Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/12119388. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: No_Archive_Warnings_Apply, Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Major Character_Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage Category: F/M, Multi Fandom: Undertale_(Video_Game) Relationship: Papyrus/Reader, female_characters/reader, male_characters/reader, jealous AF_female_characters/Papyrus, Sans/slight_reader, Chara/slight_Kat, Alphys/Undyne/slight_OC's, Asgore/Toriel, Asriel/Kat_(OC), Temmie/Flowey, Napstablook/Shyren, Mettaton/Aaron, Frisk/Monster_Kid, Muffet/Grillbys, Annoying_Dog/Demon_(OC_dog), Burgerpants/Nice_Cream_Guy, Guard_One/Guard Two, Dogamy/Dogerressa, (other)_OC's/OC's Character: Reader-OC(/Insert), Papyrus, Sans, Alphys, Undyne, Asgore, Toriel, Frisk, Monster_Kid, Temmie, Flowey, Napstablook, Mettaton, chara_-_Character, Asriel, Annoying_Dog, Undertale_Characters, OC's_everywhere Additional Tags: self_degradation, many_phobias, PTSD, BPD, IPF, Anorexia, Insomnia, making_up_identities, sort_of, Depression_in_general, betrayal_of_loved ones, Mentions_of_Rape, and_rape_in_general, Trigger_Warnings, Bipolar Disorder, numb_of_emotions, Hiding_Emotions, Fluff, Angst, so_much_feels, unwanted_drama, paradoxes, resting_bitch_faces, Reader_is_an_OC, because of_plot_reasons, Reader_is_a_pervert, Papyrus_and_reader_share_some_of the_same_problems, both_Papyrus_and_reader_are_sort_of_tsunderes, peeping on_people, Jealousy, player_Papyrus, reader_is_a_badass_woman_at_times, Slow_AF_Burn, slow_burn_is_really_slow, and_flicker-ish, reader_is_also_a Kuudere/Tsundere, enjoy_the_horror, it's_sort_of_a_musical, a_musical with_lots_of_explicit_language_and_horror, this_actually_kinda_reminds_me of_Across_the_Universe, cuz_so_much_music, and_bad_happenings_happening, but_not_in_every_chapter, reader_has_foster_parents, foster_parents_hates monsters, hostile_controlling_dad, somewhat_passive_and_angry/submissive mom, police_dad, lawyer_mom, sort_of_mixed_feelings_between_reader_and Paps, but_both_will_fall_in_love, eventually, mixed_everything_with everyone, lots_of_game_related_stuff_(of_course), and_gross_shit, jealous women, racial_slang_(yes_I_know_is_bad), racist_assholes, some_spoiler tags_and_other_things_related, with_a_hint_of_hideous_nightmares, becuz_y not?, all_this, adds_more_plot, mature_ratings_and_tags_for_potential future_content, reproductive_coercion_attempts, Alcoholism, future postpartum_depression, Human_Trafficking, youth_sexual_trauma, mentions of_past_incest, and_incest_in_general, Suicide_Attempts, reader_needs glasses_but_doesn’t_have_actual_useful_ones, slight_inexperience_with sex, reader_and_Papyrus_need_lots_of_therapy, but_they_won't_do_it anyways, also_has_slight_twilight_feeling, but_not_in_that_weird_bullshit of_who_loves_who, reader_has_sister_with_Idiopathic_Pulmonary_Fibrosis, lots_of_sex-toys, Open_Relationships, Masturbation, just_throwing_in_many of_ze_problematic_problems_in_here_for_ya_huh?, lots_of_weird_plot, but reader_does_grow_in_weight_over_time, random_birthdays_all_the_times, religion_is_implied_but_not_used, bipolar_depression, nothing_will_feel real_at_one_point, reader_is_also_///partially///_in_shape_(pear-shaped reader), Other_Additional_Tags_to_Be_Added Stats: Published: 2017-09-19 Updated: 2017-11-14 Chapters: 3/? Words: 16829 ****** Shit Happens, Now Who's Up For Hell? ****** by OpalCrystalheart02 Summary Your name is Sam. Samantha _____ ______ __________, but either Sam, first middle name ______, or Bigs is fine.   You're a chameleon. A person who imitates their social surroundings. And Kat, she's the best sister anyone could have. You're one of the fortunate people.   A lot of things happens these last five years: monsters are real, Kat was diagnosed with early IPF, you were kicked out of your foster parents home, and the rest...you'd rather not mention.   Kat's birthday is coming up tomorrow, and as an early present, her friends planned a traditional midnight party to a nightclub.   Shit starts to go down as soon as you set foot in there, and you're the only person out of the group leaving early by will and security.   But like the party ends there. You'll make up these last five years in no time at all. All it takes is a little blackmail, a pissy skeleton out to end your “life”, and a mixture of cute siblings, fucked up bullshit and impossible happenings. What else can go wrong?   Everything. Everything can go wrong. Notes Hey, guess what? I’m back from the dead, endless-void-that-i-love-so- much? I've Been gone for so long because i've been developing much better, even more cliche plot. I even have some ideas that i could make into deleted scenes if this were a movie. I could actually make a movie with this, or a game, with how script like this is (i mean, it doesn't look like one, but it could be one, potentially, i think…). And i've got lots of songs to use, even if not every chapter will have any songs, or with more than one, etc. even if i do have a crapload of songs i will take recommended songs (this is just a way to make me listen to more music and get out of my little shell of hottest hits are bomb and nothing else reigns superior , actually, but i do put songs i love in this story, promise. If any songs are requested and aren't put in here, i couldn't connect with it as well, or im using it for an even better purpose in the future, otherwise i do take songs from movies, and other songs and come up with my own meaning, you'll see that soon. This is gonna be a shitty story with how many songs i rip off. Also, keep in mind, I eliminated some shows, movies, music artists and such so this story can make at least some sense when people say they made the songs. So, every song that is either not sung by Miscellaneous Rose, or is sung by them and is not theirs, they don't have artists in this story, nothing has a maker besides Miscellaneous Rose, because I'm weird that way, and I worked hard to make this story and my head hurts from how many ideas I have piled up that I intend to use in the future. Bear with me, pretty plz. This is a long and horrible road, i may go many chapters without songs, but only because im practicing writing non-musicals, im actually starting a career as an author, and i have so many dumb ideas piling up quickly. Some are dumb, i think i could do better, but others are actually quite interesting, once i take the time to explain it correctly. Im also working on drawing characters for this, otherwise i'll just explain every little hair on their body for now to give you a much better visual. I’m gonna buy the stuff i need for my job eventually, but i just have to work on this with my cracked nextbook, that shits me over worse than my broken phone (im getting one in october, birthdays rule, lol) Alright, enough rambling, go ahead and read the story already, (unless you're do so right now, and ignored me, that's fine, whatever..i think i'll go hang with napstablook and happstablook, i guess…….) (i also have no update schedule, so if i see any rushy people, i may as well go away for a while, because i have ridiculous fears of being rushed and other things, and i already feel like shit for staying away for a whole year and not living up to doing what i wanted to do.) See the end of the work for more notes ***** Horribly Friday ***** It was quiet when you woke up at first, you don't regret a second of falling back to sleep and wake back up an hour later, at first the sun's rays had gotten in your eyes when opening your dark eye lids and you felt the need for a certain morning nature that had begun to call out for you quietly, but you ignored all of it and turned around to snooze some more, the blankets tucking under your hips as you squeezed your legs against your stomach, and you grumbled as your feet started to freeze into your slow slumber. You'd have regret kicking and scraping off your Pom-Pom socks before falling asleep at the crack of dawn, but now you're...too lazy...to..care..... Now you're cold, in a fetal position, and lying like a boulder on a tiny twin- sized rock hard bed, reluctantly, tiredly, and aimlessly searching for your blanket, your hand landing on warm skin suddenly, and if you didn't know any better even though how exhausted you are from pulling an all nighter of endless music work and falling asleep at your desk to suddenly end up in your bed mysteriously (although you didn't mind much), you'd say it was your own thigh, much less squeeze it to check. You did the latter, unfortunately, and sat up as soon as you realized you didn't feel the second harder squeeze test, rubbing your furrowed eyes to peer through bleary stars and low hums and clicks, another person sitting criss- cross at the end of your bed wearing a large white shirt with many different neon and vibrant colors here and there. "Hey," she says tiredly, her voice scratchy, ragged, and slightly nasally and forced as she rub her eyes from under a pair of reading glasses (that aren't hers), her arm wrapped in clear tubes hanging lazily around her face and ears, and glances back and forth between your exhausted form and the medium sized.....oxygen....thing..