of his hand and gently pulled it from their face, slowly pulling it down between them and flipping it over to properly hold it.

Well, to properly hold as their size difference would allow anyway.

“I’m ready to give you my soul, I have strong hopes I’ll get it back someday,” they confessed.

“...I cannot tell if you are an idiot, brave, or simply insane,” Asriel murmured, staring down at their joined hands, completely awestruck.

Frisk laughed quietly at that, “I don’t know, I’m just following my heart, it always seems to get me into some pretty interesting and exciting situations,”

“I’ve noticed,” Asriel whispered, his gaze still pierced to their hands, but he shut his eyes and let out a great sigh, taking his hand back in the process and standing straight again.

“We will continue this conversation later, now, if you say you are ready, then let’s get this over with shall we?” he said and motioned to the larger doorway ahead.

Frisk merely gave him an understanding smile and walked toward their fate.

Chapter Text

Inspiration Song: Rabbit Heart by Florence And The Machine

They were met with the sight of a grand golden room filled with greenery, with vines running up the walls and a widespread patch of familiar golden flowers decorating the middle, all of it covering up checkered flooring underneath.

Among the space where there weren’t flowers, sat a solitary God-sized throne that seemed to clash with the rest of the décor, it was cushioned by a scarlet red fabric and appeared to be made out of an unusual odd black metal, the top of it shaped into several peculiar symmetrical pointed shapes- it took Frisk a second to recognize that peculiar shape was to match Asriel’s slicked back horns.

 It was clear he had created it himself.

Frisk was unsure to do as Asriel floated past them, his eyes calculating as stared at the area where the throne sat.

“Yes…I think I want to put it here…,” he mumbled to himself, frowning as he circled the throne, “this will just have to be moved,”

Frisk then backed up against the nearest wall as Asriel slowly raised a hand, his fingers curling as if he were holding something, then watched, stunned, as the throne began to levitate at the same moment.  

 He then motioned his arm out to the large window at the end of the room-

And whoosh!

 The throne flew across the room, not stopping until it was placed in front of the middle of the window.

Relaxing his hand back down and turning his attention to the empty space where the throne had stood, Asriel smirked, and eyed Frisk.

“This is where your shrine will stand, mind you, it will look nothing like you could ever imagine, so try not to be alarmed by the end result, I’m not interested in hearing your artistic criticism, now- keep watching,” he said and crouched down to the checkered flooring, then raised both hands and dramatically waved them at the spot.

At the action, there was a loud crack- and suddenly several of the square stones were raised into the air, they circled around randomly as if they no longer obeyed the laws of gravity, dancing freely before Asriel waved them off back to the ground nearby, turning his attention back to the new plot of uncovered rocky ground.

He shifted his position, leaning over and placing his hands carefully onto the ground, meticulous of the placement, he then took a big breath, inhaling and then very gradually and very slowly began to raise his hands.

 And as he raised them, so did the ground, as if it were chasing after him.

But what caught Frisk off guard wasn’t that he was moving the earth or (physically?) moving things in general, it was the bizarre formation the ground was taking shape of.

From afar it would have appeared that the God of Hyperdeath was summoning out hundreds to thousands of…hands from beneath the earth, clustered together, bending and binding with their palms raised out as if they were all waiting to hold something.

But as Frisk looked more carefully, they saw hands of different shapes and sizes and origin, some humanoid, some paws, some blobby, some claws, some hoofs, some without skin and just skeleton.

None of the hands could actually be called ‘human’, they were all monstrous in nature.

Asriel continued to concentrate, coming back into a standing position as he continued to raise both his arms and his new creation, completely absorbed in his project.

Soon, as the shrine grew taller, the arms connecting to the thousands of hands began to appear, blending together until it looked less like an eldritch horror creation and more like an artistic spiraling column, and once it reached six feet, Asriel exhaled and waved his arms away, finished.

Frisk was so fascinated by his work that they didn’t notice when the God directed his attention to them, jumping in surprise when he spoke.

“I see you staring quite hard, but what are you thinking?” he asked.

“The hands… do they- do they all belong to your people?” they asked.

He nodded “it was important to me that they took part in this deal someway or another,”

Frisk, however, wasn’t sure how their ownership was relevant to the God’s lost people, but, if it was important then they wouldn’t judge too hard. They also thought of asking other questions, like, ‘why did he move his throne when there was plenty of room to put the shrine instead’ or ‘can they take a closer look at the shrine’s details’, but… it just didn’t seem the right time, neither did they have the courage to do so as Asriel drifted over to them, automatically stepping back as he approached them.

“You said you weren’t going to be scared of me anymore,” he reminded them.

Frisk smiled weakly “it’s not you I’m scared of right now,”

He smiled back “perfectly understandable, but don’t worry, I’ll make this quick,”

Asriel then floated a little closer, and suddenly, something remarkable happened.

In front of Frisk, a box appeared, and inside the box was a red heart, then below that was four other boxes that read-

‘FIGHT’  ‘ACT’  ‘ITEM’  ‘MERCY’

Between that, they could see their name, that they were at an ‘LV 1’, and had an HP meter that was at 20/20 percent.

“This is an encounter, all monsters have the ability to summon anyone into one… so, this is probably the first and last one you’ll be in,” he then grinned “and see that heart? That is your soul, the very culmination of your being,”

Frisk gaped, at first at the sight, but then they realized they physically couldn’t speak or physically move- except for their hands, they could move their arms and hands- as astounding as all of this was, they felt no reason to panic over being paralyzed.

They eyed ACT curiously and pressed it with a finger, and in doing so, found their words, the process of it all surprisingly natural the more they did, noticing that their soul seemed to move with them- just out of their body and within it’s contained box.

 “That’s my soul?!” they blurted out.

Asriel let out a bit of laughter “yes, did you expect something more?”

They pressed ACT again “w- well, yeah! I always imagined a soul to be more… florescent and round,”

He merely shrugged “again, you assume too much, but I digress, you seem to be taking to the encounter well, I will admit it is a bit restrictive and requires a bit of patience due to taking turns, but one learns to enjoy it,”

At that comment, as Frisk pressed ACT, they took particular notice of the ‘check’ option and went for it, a description popping up-

‘A mysterious legendary being, Prince of an empty kingdom’

“Nothing you don’t already know,” Asriel said, fully aware of what Frisk was up to.

Frisk gave him a sheepish smile “you did say this could be the last and first time I could get to do this, I was just trying to see all I could,”

He nodded “perhaps we can arrange something later then, but right now… I want you to stay very calm… and don’t move,”

Frisk’s eyebrows raised high, holding their breath as Asriel held his arms out, and in his hands, appeared two matching intricate long blades-

                      And with an intense and powerful-S  W   O   O   S   H-

The top of the board holding Frisk’s soul had been sliced clean off.

“This is it, are you ready Frisk?” The God asked, his voice low and steady, as if he were concentrating hard on something difficult, summoning the blades away.

They released the breath they’d been holding, licking their dry mouth and nodded “yes,”

“Then continue to keep still,” he reminded them, then, with a quick movement, his right hand detached from his wrist with ease as if hadn’t been attached in the first place.

Frisk watched with several mixed emotions as the disembodied hand floated to the half board, frozen as it reached in and with a fluid movement- captured the entire soul into his fist.

 They felt no pain or changes as the fist began to delicately pull back from the borders of the box, and as he did this, revealed an empty heart outline, the brilliant shade of red that was once there before was now completely missing.

With the main half of their soul still in his fist, he reattached his hand back to his wrist, and waved his left hand, levitating the broken parts of the board back in place, taking care to make sure it was put back correctly.

“It’s been done, all I need to do is put your soul on the shrine, but first, humor me for a second, can you move the whisper soul? I did it correctly, I just want to put any ill suspicions to rest,” he said.

Without a word, Frisk stepped around, and to their relief, the heart shape followed suit in time, as if nothing had happened.

“That’s good, now I want you to think of things that make you sad, or people you care about, I need to see if you can still feel compassion,” he suggested.

Frisk nodded, and began to think about their aunt, who had taken them in after a car accident that had taken their parents away, and their cousin who always been like a big brother…

And in the process, finally realized… that without being able to use their phone, that they weren’t going to be able to see or talk to their family for a long time, a terrible feeling of anguish taking hold over them and weighing down on their chest, their bottom lip trembling as they thought of their aunt crying or their older cousin yelling at the police for being unable to find them.

They were on the verge of crying when Asriel let out a quiet satisfied chuckle, pointing to the soul in his fist.

“What is it?” Frisk whimpered out.

“I can feel your soul, I can feel your grief and worry, it means your soul is definitely still attached to you and everything has worked perfectly,” he announced, his smile fading in the literal empathy he was feeling.

Then, without a further word, the encounter was over.

With his free hand, Asriel rested a hand against Frisk’s back, giving them a comforting gentle pat, then ushered them over to the shrine.

They watched in silence, tears falling down their cheeks as he rested his fist against at the top and very middle of the shrine among the thousands of monster palms that waited, then relaxed and opened his hand, revealing the red soul.

Then, with both hands, raised them and made a motion-

 And as he did that, on the top of the shrine- a large but delicate pair of humanoid hands raised- then on the opposite side, another much larger and more masculine pair of humanoid hands raised as well, the returning sound of sliding rocks and gravel filling the air as the hands rigidly moved.

The fingers on each hand all splayed out, the four pairs of hands simultaneously raising up and around and above the soul, creating a makeshift cage for it.

“The deal has been sealed,” the God announced, he then turned to Frisk and grinned a sharp-toothed grin down at them.

“You’re mine Frisk,”

‘But not forever, just…keep brave,’ Frisk reminded themselves in their thoughts, letting out a slow sigh and looking away from him and his smug face, staring at their trapped soul instead, wiping the tears from their eyes and face.

Now that they had thought of their family, it was all they could think about, finally realizing how easily they’d been swept away by the God and his influence and just how both selfish and selfless their choice to the agreement had been. . . but, it was over and they had to deal with the consequences.

“So, what do we do now?” Frisk asked wearily, still staring up at their soul.

“Hm, very good question, but don’t worry, I have been thinking everything over on the way here, and I am sure you will enjoy what I have planned, but to commence with that plan, I am going to need you to stay put here,” he commanded, and as he began to turn away, Frisk spoke up.

“What if I don’t stay put?” they asked, almost daringly.

He stopped moving but didn’t bother looking back.
 “Then you will be punished, because it is an order and you have to obey me now,”

Frisk crossed their arms, biting their bottom lip nervously- despite everything that had just gone down, they still couldn’t help but test the waters, they wanted to see how far they could go before the shark came.
 “How will I be punished then? I know you can’t harm me, so what will you do Mr. Hyperdeath?” they bit back cheekily.

“Heh, well, you will just have to find out, won’t you?” he said, his husky voice suggesting something dark, but fortunately Frisk could only remember the rules of the deal, so instead of fear, it was a thrill that ran through Frisk’s body as they couldn’t help it as their imagination ran wild at the implications, because if he couldn’t hurt them… then…what else could he do?

He then chuckled and smirked at them smugly, distracting them from their musings and revealing that he wasn’t in the least bit angry-which made sense considering he’d just gotten exactly wanted and maybe more, the change in his demeanor effectively shaking off the intense mood in the room, he continued on his way to the door.

 “But seriously, I meant it when I said you’d enjoy this, so much so that I’m sure the both of us will be disappointed if you spoil the surprise, so please, stay put,”

Before he left, he turned to them and gave them a firm nod.
“Now, this will probably take an hour, more or less, so just sit, don’t touch the shrine, and be patient,”

And with that, he was gone, leaving Frisk alone and back to their own devices.

Chapter Text

Inspiration Song: Monster by Dodie

Tell me again about how it hurts
Being awfully loud for an introvert
Get out of my room
Smile wiped clean
Isn't it weird to be so mean?

I'm guessing that I've grown horns
I guess I'm human no more
I can tell I've rotted in your brain
Oh, how easily passion twists
You think I'm a crazy bitch
I craft my words to fit your head 'c ause no one listens to the dead

So maybe I will talk to you t he only way I know how to
Mmm, mmm, I've said my speech
Mmm, mmm, through sharpened teeth
You break the rules and spikes grow from your skin
Please let the devil in

A meter apart
You blankly stare
We shout in our heads, a re you still in there?
Well this ends bad, then
We knew it would
So we won't eat our words
'Cause they don't taste good

I think it might be worth a try
Oh
Am I ready to let this die?
Mmm, mmm, a monster's here
Mmm, mmm, you plug your ears
But hey, you might just listen to it sing
Please let the devil in

Look, I know that I've seen this before
High and mighty, at the top of your list
Adoring every move, now my rank is sinking
But we're both guilty of black or white thinking
And through my red eyes, you look pale
All of your scars are looking more like scales
Two ugly creatures, two sinister preachers
Blind to the past, like a couple of monsters;
Just a couple of monsters!

Oh
I think it might be worth a try
Oh
Am I ready to let this die?
Mmm, mmm, a monster's here
Mmm, mmm, you plug your ears
But hey, you might just listen to it sing
Please let the devil in

They rubbed at the back of their neck, unsure of what to do with themselves now, their mind heavy with so many thoughts, too distracted at the moment by the conversation they just had.

It had only been an attempt at being brave and standing up for themselves after giving away their soul, but in response, he did that low voice, snarling, threatening thing- a tactic that had been mostly successful in scaring Frisk into behaving the first time… that was, until it accidentally ended up… turning them on.

So now they were trying their best not to think of their shameful attraction to him, which was probably going to be pretty difficult when he was so… ‘hands on’ and threw words around like ‘you’re mine’ and ‘punishment’ with that deep husky voice and continued to gaze at them with those intense piercing eyes, always looking them over as if he were holding himself back from consuming them- and- and-

Frisk squeezed their eyes shut and shook their head, as if the God had shrunk himself and made himself home inside their mind and they were trying to rattle him out…

Except for every time they did, he kept sneaking his way back in!

Didn’t they have much more important things to worry and be more concerned about? It was just wrong that this creature was taking over their attention like this, their shame returning along with cold hard guilt that fell into them as their thoughts flicked back to their aunt and cousin.

But now that they were calmer and thinking clearer, they remembered the note they had left at their front door, except they knew now that it wouldn’t be enough explanation to calm their family’s worries, they just wouldn’t understand why Frisk would ever suddenly leave out of the blue.

They let out a soft groan, rubbing at their eyes tiredly for a moment, maybe they were an idiot after all.

They looked around the room, their eyes casually eyeing the throne, despite the dark, goth, death metal vibe it had- it actually looked pretty cozy, curious if the God would have any issues with them sitting in it, it didn’t seem like he cared very much about it if he had moved it from the center of the room.

…And he had said for them to sit…

So, they cautiously walked over to the throne, and slowly sat down, warily waiting for any type of response for a moment before they decided to make themselves comfortable, leaning back and directing their stare at the ancient ceiling- anywhere else but at the shrine that held their soul (which they refused to think about or acknowledge right now, they weren’t in the mood for getting upset again)

Finally, they allowed themselves to finally space out.

No… they were being too hard on themselves, it had been a, very long, very overwhelming day, they couldn’t be completely in the wrong for having a lot on their mind. . .

And he did mention that he’d let them out once in a while, they could make visits to their family and friends and pretend that they weren’t a dominating monster God’s personal servant, maybe go out to eat somewhere nice…get some sunlight…

There was always still that idea of somehow convincing him to let them free later on, hopefully by the power of friendship and trust and not lies and manipulation …

Perhaps this wasn’t going to be as bad as they thought, right...?

Right! They just had to continue to stay positive!

All they had to do was keep a clear mind, keep positive, make the best of their situation, do what Asriel asked, hope he never lost his temper, remember that he had no romantic or sexual interest in humans, not ask him too many sad questions, or think too hard about the fact he had the ability to rip holes into the fabric of the universe or that he spied on them for half of their life and probably accidentally saw them naked or… w o r s e ….

Frisk had to laugh at themselves as they caught their thoughts just in the knick of time before they drifted south again.

Where were they? Oh yes-  do all that and everything would be fine. Hopefully.

There was also the fact that T-Drop was finally free! They couldn’t wait to check on them and see how they were doing now that they didn’t have to deal with a big bully anymore and could go and do whatever they want.

Would they even know they were free anymore though? How did that even work out anyway? Maybe that’s what the God was doing right now- announcing to T-Drop that he no longer had any control of them.  .  . but would that really take an hour? Probably not…

Waiting on Asriel turned out to not be an issue, as Frisk continued to get lost in their musings, relaying the day in their mind, thinking of what was going to happen in their new life and how they were deal with it all.

The next fifty minutes passed by...

“My, that’s a sight,” an all too familiar voice said.

Frisk, who by then had lounged themselves across the large throne, their head resting on an armrest while their legs hooked over the other armrest.

Instantly embarrassed of being caught lying around so lazily by someone as uppity as the God, hastily moved around and hopped out of his throne.

“Sorry, I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to sit there.. or not…,” they apologized.

Asriel waved them off “I don’t care, I don’t really use that thing as is, it was just something I made to get the old thrones out of the way and prove my ownership of this place, it’s been nothing but decoration for a long time,”

Frisk paused for a moment, feeling silly now, “oh… well okay, I guess I should have asked earlier, huh?”

“And have me miss that deer in the headlights face you made? I think not,” Asriel said with an amused grin.

Frisk gave him a tight frown before they patiently swatted the aggravation away, “don’t you have something to show me?”

His grin dialed down to an agreeable smile “yes, yes I do, come along,”

As they obeyed, they couldn’t help but eye the shrine as they began to pass it, they had done surprisingly well to block it out of their thoughts despite being in the same room as it, the whole experience had been… almost too much for them and they weren’t sure how to feel about it yet.

They felt as if maybe they should be sad at the loss, but… as they walked near it, they realized that their soul wasn’t actually lost at all, it was still linked to them… it was just…visible and out of their ownership now.

And while it sat trapped on top of the rather creepy shrine, it was pretty amazing to be able to see their soul, not every human got a chance like this.

Perhaps they had avoided it because they associated it with the loss of their freedom? That in itself was actually deeply tragic, and that’s how Frisk dealt with painful things sometimes, they’d wrap the trauma in a box and save it for later to deal with when they were ready…  or until it jumped out at them at an inconvenient moment.

So as they began to pass the shrine, they suddenly felt the need to stop and stare, unable to avoid the tight feeling in their chest, it was definitely an inconvenient time to acknowledge the pain, but now that they’d found themselves staring at it, they were afraid they’d never have the courage to face it again.

“Can I have a second?”

“Are you kidding me? You had plenty of time to do this, and you will have plenty more time to do this later,” Asriel complained.

“I know it’s…just.. this whole thing was hard to think about and process, okay? But.. I’m looking at it now, and I’m starting to see that I should appreciate the things I never consider, like the privilege of having independence, and all the other little things I took for granted,” they explained, their voice quiet.

Asriel made the decision to give no comment and turned his back to them, a silent sign that he was going to let them have this.

Frisk continued to stare up at their soul, trapped within the finger claw cage, allowing the sorrow to fill them up, deciding to have a brief moment of grieving, sniffling as tears began to drip down their cheeks.

 And as they began to cry, a question appeared in their mind and grew heavy.

When they felt they had enough composure to speak properly, they cleared their throat and spoke up “wh- when you…um, when you were holding my soul earlier, you said you could… feel my emotions, can you still feel them?”

“Yes, when I gained ownership, I automatically became connected to it- almost as if it were truly my own, fortunately, I can only feel it faintly, and not as strongly as I did when I was directly holding it,” he clarified, turning back around to face them.

“Oh…,” Frisk muttered, thinking about their current depressive emotions, but then they remembered earlier when they felt their troublesome attraction to the God act up, unsure if they should find it funny or be embarrassed again.

“How ‘faintly’ are we talking?” they asked curiously, looking up at him and blinking back their still tearful eyes.

He gave them a judgmental stare “don’t worry, it’s nothing I can’t brush off or ignore, I won’t be easily distracted by any of your worse ‘colorful’ array of emotions,”

Frisk couldn’t help but smirk teasingly, despite their pain, they were still unable to help themselves “so if I was…suddenly feeling…say ‘passionate’ and full of ‘longing’?”

Asriel folded his arms behind his back and turned his head up in disgust.
 “It would be no different, but since you’re Frisk, and I am fully aware of what you’re like, I’d toss you into Snowdin anyway, something cold to slow down your thoughts,”

Frisk held back a smug chuckle, nodding in understanding amusement, their gaze softening as they stared back up at their soul once more, the sadness recoiling back through them hard.

“You’ll let me go one day, won’t you?” they asked, their voice breaking, a new batch of tears flowing from their eyes now, unable to stop the tremble that ran through their body, covering their mouth as they let out a sob.

There were a few terrible seconds where he didn’t respond...
They were on verge of crying harder but were startled, jumping in surprise when they felt his large hand suddenly rest on their shoulder.

“Yes, one day, I promise,” he said, his voice weary “besides… I told you I would allow you to temporarily leave, remember? I… hope that it will be enough to alleviate you until then,”

Frisk wiped their messy face with their hands “I know, I know, it’s just hard okay? I’m really going to miss my family… and the way things used to be,”

Asriel let out a gentle sigh and with a slight push against their shoulder, began to usher them out the room.
“Come, perhaps what I have to show you will make things easier,”

Frisk had no choice but to comply, looking at the soul over their shoulder as they began walking.

“See ya later…,” they whispered out to it.

Silently, he lead them back through the way they came, his hand still wrapped over their shoulder in what was probably a show to comfort them, whatever the reason, it was only mixing up Frisk’s emotions and not in the good way.

It was funny how they’d entered the throne room fully accepting of giving up their soul, but came out realizing that they’d obviously been emotionally unprepared.

It was a lot like surgery in a way, they had allowed and given him full permission to do this to them, but still ended up getting their feelings hurt anyway.

So, after five minutes of walking and stewing over things, Frisk couldn’t take it any longer and let out an uncomfortable sigh and finally spoke up “can you please let go of me?”

The God seemed to hesitate for a second, but he removed his hand.

There it was again, the mixed signals, he never gave them a clear answer about being ‘friends’, and they could see why now but Frisk had been too brave and headstrong at the time to consider how they were going to deal with losing their soul and how they’d feel toward Asriel afterward.

Maybe they could still be friends after some time apart and Frisk got their head together, but right now it all felt too complicated.

…Then again, perhaps it would help things if they pointed out these mixed signals to him again, they didn’t want to risk their feelings and their strange ‘relationship’ with him going sour because they pushed him away for too long and didn’t allow themselves to be honest with him.

So, bundling up as much courage as they could, they brought themselves to ask a question about something that they’d been noticing but weren’t completely sure of.

“Asriel, do you feel… guilty?” they investigated “as in…do you.. care about me?”

At that, he let out a very long sigh through his nose.

 “…You ask too many questions,”

Frisk pouted, “is it really that hard to tell me how you feel? From the get-go, you explained that you have an… ‘attachment’ to me, but you don’t want to admit that you want to be friends, you’ve been rude and mean, but…then you turn around and show me kindness, giving me warnings, and were patient with me when I was crying- like maybe… you feel guilty for treating me bad,”

There was a moment of silence between them, and for a few seconds, they looked to each other and their gaze connected, a certain kind of tenderness shining through in Asriel’s expression, until he twisted his frown and looked away.

Frisk on the other hand couldn’t help but continue to stare in wonder and couldn’t help but grin.
“You can avoid being direct with me on the subject of feelings all you want Mr. Dreemurr, I’ll never really know until you tell me, but…just so you know, your actions in particular speak very loudly,”

“Shut up,” he grumbled, unable to hide his embarrassment in his tone.

Frisk gave him an earnest smile, “you’re right, I have a really bad problem with being too forward when I’m excited, I’m sorry for pushing, it’s just that this day has had my head spinning,”

“You’re not shutting up…,” he growled.

Frisk raised their eyebrows, catching themselves “oh my gosh, I’m sorry,”

It was then that Asriel stopped floating, huffed impatiently and turned to the left and pushed his hands into the air, and to Frisk’s horror, as usual, he ripped open the fabric of reality, pulling it open wide and revealing a large black hole, which was what they could only imagine was his Universe Pocket.

He got close to it and dug his entire arm inside, digging around for a few seconds until he pulled out a roll of duct tape.

He pulled out a wide strip, ripped it off with his sharp teeth, and without warning, floated to Frisk and securely covered it over their closed mouth, making sure to pat it down-

Meanwhile, Frisk, who was still stunned from seeing more of the pocket universe, could only stand there like a dummy and take their punishment, but was accepting of it anyway, it was only tape.

Pleased with his work, Asriel smiled smugly, tossing the duct tape behind him and back into the black hole, a metallic ding! was heard as it smacked into something inside.

“There, that’s much better, duct tape may not be the flashiest tool, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t one of the more effective ones,” he said dusting his hands off “you’ll be allowed to talk again when we reach our destination, are you okay with that?”

“Mmmffhm,” Frisk responded, nodding, despite how ridiculous it was, they knew when to accept when they’d messed up, and hey, he could have given them a much worse punishment, so this was fine.

“Good answer,” he affirmed, turning away momentarily to close the gaping hole back up “now let’s go, I’m getting impatient,” he said and began floating on again with Frisk following by his side.

“Also, I do NOT want to hear any of those weird filthy ‘kink’ jokes when we get there, got it?” he quickly added.

Frisk raised a suggestive eyebrow at him and smiled in amusement at him with their eyes, oho, he’d definitely heard them talk and joke with their friends, but they’d respect the ‘civilized’ God’s wishes, giving him a firm nod.

Traveling through halls, halls, and more halls until finally, they walked up the small few flights of stairs that connected to the lookalike house.

“You may take your tape off now,” Asriel announced, floating on ahead of them, his arms folding behind his back patiently as he waited for Frisk to slowly pull the shut-up device off.

But when they began to struggle, meticulously attempting to pull on it from the edges without hurting themselves in the process, his patience was short-lived and he snapped his fingers.

And with a  P  O  P !  the duct tape was instantly gone within the blink of an eye.

Frisk curiously touched at their mouth where the tape had been, “oh…thank you, did you just evaporate that, or… did you send it somewhere?”

“One does not evaporate duct tape, I sent it to the nearest trashcan,” he explained, then turned away from them, turning to the left “follow me, it’s time to show you your surprise,”

Frisk bit their bottom in anticipation, hoping he wasn’t about to play a cruel joke on them, but they obeyed, and as they walked and got a view of the hallway, their mouth dropped in surprise when they spotted a picture on the wall.

It was an exact copy of the framed picture of a tiny toddler Frisk with their parents that they had back in their apartment.

They pointed to it with astonishment and looked over to the God for answers, was this the surprise?

But he merely continued down the hall and motioned them to continue following.
 “I’ll explain momentarily, just c’mon,”

And as they did and saw the hall, they noticed more pictures on the wall, all exact copies of other pictures they had back at their apartment, there were also the same posters and decorations as well, it was almost as if he had moved everything from their home to this one.

He took them to the third door at the end of the hall, opening it with the use of his powers, allowing them to step in first.

And what Frisk saw, made them grin and begin to cry again, their tears this time due to happiness and sheer amazement.

Because the God actually had moved all their belongings from their apartment to this one and had even made sure that this room was set exactly like their old bedroom, the decorations, the color of wall (sky blue), the bed, their laptop, their art desk, the TV, their dresser, mirror, even the knick-knacks that sat on the bed was where they’d left it.

The only differences was the flooring, the lack of windows(so no curtains), and a golden bell that hung on the wall next to the door, oh and there was their backpack, it was good to see it.

Frisk walked in and carefully took it all in, so glad and relieved to be able to keep this piece of their life with them.

They then grinned brightly at Asriel, who was smiling as well, but as soon he noticed their face- he was visibly caught off guard, becoming embarrassed, his smile fading quickly.

“Thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me,” Frisk said, their voice sweet and light, wiping their face.

Asriel crossed his arms and looked away, “yes, well, I didn’t want to hear you whine about your missing possessions, and if you’re overjoyed with me about this, then you are going be bowing down to me when I show you the next room,”

Frisk silently gasped “is it a bathroom?”

The God flashed an excited wide grin at them and hovered from view, with Frisk quickly following him out, finding him holding open the middle door for them readily.

Frisk’s mouth dropped comically as they found that low and behold, he had in fact also moved all their belongings from their old bathroom, toothbrush, and all, and nearly arranged the same.

The best part was that he had installed an entirely brand-new shiny bathtub, shower, toilet, and sink.

“Out of this entire project, I am the most proud of this room, it was why the wait was so long, I had to figure out the complexities of connecting the piping system, there was rarely a need for bathrooms down here so I didn’t exactly have much to work with, it was nice to have a challenging project,” he explained.

Frisk narrowed their eyebrows “wait…monsters don’t need bathrooms?”

He shrugged at that “most of the time we didn’t, we had monster food, it dissolves in the mouth instead of passing through the body, and depending on the quality- it renews you in an instant, and if we wanted to bathe we’d just go to the nearest body of water, but I digress, I’ve learned a long time ago that humans find comfort in little things like this and if it meant hearing one less complaint, then assembling bathroom this seemed like a good idea to me, ”

Frisk chuckled and shook their head “boy, I don’t even know where to begin…,”

“Just thank me again and we will be even,” he advised.

“Thank you, it was really sweet that you thought of my personal comfort,” Frisk said, giving him a light pat on his arm.

He eyed their hand as it made contact, but pulled his gaze over to the sink, looking rather embarrassed again, Frisk was beginning to find it funny how handsy he was but seemed to awkwardly shrink away at being touched back.

“So did you steal these too?” they asked, motioning to the newer additions.

“Of course I did, they’ve never been used either, I summoned them brand new, straight from a warehouse,” he said rather proudly.

Frisk let out a sigh, deciding it was useless to argue to a God like Asriel how stealing was bad and that he cost the owners of the warehouse money, it was likely he already knew and didn’t care.

But then they realized something, perking up “did you get all my food too?!”

He grinned a big smug toothy grin at them “I did, what was the point of letting it go to waste anyway? Would you like to go see?”

They nodded excitedly and trotted quickly out of the bathroom, stopping momentarily at the living room to admire their furniture combined with the furniture that was already there, it was very cozy.

“You decorate very nicely,” Frisk complimented.

He merely smirked in response.

“Hmm, so does the TV work? Or…?” they asked, staring at the television nearby thoughtfully.

“Oh, it will work, I’ve long since figured out how to get working television and internet down here,” he said.

Frisk’s eyes lit up at that “did you say internet?”

“Yes, of course, you honestly believe I wouldn’t try to figure out how to get access to one of the best inventions of all time? Tsk, tsk,”

“No, it’s not that- it just means that I can keep in contact with my family after all!” they said happily, nearly bursting with joy.

Asriel rubbed at his chin “yes, I guess it does, doesn’t it? Perhaps I should have mentioned that earlier, oh well,” he then narrowed his eyes at them and then suddenly glared.
 “-No, wait, maybe I should turn it off… there’s always a possibility you could call for help and get someone to help you, next thing I know, there will be a SWAT team bursting through here and ruining everything,”

Frisk paused, alarmed by his reaction, holding up defensive hands in the air “okay, okay, calm down, I see where you're going with this and I know I’ve put myself in a less-than-ideal situation, but I made this choice to stay here, I made a promise, and you did too, and as long you don’t break yours, I won’t have a reason to call for help, okay Asriel?”

He scowled “fine, but for the next two months I am giving you limited internet access,”

Frisk sighed roughly “there you go again, y’know it really makes me nervous that you know full and well what I’m like, but you still can’t completely trust me,”

He sniffed nonchalantly, slowly calming back down “well, when kept in captivity, I’ve learned from thorough experience that monsters and humans alike become desperate to get out, and you, the one who never gives up- has never truly experienced anything like that until now, so, it is a mystery to how you will react,”

Frisk had to think that over for a moment, he wasn’t completely wrong, they’d definitely felt the stress and fear over the idea of being trapped here, before and after the deal, but as they looked around them and remembered the good things about the Underground and the reasons why they made the deal in the first place, they turned their attention back to the God and gave him a firm but confident smile.

“Maybe you’re right, but, there’s still a lot I want to see in your Underground, and you’ve made a point to make this place comfortable and feel like my home, and with internet and TV access I’m sure I’ll be able to keep happy enough to not want to leave so soon, so I don’t think you have anything to worry about right now,” they said, walking towards him.

He crossed his arms and stared at them suspiciously “and after you’ve seen it all? What will you do then?”

Frisk shrugged “who knows? Hopefully we’ll be friends by then and you’ll trust me enough to give me back my soul because you won’t be afraid of me never coming back,”

Asriel rolled his eyes “always a beam of sunshine and butterflies aren’t you?”

They flashed a flirty grin at him “opposites must attract, ey Mr.Hyperdeath?”

In response he merely screwed his face up in disgust and turned away, hovering off to the kitchen.

Frisk blinked and realized what had just happened, growing embarrassed and covering a hand over their face, agh, they hadn’t meant for that to end up sounding so flirtatious, how could they just let that slip out like that?

And with that, he followed after them, ignoring the way he sighed when he caught view of their apologetic expression.

 “I’m really sorry about that, I didn’t forget that you’re only monstersexual…it’s just that it’s hard for me to resist a good flirty joke,”

Asriel shook his head “you are aware that most creatures are only attracted to their contained species, and that you’re just a freak and that this behavior toward me isn’t natural, right?”

Frisk’s mouth dropped, completely taken off guard, unsure of what to say at first, but as they watched him, the cogs in their mind began slowly turning “….ah, you-! You know what? I don’t see anything wrong with it at all, you’re a sentient, almost humanoid looking guy-God who can speak much better than I can, other than our wildly clashing personalities, I get a strong feeling that we’re not all that different from each other,”

At that, Asriel pretended to look ashamed of himself, even holding a hand to his mouth “oh, my greatest apologies!” but then he dropped the act to deadpan “you’re a freak with no standards,”

Frisk grimaced “and you’re rude and judgmental,”

They glowered at each other for a moment, until Asriel smirked tightly “are we going to name-call each other all day, or are you going to admire this kitchen with me?”

Frisk blinked, they’d been so caught up in the conversation they’d barely noticed the kitchen set up right in front of them, any heat from argument completely gone, for now.

They couldn’t help but smile as they finally noticed that yes, just like the other rooms, he indeed brought all of their belongings from their old kitchen, even the fridge, cabinets, handy dandy coffee maker, toaster, and toaster oven, however, it was joined by some of Asriel’s cookware too, a peculiar (probably magic) oven, some oven mitts that appeared to have not been used in a while, and a few pots and pans.  

Frisk walked over to the fridge and opened it skeptically, their smile warming up as- yes, everything was all there, and a bit fuller thanks to the addition of the God’s food, he really hadn’t been lying about liking his sweets, there was three different types of pies, several pudding cup packs, several yogurt cup packs, a jug of chocolate milk, several kinds of soda in glass bottles- some of which were brands they’d never heard of, and they were absolutely certain that if they opened the freezer drawer that they’d find ice cream.

“Wow, if you were a human I’d be really worried about your sugar intake,” Frisk mumbled, and moved from the fridge, turning back to the God.

“This really is a lovely prison, so far being kept in captivity isn’t so bad,” they half-joked.

Asriel let out a loud laugh at that “yes, well, you’re no use to me completely miserable,”

Frisk then remembered something “soooo, you didn’t show me what was behind the first door, is it your bedroom?”

He scoffed “no, I’ve used the first room as extra storage, for your other belongings that I couldn’t find a place for, and believe it or not, my ‘home’ is located back in Hotland,”

At this news, a rush of relief washed through Frisk, the idea of sleeping or showering knowing that the God would be on the other side of the door was a little too much for them.

But it did make some sense that he’d didn’t want to live in his (dead?) father’s home, but then again…

“Okay, then why is your food and cooking stuff in here?” they asked.

He shrugged “I like this kitchen?” but then shook his head “never mind all that, there is one last thing I need to go over with you before I let you be today,”

They quirked their head at him curiously “and what’s that?”

“Your assigned attire,” he said and snapped his fingers.

It took a few seconds for them to register what he’d just done, but as they saw him grin proudly and followed his gaze they couldn’t help but let out a small embarrassed shriek.

He had literally re-dressed them, and had draped them in a similar type of robe that he wore, except this one was much less dramatic with no ragged edges in sight, it was light lavender, had the same rune design on the chest, came with a hood, had long sleeves (but nothing as severe as the God’s sleeves), and came up right above the ankle.

For a split second, they couldn’t help but admire the outfit, but after they realized that the God had stripped them of their clothes and forced them to wear a uniform without their consent, they grew furious.

And, at first, they were at a loss for words, unsure of where to start, deciding to double-check and assess how deep this new predicament went, grabbing at the front of their collar and peeking underneath the robe, hah, well, at least he had been generous enough to let them keep their boots, underwear, and sports bra!

With that final piece of evidence, they glared harshly up at him, their anger slow and quiet “no, this is not allowed, I am not doing this, ”

Asriel’s smile dropped, raising an eyebrow at them “what do you mean ‘not allowed’? You HAVE to wear it, you BELONG to me and now you have to REPRESENT me,”

Frisk curled their hands into frustrated fists “to who?! No one else but YOU and T-Drop will see this getup! You’ve already practically stripped me from my freedom, now you want to take away my sense of individuality too?! Maybe I would’ve done this if you’d asked politely, but this is too far! I refuse to boost your already glorified ego Mr. Monster!”

