Chapter Text
As soon as Frisk and Sans disappeared, Asriel guessed he had about two seconds to prepare for a meltdown.
‘Asriel. Holy- WHO the FUCK do they think they are!?’ Chara yelled at the empty patch of snow.
‘Um, I-’
‘We have important shit to do, and they just… left! I can’t believe- how selfish is that!?- I can’t believe they just BLANKED me!’
‘Chara, um-’
‘And then they called me ‘Human’!? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?’
‘Chara! Chill!’ Asriel grabbed his sibling by the shoulders, laughing as they looked at him in disbelief.
‘But they just… ugh! I HATE humans!’
‘I know, I know…’ He let go of them, still smiling, and instead took their hand and pulled them towards the town.
‘We can go talk to them, if you want?’ Asriel offered, looking back over his shoulder to see Chara sulking slightly.
‘No. We’re gonna report this to Papyrus and Undyne.’
‘Right, okay…?’
Chara folded their arms and marched ahead of Asriel. ‘They’ll be pissed too, you know. I’m NOT being unreasonable, if that’s what you’re thinking.’
Asriel laughed and shook his head, grinning at the ground. ‘Of course not.’
Chara put their jacket back on. It was still warm from Frisk.
…That was irrelevant.
--
‘Resets? I don’t know what you’re…’ Frisk trailed off as they noticed Sans looking away from them, frowning.
‘actually, kid, let’s go sit down…’
Frisk nodded as they let Sans lead them across the room to one of the booths. They noticed with a slight flicker of embarrassment that they were still clutching his arm, and that the entirety of the bar was staring at them both. Sans simply waved off the stares with a grin, sitting down opposite Frisk.
‘sorry ‘bout them. it’s been a while since we’ve had a new human down here.’
‘Oh, right…’ They couldn’t help but feel relieved when the low chatter of the place slowly returned to normal. ‘So…?’
‘um. so. you have no idea what I’m talking about, right?’
‘To be honest, I have no idea what anyone’s been talking about down here. I kinda feel like this is all some kind of cruel prank, or something? I don’t know. This place is just kinda… surreal. And cold.’ Though, admittedly, it was much warmer in here.
‘yeah, I know. but you’ll get used to it. or…’ His grin wilted slightly, as if he was just realising something. ‘you’ll be going to the capital, won’t you…?’
‘No idea.’ Frisk felt the conversation buffer a little. For some reason, it felt like there wasn’t much else to say.
‘oh, it’s uh, not a prank by the way.’ Sans’ grin had lifted again. ‘’cos you’d be able to see right through a guy like me.’
Frisk stared at him, then snickered a little. ‘Was that… a pun?’
‘heh. thanks for laughing, kiddo. no-one else has the manners to do that anymore.’
‘Oh? Maybe your jokes just don’t tickle their funny bones.’
Spluttering with laughter, Sans glanced at Frisk from across the table and grinned even wider at them.
‘good one, kiddo.’ He paused. ‘well, I’m gonna go get a drink. do you want anything?’ He said, standing up.
‘Oh. Uh… I don’t have any money.’
‘Okay…? Do you want anything?’
Frisk blinked, then seemed to realise what he was offering. ‘Oh! I’m good, thanks.’
‘kay. I’ll be right back.’
‘Okay!’ Frisk watched him walk off.
They sunk back into their seat, rubbing their feet together. Some feeling was slowly returning to them, and it was only then that they realised how numb their feet had been before now. Not to mention cold. And wet. Ugh. Who thought it was a good idea to make a snow-filled cavern one of the first places any newcomers would walk through?
Whatever. They could probably beg Chara’s jacket back when they inevitably met up again. If they weren’t too pissed about the whole ‘human’ thing. Maybe sassing them wasn’t one of Frisk’s brightest ideas.
Either way, it felt kinda nice to be here. Asriel was nice. Sans seemed cool. And Chara… Well. Chara was-
‘uh, kid?’ Frisk jumped and looked up to see Sans standing at the edge of the booth, grinning at them. He was clutching a large glass bottle. ‘sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. you just looked kinda lost, heh.’
‘It’s fine, sorry. I just kinda zoned out, oops.’
‘right.’ He sat opposite them again, taking a small sip from the bottle. He noticed them staring at it. ‘uhh…? you want some, kid?’
‘I’m like, fifteen.’
‘and…?’ He smirked at them from behind the drink.
‘And…’ Frisk scowled at him. This felt like peer pressure. But… ‘Fine, I’ll try some.’
‘seriously? I was just kidding, but okay…’ He pushed the bottle towards them, his smirk widening.
‘…’ Frisk raised the bottle to their lips, taking a tiny, hesitant sip. Bad idea.
‘Holy FUCK-’ They spat it out, heaving, as the drink hit their tongue. It tasted like shit, to put it bluntly. ‘Was that alcohol or paint stripper!?’
Sans snorted and took the bottle back, spinning it around so the label faced Frisk. ‘Spider Cider. It’s… an acquired taste.’ He winked and took a large gulp. Frisk felt sick, but giggled a little too.
‘So, THIS is what you call a serious, important conversation, huh?’ Both Frisk and Sans started and looked round to see Chara, arms folded and face twisted into a scowl, standing over their table.
‘hey chara, wanna join us?’ Sans seemed relatively relaxed despite Chara’s murderous glare.
‘No, Sans, I don’t want to join you. And human…’ Chara’s eyes hardened. ‘Drinking is illegal for minors.’
‘hey, it’s okay, they’re with a responsible adult.’ Sans winked at Chara, who continued looking completely unamused.
‘Hah. ‘Responsible adult’, huh? There’s nothing ‘responsible’ about an alcoholic layabout, as I’m sure your brother will reiterate, when he gets here.’
Sans looked away. ‘aw, c’mon, chara. you didn’t have to go and get him involved, you know…’
Frisk stayed silent, trying not to laugh. Something about the situation made them feel like a kid being chastised by their parent.
‘This isn’t funny, human.’ Chara snapped.
‘No, you’re right, I’m very sorry for… whatever I did.’
‘Whatever you did!? You committed MULTIPLE SERIOUS CRIMES, and just because you’re a newbie does not mean you will be shown any mercy in court!’
‘…Court?’ Frisk glanced at Sans, who shrugged back.
‘Yes! Court! We just have to wait for-’
Chara was cut off by the door to the bar swinging open and smashing into the wall. The entire place silenced as two armoured figures walked in, followed by a nervous looking Asriel.
The shorter figure marched right over to the table and slammed her helmet down onto it, glaring at Frisk.
‘Human! I’ve heard from some EXTREMELY reliable sources that you’ve been causing trouble for members of the royal guard!’
‘Uhh… I plead the fifth.’ Frisk looked nervously at Sans, but he was grinning sheepishly at the other guard.
‘…What?’ The girl shot a confused glance towards Chara.
‘What the human means is that they’re not gonna speak.’
‘Oh! Well, I guess that means…’ She turned back towards Frisk, a wicked grin stretching across her features. ‘We’re gonna have to FIGHT, punk!’