(?) sitting on the floor, pumping air through the foul plastic. Her hair is dark brown and has a M-shape from the back up to her shoulders, curled slightly at the ends and her bangs lull to the left of her pale peach forehead, the longer locks framed in front of her ears and around her cheeks. She wears only the said shirt as a nightgown which hide her panties, it's clearer now as you blink and it has solidly colored people fully in only one said color each, each different one complementing the different sizes and making a weird rainbow with more than six colors, each person huddled close to one another in cute little poses. At the bottom were a few fake signatures of similarly colored names, and then a band name. Miscellaneous Rose. Her favorite pj's. "Morning," you groan, your own voice groggy and cracked as you leer at the vermillion blanket folded nearly beside her, leaning forward and reaching for it before she yanks it away. You moan. So tired... "No, no sleeping," she murmurs, her own head nodding up and down at a bit out of random rhythm and you give a lazy scoff before grabbing the blanket and pulling on it. "Cmon, we're both tired..." You protest with a tug, her body leaning forward a bit as you get a better grip onto it now. "No. Get up..." She replies, giving a small heave backwards and you huff as the position presses your legs against your diaphragm. You can feel your lungs compressing and you groan out of your strained exhale. "Ugh, fuck it." You sigh, letting go of the blanket and she fumbled almost off the bed before catching herself quickly as you curled up into a fetal ball again, your hands supporting your head and you ignored the cold feeling, and she huffed at you. "Get up." She mutters, giving your bare thigh a soft punch, you respond with a much softer kick to her legs. She groans and finally falls onto your form, hugging you lazily as you grumble back, nudging her with your elbow. "Go away." As warm as she was, you didn't like the thought of falling asleep with a small lack of air in your now compressed lungs. Actually, you'd know how she feels everyday. "Get up then," she pinches your cheek and you hiss at her, batting her hand away like a cat and she giggles. "I'll go away if you get up!" "But I'm so tiiiiiiiiired...." You whine into your pillow, "I fell asleep at five, i feel like absolute hell, give me a fuckin' break, Kat." The said Kat pauses, which scares you a bit until you feel her cyan and pink claws dig into your back, it gives you a strange chill but you pay no mind to the wave of sudden shock as you arch your shoulder blades and back with a yelp, rolling over and kneeing her thigh. She just giggles loudly, the little fucking shit. "Fuck, I'm awake! Okay?" You yell, reaching for the eight small nail pricks in the middle of your back and you hiss from one that you could reach. You might not be able to sleep on your back for now. And about three are bleeding, probably. "I had to wake you up," she says simply and hugs you, making sure to steer clear of the new marks on your skin and you just sit sputtering incoherent nonsense as she just smiles deviously. "It was either that or a mouthful of Demon spit." You shudder at that, barely noticing a low growl at the mere mentioning until a mutt head pops up from the side of your bed and lays her head on the end, her big brown eyes aimlessly glancing between Kat and you. "You seem really tense, though," She grazes a gentle hand over your back and you wince as she lifts your gown up to inspect them. It hurts much worse with more air hitting them. "I didn't mean to dig so deep. Sorry." "It's fine," you hiss, "I'll probably just get something worse later today. What could possibly go right, right?" You both share a small chuckle, your smile quickly fading back to a normal blank expression as quick as it formed, the room grows quiet once more, and your brain starts to ask a few dumb questions along with reasonable ones. Which actually a few catch your attention. "Hey uh, what time is it?" "Uh..." Kat palms her plump chest before reaching into a pocket to pull out her phone, a swift click of the home button and.... "It's eight forty five." "Uuuuuggghhhh...." You fall onto her lap and groan as you roll around, exhaustion rushing through you at the sudden realization that you only had about three-something hours of nightmare-induced sleep. "Why do you hate me so?" You moan into her leg, her palm calmly rested on your shoulder and she sighs as she softly pats your back. "Cuz in reality, I love you," she states simply, nodding her head and you raise a brow at that as you lift up your head. "You'd let me sleep more if so, but whatever I guess...." You grumble under your breath, crossing your arms and Kat scoffs while rolling her eyes. "Welp, I'm fully awake now, and so are you-" you interrupt her with a loud exaggerated fake snore, rolling back into bed with a yawn and another ragged exhale as she groans and grabs your legs. Ooh, her hands are cold, despite her furnace of a chest. "No, get off me," you chuckle as she presses a spot in your sensitive feet. "Your hands are freezing!" "I wanna have breakfast with my big sister, and you are already taking too long!" "No!" You drawl loudly, smacking her hand away and accidentally back handing her face when you reel back. It wasn't as hard, but like she cared while you erupted in giggles. "Oh my god, are you okay?" You clasp her offended cheek before she smacks your hand away, hissing at you loudly and you can feel your stomach churning from how much you're laughing and how unprepared your body is to it. "Does it hurt that bad?" "No! I'm not glass, I'm angry!" She squeaks, "that's it! Demon, sick your big cuz!" "Wait, NO!" With a bark and a creak of the bed, a wet leather tongue lapped at your face and a black beady nose sniffed you all over, not leaving a second for you to breathe without getting a foul stench invading your nose. And the worst part was the fact that this mutt was stronger than you, no matter how hard you pushed she could stand her ground for hours. It's not like you were a bunch of spaghetti arms, neither were you the world's strongest woman, of course. You were more of an in between person, the kind that uses their strength only with adrenaline rushes and anger. "Okay Demon! That's enough!" Kat chimes in finally, a snap of her fingers has made Demon stop and you immediately lift your tank over your face and scrub the horrible saliva off your face. Screw people who say a dogs tongue is clean, they haven't had the shit and piss side of that story. Either that, or they washed their dogs for them. "Ugh, gross..." You groan, you'd rather spend time doing absolutely nothing and go completely insane than spend another go through that again. It's not you'll do anything other than make music for the rest of your life though, a shower could be of use by now. "Are you gonna get up?" You give her a thumbs up with a blank deadpan, nodding strongly and she giggles and smiles deviously as she hugs the little sh-mutt. "Good!" She kisses Demon and the pup gives a low grumble as she leans into Kat, nuzzling into her chest lovingly and you lay forward to pet Demon as well. Your stomach purrs lowly and softly, you almost don't notice it until Demon sniffles and glares at your tiny fluff belly. "Oh yeah, when was breakfast?" You ask, feeling your stomach churn a bit from the lack of food since last night. You should really start keeping a mini fridge in here, seriously. It'd be better than finding about half of your sodas, lunch meat and cheese gone after fives seconds of buying it and jamming it in the lunch drawers downstairs. Kat pauses her petting and the ends of your lips crease up a bit, her face is stricken with clear fuck-uppery, glaring into the backboard of your bed like it's a magical anomaly. "Shit." "Shit's right, I bet." You nudged her playfully, smirking your ass off as she squeals as quietly as possible under her breath, "how long have they been waiting?" She pushed you away to fall face first onto the bed. "More than five minutes, is what I didn't promise, ugh..." she says, "I told them to go back to bed while I cooked, but I think I heard plates clattering when I came to wake you up.." You groan back and reluctantly slide off the bed and on your knees to the floor, grabbing your phone and stuffing it skillfully and comfortably into your panty-side, your thin long tank top snagged off and you idly reach for a pathetic matching a-cup bra of yours, and feeling your slightly squishy, not as thin belly before stuffing yourself through your favorite fluffy hoodie Kat gifted you for your birthday. And in your favorite color, too: orange. Actually, you don't exactly have a favorite color, but this orange really catches your brown tenebrous eyes a bit. It's like a vermillion with a good long feel to it, and it has the nice scent of worn cigarettes to it which is a blessing and a curse in itself, even though you're not the smoker in your 'family'. Still, it won't go away, but you