Chapter Text
It was a typical morning, you woke up early, got ready for work, and headed to your small pastry and coffee shop that you owned. Well… you didn’t really have to GO anywhere to get to your shop, as you lived in the apartment above it.
You had obtained the shop from the same land lord that owned the apartment above it. Tired of tenants going in an out of business in the shop section, the landlord got fed up and evicted the last business. Since they gave up on running a business, they left all of their old kitchen equipment behind. After months of just sitting there, your land lord offered the space to you at a premium. A package deal for renting the apartment and the store space. You bargained back and forth, finally coming to an agreement that he would let you run the store for two months free of charge to see if you were actually capable of running a business.
Two weeks after opening shop, you had finally decided on a menu. You had pies, cookies, tartlets, cupcakes, and occasionally pudding or donuts, as well as gluten free, nut free, low or no sugar, and vegan options to satisfy people with different diets. You served scoops of ice cream if someone wanted that with their dessert of choice, but it was just a generic brand and only in chocolate or vanilla.
As for the coffee…. Well you only advertised as a pastry shop for a reason. Plain coffee with sugar and cream was easy enough to serve, but anything else was a challenge. The shop came with some fancy contraption that you had no clue had to use. You didn’t dare charge customers for a fancy coffee creation that might end up poorly made, so sometimes you asked if they wanted one on the house with a disclaimer that it might not turn out all that great. It was a good way to practice.
Running the shop wasn’t exactly your dream job, but you had fun making the delicious and beautiful treats, and you liked that other people enjoyed your creations as well. You got to experiment with new recipes and tried to experiment with new or seasonal ingredients.
At the end of the day you deposit any money earned in the bank and pack up the unsold desserts and take them to the homeless shelter or to a friend’s house. Anything to not have to throw away perfectly good desserts.
Dressed in a plain t shirt that you didn’t mind getting messy, you grabbed your work shirt, apron, and your keys and went to the shop. The T shirt was for baking all the desserts in, and the work shirt was a nice black shirt that dipped a little in the front. Not quite a blouse, it was modest yet attractive. You would change into the work shirt after cooking and cleaning everything, before opening the shop for the day. The apron was a maroon red and compliments your makeup.
Locking the shop door behind you, the first thing you did was turn the TV on and put it at max volume. You like to listen to the news in the mornings while you bake. It gives you some material to use when making small talk with the customers. You think back to two weeks ago, your first day in that kitchen to cook…
**
“An urgent announcement is being made: monsters have been discovered coming out of Mt. Ebbot…” the news anchor was barely keeping it together. He looked scared, confused, like he didn’t want to be reporting this. The screen cuts to a live feed from a helicopter, showing hundreds of monsters pouring out from a cave entrance on the mountain. “Reports say they aren’t hostile, but everyone is advised to take caution…”
You didn’t hear the rest of what the anchorman had to say. You couldn’t believe it. Mt. Ebbot was so close, it was right outside of town, and now monsters were coming out of it. You weren’t sure if you should even open up shop that day, your hands were trembling as you formed cookie dough into balls for baking.
**
News now blaring into the kitchen, you took out a ton of sugar, flour, eggs, and other vital ingredients and got to work on baking…
Several hours later and everything was in the oven, transforming into something tasty. Most things didn’t need much after coming out of the oven, but things that needing icing or something else were quickly completed just before opening.
As the desserts baked, you made sure everything in the lobby and front counter area was in order. The tables were clean and the chairs were pushed in. Floors still swept and clear from the previous night.
Finally, 8AM rolled around and you quickly loaded the desserts to their place in the display counter and switched the ‘Closed’ sign over to read ‘Open’. You turned down the volume on the TV just as your first customer walked in.
After two busy rushes, one in the early morning consisting mostly of people on their way to work, and one around mid afternoon consisting of high school and college kids on a quick lunch break, you were at the slowest part of the day. You slid the half full tip jar under the counter and replaced it with an empty one. Crossing your fingers that no one would come in for a moment, you headed into the kitchen to slide a tray of pre-layed cookie dough into a hot oven.
You were gone for at MOST two minutes. When you opened the door to leave the kitchen, you could already hear his heavy boot tapping impatiently on the floor.
“AHEM!”
“I’m so sorry sir, thank you for wait—”
WHAT THE FUCK
You quickly cover your mouth to keep yourself from screaming as the FUCKING SKELETON seemed to grow even more fed up.
“ARE YOU GOING TO SELL TREATS TO YOUR MAGNIFICENT CUSTOMER, OR SHALL I LEAVE?” he glares at you, red lights in his pitch-black eye sockets tightening.
“W-what can I get for you?” you sputter, trying to act like you aren’t looking at a walking, talking skeleton.
Your mind was racing so much you almost didn’t comprehend what he had ordered. How could you comprehend right now? You had forgotten that today was the first day of monster integration. Some monsters would be allowed to roam around your town, almost like test run to see if monsters should be allowed to fully integrate. How could you forget? Was it not on the news today?
You tell him his order total and fetch the sugar cookie and milk carton he requested, albeit with some trouble. Pull yourself together!!
“HMM, THIS PIE, IS IT CHERRY?” he asks, pointing to the uncut pie with glistening red fruits poking out from the lattice design of the upper crust.
“Yes, would you like some?”
“A SLICE TO GO, IF YOU CAN, HUMAN.”
You quickly slice out a hefty sized piece and place it in a to go container, relieved that the pie stood on its own instead of spilling out everywhere.
You hand him the container and update the order total, he hands you the exact amount.
