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…You…She… You, She, didn’t know what happened at first; after all, you, She, had been doing nothing but enjoy your, Her, time alone, sat in front of your, Her, computer, scrolling through the most recent updates of your, Her, favorite stories and dashboard. It wasn’t anything special, a lot of people did it as well, some religiously, others as a hobby, and you, Her, especially, liked to read when you had nothing else better to do, or when you, She, wanted to avoid doing something in particular like any human being. After a long day of going to college, and then go to work, you, She, found comfort in the peace and quiet of your, Her, home, even if you, She, missed the chaos of living with your, Her, family sometimes. The silence got deafening in the first few months living by yourself when your, Her, parents were gone, however, once the noise of the outside world began getting louder than the screaming of stillness in your, Her, home, it simply became a blessing to have a safe place to organize your, Her, thoughts. The point is that you, She, didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. Just you, Her, and your, Her, pc, in a lonely room. And unexpectedly, it wasn’t you, or Her. You were Her.... You cried out loudly, feeling your entire frame being thrown about like a ragdoll, smashing against a hollow wall that miraculously didn't break with the force it was abruptly put through. Comically, you body slid down the vertical structure, hitting the floor underneath roughly, eliciting yet another scream from you as you landed on your face, surely bruising it for good. Across the room, which wasn't very large, to begin with, someone yelled something that you didn’t quite understand, and all of a sudden, you were being touched all over. You didn’t like that, everything hurt and you were screaming and then they stopped. Good. Maybe if your kept screeching, they would leave you alone, not provoking your body into reacting that way. It was childish, but that’s the way it was going to be. Another voice presented itself, not as loud as you, but just as alarmed as you were. You, She… She, this time it was definitely She. She was touching you instead, and this time you didn’t bother to waste breath in shouting, you knew that She was a patient son of a bitch. You blacked out with a laugh because you basically just insulted yourself. … The first thing you did when you woke up, apart from staring blankly at the unfamiliar ceiling for a few seconds, was to tear up and sob in pain for a good minute. It was dark in this room that you knew wasn't yours, and the bed was cold except for the spot you laid on, the smell of feminine perfume lingering in the air along with other foreign smells. You were scared, in pain, and frankly, a little hungry, but if your worst fears were true, and you had been kidnapped from your own home, then alerting your captors by crying loudly clearly wasn’t the best thing to do. You whimpered louder; your neck was killing you on spots that normally shouldn't burn and pulsed painfully. Overall, everything was agony, and you wanted to die. Footsteps, coming from a fair distance away, were heard in a hurried and loud volume, forcing your already sore body to tense up, and eyes to dart towards the closed door, unable to move your head. As whoever approached, your hands gripped the bed sheets, the fear, panic, horror, terror for your destiny finally crashing into you along with the realization that this might be your end. This could be it, the finishing line of your life, cut short inside this bedroom, possibly abducted, and in pain. The door handle moved and twisted slowly, like in a horror movie, before it was gently pushed open, creaking it, and letting a hallway light inside. If you were going to die, you weren’t going to be quiet about it, even if you weren’t going to get killed, you were still here against your will and that honestly wasn't any better. So it was perfectly justified when you took a deep breath sharply and shrieked bloody murder before the person even entered the room.“LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!” despite being unable to defend yourself, you were determined to let the world know you were here.“Wow, wow!” a similar voice to your own tried a placate you, entering the room in spite of your protests. “Don’t be so loud, we got neighbors!”. You, She, stopped as if realizing that each other were, in fact, the other, and taking a moment to seize in your looks. She was very similar to you, like expected, only that looking slightly older, with barely noticeable dark bags under Her eyes, decent looking hair, and stance like She had Her shit put together. She was an adult, a full grown one, and thus it was obvious that She would look like this. You assumed that you would be a tad taller than Her if you were standing up, but until that happened, you weren’t sure. You wanted to scream; any sane person would too, seeing another version of themselves right in front of them. Or was She a clone? Where you the clone? Damn, it was too confusing, too much to process.“What the royal fuck”, it was more of a blunt, in disbelief statement than a question, one that had you sitting up despite the splitting pain on your back, using it to fuel the bravest expression you could summon.“I know it’s confusing, and you probably have a lot of questions, and I’ll try to answer them as best as I can. But first, you have to calm down-”.“Am I dreaming?”, you felt obligated to ask because this very well seemed like something that your brain pulled off, everything and the lucidity of all. Her expression wavered, an awkward smile displaying itself on Her lips as She shook Her head as a reply."Nope, this is the real life".