Chapter Text
The air was cool. Not cold, thankfully, but not hot either. It had been a strangely warm fall so far, but now that it was October, it had started to cool down. Still, you were used to the warmth. That was the reason you wore one of your old t-shirts, you told yourself, and not because you forgot to do laundry again. That was totally the reason why you made the short trip to the store in too-small jeans and a worn out, faded skull shirt with the words “bad to the bone” printed around it. Why did you even buy this thing? There had to be a reason you had this (oh yeah, you liked puns too much, that was why).
Armed with your shopping bag and a mental reminder to do the laundry when you got home, you made your way to the store. You didn't need much in your apartment, but cold pizza only worked as dinner for so long. You had to restock on crackers anyways, so a trip to the store was probably overdue. You reviewed what you needed in your head. Thankfully, not much to remember. You quickly let the shopping list fade from your mind and slowly began to take in the people walking around you. People, and monsters.
Yeah. That was still taking some getting used to.
The monsters had only been there for about a year now. The integration process had been fast enough, but you hardly saw monsters around - only really on TV and out here on the streets. There had been an influx of monster customers at the bookstore where you worked, right after they came to the surface, but that had died down pretty fast. It seemed like they mostly kept to themselves. You kinda liked it better that way. You had no problems with monsters, but the prospect of some of them did scare you. That small childish part of you couldn't help but wonder if all those monsters under the bed were actually real.
Still, you hadn't seen any really scary monsters yet. So far, the only ones you’d seen were more like furry humans - like bunnies with arms and legs. The one ice cream vendor down the street was pretty cool, actually.
It hit you that he was a blue bunny, and he sold ice cream, just like the brand Blue Bunny. Huh. What a funny coincidence.
What was it you had been thinking about?
Oh right, scary monsters. You had yet to see anything really horrifying or grotesque. Somehow, you doubted you would see anyone really scary. You lived in a relatively quiet town. Scary stuff didn't just happen.
You walked into the store, your thoughts now centering back on shopping. You quickly started making your rounds, pacing this way and that through the store. It was pretty empty and fairly quiet. You could just make out the hum of the freezers over the soft Halloween music playing, and gentle talking between cashiers and customers. You smiled. What a peacefu-
THUMP.
You jumped and dropped your shopping bag as you heard someone trip and fall behind you. You turned and saw a small monster wearing a striped shirt, groaning on the floor next to their own bag. “Oh! Are you um… Okay?”
“Oof,” was the only response. They squirmed around, trying to get up.
“Uh… Here, lemmie help you up.” You went to grab their hand to help them stand, but promptly discovered that they didn't have arms. Shrugging, you grabbed them by the back of their shirt and straightened them up.
The monster shook their head, laughing. You guessed they were a child by how small they were, or maybe this type of monster came in this size? They looked sorta like a lizard, or maybe a dinosaur, a bit like that one monster you’d seen on TV that scientists everywhere kept talking about. “Oof. Woops! Guess I oughta be more careful.”
Their words pulled you back out of your thoughts. “I’ll say!” You smiled softly, dusting them off. “You alright? You kinda just face planted on tile.”
“Oh, yeah, happens all the time!” You understood - clumsy is as clumsy does, after all. The child shook themselves off, the sleeves on their shirt flapping too and froh. “Thanks for helping me up, miss!”
“Eh, don't mention it.”
The monster kid put their tail through the loops of their bags. “Alright, then I won't mention it!” Without another word, the child scrambled off to the next aisle.
You stared blankly at the space where they just were. “That's not quite what I…” You shook your head and smiled, not sure what quite you had meant to say. You supposed it didn’t matter. “Ah, whatever.” You reached down to retrieve your bag, only to grasp empty space.
…
Something clicked in your brain.
“Hey! Wait! You have my bag!” You started off at a fast pace after the kid. They probably didn't mean to, it was just a mix up, they’d grabbed your bag along with their own. Where had they gone to in such a hurry? You rounded the corner and-
THWUMP.
You’re met face first with an overly soft hoodie jacket. “wha-” a startled voice said, a shifty tenor with a soft rumble to it.
“O-Oh, sorry sir, I-” You backed up enough to see who you ran into.
Oh.
There’s a lot of monsters out today.
The skeleton grinned at you, tilting his chin up softly. “forgeddaboudit,” he said without a breath, shoving his gloved hands into the pockets of his hoodie. “no harm, no foul kid.”