Asriel’s already intense features grew more furrowed, rushed over to them, taking full advantage of his dominating height “you have a lot of nerve speaking to me that way! What did you expect when you gave your soul to me anyway? When I said you were mine, and I MEANT it Frisk, and part of the rules say you have to DO AS I SAY!”

“You also said I was no use to you miserable! And if I wear this I am going to be miserable! Rule or no rule, I’m NOT comfortable with this and I REFUSE to be treated like a doll! It makes me feel like…I don’t know… like a slave!” they cried out, standing as tall and brave as they could back.  

The God stared at them wide-eyed with disbelief before he roared at them-

“YOU  A R E  A SLAVE!!”

But the comment only pushed Frisk further into their anger “you know what?! FINE! Get angry! Yell at me! CALL ME A SLAVE! But I know the truth Mr. Dreemurr! You’re just a bored, lonely, sour monster man-child who’s finally gotten what he’s wanted, AND I REFUSE to play it your way! Because I’m not scared of you and you can’t make me do this!”

The God snarled, baring his teeth at them, he crouched down and grabbed both their arms firmly, pulling Frisk in close.

“You can and YOU WILL! This act of early rebellion will get you nowhere Frisk, because I swear, if you utter one more word of disobedience- I will do it, I WILL punish you- but oh, that’s right, you think just because I can’t harm you that I won’t take the time to figure out how to work myself around the rules, TRUST ME, I WILL make you suffer, that by the end of it you will BEGGING me for mercy,”

Frisk grit their teeth as he took hold of their chin, forcing them even closer, his fierce red eyes burning into their golden hazel ones, why couldn’t they ever look away when he was like this?

“So what do you say that Frisk? Hm? Will you obey me, wear your robe, or are you curious to find out what I’m capable of?”

For a moment, Frisk was speechless, unsure of what to do, but they kept strong, and with a burst of courage, they reached up to grab the God’s wrists tightly and smiled valiantly.

“If it means giving up my individuality, then I’ll NEVER obey you, do what you want to me, I’m not wearing this stupid robe… now please take your massive grabby hands OFF me, sir,”

Something dropped in the God’s eyes, his mouth gaping as he realized they weren’t going to listen to him, no matter what he said or did, he then directed his stare at his own hands, almost as if he just noticed what he was doing with them and instantly released Frisk, regaining his posture, hovering tall before them once again.

“FINE, don’t wear the damn robe, but know this only means that you’ll have to run around n a k e d ,” The God uttered out.

Of course, Frisk was rightfully horrified, frozen with fear as they saw he wasn’t joking.

But then… as they searched his face, relief washed over them like water in a drought as they saw it, how his lower jaw trembled and the way his eyes faltered from theirs, he hadn’t meant it, he had spoken without thinking it through.

So before he had the chance to take it back, Frisk flashed a big flirty grin at him.

“Well, okay, if you insist,” they said nonchalantly, and reached down, holding their breath as they grabbed the hem of their robe, leisurely taking their time to lift it up, pretending to give a peep show as their bare legs came into view, how scandalous.

Asriel’s eyebrows raised higher and higher with shock, dumbfounded by every inch of skin revealed, his jaw dropping again as their thighs begun to show-

That was when panic took hold of him and with a flurry of black robe- dove at them, crouching down and grabbing at their hands in desperation, forcing them to stop, seconds before they could flash their underwear.

There was a moment of silence as Asriel stared stunned at the sight of his hands covering Frisk’s, both holding the garment in place at their hips.

He then made the mistake of looking at them, their gaze interlocking once again.

Except something was different this time around, it was the first time he’d gotten this close to them without being angry, but no, right now there was only suspense.

 The air between them becoming intense and heavy, something deep and intimate shifting in Asriel’s expression and Frisk was becoming fully aware of it, their face heating up and their heart thumping away inside their chest once again, they refused to move a muscle, anticipating whatever this God may do next…

For what felt like ages, neither of them moved, as if both were hypnotized and locked in their own minds, waiting for the other...

But finally, Asriel audibly swallowed an anxious lump in his throat and tightly closed his eyes, letting go of Frisk once again, turning his back on them.

“You know what, I don’t CARE anymore! Wear whatever you want, wear a damn tutu and a fake mustache! But for this, you WILL pay severely!”

And without warning, he warped away, leaving them alone.

Frisk, who was still stunned, stared off into the distance, standing there for a moment, before they shivered and managed to get a hold of themselves, letting out a breathy sigh.

“I can’t believe I did that,” they whispered to themselves “what did he mean though? What am I going to pay for? The robe?”

But they shook it off, they were sure they’d find out whenever he got back, but for now, they didn’t have it in them to worry too much, deciding to take the moment of peace to get this thing off of them.

Except when they opened their drawers to their dresser and not counting their undergarments, found absolutely nothing, letting out a frustrated grunt.

Even the extra change of clothes in their backpack was gone too!

“ASRIEL!!” they screamed out “I THOUGHT YOU SAID I COULD WEAR WHAT I WANTED! WHERE THE HECK ARE MY CLOTHES?!”

They looked around the room expectantly, waiting for some kind of answer, but as the seconds passed, their frustration only rose.

“Ughhh, not the silent treatment again! I thought we were over that!”

But then, they remembered something else and went over to their laptop, switching it on, and after a few moments of checking the network and internet settings, they found no sign of any Wi-Fi signals to connect to.

Asriel had mentioned having internet, and if it was available at all, it should have appeared on the Wi-Fi list, or… he might have even set up some kind of strange system on their laptop for all they knew.

But nothing could be found, he’d deliberately shut off his router or whatever he used for his internet to cut them off from the outside world, but, hadn’t he said that there would be ‘limited internet access’ for two months? At the time they weren’t sure if he’d fully committed to that choice or what, but it was clear at the moment there was only ‘zero internet access’.

Still, it was extremely annoying that he had done this at all.

“Is this how I’m going ‘to pay’…? By him grounding me?” they grumbled, and to make sure, they flipped on their TV, and yep . . .  just static, they flipped it back off.

Well, they were the one who had said that ‘they didn’t care what he did’ after all, perhaps they should have chosen their words better…

But then another thought came to their mind and they rushed off to the bathroom, relieved to find that he at least hadn’t taken that away, then, closed the door behind them as they decided to see how well it worked, a nice shower sounded exactly what they needed, it was another reason to take off the robe too!

Actually, they were happy to remove all of their clothing (especially their boots) and get under some water, because after all that walking and sweating for several different occasions for several different reasons, finding that yes, this is exactly what they needed, thankful the God hadn’t thought to get rid of the hot water either, the way he had spoken earlier, it was likely he felt that Frisk needed a cold shower.

They couldn’t help but think of the way he had stared earlier, unsure of how to interpret what they’d seen, had they imagined it, or was that lust they’d seen in his eyes? Maybe that’s why he had turned away so quickly and disappeared, maybe he was the one taking the cold shower.

At that line of thought, Frisk couldn’t help let out an embarrassed flustered laugh, but then laughed harder as they pictured a soaked God of Hyperdeath, standing hunched over, angry, miserable, and naked in the rivers back in Snowdin, blending in very well with the white snowy surroundings.

But they rubbed the water from their eyes and frowned at themselves.

 Maybe they were thinking about this the wrong way, maybe he was freaking out and didn’t know how to deal with them attempting to strip their clothes off in front of him, he wasn’t ‘interested’ but he was ‘civilized’ after all, right?

They’d seen the regret in his face after his comment about going nude, they were thankful he hadn’t meant it, but at the same time, Frisk was still angry at him and was proud of their body… so taking off the robe had been something of a no brainer, if he hadn’t stopped them they knew they would have kept going, thrown that robe at his feet and storm off to their bedroom.

At the same time, they were glad he’d stopped them, they had acted on impulse and anger, but at least this whole thing showed them that there was definitely much more going on inside the God’s head that he refused to say.

…It was strange, wasn’t it? They’d only officially met him today, yet at the same time…it was so easy to talk to him and think of him as a (very difficult and problematic) friend, it was almost like they’d known him for years, but it was likely some kind of another magical effect of him watching over them for half of their life.

Despite the rocky rough start, they still weren’t opposed to the idea of them being friends, because if they looked past his arrogant, selfish, bullying, harsh ways, they could see he was thoughtful, funny (in his own way), fun to talk to, (when he wanted to be) polite, intelligent, and again, when he wanted to be- very kind.

But right at the moment, they were still very angry with him, and until they got their clothes back…there would be little to no chance of them becoming friends.

As they stepped out of the shower, dried off, and moisturized, they eyed the robe they’d folded and sat on the edge of the sink, there was absolutely no way they were going to put it back on, at for at least for the rest of the evening they weren’t.

“Guess I’m wearing the towel,” they mumbled, then proceeded to wrap said cloth around their body, tucking it in above the chest, yeah, this wasn’t a bad look actually.

Still, they found themselves peeking outside of the door first before they stepped out, quietly padding down the hallway with their boots, hair tie, robe, underwear, and sports bra in their arms.

After putting everything away and getting a new pair of underwear on, they vaguely wondered if their washing machine and dryer were in the spare room, perhaps that was something to check out, something hot to drink sounded pretty good too.

So they set out again, shyly holding on to their crossed arms as they walked out, making their way to the first door, finding that yep, this was definitely serving as both the laundry and storage room now, spotting the blinds and curtains that used to hang at their windows, and a whole bunch of other things that used to reside in their closet that wasn’t an article of clothing.

Pleased with this, they left the room and continued on their way to the kitchen.

But they stopped dead in their footsteps when they found the God, sitting comfortably in the recliner nearby the lit fireplace, casually eating a slice of pie as if their argument hadn’t happened.

However, when he looked up and caught sight of them still slightly damp and wrapped up in nothing but the towel, they couldn’t but help notice how his eyes lingered at their wardrobe choice, but made no other reaction, merely looking back down to his pie calmly.

“So, can you tell me why you took my clothes?” Frisk finally asked after a moment of silence.

Instead of giving them an answer, without looking up, Asriel held up an index finger, motioning them to wait.

“No talking until I’m done eating,” he commanded.

At that, Frisk let out a long annoyed sigh, crossing their arms tighter, well, if he was going to be like that, they might as well make use of the free time, walking past him, continuing on to the kitchen, deciding hot chocolate was what they wanted, they deserved it.

As they fixed it, they kept full attention of their surroundings, they weren’t exactly in the mood for any more sneaky surprises from the God, finding it annoying that they simply couldn’t just listen for footsteps when the guy refused to touch the ground.

Thankfully he let them be and was still sitting by the fireplace when they returned, their favorite mug in hand, it had a picture of a few signature Halloween creatures dancing among a field of sunflowers.

They noted that not only was the God’s pie was gone and finished, but the plate was gone too, meaning he must have warped it elsewhere, which was interesting because they hadn’t noticed anything appear while they were in the kitchen, but they decided it wasn’t important enough to bring up.

They took a seat on the couch nearby, crossing their bare legs and taking a long sip of their hot chocolate, making a point to savor it, enjoying the smell and taste rather than give too much focus on the creature that sat a few feet away, they didn’t want to stress over this any more than they already had.

“Soooo?” they began.

“‘Soooo’ what?” he mocked.

They couldn’t help but glare and wave a hand at him “where are my clothes?”

“My Universe Pocket, you’ll be getting them back tomorrow morning,”

Frisk relaxed some at the news “that’s reasonable…I guess, so… um, what’s going on with the internet?”

“Oh, yes, you checked on that did you? Well, I’ve decided to take away your internet for three months, and no TV for one month, these things are only the beginning of your punishment,” he clarified.

The momentary relief at the news about their clothes was forgotten as they grew agitated all over again, taking a long sip of their hot chocolate to prepare for what they were going to say next.

“So this is what’s going on now? Parent-level punishments to warm me up for something bigger? You’re not my dad-,”

“Oh, I am definitely not your dad,” he muttered lowly, obviously bothered by the comment.

Frisk raised an eyebrow at that and held back a chuckle, wondering what he could possibly mean by that, but shook it off, reminding themselves that they were supposed to be mad.

“Okay…? Seriously, I told you that the internet was my only way to contacting my family, how could do this to me?”

Asriel sat up straight in the recliner at that, glaring hard at them “you also said you didn’t CARE what I did to you, it seems you really need to learn to think before speaking, hm?”

Frisk pouted, taking another sip “maybe I do, all I know is that I don’t regret standing up to you, but… look, is it possible if we can do this some other way? Is there something else I could give up instead?”

“No, you made your choice and I’ve made mine, get over it Frisk,” he growled.

Frisk stared at him hard, thinking of things to say, but… realized that he was the one who wasn’t going to give in this time, besides, they broke a rule, hadn't they? Guess they really did have to pay for this.. even if it wasn’t fair, still they were tired now and didn’t want to fight about it, at least for the rest of the day.

“Fine,” they sighed, unhooking their legs and sinking back into the couch, fully allowing themselves to unwind and relax, gazing softly at the fire as it crackled, allowing it to warm their bones.

“You really did not want to wear that robe, did you?” Asriel mumbled lowly, finally saying something after a silent couple of minutes.

“To be honest, I genuinely like the robe, what I didn’t like was you dressing me up without my consent, that was pretty gross of you,” they admitted quietly, staring down into their mug.

“Hm, if you put it that way… I can see where I went wrong, but…,” he let out a heavy sigh “no, even this won’t change my mind, you still disobeyed me,” he said, resting his head against his palm, watching them lazily.

“Well, since you know you did bad, can I punish you too?” they casually asked.

He let out a low chuckle “that sounds fair, what do you have in mind?”

Frisk’s eyebrows shot up in surprise “uuuhhh, wow, I was kind of joking… I really didn’t think you’d actually go for that,”

He shrugged “I can’t imagine you could come up with anything that could ever seriously inconvenience me,”

It was Frisk’s turn to chuckle “alright, so… did you say you can survive without eating?”

Asriel’s smile slowly faded at that “…yes…?”

“Okay, then, for three months or at least for as long as I don’t have internet, you can’t eat anything,” they said, trying their best to ignore the terrible guilty feeling in the pit of their stomach.

The God let out an immature groan, “you cannot be serious,”

Frisk smiled goofily and spoke in their best overdramatic Godly voice “it SEEMS YOU NEED TO LEARN TO THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK, HM?” and took another long sip of their hot chocolate, making sure to hold their pinky out for fancy emphasis.

Fortunately, he didn’t stay completely bothered for too long, laughing at himself, “heheheh, why do I keep underestimating you?”

“Maybe it’s because watching me and actually being around me is a lot more different than you thought it would be,” they said, drinking up the rest of their drink.

Asriel’s smile slowly faded, “yes… now that I’ve had the time to think it over, you’re right, I should have just asked you instead,”

Frisk’s eyebrow rose “does that mean you're sorry?”

He let out another heavy sigh “it means what it means,” he then stared up at one of the clocks on the wall, decorated to look like an artistic version of the sun, it had a delicately painted on face.
 “Hm, nine forty, I should probably go ahead and explain to you that I have decided, that every day once ten PM has struck, that I will leave you be and you are allowed to have the house to yourself until dawn,”

Frisk perked up at this “really? That’s cool, thank you,”

He nodded, then stuck a hand inside one of the pockets of his robe, pulling out an old purple flip phone, to which he levitated in the air, sending it out Frisk, allowing them to reach out and take it.

“That’s yours, I mentioned earlier I can’t hear you if I’m out of earshot, it’s made me realize that you’ll most definitely think of a hundred more questions when I’m not around, so, just…call me if you need to,” he explained.

Frisk opened and clicked around, finding that (of course) his name was the only contact on the list, with a smile they switched to the camera option and held it up, pointing it in the God’s direction, snapping a quick picture of him without warning.

“Did you just…?” he began, narrowing his eyes at them

“Yeah, of course I did, I need a contact picture for you after all,” they said as they fiddled around a little more with their new toy, a playful smile on their face, but as they finished, something occurred to them and their smile dropped, looking up at him with suspicion.

“Did you fix this too? I don’t see any bars on it-,” they started but were cut off.

“Remember that Royal Scientist I talked about? There was another that replaced him, she wasn’t anything compared to him, but she was capable of. . . recreating things, among her re-creations she was able to give the Underground its own version of the internet, and tinker with already existing cellphones so everyone could keep in touch, the one your holding is one of them,”

Frisk stared down at the device  “so…it won’t work outside the mountain?”

“Afraid not, I thought of finding a way to make it work as I did with the internet, but…what would’ve been the point when I had no one to call?” he said, drumming his fingers thoughtfully against his cheek.

“I understand… so…does it need a charger?” they asked, flipping the phone closed.

“No, anyway, I am about to take leave for the night, do you have anything else you want to talk about?” he asked.

Frisk had to think for a moment before they remembered something important, “T-Drop is completely free right?”

Asriel shifted in his seat, looking particularly ready to get up “yes, that was the deal,” he sighed, sounding somewhat annoyed.

“But do they know that they’re free?” they asked.

He cracked a devious amused grin at that “probably not, they’re most likely still slinking around Waterfall, I have yet to go visit them,”

Frisk’s frown tightened “well, we should go see them tomorrow, I didn’t want to tell them what I was going to do, but they deserve to know, I don’t want to leave them in the dark about this any longer than I have to,”

“Fine, we will go see them, we will be heading back that way anyway, now… anything else?” he asked.

“Ummm… how early are you going to wake me up?”

“Five O'clock AM, but only to give you time to prepare for the day, we will actually be setting out at six,” he said, smirking in amusement at Frisk’s deeply insulted expression at the news.

“I’m usually a morning person and all, but what in the world are we going to do that requires me to get up that early?!” they asked.

Asriel laughed “oh, you’ll see,” he then got up from his recliner “now… goodnight Frisk.”

And with that, he warped away, the embers in the fireplace dying away at his absence.

“Goodnight…you big ol’ mean jerk,” they sighed out and got up, making one last visit to the kitchen to put away their mug and a quick snack to hold them over for the night, another quick visit to the bathroom, then went back to their bedroom.

The first thing they did was throw off their towel, sat the new phone on their dresser, flipped off the lights, turned on the fan, and slid into their bed, pulling the covers over their head, fully ready for sleep to take them away.

But… sleep didn’t come as quickly as they wanted.

All they could think about was their family.

They had tried their hardest to be positive today, seeing the best in the worst of people and situations was something that came easy to them, but after today they found themselves struggling, there were too many things to worry about, thinking of the pain they’d feel when they’d begin to miss their family and vice versa.

They were aware it wasn’t fully their fault that they’d lost their internet, but they still put the blame on themselves, because if they hadn’t fought back, they wouldn’t have provoked the God, right?

They could have negotiated further when making the deal, they could have changed something that could have involved them not staying full time in this place, but no, the God had taken them off guard and probably knew it too, it just wasn’t fair, none of it was.

As the dark cloud in their mind took over, they began to cry again, sobbing on and off for the rest of the night, still trying their hardest to stay positive, but in these circumstances, in the dark of the night, it was hard to see the light, and staying positive was becoming less and less easy to do.

But, eventually, around four AM they finally managed to fall into sleep.

 In their drifting consciousness, they promised themselves that things wouldn’t stay terrible forever.

The sun was going to rise again and things would get better, it always did.

Chapter Text

(Scire Te Arc)

Inspiration Song:  Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Adona

They had only gotten one hour of sleep in before the clock hit five o'clock and the bell that sat next to their door rang.

Frisk, however… was deep in their slumber, the ringing going unheard on deaf ears.

So after ten minutes, the bell rang again.

       But this time it didn’t quit, going off much like an alarm clock.

This, of course, was a rude awakening for Frisk, the only response they could muster was a long weak moan of annoyance, shifting around unhappily under the sheets, vacantly wondering what was causing the noise and why it was doing this to them so early.

“Wake up! I told you I’d be here by five!” they heard a muffled voice call loudly from behind the door.

It took them a few seconds to recognize the voice and remember that this was their life now.

“You’re harming me!” Frisk cried out wearily, lethargic and desperate for the ringing to stop.

At that, the bell stopped ringing and they heard the God chuckle from the distance.

“I will be waiting in the living room, if you do not come out within three minutes I will start up the bell again,” he called.

“Mmmf, I’ll do…  something,” Frisk grumbled as they struggled to navigate through their fuzzy brain, laying there for a few more seconds, slowly waking up before they pushed themselves up, sluggishly going for the door before they remembered their partial nudity and how the God seemed to feel about it.

So, they swayed around, instead of going over to the dresser, smiling sleepily to see the return of their clothes, picking out a light comfortable outfit that consisted of a loose T-shirt and leggings, they’d throw on their jacket and boots when it was time to leave.

They of course made a bathroom visit before seeing Asriel, taking their time to wash their face, brush their hair and teeth, putting their hair up out the way and back up into a ponytail, among doing all the other usual things they did when they had an important day to look forward too, and maybe some extra fluff and duffing… they didn’t want to admit it, but giving the circumstances they were slightly conscious of their appearance, they weren’t used to sharing space with anyone like the God, then again, who would be…

That’s when they remembered that he’d most likely seen them like this many times, the tired face, standing in front of a sink with a toothbrush in their wide-open mouth, trying not to gag as they brushed their tongue.

Heck, there was probably even a chance he’d accidentally seen them on the toilet, the way he talked it sounded like he’d never know what he’d find when checking up on them, it was kind of funny once they thought about it… and very embarrassing too.

It was probably the reason why he decided to leave at ten PM, or didn’t bother opening the door or warping into the room when waking them, it was likely he was aware of what they liked to practice every now and then in the bed.

It was also likely that he was aware of how much they hadn’t wanted to wear the robe, and had figured that they had indeed slept half-naked.

Or maybe he was just being polite and was being mindful of their privacy, who knew.

Soon enough, they came out, and just as he had said, he was sitting in the living room, looking rather bored until he caught sight of their feet, looking up at them with an mixed expression that Frisk couldn’t quite read.

“You took a while,”

Frisk let out a soft sigh “sorry, my morning routines usually take that long,”

“No, I meant it took you a while to wake up,” he corrected.

Frisk stared at him for a few moments before they sleepily rubbed at their eyes, deciding to just be upfront with the God “I had a hard time going to sleep last night, I was upset,”

He gave them a stern nod and looked away, staring off at the floor “I noticed,”

Frisk had nearly forgotten that he was able to feel their emotions now, for a second, they wondered why he hadn’t checked on them- but then remembered that he probably realized that he was a huge part of the reasons for making them upset…

So maybe thought leaving them be would probably be better?

Ah, whatever, they were still too drowsy to worry about stuff like that right now.

“I’m having breakfast, hope you don’t mind,” they simply said and walked on, it took them a few seconds to realize that the God had gotten up and was now hovering a couple of feet behind them, following behind like a gigantic powerful puppy.

They turned around at smirked lazily at him “I’m sorry, but you do remember that you can’t eat anything, right?”

Asriel rolled his eyes “of course I do, I am just curious, what are you going to make?”

“Nooo clue, but I’ll figure it out,” they said and turned their attention back to the kitchen, walking up to the fridge and opening it “I’m not that hungry, but something tells me I should pack on the protein anyway,”

“You are correct, make something that will last you a while or… pack something for later,”

“Or both,” Frisk added, then made their decision, pulling out two eggs and two slices of bread and their little container of spreadable butter.

“Egg sandwich?” Asriel questioned.

“Toasted egg sandwich,” Frisk confirmed and went to work.

Meanwhile, while levitating, Asriel got into a sitting position, crossing his legs while he watched Frisk make breakfast, entertained by the simple process of creating food.

But whether it was because of their lack of sleep or their focus on cooking or both, Frisk didn’t notice as Asriel floated closer and closer, literally watching over their shoulder as they worked.

“That smells really good,” he commented suddenly, catching Frisk off guard and starling them, his deep husky voice vibrating in their ear- sending a familiar chill to run down their spine and making them yelp in alarm and when they spotted him in the corner of their eye and fully realized just how close he was, they automatically jumped away.

“Ah! Seriously, haven’t you ever heard of a personal bubble?!” they blurted out, laughing from the excitement, they just knew they were blushing, they wanted to be mad, they should have been mad, but they just couldn’t help it.

He held up a defensive hand, looking rather embarrassed himself but was seemingly handling it better.

“Okay, I will take responsibility for that, but it was all a misunderstanding, I was only just trying to get a better look at the food, I did not realize how close I was to you,”

Frisk rubbed the back of their neck, they could practically still feel the tingle in their spine, letting out a slow sigh “are you sure? You did the same thing back in Snowdin, remember the diner and the jukebox?”

At the mention, Asriel chuckled slyly.

“Oh, yes, well, what happened there was all on purpose,”

Frisk scrunched their face at him, going back to work on their sandwich, putting on the final touches.

“Are you kidding? You nearly scared me half to death with that act,”

He laughed more “I couldn’t resist, I had been waiting to meet you for far too long, besides… you didn’t seem to mind it too much this time, you laughed,”

Frisk shook their head, grabbing their plate and taking it over to the table.

“Probably because I knew who the voice belonged to this time,” they said and turned back around to the kitchen, momentarily stopping, looking up to meet Asriel’s gaze, smirking flirtatiously, deciding to test the waters again…

“Also, don’t know if you knew this or not… but, I’ve got sensitive ears, so all these times you’ve leaned in real close and personal and talked in that low voice of yours, well. . . let’s just say.. it’s made me feel… tingly~,”

Again, like earlier, Asriel looked at them with a deep mixed expression that they couldn’t read, but he did hesitate to speak, his mouth opening to say something but nothing came out.

Frisk quirked an eyebrow at them in weary suspicion but as the seconds ticked by they became embarrassed all over again, what were they thinking? He’d already told them he wasn’t interested and now they’d made things weird!

…But…then again, there was some strange evidence to show that maybe he was lying…

        But whatever, it was too early for this kind of stuff, they didn’t know where their head was at.

Unable to handle the pressure, Frisk spoke up.

“Sorry, that was too much wasn’t it? I should shut up,” they apologized, giving him a quick platonic pat on the arm before they walked past him, hurrying to get something to drink.

As they made their choice and began pouring their orange juice, they’d noticed he’d silently taken a seat nearby to where they’d sat their food, he was staring blank-faced, looking over at his claws.

“So what are we doing today?” they asked as they walked over to the table, sitting their drink down and then themselves, taking their time to eat.

Whatever he had been thinking about, he effectively shook off, looking to them thoughtfully.

“We will be tending to the gardens… and… originally I had planned to make you go alone, but I’ve decided it would be best if I went with you,”

They swallowed “the gardensss? Plural?”

He cracked an amused grin “yes, we’ll start with the one in the throne room and then we will travel to the one back in the Ruins,”

Their eyebrows shot up “the Ruins? But it’s so far away…,”

He snickered “yes, I’m fully well aware, that’s why I’m coming with you, you moron, you obviously need an escort to find your way back, and don’t worry, it won’t be that bad, there’s a special boat we can take,”

“Why can’t we just fly again?” they asked.

Asriel frowned at that “because I cannot use the power of my wings for every little insignificant thing, besides, with the way things have been going between us, I’m starting to see that you could… benefit from some personal space,”

A slow smile appeared on Frisk’s face but they decided against anymore talking, right now they just wanted to relax and eat while they had this moment of peace.

But soon enough, breakfast was finished, with Frisk back to the kitchen to cook up a packed lunch for later, a simple chicken sandwich, two oranges, and another bottle of tea, all of which Asriel took and snuck into his Universe Pocket.

After slipping on their black jacket and boots, Frisk declared themselves ready to tend to some gardens.

Not a lot was said on the way to the throne room.

But once they began getting closer and closer, the thought of seeing their soul again made Frisk antsy, and to distract themselves they decided to ask some questions they thought of asking earlier.

“So…you like flowers?”

“Hmph, it depends on what type of flowers we’re talking about, but don’t worry I know where you’re going with this… I don’t really care one way or another for them, I’m only keeping these particular gardens around for purely… old sentimental reasons,” he explained.

“To honor the memory of your family?” Frisk asked, as gently as they possibly could.

Asriel went very quiet at that, staring off into the distance again, thinking over something difficult, almost as if he wasn’t sure how he was going to answer the question, or maybe he didn’t want to answer it at all…

But as soon as Frisk began to accept he wasn’t going to say anything, he finally spoke up, his tone of voice tense and serious.

“Yes… that’s correct, so that being the case, I hope I do not need to remind you that these gardens are very important to me, and that it would be very wise if you didn’t screw up anything, do you understand?”

Frisk was surprised by his tone shift, but they knew enough about losing family to know to respect his wishes.

“I understand, I promise that I will be very gentle, no flower will be hurt or even be bent under my care,”

To their surprise, the God let out a warm chuckle at that.

“It is a good thing I have evidence for that claim,”

Frisk paused for a moment, confused before they finally thought back to their aunt’s garden that they had helped raised together (which was still thriving to this day), gardening was never one of Frisk’s main favorite activities, but they couldn’t deny that they had a definite talented green thumb and really loved to see things grow and come to life.

 Hm, it was probably one of the reasons why he was trusting them with such a sacred task in the first place, wasn’t it?

But then another question appeared in their mind.

“...Not that I don’t want to…but…why do you need my help anyway? You’re a god, you put a hole in the fabric of space, don’t you know a way to keep the flowers alive without really trying?” they asked.

At that Asriel chuckled once more, but this time he sounded slightly annoyed, judging by the gruff little sigh he gave…

“Frisk, in what way do you think a god who is called ‘Hyperdeath’ has any ability to keep things alive and growing? I may be capable of many things, but my main specialty is death, not life, the closest I could ever come to bringing something to life is if I turn back time,”

It was then Frisk felt a tingle of embarrassment, running their fingers through their bangs, and rubbing at their eyes while they were at it as well.

“...Yeah, okay, that…makes a ton of more sense now that you’ve put it that way…geez my head is so foggy this morning,”

“Why didn’t you make any coffee?” he asked.

“I don’t know…I guess I should have huh?” Frisk mumbled as they pulled their hand away from their eyes “I’m sorry if this is turning out to be a rough start,”

Asriel eyed them over his shoulder, as if he were trying to make sense of them, or was simply annoyed.

“You need to stop over apologizing, you’re almost as bad as the ghost and it’s beginning to get on my nerves,”

Frisk cracked a shy sleepy smile “…sorry?”

He simply sighed once more and rolled his eyes.

Soon enough, they made it to the throne room, with the God pulling out a pair of gardening gloves, a bag of fertilizer and a filled watering can from his Universe Pocket and handing it all to Frisk as he gave them a list of simple directions.

Thankfully, despite their lack of sleep and due to them already having the skills to garden, they were able to follow the list pretty easily, watering and tending to the flowers while the God watched from the distance at his throne, his dark eyes following them around the room, answering questions and making small comments every now and then.

The only real problems Frisk had were the sight of the shrine and having to work around it, finding its looming existence a bit… intimidating, but they kept strong and did their best to avoid looking at it.

After what was probably an hour and a half, or what felt like ten hours, they finally finished, walking over and finding a clear space nearby the God and sitting down on the ground, not even bothering to take off their gloves.

“So is this you being done?” Asriel asked.

“I hope so, I feel like I’m done, how’d I do?” they responded, letting out a long sigh and laying down against the hard ground, noticing it wasn’t as cool as they’d thought it would be.

“...You did an adequate job,” he commented and then shifted up from his seat, hovering high above them, “but there is no time for a nap, get back up,”

At that, Frisk was unable to hold back a soft whine “oh c’mon, just let me rest a little…that was a lot of hard work,”

“You can rest on the boat ride,” he assured, leaning down and plucking the gloves from their hands along with the other gear, stuffing it all back into the Universe Pocket as he spoke “I do not want to waste precious time if we are done here,”

Beginning to feel overwhelmed, Frisk looked up at him desperately “Asriel, I’m tired! Please, will you leave me alone for just one second?!”

The God stared at them sharply, his mouth closing with a snap, his eyes filled with intense perplexity.

With that, he said nothing more and turned away.

Frisk let out a heavy sigh, running their fingers through their bangs, turning their head to the side to gaze at the flowers up close for a moment, appreciating their hard work and imagining that they were larger than life, taller than tallest trees . . .

After a few more seconds, a large white disembodied hand came into their view and caught their attention, almost making them jump in surprise, in its fingers held a water bottle.

“You have three minutes, use them wisely,” they heard the God say.

Frisk slowly sat up, groaning quietly as their back protested, taking the water bottle and drinking a few good gulps, they thought about saying ‘thank you’ ...but wasn’t sure if they were completely in the mood to do so.

Still, there was always the benefit of the doubt…

“Thank you,” Frisk spoke up.

“...Don’t thank me,”

“Too bad mister, I’m doing it anyway,”

Soon time was up and Frisk was feeling a little more ready to move again, following Asriel out.

After going through and leaving the long golden hallway, he brought them to the nearby elevator, one of the many they’d passed but Asriel never seemed interested in using.

“Hey…how come we haven’t used the elevators yet? Wouldn’t that have been a little faster?” they questioned.

“Yes, about that, after I took control, I used my cosmic powers to make any elevator go anywhere I want in the Underground, most of them were already capable of going in impossible directions- but they still had limitations, and my addition pushed surpassed those limitations, the problem with it is that only I have the power to control it now, come see,” he said and pressed the open button.

They walked in and Frisk immediately could see what he was talking about.

In a normal elevator, there would be a control panel with buttons to take you to your destination, this elevator looked almost normal, except for the place where the control panel would be, was instead a…blank square, deep, dark, black abyss- likely another tear in the fabric of reality.

“Ah…. yup, I definitely see it now,” Frisk commented, curiously wondering what would happen if they stuck their finger inside.

“Yes, it seems you cannot use the elevators without me,” he said.

“Can’t you just reverse it?” they asked.

“I could, but I don’t trust you to have complete free reign of the Underground just yet,” he explained, raising a hand to press an invisible button on the abyss panel.

As soon as he did that, a bizarre unearthly hum reverberated and bounced around inside the machine, as it did that, a faint nauseating feeling started up inside the pit of Frisk’s stomach, probably something akin to motion sickness, they automatically took a sip of their water.

Funnily enough, as soon as the bottle hit their lips, the doors opened, they winced in discomfort, unprepared for the heatwave that invaded the inside of the elevator.

“Ugghhhhh, boy, I am not feeling this, whew! We must be in Hotland…,” they guessed with a grimace, breathing in the sudden burst of thick air, drinking a few more gulps of their water, the gross feeling in their stomach thankfully fading as fast as it had started.

“The entrance of Hotland to be exact,” he said and elegantly waved out his arm, politely showing them out.

They stepped out, walking for a few feet, and looked back, seeing that Asriel’s cosmic elevator truly worked as advertised, noticing that it had transported them to what looked to be an entirely different elevator altogether, the abbreviation  ‘L1’ in big bold above the doors on the metal container.

Then they looked further up and saw the elevator went high up, confusing winding pathways awaiting ahead, the CORE looming further on, and behind that, they could see the Castle and the city that surrounded it, it was so far away.

It was one thing to see it all from above, but it was something else entirely to see it like this, Frisk wasn’t sure they’d ever stop being amazed by this place.

After admiring the sight, they turned their attention back to Asriel, who was impatiently floating on ahead, they quickly ran after him, joining his side.

“How come we didn’t just use the elevator yesterday?” they attempted to ask again, curious to know when Asriel seemed so interested in doing things the fast way.

“I thought it would have been best for you to get acquainted with the area from above, besides, you needed time to think and stew over your choice, there was no sense in skipping and rushing through delicate matters,” he explained.

Frisk raised their eyebrows in surprise “oh- well, thank you, that’s very thoughtful of you,” they then grinned as they were reminded of the other kind things he’d done for them so far “another thing to add to your positive personality trait list,”

He sneered in return “disgusting, do me a favor and stop analyzing me,”

Frisk’s grin turned into a halfhearted smirk “you ‘analyzed’ me for half my life, this seems only fair, don’t you think?

He stared at them for a second before he let out a huff and continued on, passing a large metal building, at the top, in black abyss-colored words read-

G O D   O F   H Y P E R D E A T H

“I’m guessing that’s your home you talked about?” they asked, their tone of voice mildly sarcastic.

“Correct. Stay away from it.” he said, his tone both sarcastic and stern.

Frisk held up their hands up in defense as they followed, “trust me, I’m not even remotely interested in being near it,”

“Good.”

“Yes, good, because I’m sure it’s filled with fantastical things that will continue to blow my mind into forever, I’m only not interested because I respect your personal space and request for privacy,”

“You’ve made your point, Frisk,”

“Good,”

He lead them downhill, revealing the rest of the river, but more importantly revealed a very adorable wooden boat, the head of a cute dog carved into the front, serving as the bowsprit.

“Woooww, you were right when you said this was a special boat, I love it,” they commented in awe as they approached it.

“I had a feeling that you would,” he said, gliding on to it first, hesitating for a second before he held out a polite hand out to Frisk to help them on.

They gave him and his offering hand an odd quizzical look, but nevertheless took his hand and hop stepped aboard the boat.

“What’s the story about this one?” they asked with genuine curiosity.

“The story is.. that there was a mysterious cloaked creature called the River Person, they sailed this boat around and generously took people on rides to wherever they wanted, like the first Royal Scientist, not a lot was known of them, they never shown their face to others and spoke strangely, sometimes even giving others helpful hints of things to come in the future,” he explained.

To no one’s surprise, Frisk found themselves in awe again, fascinated.

“That’s amazing… and..I couldn’t help but notice that you called them a ‘creature’ and not a monster, does that mean you don’t know what they were?” they asked.