“Wild”. This was so weird and freaky. First of all, you didn’t even know where the heck you were, or what happened to make you get here, but you knew that you weren’t in immediate danger. Second of all, this girl, who was nearly identical to you, existed, and She was right here, in front of you, talking to you, is real.“Is your name Y/n? Because, uh, judging by how alike we look, I’m guessing you’re an alternative version of myself”, She started, meeting your perplexed gaze with a more calm one, obviously more confident now that She was getting into a topic She dominated.“I mean?? My name is Y/n, but I have no idea what you’re talking about. Lady, are you sure I was the one who hit their head?”, you queried carefully, regarding Her as if She had grown a second head and spat a slur at you. You didn’t appreciate it that the first thing that was seriously asked about you ended up being mocked and your intelligence being insulted.“You’re fucking with me, aren’t you”, you said dryly, arching an eyebrow and giving Her your most serious deadpan, trying to communicate you wouldn’t take shit from Her unless it was a believable explanation. “Listen, if you kidnapped me, my parents and friends have their own problems and I will literally-“. She was quick to interrupt you, slight horror and disconcertion reflected on Her face as She rose Her hands to placate you before you finished that sentence, and began screaming again for help.“Jesus, no! You appeared out of nowhere in my roommate's room, and you got hurt, so I brought you here-".“Your roommate kidnapped me?”, your voice was getting shriller by the second, bewildered and panicky with the missing bits of information that were absolutely necessary to calm you down, which She was not providing!“What-no, just…just, gah!”, She suddenly gave up trying to explain, throwing her hands up in exasperation, before covering Her face with them and mumbling a quiet “I’m not good with kids”, to which you wanted to agree with, except you weren’t a kid. Young adult was your term.“It’s better if I let someone else explain because this still gives me a headache. You think you can stand up?", She put her hands own again, watching you more seriously. In response, you massaged what you could reach of your back and neck, finding without much effort that the muscles were still sore. Standing up and walking didn’t seem very appealing at the moment, but you really didn’t want to stay here anymore that you had to, even with the bizarreness of the situation and the mystery of how you got into it.“Yeah, give me a sec”. Grunting, and the bed spring creaking lowly in protest with you, you threw the blanket off to the side before tossing your legs over the edge of the bed, bare feet touching the fabric of the carpet underneath. Scooting, you stood up, and what you did, your entire back popped back into place, forcing a wince from the both of you. But, miraculously, that helped on easing the back pain, so you guessed most of it was because you slept in a weird position. She offered you Her arm, but you kindly refused it, instead of letting Her open the door for you, and leading out to a rather short corridor. There was a single door across the hall, and another besides the bedroom you had slept in, and you wondered which one belonged to Her roommate, before She prompted you to walk, directing you towards were you assumed was the living room, seeing the back of a couch from here. It was a rather small home, probably an apartment affordable for a small family. She was incredibly patient with your pace, and didn’t leave your side until both of you were standing at the opening of the hallway, where She took the front, leaving you partially covered…even though you had an inch on Her. The sound of someone doing dishes, eating at the table, and watching tv all at once screamed that there were more than three people in the apartment, and you tensed. Didn’t She say one roommate only? Visits? Probable kidnappers working together? You…gulped down your fear, and put on a Brave face."Guys, she's up", She announced, a tone of voice suggesting truth and warning at the same time, facing you, and giving you a narrowed stare, and you shrugged as best as you could. The faucet was turned off with a squeak, and simultaneously, three white, bald heads turned around to your general way, two sets white lights, and three red, looking directly at your soul frame. You screamed. Loudly.“SANS?!”. It couldn’t be more real. And you knew it was real because he was there. Three of him. That stupid round skull, eye sockets, the eye lights, holy shit, he was a skeleton! Of course, he was Sans! Your heart was beating fast, brain racing as it tried to come up with an explanation for what was happening, but nothing catered enough reasoning for it to function properly. Was this how a mental shut down was? Were you going to faint like in one of those cliché rom-com movies? It wasn’t just him. In the couch, was who you could describe as Underfell Sans (FUCK), sporting those universal sharp teeth, and a single golden tooth that glinted with the light of the tv. But that grin ceased to exist when his “lips” (?) closed over them, red eye lights pointedly looking between Her and you, trying to figure something out. And he was big, taller than Her and you, and Sans as well. Even if you sat down on the couch, he could still surpass you by a head. One last skeleton that you should’ve noticed first due to his height, was the one who was doing the dishes, was…Enormous. He was fucking massive. Judging by the gaping, uneven cracked part of his skull, you instantly assumed this giant was Horrortale Sans…and he easily dwarfed everyone else in the room. And he stared. Just stared with his single red iris and black pupil, which dilated and shrunk constantly, like a human one would do when exposed to light and dark again and again. You looked away. You were suddenly glad that She was right next to you when you lost your balance, letting you rest some of your weight on Her. The scream that erupted from you had more effect than just by the volume of it, as the beckoned skeleton's sockets widened and he backed off from the table he was eating on, raising his hands, not unlike She had earlier.