You couldn’t stop staring at him for some reason. He was… different. New. Most every other monster you’d seen resembled an animal or something, but this one took you by surprise. You’d only seen skeletons in pictures and in biology on a stand thing. Now one was right there, in the flesh! Er, bone. You couldn't help but think up a thousand questions while just standing there. Could he smell without a nose? How? He had pupils, but how did those work? Did he eat? Did it go through his body or just fall through his jaw?
“er… kid?”
You jumped slightly out of your thoughts and realized you’d just been staring at him blankly for about a minute. Ugh, pull yourself out of your own world, you thought to yourself before promptly stuttering out an apology. “Oh, sorry! I-I was trying to find this one kid, they accidently took my bag. I wasn't really watching where I was going…”
He raised a brow - did he have eyebrows? Maybe it was an eye ridge or something? How was bone so versatile? “small kid? striped shirt, no arms?”
“Yeah!”
“come on, think i saw ‘em over there.” He turned and walked down the aisle. You frowned lightly and followed him, taking him in as you did. Was… Was he wearing slippers? With socks? In the store?
Monsters were weird.
“hey, kid!” You looked up from his shoes to see the monster kid looking back at the two of you.
“Oh, yo! What’s up, Sans?”
The skeleton - Sans, you guessed - chuckled. “just the ceiling, kid.” The small monster laughed. You couldn’t help but roll your eyes at the semi-familiar joke. Sans pulled his hand out of his pocket, pointing to the two bags on the child’s tail. “say… what’s that you got there?”
They looked at their tail and quickly gasped. “Yo! This one isn't mine…” They looked back at you. “Oh! Hey, is this yours?” You nodded, smiling. “Sorry, miss! I musta grabbed yours too by mistake.” They walked up and turned around, lifting their tail up. “Here you go!”
You grabbed your bag and slung it around your shoulder. “Thanks, uh… What’s your name?”
“Oh, my name’s Kid!” They smiled wide. “Anyway, I should probably finish shopping. My parents are gonna be worried about me. See ya!” They ran off in the other direction, tripping once and falling before getting up again in a hurry.
You shook your head. You decided not to focus on the fact that the kid’s name was actually ‘Kid’. Maybe it was a nickname or something, you weren’t one to judge. “They really should be more careful,” you said instead. You turned to Sans, who was watching you with a bemused smile. “Thanks for helping me.”
“heh. any time.” He held out his hand. “put ‘er there, pal.”
You smiled and took his hand - he seemed pleased that you didn't do anything weird because the hand happened to be, y'know, skeletal. “It was nice to me-”
PPPFFFBBTBFBTffft……...
You tilted your head and pulled your hand back, revealing a deflated whoopee cushion. “I…” You giggled softly. “What?”
Sans laughed at your confused expression. “whoopee cushion in the hand trick. never fails.” For some reason, his expression just made you laugh too. He seemed to enjoy your laughing. He put his hands back in his pockets, nodding towards you. “gotta say, i love the shirt.”
You looked down and remembered the whole forgot-to-do-the-laundry thing. Shit. “Uh, yeah.” You grimaced at the pun on it. Hopefully that wasn't offensive or anything. “Sorry, dumb joke tee.” God, could you do anything but fuck up today? You were sure you were blushing.
“you kiddin’? that one’s great!” He chuckled, his grin wide. He looked pretty happy.
You smiled awkwardly, laughing uneasily. “I sorta need to do the laundry.” At least he seemed chill about it.
“heh. i'm lucky enough to have a roommate who does my laundry. speaking of which, he’s probably in the pasta aisle.” Sans started to walk off. For some reason, you followed him. It was probably because you’d never seen a skeleton before, and you could never resist natural curiosity anyways. This was the impulsive part of you that chases after strays on the street when you should be heading home. Sigh.
He didn't seem to mind, thankfully. In fact, he just kept talking to you. “papyrus is kinda a pasta fanatic. and a human fanatic. he’d be thrilled to meet you.”
“It’d be cool to meet him too, I guess.” You shrugged, smiling softly. Then you faltered as you realized just how on the fence about meeting this monster’s roommate you had just sounded. Ugh, gah, you hoped he didn’t think you were being racist or something? “I'm sorry if I seem out of it or anything, I’m just… not great with people all the time.” More like you get sidetracked into your own line of thinking with little or no focus on what’s going on right in front of you.