“Yes, correct again, no one had any clue as to who or what they really were,” he then gave them a fake, terror-filled, suspenseful stare “there was even a terrifying rumor that they were secretly- a human,”

Frisk gaped as it slowly dawned on them that he was messing with them, scrunching up their face in scrutiny up at Asriel, who in return gave in and chuckled at them.

Still grinning in amusement, he turned his attention back to the front of the boat.

“Now, back to Waterfall shall we?” he chimed.

Then, Frisk did a double-take as they noticed the boat begin to rise, then suddenly DASH across the riverbank, the water spraying behind in quick bursts.

 Laughing in thrilled amazement, they quickly took the opportunity to look over, finding that the boat had four doggy-shaped legs and paws attached to the underneath of the boat.

They turned their attention back to Asriel, grinning “you know how I said I loved this boat?”

“Yes?”

“Well I changed my mind! I am in love with this boat!”

He smirked, giving no comment, turning his attention to the destination ahead, the smile not quite leaving his face.

As they continued on across the water, Frisk found themselves in more of their usual musings since they’d arrived at the Underground, evaluating once again how they’d managed to get themselves here.

Their thoughts returned to back to the throne room, and they realized something that made them freeze up.

They had broken a rule, specifically rule five, they had to do whatever the God said… it was the second time they had done it too, he had told them to get up, but they had refused due to their exhaustion.

It had been a considerably good and fair reason to disobey, but rules were rules after all…

“What is it?” they suddenly heard Asriel speak up “I sense that you have some mixed feelings.”

A nervous smile appeared on Frisk’s face, looks like there wasn’t much room to hide things from him when he could feel their emotions.

“I broke one of your rules, um… back in the throne room, you told me to get up, but… I didn’t,”

He turned his head to smirk at them mischievously, “hm, you did do that, didn’t you?”

There was a moment of hesitation “. . . so, is there going to be a punishment…?” they asked.

His smile grew “I don’t know, will there be one…?”

And with that, he did not say anymore, leaving Frisk with anticipation.

After a while, trees blanketed in powdery white snow came to view on the horizon, the air becoming increasingly chillier as they approached and entered Snowdin.

They walked for a while, both silent as they made their way through the town and passed the buildings, Frisk taking the chance to properly admire the scenery without the feeling of fear or anxiety, the curiosity was very much still there though.

As they walked over the old bridge and skated through the small cluster of trees, Frisk was surprised when Asriel finally spoke up.

“So, as I know, you are an artist…,” he began, rather awkwardly.

“Yes…?”

“Well, one of the things I would you like to do for me is to paint pictures, perhaps you could paint the Snowdin forests? I could get you better supplies and find an easel so you could get a proper view,” he suggested.

Frisk looked up at him in pleasant surprise, finding that he was looking back, noticing a hopeful glint in his scarlet eyes.

They smile brightly, “of course! That would actually be really nice, thanks Asriel,”

He smiled back, nodding firmly… then crooked his brow, his smile shifting into something devious, “that will come later after your first punishment period is finished, there is something far less pleasant I have in mind for you first,”

Frisk’s smile dropped like bricks, “oh my gosh, I should have known,” they then winced warily “should I dare ask what you’re even 'concocting'?”

He gave them a firm pat on the shoulder, “don’t worry about that right now, save the little energy you have,”

Frisk shrugged his hand off, “can I at least worry about what’s happening after this? Will I be done? Can I get a nap in?”

The God’s expression softened slightly “..perhaps… how does a lunch break sound to you?” he asked.

“It sounds pretty good,” Frisk said, almost smiling but remembered that they’d be eating in front of Asriel…who wouldn’t be able to.

They then remembered T-Drop and their mistreatment, and all the guilt vanished.

“By the way, don’t forget, we still need to visit T-Drop,” they reminded the God.

His expression went sour, showing that he…very likely forgot all about that.
“Very well,”

Frisk rubbed at a stiff place behind their neck “do you happen to know what time it is?”

“It is…,” he then closed his eyes for a few seconds and reopened them “seven-thirty,”

They exhaled sharply, “geez, it still feels earlier than that,” then they looked back up at the God, “how did you do that anyway? Did you just ‘know’ or…?”

He tapped at the side of his head “you could call it a ‘psychic thing’, I basically searched for the nearest accurate clock and I can see it in my mind, it is like I’m sending my vision from my body, it’s how I…,” he then paused, narrowed his brows, an uncomfortable expression on his face, rethinking his words “…find things that I want to see without actually doing it physically,”

But Frisk got the gist, “it’s how you ‘checked’ up on me.”

Asriel made a displeased sound “yes,” he then stopping moving and gazed a Frisk “I know you still must think of me as some kind of creep for watching you so long, and you are right for feeling disturbed, I believe I would be too, but I really never meant anything perverse of it,”

Frisk stared hard at his expression and into his eyes, silent for a moment, “…so.. you’re saying you feel guilty?”

His frown twisted deeper, this clearly wasn’t an easy conversation for him.

“…I.. do,” he then grit his sharp teeth, “I know I promised that I would never apologize, but, out of everything that I have done, I’ve been thinking and I've... come to realize that doing such a thing is..beneath me,”

Frisk smiled gently “that’s right, you should have just introduced yourself to me in the first place, I bet we could have been friends a long time ago, and then you wouldn’t have been so lonely and resorting to spying on me,”

Asriel crossed his arms, he was still frowning but his gaze had softened “nonsense, the second you met me, you would have told everyone about me, eventually leading a nuclear war and ruining everything I worked so hard for.”

Frisk chuckled “nah, that’s ridiculous, I’m sure we would have been okay, you should already know by now that I’m great at keeping a secret,”

“I’m sorry,” he said suddenly.

Frisk’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, “huh?”

He turned away and quickly continue making his way to the Ruins, “you heard me, I’m not repeating myself, ever,”

Frisk jogged to catch up with him “I accept your apology Asriel, I forgive you,”

“Why? It’s not like I deserve it or have even properly earned it,”

Frisk smiled sadly, “maybe, but, with the way things are turning out, maybe you will,” then sighed, “I need to apologize too, I’ve been flirting with you when you clearly don’t like it,”

He scoffed “don’t apologize to me either, I don’t want it,”

Frisked sighed, “alright, I’ll respect it, actions speak louder than words anyway,”

After that, the two began traveling in silence once again.

As they walked through the ancient forest that stood before the Ruins, Frisk noticed they weren’t at all scared this time around...perhaps it was because they had someone with them.

….Or perhaps it was because they had someone with them that could be scarier than the forest ever could be.

As they entered the caves, the dim lighting and sudden warmth closed in around Frisk and soothed them, making their eyelids heavy, their sleepless night really taking its toll.

Halfway through, Frisk decided to break the silence.

“Hey, d’you want to try test warping on me?” they asked.

At that, Asriel made a quiet grumble and flicked his wrist, and in his hand appeared a glass mug filled with a dark brown liquid, the air around them suddenly smelling heavily of fresh coffee.

He handed it to them, Frisk’s mouth gaping open slightly in awe.

“Wow, this smells so good,” they complimented.

“I snagged it from a popular coffee shop in Taiwan,” he explained, unable to hide his smug expression.

Frisk looked up at him, their eyebrows raised up high, again they may have not condoned stealing, but clearly, they couldn’t deny that they were impressed.

Without another moment of hesitation, they turned their attention back to their well-traveled drink, taking a slow sip, making sure to savor the flavor.

It almost tasted just as fantastic as it smelled, and it was hot, but thankfully it didn’t scorch their tongue.

They gave Asriel a pleased smile, “I know you don’t want my thanks, but thank you anyway, this was very, very, nice,”

He rolled his eyes, smiling weakly, “I only did it so you don’t end up passing out on the flowers,”

Frisk chuckled, “well now I can promise that I won’t, I’ll also promise I’ll try to get more sleep, I don’t want you stealing anymore than you have to, somebody probably paid good money for this coffee y’know,”

“Actually, that coffee was about to go to a man who abuses his wife, I told you Frisk, I only steal from the worthless, don’t bother wasting your time feeling guilty over these things,” he said.

Frisk frowned, deciding to take another sip.

They then raised an eyebrow at their thoughts.

“How do you know he was abusive?”

“Mm, he’s a regular at the shop and sometimes he brings his wife, he whispers cruel things in her ear and tells her not to talk in public, I’m pretty sure they’re on their way to a brutal divorce, at least I hope so,” he explained.

Frisk let out a sad sigh, unsure what to say, so instead they took another but longer sip this time.

“Perhaps I can take you to the coffee shop later, I’ll make sure we go when the couple isn’t there,” he spoke up, the mood shifting between them.

Frisk swallowed and looked back up at him in sheer surprise, “really?”

The God gave them a quick smile “of course, you aren’t completely trapped here, you can go anywhere on earth as long as I’m with you and invisible,”

Frisk grinned in delight at the idea, he had mentioned showing them places and things, hadn’t he?

“That sounds fantastic, I’d love that,” they said happily.

He nodded, pleased, “I had hoped you would,”

Soon the coffee buzzed Frisk’s brain with new energy, returning some pep to their step.

Just in time too as they finally reached the garden, relieved at the sight as they remembered how much smaller this garden was in comparison to the one at the palace.

As the God gave them back all of their gear, his current frown deepened heavily.

“I want you to be even more generous with your care with this area,” he ordered.

Frisk looked up at him in slight confusion, “of course, any reason why?”

“It’s an important burial site,” he explained.

Frisk’s eyebrows shot up, their eyes flickering to the flowers and back up to Asriel in increasing worry.

“Calm down, this was put here long before I became a god,” he grumbled under his breath, his eyes not quite meeting theirs, making it difficult to get a good read on him.

“Sorry…,” Frisk said gently, reflexively reached out to touch his arm and comfort him, then letting go after catching themselves, opting to put on the gardening gear instead.

“You have nothing to apologize for,” he said with a sigh, crossing his legs into a sitting position and floating away, resting against the wall.

They fought at the urge to ask who the gravesite belonged to, but judging by Asriel’s shift in mood, they decided against it, they had asked too many questions already anyway, it was probably best to give it a rest before he dared to call them an interrogator.

Instead, they thought about other things, like how much they hoped this was all they had to do for today and how much more that they wanted a good power nap.

They also hoped that their aunt and cousin hadn’t figured out they were missing yet… they really needed to figure out a way to send a message that they were ok.

They also thought about what they were going to say to T-Drop, excited to see them smile.

Despite the poor treatment, they were curious to see the ghost and the God interact, maybe someday they’d be able to find to way to get Asriel to say sorry to T-Drop too . . . the chances looked scarcely slim though.. .

…

. . . .

.   .  .   .

“Hello in there, are you finished?” they suddenly heard Asriel ask, effectively pulling Frisk out of their musings.

They blinked, realizing that they had been finished for a while and had been staring at the flowers, they looked over at the God, smiling sheepishly, “yeah, sorry, I guess my thoughts carried me off,”

He let out a sigh at that, “hm, perhaps you’re overdue for lunch,” he said, hovering over to them, “give me your things and we’ll go find a proper spot to eat,”

Frisk nodded and began slipping off the gear, handing it all back before getting back up, stretching their arms high above their head, thankful that they were finally finished.

They didn’t have to travel far, settling on the nearby entrance room with the two grand staircases overlooking the bed of red and orange leaves.

Taking a seat on the ground, letting their legs dangle off the short drop-off, Frisk watched in continuous wonder as the God again stuck his entire arm into the black hole as he searched for their lunch box.

They held back their laughter as he grumbled and proceeded to stick his head and half of his torso into the Universe pocket, his bottom and long legs hanging out.

“Ah-hah, there it is…!” they heard him say, his voice sounding far, far away from inside, he then popped out and levitated it over to Frisk, dropping it onto their lap.

“Thank you,” Frisk said, happily opening the box.

“Mmhm,” he murmured, closing the pocket and hovering around until he was a few feet in front of Frisk, back in his sitting position.

“How big is your pocket anyway?” they asked before taking a big bite of their chicken sandwich.

“As big as it needs to be,” he said lazily, resting his head against his palm.

Frisk’s chewing slowed, looking up at Asriel, an amused and suggestive smile slowly growing on their face.

He stared back, confused at first, but as the seconds passed he got a good idea of why Frisk was suddenly feeling the way they were.

“Shut up,” he grumbled, rolling his eyes and looking away.

Frisk giggled, “I didn’t say anything though,”

“I wasn’t talking about your mouth, I was talking about your filthy emotions and your even filthier brain,” he explained, annoyed.

Frisk flashed a sneaky grin at him, “y’know, there’s a difference from thinking it and actually saying it,” then took another bite.

He flashed them a devious expression, and without warning, he warped away, disappearing from view.

Frisk’s smile dropped, cautiously pausing to eye the room before deciding to continue eating, worried if they’d gotten on his nerves again, realizing it might have not been the wisest move to tease him.

They didn’t quite feel guilty about it, but it was probably for the best to apologize when he got back.

The minutes passed by, Frisk was coming close to finishing their lunch, beginning to wonder what their captor was up to.  . .

It was then that their breath was stolen from them as a flood of ice-cold water splashed onto their entire body from overhead, seeping into their hair, clothes, and food.

Frisk screamed in shock, desperately wiping their eyes, it was then that they heard a roar of hearty laughter from the God.

They managed to get a good look at him from behind their water-logged bangs, noticing the large empty bucket in his hand, also realizing that this was the happiest he’d seen them yet since meeting him. 

They didn’t want to admit it, but his smile was becoming increasingly attractive and it was truly unfair.

Chapter Text

Inspiration Song: You're Mine by Phantogram

You don't talk to no one, don't you look at nothin'
Focus on me, look into my eyes
Come a little closer, let me tell you somethin'
Eat your ego, honey, swallow your pride
You don't talk to no one, don't you look at nothin'
Focus on me, look into my eyes
Come a little closer, let me tell you somethin'
You ain't going anywhere, 'cause you're mine

'Cause you're mine
'Cause you're mine
'Cause you're mine

I used to be a rifle, yeah I had my distance
Whistlin' like a bullet in the sky
I used to be a psycho, yeah I had my demons
Crawling like a spider up my spine
I spotted you the second I walked in the buildin'
I knew that you would let me get you high
I wanna hear the things you say when no one's listenin'
But that don't matter anyway, 'cause you're mine

'Cause you're mine
'Cause you're mine
'Cause you're mine

No one's gonna love you, n o one's gonna touch you
No one's gonna look at you the way I do
No one's gonna save you
Build you up and break you
I'm the one you pray to every night 'cause you're mine

'Cause you're mine
'Cause you're mine
'Cause you're mine
'Cause you're mine
'Cause you're mine
'Cause you're mine
'Cause you're mine

“Consider this a punishment Frisk!” The God of Hyperdeath laughed, absolutely pleased with himself after dumping gallons of ice-cold water on them.

In the midst of it all, they remembered what he had said again…

‘I’d toss you into Snowdin anyway, something cold to slow down your thoughts’

It seemed he hadn’t been joking as they had assumed, it was especially likely he’d gotten the water from the river there.

Frisk clenched their teeth together from the bracing cold, their hair completely soaked through and through, the last bit of their sandwich ruined, their thick jacket had halfway shielded them, all except for their leggings- cringing as they could feel the water seeping into their socks.

Overwhelmed with emotions, Frisk grinned wildly as they sprung to their feet, brushing their wet bangs from their eyes and quickly shrugged off their jacket and playfully flinging it at the God’s torso for some kind of attempt for revenge.

Instead, he reacted instantly, holding his hand up and -POOF-! warped away the jacket from sight.

He grinned back at them, pleased and still immensely amused, “you look like a drowned rat!”

They let out a trembling laugh as they shivered, pulling their hair tie out from their wilted ponytail “and you look like a big ol’ jerk!”

He chuckled lowly, “better to be a jerk than a rat,”

Frisk’s smile dimmed, rolling their eyes, picking up the lunch box and handing it back to Asriel, “you ruined my lunch, y’know, but it’s okay… I was almost done anyway,”

Instead, the God pushed the box back with the palm of his hand, refusing to take it.

“I’ve decided I’ve been too nice today, so until we get back home, I’m through with helping you,”

Their smile completely disappeared at that, eyeing the box, clutching it a little tighter and letting out a shivery sigh.

 “Fine, I’ve got two good hands anyway,” they said, then looked down at their wet clothes unhappily, deciding what they should do, they knew if they didn’t change into something dryer they would certainly freeze to death in Snowdin.

They could just be stubborn and tough it out… but…

“Hmph… perhaps I spoke too soon, you won’t last a second once we get out of here,” they heard Asriel say.

They looked back up at him curiously.

With another flick of his wrist, a familiar piece of clothing appeared in his hand… it was the same robe that he’d forced them to wear last night.

Frisk crossed their arms defiantly, “no way, I told you I’m not wearing that,”

“I’M NOT ASKING YOU TO WEAR IT FOREVER, YOU MORON!” he yelled, his voice echoing around the caves and his clawed fingers digging into the robe, threatening to rip holes into it.

Frisk’s eyebrows rose in surprise, “..ah…you mean just temporarily?”

He let out an exasperated sigh, “yes! Trust me, I would have picked something else, but choosing this seemed easier than going through your belongings,”

At that, Frisk hesitantly smiled and reached out with their free hand, taking the robe.

“Call me on your phone when you’re finished changing,” he said, and without another warning, warped out of the caves, the strange sound bouncing off the rocks.

Not wasting another second, Frisk happily kicked off their boots and just as they were about to pull off their leggings, Asriel warped back in, surprising Frisk, causing them to let out a small shriek.

The God jumped slightly in alarm, “what?”

“I’m trying to get naked! Why are you here?!” Frisk blurted out.

He held out Frisk’s cell phone in his hand, now showing visible hints of embarrassment.

“Oh… I’m sorry, I guess I forgot it,” they said, calming down some, taking the flip phone back, “wow, this is really awkward,”

“Incredibly so.” Asriel answered- not quite able to meet their gaze, warping away once again.

The tension passed as they finally slipped out of their wet clothes and slipped on the significantly warmer robe, no longer having any hang ups over the outfit- now that it wasn’t being forced upon them, Asriel probably was likely much happier about this situation though.

They wondered briefly if he had planned it all out, but as they corrected the long sleeves on their arms and eyed the embroidered rune on the chest, they decided that they weren’t going to overthink things this time.

They decided to text Asriel…

‘I’m done, bu can you please bring me some clean socks??’-

Deciding not to text back, the God simply warped back into sight with seconds, his own cell phone in his hand, a pleased smile appearing on his face when he got a good look at Frisk.

“Socks?” Frisk asked.

His smile widened ever so slightly and chuckled, “look down moron,”

Frisk did so, seeing that he had already popped socks onto their feet already, they chuckled in amusement, “thanks,”

He shook his head dismissively, still smiling “whatever, just put your shoes back on so we can get this over with,”

A long silence came over the both of them again, it wasn’t until they got back into Snowdin and halfway to the village that Frisk thought of a question.

“So, other than me ‘representing’ you, is there any other… reason why you wanted me to wear this so badly?” they asked, fidgeting with the hood over their damp hair, rubbing it against the back of their head in an attempt to dry it off.

The God didn’t immediately answer, his eyes searching the horizon as he thought it over.

“...My parents used to wear similar ones like it, I felt that seeing something ‘nostalgic’ in my surroundings would have been... nice,”

Frisk bit their bottom lip, regret and guilt twisting in their stomach, “oh… I’m sorry, if I had known-,”

“Don’t apologize, it was a foolish idea, I was in over my head yesterday,” he grumbled.

“Too excited that you finally won me over?” Frisk half-joked gently, unsure if they should smile.

Asriel scoffed with humor, not confirming or denying.

They thoughtfully gazed at him for a moment, then back down at their robe.

“Did this belong to your mom?” they asked gently.

“I don’t know, I suppose it might have… I came across it in a storage room a few years ago.. and when you showed signs of coming to visit me, I decided I would make you wear it if I succeeded in making you stay somehow, so I hemmed it up to fit you a little better- oh and don’t get worked up, I don’t know your actual dress size, I was just guessing,”

Frisk nodded slowly, “I see, well, you guessed pretty well,” they smiled up at him curiously, “so, you sew?”

“My parents taught me, I know how to knit and crochet as well, if it’s a hobby that requires repetition I likely know how to do it,”

“Mm…that’s pretty nice, so, when you made your robe, did you intentionally mean to put the rips and tears into it?” they asked.

“Yes, why? Do you have a problem with it?” he asked, narrowing his eyebrows, he seemed ready to stand his guard, ready for any harsh critique thrown his way.

Frisk held up their hands defensibly, “no! Actually, I don’t, uh…well..maybe I would if you were someone else… but your black robe really suits you, you’re really rocking it, I really mean it,”

“Oh…,” he said, slightly surprised, a small smile appearing on his mug, “…thanks?”

Frisk smiled back, “you’re welcome,”

Soon, they found themselves back at the adorable dog boat, which was patiently waiting for them.

As Frisk stepped in and got comfortable, they raised an eyebrow in worry as Asriel grabbed the boat and gripped down fiercely, digging his claws deep into it.

“Are… you okay?” Frisk asked in concern, was he angry…?

The God looked up at them in slight confusion, his claws still stuck into the wood.

“Never better, I’m just fixing this boat to work on autopilot, so you can go wherever you want without me,”

“Wait… are you saying you’re leaving me by myself now?” they asked, unsure how they felt about this.

“It is very much what I’m saying, I’m not exactly in the mood to see the ghost again, so you’re going alone…I’m curious to see if you can find your way back as well,” he explained.

Frisk’s mouth opened to say something, but they were taken aback.

He then sharply moved his arms away, leaving a black abyss scratch marks into the wood, but he didn’t seem to visibly notice or care, he only grinned at Frisk teasingly.

“What’s with that face…? Are you trying to say that you’re going to miss me? Hm?”  he asked jokingly, expression sly as he leaned in.

Frisk grew flustered, shyly leaning back slightly, “er- not entirely, I just...I just was hoping… that you’d…uh, talk to T-Drop, I think you should really apologize to them!”

At that, the God sarcastically laughed in their face, backing off and scowling, “I don’t think so, you ask too much of me,”

“Now, go, call me if you get lost or have another vapid question,” he said, then tapped the new scratch on the boat “when you want to go somewhere, just think of it and touch my mark,”

Frisk let out a sigh, then eyed the mark, curiously and gently touched their index finger on one of the scratches, deciding that they had no more to talk about, going ahead and testing the boat out…

 ‘I’d like to go to Waterfall, please’ they thought.

They grinned in cheerful pride as the boat suddenly began to move forward, Asriel nodded at them with approval.

“Have fun hanging out with that miserable creature!” he called to them as the boat moved faster and they began to gain some distance.

“I already am!” they called back, then grinned big, “oh! You were talking about T-Drop, my bad!” 

They laughed as they saw Asriel scowl so deeply it was almost comical.

As the boat began to dash off and away, Frisk calmed back down and a couple of minutes passed, they noticed something new on the carved dog’s face, it looked familiar… they got up to get a better look.

They found that it had black patch markings under its eyes, of which looked exactly like the God’s face markings.

Finding it absolutely cute, Frisk brought out their phone and took a picture, proceeding to send it to Asriel, writing a message to go with it.

'Look what happened! They’re your child now.’ -

The God instantly replied with…

- ‘NO.’

Frisk giggled quietly to themselves, amused.

They guessed that the marking was very likely due to the magic scratches he had carved, they wondered if it was like how he ‘fixed’ the elevators, was it him giving an object his powers…

Or was it like a territorial thing? If he marked anything with his signature ‘black abyss’, did it automatically belong to him?

Frisk touched their cheeks, specifically the area underneath their eyes, they guessed they should count themselves lucky for not getting a marking like that, although… it might have been an interesting look, maybe even kind of cool…

They shook their head, shoving the thought idea away into the garbage, they shouldn’t be glamorizing the God’s ‘ownership’ over them like that, their argument from last night drumming and echoing in a chant loudly inside their brain, telling them to ‘behave Frisk! Behave Frisk! Behave Frisk! Behave Frisk!!’

So, instead of… daydreaming, they emptied their mind and stared at the miraculous changing view around them, further familiarizing themselves.

Soon, they sighed in comfort as they felt the air become warm and slightly humid as they approached Waterfall.

As they stepped back onto ground and up over the hill, they looked around curiously, uncertain of which way to go…

There were two pathways on the left and right, and a hole in the wall straight ahead with a box nearby (that was also likely jammed shut by Asriel.)

An old faded and unreadable sign that was placed above the hole caught their attention, giving them the impression that maybe it was once a shop of some kind.

Since it was so close by, they decided to check it out real quick, proceeding to walk in, completely surprised when they found what looked to be a very sad music room.

The area filled with all sorts of random but all severely used instruments, one old wooden piano, a drum set with a missing ride cymbal, on one of the walls hung four different wooden guitars- one especially beat up, on the left was a table that sat a tambourine, a ukulele, a single maraca, a box of at least a hundred cheap recorder flutes.

Frisk walked in further, seeing even more used instruments, seeing at least three small pianos meant for young children, and as they craned their neck around, they saw more instruments hung higher and in better condition than the others, which were a saxophone, a banjo, a violin, and an electric guitar.

“So neat…,” they murmured, taking a few seconds more to look around they decided to leave, they had a ghost to find.

“T-Drrrroooop? Heeeellllooooo~?” they called out, waiting for a moment to hear an answer.

When they didn’t get one, they decided to move along, taking a route and finding themselves in a spacious room with a pond in the middle, they noticed a sign nearby.

'North: Blook Acres

East: Hotland

 ???: Temmie Village’

“Cute names…,” they mumbled, thinking things over, deciding where they should go first.

Something in their gut told them to go north, something about the words ‘Blook Acres’ just felt… right.

With that, they walked on ahead, going up the first pathway… leading them to an empty gated area, well, it wasn’t completely empty, it was littered with random sports equipment, a basket full of balls, and a tall basketball hoop.

They moved along, studying the area until they finally noticed two identically tall odd-shaped houses, one grey-blue, the other a faded red, the roofs appearing more as hats than actual roofs.

“Frisk…? Is that you?” they heard a familiar voice say.

They grinned and turned around, throwing their arms in the air cheerfully as they saw T-Drop at the entrance.

“T-Drop! I’m so happy to see you!” they chirped, jogging over to them.

T-Drop perked up, a sweet and relieved smile appearing on their face, “i’m happy to see you too… i was so worried that i would never see you again…,”

Frisk let out a sigh, “I’m pretty certain that’s how Asriel would like to have it if he got everything his way,”

T-Drop was silent for a moment, confusion becoming clear on their face “…ah….i’m sorry…. who is asriel?”

Frisk blinked, “oh, I guess it makes sense that he never told you… Asriel is the God’s real name,”

“oh..I see…..is it ok if i asked what happened?…….did.. he hurt you?” T-Drop asked with concern.

Frisk shook their head, “no, but he has been a giant jerk, but don’t worry, I can handle it,” they then smiled gently “…on the other hand, he does have his nice moments, he can be tolerable but I’m still keeping my guard up,”

T-Drop motioned to Frisk’s torso, “…you’re wearing his outfit…. does that mean you’re… staying?”

Frisk’s smile grew tight, staring hard at the rune at their chest  “yeah, yeah it does… I’m here until he decides he’s bored of me or he somehow breaks one of the rules in our deal,” they let out another sigh, “and…if I accidentally break one of the rules, then I guess I’m here forever,”

It felt… harshly difficult telling T-Drop all of this, they knew it would be even more difficult telling them that they had traded their freedom for theirs.

But they didn’t have to do that just yet.

So they brightened their smile back up “but don’t worry about me, I came to tell you the good news! Asriel decided to free you! You’re free to go anywhere in the mountain now, isn’t that great?”

T-Drop’s eyes widened, “really?”

Frisk chuckled warmly “yup! You can even visit me up at the palace where I’m staying at now, Asriel was surprisingly thoughtful and moved all my stuff from my old place there, it’s actually kind of relaxing…,”

The ghost smiled, “wow…. that’s amazing…the god did some nice stuff for me too,” they then motioned to all of the sports equipment “he brought me all these things so we could do stuff and keep me from being bored…. but then we both realized we aren’t really into sports…so…he gave up and I started collecting instruments instead at the garbage dump,”

“I saw it, that’s a pretty impressive collection you have,” they then cocked their head curiously, “you have a garbage dump down here?”

“mmhm… it flows from the upper world, sometimes… interesting things fall down…,” their smile then returned “…umm…hey… I don’t mean to be weird or anything…. but…. do you want to come over to my house? it’s right over there, you don’t have to.. if you don’t want to…,”

T-Drop then motioned to the two houses.

Frisk looked and laughed at themselves, “oh, I was right in the neighborhood and had no idea! That’s pretty cool, which one is yours?”

“the gray one, it’s….nothing impressive though,” they answered, then floated on ahead with Frisk following along behind.

“Nah, I think it looks pretty neat if you ask me, can’t say I’ve ever seen a house like it above ground,”

As they entered, they would never admit it, but they were slightly disappointed to find that the house was smaller on the inside and only consisted of a fridge, an old TV, and maybe an even older computer, three music players, and a pair of thick black headphones.

But despite there not being much, it wasn’t horrible, at least the ghost had a place to call home at all, and as they thought about it, actually found that it was surprisingly cozy and warm.

“This is nice…,” Frisk complimented carefully “but…don’t you have a bedroom?”

“...oh…i do, it’s just…above.. on the third floor…which i guess you can’t get to, can you? i don’t have any stairs, i’m sorry,”

Frisk looked up at the ceiling in surprised awe “no stairs…?” and then they fully realized  “oh! Wow, I see now! That’s actually really amazing and thoughtful building planning, a house just for a ghost,” 

T-Drop smiled, looking flattered, they then hesitated for a second, looking as if they had something to say, but weren’t sure of it.

“What’s wrong?” Frisk asked.

“...i… uh…yesterday something……big… happened…,” they finally spoke up.

Frisk smiled tiredly “I can relate big time with that, so, what happened with you? Other than, y’know, meeting me?”

“...it’s just…I’m not sure if i should say…i’m afraid the god will find out somehow…,” they said, looking rather anxious.

“Don’t worry, you can trust me to keep a secret,” Frisk said, giving their heart a stern pat, “…and, if he does somehow ending up finding out anyway, I can promise you that he won’t hurt you, you’re safe,”

T-Drop raised their brows at that, the uncertainty on their expression easing up.

“...well…i…I don’t know how to say this…but..i… remembered my real name yesterday, it’s napstablook,”

Frisk’s mouth gaped open in a excited surprise, “oh my goodness! That’s amazing, that’s also actually a really cool name, did you happen to remember anything else?”

Napstablook’s smile twisted, as if they were unsure how to feel, “no, just my name and my nickname, you can call me blooky… if you want,”

“Mm, I like Blooky, it fits,” Frisk said, “hopefully you’ll remember more as time goes on,”

Blooky smiled sadly “...hopefully,”

Frisk remembered the name on the sign, they guessed Napstablook, or at least their family owned the land.

They wondered if their freedom had anything to do with their memory renewal…

They then realized something…

“Do you think Asriel ever knew your real name?” Frisk asked.

“...i don’t know… why would he keep that a secret from me? i always had a feeling that we never met until he became a god,”

Frisk tapped their fingers on their chin thoughtfully “…hm…it really does seem like he has a hundred and more secrets wrapped up inside of him, but I got to admit.. I’m a little scared of what I’ll find.”

“i think i know what you mean…  maybe we could listen to music? it… always makes me feel a little better…,” Blooky suggested.

“Me too, speaking of which… didn’t you say something about making your own stuff? I’m really curious to hear what you made,” Frisk asked curiously, giving them a hopeful smile.

Blooky was again hesitant to speak, their emotional wide eyes gazing at Frisk in pleasant astonishment.

Frisk smiled gently “Blooky? Are you okay?”

At that, tears began falling, “…oh…i’m fine… i’ve…just never been asked that before…,”

A pang pulled at Frisk’s chest and they sniffled, blinking as they felt their own tears, they raised their arms, “is it alright if I hug you?”

More tears fell from Blooky’s eyes with ease like raindrops, “i… don’t know if you can…you might go right through me…,”

“We’ll make it work,” Frisk promised, and with that, stepped forward and carefully wrapped their arms around their friend, whom they couldn’t quite feel physically, but there was a definitive sharp cold spot that Blooky emanated, Frisk closed their eyes and focused on that coldness.

Together, they both shared a good cry, Frisk fully realizing just how immensely lonely and miserable it must have been for Blooky and Asriel to be all alone in the mountain, and how the two dealt with it in their own ways.

“You don’t have to be by yourself anymore,” Frisk said to Blooky between sniffles.

“thank you,”

After a little while longer and a few more tears, the friends pulled apart.

“So, what do you have to show me?” Frisk asked, giving Blooky a strong smile.

Blooky chuckled quietly and turned their attention to the three music players, “…see for yourself,”

Frisk went over to one and started it up, ultimately pleased with the spooky tunes, talking to Blooky for their thoughts and opinions about each song, together they listened to the music, simply chilling out.

After thirty minutes, Blooky spoke up.

“are you hungry?” they asked.

“No thanks, I ate earlier, well, I…didn’t get to eat all of it, but it was pretty good,” Frisk answered.

“...oh…after a great meal, i like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage…,” Blooky began, “do you want… to join me…?”

Frisk smiled curiously, holding back a chuckle, “sure,”

“okay… follow my lead,” they said, then hovered to the middle of the floor, and laid flat down on their back.

On the opposite side, Frisk did just as they did, glad to lay back after a long day.

“here we go…,”

Frisk drew in a long and slow breath. . .

 Closed their eyes…

 And steadily let it all out.. .  .effectively calming themselves . . .

They began to think of peaceful thoughts, but, without their permission or even noticing, their brain decided it seemed like it was an appropriate time to temporarily shut down. . .

. . .

At some point, Frisk was stirred half awake as they felt someone touch their shoulder.

“Mm..,” they murmured.

“Wake up Frisk, it’s nine PM, you fell asleep because this wet blanket didn’t think to wake you up,” they heard Asriel say, sounding quite annoyed.

Nine PM? Oof…

At that, Frisk cracked open their eyes, looking to see Asriel crouched down next to them, his red piercing eyes watching them closely.

“sorry frisk, i didn’t want to bother you… ,” they heard Blooky say.

At that, Asriel grew annoyed… and did something that made Frisk jerk back in shock- he turned his head around 180 degrees to look directly at Blooky, showing more proof that his body was likely not connected by joints or maybe even bones . . . what was inside of him?

“Do you not think you are bothering them now? How about you do something smart for a change and go be a nuisance somewhere else?” he hissed.

Forgetting their surprise, Frisk sat up, reached in and poked at Asriel’s temple, “hey, be nice! That’s my friend you’re talking to!”

Asriel righted his head back around to give Frisk a perplexed stare, “did you just touch my head?”

At that remark, Frisk unconsciously hid their hand, “…….maybe? Why?”

He paused… opening his mouth to say something, but closed it for a moment, apparently changing his mind.

“...Never mind…forget it,” he said then got up, lending Frisk a hand to help them up, “let’s go home, I’m certain you’d prefer to sleep on a proper bed rather than a creaky dusty floor,”

“Aw, it wasn’t that bad,” Frisk said, taking Asriel’s hand and getting back to their feet, they then walked over to Blooky, “it was really nice talking to you today, sorry for passing out,”

“...it’s... okay…i thought it was nice too… the talk, i mean,” Blooky replied shyly.

Frisk gave them a warm smile and leaned in to give them one last hug, hoping that Asriel was watching, feeling that he could use a good example of how to treat a person.

“Let’s hang out again soon, okay?” Frisk said.

“...okay…that sounds good,”

With that, Frisk finished their goodbyes and stepped out the door, with Asriel immediately following in suit as he warped nearby.

“It was nice of you to come and check up on me,” Frisk said, pulling their hood down and running their fingers through their now dry hair, finding a couple of small tangles.

“It means nothing, I was just perplexed why you would bother spending so much time with someone so dull,” Asriel said, floating over.

Frisk shook their head in displeasure, “they’re not dull at all, they’re really sweet, funny, and they make really cool music, and even have an instrument collection! I think they’re amazing,”

Asriel let out a cranky sigh, not bothering to say anything more on the matter, following alongside Frisk as they began walking back to the boat.

“Do you have any musical talents?” Frisk asked.

“Why do you want to know? It’s not like I would ever play anything for you,”

“I’m just curious, besides, I’m pretty sure you’re not going knit me a scarf, but you told me you do that sort of thing anyway,” Frisk responded with a shrug.

“Yes, but I told you that of my own volition,”

Frisk chuckled quietly, “alright, I’ll just wait until you feel like telling me then,”

Nothing much was said after that, skipping Hotland once again on their way back to the Palace.

As soon as Frisk their new home, they made a beeline to the kitchen, find themselves hungry from the walk, it was time for dinner.

They noticed this time around as the God watched, his curious gaze following them back and forth as they pulled out a bowl of leftover chicken coconut soup, getting it ready to pop into the microwave, it was from their favorite Thai restaurant that wasn’t too far from their old apartment.

“Ah, yes, that’s very good,” they heard Asriel mumbled.

Frisk looked over their shoulder at him, giving him a cheeky smile “you like tom kha gai too?”

He looked away, looking slightly embarrassed, “yes, I actually do…,”

Frisk then paused, then glared suspiciously “you haven’t been stealing food from Mrs. Sensit, have you?”