“wow, okay, she’s loud”. Wow, okay, you were seriously fangirling right now. Sans’ voice was exactly like the voice of a singer you heard once, low, but not low enough to be disturbing. He, like She, existed. And suddenly, you sound out you were quite the talker.“Oh my God, oh my GOD, you’re real?! That’s really fucking weird, dude. Like”, you looked at Her, glee showing on your face, and back pains forgotten, “Real real. Holy shit, I actually can’t breathe right now, what the actual fresh heck is this whywasIkidnappedbySansthefuckingSkeleton-“. Abruptly, She had placed her hand over your mouth, silencing your excited babbling for a moment, and shushing you quietly. You were thankful for it because you were certain you were embarrassing yourself right now. “Calm down, oh my god, you’re gonna give yourself a stroke”, She chuckled, looking a bit befuddled at your sudden outburst, mixed with mirth. You nodded quickly, agreeing to the request, but there wasn't much you could do about your excitement, much less save your already lost dignity. Sans, Fell, and Horror, as you knew them from many stories, had gathered to the table, though from a good distance from each other. The shortest of the skeletons, still displaying a startled look on his skull, gestured Her and you to sit, and you complied quickly, slipping away from Her and taking a seat, positioned on the corner of the table. Sans sat where traditionally a father or mother would, and She sat on the opposite side, closest to you, and Fell and Horror followed, with Fell sitting beside you and Horror sitting next to Her other side.“so, heh, i take it you already know me, or at least a version of me, seeing your reaction”. Somehow, you still couldn’t get it through your head that Sans was talking to you. If this was a dream, you didn’t want to wake up."Not exactly!", you answered truthfully, taking a moment to bite your lip to keep yourself from spewing out everything you knew about him and his alternate selves. You didn't want to look creepy. "You're kind of famous? I don't know, dude. I have no idea what's going on. One moment I was chilling in my room, and the other, BAM, back slammed on a wall, waking up in stranger’s apartment, meeting illustrious people”. You had to physically shove your hands to your knees to stop them from shaking hyperactively under the table.“So, wait, where do you know them from?”, She asked, gesturing generally at the skeletons. You blink, realizing the implications of answering that question. Technically, you didn’t know where you were still. Sure, somehow you got into this crazy fucking dream, alternate reality…that…but considering you didn’t know what Universe this was, you could be literally anywhere. Just seeing those three skeletons sitting there in the same place confirmed this was not the canon Undertale Universe. You had to think, what Universe had these three specific skeletons on an apartment complex, living with a female that looked almost exactly like you? If you had to guess, this was a fanfiction Universe, because, let’s be honest, artists don’t make blank characters to put yourself in a comic. But this…could be literally any fanfiction, and judging by how many websites you could read from, the possibilities were endless.“It depends”, you said honestly, “From where I’m from, there’s only one Sans. These two”, you pointed at Red and Horror, “are from other places. I’ll have to learn more about this place to tell you exactly”. “What do you mean they come from “other places”?”, She inquired, furrowing Her eyebrows at you, hands grasping each other on the table. You briefly wondered how much you could push it until you broke some sort of time and space balance before you were blurting out everything you supposedly knew about the giants in the room."In my place, we call his Universe", you gestured towards Fell Sans, "Underfell, so he's known as Fell Sans, Edgy, Red, and sometimes Cherry. Pick one", you explained, taking your stare away from Her to look at Fell, who was, in turn, watching you with a slightly disturbed, yet curious expression, or something alike. Skeleton faces were hard to read.“it’s cause’ of the eyes, ain’t it”, he laughed easily, but it was so full of disbelief that it barely sounded like a question."We call him Red", She confirmed to you, and you nodded, starting to piece things together.“Do you mind if I list things that I know to see if they match your timeline?”, you asked the now named Red, who shrugged and leaned back on his chair.“that’s the only way we getting’ answers”. Well, okay then."What I heard is that Underfell is a shitty place", Red snorted but didn't interrupt, "Monsters getting killed, or at each other's throats, overall unsafe. I know there's a Papyrus, though sometimes he's portrayed as the Captain of the Royal Guard or trying to overthrow Undyne to get the job”, you stopped to see if everyone was catching up…especially Horror. He was quiet, as well as the other two men and woman, but all of them were staring quite hard at you. You shyly looked down at your lap.