don't mind. You've taken a liking to the bitter smell ever since you were young. But, either way, it's big, it's baggy, and it looks great when and wherever you wear it. So you just take extra good care of it. Plus it makes you feel so nice inside when you put the hood over your head, it's like a new cozy, warm, itty bitty world, hmm... You hug your arms around your flat chest and hum in thought as you inhale your hoodie's scent. "You look so adorably tiny in that," Kat coos from your bed, her feet kicking off the edge and you scoff as rest your hands on your hips and bend forward with a determined glare. "I'm not adorable in the slightest." You declare with a batman tone and a graceful slide to the drawers where you hit your knee on it. "Shit, that hurts...." You breathe softly and kneel to the floor quickly, hugging your injured knee. "You mean 'I'm a fucking badass,' right?" Kat giggles as you curse under your breath, making an attempt to snag up some striped stockings socks and strut your way back over to bed and land with a soft plop in front of her to face her as you nod. "Yes, I did." You hum, "now go away, I'm sure the others are wondering what's taking so long," you wave your hand at her to shoo her out before she protest about anything and everything, "go tell everyone to eat already, I'm taking a year with my time, alright?" "don't you dare fall asleep-oh who am I kidding, of course you will, whats the point?" Kat scoffs and shakes her head with a knowing smirk, but doesn't attempt anyore snide remarks as she picks up her oxygen therapy machine- whatever the hell it is and kicks off the bed, sauntering out of the room while slightly dragging the tank-thing down the stairs. Now alone, aside from an evil mutt snoring against your butt at the moment, you slowly slip the stockings up your calves before guiding them a bit quicker up your thighs, letting the ends hug around your squishy flesh easily and comfortably as you move on to the other. Now done with both, and completely satisfied as you softly run your fingers over the cladded skin, a soft shiver rushing through your frame at the almost foreign feeling touch as you give a small sigh, you then stand to fix your hoodie-gown down your hips, stuffing your baggily cladded hands through the pocket and turning towards the door before realizing a buffy/nerdy male is there, his eyes shut tightly and a deep cherry blush erupting on his face as you purse your lips and lower your brows out of habit upon seeing another person besides Kat in front of you. "Hey Terrance," you sigh bluntly as you rest your arms on your head, your hoodie hiking up a bit against your hips and you give a small inside smirk at his reaction when he opens his eyes for a split second, glancing down at the dark crevice between legs and the hoodie that reveal your striped panties before clamping down his eyelids once more. You might have the gall to snicker, given how heartless you are in the morning. However, you decided to let your arms down and strut your way back towards your drawer to spare him and the others downstairs, slipping into some green two layer shorts. All the while the said Terrance sputters and blushes deeper than his pure ginger hair and freckles. "Whatever could you be here for?" You ask him feigned semi-dreamily, your half- lidded eyes showing disinterest and he slowly opens his eyes to gaze at your laid back stance, one hand crossed over your flat chest to grasp the other one with your thumb clipped under your shorts to play with your phone. "U-uhm...." He starts off slowly, from the looks of his face he could cook an egg or two on his cheeks with the steam coming off of them at this point, you tap your foot against the carpet as it sounds off a few low and silent thuds. "I just...you know how we all planned out Kat's birthday lately?" You cock your head the side, nodding as your eyes spark with sudden interest, your gaze carried to his geeky facial structure, and you can't help but to smirk out of fascination for this dorky boy. "W-well, I was just wondering if..." He trails off slowly, his teeth chattering with how nervous he was at this point, you couldn't leave him just standing there and tense up the air even more. "Yes, I will be going, if that's it. of course I'm going, she's my sister. " You say simply, and his shoulders slump at the notice that you didn't put two and two together like usual, in your own annoyingly, extremely blunt way. "If you want a date, then just grow a bigger dick and say it already." He perked up with a tomato face and a tiny smirk, "yes, that's actually what I was gonna ask...thanks," he says with a cheeky grin. Even if you didn't want to, it's not like you could turn him down. Actually, you could, but you're too nice-kind-easy-okay, well you're not any of those to anyone, but it's part of your weird morals. Mostly because it's really flattering for someone to ask you out, unless they only want what's in your pants, then they can go fuck themselves. You're not a whore. You shrug as a response while he stands there awkwardly still, thumbing your phone a bit rougher, at this point it might crack by how restless you are and needing to get out of this room for now. "Anything else..?" You ask drawlingly, waving your free hand in a circle. "Oh, I just wanted to ask what you were going to w-wear." He squeaks a little, grinning nervously and shrugging his own shoulders, in which you scoffed at that. "That's for me to know, and you to check out later." You walked over to his side, patting his shoulder and passing him to strut down the stairs quickly. "Ugh, that woman," he groaned with a flustered smirk as he kneaded his red flushed cheeks and fiery ginger hair. He could always tell how you didn't, or wouldn't smile unless you were around Kat. "She's too perfect for anybody." Kat hummed as she guarded the food on the dining room table, probably the most unhealthiest of meals she's made so far: eggs with syrup and cilantro leaves, sausage sprinkled with minced bacon crumbs, and pancakes almost soggy with slowly cooling butter. Kat hummed to herself as she turned to the starting page of chapter thirteen, her hardback cover of Twilight scented a light leathery sugar, and a stem of cilantro sticking from her maw as she gently bit the tip from its end to the bright green leaves out of boredom. Even though she wore her vibrantly colored headphones like a well needed headband, with various music pouring gently from the ear-sized speakers as she tapped her flat-shoes against the tile floor like a normal thing to do everyday, she wasn't blind or deaf to the things going on around her little world. She could blatantly see two familiar females peeking their cheeky little heads from the dining room doorway, both grinning and giggling as they peered at the food with longing eyes. "I see you," Kat said as she turned another page, her head never moving but her eyes leer at the two as they slump over each other and pout. "Good morning, don't touch anything and you can sit down." They cheered lightly and shuffled into the dining room to their seats, the shorter of the two clinging to the taller's shoulders before both of them hug and yawn. Kat glances up at them and flicks her headphones off of her ears to wrap around her neck, gently placing her pink and purple metal bookmark in place and shutting the book to set it on the table as her free hand paused her music in the process. "How'd you sleep?" She asks through a yawn, covering her mouth slightly and chest heaving intensely, only to give a little restraint as she winced from the sting in her ribs. Ugh, yawning was a pain in itself now. The shorter of the two poked her partner, signing something quickly before the other responded with a grin and signing back. They both grinned deviously and giggled. "I slept pretty well, but Andrea kept waking me up," she answered in a slightly nasal voice, her hands acting just as quick as her mouth and the said other jabbed her partner before groaning. "Tiff's lying, believe me." Andrea sighed as she ran her hand through her hair in exasperation. Tiff chuckled as she nuzzled the other's arm, Andrea petting her tiny lover softly on her head. Kat shook her head and rolled eyes, "I'm still twenty, I prefer all that innuendo talk after Sunday." She chided them both, waving her swatting spatula at them both as they laughed with her. She knew she'd have a party tonight, it was inevitable at this point and she wanted it to be long lasting if she was sure she was going to one of her much wished-for places, but until exactly after her birthday (in which she couldn't guarantee she could stay awake for midnight tonight), Kat will not tolerate anymore inappropriate anything. "Who made breakfast?" Said a feminine voice just a few feet away from the dining room. "Smells exactly like Sam's cooking..." "Actually, Carly..." Kat smiles gleefully at the genuine compliment, you are a really good cook. The said girl slowly trudged her way in with a long yawn, ruffling her fingers through her curly trussed hair before glancing over at the waving Kat. "I made