Asriel rolled his eyes “only once, after that I started making my own recipe…I can find fresher ingredients anyway,”

“Hm, maybe after our punishments are over, maybe you can make some for me, I’d like a test taste,” they said, pressing a few buttons on the microwave and leaning against the counter.

“So, what do have planned for me tomorrow?” they dared ask.

Asriel smirked, “other than more gardening, I’d rather not spoil the surprise,”

Frisk let out an amused yet tired sigh, “of course, I don’t why I bother to keep asking you stuff like that,” they then thought of Blooky, “by the way, I hope you don’t mind if T-Drop visits every now and then, do you? I told them they could visit,”

Asriel’s smirk withered, “I do mind actually, I’d rather not spend my time with that pathetic crybaby any more than I have to,”

Frisk pouted, “that’s a shame,” they then turned back to the microwave, pressing the clear button before it finished its countdown, “guess I’ll have to hang out with them without you then,”

“Hmph… it’s nearly ten… perhaps I should go,” he grumbled.

Frisk turned back around, feeling slightly disappointed “oh, you don’t have to leave just yet, I’ve got to admit, as rude as you are, I kind of like talking to you,”

Asriel didn’t meet their gaze “seems like you enjoy talking to the ghost more,”

Frisk fake gasped, deciding to tease him “whoa… Mr. Hyperdeath, are you…… jealous?”

Asriel scoffed, then laughed, “me? Jealous? That has got to be THE most ridiculous things I have ever been accused of!”

Frisk let out a giggle “alright, alright, never mind, you’re right anyway, you’ve got no reason to be jealous, T-Drop may be more reasonable and sweeter than you, but I can’t deny that you have something that I feel they don’t,”

The God cocked his head curiously, “…and that would be…?”

Frisk smiled slyly, “why do you want to know?” they answered, echoing Asriel’s words from earlier.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes, “never mind all of this nonsense, I will see you at five AM sharp, goodnight.” he said, and with that, warped away.

The answer Frisk was hiding was ‘sex appeal’, sure Blooky was attractive in their own way, but to Frisk, if Asriel had claimed he was Himeros, ‘god of sexual desire and unrequited love’, they would have believed him through and through.

They winced at their thoughts, forcibly pushing them away.

They turned back to their soup, got it ready, and delivered it to their room, and… as they settled down, they remembered the collection of movies that they had stacked away, getting back up to pick a particular romance comedy out, sticking the disc into their laptop, very pleased with themselves as it began playing, happy that they remembered this loophole in the God’s punishment.

After the dinner, movie, and a quick hot shower, Frisk pulled on an old shirt and new underwear, slid back into their bed and dropped right off to sleep with ease…

At some point during the night, they heard their door click open…and then slowly and quietly… close.

They could tell someone was in there with them, they tried to get a good look at the intruder, but it was too dark, the room pitch black.

But then they focused harder…

 And saw it, glowing piercing red eyes…locked right onto them.

For a moment, he didn’t move and neither did Frisk, they didn’t know what to do, the anticipation building up inside their chest, hardly any room for their breath.

Their heart nearly stopped as he floated over closer to their bed, watching on edge as he got closer and closer, until he decided to sit on the edge of the bed right next to them.

They stared breathlessly as he lifted his hand and caressed their cheek, his claws carefully brushing back their hair behind their ear.

His hand, smooth and surprisingly warm, lingered there for a moment until, slowly… it lowered, until it carefully and gently grasped the entirety of their neck, they knew he could feel their racing heartbeat through their veins…

Why weren’t they scared…?

They should have been scared. . .

Instead… their heart.. fluttered inside of their chest as he leaned his head in, brushing his soft cheek against theirs, pushing his muzzle into the nook of their neck, proceeding closer and closer until his mouth pressed against their ear.

A memory washed up onto the shores of their mind… remembering what they told him about their sensitive ears, causing their heart to flutter harder until it nearly got caught in their throat at the realization of what he might have been trying to accomplish right now…

“Play with me all you want, but don’t you ever forget Frisk… you’re.. mine…,” he uttered lowly, his husky voice reverberating into their body, sending the familiar pleasant shiver down their spine, catching their breath in their throat and tightening their legs together, feeling almost paralyzed underneath him.

He then slowly removed his hand from their throat, gliding his claws up across their cheek, and ran his fingers through their bangs and hair, affectionately petting them for a moment as he continued to rest his face into their neck.

The action quickly became less sexual and more tender…and possibly even sweet as he stayed there.

Hesitantly, Frisk blindly reached up to touch him back, hold him if they could.

But as soon as their fingers touched down on to his arm, he flinched and warped away.

Frisk sat up, startled, quickly switching on their nearby lamp, finding themselves completely alone in their room at three forty in the morning, catching their breath.

Had… had that been a dream…?

It had felt so real…

As their breathing slowed down, cautiously, they laid back into their bed, staring blankly at the lamp as they ran their fingers through their bangs just as he had… their body still affected by what had just happened… real or not, it had affected them, they certainly couldn’t deny that.

They then remembered everything horrible that Asriel had done, and pulled their fingers from their hair and rolled over onto their side, frustrated and angry with themselves.

It was crystal clear now, that they were beginning to feel something for Asriel, they couldn’t deny the stirrings in their heart.

Deep down when they first saw him, they knew it was inevitable that they were going to end up liking him no matter what he did, and it was truly and absolutely, no fair.

They were never going to get him out of their head, were they?

Chapter Text

Inspiration Song:  Can't Get You Out Of My Head by J2 (ft. Sara Phillips)

I just can't get you out of my head
Boy, your lovin' is all I think about
I just can't get you out of my head
Boy, it's more than I dare to think about

Every night, every day
Just to be there in your arms

Won't you stay?
Won't you lay?
Stay forever and ever and ever and ever

There's a dark secret in me
Don't leave me locked in your heart

Set me free
Feel the need in me
Set me free
Stay forever and ever and ever and ever

I just can't get you out of my head
I just can't get you out of my head
I just can't get you out of my head
I just can't get you out of my head

The next morning, waking up was fairly easier, getting up and ready in less than an hour, all because Frisk had a single question for the God of Hyperdeath and they demanded an answer.

But... as they stepped into the living room, and saw him sitting in the chair, staring down at his cell phone with his... red eyes… remembering his piercing stare and the feeling of his lips against their ear, Frisk began losing steam, slowing down as they approached him.

They then jumped as he spoke.

“What are you staring at? Go start breakfast,” he said, not looking up from his phone.

Frisk bit their bottom lip and hurried along past him into the kitchen, opening the fridge door and scooping out a couple of eggs, bacon and cheese, starting up what would end up becoming a breakfast sandwich.

As they worked, they noted Asriel in the background behind them, staying in his bubble this time as he watched the magic of food creation.

But as the minutes passed... the pressure and the steam returned, and as soon as they cut their sandwich into two, they turned around to find that he'd broken free from his bubble and they were now facing him up close.

They felt significantly smaller than usual.

“I have a question, and I want you to answer me honestly,” they blurted out.

Asriel crossed his arms, “whatever it is, the answer is ‘no’,”

“Did you come into my room late last night?” they asked anyway.

He raised a skeptical brow at them “no, it sounds like a dream, I’m certain you know what those are,”

Frisk pursed their lips together tightly, not sure if they believed him- because never had they ever experienced a dream that real before.

His answer was also exactly what they would expect someone to say if they regretted doing such a thing.

“Alright, fine,” Frisk said, grabbing out a jug of cranberry juice and pouring it into a cup, “I was just checking, it's just... I can’t say that… I’ve ever had a dream like it before,”

“Is that so? Well, I wouldn’t worry about it much longer, today I have something planned for you that’ll make you forget all about your weird dream,” he announced.

Frisk eyed him carefully as they brought their food over to the table, they never said anything about it being ‘weird’, they considered pressing on.  .   . decided to put this conversation to rest for now.

The God warped into a seat at the table, his fingers interlocked as he watched them get ready.

“So, what’s for the agenda today? …Or is it staying a surprise until it’s time?” they asked, sitting down.

He tapped his claws on the table thoughtfully, thinking over his answer, “you are going to Hotland, I want to see if you can clear some puzzles I’ve built there,”

At the mention, Frisk couldn't help but recollect over their first meeting.

“You mean the ‘intense, difficult’ puzzles…?” they asked warily.

He grinned deviously, “yes, those kind exactly, I’m glad you remembered,”

They away and took a big bite of their sandwich, chewing slowly, ruminating on how they felt about it and decided… while they weren’t thrilled about the sweltering heat, they liked the idea of solving a big puzzle, they also found themselves fairly excited to finally get to see Hotland.

But a question popped up to the forefront of their mind.

“Will it be dangerous?” they asked.

He rested head under his palm, “it eventually will be, because in my opinion, the best kind of puzzles include adrenaline, but you have truly nothing to worry about, it’s not like I’m going to let you die or anything obtuse like that,”

Frisk took a long sip of their juice and took another big bite before speaking again...

“What if I decide I don’t like these puzzles?” they asked, frowning.

He shrugged “then I will simply find other tasks for you, but I wouldn’t be so quick to judge, I have a feeling you’ll come to enjoy what I have in store for you,”

Frisk let out a small sigh, “sounds like I should start getting back into exercising again,” and with that, finished up the rest of their breakfast.

After cleaning up, they went back to their room to redress for Hotland (shorts and a tank top seemed ideal), their family returned to their mind, what was this… the third day? They wondered if their aunt had called them any… they really did have to find some way to contact her… perhaps they could beg Asriel to take them to the surface for a moment to make a phone call. . .

No… they were sure at this point he would never allow something like that, perhaps they’d just have to settle for waiting for him to turn the internet back on.

Soon, before they knew it, the two of them made their way to the throne room and Frisk began gardening, not having to do too much this time except give the flowers a good watering.

“You have been uncharacteristically quiet this morning, what’s the problem?” they heard Asriel ask from his throne.

“There’s… just a lot of things on my mind, so many things that have happened to me in the past few days, I guess it’s just starting to settle now,” they admitted.

“Mm, understandable... let it settle then,” he replied, “…do you need anything?”

Frisk turned to look over at him curiously, ‘the truth about last night’ ‘a call to their aunt’ ‘a hug’ ‘the internet’ ‘to not be gardening’ ‘for him to apologize to Blooky’ ‘more sleep’ they thought all at once, but dismissed it all.

“I guess you can give me some water,” they said instead.

With that, a water bottle appeared in his hand and the hand itself detached from his body and hovered over to Frisk, to which they took.

“Thank you,” they said quietly and began sipping at it as they finished with the garden.

After that, they made their way down the elevator and to the boat, across the river and their walk through Snowdin, not talking much, Frisk soon realizing that they found comfort in the silence as they traveled together.

As Frisk zipped up their jacket, and absent-mindedly rubbed at their cold bare legs, they thought of a new question.

“So, when are you going to start letting me walk alone?” they asked.

“Hm, depends, do you think you’ve gotten all of this memorized yet?”

They grinned shyly up at him, “not completely, but I’m close, it all seems to be a straightforward path once I start thinking about it,” they then shoved their hands into their pockets “don’t get me wrong, I like walking with you, I was just asking because you’ve made it seem like you wanted me to walk by myself,”

Asriel nodded “that was true, but I’ve found that I’ve changed my mind on the situation, it’s not like I have anything better to do anyway,”

Frisk grinned a little wider, pleased with the answer.

Soon enough, they were back in the Ruins, and the further they got, the more Frisk thought about their family, their already wavering mood taking a turn for the worse.

“Hmph, what’s the problem now?” they heard Asriel ask.

“Nothing,” Frisk answered with a sigh.

They were forcibly halted as Asriel floated in front of them, “it seems like it isn’t, I demand you tell me what is bothering you, this instant,”

Frisk crossed their arms “it doesn’t matter, you’re just going to say no like you always do,"

He mimicked, crossing his arms back at them “try me,”

“Well…as you know, I want to make a call to my aunt, and I was kind of thinking… that maybe after I finish watering the flowers, you could fly me back outside through the hole for a second so I can tell her a cover-up story? I really don’t want her freaking out over me,” they asked.

 Asriel gaze turned thoughtful, “hm… yes… now that I think about it, the last thing we need is a missing person’s report out for you,”

Frisk’s eyebrows shot up in surprise “so…you’ll let me talk to her?”

He nodded, smirking “yes, why not,”

Frisk grinned brightly, holding their hand up to him “yeah! Thanks so much Asriel! Hive five!”

To their further surprise, he complied, raising his hand back to high-five them, but just as they were about to touch, he swished his hand away, making them miss on purpose.

“Too slow,” he teased, snickering at how Frisk gaped.

Frisk pretended to be annoyed, distracting Asriel just enough to grab his wrist and hastily clap their hand to his large one, getting their high five anyway.

He scoffed in amusement, eyeing his hand momentarily before they moved on.

“Speaking of ‘talking’…,” he spoke up, “am I to assume you want to make a visit to the ghost again today?”

Frisk looked up at him, gazing carefully, “I don’t know, you were kind of weird about it yesterday, maybe I’ll save it for tomorrow or later,”

He rolled his eyes, “you wouldn’t know what ‘weird’ was if it ripped your entire face off,” he then clicked his tongue, “but I digress, you have made a good choice,”

Frisk looked away, running a hand their hand through their bangs, feeling unsure “I hope so,”

Once they entered the burial room, Asriel quieted down again, as they suspected he would… they began to further wonder if he knew who the person who died was, but didn’t seem like the proper time to ask something that personal yet, nor was it the right mood.

As they began thinking about the call, they found themselves working harder, finishing up faster than they had yesterday…

Leaning over, watering the last section of flowers, Frisk suddenly felt him grab their torso from behind, surprising them, and as if like a trigger, they automatically straightened up, finding themselves pressing their back against him- just almost grinding against him in the process.

At the free space, his other hand came around to clumsily touch their lower abdomen before moving to their waist, the action causing their heart to jump into their throat.

Frisk let out a small squeak as he pulled them closer.

And at the corner of their eyes, they saw flashes of bright colors, it brightened the room like the sun through rainbow-stained glass- it was his great wings coming to fruition once again.

Instinctively they grabbed at his robed arms tightly for support, gasping in amazement as he began to lift off from the ground and shoot upward to the hole high into the ceiling of the mountain

Higher and higher they flew with great speed, leaving Frisk breathless as they finally shot out of Mt. Ebott and into the great blue sky, the combination of fresh air, lack of ground, limiting altitude, and Asriel’s touch leaving them increasingly dizzy and dazzled.

For a moment, it felt like they could almost see the whole world as they got an excellent and never-before view of their hometown, gazing at the countless buildings, trees, and houses, and the mysterious horizon beyond.

Frisk laughed as Asriel dared to fly even higher, doing an elegant twirl as he zoomed back down to the ground.

As soon they returned and he let go, Frisk sat on the grass and collapsed, giggling breathlessly.

Above, Asriel gazed down at them, smiling smugly, letting out a pleased hum.

“Oh man, my heart is beating so fast, that was so much fun…,” Frisk commented, touching their hand to their chest, feeling how it drummed away inside them.

They watched as he lowered himself down next to them, sitting down but still floating so he wasn’t touching the grass.

They grinned at him, “it was better than a roller coaster, I wanna do that more often,”

Frisk wondered what else amazing thing he had hidden under his long ragged sleeves, looking away shyly as their thoughts wandered south, thinking about how he had grabbed them… he was definitely a roller coaster they would want to try to ride…

They were then snapped out of it as Asriel very loudly cleared his throat.

“Don’t you have something important to do?” he asked, looking away from them, making it impossible to read him.

Frisk sat up with a start, “I have to call my aunt!” they exclaimed, embarrassed that they had nearly forgotten, then paused, staring at nothing in further embarrassment as they realized that their regular phone was all the way back in their room.

They then jerked back in surprise as they saw their original phone right in front of them in Asriel’s hand.

“I figured you wouldn’t have it on you,” he said, eyeing them.

They smiled at him politely, “thank you,” they said and took the phone and turning it on, they then eyed him back carefully “can you read my mind?”

“No… but I have the ability, which…I don’t exercise anyway, I find it stressful and headache-inducing to hear both mine and another person’s thoughts in my head,” he explained.

Frisk nodded slowly, taking the new information in, they were impressed but not completely as surprised this time, by now something like ‘reading minds’ only made sense for Asriel.

 They stared down at their phone with bated breath as it went through the process of booting up.

“That makes sense, it would probably stress me out too,”

They then let out a sigh of relief as they saw that no one had called them, just a few random texts from their friends and their cousin, none of them alarming.

Frisk found themselves clearing their throat as they waited for their aunt to pick up.

“Hello?”

“Auntie Ligaya! How is everything?”

“Everything is going great, the Goats just won the big game and I just got home from the celebration,”

“Heck yeah! That’s awesome news! I’ve… got some awesome news myself, but…I’m not sure how you’ll feel about it, are you sitting down?”

“...Oh my god…you’re pregnant, aren’t you?”

Frisk laughed sharply, “nO aUNTIe! I’m definitely not pregnant, you know I’m not dating anyone right now!”

“Mm, mmm… mmm… oh! You got a new, better paying job?”

Frisk clicked their tongue, eyeing Asriel over their shoulder, “not exactly,” they then let out a small sigh, “I finally decided to go cross country traveling like I always talked about,”

There was a sharp gasp from their aunt “oohhh, Frisk, are you sure you can handle it? Do you have enough money?”

“I’m fine, there were some bumps in the road, both…literally and figuratively, heh, but um… so far everything is going okay, I have it all under control,”

“I see… well, don’t forget to keep doing the little things, like taking care of yourself and having a proper meal,”

“I will, I promise,”

“Have you told Andres yet?”

Frisk chuckled shyly “I was…kind of hoping you would tell him for me?”

“Frisk.”

“Okay, fine, fine, I’ll call him,”

The two talked a little longer, before finally hanging up.

Frisk then dialed for their cousin, letting out a sigh when no one picked up, so they left a message instead.

“Hey Andres, it’s you know who, I was just calling to tell you that I finally decided to go on my big trip, I just told auntie Ligaya everything, so she can tell you all the deets, anyway, love ya, talk to you later,” they said, and promptly hung up, letting out another but more weary sigh as they stared hard at their phone.

They then looked over at Asriel, who was now lazily laying on his back, his eyes closed, they couldn’t help but wonder if he was asleep… they glanced down at his chest, it just barely moved from breaths he very likely didn’t need.

Memories from earlier flashed in their mind and they remembered how it felt to be so close to him, wondering what it would be like to hold him… to rest against him, would he be bony? Or would he be soft? Either way, they knew they wouldn’t mind.

They couldn’t help but imagine cuddling next to him and-

“Finished?” he suddenly spoke- eyes still closed, making Frisk jump, he was getting really good at this!

“Uh, yeah, but… you look really comfy there, so… we could sit out here a little longer…if you want?” they asked sincerely, they honestly didn’t want to bother him if he was settled, they also weren’t so sure they were in the mood to go back into the mountain and see those puzzles or Hotland just yet.

“Mm, it’s a nice thought, the sunlight feels pleasant,” he began, but opened his eyes to gaze at Frisk, “but we have things to do,”

Frisk chuckled shyly, “I was a little afraid you’d say that,”

They then watched as he rose up from his spot, but was surprised when he grabbed onto their hand, pulling them up and yanking close to him, his arm snaking around them and his hand finding their waist-

once they saw his mischievous smile they realized in that instant what he was doing and was about to do, but had no time to protest as he dared to jump into the hole, the world around them changing in seconds.

Again they felt their heart drum away hard inside their chest as they slowly fell with Asriel, feeling practically weightless- but secure thanks to the large hands around their waist and his ability to levitate.

Frisk didn’t laugh this time around, instead, they focused on remembering to breathe as they stared at the impossible blue sky that grew farther and farther away, in silent awe this time.

They then felt a lump in their throat as they noticed how intensely Asriel was watching them.

But to their surprise, he didn’t look away once they caught his stare.

“What is it?” they dared ask.

His lips curled into a frown and that was he decided to look away, “it’s nothing, I’m just thinking,”

They continued to watch him, “are you thinking about last night?” they pressed on with a trick question, curious to how he would answer.

“Mm,” was, unfortunately, the only response they got from him.

Frisk let out a thoughtful hum, nodding, pretending that they understood.

“Yes, what an interesting opinion, that was a very good conversation sir, yes, quite,” they joked in a very bad British accent, nonchalantly reaching up and patting his shoulder.

A pensive expression crossed his face as he looked down at their hand, and then back over to them.

“You know Asriel… don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re a very mysterious person,” Frisk commented.

A hint of a smile appeared on his mug, “funny, I share the same sentiment about you,”

Frisk was fairly shocked by that, “wha-? really? How? You’ve watched me for practically ever, how do you find me, of all people ‘mysterious’?”

“I will tell you how, because every time I think I have you pegged down, you turn around and do something I don’t expect…,” he explained “hmph…it’s probably a good thing you don’t know how to play chess, I would get a headache,”

It was then they finally touched the ground, this seemed to surprise Asriel as his toes accidentally touched down against a few flowers, making him jerk back in alarm an inch to levitate again.

. . .

An hour and a half later, Frisk trekked the second level of Hotland with Asriel flying high above them, watching as they were currently solving a puzzle.

They had long since admired the view of the new area and gawked at the red and golden lava, a towering maze of pipes, cycling cogs, smoking buildings, and mysterious spires.

Currently, they were focusing with great intensity on not how to fall into the lava pits below as strong bursts of steam blew them into different directions into the air, blowing Frisk to different pillars until they finally found the exit. . . or the next part of Asriel’s dangerous puzzle.

At the beginning (roughly10 minutes earlier) it had been terrifying as they realized how easy it would be to go the wrong way and fall into the lava, but as they reminded themselves that Asriel would not let them die and they continued not failing, they no choice but to admit how much fun they were having… the amount of adrenaline they were dealing with was probably going to exhaust them later, but that was later and this was now.

As they continued down the pathway, they hear Asriel call down to them “need any water?”

“No, I’m good!” they called back.

“Too bad, because I’ve just decided this puzzle has gotten too easy for you!” he retorted, and with that, began spraying down a flood of ice water from a rip in the fabric of space.

“What?! -OH!!" they shrieked as the water tagged the right side of their body "YOU JERK!"

The God laughed in amusement, “just solve the puzzle and it’ll all be over Frisky! GOOOooo~!”

Frisk grit their teeth in discomfort as they pushed on, noticing that the water on the floating platform was now somewhat slippery under their boots, but they didn’t give it much thought as they jumped to the next steam current, allowing it to blow them to the next piece of ground.

And even if it distracted them and made them slip a little, the cold water actually helped them stay cool from the blazing hot temperatures and steam.

A few minutes later…

Just as when Frisk was starting to get the hang of things once again, they had not dodged Asriel fast enough and were now sopping with water, struggling to see as they wiped their long bangs from their view, still, they were so close to finishing the puzzle... so, they pressed on vigilantly, the rush of it all encouraging them.

“Be careful moron!" he heard Asriel call.

“Then please quit pouring water on my face!"  Frisk complained.

“And take the fun out of seeing you struggle? I THINK NOT!"

Frisk let out an irritated sigh, biting their lip and managing to get a proper view of where they wanted to go through their wet bangs, and wasting no more time, they began running toward the edge.

But their boots skidded over the water and they immediately lost control of their footing

and slipped off...

…It happened all too fast as they fell from the floating platform in the wrong direction, missing the vent altogether.

They were menacingly greeted by the new view of nothing but a pool of red hot lava, the heat becoming increasingly unbearable, and immediately sweating.

In their horror and panic, their body dosed up another increase of adrenaline, and the world began to slow down. . .

Doing the only thing they could to help, Frisk turned away from their doom and toward the sky for Asriel and his beautiful wings.

They saw the fear and panic in his eyes as he dived after them, but at the moment, they couldn't process why this frightened them.

They held out their hand for him to grab, their heart soaring high and above when he grabbed onto it tightly.

But…

Frisk’s breath was suddenly ripped and stolen away from them as they felt an indescribable burning pain in their other arm.

They didn’t have to look back to know what was happening to them, their world turning into a living hell, their vision fading fast from the agony, a scream filling their lungs as the lava consumed their arm and threatened to destroy the rest of their body with it.

And suddenly- and without warning, as if someone else had turned off a switch, their pain and the world around them was… gone.

..There was nothing….

..They found themselves in a black void, they felt nothing, the entirety of their body numb…

It was then they heard a little boy’s voice speak up “remember what I said Frisk, don’t kill and don’t be killed, don’t. .. don’t be like me,”

And, again, without warning, the switch was turned back on.

Frisk was back outside, their recently used phone in their hands, sitting on the grassy mountain top, Asriel lying next to them, the sun shining pleasantly down on the both of them.

They blinked, confused for a few seconds, they raised their right arm and stared at it, wildly perplexed, they were so sure it had just been brutally burnt to nothing just a few seconds ago…

But it was here again and they felt absolutely fine, not a lava burn in sight.

They remembered the God’s time-traveling powers, quickly piecing together what just happened, still, they had questions.

“Did…I just die?” they asked.

“You were about to, but I took us back before you could,” he hummed, opening his eyes to gaze at the sky “but…death by lava, it truly is a horrifying way to go.”

Frisk let out a weak sigh, “I never felt anything like it before…and… it feels like I’m waking up from a nightmare, one that felt way too real,”

He switched his gaze to Frisk, and slowly… he brought a hand up and touched his hand to their back and gave it a few pats.

Frisk smiled gently as they realized he was making an attempt to comfort them, they didn’t hold it against him that he couldn’t catch them in time, at the moment, Frisk only felt relief.

“I am guessing you would like to go rest now, right?” Asriel asked.

Frisk paused at the question, “…I guess..but..,”

“‘But’?” Asriel echoed, a hint of a smirk on his mug.

“I was so close to finishing the puzzle! If there hadn’t been water involved, I would have gotten it solved!” they explained, their eagerness and frustration returning to them.

Asriel sat up, “yes, it seems I had gotten over-excited and misjudged your skills, how do you feel about lasers instead?”

Frisk winced “isn’t that worse?”

“Maybe, but it won’t be as messy, you can’t slip on a laser,”

“And, just a thought, you may need to do something about…this,” he said as he reached out, momentarily running his clawed fingers through their bangs, the action making Frisk’s body stiffen up as they were viscerally reminded of the dream.

“...Ah… yeah, maybe…,” they said, clearing their throat as they noticed how small they sounded, “I’ll wear a hair clip,”

“Perhaps one like this?” he suggested, holding a familiar barrette clip in his fingers that was adorned with a brilliant red heart charm.

Frisk’s eyes glittered at the barrette, it was one of their favorite things that they owned, they didn't remember where they had gotten it from, but for as long as they could remember- they always had it and they had a strong feeling that it was important.

They smiled at the offer, but began to rethink it “thank you Asriel, but… this is pretty precious to me, I don’t want to risk losing it or damaging it, I think I’ll just wear a regular clip for the puzzles, if that’s okay,”

The God let out a quiet chuckle at that, “very well,” he said, waving the clip away and summoning a bright blue barrette clip in its place.

He began to reach up as if he were about to place into their hair himself, but stopped and handed them the clip instead.

Frisk smiled at him sweetly, taking the clip, and blindly applied it to their bangs.

The God rolled his eyes, “it’s completely crooked,”

Frisk shrugged, “as long as it keeps me from falling to my doom, I don’t mind looking a little silly,”

He scrunched up his expression, raising his hands back to fuss with Frisk’s hair, “yes, while that’s fine with you, it’ll only distract me,”

Frisk couldn’t stop themselves from smiling coyly, their mouth speaking faster than they could think.

 “I wonder if pouring icy water on me was distracting, I am wearing a pretty thin tank top after all…,”

At that, Asriel paused his moments to stare intensely at them with heavy thoughts, his sharp pupils growing large.

Then, without warning, he turned away and shoved his arm into Universe Pocket, searching and struggling for a few seconds before pulling out the famous duct tape.

“I’ve had enough of that filthy mouth of yours,” he said and harshly ripped off a piece with his fangs.

Frisk let out a laugh, “oooh~ you are? Then you’ll be exhausted when you hear what else it can do!” they quipped brazenly, fortunately managing to getting a joke in right before Asriel silenced them, patting the tape down for good measure.

They continued giggling- mainly at Asriel’s tight embarrassed expression, allowing themselves to give in to their emotions for the moment being, they deserved it, they just had their arm burned off not too long ago earlier in a different timeline.

But their giggling was quickly halted as Asriel picked them up and threw them over his shoulder and jumped down into the hole of Mt. Ebott.

…

It wasn’t until halfway back to Hotland that he finally put them back down.

He had been silent until that moment, as Frisk got a better look at their captor, they saw he was frowning tightly, a heavy look in his eyes.

“Listen Frisk, I’m not sure what you must think of me by now, but I need to make something clear to you,”

“Mm?” they answered softly, the tape still keeping their mouth shut.

He let out a quiet sigh at that and snapped his fingers, sending the thin device to a nearby trashcan.

“You getting burned by the lava was an honest accident on my part,” he pressed on, resting a hand on their shoulder “I know what I’ve said before, but I was not in a clear state of mind at the time, and I can assure you nothing like that will be happening ever again, there will be no more accidents.” he admitted.

Frisk nodding firmly, looking down to the ground, remembering their conversation.

“...Have you been burned like I have before?” they asked in a soft quiet voice.

He dropped his hand from their shoulder, “…yes, and I am not completely immune to it in this body either, I know the pain you felt,”

“No wonder you fly so far away from it,” Frisk thought out loud, eyeing his free hand thoughtfully, trying their best to keep a hold of their heart “I’m sure all that fur doesn’t help either,”

Then on a whim, they then kicked a nearby pebble, momentarily distracting him, reaching over and holding his hand, butterflies swarming inside their belly.

It took him a few seconds to notice, blinking a few times in confusion before he flicked an intense stare down at their hands.

 Frisk refused to let go.

Their size difference was never more evident in this moment as Asriel brought their conjoined hands up, revealing that Frisk had been only able to get a good grip on just three long thin fingers.

Then, Frisk saw it, a familiar soft glint in the God’s ever-serious eyes… the hint of something hiding behind his guard.

But then, as fast as it came, the moment disappeared as he winced and yanked his hands away from them.

An old ember burst into a flame inside Frisk at his brash action.

“I’m not playing with you Asriel!” they blurted out.

His eyes went wide at the remark, backing up slightly, “what? Why did- what are you talking about?”

Frisk bit their bottom lip with some regret, but they couldn’t hide that they still ached to know the truth about what had happened in the night, if it had been a dream or not.

They also couldn't hide their feelings well, they never had a reason to keep them secret, they had no practice and it was showing. 

“I’m sorry, I know that was... weird… it’s…it’s what you said to me last night in my dream, you said I was 'playing with you’ - but I’m not, I just wanted you to know that everything I do…I do it genuinely, and I promise I’m not here to mess with your heart like you mess with mine!” they admitted.

The God stood up sharply, his hands now balled up into fists.

“Do you really think that’s what I’m trying to do?” he asked, his tone direct and uncomfortably serious.

Frisk was silent for a second, swallowing a lump in their throat, “I- I really don’t know what you’re trying to do, you confuse me, but I do know you’re alone and bored and you haven’t had a real relationship in a very long time, you can go back in time and start over, get whatever you want and rip holes in the universe…I can understand if the world must seem like some kind of game to you by now,”

They then dared to smile, “but, you know what? Despite everything, I still stand by what I said before, I want to be your friend, because I genuinely really like you,”

Asriel looked away and shook his head, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

He then let out a low growl, side-eyeing Frisk, “hmph, you know what? I think we’ve had enough time together for today, I’m leaving you early, you can do whatever you want, I’ll be back tomorrow morning, perhaps we will finish the puzzle then,”

“Really? You’re just leaving like that?” they asked, unable to avoid their disappointment.

“Yeah, just like that.” he replied firmly, and with that, he was gone.

Frisk let out a heavy sigh, now feeling completely deflated, deciding to turn around, they were going to go visit Blooky, maybe they’d help them through this.

On their way there, they couldn’t help but wonder if they made a mistake by being so forward, growing up, they had dealt with all sorts of relationships, both platonic and romantic… but they’d never met anyone quite as reserved or secretive as Asriel.

Despite the violence and everything else, they almost thought things were starting to go really well too…but after what had just happened, they weren’t sure what kind of steps to take to become closer to him anymore.

Maybe it was probably for the best to get some space between the both of them.

Yeah, talking to their new ghost friend was likely just the thing they needed now.

Unfortunately, when they reached Blooky’s house, they found a note stuck to the door.

‘sorry….  went out exploring, bbl’

Once again, Frisk let out another heavy sigh, resting their forehead on the door in further disappointment.

They stayed that way for a moment as they thought things over… beginning to feel the emotional highs, lows, stress, and wild impact of their day…

Perhaps all they needed was a good meal and some rest? It wasn’t like they were getting enough sleep lately anyway.

Giving in to the gripping allure of self-care, they patted at the door and slowly began their trek back to the Palace, taking their time to gaze at the scenery, hoping to spot something that they hadn’t caught before.

…

Once they finally got back to their home, they turned up some funky jazz music, turned it up loud, and dance-shuffled into the kitchen, fishing around their fridge and cooking up a hot meal, arroz caldo- chicken rice porridge, it was always their aunt’s specialty and tasted better than it sounded.

They ate their meal in the calm familiarity of their room as they watched another movie on their laptop, allowing themselves to relax.

After they were finished though, they found that they still felt… anxious…

Once again, their thoughts fell back on what had happened the night before, they sat back on their bed, laying their head against a propped-up pillow, and blindly stared over at the door.

Frisk imagined him creeping into their room at the dead of night just as he had done before, dark, silent, and daunting…

They couldn’t help but wonder where things could have gone if the circumstances between them were different.

Frisk imagined that he wouldn’t have left once they touched him, they would have pulled him into their arms and pressed him closer to them, and hugged him, just like they had wanted to.

They couldn’t help but smile as their imagination took full control, taking Frisk down a much more daring and pleasant path, imagining that he’d kiss their neck, and they’d turn his face to kiss him back on the mouth.

They would taste each other and Frisk would audaciously feel the sharpness of his fangs.

They couldn’t help but wonder what he tasted like…

He really liked sweet foods, so perhaps…chocolate pie? Honey? Cinnamon? They could only dream.

They giggled bashfully as they imagined that he’d probably be a biter, they weren’t quite a fan, but maybe they'd make an exception just for him...

They would then wrap their legs around him, pulling him in even closer to their body, both shivering in delight when his erection underneath his robe would press against the sweet spot hidden behind their underwear.

Frisk’s breathing grew slow and heavy at the thought and their heart skipped a beat, their hands sliding down their breasts and further down until they found themselves beneath their real underwear, gingerly rubbing around their clit, teasing themselves as they imagined he would.

They imagined him chucking warmly in his deep husky voice into their ear, reveling in the tingly feeling it sent down their spine.

They’d then watch as he’d get on his knees above them and lift up his robe, revealing himself to them…

Frisk concentrated for a moment, their fingers pausing as they wondered what his penis might actually look like, or… wait.. did he even have a penis? Or… what if he actually had a vagina? Or maybe not even either of those, he WAS a monster after all…

…Well, whatever he had, he still had other perfectly reliable appendages to work with, so Frisk knew they wouldn’t have minded either way, and they especially wouldn’t care what he had underneath his robe, they’d still have a great time with each other, but for fantasy purposes, they realized that they would have to pick.

They let out a soft sigh, changing their own position and sitting up further as they made a quick choice and slowly slid two fingers into themselves, brushing their clit with their thumb.

As they imagined him ripping off their underwear and penetrating them with ease, their body wet and ready for him, they shivered as they started their own movements, pumping in sync with their imagination, their body was already overtaken with pleasure and their mind hazy with lust, they realized that this was an achievement that wasn’t going to take them long at all.

Which made sense, ever since they met him, they’d been holding a lot of pent-up sexual feelings and boy did it feel fantastic to finally act on them.

It felt like they had been steadily shaken up just like a bottle of soda, ready to burst any second, and now they were finally but slowly in the middle of popping their top, they really hoped this would relieve the pressure for a while.

They closed their eyes, slowly becoming unaware of themselves as they imagined he’d be a dominant lover, rough, and aggressive, sliding his hands underneath their shirt to massage their breasts while he pumped himself into them with escalating reckless abandon, his fangs glinting in the glinting in the dark night as he panted breathlessly, to pause when he heard them moan and hold their hands. 

Something about the passionate image in their mind stunned them and they held on to it, focusing hard on it as they solved themselves, this was just another puzzle and they knew the reward was going to be so good.

And then- !!!

-like that- Frisk’s fantasy quickly dwindled and dissipated into nothing as they finally reached the top of their orgasm, letting out a quick shaky moan as the pleasure swept through their lower body, losing feeling in their feet for a second and falling back on to their bed.

Oh…that was really good… now they were truly relaxed.. .

They stayed that way for a few minutes, recollecting themselves and their mind.

That night, they went to sleep early, earning their well-deserved rest.

…

 That morning, Frisk found themselves feeling chirpy and cheerful, fully ready to take on Asriel’s puzzle and get it over with.

However…

As they exited the bathroom and saw Asriel sitting in his chair in the living room, they finally remembered in great horror of the fact that he was able… to feel their emotions. . .

Frisk stopped cold where they stood, suddenly more nervous than they dared to admit.

Where the heck had their head been last night? It had been far too easy to give in to temptation… he didn’t seem to notice them yet, maybe they could lock themselves in their bedroom and never come out again…

But they resisted the temptation this time, taking a very long and very slow breath, and continued to approach him.