“Then Frisk comes to the Underground and, you know, do their thing”.“Their thing” being either freeing all monsters from their prison or doing a mass genocide. You could tell that at least the Sans's (Sans'? Sanses? Sansi?) understood what you meant and that you were losing Her in the process.“With him”, more nervous than before, you nodded toward the biggest skeleton in the room. You weren’t as sure with him, because unlike Red, Horror was…complicated. He ate humans, whether he was from the Horrortale you knew or not. I mean, that head wound came from somewhere. His response was his black pupil shrinking, neutral face hardening.“It’s, uh, different. Most people call him Horror, but other people think it’s cruel and unjustified, so they pick whatever they think suits him, like Axe”. When you looked at Her, you saw She was giving you a hard glare from beside you, and you almost shrunk back in your seat but instead held your ground. You didn’t know he was real, so how you called him shouldn’t have mattered before.“We call him Skull”, She said firmly, and you made a face of surrender, raising your hands up to complete the gesture. You didn’t want to call him Horror, because unlike popular opinion, you didn’t think Skull was evil. He just did things to survive. You suddenly didn’t feel very comfortable with telling how Skull’s Universe was portrayed in your own. You could feel his stare digging holes to the side of your head. Red, Skull, and Sans. All of those three surnames together started making sense, and you swore you had the name of it on the tip of your tongue.“Skull also is from a rough Universe”. You refused to say any more, because if this was the place you suspected it was, then She didn’t know anything about Skull’s LV or anything of the like. All She knew was that he had a permanent injury that made him slow and shaky, and that he liked to cuddle a lot. As soon as you opened your mouth to snitch on him, you were dead. Every part of this situation just screamed Aggre(g/v)ation, in AO3. The realization of this almost made you jump from your chair and scream, fangirl, and reach for the nearest phone to message Llama, to tell her that you were right in front of her creations and were talking to them. You stayed put, though, because even though you were allowed to speak about alternate realities, you didn’t want to ruin these people’s lives by letting them know their every move, every thought, was being watched by hundreds of people. They wouldn’t be able to do anything without feeling judged or unsafe, and you weren’t that evil.“that’s all?”, Sans suddenly asked, and again, you had to hold your self-control tight on a mental leash to keep yourself from grinning too hard. “you just told us things that we already know, but you still haven’t said how you can see those alternate realities in your universe”, he pointed out, resting back on his arms.“I’d rather not say, and I don’t think I’m supposed to”.“why not?”, he challenged subtly, grinning at Her when Her head snapped towards him, giving him a stern look.“Because she doesn’t want to, Sans”, She defended you with that mom-tone that you've read before in one of the Chapters in the story when She came home to find Sans and Red fighting. It was one of your favorites because She almost found out about Sans' crush on Her. Or, well, how everyone was desperately, madly in love with Her. Sans shrugged.“Alright, so, know that I know where I am, who are you, I gotta know one thing”.“How the hell did I get here?”. One week after you arrived at the Aggre Universe, you were starting to settle the excitement of meeting your idols down after noticing how distant they were getting from you. You made them uncomfortable, and that was understandable. None of them were looking forward to even interact with each other unless it was purely business and concerning to work. Even Her hadn't talked with you much, but that was because she worked outside the apartment, once She was home She asked if you were okay and how was your day. Only Red and Sans attempted on making more questions to you after a couple of days, though Red was far more sneaky and subtle than Sans. Once or twice he got an actual answer from you, standing close and looming, really making you understand his ungodly powers from personal experience. He got your age and a view about how your Universe was, and from then on you carefully watched how you responded to his questions. But that didn’t stop him from teasing you for being under the legal age to drink. Sans avoided you altogether, and the times he paid attention to you it was purely to ask what you wanted for dinner. It…hurt a little. In fact, the most he had spoken to you was when he explained that his machine had abruptly started working, searched briefly all over the alternate realities (you refrained yourself from correcting him to “the Multiverse”), and basically kidnapped you. It made no sense to you since you didn't have any machine of the like to pull you into it unless you count your computer, but even that made your head spin. Skulls, however, was a completely different story. He didn’t talk to you at all, but he didn’t exactly ignore you either. Whenever you found yourself alone with him, which wasn’t rare and most of the time occurred on the kitchen, he would just stare. By the story plot, this was normal behavior from him, but you knew what he thought about you by how that red eye-light would watch you, composed and still. He knew you knew about who he was. It made you dangerous. Or at least, that’s what you thought.… You tried to act like Her, brave and talkative, so you would appeal to his good side and show you weren’t going to say a thing. He never said anything. He just stared.