Chapter Text
You sat quietly on the couch as the door slammed open and three more skeletons walked in. One wore a black hoodie with a burnt orange sweater underneath. He had two golden fangs and dark orange bags under his eyes. He was walking closely after a shorter man, this one with red eye lights. One could say he looked like edge, but shorter and fancier dressed. Though this one seemed to be doing the shouting.
The last skeleton was rubbing his skull, trying to ebb away a headache. He was taller than you by a good foot and a half, and plenty thick too. He looked like he would be very huggable. But due to his overall currently grumpy demeanor, you weren’t about to ask that of this man. He wore a navy-blue button up shirt with a black long sleeve shirt underneath. Above his name tag was ‘EBBOT UNIVERSITY’ and his name tag spelled ‘Professor Red’. He was covered in various oils and grimes.
“I CANNOT BELIEVE WE HAVE STOOPED SO LOW AS TO TAKE IN SUCH A HEATHEN! A MILLION TIMES, NO!”
Red, as you knew by his name tag, drug his hand down his face with a groan. “Fuckin’ can it drama queen. We talked about da kid for weeks. If yer just now worried about it then I don’t think yer as smart as ya claim to be.” He grouched.
"I AM NOT WORRIED! I JUST BELIEVE WE SHOULD NOT HAVE TAKEN A STRANGER INTO OUR HOME!"
The cherry red skeleton took off his nicer leather coat and hung it on a coat rack inside the closet door near the entrance of the home and turned to go to the kitchen, only to pause when his eyes fell upon Marie.
His voice was level and cold. "WHAT IS THAT *THING* DOING IN OUR HOME?" To Marie's credit, she kept her composure and didn't appear shaken, though throughout your years of knowing her you knew by the shape of her eyes she was on high alert. She had dealt with her fair share of off the wall invertos or invertos having melt downs. You recalled a time when a husky-like inverto had a break down and Marie had to subdue them and hold them down. If you recalled, it was because that person found out one of their family members on the outside had passed.
It had been a quick ordeal, and afterwords you had heard through the grapevine his assigned group took care of him with a cuddle pile and movies. He hadn't been harmed and plainly needed some love and care.
And judging by the look of some of these guys here, that would also be the case. The 'drama queen' puffed up and his palm crackled with cherry colored magic.
"Razz. That is enough. If you harm our guest, there will be severe consequences." Gaster sat in a plush recliner, a leg placed overtop the other and his eyes narrowed in a silent challenge. He stared down his nose at Razz, who just growled and looked away.
His red eyes finally connected with your own.
Shepherd let out a dark growl and the two mystery men next to you also began to growl.
‘What the fuck is happening right now?’
You cleared your throat and introduced yourself. “I’ll be on my best behavior. You won’t even know I’m here.” You had tried to soothe the situation so no one snapped.
He continued to look at you before his lips curled into a devious smile. “Rus, Retrieve.” And the tall one that had lingered in the doorway moved.
He disappeared in a flash of sunset rust, and appeared behind you and reached out to grab you. You quickly leapt forward out of his grasp and off the couch backing up to stand in front of Marie.
”WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?! RUS, RETRIEVE!”
The one now dubbed as Rus shifted from foot to foot. “She is pretty fast, M’lord.” A deep raspy voice spoke up.
Razz stomped his foot on the ground. “WE DID NOT TRAIN ALL OUR LIVES ONLY TO BE OUT-SPED BY SOME SLOPPY PUP! GET THEM, GO FASTER!”
Rus was about to shift again, only for Gaster and Shepherd to both start snarling, stopping him in his tracks.
”Knock it off, both of you! Your father will be notified, and your permissions to leave the house for frivolous and recreational purposes are to be revoked effective immediately!” Yellow magic snapped through the air accompanied by little pops and zaps. “Shame on the both of you. You know we do not man handle anyone, especially if they are not okay with it.”
You kept your body low and in a braced position incase these two decided to make another grab at you. You had no idea what their intentions were, not to mention you didn't know them well- if at all.
Marie placed her hand on your shoulder. "It's okay sweetie. Some tension is to be expected when introducing someone to a new family."
Razz snorted in anger. "FAT CHANCE I ALLOW THAT- THAT RUNT- INTO OUR FAMILY!" He stomped his foot like a petulant child.