They smiled anxiously as he looked up at them, noticing right away that he didn’t meet their gaze.

“Mm, good morning,” he greeted, peering back down at the book he was holding.

Giving in quickly, Frisk walked further up to him hastily, nearly tripping in the process, gripping at the arm of the chair for support and earning Asriel’s attention as he stared at them with alarm.

“I am so, so, so, so, sooo sorry for yesterday,” they blurted “I completely forgot that you could feel my feelings,”

His expression changed into something unreadable as he looked back down at his book.

“Forget it.” he answered firmly.

“‘Forget it’? Really?- Ah…wait, are we… on the same page? Do.. do yooouuuu know what I…um.. what I actually did?” they asked nervously, practically whispering. 

He lowered his head slightly, “I’m not certain of what exactly you did, but I have a very good guess, and because of that, I’d rather not talk about it, it’s not like I can control what you do in privacy anyway,”

Frisk rubbed their chin, “are you sure you don’t want to talk…? That had to have been pretty intense and-,”

“I SAID- FORGET ABOUT IT, FRISK!” he roared in frustration, glaring at them intensely for a moment before huffing in annoyance and looking back down to his book.. whether he was actually reading it now was very unclear.

Frisk ignored the shiver that ran down their spine, watching him for a few seconds before they went to the kitchen, quietly fixing up an egg and waffle breakfast, noticing that Asriel refused to watch them- sitting at the table instead, still reading his book (?)

Once they finished cooking and got ready to eat, they attempted once more to talk to him about the issue.

“...So, does this mean you don’t mind if I do what I did again? Or should I just hold myself back? Because it… might end up being really hard, but I would resist temptation for your sake,” they admitted with all honesty.

He merely answered them by flicking his scarlet eyes at them for a second before continuing his reading and nonchalantly turning a page, showing that he no longer cared about the issue- or at least was pretending to not care.

Frisk let out a sigh of defeat, “what are you reading?”

He raised the book up to show them the cover, it read 'Fabulae Amor In Astronmia'

They cocked their head to the side, struggling to read the fancy font “is that… Latin?”

“It is,” he confirmed, putting it back down, “eat your breakfast already, we still need to finish the puzzle,”

“What about the flowers?” they asked, not surprised that he knew another language but still impressed anyway.

“We can do that afterward,” he answered.

They gave him an uncertain smile and began eating, not enjoying the stiff and uncomfortable mood this morning, quickly deciding to do something about it.

“Hey, I have a… question, I promise it’s not related to our conversation earlier,”

“What is it?” he answered flatly.

“What crime is the egg most afraid of?”

He merely stared, waiting.

“Poaching!” they chimed, raising their fork of sunny-side-up egg and taking a big bite.

He blinked, cracking a small smile, “was that supposed to be a joke?”

“Of course, do you want to hear more?”

He crossed his arms and leaned back, “produce them,”

“Okay, what do you call alien eggs?”

He raised an eyebrow in question.

“Eggstra-terrestrials!” they chimed, cheerfully grinning at him.

Asriel gave a slight smile, his shoulder bouncing slightly as he silently chuckled.

Frisk laughed in both their accomplishment and at their own joke, also somewhat surprised that Asriel was showing signs of being a fan of dad-jokes.

“What does a meditating egg say?” they began again.

“What do they say?”

Frisk closed their eyes, placing their hands in a meditating pose “ooohhmmleeet~,”

Asriel vocally chuckled, but gave Frisk’s shoulder a small push, “you’re overselling the eggs,”

Frisk waved him off “alright, alright, I’ll give ‘em up,”

They continued eating their breakfast, warmed up by the change in atmosphere.

After a minute, Frisk spoke up again.

“Why didn’t the waffle go to the pancake party?” they questioned nonchalantly.

“I have no clue,” Asriel replied, not looking up from his book.

“He was… a square.” Frisk answered.

There was a moment of silence… until finally the both of them broke into laughter simultaneously.

Satisfied with the fact that they were able to cheer up the God, Frisk finished up their comedy act and ate the rest of their breakfast, and got ready for what came next.

...

The puzzle was still just as hot and intense as it had been before, and slightly more frustrating as Asriel shot lasers down at them every few seconds, the only water they had was from out of their water bottle, but now there was an issue of sweat- thankfully they were able to keep their bangs out of their eyes with their barrette.

Once they solved it and got on the boat, enjoying the breeze, Frisk turned their attention over at Asriel.

And they saw it, the familiar softness in his dark eyes and a genuine smile on his face.

They felt their heart do a few backflips and smiled back, and was silently surprised when he didn’t drop his.

Frisk wasn’t sure when it had happened, maybe it was when they were telling him jokes, or during the puzzle when he was watching out for them and made sure their barrette was in the right place… but, something had changed between them…

They weren’t completely sure, but they had a really good feeling that the two of them were actual friends now.

Frisk thought about talking to him about it, maybe even gloat, but… they knew they still had to be careful with him, afraid if they said the wrong thing- he would stop smiling and deny everything.

An anxious part of themselves wondered if they should feel denial, was it really right what they felt? After everything he did?

No… they’d accepted and forgiven him and were going to continue doing so.

Frisk was certain that the only way they were ever going be truly free was that it was only going to happen on peaceful terms.

And it was going to be done with nothing else but love.

It seemed the next step was becoming best friends with Mr.Hyperdeath and they were truly excited for it.

Chapter Text

Inspiration Song: Leave Me Alone by I Don't Know How But They Found Me

Big shot, so what, do you wanna pretend?
You took the money but the money couldn't buy a friend

Now I want you to leave me alone
They say the devil that you know is better than the devil that you don't
Oh, you're a big shot here but nobody else knows
Now I want you to leave me alone

Blind spot, take your best shot, lucky me
Go fly a kite until you're tangled in the hanging tree

Four in the morning but we're having such a lovely time
Mad as a Hatter with a dagger and a dollar sign
Aristocrat, tip your hat and break your mother's heart
And when the sun comes up, you'll find a brand new God
(A brand new God)

Now I want you to leave me alone
They say the devil that you know is better than the devil that you don't
Oh, you're a big shot here but nobody else knows
Now I want you to leave me alone

Recently, Frisk had realized that time was an interesting and funny thing.

After getting… somewhat used to living in Asriel’s world, they quickly found that normal problems no longer applied to them.

Well, they still needed to worry about keeping their hygiene up and taking care of laundry, but they didn’t have to worry about issues like a real job, paying bills, or taking out the trash.

 Now their problems consisted of doing chores for the God, dealing with his sassy rude mouth, and antisocial behavior… thankfully, he wasn’t as bad as when they first met, every day he became a little more tolerable due to their slow growing friendship.  

However… Frisk’s crush on Asriel never dimmed, their feelings for him only growing stronger with their friendship… it made them wonder what he really thought of it, he could feel it too after all.

The days moved by fast, and those days turned into weeks…

 And soon a month had passed by. . .

The chores steadily changed, perhaps Asriel’s way of keeping things interesting and fun- it definitely was as he constantly changed the puzzles and the locations, after that he focused on ones at a smaller scale- bringing home hand puzzle toys, giving them the most unique and strangest ones he could find- some of them holding within interesting prizes when solved. (A plus!)

He also began requesting new meals for Frisk to create, which also solved the question of how they’d collect groceries, they would create a list and he would bring it all to them with a literal snap.

As time continued to pass by, they found that their favorite time of the day was when the two of them sat down together and just ate and talked, the best part was that they could tell Asriel shared the sentiment as well.

Although, the only thing that stayed the same was that Frisk still needed to tend to the gardens.

However. . . it got to a point that Asriel realized that the walk between the gardens took much too long and he gave in to his impatience, tearing the dimension another new hole and creating a portal to the Ruins.

It was a concerning and worrying change for Frisk, but they eventually accepted it . . . they really had no choice anyway as he grabbed them up and took them through the portal.

Their friendship with Blooky soared even faster as they continued to make visits to each other’s homes, telling the ghost about the overworld, about their old life and how their new life was going, listening to music, and searching for used instruments in the dump, and feeling like garbage together after good meals.

 Blooky was the ghost to go to when the God was simply too much.

Although, despite their friendship Asriel, Frisk recently found him becoming increasingly more impatient, rude, selfish, and pompous.

 They weren’t sure what had caused it, but they decided they weren’t going to tolerate it for much longer.

Finally, one day after a nasty argument, Asriel gifted them with new art material and requested that they finally paint a picture for him.

Frisk raised their eyebrows at the new easel in front of them, then eyed Asriel, giving him a skeptical look.

They then flashed him a smile, “thanks, I really love it, I’ll get started on something for you right away,”

He smiled back, albeit smugly, crossing his arms and legs, casually floating up behind them, “what will you paint?”

Frisk tapped their chin, pretending to really think about it.

“Hm…not sure yet, I think it’s going to be difficult to focus if you’re watching, can you come back in…let’s say…an hour?” they questioned.

“Fine, that’s fair,” he said, sounding slightly disappointed, and with that, exited from the room.

Frisk chuckled mischievously as they turned their full attention to the easel, preparing the paint, using a lot of black and different shades of purple.

An hour later.. .

“So, Frisk, what do you have to show me? I can tell you’ve been fairly excited about it,” Asriel questioned after reappearing in the nearby chair.

Frisk held back a giggle, “well, sir, it’s a portrait of you, I think it’s one of the more… interesting things I’ve painted, but I’m not really sure of how you’ll feel about it, but I think it..ah.. really describes your behavior really well lately,”

Asriel narrowed his brows at them in suspicion, “show me.”

“Only if you say ‘please’,”

He scowled, “really?”

“Yes!”

“Fine, ‘please’ show me.” he said with an annoyed sigh.

At that, Frisk got up, picked up the portrait, grinned wide, and showed it to him.

At least twelve different expressions crossed over Asriel’s face as he stared at the painting. . .

Said portrait, was a professionally detailed, large, flaccid, human penis with a crudely drawn in angry face at the tip, the only hint of familiarity was the tiny horns and floppy ears.  

 ...None of Asriel’s twelve expressions were positive ones, even his portrait was unhappy.

Frisk pursed their lips as they continued to hold back their laughter, tears forming their eyes.

“Is this really what you think of me?” he asked with all seriousness, hints of anger tinting his tone of voice.

Frisk’s let out a sigh, the laughter dying away “right now it is, because you want to know something Mr. Hyperdeath? Lately you’ve been a real gigantic pe-,”

“And what is that even supposed to mean?” he growled.

Frisk frowned deeply, they didn’t like saying this “it means you’ve been acting like a real gigantic jerk, and this is my way of saying that I’m very tired of it,”

They then smiled weakly  “…but other than that… I think you’re really great, I just wish you would tell me what’s wrong with you and why you’ve been acting this way,”

Asriel stared hard at them for a moment before letting out a huff, “I won’t grant your wish, but I suppose I and understand the... very ‘creative’ point of your statement behind this sad excuse of a painting, to which I honestly refuse to look at anymore,”

Without any warning, he got up and snatched the painting up, and flew out of the room with it.

Frisk laughed in disbelief, “wait! Where are you taking that?!” they cried out, following as fast as they could.

“THE CORE! I’M BURNING IT! IT’S HIDEOUS!” he yelled back.

Frisk ran faster, “are you serious?!”

“YOU KNOW I AM, YOU IDIOT!”

Frisk stopped arguing, continuing trailing him, stopping only when he did, panting in exhaustion as they watched him throw their creation into the machine like a frisbee.  

“You really… don’t know how to handle embarrassment… do you?” Frisk asked between breaths, they couldn’t say they were hurt or bothered that he didn’t like it, they had expected that from the start and had emotionally prepared themselves for that.

What dumbfounded them was that he obliterated it.

“I didn’t like it and I didn’t want to see it, so I got rid of it,” he explained, dusting off his hands.

It was then, that it finally clicked for Frisk.

“Is that why you got rid of all your parent’s things and locked down the towns?” they asked, “you didn’t like the pain of your family and other monsters being gone, so you pushed it all out of sight,”

Asriel stared down at Frisk, his mouth opening to say something… but nothing came out.

“It’s…okay, I understand if that’s how you handle pain, I won’t judge you, but…I just hope that you won’t do the same to me if I ever cause you pain too,” they said sincerely, their tone of voice firm.

They gazed at him for a moment and turned away, making their way back to their home.

A few hallways later, Asriel appeared next to them.

They stopped walking when he put his hand on their shoulder blade, letting out a small sound at his touch.

“I won’t ever get rid of you Frisk,” he admitted, “I couldn’t if I tried… .. trust me, I have, many times.”

A shiver went down their spine, they peeked over and realized that he was much closer than they had thought.

They could have hugged him right then and there, hell, they toyed with the thought of kissing him.

But he moved away too quickly to attempt either choice.

So, instead, they opted for smiling sweetly at him, patting at his arm “thank you, Asriel,”

They kept their hand on his arm and softened their smile, “but there’s something I really want to know, what’s been up with you lately? You’ve been so mean lately, meaner than usual… is..is this about T-Drop? I can’t think of anything else that’s changed to cause this,”

Asriel scowled, looking away but not pulling away, he didn’t say anything.

“Are… you jealous?” they dared to ask, they hadn’t attempted to ask him such a thing after the first time.

“I’m not JEALOUS! I just don’t like them in the house! I didn’t even agree that they could visit!” he growled, finally confessing.

Frisk’s mouth gaped open in surprise, “wow, why didn’t you tell me about this earlier? It’s been weeks since they started coming over,”

“Because it’s in the Rules! I can’t tell them what to do anymore!”

“Yeah, but you could have just asked me to keep them out, I would have listened to you, I kind of have to,”

“YES! I KNOW that! But think harder about it, it’s all an indirect way of me giving them a command! It could end up breaking the rule! I’m not risking it.” he explained.

Frisk blinked, concerned about his thought process and slightly flattered and ever impressed that he’d go that far to keep their soul, “well… what if I do it of my own volition? Not for you, but for me?”

He rolled his eyes, “no, I don’t think it’ll work, in the back of your mind, you’ll still know why you’re doing it, this is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you about it,”

Frisk let out a sigh, “alright, fine, so… what do you want to do that won’t break the Rules? I can’t let you keep being unhappy, it’s bad for all of us, including you and especially for my art,”

Asriel gazed at them for a second and smiled with newfound humor.

“Hm… well, speaking of which, you do owe me a better and less phallic painting…,” he began, scratching at the chin of his muzzle.

“A vagina?” Frisk joked.

Asriel rolled his eyes, yet he continued to smile.

“No.” he ordered firmly, poking at Frisk’s forehead, “no more genitalia allowed for today, I want you to try again, paint a professional portrait of me, and… if I like it, I promise I’ll be less cantankerous,”

Frisk grinned, “now that sounds like a good deal Mr. Hyperdeath, should we pinky promise on it?” they asked, holding out their said pinky.

Asriel narrowed his brows with uncertainty, “wouldn’t you rather shake on it instead?”

They giggled, pushing their little finger out further, hoping to tempt him “nope, this is funner,”

He scoffed, and without any more complaint, he held out his pinky and curled it around Frisks.

Feeling very pleased with the compromise, Frisk clapped their hands together, “alright, I guess I’ll go start on it now, this might take me a few hours or more, so… stayed tuned, I guess?”

“Very well, I will be waiting,” he said with a cool smirk, and with that, vanished.

As Frisk had suspected, the new portrait took them much longer than a few hours as they ended up finishing the next day, they wanted the deal to work out after all. . .

But eventually, they finished it, actually finding that they were happy with how it came out, still though, Asriel had proved hard to please, so they were clearly nervous that he wouldn’t share their feelings.

. . .

“Alright, keep your eyes closed, I’m turning it around… and… okay! Open them!” they announced, holding the painting out to him.

He stared at it, his head back up and then focusing harder, leaning forward.

The portrait was of his profile and was in black and white, and his eyes were completely scarlet red, the mood of it was sharp, serious, and dangerous.

He was silent for a moment, and Frisk was having a hard time getting a read on him, growing anxious as he stared at it.

“Do you… like it? Is this better?” they dared to ask.

He crossed his arms and nodded firmly, “it’s a great improvement, but I’m still wondering, is this still how you see me?”

Frisk was unsure of how to answer that question this time, looking to the painting and back to their friend.

“Well… yeah, kind of, I know you’re personally not as ‘clean cut’ as this… I uh, I was mainly focusing on making something that I hoped you would like artistically,” they explained.

A hint of a smile appeared on his face, “mmm…,” he then gazed over up at them with humor, “you can relax, I like it,”

A slow but bright grin of relief bloomed on Frisk’s face, “thank goodness, so, does this mean-,”

“Yes, I’ll hold up my end of the deal, but only if you hang up the picture somewhere,”

“Can do,” Frisk confirmed and looked around, their eyes landing in the direction of the kitchen.

 “I think I know the best place for it.”

After hanging it up, the two wandered back into the living room and sat down together.

“I have decided that your punishment is over,” he suddenly announced out of the blue.

Frisk blinked, surprised, “really?”

“Mhm, I will be returning your internet and television as well,”

Frisk gasped, their hands clasping their cheeks and leaning back from a wave of emotion “oh, ohhh man, I’m so happy~ I mean, sure I was starting to get used to it, but… wow… I can’t tell you how much I missed the internet,”

Asriel chuckled, “and I’ve really and truly missed eating, I know we’ll both enjoy this,”

Frisk chortled, “gosh, I should have painted a picture for you weeks ago,” they then eyed him with humor, “or did you just miss eating that much?”

His sharp shoulders rattled with silent laughter, “both,”

They then smiled at him, “so… does this mean you trust me now?”

He let out a low sigh, “it does to an extent, it occurred to me that no one would put up with all the things that you do if they truly wanted to escape,”

Frisk leaned back into the couch, “that’s right, I’ve accepted living here as a sort of long-term vacation’, I gotta admit, I’ve really come to enjoy your world Asriel,”

At that, he merely smiled at them, the both of them pleased with each other, because it was becoming highly apparent that this wasn’t just the God’s world anymore.

Chapter Text

(Postremo Arc)

Inspiration Song: Preach by Saint Motel

I wanna know
Do you even feel it, do you even feel it now?
And you're not alone
So don't be hesitatin' for my lovin'

Oh, I'm down on my knees
Mercy, whoa, whoa, whoa, baby

Preach
Mm, teach me, baby
Teach us, a-preach it, baby
Preach
Soul lovin', do the soul lovin'

You gotta say
Nothing too specific, you know I'll get it anyway
A hip's gotta sway
So shake it like your mama, and seven day prayer

Preach it, baby, preach
Preach it, baby, preach
Preach it, baby, preach
Preach it, baby, preach

Shout it from the rooftops, scream it from the pulpit
Yell it till I hear you sell it like you fought and
Shout it from the rooftops, scream it from the pulpit
Yell it till I hear you, ain't no doubt about it, yeah

Frisk cracked open their eyes as they slowly woke up, faintly smiling as they remembered that today was their 21^st birthday.

So far, they had spent a total of four months in the Underground, but it felt like much longer than that, their life had been completely absorbed in Asriel, Blooky, dangerous puzzle-solving, safe puzzle-solving, playing games, talking about inane things, making new food recipes, and very soon- they would be taking trips across the world.

They didn’t expect too much from the two monsters, but if the books in the Librarby told them anything about how they celebrated, they couldn’t help but be very curious about how their friends would go about it.

Asriel had barely batted an eyelash when they had reminded him about it, which was fine, it just meant that Frisk was going to be setting the bar fairly low.

They could drink legally now, and couldn’t help but admit that they were curious about it, so the only thing they really wanted for their birthday was to get their first ever taste of booze, if they got that, then they would be all set.

As much they wished they could sleep in for a change, they pushed themselves and sleepily got ready for the day.

Except, once they were and stepped into the hallway, they heard the familiar sounds of eggs sizzling and smelled a sweet breakfast waft through the air to greet them.

Curiously, they tiptoed through the living room and to the kitchen, and sure enough, Asriel was hovering in front of the oven, working on a few eggs, and off to the side sat a foot-tall stack of pancakes and bacon.

“Good morning and happy birthday,” he said without looking back, “I’m almost finished here, go sit at the couch, I’ll turn on the fireplace,”

Frisk’s mouth dropped open, pleasantly shocked, “ah… okay, thank you, good…good morning to you too,”

They couldn’t help but watch for a few seconds before they turned around back to the living room, sitting down on the couch, outstretching their legs to get their feet closer to the fire, watching in amazement as it blossomed to life.

After their curiosity eased, they allowed themselves to relax and wait, which didn’t last too long as two wooden food trays appeared, one in front of them and one next to Asriel’s favorite chair.

Clearly, it seemed they were having breakfast in the living room this morning, which…was actually pretty cool, was this his birthday present to them?

They backtracked on that thought as a small single box appeared nearby their feet, it was wrapped in shiny sky blue wrapping paper with a glossy and elegant purple ribbon tied around it.

They reached down and picked it up, looking over it in awe.

“Don’t you dare open it yet, eat your breakfast first,” they heard Asriel demand from behind them.

They looked up at him with a bright grin, “don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m just amazed that you got me a present at all,”

Asriel rolled his eyes and hovered to his chair, sitting down and making himself comfortable.

“Don’t make a big deal out of it, it was necessary to properly celebrate your birthday,” he explained, then snapped his fingers, setting their trays with a classy but loaded down breakfast, all of it looked delicious.

“Well, I’m loving it so far, this is really great, thank you Asriel,” they answered, picking up their fork and digging in, making a pleased hum at the taste, “this is really great too, you really are a lovely cook,”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, it’s bad manners you shameless pig,” he teased playfully, taking an overly big bite of his own food, “also, tell me something I don’t know,”

Frisk merely nodded in response, stifling back their giggle.

Once they were finished and happily full, it was time to open their present.

Asriel seemed to grow agitated as Frisk carefully pulled the ribbon and slowly begun to delicately unwrap their gift.

“Just tear into it already! You’re not going to hurt my feelings,” he complained.

“I know, I just… it bothers me when I know how much trouble people go to wrap gifts, it seems a shame to just destroy it and rip it to pieces,” they explained.

“It was made to be destroyed Frisk, trust me when I say that everything in existence is born to eventually die, so something as minuscule as wrapping paper is especially not exempt from that fact,”

Frisk narrowed their eyebrows at him and his speech, but didn’t say anything but merely put a little more elbow grease into their work.

What they found was a fancy black box, they bit their lip and opened the top, gasping in shock when they saw what appeared to be a dainty black crown, it had intricate curves and sharp edges, and had gems of all sorts of colors embedded into the metal.

They looked up to Asriel with wide eyes, uncertain how they felt about this just yet.

 “A crown?” they uttered out, urgently and nervously looking for the reason behind their lavish gift.

He grinned, chuckling in amusement “I suspected you would be this perplexed,”

“A crown??” they echoed, raising the box in the air for Asriel to see for emphasis.

“Yes, I made you a crown, it isn’t a proposal or anything like that, I just couldn’t think of anything and I remembered how much you like my throne, so, I thought I’d surprise you, it looks like my plan worked better than I thought it would,”

They blinked in further shock, doing a double-take on their gift and back on Asriel.

“You made this?” they questioned, they were clearly impressed.

“Yes, just like I made the throne, it’s made from the same material,”

Frisk studied the crown a little longer, the shock now starting to wear off.

“It’s so beautiful and elegant, I can’t believe it’s mine,” they said, they then looked up to Asriel, “wait, where did you get the gems at?”

Asriel stared at Frisk, he opened his mouth to speak… but didn’t say anything.

“Mr. Hyperdeath, be honest with me, did you steal the gems?” they questioned, narrowing their eyebrows at him with full judgment.

“Before I say anything, I just want you to know that this gift is nonreturnable….but yes, I stole the gems from an incredibly old racist and senile collector with one foot in the grave, no one will ever know or care that they’re missing,”

At that, Frisk let out a deep sigh, falling back against the couch, “you’re a lot, you know that?”

He chuckled warmly “yes, but the same goes for you, just humor me won’t you?”

Frisk slowly smiled, giving in, and with that, carefully took hold of the crown and put it on top of their head, “how do I look?”

Asriel rested his head against his fist, still smiling, “…like you need to sit in the throne to properly match, but joking aside, you look very… good,”

They smiled shyly, flattered by the rare compliment, “oh…thank you sir, you look very good too!”

He scoffed at that but was clearly amused and pleased, “…hm…now with all this over with, I’ve decided to let you do whatever you want today, so, that begs the question, what do you want to do?”

“Don’t laugh, but honestly… I would like to go back to sleep,” they answered.

Asriel rolled his eyes, “I figured as much, but it’s fine, I will just go work on the puzzles until you wake back up, and oh- that reminds me, I have a cake ready for you later,”

Frisk grinned brightly, “what flavors?”

He leaned forward and grinned back, his fangs shining from the firelight.

“It’s a surprise, such as your birthday dinner will be,” he answered teasingly.

“Oooh, I love a good birthday surprise,” they commented and backtracked, remembering themselves “can I have some wine too? Red wine?” they asked.

“Of course, today you will get whatever you want,” he said with a cool smile and leaned back into his chair, “as long as it doesn’t break our Rules,”

Frisk laughed, “darn, you got me,” they joked and then let out a yawn, gingerly taking off their crown and sitting it back in its box on the floor.

“Going back to bed now?” he questioned curiously.

“Actually…,” they began, stretching and shifting around on the couch until they were laying down, “this is pretty cozy, as long as the fire stays on- I think I’ll sleep here,”

“Very well,” he said, and then snapped his fingers, effectively vanishing the plates, silverware, and trays, “sleep well moron,”

“After that breakfast, I think I will, thanks,” they complimented as they rolled over onto their side, curiously watching Asriel as he got up from his seat.

“Wait…,” they began.

He automatically stopped moving “what is it?”

“Are you sure… the..crown isn’t some sort of proposal?” they questioned.

He raised an eyebrow at them and smiled softly, “no, Frisk, I simply wanted to create something nice for you,”

Frisk let out a quiet but deep sigh, “and you succeeded, it’s very nice, thank you… I just wanted to make sure… I can never tell with you,”

At that, Asriel chuckled softly, “just go to sleep already,” and disappeared from the room.

Frisk closed their eyes and begun thinking about their conversation…

                               The real question was, did Frisk want him to have a special proposal of some kind?

Oh maybe, he truly did have some serious commitment skills, but… hmmm…

Frisk giggled quietly at themselves, the birthday surprises that Asriel had orchestrated had really turned up the butterflies on full flutter, he truly was being too kind and it was making their heart ache.

If he wasn’t careful, Frisk’s crush on him was likely going to turn into real love.

They shifted around on the couch, squishing their face into the arm cushion, oh…  what was that smell? It wasn’t bad…was it.. tea? It smelled of tea… who spilled tea on the couch?

As Frisk pondered on this question, they drifted off to sleep, dreaming of a small herd of white goats sharing a pile of apples, some wearing pink sweaters and… the others in purple dresses… or were those robes... ?

When they woke up, they slowly found that they had been covered up with a light but, cozy, red blanket.

They smiled sleepily and continued to lay there for a moment, taking in the sweet sentiment and wondering what else the day held in store for them as their mind gathered itself back together.

Eventually, they sat up and noticed the black crown.

Frisk had never been too much into jewelry or majorly ornate things, and crowns were more than on the excessive side, but, due to the fact that Asriel had made it just for them… for their birthday…

They decided that they would make a special exception for it.

With that thought process, they picked up the crown and carefully sat it back on their head, deciding it wasn’t coming off until the day was finished.

They then got up, very quickly finding that Asriel wasn’t back yet, hm… they could call him, but this seemed like the perfect time to work on an art project they had.

As Frisk walked over to their easel, they noticed a card on the floor, it had their name written on it.

They picked it up and discovered that it was from Blooky, aw, how nice, a birthday card!

…But where was Blooky? Oh well...

Once they opened the card, they were pleasantly surprised when a very spooky melody began playing, and it read…

 ‘happy birthday frisk, sorry, I would have gotten you a bullet pattern card but i wasn’t sure you’d like it, i got you a song instead’

‘p.s. you’re asleep… so i will just leave this here, sorry’

They chuckled fondly, standing there for a moment or two to properly enjoy the tune.

Once they were finished with it, they sat the card in their room and went back to the easel, working on a new painting and that card was just the right inspiration for it.

It must have been an hour or two when they felt a familiar hand on their shoulder blade.

“You’re painting a portrait of…T-Drop? Really?” Asriel questioned.

“Yeah, your portrait looked lonely by itself, I thought I’d give it a neighbor,” they said, smiling without looking over at him.

The said portrait was coming out fairly nice, Blooky was white, but the background was many different shades of blue and green.

“Are you going to paint yourself too?” he asked curiously.

“I was thinking about it,” they then turned to eye him “unless… how well do you paint?”

His eyes widened in surprise, “are you honestly asking for me to paint a portrait of you?”

They shrugged lazily, “yeah, of course, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to,”

He scoffed, “I’ll do it, but you’ll have to give me time, consider it a late birthday gift,”

Frisk grinned brightly “wow, thanks, I’m really excited to see your art style now,”

Asriel waved them off, “whatever…. now, what would you like to do next?”

“Um, well, I’m almost done, so I’d like to finish this first… but…ah...I do have an ache in my back from sitting like this for so long… do you think you could...y’know…?” they asked, motioning to their back.

His eyebrows raised, “you want a massage?”

They chuckled shyly, “yeah… it’s not weird to ask, is it?”

Asriel shook his head, “no, I’m actually surprised you haven’t asked sooner, I noticed you get back pains fairly easy,”

“You can feel my pain too?” Frisk asked, worried.

“No, I just noticed your tells, you rub your shoulders… honestly the human spine is an anatomical nightmare,” he explained.

“Ooh, I see now,” Frisk said, shaking their head at themselves, “well, if you really don’t mind, I’ve got a particular pain right… here,” they began, reaching behind and patting at the lower part of the nape of their neck

He applied a little bit of pressure at the spot with his thumbs and rubbed it with uncertainty.
“Right here?”

“Mmhm, can you put a little more oomph into it please?”

“That better?” he asked, complying.

They let out a comforted sigh, fluttering their eyes closed, “yeah… that’s…that’s really nice,”

Asriel chuckled faintly, “I guess you’re not going to continue with that painting,”

Frisk blinked their eyes back open, “oh.. .yeah, heh, maybe not,” and with that, sat their paintbrush down, it seemed a good time for it to dry anyway.

They then allowed themselves to relax, looking back to Asriel to smile at him, and then closed their eyes once more, enjoying his special attention.

After a minute or two, they spoke up.

“If you don’t mind, could you go a little lower now? I’ve got a back pain there too,”

“...Hm… …how low?” he questioned hesitantly.

Again, Frisk reached back around and now patted at the middle of their spine and the area above their bottom.

“It… kind of radiates? I don’t know, just freestyle around and I’ll tell you,”

Without a word, he continued on with his work, now slowly working his way down their back, getting more creative as he did so, and in Frisk's opinion, he was doing an increasingly excellent job.

As he finally reached the pain, Frisk let out another pleased sigh, “that’s the one, stay there,”

Then, they let another very happy sigh as he applied a little more pressure.

Actually… this very happy sigh was more of a very happy moan.

It seemed to get Asriel’s attention as he suddenly clapped his hands flat on Frisk’s back- almost pushing them forward, causing Frisk to jump in surprise, not hurt but was definitely unsure if they wanted to look back at their masseur right now.

“Are you okay?” they asked, worried.

“I’m FINE.” he answered stiffly.

“Should I stay quiet or… are we done?” they pressed on.

“I think we’re done, I’ll be right back, I need to go get a few things,”

He teleported away, leaving Frisk slightly disappointed and confused, but now somewhat amused, another questionable moment between them to gauge over later.

Not too much later, he teleported back into the dining room, revealing Frisk’s birthday dinner which turned out to be home-cooked Filipino food, notably half of it was dishes that their aunt often made.

“No way!” Frisk blurted out the second they saw it, overjoyed, “you made all of this?!”

Asriel smirked smugly, “of course, what do you think?”

“I think it’s beautifully delicious looking and that you’re spoiling me! Thank you Asriel,” they said, reaching over and hugging on to his nearest arm.

He smiled wistfully and slid his limb free from their grasp.
“Don’t overthink it, just sit down and I’ll give you a plate and something to drink,” he said.

They eyed him but obeyed, sitting down and turning their attention back at the fragrant food.

Again today, they were further impressed by Asriel’s cooking abilities, he wasn’t their aunt, but he did an excellent job getting everything the way it was supposed to be.

“So, I’m guessing that this means you like it…?” he asked after several minutes of nothing but happy eating.

Frisk swallowed and wiped their mouth, “I love it Az!”

He chuckled, taking a bite of his own food, “‘Az’?” he asked.

“Yeah, I was thinking of giving you a nickname, ‘Az’ makes me think of ‘Oz’ from the Wizard of Oz, I think the two of you have a few things in common, you’re both ‘great and powerful’! What do you think?”

His smile dropped hard, “I think it’s bad, we have nothing in common, Oz was a sham, remember?”

Frisk sighed, narrowing their eyebrows as they rested their cheek against their palm, realizing that they had forgotten, “..hm… yeah, he was a sham, I guess you’re right, I haven’t seen the movie in a few years, oh well, it’s still a cute nickname anyway,”

Asriel rolled his eyes, “I suppose,”

There was then a thoughtful pause.

“Does this mean you like watching movies and shows?” Frisk asked curiously.

“Rarely, why are you asking now?”

“I don’t know, you just seemed like the type that didn’t care about stuff like that…so I didn’t think about it, but now that I know you do, would you like to start watching movies with me?” they asked, their smile sweet.

Asriel frown edged upwards, “I’ll think about it, let’s stop talking, the food is going to get cold,”

Frisk continued watching for a moment longer in thought, smiling warmly to themselves before they complied.

Once the birthday lunch was finished, Asriel immediately began magically cleaning the table off, transporting the leftovers into the fridge, and resetting the table with clean china.

“Is it time for cake?” Frisk asked.

At that, the God snapped his fingers and a tall four-tier birthday cake appeared in the middle of the table.  

The birthday cake in subject, was chocolate with streams of red graceful icing flowing down and around the tiers, resembling celebration streamers in the air, and matching red icing geranium flowers decorating it.

Frisk beamed and stood up to get a better look, “wow! Asriel! You’re outdoing yourself! This is gorgeous!”

Asriel crossed his arms, his smug smile reappearing, “it should be, I had a professional baker do it, don’t worry… I paid him anonymously, he wouldn’t have done it otherwise,”

 Frisk giggled, taking out their phone and taking a few pictures, they then peeked over at him, grinning shyly when they saw that he was watching them.

“You didn’t want to bake one yourself?” they asked, sitting back down.

“Mm, I thought about it, I enjoy baking desserts, but my skill sets for what I wanted to give you aren’t optimal enough yet,” he explained.

“I see,” Frisk murmured, “after that lunch, I’m sure I’d adore anything you bake,”

He nodded, “I’ll remember that.”

He then lifted his hand and a dramatically large cutting knife appeared in his grasp, “now, shut up, it’s time for cake,”

Frisk then proceeded to watch as his occupied hand detached from his arm and flew into the air to slice a piece, another hand detaching to grab a plate and rest the piece on top.

Once it was handed to them, Asriel snapped his fingers and a bottle of already opened red wine appeared next to Frisk’s glass.

They perked up at the sight, “I nearly forgot! Awesome!” they then looked to Asriel, “are you going to have some too?”

“The wine?” he asked, doing a subtle double-take, concentrating on getting his piece of cake.

“Yeah, I don’t want to drink my first drink alone,”

“Perhaps a little, I am not exactly sure drinking is a good idea for me,” he explained with a tight frown, eyeing the dessert over.

“Oh, so alcohol affects you?” they asked, now concerned.

“Somewhat… if I have enough, I’m not sure I like how it messes with my senses, there are few things I’m constantly keeping track of,” he then looked to Frisk, “if you don’t mind, I’m going to start eating this now,”

Frisk smiled and nodded, taking a bite of the cake as well, moaning as the combination of the rich chocolate flavor and thick texture of cake hit their mouth.

“Awwhh man…this is sooooo goood,”

Asriel made a similar sound, closing his eyes as concentrating on the taste, “I know… it really, really is,” he uttered out in bliss.

For the next few minutes, Frisk and Asriel continued joyously eating, praising, and worshiping the all-holy chocolatey birthday cake.

Soon enough, Frisk gazed at the wine and gingerly poured themselves a glass.

“Careful with how much you drink,” Asriel spoke up, eyeing the red juice as Frisk poured it to the top.

“I will, I’ve seen my cousin deal with a few hangovers, it isn’t pretty,” they said, “but… I do want to try getting at least a little bit drunk, it seems fun from what I’ve seen,”

Asriel shrugged, “it’s your birthday, do what you want, just be careful,”

Frisk smiled, “by the way… you don’t have to drink if you don’t feel comfortable with it, you can just get a sugar high off the cake instead, it’ll be close enough,”

He grinned back, clacking a new empty wine glass to Frisk’s full glass, “happy birthday idiot,”

“Happy birthday to me,” they sighed happily, finally taking a sip of their drink.

Asriel laughed loudly at Frisk’s face as they scrunched it up.

“That’s weird!” they exclaimed, “…but…you know what?” they then took another sip, “...I kind of like it,”

Asriel laughed more, “yeah, alcohol can grow on you.”

The two continued talking, eating more cake and sipping on wine.