… You were sure he was planning your murder, but you didn’t want to be judgmental and end up like Her jerk-ass neighbor. Despite his looks and his thoughts, She had described him before as a giant puppy that looked too scary for his own good, and actually was a softie that needed to be loved. You hoped she was right, considering his points of view were concerning more than a couple of times. Four weeks in and the boys nicknamed you “Reader”, to avoid confusion with Her. It was hilarious, but fair, given this was Her Universe and not yours, She was the one who deserved being called by Her name. Besides, it served its purpose. You slept on the couch since you actually fit on it. It didn't make it any more comfortable, but it was preferable to sleeping on Her bed (Sans wouldn't allow it) or sleeping on the floor. You tried getting in contact with your parents and Llama, borrowing Her phone, but to your utter disappointment, Llama apparently didn’t exist here, and your parent’s numbers led you to dead ends. Tumblr was real, but everything you knew from your Universe didn’t.Without no one to talk to, dreams of pun battles crushed, and being deadweight on both Her’s and Sans’ paychecks was taking a toll on you. You couldn’t even distract yourself with your favorite fanfictions, they were gone. You knew what was going to happen. Sans wasn’t upset with the newcomer. She didn’t represent any threat to him or the others, and after Red informed him of her age, Sans felt more at ease. Reader wasn’t a kid, but she wasn’t a full-grown, mature adult capable of making good decisions, which made her the youngest in the apartment. Like any other unsuspecting human, Reader didn't show any signs of wanting to dominate the house. She didn’t stand tall or look at anyone directly in the eyes when they came in the room, and she pretty much smiled like an idiot whenever anyone directed a word at her. It was obvious as well that she didn’t view you as a possible romantic partner, so she was ousted immediately from day one. He knew that it wasn’t right, but he instinctually couldn’t help it. Reader wasn't a threat, she didn't have magic or interest in a position in the hierarchy he led, so why should he pay attention to her? He already his hands full with the other two skeletons in the house, he didn’t have time to deal with anyone else if she was just going to waste his time. The same was with the others, except Red, who pretty much interacted with her because she was a novelty. The machine dragging a person into this timeline that wasn't an alternate version of himself? That was interesting, it was worth questioning and worth prying to. Sans guessed and hoped that Reader's appearance in their lives would stir him away from you since you and she are basically the same person. When he asked Red about it, chest to chest, glaring with the usual hate in his sockets, the bigger skeleton only laughed and told him he wasn't a pedophile. He stopped pressing after that. Reader had made multiple advances to make conversation with him whenever she could, or when he wasn’t doing anything in particular. She even punned every once in a while, a silly optimistic face on her as she looked at him hopefully. It was sad, and every attempt to befriend him, or whatever she wanted, was dealt with. She stopped trying eventually. Sans could tell her presence was a little stressing for you as well, considering she didn’t have any clothes but the ones she had when she crashed on his wall, so you had to share yours until you could afford to buy her own. There was also the issue of the food being consumed. With another extra mouth to feed, it was progressively getting harder to keep the food from running out faster each day. With Red’s and Skull’s size, and Reader’s comfort eating, Sans was playing with the idea of kicking someone out the house. Despite this, you never brought it to Reader, you were nice like that. Though Sans had a feeling that Reader was starting to understand the problems that came with her stay. Reader being theoretically you wasn’t enough to keep Red’s interest for long. Sure, she was a lot like you physically, but essentially, she didn’t have the spark that made him like you in the first place. She was quiet and shy, but she responded more openly to his advances. Of course, as soon as he learned more about her, he stopped immediately using his techniques to interrogate her, but at this point, he had learned everything he could about her. Red started giving Reader space and focused more on not letting you feel out on that first week. He made sure to be extra flirty and teasing to you. He could tell it both amused and flustered you. Just as he intended. And, unfortunately, he was also very perceptive that as the others worked to make you comfortable with having another you around, Reader was progressively getting lonelier and lonelier by the day. It wasn’t like he was being an asshole on purpose, Reader was just not important to him. The most peril she held was that she was a human, and that automatically made her stronger than any of them, but she was a wimp, as the Undyne in this world would put it. She would probably cry if he told her that nobody actually wanted her to be there. You wouldn’t forgive him if he made a “kid” cry, and, to be honest, he wasn’t too keen to see someone who had your face to cry.So he kept his distance and concentrated on fixing the machine. He didn't want to leave, but Blue was being a pain in the ass and wouldn't leave him alone about it. With Reader on the house, it was evident that his urgency to live alone with you was growing. It was hilarious. And Reader would be comforted by it once she saw it too. She knew.
She knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew she knew.
She knows.
She knows everything he’s done.
She knows he’s a killer, and even worse than that.
That’s why she doesn’t stay with him in the same room.
She’s afraid of him.
Because she knows.
She knows and she can tell you whenever she felt like it.
She could make you hate him.
She could make you fear him.
He wasn’t going to let her do that.
Nobody was going o take you away from him.
Never.
Never. Never. Never.
Never.
Never.
Never.
Never.
Never.
Never.
Never.
Never.
Ehehehe.
Skull hoped Reader knew how well it would end for her if she decided to open her mouth and snitch on him. He didn’t care how much her Universe depended on her arrival. He didn’t care if Blue or Red dusted him after. He only cared about keeping you. Reader was depressed. You didn’t know much about monsters and how their minds work, but you did know about unhealthy eating habits and messy sleeping schedules from humans. At first, Reader was extremely chatty and energetic, and you felt as if the questions and the eager smiles would never end. It was a bit exhausting but as bad as you had it, Sans had it worse. Reader didn’t approach him or the others the first days staying, but after she got over her own shyness, she was a walking questioning machine. She was nearly nothing like you, and not because she was younger and a tad taller. She seemed like the type of person to only get excited and talkative by the things she loved. If nothing was of her interest, then she would rather stay indoors. Like Alphys. The comparison was adorable and justified. Past the first month of living in the apartment, Reader offered to get a job to help economically. You would've felt offended if it weren’t for the fact that she had asked with so much nervousness that it almost broke your heart, and you ended up giving in to it. But it was only so she could buy her own stuff! You didn’t mind sharing clothes, but you liked keeping your things for your personal use, which Reader understood. She also ate from your reserves, and that had been stressing you out a little. However, when you searched up her information to make a reference sheet, she didn’t even exist. When you went to make her new ID, her social number was denied. When you told her, she laughed humorlessly and grinned a bit. “Have you ever thought of a world where everything is exactly the same, except you don’t exist?”. You talked to Sans about it. His eye sockets went void of light, and you instantly knew that Reader had said something she wasn’t supposed to. You trusted Sans, Red, and Skull, but just in case Reader started to feel alone or uncomfortable, you gave her your old phone for her to mess with. She never called.“Sans, have you talked to Reader yet?”, you asked quietly since Reader was watching tv no more than ten feet away. Sans, in turn, glanced back behind him, uninterestedly observing her frame bundled on the couch, and attention on the cooking show.“nope”, he replied, “to be honest, she creeps me the fuck out”.“She’s just a kid Sans, she’s not here to fight and argue like you or Red”, you scolded him seriously, squinting through your eyelashes. “She’s getting depressed”.“she looks pretty fine to me”, he shrugged, and you had to hold back the urge to slap him upside the skull.“I woke up at 3 in the morning to get a drink and she turned off the tv and pretended to be asleep. Like a kid, Sans”. The look in Sans’ face suggested that he wasn’t up to seeing that electricity bill any time soon.“Don’t get mad at her, she literally has nothing to do. The only one who ever talks to her is me, and three other people live here”. You couldn’t believe you were doing this. You felt like you were a mom telling her child to play with their sibling.“y/n, i don’t know what to tell you. she asks too many questions, and she always has this look, like she knows more than she lets on”, frustration seeped through Sans’ tone, hand going up to rub at his temple as he stared at the table. You softened your voice at the gesture, lowering your head out of Reader’s field of vision.“I know, I know. But I can also tell that she looks up to you, dude. She might never tell us where she knows you from, but that doesn’t change the fact that you are a role model”. Sans rested his skull on his arms, tired.“i didn’t ask for the responsibility”. You laughed.“Unfortunately for you, your machine was what brought her here, so we gotta deal with it”, you said, making the skeleton groan and roll his head to look at you.