Gaster let out a deep growl. "That is not something you get to decide, Razz. I am still patriarch of this home and family, and unless you have a good reason to not allow her in, my word is final."
Razz's face began to turn bright red, and a cloud of magic popped up as he stomped his foot and let out a growl before pointing at you. "MARK MY WORDS YOU FIENDISH FOE! I WILL NOT REST UNTIL YOU ARE SUBMISSIVE OR GONE!" His voice lowered into a growl as he held his arm out to Rus who grabbed onto his forearm. "Whichever comes fir-" and he disappeared in a vwoop of magic vapor before he could finish his sentence, Rus rolling his eyes and sending you a wolfish grin with a wink.
"Yes, yes, posture and prattle all you like." Gaster muttered and rolled his eyes, waving his hand to clear out the stench of the blood orange vapor.
The tension in the room seemed to melt away as Red let out a whistle. "What a lil' shit."
Shepherd gave a sigh and a nod as Gaster rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I concur."
You bit your lip and looked down at your feet, shame filled you like a heavy wave. You genuinely didn't know what you did wrong for someone to dislike you already. Had you accidentally challenged someone without realizing? Surely not. You were sure you had been nothing but polite and courteous to your new caretakers. The only aggressive actions you had taken was to put yourself between them and Marie for fear of them hurting her. And truly as it is, you have no reason to trust them or be loyal to them at this very moment or choose them over Marie.
But that still begged the question: what had you done? The self-doubt crept in and settled like a heavy snow. Cold and bitter. This wasn't exactly going well. You were pulled out of your thoughts by a tall shadow engulfing you. Looking up, Red stood over you, looking down at you. "Heya kid. Ya got some spice to ya. Not a lotta people would stand up ta mister hissy fit and his dog of a bro." He stuck out his hand for you to shake. "It was pretty nice of ya ta protect yer human like dat. Name's Red."
You couldn't help the small smile and took Red's hand and shook it. His half lidded coy expression lifted into one of surprise and his red eyes shot over to the two mystery men and then over to Gaster and Shepherd, then fell back to you.
You introduced yourself to him. "It was the right thing to do. Marie works really hard and cares for everyone at the facility. She took care of me for years and even through more..." Your eyes darted away as you thought of what to say. You didn't want to trauma dump on these people on your first day. (Or really ever.)
"Turbulent times. I hope we can get along. I'm excited to be outside again." Red's expression seemed to soften. "'M sure we'll get along just fine." Red turned to look at the two men you had been sitting with on the couch. "Sparrow, who's cookin' t'night?"
A tall skeleton with braces on his teeth and a gentle pastel orange sweater with tan pants spoke up. "It Should Be Wine And Edge Tonight With Tide Supervising." Red gave a nod. "D' ya two wanna show the small fry to their room? M' sure Gaster and Shepherd have all the paperwork covered, yeah?"
Sparrow seemed to give a bright smile and looked down to you. "You Would Not Mind, Would You Little Human? We Can Even Give You A Tour On The Way!" You had to keep from frowning at the nickname he had unwittingly gave you. You choked back any of the bitterness of 'human' and swallowed your feelings down and smiled instead. "It would be greatly appreciated, Sparrow. Thank you." The large skeleton smiled down at you from behind his thick rimmed glasses. "Nyeh- You Are Most Certainly Welcome!" He turned back to look at the other man. He was rather large and rotund. He dawned a dark blue sweater with black sweatpants, and red house slippers that seemed to match his eye. But what caught your attention the most was the large hole in his skull. You tried not to stare. That could have been you all that time ago. But it wasn't and all was fine. 'Ah, Geez, you're still staring.' You didn't get out unscathed.
You smiled up at the larger man, offering your hand and name. "It's nice to meet you, sir. I hope we can be friends." His single eye light shrank slightly as it landed on you then went fuzzy at the edges. His sharp neutral smile became bigger and more genuine as his eyes softened. "We... already are." He didn't let go of your hand as he led you away to some stairs next to the kitchen entrance that led up to the second level.