Halfway through, Frisk let out a long sigh as they remembered something.

“What is it?” Asriel asked.

“I should have called my aunt and cousin before this, but I can feel the wine…working it’s.. stuff, what if I say something weird or suspicious? What if they figure out that I’m drinking?”

“On your twenty-first birthday? No way,” Asriel echoed sarcastically, smirking with amusement.

Frisk covered their face with realization and giggled at themselves.

“Just call her tomorrow, tell her you went to party and forgot or something of that nature,”

“Okay, sounds good, thanks Ass,” they then snorted with laughter, “AZ! I MEANT AZ!”

Asriel rolled his eyes, “that was fast, you must be a lightweight,”

“I’m not drunk I swear! It was just a little slip of the tongue,”  Frisk attempted to explain, still giggling.

He grinned back, “but you feel something don’t you?”

Frisk took another sip, crossing their legs tightly, their smile turning coy, still gazing at him “I’m feeling several things actually,”

At that, Asriel looked away and back down at his fourth slice and continued eating.

Frisk continued watching him, deciding it was best to change the subject.

“Hey, when is your birthday? I’d like to celebrate it too,”

“I don’t…,” he began, staring down at his plate, grimacing “…I don’t really like to celebrate it,”

Frisk let out a disappointed sigh, “that’s okay, I was just looking for another reason for us to do something fun like this again,”

He peeked a red eye at them, “don’t worry, once we finally start teleporting together, you will be having plenty more fun than this,”

They grinned in delight, “thank you Asriel,”

“For what? Spoiling you?” he asked, crooking an eyebrow.

“Of course, everything you’ve done has been fantastic and I’m beyond grateful, but mostly.. thank you for being my friend and hanging out with me, I’m glad I met you,”

He slowly but finally smiled back, “me too,”

Chapter Text

Inspiration Song:  Wish I Knew You by The Revivalist

You shine like a star, you know who you are
You're everything beautiful, she's hot, hot like the Sun
The loneliest one, still everything beautiful

Well I'll be goddamned you're standing at my door
We stayed up in the city until the stars lost the war
So Friday night, Holy Ghost
Take me to your level
Show me the one I need the most, I need the most

I wish I knew you when I was young, we could've got so high
Now we're here it's been so long, two strangers in the bright lights
Oh, I hope you don't mind
We can share my mood, yeah
Two strangers in the bright lights
I wish I knew you
I wish I knew you
Oh, I wish I knew you when I was young

Truth, it's all that you need
You bury that seed, it's everything beautiful
That sound comes from the underground
It's all inside you now
It's everything beautiful
But whatchu, whatchu, whatchu, whatchu you running from?
And they got, they got, they got, they got you on the run
So Friday night, Holy Ghost
Take me to your level
Show me the one I need the most
I need the most

Maybe we can share my mood
Whoa, whoa, whoa
Maybe we can share my mood
Whoa, whoa, whoa
Maybe we can share my mood
Whoa, whoa, whoa

I wish I knew you when I was young
We could've got so high
Now we're here it's been so long
Two strangers in the bright lights
Oh, and I hope you don't mind
We can share my mood, yeah
Two strangers in the bright lights
I wish I knew you
I wish I knew you
Oh, I wish I knew you when I was young

It had been a long day for Frisk, Asriel had recently created an incredibly difficult maze puzzle that consisted of traps that sparked the victim with a few volts, by the end of it, Frisk’s long brown hair was standing on end and their feet ached from all the walking…

Thankfully, Asriel apologized by cooking dinner and agreed to watch a movie with them.

So, they sat down together on the couch, and ate their food while watching something that Asriel had been interested in seeing but also was, fortunately, one that Frisk enjoyed.

It was a fun and relaxing time, so much so, that once the credits began to roll, Frisk felt it was a good time to ask a question that had been stewing inside of them for a long time.

“So, I’ve been thinking about something for a while and…I don’t mean to be insensitive, but…since there are no other monsters… do… you get…y’know… physically lonely without someone to be with?” they asked, taking note that they and he had briefly ‘touched’ many times, but never properly hugged before.

Asriel scoffed, looking away from them, “no, I’m fine on my own, what is it with your weird interest in my sex life anyway?”

Frisk frowned, unsure of who to be embarrassed for “I was… um, mostly kind of referring to your ‘hug life’ actually, but I guess it’s my fault, I phrased it wrong…  then again, it all blends together sometimes?”

At that, Asriel eyed them curiously, crossing his arms, yet he had no response, so Frisk continued on. . .

“Maybe what I’m trying to say is, don’t you ever want affection? Like, when was the last time you just really embraced someone? I know I can’t feel it, but it always makes me really happy to get a hug from T-Drop, but they probably do and that’s great,”

Asriel’s current frown deepened and he stared off into the distance, as if he were thinking deeply about this question, but it was clear that he was still present.

“...What do you want me to say? The last thing I want is your pity,”

Frisk smiled gently, “you don’t have to say anything, I was just trying to empathize, and maybe ask… if you wanted a hug? Because I’ll definitely give you one if you want,”

 He raised an eyebrow, “really? After everything I’ve said and done?”

They shrugged, “yeah, of course, you may have been terrible in the past and practically forced me down here with you, but on the flip side…you’ve made up for it, and you’ve shown me a different way to live and showed me things I didn’t know existed, and I don’t know… you’re my friend and I really care about you now, I think you’re amazing Asriel and I believe you’re deserving of a few good huggins,”

Asriel smiled faintly, tapping at his cheek thoughtfully with a black claw, observing Frisk with his scarlet eyes as if he were considering the possibility of their suggestion.

“It’s funny, when this all began, I was so certain I would be able to keep you at arm's length, you really are annoyingly persistent with your never-ending kindness,”  

Frisk giggled quietly, “it’s the only right way to be,” they then leaned a little closer, “is this your way of saying we can hug now without you pushing me away…or…?”

He only nodded once.

At that, Frisk grinned brightly and wasted no more time, scooting closer and leaning even further in, closing as much space between the both of them as they could as they smooshed their face against his chest and wrapped their arms around his torso.

At their first thought, they noticed he wasn’t as warm as they had hoped, but he was much softer and less bony than they thought he would be. . .and, Frisk breathed in, he smelled surprisingly sweet and a little spicy… like cinnamon sugar…

It took a few seconds, as if he had been taken off guard despite the warning, but he soon responded to their touch, one at a time, hooking his long arms around them, one hand at the back of their head, and the other hand on their lower back, enveloping Frisk into his black, ragged, robed grasp.

Frisk then felt a slight pressure, quickly realizing that Asriel was resting his head atop of theirs.

There was a special intimacy to being held this way that Frisk hadn’t expected, butterflies fluttering in their stomach and their heart beginning to thump away- knocking and hitting against their rib cage a few times before they slowly calmed down.

His touch was so gentle, it was like the roaring aggressive beast they had first met almost never existed…

It was so nice, they didn’t want to let go of him...

They embraced for a little while longer... 

...until at some point, they felt him tremble and shift his arms to slightly different positions.

“Are you okay?”

“The clock… it’s almost ten thirty, I should go,” they heard him answer quietly.

They attempted to move to look at him, but he held on too tight for them to properly see.

“You don’t have to, you could stay a little longer if you want,”

“We’ll… see each other tomorrow morning… goodnight Frisk,”

With that, he vanished into thin air, causing Frisk to nearly fall over in surprise.

They sighed, their emotions mixed, elated that they were finally able to get to this level with him, but disappointed and concerned that he left the way he did.

They crossed their arms in thought, wondering if Blooky was up for seeing them right now, talking to them would probably help clear their thoughts. . .

Thankfully, they found Blooky not too far away in Hotland, they were wearing their headphones and listening to something but noticed Frisk right away.

“oh… hi…nice to see you,” they greeted.

“Hi Blooky, would it be okay if we talked at my house? I have a lot on my mind,” they said.

“sure….i’m not doing anything…,”

They began walking together, silent for a few minutes until Blooky spoke up.

“are you okay…?” they asked.

They looked up at them with surprise, finally realizing how hard they were frowning.

“I’m fine, it’s just… something good happened, but Asriel acted strangely, it’s making me worried,”

“...oh…. what happened?…if you don’t mind me asking…,”

“We hugged!” Frisk blurted with a warm happy smile.

Blooky gaped, “‘hugged’?”

“Yeah! It was really nice!”

“he.. let you…hug him?” Blooky questioned, completely confused.

 Frisk nodded, their smile fading once again, “yeah, it was a really big achievement, but…he reacted so strangely, I think I felt him…shiver and then he rushed off, I think he was nervous or…maybe even scared or upset, I didn’t really get to see his face,”

“i never seen him touch anyone before you…,” Blooky explained.

Frisk raised their eyebrows in near disbelief, “what…?…Are you sure? Are you sure he never brought anyone here in secret?”

“no… its just you…,”

“Mmm...I mean, I know he’s been lonely and kept himself distant and well hidden, but...,” they then winced at the very concept of never touching anyone for as long as Asriel had, it put a heavy and painful weight in their chest, the tears stinging at their eyes.

“No wonder he’s acted so weird about affection in the past…,” Frisk said in a hushed voice, running their fingers through their bangs in thought.

“this must mean he really does consider you a…friend…,” Blooky spoke up, bringing Frisk out of their heavy thoughts.

Full on tears came to Frisk’s eyes at the mention, their smile coming back alive “I think maybe it does, I should be extra careful with this one, shouldn’t I?”

Blooky smiled back, “maybe… it does…,”

Frisk let out a trembly sigh, wiping away more tears, “it just really sucks that he doesn’t find humans attractive, but I’ll live,”

Blooky gaped again, “…..frisk…?”

“Yes?”

“.....do………..you like….the god…? romantically….?????”

Frisk laughed bashfully, clasping their messy wet face with their hands, “yes! I have a crush on him! It’s awful, please don’t tell him, he already thinks I’m weird enough as it is,”

They then peeked over at Blooky, “do you think I’m weird?”

Blooky smiled kindly, “no, i’m just…. surprised,”

Frisk laughed, attempting to wipe their eyes again, “yeah, I can see why, he and I would make for a strange couple, but I think it would be really nice,”

“it would be nice… maybe one day he’ll feel the same and let you go,” Blooky said.

They crossed their arms at that, thinking their friend’s words over with great contemplation.

“You know, early on when I first met him… I was kind of thinking of that too, but now that we are friends, I have a hunch that he’s too scared to let go of me now…,” Frisk answered.

“.…he doesn’t think you would come back?”

Frisk nodded, “yeah, I don’t know if he trusts me enough yet… or himself, but…,” they then sighed and smiled “…I’m still ok with staying, he can still have me,”

Frisk smiled then dropped, and they squeezed their arms tighter, pulling at the fabric at their shirt with their fingers.

“Is that wrong? Shouldn’t I want to be free? Is there something wrong with me?”

Blooky let out a silent breathless sigh, smiling sleepily “…no… just love… i think,”

Frisk blinked in surprise at their friend, finding themselves almost speechless, words becoming hard to manage “you…. think I’m in love?”

A few tears dropped from Blooky’s eyes “...maybe….i can’t remember my family…. but…….. i know i had them and i know for sure that i loved them….. that’s why I don’t want to leave yet…,”

Frisk slowly smiled, nodding, understanding better now, sniffling as their own tears came to and stung at their eyes.

“Thank you Blooky,” they then shuffled their foot shyly, “do you want to watch a movie with me? I have no idea how I’m going to sleep tonight after this talk,”

More tears fell from the ghost’s white eyes, “yes i’d like to watch a movie…. and i’m…sorry…….did i upset you…??”

Frisk shook their head, wiping their own eyes, “no, no, no… it’s just… it was already a lot to process that I had a crush on Asriel… but it’s a completely different thing to consider that I could be in love with him… it’s…just… it’s a lot!”

Blooky began to worry, “uh………… maybe it’s… platonic friendship love?”

Frisk laughed wholeheartedly, “maybe! Maybe I just regular love him!” they then narrowed their eyebrow playfully at Blooky, “I platonically love you too, you know?”

A few more happier tears dripped from Blooky as they shyly smiled and faded away from view.

It was okay though, it happened sometimes when they were overwhelmed…

Actually, it seemed to happen with Asriel too, perhaps it was just a monster thing.

Either way, Frisk was used to the act and decided to keep walking back to their home, Blooky had already agreed they were watching the movie, so they could count on the timid ghost to reappear later on.

As soon as they got home, they put on a different movie and sat down, greeting Blooky with a sweet grin as they faded into view next to them on the couch.

…

The next morning, they were awoken by something tapping at the tip of their nose.

They rubbed their eyes and brushed their long bangs out of their eyes, blinking as Asriel came into view as he gazed down at them.

Frisk chuckled shyly as they instantly realized that they must have fallen asleep on the couch while watching the movie, whoops. 

“Good morning idiot, becoming quite fond of this couch, aren’t you?” he greeted, hovering over to his favorite chair and sitting down.

“No… well..,” they chuckled again and stretched, “…yeah, I like the couch enough, just as a friend, I just accidentally fell asleep last night watching a movie with T-Drop,” they then looked at the empty spot next to them, noticing a note.

“One movie wasn’t enough wasn’t enough for you, was it?”

                                        ‘you fell asleep… i don’t blame you…
i’m going home…. see you later….’

They remembered the conversation, they were still uncertain if what they felt for Asriel was real romantic love or a simple little crush, but they knew that he gave them butterflies and made their heart pound and feel plenty of other beautiful warm feelings…

Considering their strange relationship, it was probably best not to think hard about these things at the moment, Frisk trusted him, but there was still plenty of other reasons to be careful and tread lightly.

They knew full and well they had to be careful with a person who reacted to a hug the way he did.

“Did you hear me?” Asriel questioned, catching Frisk’s attention, ah… it seems they had zoned out.

Frisk grinned sheepishly, “no…?”

He rolled his eyes “I said, ‘one movie wasn’t enough, was it’?”

Frisk chuckled sleepily, “I guess not,”

“I assume you want to go change your clothes, I will take over for breakfast while you get ready, if you don’t mind,”

Frisk perked up at that, “I don’t mind at all, go break fast all you want,”

He smiled in return and vanished from his seat, instantly reappearing in front of the refrigerator in the kitchen.

Stretching a great stretch, Frisk pulled themselves together and headed off to the bathroom, freshening up, getting ready for the day, finding that they were in an especially good mood today, they hoped that the God found it contagious.

After changing their clothes, they skipped over to the kitchen, finding that Asriel was nearly finished cooking.

Upon walking a little closer and getting a better look, it appeared that he was cooking up french toast with cooked apple cinnamon slices, with thick slices of ham, it looked very tasty.

They stared with fascination and admiration as he watched his hands work.

“I think I’m starting to realize why you like to watch me cook,” Frisk commented.

At that, Asriel turned his head at an impossible angle to look back at them, just almost managing to unnerve Frisk.

“Glad to see that you agree, but can you do me a favor and sit down? It’s hard to concentrate with you watching,” he explained.

Frisk smiled and nodded, they understood that he wasn’t used to an audience.

They noted one of Asriel’s Latin books on the table, the cover read ‘cor Aquæ furtivæ’, curiously they picked it up and looked through it even though they couldn’t read a lick of it.

Well, there were some words they were able to make out, it wasn’t too completely different from English, but it really wasn’t enough to get an idea about any of it.

They continued leafing through it anyway as they waited.

“Idiot Pulchra meum…,” they heard Asriel murmur as he approached them.

Frisk narrowed an eyebrow at them, smiling with judgement, “I guess there’s no Latin word for ‘idiot’, is there?”

Asriel grinned big at that, laughing, “I guess I should have called you stupid instead, hm?”

“Call me sexy instead,” Frisk teased.

“Hoc verum est, sed in qua sumptus?” he questioned, summoning the breakfast with a snap of his fingers, everything appearing on the table all at once.

It was always amazing to see, but currently Frisk was more interested in whatever Asriel was saying.

“What are you saying?” they asked.

“Whatever I want, but in Latin, I should have been doing it all along,” he explained, smiling proudly.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, you’re as bad as the women at Mrs. Sensit’s place, they gossip all the time in Taiwanese right in front of the customers,” Frisk said, waving a fork at the God.

Asriel chuckled, “perhaps you have a point, but I think those women are probably on to something…,”

Frisk sighed and decided to change the subject.

“Anyways…. what’s your book about?” they questioned, proceeding to eat their breakfast.

He eyed the book, “it’s just…notable historical short stories,”

“Oh, you like reading about humans?” they asked.

He shrugged, “mmm…somewhat, I like reading about space and animals too, all of it’s… fascinating depending what mood a person is in…,”

Frisk recognized the displeased look in Asriel’s eyes, did he not like where the conversation was going?

Before they could change the subject again, he did it for them.

“Anyway, what movie did you watch with your little ghost friend last night?” he asked.

“My big favorite, The Last Unicorn, …I’m not sure… but I think they were enjoying it,” Frisk explained.

Asriel only laughed snidely in response, they had watched it with him before, his reaction to it had been… complicated to say the least, never had Frisk seen anyone made so uncomfortable from an animated talking tree.

“Speaking of last night, were you okay? During our hug?” they finally asked, their tone gentle.

He looked back down at his plate, toying with his food with his fork, not meeting their gaze, “I was fine, what makes you think I wasn’t?”

Frisk sighed quietly at that, “..mmmnevermind, if you don’t want to talk about it, then that’s fine by me, I just wanted to make sure you were okay,”

“Thank you, your observation skills are as astute as ever,” he commented under his breath and continued on with his breakfast.

After that, a peaceful silence settled between them as they ate, the curiously sarcastic mood between the two calming back down.

Soon breakfast was finished and the day was declared officially started, the pair made their way to the throne room.

As Frisk got prepared to start gardening, they eyed their soul that hid comfortably inside the cage of fingers, and a question popped up in their mind.

“Are all souls red?” they asked.

“Hm,” Asriel hummed, “no, they come in all sorts of colors… except for monster souls, they’re all white and upside down,”

Frisk raised their eyebrows, intrigued, “upside down? That’s interesting…. it makes me think that they’re a reflection of each other somehow, kind of like when you look down at yourself in calm waters,”

Asriel scratched at his jaw thoughtfully, “…that is interesting, I never thought of it that way before,”

Frisk smiled and began their work, and as they did, more thoughts came to mind.

“...Hmm…  I have another question, but I want you to give me an honest response, please don’t make fun of me,”

Asriel, who was now sitting on his throne, crossed his legs, “it depends, there is a very high chance that I might make fun of you if the question is stupid enough,”

Frisk scrunched their face at him in annoyance “you know, I had a very wise teacher who once told me that there’s no such thing as a stupid question, just stupid answers,”

The God wagged his foot playfully, “alright, fine, fine, I won’t make fun of you, just ask your not-stupid question already,”

Frisk smiled shyly, gazing at one of the golden flowers in front of them, “do you know… if soul mates are real? Or do you think it’s a made-up thing?”

“Mm… I don’t know if it’s actually true or not, but I think you will be pleased to hear that a long time ago, I once read from an ancient monster book that talked about monsters souls, it explained that when they grow close to another soul, they attempt to ‘reach out’ and ‘link up’, in uh… either a romantic or platonic sense, it... depends on the relationship.”

He then sighed with disappointment, “however, the book never mentioned anything about human souls, so… do whatever you please with this information,”

Frisk nodded slowly, “I see,” they then looked over their shoulder at the God, “but what do you think? What’s your opinion on soul mates? Do you think it’s a real actual thing?”

For a moment, he caught their gaze and held it, he didn’t smile but he didn’t frown either, he seemed to be taking the question very seriously.

But then he looked away, staring down at his claws.

“I… I really don’t know, but due to all the things I’ve seen and everything I’ve experienced, I wouldn’t say that it’s a myth, at this point in my life, I don’t think anything is impossible, it could be very possible, just as our hug was yesterday,”

Frisk grinned big at that, a pleasant feeling of warm satisfaction and happiness filling up the entirety of their chest, which caught Asriel’s attention, he immediately frowned tightly.

“Oh quit it you disgusting moron, don’t smile like that, you make me sick,” he complained, but his tone was almost too playful, it was clear that he was joking.

Frisk giggled, shaking their head and returning their attention back to the flowers.

They smiled, pleased when they heard Asriel chuckle as well.

Soon, Frisk finished and the two moved on to the garden around the grave, the usual respectful silence filling the atmosphere as they entered the room.

Despite their always improving relationship, Frisk still hadn’t worked up the courage to ask who lay in the ground beneath them, hoping Asriel would be the one to start talking about it when he was ready. .. Frisk couldn’t help wonder how close he was to this mystery person.

It was then they decided to tell Asriel a piece of their own history, they hoped it would encourage him to open up more.

“So… you know, my parents passed away when I was a kid, did you hear the story of how it happened?” they asked as they worked.

Asriel, who was leafing through another one of his books, stopped cold and looked to them, his expression serious, “yes… wasn’t it a car accident?”

“Yeah, apparently they hit a tree and the impact got them and then… it... caught on fire… but I was able to get out before it burned, I don’t really remember the accident or my parents, apparently the whole thing really shell shocked me,”

“Did you have a concussion? Maybe that had something to do with it too,” he suggested.

Frisk scratched their head, “actually, they said I didn’t have a scratch on me except for a band-aid that I had on my leg, the interesting part is that the car accident happened right next to Mt. Ebott, they think I was wandering around outside for a while before someone finally found me, I had a little stick in my hand and everything,”

“Hm, it’s a good thing you didn’t find your way through the hole, you probably wouldn’t have survived the fall,” Asriel replied thoughtfully.

Frisk paused to look up at said hole way up high, remembering their climb down…

They then looked down at the flowers and brushed their fingers over the petals, they smiled to themselves.

“Maybe, this is a pretty thick garden, I think it would have cushioned the blow a little,”

Asriel chuckled lowly, “yeah…. maybe,”

“My aunt says my parents and I were actually on our way to visiting her, she was so heartbroken when they died, she told me once that if I hadn’t made it, she would have moved back to her country because she wouldn’t have been able to take the pain,” Frisk explained, letting out a weary sigh at the sad memories of their sobbing heartbroken aunt.

“Mm, it’s a good thing they found you then,” he mumbled quietly.

Frisk nodded, “yeah, I got lucky there…,” they then eyed Asriel, “although, I think it would have been amazing to meet you when we were little,”

His expression became unreadable at that and he shook his head, “no, you’re wrong, I was a terrible kid, I would have treated you badly, it’s better that we never met back then,”

Frisk gave him a lopsided smile, “whatever you say, Az,”

At the nickname, he gasped in disgust, “ugh! Is that really going to stick?”

Frisk chuckled, “sorry, it just sounds good for you-,”

“No it doesn’t, shut up and finish your task, that’s an order,” he grumbled, crossing his arms.

At that, they obliged, managing to hold back a few more giggles as they continued on with gardening.

Fortunately, it didn’t take much longer to finish up, approaching Asriel as they removed their gear.

“So what’s next? Any puzzles?” they asked.

“No puzzles today, instead I would like for you to start doing something personal for me,” he began.

Frisk blinked curiously, “personal?”

“Yes, I want you to polish my horns,”

“WHaT?!” Frisk squawked in alarm, their face turning pink, their hands over their mouth, completely scandalized by the request.

Asriel gaped at their strange reaction, his eyes growing wider and wider as he steadily realized the reason.

“NOT LIKE THAT YOU TREMENDOUSLY PERVERTED MORON!” he roared, utterly embarrassed.

At that, Frisk laughed too loudly, also utterly embarrassed, now covering their eyes, realizing that he wasn’t using slang for fellatio, and that they had made too quick of an assumption.

“I’m so SORRY!” they cried between their laughter.

They weren’t surprised when Asriel lashed out and cupped the sides of their head with both of his hands, turning them into an idiot sandwich, shaming them.

“ARE YOU? ARE YOU SO SORRY?” he demanded, completely flustered and angry.

“Yes! I am so sorry! I’ll polish your horns and I won’t ever make a dirty innuendo ever again! I promise!” they spoke honestly, but the situation was so funny they just couldn’t stop laughing.

Asriel rolled his eyes to the back of his head until they came back around again, letting out a heavy sigh.

“Whatever…… damn it, you’re so exhausting,” he grumbled, the comment sobering Frisk up, effectively shutting them up.

There then… was a moment of awkward silence before his frown suddenly cracked and he let out a quiet chuckle, looking at Frisk, his hands still clasping their entire head.

Frisk blinked, who was now pursing their lips together, unsure of how they should respond to the God’s change of mood.

“...Mm… look, it’s okay, you don’t have to stop with your innuendos, you wouldn’t be as entertaining without them, it just astounds me to no end how fast you jump to conclusions,” he said.

Frisk smiled shyly, part of the reason for that was due to their pent-up feelings and fantasies, but it definitely wasn’t something that they were going to openly share right now.

“It’s just how I am I guess,” they responded instead “again, I’m sorry,”

He finally removed his hands, “just forget it and let’s go back home,”

With that, he hovered over to the warp hole and politely motioned them to follow him as he passed through.

They followed him through and they quietly walked back to the Palace.

Once they got back, he sat them down in the dining room and summoned out what appeared to be his own personal polishing kit, one object appeared to be what looked like a small drill with a strange rough brush at the end.

“As you can see,” he began, leaning over closely to give Frisk a rare show of his white horns, “I keep them fairly sharp, so please watch for that,”

“Yes I will, they’re very pretty, I promise I won’t mess them up,” they responded.

He paused, visibly caught off guard by the compliment, momentarily uncertain of what to say, but it didn’t take him long to come back online.

“.…I meant watch out for yourself, I don’t want you to poke your eye out,” he explained.

“Oh! I see, thank you,” they said.

He then sat down next to them, “anyway… you don’t need to do anything serious, just dab this buffer with the oil, turn it on here, and keep rubbing until it’s shiny, don’t worry if you mess up right now, I’ll fix your mistakes later,”

Ah, the strange drill brush was the buffer… that made sense now..

Frisk nodded, “anything else?”

“No, just don’t freak out,”

They raised an eyebrow, “why?”

Instead of answering, Asriel’s head suddenly detached from his neck and floated in the air, making Frisk’s heart jolt in shock, watching in stunned silence as it continued to float in front of them and sit itself on the table in front of them, his horns in front of them, his long floppy ears splayed out on the table.

“Logically...I thought this would be easier for you, I didn’t consider the emotional ramifications,” he explained, “just relax, I’m fine, you know I am,”

Frisk took a deep breath, eyeing Asriel’s headless body next to them, it sat patiently, his hands resting on his lap.

They then exhaled and gazed at his horns, it was true, they didn’t seem as shiny as they did a few weeks ago.

“Is it hard to polish your horns? They are kind of wavy,” they asked, picking up the buffer.

“It’s not hard, just annoying, I thought it would be interesting if you did it for me, you don’t mind, do you?” he asked.

 “Not at all, this looks like it’ll be fun,” they then thought back to their birthday, “you didn’t mind giving me a back rub, did you?”

“Mm… no, I would do that for you again too, I simply ask that you do not voice your appreciation during,” he said.

“Duly noted Mr. Hyperdeath,” they said, smiling coyly in secret, applying the oil to the buffer, “okay, I’m going to start now,”

The dining room was then filled with sounds of the electric buffer as it worked its magic, steadily smoothing Asriel’s horns and making them shiny again.

As Frisk worked, they didn’t see how his dark eyes fluttered closed, or how his claws twitched as they leaned in closer and he felt their breath, sighing quietly as they clasped the side of his fluffy head with their gentle hands and fingers.

If anyone had noticed, they might say he was immensely enjoying himself.

Frisk was too busy concentrating to see any of it.

After a few minutes, they switched the buffer off and couldn’t help but finally give in and briefly pat their friend's fluffy bangs.

“All done, you’re much shinier now in my opinion,” they announced.

“Thank you,” he said with a relaxed sigh, turning his head to look over and up at them.

“You’re welcome, it was a pleasure, soooo… what next?” Frisk asked.

“Nothing, well… not ‘nothing’… there is something I would like to do at six PM,” he said, without warning, floating his head back into the air, gradually making its way back to his body.

“Ooh, a time-oriented thing? That’s a new one,” Frisk said, resting their own head on their palm.

“It is, I will leave you be until then, just be ready when I come back,” he explained, getting up from his chair.

Frisk frowned, disappointed, “aw, you’re leaving already?”

“Mmhm, I need to check my horns to see if you missed the angles, that, and I’d like to finish my book,” he further explained, snapping his fingers, and with that- the polishing kit disappeared from sight, along with his book.

“Okay, well… I’ll see you at six,” Frisk said, giving him a wave.

He waved back and vanished from the kitchen.

About five minutes later as they sat themselves down in their room with a snack, Asriel sent a text.

-‘You missed a few spots, but other than that, you did an excellent job.’

‘ Thank you and you’re welcome ;] ’ -

After their snack, Frisk felt themselves getting sleepy, deciding to pass time with a nap, closing their eyes, and wondered what Asriel had planned, he had never exactly made plans out like this before, something was different… but what was it…?

Fortunately, Frisk’s thoughts drifted, and sleep faded in…

They began to dream….of something in particular…but any memories of it were abruptly washed away when they were woken up by the sound of a knock on their door.

“Frisk, I’m here,” they heard Asriel say.

They rubbed their eyes open, rolling over on their side to see that it was 6:00 PM.

Aagh… why hadn’t they set an alarm clock? Oof…

“Give me a sec, I’ll be out in a few minutes!” they informed Asriel crankily, managing to sit up.

“Don’t be redundant, do you want me to wait a second or a few minutes?” he asked.

At that remark, they got up and opened their door, looking up at Asriel- who smiled back down at them teasingly.

“A few minutes or less, all I need to do is go to the bathroom and put on my shoes,” they explained, and then smiled stubbornly, “you knew I was asleep didn’t I?”

“Always, your emotions become flat and calm when you’re asleep and become a distant whirlwind when you dream,” he said, then playfully tapped the tip of their nose, catching Frisk off guard and making them laugh.

He then backed up so they could retreat to the bathroom.

“Don’t forget your jacket, you’ll be needing it,” he added.

Frisk perked up “oh, we must be going to Snowdin then, nice, it’s been a while,”

Soon, Frisk was ready and feeling excited to see what Asriel had up his long sleeves, walking over to him as he waited in the living room.

“I’m ready to go, let’s high tail it,” Frisk announced.

At that, Asriel grinned big and reached out, grabbing onto their nearest hand.

As soon he touched down, a pulse reverberated across from his hand- into Frisk’s hand and throughout their entire body-

 It was so powerful and felt almost too overwhelming, they felt heavy and light as a feather at the same time, both strong and weak, both pleasure and pain, it was all extreme and there was no middle ground.

 -and for a second, their vision went white and then black.

Then the second passed and their vision returned.

But they were no longer in the living room in a palace located in a magical Underground inside of Mt. Ebott.

Instead, they were outside, somewhere foreign among a desert, full of remarkably tall, red and orange smooth rocks formed in amazing formations and all sorts of shapes, and hardly any plants in sight, above them was a beautiful sunset.

 For a moment, none of it registered that they were somewhere different, it was like looking at a picture.  

But all at it once, it hit them and Frisk dropped to their knees, tears flooding into their eyes- blurring the new world around them into a water paint of colors.

It was too much.

“Are you okay?” they heard Asriel asked, concerned.

“I-I… I don’t know, this place is so… it’s so… it’s gorgeous- and the- flash and power of leaving there to here, it was a lot, it’s a lot…,” they managed to respond as they begun to cry, they jumped as they felt his large hand on their back.

“Mm…. Don’t worry Frisk, everything is okay, just sit down,” he said calmly.

Frisk took the advice, sniffling their tears, sitting down cross-legged on the dry earth, then looked over to see him, but grew worried when they saw absolutely no Asriel there.

“Why are you invisible? Can you please show yourself?” they asked, their voice a little more pitiful than they meant for it to be, wiping their eyes.

There was a long dreadful silence, the only reassurance that he was still there was that they could feel his hand on their back.

“...I would..,” he said, his voice hoarse, but he cleared it “..but I can’t…there are other humans not too far away from here,”

More tears came to their eyes and they let out a sob, then let out a bubble of laughter, wild emotion overtaking them.

At that, they heard Asriel let out a shaky sigh, and felt his hand twitch ever so slightly.

“I had a feeling that this would be too much for you… you’re not in any sort of pain, are you?” he asked wearily.

“No,” Frisk sniffled, “I feel fine, it’s… it’s just… so much,” they then began sobbing more, unable to contain themselves “thank you for taking me heeere! I loove it!” they blubbered happily.

They heard Asriel sniffle, “. . .ah…. we’re in…we’re in a place called Devils Garden, in Utah, this is… a campground actually, but I tried to pick the most secluded place… it was probably for the best considering your… reaction,”

Then, they heard him snap his fingers and two long rolled-up blankets appeared next to Frisk’s feet.

“When you get the time, you can set these up and get more comfortable…. but for now, do you want anything to drink?” he asked.

“Can I have hot tea?” Frisk asked.

Without a second wasted, a tall mug appeared nearby the blankets, steam wafting into the air, it smelled of peach and chamomile.

“Thanks, this is very sweet of you,” they said, wiping their eye and reached out with a curious hand, looking for Asriel, it took no time at all to find him to the left of them as they recognized the feeling of cool fabric of his robe, but it… felt somewhat bony…was this his chest?

“What am I touching?” they asked with humor.

“My ribs, would you like to touch your tea instead?” he replied.

They giggled softly and pulled away, enjoying the fact that he was sitting so close next to them.

Without a word, they picked up their tea and took a careful sip, pleased by the flavor, their attention naturally gravitating to the sky as the sunset’s colors became more and more vivid, absorbing their attention, sitting in complete awe.

A peaceful calm soon eased in between the two of them, and Frisk’s thoughts turned back to Asriel.

“Did our hug last night make you cry last night? Is that why you left the way you did?” they finally asked, their tone gentle.

Asriel didn’t immediately answer.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it, I’ve just been worried,” Frisk explained.

“I was a child… the last time I had a proper hug… and… it… didn’t occur to me that it would affect me so strongly the way it did,” he finally answered.

Frisk looked over at the invisible God next to them, trying to pretend that they could see him, they gave him a sweet smile.

They heard him let out a weak scoff, “stop it, don’t look at me like that,”

Frisk shyly looked away, going back to observing the scenery.

After finishing their tea, they got back on their feet and pulled out the blankets, and got comfortable, sitting back down, wrapping themselves up, and getting cozy fast.

“How long are we going to stay here?” Frisk asked.

“As long as you want, but the main reason I brought you here was for the stars, have you noticed that there are no electric lights absolutely anywhere?” he answered.

Frisk perked up, finally noticing the clear bright stars peeking through the blanket of dark blues, they could tell there were already so many than there usually were back home.

“Wait, waitwaitwaitwait! Are we going to see the Milky Way?!” they blurted out in excitement.

“Mmhm,” he merely answered.

“YeS! I always wanted to see the milky way for real!” they cheered.

At that, they heard him chuckle warmly.

“You deserve another hug for this,” Frisk said, fully impressed and charmed.

Maybe even a kiss too…

“I’m not opposed to it, you just have to find me first,” he answered playfully.

At that, Frisk grinned and automatically reached out to where they thought he was sitting, feeling foolish as they blindly waved their hands out. . .  but found nothing. . .

“Are you teasing me?” they asked.

“I might be,” Asriel suddenly answered closely to their right ear, his husky voice sending a pleasant chill down their spine, but it caught them completely off guard and they laughed loudly.

But they felt something press down and cover their mouth, they were surprised and taken aback for a second until they realized they realized it was only his hand, which muffled their flustered laughter.

“Ssssshhhhhh… you’re too noisy, the tourists are going to find you and think you’re a lunatic,” he said lowly, still speaking closely into their ear.

Frisk couldn’t help but blush at another pleasant chill that caught them, becoming shy from his actions.

 Oh, he was definitely teasing them.

They touched at his hand that was silencing them, and strategically traced over its origins, effectively finding where his arm was located... revealing that he had simply switched sides and was now sitting to their right.

Grinning, they casually leaned over against him, pleased at the fact that they didn’t have far to go, his arm cushioning their head.

Frisk then reached out from their covers and managed to wrap their arm around his back, slowly moving their palm back and forth soothingly.

At that, he removed his hand from their mouth.

“Found you, I win~,” they whispered in a sing-song voice.

They didn’t get an immediate response, but they did hear him let out a weary sigh. . .

“It’s okay if you cry again, I won’t see you… just promise not to leave again, okay?” they whispered.

“I won’t,” he whispered back.

It was probably a minute or two after when they suddenly felt him tremble the same way that he did last night, in response, Frisk closed their eyes and held him tighter, patting his back when they heard a very silent but unmistakable sob.

“This evening is starting to turn out to be very therapeutic for us, isn’t it?” Frisk joked softly.

At that, Asriel responded with a sniffly laugh.

They stayed like that for a while, watching as the Earth steadily departed from its view of the sun, allowing the darkness to shade them and billions of stars to glitter with full force.

After what was probably an hour, Asriel cleared his throat and spoke up.

“Would you like to stretch your legs and walk around? The Milky Way won’t be showing up until four AM,” he suggested.