“i don’t wanna", he lamented, making you reach out to pat his shoulder in comfort, before going back into thought. It was true that your previous attempts to make the boys get along in the past were from little to not successful, although they did learn to tolerate each other more. Maybe you could do that again? Set up a nice hangout date to bring everyone together. The guys didn’t have to be friends if they didn’t want to, but you weren’t going to sit idly and let Reader sink into that pit that you knew all too well.“It doesn’t have to be only your responsibility. What about we all go out as a group on Saturday? Grillby’s for some fries and burgers”, you proposed, knowing that Sans wouldn’t refuse a meal at Grillby’s for anything in the world.“ok”.“Okay, I’ll ask Reader tomorrow”. She had lent you her clothes, a pair of jeans, a plain black t-shirt, and a nice pale pink jacket She had found in the confines of Her closet. Sadly, She couldn’t give you any of Her shoes, since none of them fit your foot size, but that was quickly fixed by Sans letting you borrow a pair of blue sneakers he wasn’t planning on using any time soon. You were sure you looked ridiculous, but this was an opportunity you wouldn’t miss. When She told you that you were hanging out with everyone outside the apartment, you literally sat up and asked if She was shitting you. You thought that living all these years with your parents was restrictive; this was at a completely new level. You’ve never actually wanted to go outdoors before, but the news brought an air of renewed will. This might be what Red felt all the time, not being able to go out without other people accompanying him. Not Skull, though, you knew he preferred being indoors. But seriously, you were a growing human being, you needed interaction with people who would pay attention to you. Not that the skeletons were bad company, but they were so apathetic about your presence as a whole that you could practically feel how unwanted you were. Now, you were walking beside Her, your arm hooked on Her's as She led you down a street passing by a bus stop and watching the noon sky evaporating random puddles on the street. One quick glance behind you and you confirmed once more that the three skeletons were following close behind. Calm down."I kinda know Grillby's has burgers and fries, are they good?", you asked timidly after a while, a bit too late as well, seeing that the restaurant just on the other side of the road. She nodded, keeping up with your pace skillfully. She's done this before."Delicious", She replied, adjusting Her cardigan on Her shoulder, “The best food you’ll find in town, I’m sure you’ll love it”. You didn’t doubt it. Even if the food turned out to be a glob of greasy shit that gave people diabetes by just seeing it, the prospect of trying some of your favorite Undertale character’s food was enough to banish any doubts. Besides, food was food, trying anything that was remotely junk food had you drooling. She offered to hold the door open for you, and you quietly thanked her under your breath, stepping inside the building and hiding inside your borrowed jacket’s hood, avoiding looking at anyone at the moment as Red took Her place, giving Her the chance to join you again. Due to being a weekend, it was packed inside the dinner, with plenty of monsters that you definitely recognized and definitely wanted to fangirl over, but you couldn’t risk making people suspicious. As far as you could see, the entire canine unit of The Royal Guard was there along with other usual patrons, but no humans in sight. It wouldn’t be hard to say you were Her twin sister if someone pointed out the similarities, but you figured that at this point of the story not many would believe it. She guided the group to a miraculously empty booth near the back of the restaurant, close to the bar but not quite, letting everyone pick where they wanted to sit. You ended up pressed against the wall to your right, with Her sitting next to you, and finally Sans on the edge of the seat. Skull ended up in front of you, next to Red, since it seemed more logical that the shorties sat together. Kind of accepting the awkwardness at this point, you resumed shrinking a bit into your corner, praying that Grillby came to your table soon. In a normal circumstance, you would’ve been delighted to have a meal and a chat with your favorite fictional characters, but now that you’re actually here, you can’t bring yourself to breathe too hard. After all, you knew how the skeledudes saw you, as a threat or a disturbance. Heck, maybe you were. Maybe you were changing the story in ways that you shouldn’t be allowed to. A sudden cough made you jump, and you looked at Her with a questioning gaze, just as She gave you a victorious one, and decided to pull you out of your shell.“Reader, you never talked about what you study back at your place”, She hinted profusely, and you almost snorted at the common question that practically every student loathed. And yet, you humored Her, because so far She’s been the only one that was willing to listen.