---------------------------------------------------
Gaster watched as Sparrow and Bear led the new pup (in his eyes) up the stairs to show them the room they would be staying in and the rest of the house. Sparrow happily talking and saying how they'd "have such a wonderful time living together!" Which Gaster agreed with. Hopefully having a softer person in the home would make everyone relax more. Especially since the inverto seeped out dormant healing magic in alarming amounts. Hence why Edge, Red, and the famine district skeletons had taken to her so fast. Just being around them soothed the chronic pain he had in his own skull. Gaster couldn't recall seeing Sparrow move so fast after his surgeries and without his cane. He turned his attention to the human in front of him.
"Marie, was it? I apologize you had to see such a display. I fear he is one of our more vocal household members. He merely has a distaste for change." The human softened.
"I understand. Change is difficult for anyone, especially more vulnerable invertos like our lil' munchkin." She nodded her head to the stairs you had disappeared up moments ago.
Gaster looked to the stairwell and back to Marie. "Vulnerable how? If I may ask?" He took the clip board of paper work as she sighed. "Those who are injured and have chronic health issues, be it physical or mental."
Gaster nodded, a knowing hum from his chest. "And what category does she fall under?"
Marie hesitated, before closing her eyes and giving a sigh. "It's not my story to tell. But she most certainly falls under both categories."
----------------------------------------------------
You huffed slightly as you got to the top of the stairs. Your leg hurt and your nub was aching. Recalling the wide hospital hallways that were flat and had the option of elevators, you have come to realize quite quickly that you were in fact, very spoiled.
Bear's one eye looked down at you as you rubbed your leg. Bear had seen his brother rub his aches the same way. He would file that away for later. "So Human!" You disguised your sigh as a puff of exhausted air. "This Is The West Wing Of The Manor! Our Family Is Quite Large And As Is Monster Custom, We All Live Together As To Ward Away Danger. We Also Have What You Humans Would Consider Pack Dynamics, Though Really It Is To Keep From Fighting And To Stay Organized."
You nodded lightly, scraping at your fingers.
"Right. I remember my time from the facility that there were mandated groups among the same types of invertos. It was thought and later proven to help mental health. I kinda had my own little group. But we didn't use the word 'pack' because we didn't want to feel like there had to be a pecking order and that could or, would have, led to violence."
Sparrow nodded happily. "Thats Wonderful! I'm Happy You Had Someone On The Inside." Bear let out a snort. "Come on bro. Yer.... saying that like they were.... in prison." Sparrow let out a hum. "But Were You Not? I Had Heard Those Places Crawled With Criminals."
You frowned. This was a common thing to hear and why many racist nay-sayers shouted from the streets to keep invertos in the walls that entombed them and their unbusy lives.
The door to your right slammed open. "HONESTLY! HOW DO WE NOT KNOW YOU ARE NOT SOME SORT OF KEPTOMANIAC OR- OR-!" The red short skeleton from earlier burst out of the room to the left. He stared down at your hands and your dust covered fingertips. "OR MAYBE A DRUG ADDICT. ONLY THEY SCRATCH LIKE THAT."
"It's a nervous habit. I do it when im stressed, and you aren't helping." You huffed softly and turned to Sparrow. "It's been lovely talking to you, but do you think you could show me to my room please?"
The pleasant face and smile were completely gone as a look of silent rage was directed to Razz. A flat monotone answered you. "Yes. It Is The Last Door On The Right." His eyes never left Razz and his voice dropped to a loud whisper. The silence was somehow loud and the air crackled with tension. "I Trust You Can Find It On Your Lonesome?"
You could barely breathe. You felt like shit was going to go down, and you wanted to leave as fast as possible. Giving a choked nod, "Yes. I can make it from here. Thank you."
You turned on your hill, the air's tension only growing thicker as you walked to the described door and flung it open and snapping it closed, the last noise from the hallway being a growl you thought only a cryptid could make.
You slumped to your knees. What was that dudes damage? You opened and studied your hands, the chips and clumps of dust fell onto the creme carpet.
And when you looked up, it was everything you could have hoped for. Open, a balcony, and a cozy little book nook. The afternoon light filtered in and bathed the room in a golden glow.
And you couldn't help but feel a small spark of determination. You wouldn't let that jerkwad Razz get you down. There would always be a tomorrow, especially now that you were here.
You took a breath and felt ready to put forward some effort. If today sucked, there was tomorrow. And maybe tomorrow wouldn't suck as much.