Frisk sat upright in surprise, taken aback but not displeased “four AM? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“Because.… it slipped my mind, a tiny little human named Frisk was having an episode,” he said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

Frisk chuckled shyly, “alright, alright, I guess you’re excused,  although… I do need to stretch my legs, but not because I’m pent up… I have to use the restroom, and I don’t know if I’m ready for the trip back home just yet…,”

“Don’t worry, I read that there is a restroom out here… somewhere… here I’ll search for it,” he said, he then brought Frisk’s cell phone and begun browsing around, going through a website for the campsite, digging deeper until he found what he was looking for, handing the cellphone to Frisk.

“Here, I’ll give you a bike and you can travel over to the stall,” he said.

“Thanks, could you come with me?” they asked, getting up and slipping their boots back on.

“I suppose I could...,” he mumbled, then without any more warning, a yellow bicycle with a cute wicker basket on the front appeared.

There was an awkward pause.

“Oh…I thought you were talking about a motorcycle,” Frisk said, slightly disappointed.

Asriel let out a pleased laugh, “that’s right! I completely forgot you could drive motorcycles! That makes everything all the more interesting! This should be so much better,”

He then snapped his fingers and the bike vanished, and in its place appeared a hot red motorcycle with a yellow golden helmet sitting on the seat.

Frisk let out an impressed whistle as they walked up to it, “this is going to be fun, I haven’t ridden one in agesss,”

Wasting no more time, they slid on the helmet and hopped onto the seat, and turned on the machine, giggling with excitement, checking their map on their phone before stuffing it into the jacket.

They drove onto the nearest road and took it, having a blast as they sped through the mysterious desert and night sky, it was a refreshing change and they were absolutely loving it.

A few minutes later,  they felt Asriel nudge their arm in the right direction when they came to a crossroad

Soon, they spotted life ahead at the sight of cars, trucks, RV’s, and picnicking areas.

When they got close enough, they parked their motorcycle and hopped off, taking a moment to take in the area, there were a few people casually talking and taking pictures with professional cameras, not paying Frisk any attention. . . huh..

“What is it?” Asriel whispered.

“Nothing, I just realized I haven’t been around any other humans for awhile, it feels funny,” they whispered back.

“Mm… well there is nothing stopping you from talking to any of them while you have the chance,” he replied, patting their shoulder, he was showing them sympathy they guessed.

It was then Frisk also realized they still hadn’t taken off their helmet and finally removed it, and begun their walk, eyeing a single building in the distance- that was likely where the bathrooms were, but maybe if they double-checked with one of the tourists here they’d get a confirmation.

Halfway through their walk, they spotted a slightly older woman sitting on a fold-out chair in front of an RV, entertaining a baby on her lap with her phone, the way she smiled gave Frisk hope that she was nice.

Carefully, they approached the woman, waving when she spotted them.

“Hi! Nice to meet you, can you tell me if that building up there is the bathrooms?” they asked.

The woman nodded, “yeah, they really need more of them out here, don’t they?” she chatted.

Frisk chuckled, “mmhm, seems like it would help, by the way, your baby is amazingly cute, how many months are they?”

The woman smiled at the compliment, looking down at the baby in question lovingly, petting their brown curls “she’s six months, time is going by too fast,”

She then looked back up to Frisk, “you have any of your own?”

Frisk’s smile turned shy, “babies? Oh, no, not yet, maybe someday though,”

She chuckled, “that’s the spirit, it was nice to meet you too by the way,”

Frisk nodded, waving goodbye, then waving extra hard as they caught the baby’s attention, laughing with success and joy as the baby smiled extra big.

As they continued on, an awkward and uncomfortable feeling rolled over them as they realized that Asriel had heard the whole conversation.

What they had said about their feelings about babies had been honest, they’d always enjoyed the thought of someday becoming a parent and teaching and sharing with their child everything that they knew. . .

They briefly thought about their heavy feelings for Asriel..

Was it wise to fall in love with him if they wanted children someday? With someone who claimed wasn’t even interested no less?

How long was this life with him going to even last? Would their life be locked forever in a standstill because a selfish God didn’t want to let them go?

A familiar and unwelcome miserable anxious feeling rose inside their chest, the very same they felt when they realized that their last ex-boyfriend was falling out of love with them.

They then suddenly felt Asriel’s hand on their shoulder and give it a gentle squeeze, briefly taking them out of their heavy thoughts.

“Are you okay? Did that woman bother you?” he whispered, showing that he could feel these miserable emotions.

“No, I’m fine, I’m just… thinking about things,” they answered, their hand loosely covering their mouth pensively, covering up the fact that it appeared that they were talking to themselves.

“...I see..,”

He didn’t say anymore after that, so they continued to walk quietly, biting their bottom lip and picking up the pace as their need to use the bathroom was starting to become fairly more urgent.

As they reached the building, they soon spoke up.

“Wait out here,” they whispered to Asriel right before they opened the door, wasting no time as they rushed in, knowing full and well that they were going to miss a sarcastic reply.

While they were there, they continued their heavy thoughts…

They couldn’t deny that their life was in a weird place right now, but was it really at a standstill? Were they stuck? They certainly felt stuck back when they lived alone in their apartment, but was this life any different?

Living their life with Asriel wasn’t what they wanted or what they pictured, but they made their choice in hopes to better things, and in a way, it had, they had successfully freed Blooky from Asriel and had made sure that Asriel behaved himself, and in the process ended up making good friends with the both of them.

In a way, it was better than having the usual normal ‘find someone, settle down, and have a baby, be a parent’ deal.

That was the problem though, they wanted both, they wanted the fun excitement of living in Asriel’s world, but also wanted normal things.

Finishing that thought, they flushed the toilet and opened their stall door and went over to the nearest faucet, and started washing their hands.

Frisk then looked at their reflection in the mirror, realizing how sad they looked.

But they also realized… that they were young, twenty-one was actually not that old, they still had so much time on their hands before they were thirty.

Also, they were fairly attractive, if they ever got over Asriel and moved on, there was always a good chance they could find someone else who felt the same way.

They frowned at that boldly harsh line of thought, wincing, ah…that had really hurt.

Feeling tears stinging their eyes again, they peered down at the cool water flowing through the valley of their palms, they decided to splash some onto their face, splashing it a few more times for good measure.

Grabbing for a paper towel and simultaneously wiping their hands and face, they remembered Asriel’s friendlier than usual behavior today… surprising them with this trip had been the cherry on top of his kindness.

They wondered if hugging him had been the key… had they unlocked him?

Whatever it was, they wanted to see more of this rare side of him… it was risky and selfish to themselves, but they decided then and there that they were going to continue to hold out for him, his affection made them dangerously hopeful.

Deciding that, they stubbornly pushed forward, leaving the building feeling far better about themselves.

“That was weird, why do humans always have epiphanies in the bathroom?” they heard Asriel ask, nearly making Frisk laugh, but they were too embarrassed.

“Are you sure you can’t turn that off somehow? I’m not so sure I feel comfortable with you feeling my emotions anymore,” they asked.

“I understand, unfortunately, souls are immune to duct tape,” he joked in a deadpan voice.

At that, Frisk had trouble hiding their smile, chuckling quietly.

During the walk back to the motorcycle, Frisk waved one more time to the woman and her baby, goodbye.

Soon they were back on the road, a great and happy feeling blossoming inside of their chest as they soared through the night, getting so caught up in the view that they knew they would have just kept driving forever if Asriel hadn’t nudged them in the right direction again.

After turning off the road and onto the dirt, Frisk grew worried that they were lost, but were relieved when they recognized the blankets that awaited them.

As they parked and got off, Asriel finally spoke up.

“You can keep the motorcycle if you’d like,”

Frisk pulled off their helmet and let out a sad sigh, “I would like, but it has no license plate and I’m pretty sure neither of us wants to go through the DMV to deal with all of that,”

“Hm… or…you could just drive it around the Underground,”

Frisk raised their eyebrows as they imagined it, oh man, they would look so cool.

“Okay!” they finally said with a grin, giving in and hugging the motorcycle’s steering wheel.

“You can drive it around too if you want,” Frisk offered coolly as they casually began walking around, going nowhere in particular- diverting their gaze to the stars mostly.

“Thank you for the offer, but no, I’m fine, I have wings,” he answered.

Frisk nodded firmly, “yeah, that’s a good point… but… then again, you would look amazing doing some stunts and tricks on it, driving off cliffs- your big beautiful wings coming out in a blaze of glory as you glide through air, nothing holding you back, and T-Drop and I could watch you from the distance and say ‘wow! Asriel is so invincible and cool~’,”

“...Ah…hm… well, now that you put it that way, I think I will attempt to drive it,” he responded.

Frisk giggled, “now you’re getting it!”

After a few minutes of talking and walking, Frisk soon made their way back to the blankets and sat down, smiling as Asriel brought out a portable boombox and turned on a station that played slow rock.

“Are you hungry? I could summon us something to eat,” Asriel suddenly suggested.

“Yeah I could eat… hmmm… it’s been a while since I had a good kebab,” Frisk said, thinking out loud.

“Kebabs, huh? How do you feel about grilling out here?”

Frisk’s grinned, “that sounds great!” They then frowned, “except… I don’t have a very good track record with grilling…,”

He laughed, “I’m well aware, I was there to see that time you nearly blew up your kitchen, it’s fine, I’d like to do it all myself anyway, you can relax,”

Frisk laughed as well, shaking their head in amusement at the memory, “thanks,”

“It’s no problem… so… let’s see here, do you want a substantial amount of vegetables?” he asked.

“Yup, give me plenty of bell peppers, mushrooms, zucchinis, and onions pretty please,” they said.

“Any meat?”

Frisk paused, “chicken with teriyaki sauce I guess?”

“Sounds good, I’m going to have escargot with mine…you’re welcome to try it,” he said, then snapped his fingers, summoning a large round grill that Frisk couldn’t say they had ever seen before, it looked fairly fancy.

 They then sat up straight, tilting their head up to see better as a large pile of food appeared on a tray on the grill.

“What will you do while you wait?” he asked.

“I am going to take so many pictures, I have finally have genuine proof to show to the family online that I’m ‘traveling the world’,”

“Good plan,”

As soon as Asriel began cooking and the smell wafted, Frisk realized they were hungrier than they thought, remembering that it had been a while since they’d last eaten, so by the time it was ready, Frisk had trouble waiting for it to cool, accidentally burning their tongue in haste.

They also watched in fascination as Asriel began eating his own kebab, unable to look away as the kebab floated in midair and the grilled goods suddenly vanished into thin air.

After eating well, Frisk saw a bird in the distance take off.

“So… do you know anything about the wildlife out here?” they asked.

“Mmhm, there’s a good amount of creatures around here, deer, coyotes, porcupine, rabbits, snakes, birds, excreta, anyway, I wouldn’t worry about any of the more dangerous ones bothering us, I can simply get into their mind and scare them off,”  

Frisk nodded subtly, “don’t scare them too bad, I don’t want them traumatized,”

“Mmm, I wish you had told that to me earlier, I scared a couple of coyotes away while I was cooking,”

Frisk gaped, “why didn’t you tell me?!”

Asriel chuckled at that, “I didn’t want to traumatize you,”

Frisk let out a sigh and collapsed on the blanket, “…thanks..I suppose,” they then thought about, “how far away were these coyotes? I never saw any,”

“They were far away, I just didn’t want to chance them,”

Frisk smiled, he was a little overprotective, but it was nice to see that he cared like this.
 “That’s fair I suppose,”

The pair was quiet for a while, both feeling pretty full and cozy.

“Do you want to go to sleep? I’ll wake you when the milky-way starts to show,” Asriel spoke up suddenly, very likely noticing Frisk’s calm mood and stillness.

“Sure, may I have a pillow?” Frisk asked, the idea of sleeping under the stars sounding very appealing at the moment, they were already lulled.

At that, Frisk’s main pillow from off their bed appeared on their lap.

“Excellent, thanks Mr. Hyperdeath,” they said, flipping the pillow under their head and pulling up the second blanket up to their chin.

There was a few seconds before a question intruded in Frisk’s mind.

“Hey,” they began, getting his attention, “can I ask a personal question?”

“Mm, yes,”

“Do you sleep?”

“No, I don’t need to and I can’t, but I do enjoy lying down and zoning out,”

Frisk frowned, “that’s terrible, I’d be sad If I couldn’t sleep anymore,”

“It was pleasant news to me, I used to suffer from nightmares often, and the best part of not needing any sleep is that I have more time available to me than most,” he explained.

Frisk raised their eyebrows, “oh, well that’s a very good way to look at that,”

There was a pause as a risky idea passed through Frisk’s mind…

“...How do you feel about having a slumber party with me? I can do the slumbering and you can do the partying, don’t worry- I’m not trying to make a sex joke, I just think… it would be nice to have a bed buddy,” they asked, completely prepared if he declined on the offer.

For a long moment, he didn’t say anything, they were so sure that he was going to say no.

“I’ll think about it,” he finally answered.

“Whoa, really?” Frisk gasped in near disbelief.

“Yes, really, just don’t get your hopes up,” he mumbled.

Frisk smiled softly, finally closing their eyes and turning over, “cool,”

Despite being far away from home, they knew full and well that nothing was going to harm them and that they were safe, and thanks to that, found themselves drifting off to sleep with ease.

During their rest, they dreamed of the golden flowers from Mt.Ebott…

They watched from somewhere far away, staring as thousands of flowers rained down from the recesses of space in the middle of the desert… like shooting stars…

…And as they grew closer, they all sparked and caught fire and crashed down into the dirt in mindless explosions, creating larger than life craters in to the earth. . .

They’d never seen so beautiful yet terrifying at the same time…

 Or… wait, yes they had…

Just as the earth was about to be entirely wiped out, Frisk was then woken up by Asriel patting their shoulder, a relaxing song quietly from the boombox.

“It’s here,” was all that he said.

They blinked open their eyes and turned over, then gasped in pure amazement as they saw a brilliant deep streak of color in the night sky, it was so much more magnificent than they ever thought it would be.

They were stunned, finding it difficult to speak.

“It’s… it’s so beautiful…,” they finally whispered.

“I’ve seen it from the other side, it looks as beautiful from there too,” they heard Asriel say, his words just barely registering in their mind.

“Huh?”

“I’ve been out in space, I go rather frequently actually, NASA would lose their collective minds if they knew about all the things I’ve seen,” he bragged.

At this news, Frisk’s eyes practically sparkled as they imagined it, the view of the Milky Way enhancing their imagination tenfold, were they still dreaming?

“Do… you like visiting the moon?” they asked softly.

“Mmhm, I go up there on my more darker days, it’s amazing to watch Earth from there, but sitting on one of Saturn’s rocks in its rings is where I get a lot of my better thinking done at,”

Frisk let out an impressed whistle, “…You’re so lucky…,”

At that, Asriel chuckled lowly.

“Maybe I could steal an astronaut suit for you, I could show all of space to you,” he offered quietly.

Frisk slowly grinned, completely charmed and in awe, after everything, they had no doubt he would do this for them.

“I would love every second of it Asriel… but…I’m afraid my brain would break down and explode,” they admitted honestly.

They could practically hear him smile in response, “perhaps, there’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?”

“Yeah… but I think I’ll stay on Earth for now… I think it’s going to take me awhile to process this trip,”

“Whatever you want Frisk, it’s all yours,”

The two of them continued talking, with Asriel telling them a few stories of all the things he had seen away from home, then soon… the night sky began to change colors, oranges and pinks blending into the blues as the sun steadily but surely returned. . . it always did.

And every new day was getting better.

Chapter Text

Inspiration Song: Break My Heart by Dua Lipa

I've always been the one to say the first goodbye
Had to love and lose a hundred million times
Had to get it wrong to know just what I like
Now I'm falling

You say my name like I have never heard before
I'm indecisive, but this time I know for sure
I hope I'm not the only one that feels it all
Are you falling?

Centre of attention
You know you can get whatever you want from me
Whenever you want it, baby
It's you in my reflection
I'm afraid of all the things it could do to me
If I woulda known it, baby

I would've stayed at home
'Cause I was doing better alone
But when you said, "Hello"
I knew that was the end of it all
I should've stayed at home
'Cause now there ain't no letting you go
Am I falling in love with the one that could break my heart?

I wonder, when you go, if I stay on your mind
Two can play that game, but you win me every time
Everyone before you was a waste of time
Yeah, you got me

Frisk let out a sharp yelp, shuddering as they and Asriel reappeared back into the living room together.

“Oh my gosh…. ah…does it feel like THAT to you?!” Frisk asked him, their voice hoarse, raising their shaky hands up to comb their fingers through their hair anxiously, feeling completely rattled, they wouldn’t be surprised if they started crying again, they felt so completely overwhelmed.

“Agh...n-no, it feels like nothing to me… why don’t you take a seat and rest,” Asriel answered, motioning the couch as he took his own spot on his chair, staring at the floor, and began restlessly shaking his left leg.

Frisk let out a small helpless noise and nodded, going over to the couch, immediately lying down and curling up into a ball, beginning to cry.

“Did you… did you…feel it through me though?” they asked, sniffling, wiping their eyes.

“Yes… it’s…. shocking, it is definitely… a lot,” he murmured, covering his own eyes behind his hands, he was very likely crying as well.

“I… I…ah… guess…. I’ll need to do more than hyping myself up next time…..,” they mumbled, sniffling back their tears then rolled over, finally taking notice of Asriel on his chair and shakily sighed, “…it’s really nice to see you again,”

At that, Asriel uncovered one eye to look at them, a faint smile appearing on his lips “..thank you,”

He then looked away over to the fireplace and snapped his fingers, summoning a pleasant fire.

“If it continues to affect us in such an embarrassing way… we…ah..,” he then wiped his eyes again, “we may need to start making arrangements prior to make a place to calm ourselves down first,”

“Like a hotel?” Frisk asked, wiping their eyes.

He let out a slow, heavy sigh, “perhaps…yes..whatever works,”

“How would you pay them?”

Asriel let out a chuckle, “why would we pay anyone? I’ll simply just take us to an unoccupied suite and leave once they suspect something, I’ve done it plenty of times,”

Frisk rolled their eyes- both at themselves and Asriel, “I should have guessed you would be the type to live it up like a sneaky rockstar,”

He grinned sharply, “well, you know what they say… ‘finders keepers, losers weepers, if it feels good and tastes good, then it must be mine’,”

“I bet you’d look reeeally handsome in a black four-piece suit,” Frisk mumbled, half daydreaming about their fancy luxury-loving best friend.

Asriel blinked in surprise and laughed, “excuse me?”

Frisk grinned slowly, slightly embarrassed that they had said that “um..yeah… I think you’d look really nice in a suit, with one of those neat long tailcoats,”

He chuckled a little more and shook his head dismissively, “I think I will brew us some tea,” he said and got up, floating away from the living room.

“That sounds good,” Frisk murmured.

Despite their reaction to Asriel’s transporting powers, their first trip out had been far better than anything they could have imagined, they wondered if he was going to surprise them again on the next trip or if they’d get to choose.

All they knew for sure is that he offered to literally take them to see the stars and that Frisk was still swooning.

It had been such a shame that he had been invisible, they knew would have tried to kiss him…

…It was also a shame that he had no romantic interest in them…

Frisk frowned and spread out their legs, taking full advantage of the couch, re-reminding themselves with their talk that they had with themselves in the bathroom last night, they just had to stay hopeful….

Actually…his actions had actually been fairly romantic, hadn’t they? Little by little, since they’d met, he had slowly been showing different pieces of himself to them, but he had always seemed like he was holding himself back somehow…

There was a good chance that he was still holding himself back even now.

The only way to find out and it was to ask. . .

Frisk sat up and peeked over at the kitchen to take a glance at the God…but didn’t see him, where did he-

“Looking for me?” Asriel questioned with an amused grin, revealing himself right next to them.

“AH!” they shrieked, jumping back in surprise.

At that, his grin widened “I’ll take that as a yes,” he said smugly, handing them their tea, “careful idiot, it’s hot,”

Frisk sighed, calming back down, taking notice of which mug that he handed them, seeing that it was the one with the picture of a few signature Halloween creatures dancing among a field of sunflowers.

“This is my favorite mug, did you know that?” they asked.

He shrugged, going back to his seat “I figured, you use it more than the others,”

Frisk gazed at their mug, “I first saw it in a second-hand store, it caught my eye instantly, it makes me nostalgic, for what…I don’t know, it just feels nice to look at this little scene, I guess I just really like Halloween,”

“Yes, Halloween is nice, but I was always a little more prone to Christmas myself,” Asriel said, stirring a spoon into his own mug, “hm…I guess that explains my holly mugs…,”

Frisk chuckled, then began thinking about the question that they were considering.

Then, they changed their mind, they didn’t want to ruin the moment, deciding that things were fine the way at this very moment.

Why mess that up with an uncomfortable question?

At that thought, they took a sip of their tea, finding that it wasn’t ready yet either.

Sometimes… things were better when you waited…

After that, Asriel left early, allowing Frisk time to themselves to rest.

Then, two days passed and things began to go back to normal, waking up early, eating breakfast, watering the garden, doing puzzles of all sorts, come home and eat, maybe watch a movie, the only change was that Asriel was friendlier and less grumpy, but it was almost as if their trip hadn’t happened.

Nothing different happened the third day either.

That was…until night came…

Frisk had just settled into their bed and began considering sleep, but sat up straight in alarm as a knock was heard at their door.

“Is that you Asriel?” they asked.

“Yes, I’ve finally made my mind up about the sleepover, is the invitation still open?” he answered.

Frisk’s eyebrows rose up in pleasant surprise, they had nearly forgotten that they had made that invitation.

“Whoa, yeah, it’s still open! Just… hang on a second, let me get decent,” Frisk answered, practically leaping off their bed and straight to their drawers, fishing out some pajama pants for their naked legs.

Once they were ready, they ran over to open the door and gasped.

Asriel, the Absolute God of Hyperdeath, wasn’t wearing his robes, instead, he was wearing a dark grey tank top and loose black pajama pants.

Frisk pursed their lips hard, holding back a few very bold flirtatious compliments, unsure of which to stare at, his long arms or his long legs, they had never seen either pair until now.

They also noted that he was actually fairly thinner and wiry without his robe, and he definitely wasn’t any kind of bodybuilder but there was definitely some hint of muscle, fortunately, none of it was a turn-off to Frisk.

They decided to be polite and direct their attention to his face, figuring that he was probably feeling awkward about this.

“I like your outfit, you look nice,” was all that they allowed themselves to say.

“It’s just pajamas, calm down,” he said with a small smile, looking past them and into their room.

Frisk chuckled shyly and turned back to their bed, sitting on the edge, a particular older dream involving Asriel playing in the back of their mind- but for this evening they were going to make sure it stayed back there.

“Sorry, I don’t have anything in mind for fun, you kind of caught me off guard,” they began “we could watch a movie if you want, I don’t mind staying up a little longer,”

He simply nodded and floated in, absent-mindedly closing the door behind him with his power.

Frisk then got up and fished through their favorite movies, and held up a particular one, and showed it to Asriel, “this one looks alright?”

He eyed it briefly, “yes, it will do…,” he then sat down on the unruffled side of the bed and scratched at a place behind his left horn, staring at the floor.

“Are you okay?” they asked, pretending they didn’t feel very shy about this situation themselves.

“I’m fine, it’s just been a long time since I spent time with someone like this,” he explained.

“What about when we were together at the Devils Garden? This isn’t too different,” they said, popping the DVD in.

“No… it’s… very different, believe me,” he said with a sigh.

Frisk smiled gently, “I suppose you’re right, but we’re friends, so there’s nothing to worry about,” they said and made their way back to the bed, sliding under the covers, they then looked to him a smiled warmly “right?”

He gazed back and nodded, smiling back “right.”

With that agreement, Asriel fully got on to the bed, bending his knees up so his feet wouldn’t hang over and not bothering to cover up.

“Comfortable?” Frisk asked, concerned that the bed wasn’t big enough for him.

“I’m fine, if it starts to bother me, I’ll simply shrink myself,”

Frisk looked at him in awe, “how small can you get?”

“Infinitely small I guess, I never tried it, I prefer being tall, I can also change my form into any shape that I want,” he explained.

“Oh, so…. you could be an animal if you want? Or a human?” they questioned.

He made a face of disgust, “don’t even suggest such a horrible thing, the thought of turning myself into a human is disgusting,”

“I dunno, I wouldn’t mind being a monster for a day, but I get what you mean,” Frisk said, briefly patting his shoulder, immediately in further awe at how soft his fur was.

Asriel sighed, “you would make for a very interesting monster, that would be for certain, but I think you’d be better off as a human… anyway, are we going to watch this now or do you prefer talking until the sun comes up?”

Frisk chuckled, “I know you’re being sarcastic, but both sound pretty nice to me,” they said and flicked the movie on.

Their tension slowly eased off as they watched the movie, especially when Asriel suddenly gave them a small bag of fresh popcorn and something to drink… and then later a hanky when they started crying at an emotional moment.

And then, before they knew it. . . the credits rolled in, a pleasant song playing- convincing Frisk to let it play for a little longer.

“How did you like the movie?” Frisk asked, making small talk, letting out a sleepy yawn.

“It was fine, but I’ve seen better,” he said, “you have any other fun ideas?”

“...No, sorry, I’m about to crash, I think I should go to bed,” they said, slightly disappointed with themselves.

He eyed them “don’t apologize for wanting rest,”

They smiled softly at him “…sssooo, what are you planning to do while I’m asleep?”

“Finish my book, look through your things, I don’t know…,” Asriel joked, but his tone didn’t quite hit home, it seemed as though he was distracted by something.

“Well, you can leave any time you like if you get bored, it won’t bother me,” they said, finally stopping the DVD and turning off the TV.

At that, he didn’t immediately respond, it was clear he had something heavy on his mind.

“Mmm, I won’t get bored, just…. go to bed already, stop worrying about me,” he soon answered.

Frisk gave him another smile, then reached over to finally turn off their lamp and fully sink underneath their blankets, and flipping onto their side facing Asriel, gazing at him for a few seconds, taking in the moment before closing their eyes.

The room grew peacefully silent after that… but despite that peacefulness, Frisk couldn’t seem to go to sleep, their mind too heavy with the fact that there was a God in their bed.

And then, after a few minutes… he began to speak…

“Frisk… I need you to know...that I’m a liar, I’m probably the biggest liar you will ever come to know… but tonight, I’m going to tell you a single truth,” they suddenly heard him speak, his deep husky voice quiet and somber.

Then, before they had a chance to question him, Frisk felt the sheets ruffle and then was grabbed up, his hands in different places on their back, effectively pulling them in and holding them flush to his body, he spoke more before they realized what position they were in...

“When I told you that I didn’t find humans attractive, I was lying… to the both of us, the honest truth is that you drive me insane,” he admitted, “and...that… I love you, Frisk, I have for quite a while, it’s been something I’ve been coming to terms with,”

Frisk’s heart was thumping away in their chest as they consumed his words, if he weren’t holding them right now, they weren’t sure if they would believe him, that he was possibly toying with them... but...

“… I’ve been in denial… I wanted to keep you at arm's length… it was difficult when I realized that you felt the same way, but I believed it was better to lie to you, that keeping things ‘platonic’ would be better for the both of us,” he explained.

He then chuckled hoarsely “….I can feel it even now, how shocked and happy you are, it’s wonderful…,”

Frisk pressed their face against his chest, their eyes tearing up in embarrassment but most of all, they were relieved that their love had been reciprocated, it was almost too much.

“H-How do you feel?” they asked him shyly.

“I feel..…scared… but…thrilled, it’s been a long time since I’ve really loved or cared about anyone like this, much less ‘romantically’,”

Frisk grinned, moving their own arms to wrap around Asriel’s waist, hugging him back.

“...There's so many reasons why I shouldn’t feel this way for you, and more so why you shouldn’t feel the same way, but… ..,” he then inhaled, slowly and gently caressing his clawed hand across Frisk’s back...

 “…I couldn’t resist,” he said, nuzzling his muzzle in their hair, the intimacy of his actions and words practically hypnotizing Frisk.

“Is this a dream? Is this like before?” they asked him.

He chuckled lowly and his hands moving slowly  “no, this is just me giving in to something I shouldn’t…again,”

“You talk like confessing your love is a bad thing,” Frisk said.

“That’s because I know how bad I am for you…I am certain that you won’t be happy with me Frisk, I’ve known that from the very start,”

Frisk frowned, but refused to see things his way, “and I don’t care, I’ve known that you have more secrets you won’t tell me, don’t forget that I still made the decision to stay with you and be your friend,”

He chuckled again, “your forgiving attitude has always made me feel hopeful,”

“Good, stay hopeful because I’m here to stay babe, we’ll never be lonely again,” they said, snuggling him closer.

“...Never?” he genuinely asked.

“Never, I promise.”

“I promise as well,” he whispered, and then… they felt him kiss their forehead.

Frisk’s heart leaped in their chest and their breath quickened, lifting their head up, gazing into Asriel’s glowing scarlet red eyes, raising a hand to graze his cheek.

The two of them then moved at the same time, meeting in the middle to finally kiss.

Frisk didn’t move away to let it be a simple peck, pushing further to continue longer, with Asriel easily and hungrily giving in, as if he’d never been touched at all in his entire life, removing one hand up to hold Frisk’s, clasping his long fingers around theirs.

Kissing someone built the way Asriel was… different, his monster mouth not quite fitting their lips the right way, but it certainly didn’t turn Frisk off, in fact, they found it mysteriously alluring.

In fact, it was amazing, despite his warnings, kissing and being within his arms never felt more right.

Soon… their first kiss together very soon evolved into their first make-out session, Asriel’s fingers combing deep within Frisk’s long hair, his other still enveloped around their hand, making a pleased deep monstrous hum as he took a lick of their lips with his black tongue- with them immediately licking him back with their pink one, both getting a good taste test of the other.

They lost track of time together like that, finally relieving their pent-up emotions, kissing until Frisk was breathless.

Once they parted, Asriel laid flat on his back with Frisk tucked comfortably into the crook of his arm, panting for oxygen.

As they calmed back down, they reached out and lazily petted his broad chest, their mind hazy, drunk off love… but something below caught their eye…

It was located underneath the sheets where Asriel’s hips resigned- evidence of his passion during the make-out session.

Ah, if there was ever proof that he found Frisk attractive, there was now plenty of it.

Shy and their entire face rosy, Frisk looked back up at Asriel’s face, taking note that his eyes were closed- it was likely he was taking his form of a breather too.

“Are you okay?” they whispered.

He blinked his eyes back open and looked down at them, “yes… it’s just-,” he then paused as he also spotted his erection and groaned in annoyance (and probably embarrassment.)

“Damn it, I didn’t think this through, I used to have so much more foresight than this…,” he grumbled to himself, sitting up and fixing the sheets to better hide himself.

“There’s nothing wrong with it, don’t be embarrassed, it’s completely natural…,” Frisk said, reaching out to pat his arm comfortingly.

“I know it’s natural, it’s just inconvenient… it’s also not exactly ‘charming’ after what just happened,” he explained, his posture pensive and stiff, it was likely he was thinking of what to do about the situation.

“I don’t know about that, I’m pretty flattered,” Frisk flirtatiously joked with honesty.

He rolled his eyes at that but chuckled anyway.

They tried not to stare, keeping their eyes down at their own lap.

In their mind, Asriel really had no reason to be embarrassed, in fact... the mood almost felt right for the ideas that blossomed inside their thoughts, their body still heavy and drunk with the passion that they'd just shared, they knew he was uncomfortable right now, but if they talked things over and sweet-talked him, there could be a chance they could show each other how they felt physically...

Frisk breathed slowly, calming and preparing themselves for what they were going to say next. . .

“What if…,”

“No.” he answered automatically in a growl.

At that, Frisk sat up, “you didn’t let me-,”

Asriel finally looked at them, his expression annoyed- but there was a softness to his eyes.

“It’s too soon Frisk…it’s just too soon…I …understand that we both want each other badly, but please…,” he then took their hand and gave it a quick squeeze, gazing deeply into their eyes “let me do this the right way, okay? I’ve already screwed up enough with you,”

Frisk understood fully and smiled gently and nodded, “whatever makes you the most comfortable,” they then kissed his hand “let’s do this the right way,”

At that, Asriel’s diamond pupils dilated big and he leaned over and returned the sentiment by kissing their cheek, his fluff tickling their skin in the process and making them giggle softly.

Frisk touched their cheek in response, gazing at him, so happy they could cry.

At that, Asriel grinned and laughed, “it really is such a relief that you feel the same way, otherwise I think I would have lost my mind,”

“You hide your feelings really well, Az,” Frisk complimented, “I had no idea, but there.. were times…that I thought I was seeing signs of… …something…,”

He scoffed at himself, “you likely were, it wasn’t easy, you’re too observant for my liking,”

Frisk smiled coyly, thinking back to his earlier words, “ssssoooo… you want me bad, hhhm?”

He scowled in shy embarrassment and looked away, yet still held their hand, “aren’t you tired? Why don’t you kindly hush and go to bed?”

They chuckled silently, “alright, I get it, I’ll back off, goodnight Asriel,” they said and slid back under their blankets, covering themselves back up.

“Goodnight,” he murmured.

There was an awkward moment as Asriel continued sitting there, hunched over and completely still.

“So what’s your plan for..…y’know?” Frisk whispered curiously.

“Sssshhh, I’m concentrating, that’s the plan,” he whispered back “sleep.”

At that, Frisk finally closed their eyes, realizing that the best thing to for him right now was to rest, he had said that they became calm in their sleep after all. . .

And as they drifted, they dreamed once again…

…..

..

They found themselves sitting in an enormous room, from the ceiling, to the wall, to the floor, it was charcoal black… with immensely bright beautiful rainbow-stained glass windows…and in front of all of that, was an altar made of glittery black rock.

As they observed more, they realized that they happened to be sitting among hundreds of others in rows and rows of church pews.

What caught their attention was that in the pews, were misshapen dark shadow creatures of all shapes and sizes, their eyes completely white and glowing, all of them staring dead ahead toward the windows, as if they were waiting. . .

“Where is the preacher?” Frisk asked out loud curiously.

“Preacher? Oh, we’re waiting only on god now, dear,” the shadow creature next to them in a whisper.

“He’s so busy these days, I can’t remember the last time I saw him,” another one sighed in defeat.

Then, everything around them dissipated into nothingness, their dream melting away in their memory as Frisk slowly woke up…

….

..

.

As their mind turned back on, they shifted around and were briefly alarmed when their hand smacked into something soft but firm, then relaxed when they remembered Asriel was currently serving as their bed buddy and now their boyfriend.

“My bad…,” Frisk apologized drowsily, they then curiously patted their hand against the mysterious body part they were touching.

“It’s fine, but if you were attempting to hit me, you are doing an extremely poor job, at most that was a tickle,” they heard Asriel answer casually, but there was a hint of amusement in his tone.

Finally, Frisk cracked open their eyes, looking in awe at Asriel, who was lying on his side facing them and was practically circling them in the bed, as if he were shielding them with his body from a boogeyman.

They then realized what he was talking about when they realized that their hand was on his belly.

Amused but a little shy, they pulled their hand away and grinned sheepishly, rubbing the sleep from their eyes.

“Good morning, what time is it?” they asked.

“Twelve-thirty AM,” he announced, casually wrapping an arm around them, his fingers splayed out against their back.

Frisk let out a small gasp of surprise, “oh…why didn’t you wake me up?”

“Because I came to the conclusion that things have drastically changed between us, or at least I would like it to, I no longer feel completely comfortable with bossing you around anymore… I have for a while, actually,” he explained.

Frisk smiled warmly, closing their eyes and resting their forehead against his chest.

“That’s wonderful, although… I’ve got to admit I did kind of like our schedule we had going… except for the waking up five in the morning part,”

Asriel chuckled, “don’t worry, I’ve decided to let you wake up whenever you want from now on, but I do agree, we should have some sort of order, shouldn’t we?”

“I don’t mind gardening or the puzzles…,” Frisk offered.

“Done, but if I’m to be honest…as long as you’re there, I don’t give a damn what we do anymore,” Asriel answered boldly, turning over more on his belly and scooping Frisk closer to him and snuggled them into his chest further, there was no escape, he had them completely locked in underneath him.

Frisk made a surprised but very pleased squeak as they were buried into him, this was definitely the opposite of a problem though.

They then came to a conclusion about something.

“Hey… was Devils Garden a date?” they asked.

He chuckled at that, it feeling like a rumble on Frisk’s end.
“Technically… in my head it was one,” he admitted with humor.

Frisk grinned softly, “I believe it, you were certainly acting like a boyfriend, I was so surprised by how sweet you were being,”

“Mm, speaking of sweet…,” he kissed the top of their head, “do you want anything to eat?” he questioned.

“Yeah, sounds good, I wouldn’t mind french toast again,” they then grinned slyly, “a french kiss afterwards sounds nice too…,”

He was silent for a moment, as if he were trying to process their words before he finally spoke.

“I’m.. very sure… both can be more than successfully accomplished,” and then he rolled off of them and got up from the bed and stretched his arms before turning his attention back to Frisk.

“I was…ah.. also thinking… that…you could leave the mountain and see your aunt today…that is… if you want to, you could tell her that you’re back in town… or something of that nature,” he announced, looking away down at the ground.

Frisk raised their eyebrows and halfway sat up, “by myself?”

He nodded stiffly, “I understand how much you must miss her and your cousin, how does a week there sound?”

Frisk smiled, “it sounds wonderful…does this mean you finally trust me?”