“Thank you for coming in today,” you say before he turns to find a seat.
He pauses momentarily at your words, relaxing a bit. “You’re the only store that let me in.”
“What? That’s terrible!”
“IT IS!”
Wow and you thought he was done with his screaming
“HOW COULD ANY BUSINESS DENY ME? THE GREAT AND TERRIFYING PAPYRUS?”
If this was his inside voice you didn’t want to catch him outside.
“Well, Papyrus, you will always be welcome here,” you say as you pretend to wipe down the counter.
“GOOD. IF MY BROTHER LIKES THIS PIE OF YOURS, YOU MAY BE SEEING MORE OF BOTH OF US,” he replied without looking up from his milk and cookie.
With his attention away from you, you took a moment to look him over. He was a tall skeleton monster, probably nearing 7 feet tall, and he wore black jeans that were secured at the hips with a thick gold belt. The crests of his hip bones stuck up over the side. He had on red boots and gloves, both intricately designed, and a red scarf. His shirt was black with wildly point shoulders. A deep crack ran down one side of his face, passing over his eye socket, ending on the cheek bone. Plus, his eyes glowed red. So fucking edgy.
A few minutes pass before he finishes and stands to leave.
“Come back again some time!” you say before he leaves.
He stops and turns to face you. “OH I WILL HUMAN! I. WILL. BE. BACK.”
Uh was that a threat?
Two more weeks go by and while you have met several new monsters, the thing weighing most heaving on you mind was how much money you’ve made so far. It’s been a month so far, and if one month is any indication of how you’ll do in the future, you hope you had made enough from the shop to at least pay for rent on both the shop and your apartment and to pay for the fuck ton of ingredients you have to use every day. You know you should have been keeping track of your income and costs already, but you were too nervous to do it before hand.
Back to all the monsters you’ve met, you’re kind of surprised that the biggest issue you’ve had was that a big one broke one of your chairs. Well, he wasn’t that big but he was wearing a huge ass set of armor.
On the day Papyrus had visited, he was the only monster customer you had that day. It was actually three days before another monster showed up, and it was a cat girl and an alligator girl. They came in quite nervous at first, but warmed up once you didn’t shoo them out of your establishment.
They giggled and chit chatted with you for several minutes before even deciding on what that wanted. The took pictures with their phones and told you your pastries all looked super good. They brought a smile to your face.
The next day they came back, but not to buy sweets.
“So.. you’re like super cool and all so we were wondering if we could put this little sticker on your store front….” Bratty started
“Yeah, it’s like, the monster symbol. You were nice to use when a lot of shops were like, jerks to us, so…” Catty added
“And it’s to show that you’re monster friendly without just like, writing it on the window,” Bratty finished off.
“Oh, you want me to put it up so other monsters will know they’re welcome here?” you smiled, happy that these two monster girls felt comfortable in your shop and wanted others to come here too. “Yeah, lets stick it up!”
“Oh em gee you’re like so cool. So far you’re the only one that’s said yes today” Catty squeed and gave you a hug as Bratty stuck the decal on the window.
With that they waved good bye and left.
As you got back behind the counter, the door opened again. You expected to see Bratty and Catty again, but instead you saw a familiar looking skeletal figure.
“Papyrus, it’s been so long, I thought you dumped me a found another pastry girl!” you greeted, happy to see him again.
“HUMAN! HOW INAPPROPRIATE, I WOULD NEVER DUMP SOMEONE THAT I HAVE NOT EVEN DATED…” he paused as if he was recalling something. “ERRH, ANYWAYS, I HAVE RETURNED ON BEHALF OF MY BROTHER”
“Oh right, did he like the cherry pie,” you asked hopefully. You usually don’t make cherry pies since they don’t seem to sell as well, and today you made one. Call it a gut feeling.
“UNFORTUNATLY FOR ME HE ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT. SANS HAS BEEN NAGGING AND PESTERING ME FOR TWO WEEKS TO GET HIM SOME MORE OF YOUR CHERRY PIE.”
“Well luckily,” you slid the pie from its display spot, “I’ve got a whole cherry pie right here. Piping hot from the oven.” You smiled up at him. Buy this whole fucking pie from me.
“EXCELLENT, I WILL BE TAKING THE WHOLE THING! THAT WILL KEEP HIM QUIET FOR AT LEAST A WEEK.” Papyrus pouted, pulling out his wallet.
Holy shit he’s gonna buy the whole pie.
“Well, I can’t just sell you the whole pie… If I did then I’d have to wait a long time to see you again!” Nice.
He glared at you.
“I mean One whole pie, coming up!”
With a satisfied look Papyrus handed you the amount for the whole pie plus an oatmeal muffin and orange juice he picked for himself. Taking the food, he chose a table to eat his muffin at.
“So when do I get to meet your brother? Sans, was it?”
“WELL, IT MAY BE A WHILE. ONLY WEAKER MONSTERS AND THOSE WITH DIPLOMATIC DUTIES HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO VISIT THE HUMAN TOWN.”
“Are you one of the diplomats then? You don’t strike me as a weak monster.”
“CORRECT! YOU HAVE AMAZING DEDUCTION SKILLS. I’M ALMOST IMPRESSED.” He turned to you, clearly flattered. “YES I WORK WITH THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD, UNDYNE, AND WE ASSIST KING AND QUEEN DREEMUR.”
You nod, pretending to know who they were.
“ANYWHO, I MUST GO. I WILL TELL MY BROTHER THE COME HERE ONCE HE IS CLEARED TO VISIT. GOODBYE, HUMAN!”