“it’s fine, kid. we’re all a little zoned out now and then.” He grinned. “besides. not many humans talk to us. it’s cool to meet one who’s so willing to chat - even if you feel awkward about it.” He glanced back at you and winked. “don’t worry ‘bout it, kid.” You smiled back at him.
He turned the corner. You saw a tall skeleton standing next to the spaghetti boxes, a frown on his face. Wait, how did a skeleton frown? It looked like his eyebrows (er, eye-ridges) were lowered and furrowed. He looked contemplative. “heya, paps.” Sans joined who you assumed to be his relative. Maybe a brother?
“HMM? OH, THERE YOU ARE, SANS!” Papyrus’s voice was just a bit deeper than Sans’s - although, it was a lot louder, and it cracked in many places, making it seem almost higher paradoxically. Weird. How did they even speak without vocal chords, you wondered. “I'VE BEEN HAVING TROUBLE DECIDING ON A PASTA, BROTHER! THERE ARE SO MANY TYPES OF NOODLES HERE!"
Seems like your assumption was right, they were brothers. You smiled. “Wheat noodles are pretty healthy for you, and they don’t taste too bad.”
Papyrus glanced at you in hardly masked surprise. “OH! HELLO, HUMAN!” He smiled. “WHEAT, YOU SAY? HMM...”
“i think these’ll work best, bro,” Sans said, picking a random box from the shelf. Papyrus reached to grab another box, but Sans stopped him. “let’s not buy too much. gotta save up some money.”
“ALL TOO TRUE, SANS!” Papyrus tilted his head, smiling very lightly. “I'M SURPRISED. YOU NEVER WORRIED ABOUT MONEY UNDERGROUND.” Papyrus let his hand drop.
“yeah, well, worrying about our gold down there never really made much cents.”
You couldn't help but laugh at his pun. You just managed to hold back probably the most undignified snort of your life. Thank God. Papyrus groaned, putting his face in his hand. “SAAAAANS! A HUMAN IS WATCHING! THEY'RE GOING TO RECEIVE A BAD IMPRESSION OF US IF YOU CONTINUE TO SPOUT YOUR RIDICULOUS WORDPLAY ANTICS!"
“heheh. sorry, papyrus. i just couldn't let such a golden opportunity pass.”
You kept laughing, smiling wide, falling into a fit of giggles quickly. God, these were awful. Somehow, that just made them better. You had always been fond of a good joke or pun, but bad jokes and puns were just 10 times better.
Too bad nothing lasts forever. The phone in your pocket buzzed. You grabbed it (after jumping a good foot in the air, you hated feeling your phone vibrate) and checked the alert.
Don't forget - work at 4! :(
You groaned. It was already 2. Looks like laundry would have to wait awhile. Judging from that frowny, past you knew it was going to be a pain in the ass work week. You glanced up at the two brothers. “It was nice to meet you two, but I should get going. I've got work soonish.”
Papyrus smiled at you - it was like all the anger at his brother’s bad puns had melted in an instant. Part of you wondered if he was even angry in the first place. “IT WAS NICE TO MEET YOU TOO! I APOLOGIZE PROFUSELY, HUMAN, I DID NOT PROPERLY INTRODUCE MYSELF!” He reached out his hand, which uh... had a boxing glove on it. Okay. “I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, THE OFFICIAL UNOFFICIAL MASCOT FOR THE MONSTERS!”
Er… You decided not to ask. You shook his hand and gave him your name. Both Sans and Papyrus seemed happy with your response - Sans smiled even brighter when you shook Papyrus's hand. You didn’t bother to wonder why; you had work on the mind. You waved goodbye to them before heading to the cash register. You bought your items and headed for home, lost in thought as always.
That was probably the most monsters you had seen in one place since the first few days of integration. Not only that, but two of them weren't just animals (animallike, you remind yourself again) - they were skeletons! Your mind was buzzing with questions about them. How did they even move? It didn't look like they had joints of anything.
But you couldn't just think about skeletons all day. You quickly started home, which thankfully wasn't far away. You wondered, briefly, if you would ever see those skeletons again. After all, you weren't the most sociable of people. Maybe they would show up at the bookstore at some point?
You hoped so.