He nodded again but slower, “after last night… I reflected on a few things, and I realized that you would be happier if I loosened up with my restrictions, you’re Mine but also…not Mine,”

Frisk chuckled softly, “I understand…you should have let me visit my aunt sooner before confessing to me, I almost don’t want to leave, I’m so excited to be starting on a new level with you,”

He smiled, “I am too,”  but sighed again, rubbing at his chin thoughtfully.

Frisk watched him, growing concerned “something wrong?”

“No, it’s just… I don’t actually want you to go either, it bothers me how much I don’t want to be away from you… so, a part of my idea of letting you leave was to see how long I can last without you,” he then finally looked them in the eyes.

“I’ve loved people before, but I’ve never felt it quite like this and it’s been a very long time for me…,” he explained.

At that, Frisk crawled across the bed and stood up on top of the mattress, motioning Asriel to come closer, wrapping their arms around his shoulders and resting their cheek against him.

In return, he held them back, snuggling his muzzle in their hair.

They let out a sweet sigh at his touch, petting the back of his soft fluffy white fur.

“Do what feels right, I promise I’ll come back and we’ll go on a hundred and ten dates, I’m going to love you so hard and good, you won’t even remember what being lonely even remotely feels like,” Frisk declared with absolution.

At that, Asriel let out a hearty excited laugh, holding onto Frisk tighter and doing a zealous spin in the air, making them shriek with laughter.

After spinning around, the pair soon unglued from each other, Asriel popping to the kitchen and Frisk to the bathroom.

As Frisk prepared themselves for the day, they found themselves in a state of near disbelief as the night before replayed in their mind, wondering if they were still dreaming, but…they rubbed their face with a freezing washcloth…and no! They were definitely awake in real life and dating Asriel!

Their heart fluttered and they felt giddy, unsure if they needed to sit down or dance to the rhythm.

They began to feel very similar to how they felt the first morning, how self-conscious they felt about sharing a space with a handsome God.

The feelings had returned but now it was for more different and more heartfelt reasons, now that they knew he felt the same and found them attractive, this time looking nice felt much more important.

There was also the exhilarating realization that he was (all along) open to the idea of sex, but he had been right, it was a little too soon to talk about it just yet, they still had to handle this relationship carefully…

Frisk then smiled themselves as they remembered the kisses they shared, touching their fingertips to their lips absent-mindedly, on the other hand… it was clear that their relationship was strong enough to handle several minutes of passionate kissing. . .

How lucky they were…

They chuckled softly at their daydream, taking a good look at themselves in the mirror and deciding they were happy with their appearance before stepping out of the bathroom.

They perked up when a familiar sweet smell crossed paths with their nose, directing their attention to the kitchen.

As they approached, Asriel turned to look at them, flashing them a genuinely happy smile.

“You know, I haven’t told you yet, but eating with you is one of my most favorite things to do,” Frisk admitted, walking up to him slowly and shyly.

His smile grew slightly at that, “really? I feel the same way,” he then halved his attention back to his work, “it’s strange how the minuscule moments like that seem the most special,”

The smile then faded and he let out a deep sigh, “when do you plan on leaving today?” he asked without looking up.

Frisk frowned and scratched the back of their head, “hm, maybe in a couple of hours, I’d like to talk to T-Drop before I go, I don’t want them to worry about me,”

“Sounds reasonable.” he said, then hovered over to a cabinet and pulled out two plates (instead of summoning them upon the table) “I will now be conducting our breakfast together at a below-average slow human speed,”

Frisk giggled, “that’s perfectly reasonable, let’s take it slow baby~,”

Asriel paused momentarily as he began gathering the food onto the plates, his face knitted into tight confusion, “did you just… call me ‘baby’?”

Frisk paused as well, smiling sheepishly, realizing that they had said it without thinking, now embarrassed “yeah, looks like I did…it just felt natural to say, sorry…?”

Asriel visibly relaxed at their response, shaking his head dismissively, going back to his work “don’t be, it’s just.. .a little.. weird, I can’t remember the last time anyone’s ever called me… that,”

Frisk leaned against the wall, fidgeting their fingers as they watched him, an old question appearing in their mind.

“Don’t take this the wrong way Az… but… you’ve never dated anyone before, have you?”

At that, Asriel frowned tightly, he looked bothered by the question, he shook his head ‘no’.
“I haven’t, so…I’m not as experienced as you are in that subject, but I am willing to learn from you,”

He then eyed them suavely and smiled again “is that okay?”

Frisk felt themselves grow warm at the way he looked at them and grew excited, grinning big, unsure of where to put their hands at- opting for their hips.
“yEAH! It’s fine! i’D lOVE to teach you how to date!”

He chuckled, “great, it’s good to know my teacher is the fun and attractive type,”

Frisk gasped, their face turned pink, “flirting! You’re flirting with me!”

He nodded firmly, his smile turning shy “I have been for a while now, I’m relieved that you've finally noticed,”

Frisk laughed softly, walked over to him, and hugged on to his side, inadvertently forcing him to stop his plate carrying, one hand automatically coming down to hold them.

“I’ve noticed, it’s just I’ve been in denial of any little move you made for a long time, it’s still hitting me that we’re actually dating,” Frisk explained.

“Me too… I- ah… is there going to be a lot of this? Sudden hugs?” he asked, sounding flustered.

Frisk looked up at him, seeing that his posture was a little off, his expression unreadable- to which made them begin to back away, but his hand kept them in place.

“Well… yeah, hopefully, if I had it my way we’d be hugging non-stop, are you okay?” they asked.

“Yes, I just wish you weren’t leaving now.” he said and hesitantly removed his hand, gazing softly at Frisk for a moment before he continued setting the table.

“Just keep reminding yourself how satisfying the reunion will be, it’ll be like we’re starting off fresh,” they recommended sweetly.

Asriel smiled, “I hope so, speaking of reunions, will you be okay with your family? I know how uncomfortable you are with lying,”

Frisk paused and frowned, “…well, I’ve been lying to them online and over the phone, I don’t know how easy lying to their faces will be,”

“Hm, I could Load a Save File for you if you mess up,”

Frisk raised an eyebrow at his wording, “huh?”

Asriel shook his head at himself, “pardon me, I meant I could go back in time for you,”

They nodded, “I see, thank you, I’ll call you if I have any problems… or if I just miss you,”

He smiled warmly, and with that, finally brought everything to the table at breakfast was officially ready to be eaten.

“So,” Frisk began, “you said you could ‘load a save file’? Do your powers remind you of a video game?”

He eyed his plate and shrugged, “it’s more like…ah… my Power works like a video game, I just called it ‘time traveling’ so you can understand it better, that’s what it roughly boils down to anyway,”

He then sighed heavily and leaned over, running his claws through his fluff bangs.

 “…It’s… things… like that I have decided to quit holding back and lying about, I’ve become tired of the facade I’ve put on to fool you, I just want you to know who I really am,” he then looked to them, “I can’t do it all at once though or I’ll probably burst,”

Frisk nodded slowly, “I understand… I won’t pressure you though,” they then gave him an encouraging smile, “it’s probably best to go slow for my sake as well, I’m still surprised that you confessed to me in the first place, I think it’s going to take a week or five for it to really sink it,”

Asriel cracked a smile, “you’re only surprised because I kept lying to you, if I had been honest with my feeling from the get-go… we would have been dating the moment you attempted to rip that robe off in front of me,”

Frisk sat up straight at that and grinned brightly with pleasant surprise and humor, “you would have asked me to date you when I was STRIPPING in front of you?!”

At that, Asriel rolled his eyes at himself and laughed, “okay, not at that very moment, but I was certainly realizing how difficult it was going to be sharing my space with you, because I was…. Incredibly ..Turned On,”  

Frisk laughed in surprise and became completely flustered, “wow!”

Asriel grinned anxiously “is too early for this type of talk right now? I think it’s too early,” he then pretended to be surprised by their breakfast, “look at that! We’ve been talking too much, let’s eat before it gets cold, shall we?” he said and stuffed his mouth full of french toast.

Frisk continued to laugh, still further relieved that Asriel shared their feelings.

It really was lovely.

After finishing their food, Frisk went back to their room and began to pack, planning what they were going to tell their aunt and cousin, they hoped they didn’t ask too many questions, momentarily pausing as they imagined what their family would say if they told the truth.. . .  .

They shook their head quickly, it wouldn’t be good, their aunt and cousin were pretty protective... and until they had more time to figure it out, Asriel was staying a secret.

However, Blooky was different, they were getting the pleasure of being the first and maybe the only one to hear about the blossoming romance.

At that line of thought, Frisk hastily finished up their packing and made their way to the exit, passing Asriel who was sitting in the living room, immediately catching his attention.

“Going to speak to the ghost?” Asriel asked.

Frisk paused and turned to look at him “yes, and I’m bringing them here to talk about it, I also want to tell them that we’re dating, is that okay with you?”

Asriel’s current frown deepened, “…not really…,” his eyes then glazed over as he thought about something and then focused back on Frisk, “…well..never mind, it’s fine,”

Frisk raised a skeptical eyebrow at him and shrugged it off, “okay, I’ll be back soon,”

Thankfully, they found floating around in the empty dimly lit Resort that once belonged to an ‘annoyingly eccentric’ robot- or so Asriel had told them in one of his short stories, either way, it was a nice place that Frisk liked to picnic with Blooky at, sing karaoke, play music, and watch movies on a projector and pretend they're at the cinemas. 

“Hey friend! I’ve got some great news,” Frisk greeted, waving as they walked up to the ghost.

“oh… did you finish your drawing?” they questioned.

They paused “I actually forgot all about that… whoops...,” they then chuckled sheepishly, “but never mind that, I want to take you to my place and talk to you about the news with Asriel,”

Blooky’s wide eyes widened a little more in surprise, “…. really….? he wants to talk to… me…?”

Frisk nodded, “sort of, I just want him to be there when I tell you, it’s kind of important to me that everyone is on the same page about it,”

“did…something happen between you two again…?” Blooky asked, a curious smile appearing on their face.

They chuckled shyly and nodded again but more enthusiastically, “something definitely happened between us! Something wonderful!” they then grinned and pulled out their phone, “I can’t wait, I’m too excited, I’ll just call him and get him to come over here instead,”

They then dialed.

“Yes?” he answered.

“Could you come by the Resort?”

“I thought you were bringing the ghost here?”

“That was before I remembered you’re much faster than I am,”

There was then a familiar noise and suddenly Asriel was right next to them- still holding his phone.

“That’s true,” he confirmed with a proud smirk, he then eyed Blooky and crossed his arms behind his back, his smirk fading “hi.”

“hi,” Blooky greeted back, floating away slightly.

Frisk sighed, “yeah, I understand you two don’t have the best history together, but since you’re my best friends, it was important to discuss this together,”

“Frisk and I are dating,” Asriel announced, cracking a playful smile and laughing as Frisk scoffed in mild disbelief.

“Aw! I wanted to tell them!” Frisk complained.

“Pardon me, do you want to tell them that you’re leaving for a while or shall I?” he asked teasingly, laughing more at the look on Frisk’s face.

Meanwhile, Blooky was absolutely dumbfounded, slowly processing the news being broadly broadcasted in front of them.

“so, you two love each other? romantically?” Blooky questioned

The question caught the couple off guard, Asriel narrowing his eyebrows and looking away as Frisk beamed a shy grin at Blooky.

“Yeah! Yeah we do, he confessed to me last night, it was really magical,” Frisk explained.

Asriel let out an embarrassed growl, looks like they were even now.

“...wow…,” Blooky commented.

“I know, right?” Frisk said with a happy smile, “I think things are really going to start changing around here in a big way,”

“...it really sounds like it… i’m still surprised you two hugged,” they then let out a gasp as they noticed Asriel roll his eyes, “oh……. i don’t know if should have said that………i’m sorry ,”

Frisk shook their head and waved their hands passively to calm them down, “you have no need to apologize, it’s good that we’re talking about it, I just want all of us to get along if relationships are changing,”

Asriel exhaled slowly through his nose, looking thoughtful “mmmm…. I suppose you have a decent point, especially since it will be just the ghost and I for a while,”

Frisk smiled at that, and then ran their finger through their bangs, shifting their attention back to Blooky.

“oh……where are you going…?” Blooky asked.

“Remember when I talked about my aunt and cousin? I’m going to visit them for a week or two, I don’t know how easy it’s going to be since they believe I’ve been out traveling,” they explained.

“...i see….. do you miss them?” they asked.

Frisk nodded, “I do, they’re my family after all,”

Blooky smiled, “i’m sure they’ve missed you too…..   you’re a good person frisk,”

Frisk grinned, “thank you T-Drop, you’re a good person too, I know you’ll get to see your family someday too, home is where the heart is after all,”

“Sometimes literally…,” Asriel whispered under his breath, uncomfortably scratching a place behind a horn.

“What was that Az?” Frisk asked, able to hear him slightly.

“I said ‘someday eventually’,” he answered.

“thank you frisk… when are you leaving…?”

Frisk sighed and frowned, “very soon, I was going to leave right after this talk actually,”

Blooky frowned too, “oh……um……. well….do you want to..eat something with us real quick?”

“Nice try ghost, they’ve already eaten, it’s time to let them go,” Asriel grumbled, crossing his arms.

“Yeah and it won’t be forever, I’ll be back before you know it,” Frisk said with a sweet smile.

“How about we walk you out to allow this conversation to last longer?” Asriel spoke up, holding his hand out.

Frisk grinned brightly and warmly took his hand, “sounds great,”

They then showed their free hand to Blooky, who took it shyly- they didn’t feel their touch- but they did feel the love.

The walk to The Ruins was a sweet one, Frisk was unable to get Asriel and Blooky to carry on a meaningful conversation like they had hoped, but it was sweet nonetheless.

Too soon, they reached the garden, coming to a full stop as the sunlight from above beamed down on the group.

“I guess this is it T-Drop,” Frisk said to Blooky, “remember I’ll be back before you know it, oh- and don’t take any of Asriel’s rudeness, if he says anything that bothers you, just leave,”

Blooky smiled shyly, simply nodding, approaching them with Frisk happily complying, wrapping their arms around the ghost, the friends hugging each other goodbye.

As soon as Frisk let go, they felt Asriel’s hands grab their waist from behind, making a small shriek as they were swooped up into his arms.

“Let’s get this over with before we change our minds,” Asriel said and then within the blink of an eye, unveiled his beautiful multi-colored changing wings, the inside of the rocky room practically glowing with light.

With that, he tightened his grasp on Frisk and began flying up at a steady pace, not going as fast as he had before when he was aiming to charm them.

Frisk was still charmed anyway, they were never not going to be in awe of his wings and being carried away while flying.

As soon as they exited the mouth of the cave, Frisk let out a small excited cheer as they momentarily got a view of the town- noticing Asriel didn’t show off like last time as he quickly hovered down to the grass.

“Awe…you’re not going to do any big swoops like last time?” they asked him.

“Mm, not really in the mood for a ‘big swoop’, but there will be plenty when you come back,” he explained unhappily as he carefully planted Frisk back onto the ground.

“I understand, I shouldn’t be complaining anyway, flying is so much fun,” they said with a smile, hoping to cheer him back up.

He merely smiled back and stuck a hand in his Universe pocket and pulling out a luggage bag and an extra backpack.

“I’ll walk you down the mountain and then I’ll let you go from there,” he said, handing Frisk their gear, then went invisible as they began to heft it on.

Frisk sighed despondently as he faded from view, “is someone on the mountain?”

“There’s a middle-aged couple hiking around, I didn’t want to chance it,”

“So much for a goodbye kiss,” Frisk said with a sigh.

“Just because you can’t see me doesn’t mean I can’t kiss you, you do know that right?” Asriel said with a slight chuckle.

“Yeah, but I still want to look at your handsome face while I’m smooching it, also your eyes are very important too,” Frisk honestly explained, smiling as they felt Asriel take their hand and begin to guide them through the thick forest down the mountain.

“You like my eyes?” they heard him ask.

“Are you kidding? I love your eyes Asriel, they’re one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen, honestly, you’re the most beautiful guy I’ve ever seen in my life,”

It was then a pull on Frisk’s hand and a heavy THUD against one of the nearby trees, causing it to shake slightly and rattle a few leaves and sticks loose.

“Oh! What was that?” Frisk asked, startled, stopping in place. 

“Ahem, just me…that tree came completely out of nowhere, I’m fine, and… mmm…thank you for the compliment…,” Asriel answered, giving Frisk’s hand a brief gentle squeeze.

“You know...I… think you’re more than beautiful … or… well, I’m not.. exactly sure if beautiful covers for what I feel for you,” he began to explain softly, they could tell he was close to them by the sound of his voice.

Frisk smiled shyly and felt themselves grow warm, unsure of where to look so they focused on a little orange flower in front of them.

“You’re eyes remind me of golden sunlight,” Asriel whispered, “and please don’t get it confused, I’m not talking about the way looking up in sunlight makes you wince… but when it’s shining down on water and makes it sparkle,”

Frisk’s grew shyer but their smile grew bigger, completely caught up in his words “do you really think that?”

They then felt Asriel tug at their hand, quietly ushering them to continue walking.

“I do, I understand how sappy it sounds, but it’s true….,” he then let out a sigh “I think it’s probably a good thing I don’t like to walk or you would have made me trip hundreds of times with the way you make my legs go weak, it’s honestly embarrassing,”

Frisk’s eyebrows raised with continued flattered surprise and intrigue.

They took a moment to think about what he was probably doing.

“Az… are you telling these truths to me to get me to change my mind?” they asked.

“Mmmaybe? Is it working?” he answered with a warm playful chuckle.

They laughed softly and shook their head dismissively “it’s making me want to smooch your pretty invisible face and then some more, but no, you told me I could see my family so I’m going,” they said, “although… I’m definitely going to be thinking about everything you said when I’m lonely in bed,” they added as they bit their bottom lip amorously.

He laughed, “not sure how you’ll be able to fantasize using anything I’ve told you, but I’ll be sure to keep ready for your emotions,”

Frisk perked up at that and grinned mischievously “speaking of fantasies! That reminds me of that first night! You said you didn’t want to talk about it, but how do you really feel about it now that you can?”

Asriel laughed again, sounding somewhat flustered “sorry Frisky, this isn’t really a good time or place for me to unpack all of that, I think you better wait until you get back home,”

Frisk was going to say something but they were too caught off guard by the nickname.

“I’m sorry, did you call me ‘Frisky’?” they asked.

“...No?”

“Yes you did! You called me Frisky!”

“SsssshhhHHHH-! Don’t shout, you’ll attract the hikers,” he hissed.

“You called me Frisky,” Frisk repeated in a smaller voice, “I think I’ve heard you call me it before…,”

He let out a grumble, “okay, so maybe I have…it’s something I’ve always called you in my head, it just felt ‘right’, I suppose I’m not surprised that it slipped out a few times,”

“Just like I call you Az?”

“I guess… do you like it…? I’ll stop it if you don’t,” he questioned hesitantly.

“It’s okay… it’s just…a few kids in school used to call me that a long time ago, it wasn’t all bad but I was a little embarrassed by it,” they explained, but shook their head, “…but I like the way you say it,”

“So…you like it..?” he asked with slight confusion.

“Yeah… I think I do, you can call me Frisky, I guess it fits my flirtiness anyway,”

He chuckled with some relief, “it really, really does,”

The pair then grew peacefully quiet as they continued walking, listening to the birds chirping happily. 

Frisk then stopped walking as they realized that had reached the end of the mountain sooner than they thought they would, disappointment and dismay clutched at their heart, they didn’t want to leave, but… it was for the best to check in on their family and the reality of human life.

“I guess this is it for now,” Frisk announced, clutching Asriel’s hand a little tighter.

“It is,” he answered, squeezing their hand back, his other hand resting on their shoulder, nuzzling Frisk’s hair with his nose.

“I’ll keep in touch over the phone, don’t hesitate to call me either,” Frisk said softly, closing their eyes as they felt him move his free hand to caress their cheek.

“I won’t,” he murmured, gently pressing his lips against Frisk’s, pausing for a second to kiss them again with a little more energy, allowing Frisk to successfully savor the moment of romance.

Blindly, Frisk reached up and touched his face back, caressing him back as they continued.

 They then laughed as Asriel sealed the kiss by giving them a broad lick on the lips.

He laughed as well “I had to, I was seconds from stealing you back,”

“And I would have let you,” Frisk responded with a playful smile.

Then, hesitantly...

They let go of each other.

“I’ll decide if I want to stay another week by next Saturday, anyway… I’ll see you later okay?” Frisk said, straightening up their backpack.

“Okay, and don’t forget to call if something bad happens, I’ll fix it in a snap,” Asriel responded in kind.

“I love you Az,” Frisk uttered out with a smile.

“I love you too Frisky, come back to me soon,” he replied, his voice soft and sad.

“I will,”

Frisk then sighed and continued walking from the forest and into the sunshine, surely and steadily making their way to town, fortunately managing to catch a bus.

As they sat down on the seat next to a window, briefly eyeing the others nearby.

It was funny to be back in the human world, to be around people who knew nothing of monsters or the creatures in the local mountain, maybe there were other monsters hiding in other parts of the Earth too…

At the thought of the mountain, they spotted it off in the distance, it was an amazing feeling to know what and who was inside of it.

And then familiar houses and buildings began to block their view as the bus moved to its destination, forcibly reminding them of the life they were briefly going to be returning to.

Despite leaving their new love, they really were happy that they were going to be seeing their family.

After twenty or so minutes, the bus stopped and let Frisk out, and after a few more minutes of walking, they finally reached their aunt’s neighborhood, relieved to see her car in the driveway, admiring her new yard decorations as they made their way through the path that they knew by heart.

Then, before they knew it, they were at the front door, ready for another hug as they rang the doorbell and knocked on the door, waiting hopefully.

Chapter Text

Inspiration Song: Blinding Lights by The Weekend and Teleport by Grabbitz 

I've been tryin' to call
I've been on my own for long enough
Maybe you can show me how to love, maybe

I'm going through withdrawals
You don't even have to do too much
You can turn me on with just a touch, baby

I look around and
Sin City's cold and empty
No one's around to judge me
I can't see clearly when you're gone

And I said, ooh, I'm blinded by the lights
No, I can't sleep until I feel your touch
I said, ooh, I'm drowning in the night
Oh, when I'm like this, you're the one I trust

I'm running out of time
'Cause I can see the sun light up the sky
So I hit the road in overdrive, baby, oh

And I said, ooh, I'm blinded by the lights
No, I can't sleep until I feel your touch
I said, ooh, I'm drowning in the night
Oh, when I'm like this, you're the one I trust

I'm just walking by to let you know
I could never say it on the phone
Will never let you go this time

I said, ooh, I'm blinded by the lights
No, I can't sleep until I feel your touch

.

Frisk’s fingers flew hastily over their cell phone as they panicked, their back pressed against the bathroom door as they clicked the button and pressed it against their ear, thankfully they didn’t have long to wait.

“What went wrong? It’s been only five hours,” Asriel answered.

“FRISK! COME OUT! WHAT DID YOU MEAN YOU’VE BEEN LIVING INSIDE THE MOUNTAIN, WHY ARE YOU HIDING FROM ME?!” their aunt shouted from the other side of the door, ranting with great worry and fear for Frisk’s mental health.

“Ah, I see, I’ll perform a Load for you.”

And suddenly- just like before, he turned off a switch in, the shouting was instantly ended and the world around them was…  gone.

..Here they were again, back to nothingness….

 ..They found themselves back in the black void, they felt nothing, the entirety of their body numb …

Then they heard the sound of a little boy crying, then sniffle…

“Thank you for being with me Frisk, I’m glad you’ve allowed me to be your friend, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way…,”

Then he turned the switch back on.

The first thing they felt was the warmth of the sun on their skin, and the pleasant tweeting of the birds in the trees, staring at the edge of the forest, towering above them was the great Mt. Ebott.

A wave of relief washed over them as they realized they had another chance to properly lie to their aunt and get their story straight.

“Nice to see you so soon,” Asriel spoke with smug humor.

“I know, we have to quit meeting like this,” Frisk played along, grinning sheepishly.

“Precisely, you really don’t know how tempting it is for me to snatch you up and take you back,” he said, catching Frisk off guard as he caressed their cheek with what they guessed was his hand, it felt like one.

They gently patted his hand, smiling.
“Oh, I have a good idea of what you’re going through, but I promise I’ll get it right this time,”

He chuckled warmly and let them go, “you don’t have to make any promises for that, just come back to me as soon as you need, now get back out there and enjoy yourself,”

“I intend to, see you later sweetheart,” Frisk said, waving before turning away and heading back to their destination, sighing as they began brainstorming over their conversation with their aunt, figuring out where they went wrong the first time.

Soon before they knew it, they’d caught their bus and were back at their aunt’s front door.

They grinned as Ligaya opened the door and caught sight of them, her face lighting up with joy and relief to see them again.

“Frisk! My baby! You’re back! It’s so good to see you!” they said, pulling them into a precious hug.

“It’s good to see you too auntie Ligaya!” Frisk replied, returning the hug.

Ah, this welcoming felt as nice as it did the first time.

She then pulled away and backed into the house, waving them in.

“Come on, I was about to start lunch, why don’t you get comfortable, are you planning on staying long? Your old room is still fairly clean, well, somewhat… your uncle Angelo came over last week and I STILL haven’t had a chance to get everything sorted, you know how he can be,”

Frisk chuckled softly as they watched their aunt speed walk to the kitchen, talking through the house. “Oh, give him some credit auntie, and I’m only staying a week, I’ve got some plans to go on a tour to Victoria Falls,”

Last time, they made the major mistake of mentioning that they were going to meet up with their new boyfriend, they really should have known Ligaya would have wanted to know more.

“That sounds interesting! Where’s that at?”

Frisk itched the back of their head as they attempted to remember, “eerr- Africa?” they answered, sitting down at the couch, looking over their regular cell phone, checking on their info.

“Woooow! My baby is truly traveling the world, aren’t you?”

“I am! It’s been so amazing, but I’ve really missed you, all I really want to do is think about home, for now, I’ve been so homesick, auntie,”

Frisk swallowed down the guilt, they weren’t completely lying, they had been homesick… but not as much as they thought they should have been, in a way, Mt. Ebott had always felt like a home away from home.

Although, as they had lunch with their aunt, they realized they had very much missed her home cooking, nearly tearing up at the first few bites.

After the fifth hour passed by with success, another wave of relief passed over Frisk, it seemed as long as they refrained from bringing up the subject of ‘a new boyfriend’, everything would go along smoothly.

Thankfully, the rest of the day went along well, and soon nighttime was upon them.

They found sleeping in their old bedroom strange, the last time they slept here was only a few years ago, but it felt longer than that, and everything was different but… the same…

They remembered the strange hazy dreams they used to have of traveling through Mt. Ebott throughout their life, the feeling that something or someone was calling out to them.

The experience used to be mysterious, now it was just romantic now that they knew the truth.

And as they lay there, they tapped at their thigh thoughtfully, the subject of masturbation returning back to their mind… maybe they could send a ‘love note’ to Asriel?

But then they remembered how he acted as they said their goodbyes, they realized that sending said ‘love note’ would probably come off as taunting.

…Hm, would that actually be such a bad thing though? Their relationship seemed to revolve around teasing and riling the other one up after all.

Frisk was about to ready themselves when they suddenly heard aunt Ligaya snore loudly in the next room, oh boy, it sounded like her sleep apnea was getting worse…

They then sighed and turned over their side, maybe they’d send their love note tomorrow.

The next day, their cousin Andres came by to visit, scooping Frisk into a hug.

“You know, I thought you would have gotten tanner from all that traveling,” he noticed.

Frisk shrugged, “can’t go wrong with sunscreen, besides, I wasn’t outside all of the time,”

“Oh, I see now, you were inside eating a lot, weren’t you? I see you’ve picked up a little bit of weight,” he pointed out further “you’ve been working out too though, that’s good,”

Frisk raised their eyebrows in surprise, looking down to observe themselves, “wow, is it that noticeable?”

“It’s not a bad thing! You look better than ever, hon,” Ligaya chirped proudly, patting Frisk’s shoulder.

Frisk grinned, pleased that all those hectic puzzles did more good for them than just entertaining Asriel.

The next few days were mundane but not boring, they had a wonderful time spending time with their family and neighborhood friends, whether it was hanging out or helping with cleaning around the house or going out on the town.

 And every night they thought about sending their love not Asriel, but something kept stopping them, sometimes it was the snoring, or they were simply too tired.

But by Thursday… it began to weigh heavily on their mind and it began to distract them, making family time hard as they began to fantasize as they imagined being back with Asriel.

It was around that time that they began dreaming of Mt.Ebott again just like in their childhood, pathways and miles and miles of nothingness inside an empty kingdom, but this time it was… different, this time, someone was there.

Or something…?

They were in the lonely garden, and they saw it, a golden flower a little taller and bigger than the rest…

Curious, Frisk stepped toward it and was in awe when it shifted and turned to face them, revealing that it had a face, well, only dark beady eyes and a working mouth, but it was a face nonetheless.

But they were alarmed to see that the little flower was crying, tears pouring down it’s cheeks and it’s teeth clenched tight.

Frisk’s heart ached and twisted with a great untold sadness, automatically reaching to help somehow, but as soon as they made a move, the flower panicked, visibly hyperventilating, quickly flicking it’s eyes around the room and then-

A burst of light flooded their view, blinding them.

Frisk jerked awake, gasping for breath, their heart beating fast in their chest, still aching.

They blinked their eyes, discovering they had also been crying as well.

Steadily they calmed down, letting out a sigh, staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars on their dark ceiling, they had long faded by now but were still nice to look at.

It was then that they heard a familiar soft ringing nearby, a sound they hadn’t heard in a while, eagerly, they moved and grabbed the old cell phone from the inside of their pillowcase and answered it.

“Hey babe!” they answered happily in their most quiet voice.

“Is everything okay?” Asriel asked, he sounded very concerned.

Frisk let out another sigh, “yeah…I just had a really sad nightmare is all, I guess it affected me more than I thought if it made you call me,”

“I suppose it did… is it alright if I ask what was it about?”

“It wasn’t much… I was at the garden at the gravesite… when I find this golden flower, but then, get this, it looks up at me and it has a face-,”

“Wow, a face huh? That’s really weird,”

“Not really, after meeting you and T-Drop nothing is really weird to me anymore- and I mean that in the most affectionate way,”

“I’m well aware, now, continue on with your dream, what did your weird golden flower do next?”

“Nothing, it was crying, really hard, the poor thing was really upset, and I couldn’t help but feel upset too, I mean, what could be so bad that it even makes a flower sad?” they asked theoretically.

“Mmm… plenty of things I imagine, life can be hard for even flowers,”

“Yeah… I guess you’re right, so, I do what anyone else would do and try to help, but I move an inch and he gets really nervous- and then… I don’t know, the dream ended there,” they then sighed again, sadder this time “I don’t know, I’ve been missing you so much, maybe it’s just my brain’s way of interpreting my feelings,”

“That sounds very likely, we did spend quite a lot of time in the gardens as well,” he then paused for a moment, “and I miss you too Frisk… when do you think you will be back?”

Frisk paused as they heard someone walking around outside the hallway, so they shifted away, covering the blanket over their head.

“Soon, I’ll come back Sunday,” they said, speaking even quieter.

“Wonderful~ It’s been so awful here without you,” Asriel replied, sounding quite soothed and relieved by their answer.

A very skeptical thought then entered Frisk’s thoughts.

“...Hey…I don’t take this the wrong way, but did you plant that dream in my head? Like the others?” they asked.

“Ugh, no, not that one, unfortunately, that was all you this time,” he answered, “also… was that a flower pun?”                                 

Frisk blinked, confused for a moment, “what…?” but then they realized and snickered, “oh, no, I didn’t mean it like that, but that’s pretty funny,”

They could practically hear him roll his eyes over the phone.

“As nice as it is to hear you laugh, Frisk, there’s something important you should know about me, I abhor plant puns,”

“Wow, if you hate flowers, you can just tell me Asriel, I won’t understand, but I’ll still love you regardless,”

He scoffed, “I don’t ‘hate’ them, I.. just… LOOK, if you spent as much time alone taking care of those damn things like I have, then you’d actually understand,”

“Okay, okay, I get it, I won’t tell you any flower puns, I’ll behave, Master,” Frisk said, grinning coyly.

“DON’T start with that Frisk, joke or not, that is the corniest thing you could ever call me, just because I have ownership of your soul and was stupidly aggressive with you, doesn’t give you the excuse to crack kink jokes,”

“What, afraid you might like it?” they questioned jokingly.

There was a very telling pause.

He then spoke again, “listen, I’m going to hang up the phone now, you should get back to sleep because I’m certain you have your day filled with plenty of family activities and I know you need your rest,”

Frisk stifled back their giggles “I’d like to be filled with something alright,”

At that, Asriel laughed with astonishment, “don’t toy with me Frisk, I’ve been hanging on to my patience long enough and if you keep pushing it, I swear I’ll cut that time with your family short,”

Frisk covered their mouth as they laughed, very sure that they were blushing right now.

“Goodnight Frisky, I’ve sincerely enjoyed talking to you, I’ll see you Sunday, no sooner, no less,” he said, and without giving them a chance to say goodbye back, he hung up.

At that, Frisk pulled the cover down, taking in a breath of fresher air, unable to stop smiling as they admired Asriel’s contact picture.

The next day went fairly well.

At least Frisk had thought so, until, at dinner, their cousin suddenly spoke up.

“So, who were you talking to last night?” he asked, a mischievous smile appearing on his face when Frisk looked up in shock.

“Oh?” aunt Ligaya chirped with a curious smile.

“No one, it was just a spam call,” Frisk said, looking back down, inwardly panicking.

“C’mon, I heard you laughing,”

Frisk shrugged, tightening their frown “I made friends with him! Seriously, everyone treats spam callers so rudely, they’re people too, they have feelings like everyone else,”

Ligaya nodded at that with approval, sipping at her wine.

Andres however, didn’t look so swayed “I heard the distinct sound of flirting, Frisk, you’re going to have to lie a little better than that,”

“Frisk, did you flirt with a spam caller?” Ligaya asked, her approval turning to disapproval.

They laughed nervously at that, “again… they have feelings, just like everyone else,”

Frisk continued to hold onto their smile, but as their aunt and cousin continued to stare back with disbelief and concern, they quickly began to think of a new story.

They then heaved out a deep sigh, “okay, alright, you got me, I’m lying, the thing is that… I made a… friend…while I was on road, a really handsome friend,”

“I KNEW it! You always act weird when you have a crush! You’re dating, aren’t you?” Andres exclaimed, fist-pumping the air.

Frisk laughed with embarrassment “nothing is happening yet!”

“But something’s likely happening, isn’t it?” Ligaya asked, an eager smile on her lips.

“I don’t know, maybe…?” Frisks said, then sighed again, chuckling at themselves, “hopefully,”

They then raised their brows as their aunt Ligaya leaned forward “is he a good boy?”

“Kind of? He’s more of a bad boy, but he’s really sweet, I really like him,”

Her smile grew, “it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you like this, I think you should see him again,”

“Are you sure about that mom? We hardly know what this guy is like aside from being a ‘handsome bad boy’ that they felt like they had to lie about,” Andres spoke up, now irritated.

“That’s because I’m not sure if I’ll ever see him again, he’s always on the move,” Frisk answered, hoping that they were doing their best at acting “I can tell you for certain that he’s a safe person, I know he would never hurt me,”

“Do you think he likes you the same way?” aunt Ligaya pressed on.

Frisk nodded shyly, chuckling quietly, “it took a while to figure it out, but… yes.. he likes me back,”

“Then I think you should go to him,” she said, smiling warmly.

Andres gasped.

“Really?” Frisk asked, again, shocked.

“Yes, call me crazy, but I think you’re in love,”

Andres groaned in annoyance, “this is crap! I was in love with Sabrina and you made me break up with her!”

Ligaya rolled her eyes “that’s because she was arrested for robbing a restaurant Andy! You can do better than that!”

At that, Frisk took a long, nervous, sip of their tea, remembering the fiasco from two years ago, it seemed their aunt and cousin were still arguing about it.

“She was under a lot of stress and was in debt! Besides, that manager had it coming!” Andres complained, “what are you going to do if you find out Frisk’s ‘bad boy’ is a part of some gang?”

“He’s not,”

“Then I will break them apart as well!” Ligaya reasoned angrily “I will not have you children date delinquents!”

“We’re not CHILDREN anymore, mom! You can’t control us!” Andres shouted.

At that, Ligaya stood up and picked up her plate “you are correct! You are grown-ups, I should not be fixing your problems, the issue with that is that you two love TOO hard! You do not know when you should back off! It’s like loving a lion or a venomous snake! You keep hugging even if it’s biting you!”

She then left to the kitchen, leaving Frisk and Andres at the table.

“I think… she might have a point,” Frisk uttered out, stunned.

“No, she’s judgy is what she is, she barely even knew Sabrina,” he grumbled.

Frisk sighed once again, “you have a point too… but you have to remember that she loves us, she doesn’t want to see us get hurt,”

“Really? Then how do you think a meeting between her and your bad boy would go?”

At that, Frisk shut their mouth, unsure of how to answer, but Andres seemed to read their body language pretty well as his frown deepened with concern.

“So, he’s kind of like Sabrina?”

“...Kind of…he’s a complicated guy, but I believe he’s well worth the trouble,” Frisk said with certainty.

“Yeah, that’s how I felt- still feel about Sabrina,” Andres explained, then leaned in, “don’t tell mom, but I’m saving up money for when she gets out jail, she’s going to need it,”