it. Thanks." "No prob, bob." She points a finger gun as Kat with a sly smirk, plopping into a seat before picking up a fork. "Ah, wait!" Kat yelps, startling Carly as she barely just flings her fork up. "Not everyone is here. Did you not notice Jake, your husband, isn't here?" Carly glances over to the seat by her, dismissing his MIA with a wave of her hand. "It's fine. I love him, but not every meal has to be eaten together." "Oh, well I guess I can't argue with that, then." Said Jake as he strolls into the scene with a lazy smirk as he plops in his seat by his wife, smooching her cheek softly as she grins and pokes his shoulder with a little taunt. "Thought you were gonna leave it there with something else." He gives her a pouty face before she scoffs and rolls her eyes. "Morning, don't touch the food." Kat chimes in as she resumes reading her book. Jake nods idly, leaning on Carly as she does the same to him. "Okay, I'm here," you strut through the doorway glancing over at Kat, a tiny grin on your face as you plop down next to her. Smells just like you cooked in here... "Good god, Kat, this looks awesome." You pat her back and she chuckles, lowering her book to her lap as she grins at you. "I learned from the best," you both share a smile and a laugh, her eyes suddenly wandering back to the doorway as her brows furrow in slight confusion. "Hey, where'd Terrance go?" "Oh, him? He got stranded on the moon and I'm planning on getting him in an hour or so." You lie tiredly, giving out a little yawn. "As you can see, my work is never complete." Kat pouts as she slugs your arm. "Be serious. Did he ask you anything?" Clinging to your arm, she looks into your dim blackish-brown eyes with her beautiful bluish-gold tinted eyes. Too. Much. Adorable. "Yeah, he did," you drawl suspiciously. Her face lights up immediately, her adorable smile just making your day as she squeals just like when she gets to the best parts of her book. "Did you make him ask me?" "What? No, of course not!" She stammers slightly, quickly changing half of the topic, "where is he? Seriously. It's like he got lost upstairs, or something." She has a point. Hopefully he's not looking through your room, although most of your stuff is in storage, you didn't pack the bear necessities for that small trip, like half of your music set up, a small desk, twin bed, a few notebooks that Kat calls your "diaries", which aren't as far from one, just really for your songs and good notes to remember. You're not one for writing emotions you don't understand anymore. "What'd I miss? Hopefully some of the boring news..?" Terrance calls from the hall, walking briskly into the room to take his seat by you. His cherry cheeks are finally replaced by his freckled and pale, sorta-nerdy, moreover masculine features. Sometimes, it's actually hard to notice that he's really a nerd. A beefy, super dorky, nerd. "Actually no, we were waiting for you," You sink your cheek into your palm, "Kat also said she made you ask me out." She gasps and pinches your arm with a flushed fiery glare. "Bigs!" She hisses under her breath, "ugh, we'll talk later." You nod with a smirk. You'll take note of that. "Guys," Andrea chimes in, all eyes on her as she clears her throat and points to the tv. "Can we get onto the news already? Jeez." "Oh, sorry." Kat says as she reaches for the remote, a sneaky glare sent your way and you playfully stick your tongue out, pulling your eyelid down as well with your middle finger. She flushed cherry and grumbles under her breath, something about assholes. So cute. "Okay...and, there." Turning on the TV and setting it to the news, you all watched as you now ate delicious food made from the second best cook in the house. Kat'll probably steal your first place soon, but that cannot happen! ...but like you can stop Kat, the most determined dork you've met so far. The TV flashes with red and blue, the title of the news in bright white as the music and intro theme cuts in, it all pans across the screen for a good moment before transitioning to the main anchorwoman as she takes on a serious face with intent to tell her disheartening faith-murdering news. "Today on H&P News, a tragedy has struck the homes of many monsters and humans. Most of them have burned down by what others have claimed to be Molotov cocktails or torches, and others has their windows broken with crowbars and bats, and leaving the scenes with graffiti of disgusting slurs towards the frightened monsters and a strange symbol with the infamous name 'WE ARE ONE REAL RULE', it's only a matter of time before we find these cretins and bring them to real justice. But for now, we'll take a look at the weather. Karl?" That was all you needed to hear so far, Kat can tell you the weather later, and you blocked the rest out as you chowed down on the remaining runny egg yolk you slowly poured onto your pancakes out of curiosity. Thinking about the last three years, just as monsters were starting to settle in nicely with humans, this "One Real Rule" bullshit started as soon as monster got their rights. They're like this shitty form of KKK for monsters, seeing as they assault humans who accompany monsters, from rape to other things better off unmentioned, they're a disgrace to the human name, as you'd call it, shamelessly, although you're being just as prejudiced as them, it's a little different, you’re sure. Taking a bite of the pancake, you notice how the flavors were mostly the same, and it didn't leave any affect on your taste buds. Of course, it didn't taste bad, but it was bland. Putting that little experiment to rest, you took another boring bite with the last of your sausage. Ah, much better. Sure, you respect everything and everyone, but when it comes to hate for another species or race, that's where you draw the line. Monsters have done nothing but roamed with kindness ever since they left the underground, probably because they feared for their lives from the humans, or it was in their souls to do so, whichever anyone could believe. And you believe almost anyone could find sweetness in their hearts. Well, almost anyone. After a minute or two of trying more sweet and tangy combinations, a slightly fuzzy, coarse fur nuzzles your legs before a snout rests between them, thankfully at your knees than anywhere else. You glance under the table. Demon sits silently and stares at you with dark brown eyes, their pigment almost close to yours, except they shimmer much brighter. Ugh, she's giving you her dorky pup eyes. It does absolutely nothing to you. You glare at her, she bats her eyes and looks away for a split second. She licks her maw and yawns, she rubs her face on your thigh, right before you move your leg a bit, she leans on the other one, making you repeat the process. You'd be lying if you'd said this pup wasn't a little cute. "You...okay..?" You glance over at Terrance as he takes in your person, you glance up at him before turning back to glare under the table, Demon just licks your knee like you spread peanut butter on it. And the cute is gone. "Oh, uhm...yeah I'm fine. Just really tired, is all." You scrunch your eyes as you pinch your nasal bridge, which what you said is extremely true. Honestly, you don't think you'll be able to handle staying up until Kat's party. You haven't slept more than two hours since...three days ago? Yeah, that's the limit. You'll probably need to buy a five hour thingy when Kat goes to work today. "Okay," Terrance drawls, you ignore him as Demon gives you a small sneeze, you grumble under your breath as you start swinging your leg to the side, pushing her off so she'll get the damn picture and go away. she counters it a whimper. Ugh fine, you were full anyways. Slipping your plate under the table as everyone else starts to clean up, Demon steps back and licks her maw as she eats the remains of your food, you give her a gentle tap on her head with your main fingers. She knows what it's for, you also know that she'll do it again, so what's the point, right? The point is, with time she'll come to respect you. You stifle a snicker. Like hell that'll ever happen. You've had the little shit since forever, surprisingly, like she's gonna change that smartass attitude of hers. It's like she's a human in the most perfect disguise. An annoying as fuck mutt. As you watch the kitchen decrease in size from all the people clambering about, you slowly tiptoe out of the dining room and to the stairs to avoid your inevitable fate to dish duty. "Hey!" Kat calls from the doorway down the hall, it causes you to curse under your breath as you shuffle up the stairs quicker. "Bigs! Get down here! You've got dishes!" Oh, damn. ***** There’s Planning, Shopping, Texting, Teasing... ***** Chapter Summary a very long chapter, just getting ready for the party, trying to get a good feel for this story, I was actually more eager to write about a certain person than anyone else in this story. it's a really long chapter too. sorry, was trying to keep the feel going but turned out drawling it in wrong spots I think. otherwise, hope you enjoy this chapter! worked my ass off for this one as you can tell by my delay. also posted a blurry artwork on my tumblr! (the link won't work, so here: https:// opalcrystalheart.tumblr.com/tagged/SHWFH ) Chapter Notes there's songs in this chapter. some of them are- actually all of them are background songs, but one of the is important. but request songs, if you'd like! I have a bunch, but I'd like this story to drawl in a good way, and not end on a quick sucky note (pun intended, heh). I'll let you know if I already have a song you want me to use. anyways, imma take a nap for now *flops on bed like fish, snores loudly* pure bliss, a weight has lifted I'm crying so much. See the end of the chapter for more notes “How’s it coming along?” Kat pops her head from the kitchen doorway, her lips curled gleefully up in a giddy shit-eating grin as she glances from your almost trembling wrists dunked in scalding water, the temperature is slowly melting the sponge and your fingers oh so unpleasantly, your poor hands are shivering from painful this feels.   