“I started my first semester in biology, but I realized it wasn’t for me, and moved to the Graphic Design program to see if I nail it with art”, you replied a tad shyly, but confidence in your voice. This was a simple answer you’ve repeated over and over for these kinds of moments.“Ah, so you’re the creative type”, She complimented, to which you shrugged at bashfully. The sounds of conversations and laughter took over the reigning silence that fell over the table once more. You feel Her moving suddenly under the table, a leg jerking aside before Sans, besides Her, sits up straighter. She had kicked him.“what’s your favorite color”, Sans more or less blurted out, resting his face on his hand while tilting it to your direction, and you cringed inwardly, understanding what was going on. Still, despite the unoriginality of his question, you answered him, wanting to at least make some progress under Her supervision.“favorite food?”, he asked again, you answered. You didn’t want to be here anymore. This wasn’t a normal conversation, this was just mere acting.“favorite time of day?”, he asked, you didn’t answer.“Can we please go home?”, you asked before you could stop yourself, not considering that Her apartment wasn't home to you, looking from Sans’ sockets Her eyes instead, trying to communicate a plea. She looked a bit crestfallen at your request, and before she could answer, Red suddenly piped in.“what kinda puns do ya like?”.“Spicy puns”, to your ultimate surprise, you replied right away, swinging your head to his direction expectantly, wanting to be questioned by him instead. You know why, he’s just got this thing, he’s easy to talk to.“dark humor or sex jokes?”, he didn’t miss a beat, grin growing when Sans spluttered indignantly.“I don’t really have thyme for neither of them”, you narrowed your eyes, and She started to discretely snigger beside you, hand coming up to cup at Her mouth.“i’m havin’ a hard time bay leaf-ing that. ya shouldn’t lie”.“What are you? My carda-mom?”.“ya would be a-mace-d how much i get that, i just clove these puns”.“It’s too bad you are nutmeg type, then”. He grinned.“yup, i had this cumin”.“Haha, you got a little caraway there, didn’t you?”.“i don’t know what’s going on curry-ntly happening, but we got to give our orders soon", Sans suddenly popped into the conversation, making you turn your head toward him to stare at him with a big ole smile. From this position, you could see Her barely containing Her laughter behind Her hand, and you grinned even wider in satisfaction. But you were really happy Sans was talking to you now, even if it was through a pun-battle. “I think you say that because you can parsley believe your title is being stolen”, you replied smugly, patting yourself inwardly on the back for remembering those puns that you almost memorized with religious obsession. Her snort of laughter was quick to make competition rise in the table. Technically, you knew that sooner or later you would run out of spice puns and the others would basically leave you in the floor, so when Red took air to say something, you quickly interrupted to point at an approaching Grillby, effectively saving yourself from getting roasted (hahaha, roasted). She asked what everyone wanted, and you quietly whispered your request, avoiding being seen by the fire elemental by hiding your face on the wall. When the food did arrive, you quietly ate your order, wanting to savor the frankly wonderful food that tasted like heaven’s finest rejuvenating mana. There was no tension after that, although you wished Skull had hopped into the conversation, seeing that food puns could be his thing. Sans really misjudged how alike Reader was to you. Your smile, even though it was juvenile and downright dorky, still had a resemblance to your own. You could be siblings or something, similar, but not entirely. He realized that he could've gotten twice as many smiles in the last month if he had bothered to make an effort. Maybe if he was patient and open enough, he could also get Reader to spill all the multi-dimensional secrets she refused to say. And now, as they ate in comfortable silence, listening to other people’s conversations in nearby tables, Sans could feel the smug stare you were giving him, a smirk tugging at the corners of your mouth as you chewed. Yeah, yeah, he knew exactly what you were thinking. When you finally headed back to the apartment, bathed and clothed yourself, you were met by the skeletons and fellow human sitting on the couch, snacks in hands and scrolling down movie options. When that was done, Red even gave you a pat on the head. You were so happy that as soon as the lights went out, you cried yourself to sleep.