You sink yourself into the counter, groaning while lifting pruned hands from murky greasy waters below. Its surprising how you’ve not gagged so far, the smell is absolutely awful. “Im done,” you hiss, drying your hands on your blue and pink apron. “I hate washing dishes.”   Kat sighs as she walks to your side, hand on your shoulder as she shakes her head at you. “It needs to be done at some point, Bigs.” she rests her head on your shoulder, your cheeks fume with a small rosy color.   “Yeah, i know. Dont frickin’ remind me. Honestly, i feel like im the only one who knows how to wash dishes in this house.” you pout to yourself.   She giggles as she grins wider, “yeah, let’s go with that.” your narrow your eyes as she tugs on your hoodie sleeve. “Now come on sour puss, Jake and Carly have something ‘important’ to announce that has to do with everyone, including you.” you nod and rinse the soap off of your hands, wiping them on your hand towel tucked in the front of your shorts as you follow Kat into the living room.   The whole small household is held in there, the couch taken by three people and Demon sat cozily in the lap of Andrea as Tiff pets the mutt’s back. The sofa has the two married lovers occupied in it, Carly on her husband’s lap as she yawns and leans into his embrace.   Terrance is seated on one half of the foot rest, his back hunched as Kat joins his side. The only place left is the floor for you, or you can stand. The latter sounds much better, your body leaned up against the door of the entrance you came through, crossing your arms and legs, a deep yawn escaping your lungs as you face away from the scene with a hand over your mouth.   “Alright,” you sigh through your fingers, “I know Kat needs to hear this, but why me? It's not my birthday, or anywhere close, that is.”   “We know, but just in case you might not approve of a certain thing.” Carly murmurs with a soft smile, and you raise a brow at that.   “Not liking the sound of that at all..” you curtly reply, cropping your foot on the opposite side of the frame you rest upon. “Okay, you mean ‘certain things’ as in...what, like alcohol?”   Carly nods, along with jake as he repositions his wife off of him and next to his side. You bite your tongue to hide your giggle, though your grin and snort go unnoticed as you try and ignore your sister’s dagger eyes burrow into your gut.   “Heh, not trying to be the party shitter, but Kat can’t drink. Sorry,” you glance back at the sister in question, her penance glare sending a tinge of fear that could kill an entire army. Wanna back up and punt, dear?   You clear your throat and shrug your shoulders with a pert little grin, "but, i guess I can just let her have at least half a tequila." She lightens up, but not fully, "or a martini, or whatever you want, you damned devil." She grins wildly.   "Good! Now where we goin', is the most important question," Kat smirks as she leans on the edge of her seat, elbows on her knees and knuckles supporting her perfect chin.   "Ah, that's a brilliant question, my dear Kat!" Carly adds with a squeaky giggle. Jake's a lucky guy for having a bubbly, high-pitched wife, she's too optimistic for your daily company anyways. You're already wanting to just go back to your room and nap for the rest of the day already.   Carly jitters her way over to Kat with a quick cute gate in her step, standing on her tiptoes as she clasps her hands together and rests them against her cheek.   "We've all been saving up a lot of money lately, and since we know your life list has yet to be finished, The whole gang decided that we may as well make your dreams come true! You're gonna love this birthday present so much, I promise you, Kat!" The said birthday girl creases her lips into a wild maniacal giggling grin, eyes sparkling brighter than Star Sirius A's core close and personal in your face.   "Does that mean..?" She starts loudly and almost wispily, her voice so high you could hear a glass cracking in the kitchen. "T-that I get to..."   "See the main bevy of Miscellaneous Rose perform live before your very eyes, yes!" You barely had time to plug your ears before a scream sounded off that was similar to a high pitched air horn with a whistle taped to the end, then edited over and blasted loud in your ears while wearing headphones you can't take off. Sort of. The thing keeping your ears from killing you is that insane sugar rush of a smile that Kat has on her face as she hops up and down while hugging Carly.   After a few seconds, she begins to cough half heartedly, although lowering her voice to a minor cheer now, she collapses back onto the footrest with a tired huff, checking her oxygen tank and giving everyone a thumbs up.   "I'm so fucking happy right now," she wheezes, inhaling slowly through the foul plastic tubes in her nose as you chuckle a soft nervous grin. You decide that standing is too much of a chore, walking over by Kat's side and patting her head as you sit on the floor beside her.   "So where is the place?" Terrance asks nonchalantly from behind you, checking his ears for any blood loss.   "Oh, it's uh..." Carly pulls out her phone, typing and scrolling through links and other useless junk until she finds the bookmark she made last month. "Oh! It's a tiny few miles from here, actually. The place is called 'Moonlit Echoes', and it's a night club, too. I got us on the guest list and stuff, so we're all cool."   "Hm, coo'." You hum, crossing your legs around bit before finding a good comfy position to stay in for all eternity.   "What time is it now?" Kat asks as she glances around the room for a decent clock. The only clocks are the grandfather clock, which is off an hour, and the door clock, which spins the wrong way. They should've been fixed a while ago, but no one's gotten around to getting new clocks or fixing the current ones, so time is a bit hard to tell in the living room.   “It's ten in the morning, young lady, and i don't care if you want the party to ever end, i've already set the time to arrive, and it's nowhere near now.” Carly chides, a little purse of Kat’s lips takes over her expression as she furrows brows in a weak pout.   “Aw, you're no fun…”   You chuckle softly to yourself, “that’s debatable, just like you are funny. Well, funny lookin’.” your little quip earns you a look from Kat as she huffed through her pouted lips, a strand of hair flying up and back into her bangs.   ”Im a pretty punny gal, you can’t deny my punderful puns and random yolks.” she grins at the grin starting to break out across your lips.   “You know, someday im gonna hear much better jokes between the two of you.” Terrance says, shaking his head with a yawn. You sit up a little to elbow him in his leg.   “What, tired of us already?” you give a sly smirk that he leers at you for.   “Please, the day my jokes grow old is the day rapunzel cuts her hair, or her bangs. Ain’t i right?” kat queries, beaming smugly at you as you twirl your dark brown bangs through your fingers.   You roll your eyes, “it's not that long. I mean i-” Kat pokes your messy bun a little, the long frizzy lump resting on the slope of your hunched back as you slouch. “I like it long, and im never cutting it. Not even for the split ends.” you glance down at the messy brittle hairs, actually, maybe three inches for split ends.   Andrea and tiff stretch, “alright, ya giddy dork, in the meantime before the party, aren't we supposed to go shopping for junk?” kat spins her little bobble head around at the speed of light.   “For what?” she is on the edge of her seat, gripping her little oxygen tank handle tightly, the rubber molds to her iron grip easily. “What kind of junk are we shopping for?”   “Oh, i don't know, just some makeup, a few new shirts for you, and some Bud Light for the after-party.” jake counts the items on his fingers, and Kat squeals in a much calmer matter.   “Well,” you reluctantly stand up from your spot on the floor, curtly dusting off your hands and fixing your short shorts, “since were going out, i need a shower first. See ya,” you salute to the big bunch with two fingers, disappearing into the hall and trudging your weight up the stairs and into your room to set up casual outside clothes and lock your bathroom door.   While they all rant and talk about what they're going to do, you'll be in scalding waters trying to soothe your sore as fuck muscles.   Kat on the other end, smirks when you leave the room and everyone stands to get ready and pack purses and money, pulling out her phone and typing something while gnawing on her tongue sticking from her grin.   ‘Hey, p! Guess who’s birthday is tomorrow?’   . . .   ‘yours’   Kat grinned, giggling with a gleeful hiccup as she replied. ‘YES!!!!! AND MY PARTYS TODAY!!!!!’   ‘coo. invite me maybe?’   Kat barely noticed the feminine form shadowing above her, another set of eyes reading over the quickly typed texts‘And ur bro too?’   ‘sure kid. Still got his number?’   ‘Duh! Of course, ya goof. He’s too sweet not to!’   ‘where ya goin anyway’   ‘Moonlit echoes!!!!! I GET TO MEET THE BEST BAND OF ALL TIME! MISCELLANEOUS ROSE IS THE BEST, AHHHHH!!!!!!!’Kat waited for an answer, her reply already typed up as the bubbles stayed on the screen and flickered for a while before a reply finally came.   ‘checked with my bro. said there r slim chances with something at work going wrong, and i used up my vacation days. srry’   Kat’s grin faded for a quick second before she rewrote her response. ‘It's fine! I know promises are hard to keep, but if any chance passes by, do you?’   ‘count on your pretty little head’   ‘Hey, my head’s not that frickin small .>^<...’ Kat giggled, nearly kicking her oxygen tank over out of bubbly excitement as she grew more jovial by the second.   “Who ya texting?” a voice asked, startling kat as she clutched her phone close to her chest with a soft thud.   “Is that your boyfriend?” tiff asked with a cheeky grin, carly smiling with a wondrous expression as well as they both stared down kat. “What? No.” kat popped up from her seat, “ just a friend. Jeez, i knew i still can't get a lick of privacy.”   Tiff and carly pouted, “ but we’re curious..”   “Curiosity and thinking are dangerous in this household!” kat declared, dashing out of the living room and into the empty kitchen she shook her head and sighed as she spun on her heel, backing into the counter and reading over her next text.   ‘you okay kid?’   ‘Convo got peeped on, its fine! Anyways, i was trying to say that my birthday will be much better with you there!’   ‘why's that’   ‘Duh! Cuz you’ll be there with me to see Miscellaneous Rose in person! And you’ll make sure i don't make any wrong choices, but that's what my big sis is for, too.’   “Hey, where are the car keys, guys? We’re leaving right after Little Miss Priss finishes her shower.” jake states as he fixes up a few books in search for said item, kat glances around the counters and cabinets, eyes finally landing on a shiny gold car key hooked up with a gazillion other keys.   “Oh! Here!” kat snags them up and marches out of the kitchen, jake strolling his way over to her as she places the loud metal in his hand. “You're welcome!”   “Thanks,” he grins, eyes wandering to the phone in kat’s hand, “so who ya texting?”   Kat’s grin faltered, “nonya, dude.” she gave him a raspberry, barely having a second to react when a hand snagged up her phone.   “Got it!” andrea cheered, waving around the item as kat yelped, rushing to get it back as it buzzed with a new message. “Oh, who’s this?”   “It's a friend, now give it back!” kat hissed, only able to use one arm to reach for her phone. Andrea pouted a little before smirking as she read the chat, kinda feeling bad, but she knew that kat was like a kid that ate all the candy in the store.   “Seems like more than a friend,” carly and tiff peered over the arms of the tall woman, “‘birthday’s gonna be much better you there’? ‘Count on your pretty little head?’ What’s with the ‘kid’ thing, though?”   “It’s his thing, now give me my damn privacy!” kat whines, jumping up to reach the phone before they jerked it out of reach. Terrance cleared his throat as he poked his head from the hall, making a motion to his neck that made the other awe sadly. Andrea huffed as she handed the phone to kat, the birthday girl snatching it back as fast as possible before charging up the stairs and into her room, shutting the door and locking it.   “Frickin’ bajeebus, why do they think i even have a boyfriend?” kat scoffed as she paced around before plopping on her bed, reading over her text to make sure they didn’t tamper with it. They haven't, so yay.   ‘reminds me. when r u gonna introduce me to her? she sounds neato’   ‘Off tomorrow?’   ‘ye’   ‘Then tomorrow. You can meet my other meanie friends too, if ya want.’   ‘sounds coo. you can meet mine, too. muffet's place?’   ‘Of course! i ‘m working anyways. And i can’t believe you’re getting off ur lazy bone-butt to work at a new store at the mall!!! U better let me know if they got good makeup, or if any robots come to town!’   ‘don’t worry, i will. also reminds me. u tell her you have a job yet?'Kat looked up from her screen as she heard the sounds of your shower turning off, sighing as she replied quickly.   ‘No. i know’s she’s gonna be pissed with me, i can feel it in my bones.’   ‘good pun, but i don't see why she’d be pissed, you're twenty one years old. an adult’   ‘My oxygen tank isn't just for decoration, you know that, right? I still get light-headed going up half a flight of stairs. Upon other things, im pretty weak.’   ‘really? i don't notice it as much anymore. you're much cuter to hang with than that piece of metal glued to your side’   ‘Aw shucks. Im so flattered, ya goof.’   ‘my charms come naturally, beautiful’   Kat giggled, her cheeks warm from the genuine compliments. ‘Oh my god, you’re such a dork!’   ‘dork? what is a dork? does it mean handsome best friend?’   ‘No! You know what it means!’   ‘nah. too lazy to remember.’   Kat groaned in frustration, although a grin plastered on her face could tell anyone otherwise. She was about to send another message until she heard knock on her door.   “The hell are you doing in there?” you asked, curiosity and amusement in your tone.   “Being awesome!” kat called back.   “Well, you do that all the time, just do it later, we’re leaving, aren't we?” kat cursed under her breath, you usually took longer showers. Or maybe time went faster when she texted.   “Fine,” she drawled, popping off her bed and stop mid step before glancing at her phone. It’d be pretty rude to leave him there like that, she thought. “Just give me a second, i’ll be right there..”   ‘Hey, i gotta go, talk later?’   ‘yeah that's fine’   ‘Yay! Hoping to see you at my party!”   ‘me too, i have my ways to not miss anything. besides punches’   Kat cheered and shrieked to herself, hopping up and down like a kangaroo before your voice cut through again.   “Im starting to think something’s wrong, and if so im busting down the door.” your voice may have not carried a threatening tone, rather a worried one, but the same as before, even so it scared kat (she got her door replaced last year, a different irrelevant reason but not because of you), her feet fluttering in a sprint as she unlocked the door with quick fumbling fingers. She watched you a split second after she did so, your arm pulled back for impact, you were about to test waters with a soft shove, but kat moved out of the way, causing you to fall not on the door or her, but to the floor with a yelp.   You growl and wince as kat snickers, wanting so bad to pull her down by her legs and tackle her until she gives in, but you decide against it, pushing yourself back up with a lazy move of your hands until you hastily get back to one knee. The bad one. You groan, “This is gonna be a bitch.”   “Here, i’ll help.” kat loans a hand to you, hesitating before you take it, you dig your knuckle into your thigh, trying to lift yourself up by yourself, but it seems kat has the upper hand, yanking your other arm as she gradually hoists you up faster than you could have yourself.   “Ugh, thanks.” you sigh, kicking your leg out to pop it softly, it replies with the satisfaction you wanted, “ you didn't have to do that, though.”   Kat shakes her head, “Nah, don’t have the heart to watch you struggle. Now let’s go.” she pats your back and starts her way quickly down the stairs, her body bouncing with the steps as you slowly follow behind in a similar way.   “Okay! We all ready?” carly asks as you find your way to the crowded door, your eyes are wandering around the room for something, yet you don't remember what. The mirror on the hallway wall is quite a blur, though..   “Oh! Here,” kat says, handing you a pair of reading glasses. Your reading glasses, although you need different glasses, they were still yours.   “Sorry, forgot to take them off,” she chuckles, you shake your head with a roll of your eyes as you place them on your head.   Carly opens the door to the bright world outside, it pierces you retina before you even step out, and jake takes the keys as the other makes a dramatic spin on her heel, “Alright, let's ride."   ===============================================================================     Livingout five miles from the main middle of town, the car is quiet, your headphones may be in, but you felt tired, turning down the music to settle in your seat as kat leans on your shoulder, humming a tune with her loud music as she plays a game or two. You look out the window, and even though your stomach tingles, the view from this highway bridge is nice, mostly blocked by a maze of more bridges, but like an illusion in this blinding sunlight. Terrance taps his knuckles against the glass, making a beat while his phone charges again. Tiff and andrea are fast asleep, they probably had more fun than sleep again. And carly and jake are up front, controlling the radio, all the while they're chatting away, like a perfect couple.   “Hm, boredom.” kat murmurs, having lost her last life on candy crush saga.   “Then look out the window, it's really pretty.” you sigh, glancing down at her as she tugs on your black hoodie sleeve. You hadn't given yourself much time to pick out clothes when you finished, you picked out your slightly smaller black hoodie, a hot pink t-shirt, black and blue striped undergarments, and dark blue jeans. You're surprised you even put your hair up before you left your room.   “Mm, maybe,” kat yawns, causing you to reply. “Hey carly?”   “Yes?” the blonde beauty glances back at the other through the driver mirror, hands clutching the wheel tightly as jake's hand rests close by her arm.   “How long until we get...uh, where are we going?”   “To the mall!” carly smiles, and kat perks up as she lifts her head off of your shoulder. You didn't notice until now, but your arm went slightly numb from kat’s weight. The cold tiny pins and needles settle in quickly.   “Nevermind, not bored.” kat titters happily, “could you turn up the radio?”   “Uh, why?” carly queries, raising her brow as she looks at kat.   Kat hesitates for second, listening to the faint sounds of the radio changing its station as you near the main middle of town. “Oh! Please turn it up, i think there's a new song today on this station!”   As if on cue, the radio operator quietly perks up with a cheeky tone, “alright, ladies and gentlemen! Time to listen to the latest song from everyone’s favorite band, Miscellaneous Rose, this song’s called, ‘Comes_&_Goes’!”   Kat squeaked softly, plucking the buds from her ears and shoving them aside in her pocket.. “please, just a little?” she asked in a high voice, clasping her hands together and poking out her bottom lip. Carly couldn't say no to to that face, sighing and twisting the nodge as music slowly poured out of the speakers much louder.   I_give_in_to_the_lesser_fire, my_body_aches_to_be_satisfied, My_weakness_comes_and_goes, my_weakness_comes_and_goes,   I’m_reaching_out_for_the_easy_high, please_fortify_this_strength_of_mine, My_weakness_comes_and_goes, My_weakness_comes_and_goes.   Kat grins widely, “Yes! Already lovin’ this song!” she cheers, slightly waking up the sleeping couple in the back as they hug each other closer, heads resting on shoulders and hands clasped between their chests. You chuckle softly, kat is so passionate about this stupid band, she idolizes them like gods. The first verse repeats, and kat tries to sing each word slowly and hesitantly, still getting them down to memory.   From what you've seen and heard, this band is pretty large, and many of them are actually in different genres, but they all still call themselves a band, even though it seems most of them don't get along well.   My_weakness_echoes_in_my_soul, oh,_it_echoes_in_my_soul, my_weakness_comes_and_goes,_it_goes,_it_goes.   You do kinda like some of their songs, even the ones that had less thought put into them, shamefully. Honestly, you could come up with much better poetry than what they make.   “What do you think Bigs?” kat hangs on your arm as her gem-like eyes search your dull brown orbs, she’s a little melodramatic when someone doesn't like this band.   “I like it. Its neat.” you smile softly, a little feigned which irks your stomach some, but you could ignore that. She giggles contently, happily humming with your decision, and quickly pulled out her phone, scrolling and typing the song name down in her notes.   After some more boring minutes of other songs on the radio, no sleep and quiet jazz from your headphones, the mall is in sights, carly parking carefully to a miracle spot first in the long line of other full rows. Hurried and a bit jittery, you hop out of the truck and stretch your legs, arms, and then neck out of habit.   “Ah jeez, I’m tired already.” you yawn, resting your forearms on your head.   “You’re always tired.” kat says casually, glancing between you and the mall with starry eyes. You narrow your own eyes.   “Why do you look so happy? It's just a mall.” kat blushed softly as her grin stiffened in embarrassment. Kat barely likes the mall, only liking a store or two before getting awfully tired from walking everywhere. She has gotten easily lost, too.   “I’m just thinkin’ of all the clothes and stuff we can get! I even know the perfect place!” she chirps hopefully, hands semi-clasped together as she prances around giddily oxygen tank bouncing against the pavement.   “I've already picked where can go, but i wouldn't be surprised if where you picked is one of my go to’s.” carly says, resting her arm on kat's shoulder carefully, “wanna go to your store first? It's your birthday. Birthday girl gets to pick things today.” the blonde beaut ruffles kat’s hair, a little pouty grumble resonating in her throat as you chuckle.   “We need groceries, don’t we?” kat asked, carly thinking it over before hesitantly nodding. Luckily there were at least a few grocery stores on the sides of the buildings.   “We are running a little low,” carly mused. Kat propped her elbow on her stomach, other hand grazing her chin as she hummed in thought.   “Let’s go do yours first, we can do mine later.” kat smiles with more pep in her step, giving you a little more suspicion as the group of seven head into the mall.   In_the_two_stores you’ve been through now, at least one or two shirts have been bought, some sweatpants, makeup (lots of makeup and fake accessories), shorts, maybe a hat or lanyard, and all of them were Miscellaneous Rose merch, of course. Kat would be reminiscing over each wear (apparently they were also album covers and/or just regular art for them as well),and you would just be hanging by the sides, trying to stave your lazy exhaustion.   “She seems to be having more fun than a kid in a candy store, don't you think?” terrance asked, he hasn't spoken in a while since you've been here, besides barely arguing with the lady couple about god knows what.   “Hm? Oh yeah. Pretty sweet, right?” he groaned as you chuckled and sighed.   “Ugh, i walked into that one, didn’t i?”   “Uh-huh, right into it. Fell deep into that ditch, now you have to dig your way out.” you coo, earning another grumble. You let out a yawn, letting subtle silence settle in as you watch kat bounce like the spritely bunny she loves to be.   “Oh, hey.” he says suddenly, looking down at you as you hum, your eyes zoning out a little, but you could still pay attention without having to look at him. “So you’re not gonna tell me what you’re wearing to the party? Cuz it’s killing me to not know.”   “Hm,” you mused, “want a hint?” you smirk at him as he nods with affirmative. “It’s grey, small, and i added stockings. Kinky enough for you?”   “Ugh that wasn't really the reason, but okay.” his freckled cheeks shade into a soft pink, you chuckle to yourself out of your flirtatious victory.   Kat glances over to you and terrance as you both are having a conversation, small laughter and slight flutter radiating off of you both like good friends. Or something else if so, she mused. Kat wasn't oblivious to what could happen to you and terrance, she actually thought you and him would look great together. You really needed another companion beside her, anyways. Someone to hold onto with a different kind of love...   “Okay,” carly says, holding out a shirt for kat to see. “What do you think?”   It was a large shirt, albeit pretty small for kat, it still hung low past her hips, and was decorated with different colored roses, and the middle one was bigger, with multiple colors, and on the top of the chest area was the band name; Miscellaneous Rose.   The bubbly birthday girl squealed softly in her delight, “it’s perfect! Are there bigger sizes?” she looked around in the supply of hangers with carly, hoping to come across any bigger shirts.   “What size?” carly asked, looking through the double x-large hangers, finding the biggest size and holding it up. It was at least four times as big as kat.   “That one! Its perfect!” kat beamed, snatching another of the same size and charging for the register. She placed the two big ones down first before putting hers on top, so the cashier will scan them all.   “What are the two bigs one for? Your sister?” jake asked, shoving each shirt in a baggy before throwing it across his shoulder.   “One of them is. The other's...mine.” kat straightened her face, “ sometimes i like big clothes. Makes me feel smaller. Like Bigs does with all her clothes.”   “Who called my name?” you perked up from behind kat, startling her as she yelped, nearly dropping her oxygen tank before fumbling with the handle. “Oops. You okay?”   Kat slugged your shoulder, dragging along her oxygen tank behind her again, “im fine, ya meanie.” she sighed, thinking for a second, just before her phone quietly buzzed in her pocket, luckily no one heard it under the conversing people passing and walking by.   “i gotta go to the bathroom now, i’ll be back.” kat goes o walk in the opposite direction before a hand gently grabs her wrist, causing her to curse under her breath.   “Wait, i’ll go with,” you reply nonchalantly, “i'd rather you not get tired or lost without someone close.” kat gives you a skeptical look. “Or something else happens.” you wrap your arm around hers, ready to take a step. “Let's go.”   Kat groans, “i’ll be fine, mom,” she slips out of your grasp, heading quickly down the opposite direction of your group, still able to see in the small barren halls, but just very small. A little rude, but you’ve heard much worse.   “Hey, we’re leaving,” andrea states, elbowing your shoulder blades, which hurts just a bit as you wince. “You coming?”   You take a deep breath to reply, before hesitating and letting it out as you glance back where kat went.   “Yeah, fine.” Chapter End Notes oh hey, ya made it through a buncha weird pointless seeming bullshit! good for you. I haven't started immediately on the next chapter, but that's coming, it'll have a song, a few to ease your nerves and calm you, and some to pump you up. tags are still bitches, but I'm thinking of putting them in an end note to organize what I put them in specifically (although it doesn't look any better. but, it is what it is, bleh. -H- *passes back out* (also think it's safe to say I will continue this story, and not make it super awkward and dumb and put the dumbest of bullshit in it, just to ease some people's nerves. I have spoiled many things, but that doesn't matter, I may as well let you know before you get triggered along the road and yell at me or something. I'm happy with my plot because it's mostly shit, but I can make it better.) and side note: it was a bitch to try and post 11436 words, then I realized that could probably be a short story in itself, so i halved it at an awkward place because I couldn't find a better spot, so meh. ***** There’s Planning, Shopping, Texting, Teasing... Part 2 ***** Chapter Summary same as the second chapter, enjoy! Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes Fumbling through shirts and jeans for a minute or two, you huff out a low growling sigh, slouching your shoulders as you shovel your arms through hangers upon hangers of clothes. Carly chided you for not trying to buy anything for kat, but what they don't know is that you've saved up money for a different present, still having to do with that party later today, but it’s ten million times better for everyone else, especially your baby sister. She’ll most likely faint from being over excited, which does still worry you, but you wouldn't like her to make a scene by squealing her lungs out.   Even a sliver of joy on her face makes you so complete. It is all you’ve strived for since she first grinned at you, just a downward curved line of pink shimmery gums and two tiny beautiful baby blue eyes gleaming like a star and its twin.   Now she’s grown into a beautiful woman with a short, but well-lived life ahead of her, hazel brown orbs looking forward to the bright beaming future, unlike you, a dark and dull brown eye that lingers in what used to be, paranoia and entropy clinging to your small thinned frame with every second passed. Even if you’ve fixed your broken state, there wouldn’t be any point after kat is gone, either out of your grasp in mind and body, just that thought of losing her from anything is devastating, but thinking too far into the future does that to you, and you can barely tell what’s real anymore.   You shake your head as you stir from your thoughts, remembering whatever you were doing, real lining your bangs over your other eye and taking a shirt, looking through a few more before muttering “fuck it,” and rushing for the cash register, rolling up the shirt until it got to the hanger and taking out your credit card to pay correctly later. You had used all your money for that birthday party surprise anyways, what would this hurt?   Well, was this an emergency? No, but Carly would kill you if you didn't leave with something, right? Actually, you’d gladly accept that death, you just needed to put the shirt back, so..   No, you promised you would wait. You let out frustrated sigh, cursing your own reasonable vows and promises. Damn them all..   You look at the price lit up in green on the register screen. Just about fifteen dollars for a flimsy blue shirt with plastic paint on it? Such a perfect price for something that you could rip in half in under one minute with as much rage as a drunken annoyed-to-death you.   Reluctantly you take the bag with your shirt and grumble under your breath as you try not to stomp out of the store. Carly looks at you suspiciously before peeking into the plastic white baggy with only one shirt in it. You couldn't have that glare of hers any other way, to be honest. You could even match her leering eyes, so why not?   “Really? Only one thing?” carly asks you with a look of unneeded disappointment. You shrug your shoulders and shove the bag in one of hers.   “I don't have anymore money,” you hiss, “and no, i didn't spend it a bunch of bullshit and some booze like last year.”   “Then what did you buy, because i know you had a lot of money earlier this week!” carly quietly snaps back, and you huff as you jab your hand between the both of you.   “It's a secret, and it's for kat.” you mutter lowly, “it has to do with the party.”   “What’d you get her? Cuz last year you got her a fucking hug and birthday toys.” she crosses her arms with a skeptic look at you.   “I just said it was a secret-” you stop yourself before your voice raises higher and you end up making a scene. Quickly huffing and puffing a breath in and out of your lungs you raise your hands in defense. “You know what, im not arguing with you, i didn't get her shit. It’s more toys and sunshiny rainbow- hugs, happy with my damn answer?” you turn your back before she had the chance to speak.   “Ugh, my god, where is kat?” you glance around the bustling crowd that had formed hours ago, chatting up multiple storms of obnoxious noise you couldn't care for, kat nowhere in sight as you yank your phone from the confines of your pants, immediately calling up kat as it rings.   . . .   . . .   . . .-”Yeah?” a familiar voice asks under a crowd of people on the other line.   “Where are you? It's been at least half an hour, bathrooms are literally everywhere!” you almost growl into the reviver.   “Sorry!”she says, though her tone doesn't sound like she is. “im on the other side of the mall, i got a little lost at first, but i found that store i wanted to go to.”   "What!? Kat, are you fucking serious? Something could've happened, i was worried, i thought you fell in a toilet or something!” despite you being extremely serious, she bubbles up a little laughter and sighs.   “Bigs, im not a baby, i can take care of myself, i've been setting up my O-tank and other stuff for three years now, i bet i can live by myself at this point if i wanted to.”   “I highly doubt that, but anyways,” you huff, roughing your bangs back in place. “where are you? Exactly, like give me directions so i can pinch your face really hard and then ground you.”   “What? No! Bigs, i will run away to the ends of the earth if you do that!”she paused, and you felt a pang in your chest at those words. "Actually, i'd probably maim you first, but still!”   “You know you just avoided my question like, twice?”   Kat hums under her breath into the receiver, “well, uh i just gotta tell you that E=MC squared, and then-”   “Kat, im serious, stop. Where are you.” it was more of a demand than a question at this point, and kat sighed once more before giving in.   “Alright, i’ll text you the store name, for now, are you at the food court or something?”   You looked around, sure enough you were a good hundred feet away from the court. “Close to it, why? You hungry?”   “Eh, kinda,” you knew she made a half-and-half by her side out of habit. “In the mood for popcorn chicken, i guess, please?”   “Yeah, fine. Been in this store for two hours, and i think and im already dying of starvation.” you pat your barely existent belly, the tiny flab of excess skin hidden under the sweet confines of your shirt and hoodie. Won't be long until you start to grow into it again. Along with everything else...   “Well after that, just head..west i think?” she pauses for a good few seconds, “yeah, west, checked the maps.”   “Alright, now if i hang up you will text me that store name? I promise i won't embarrass you in public.” you ask in a sing song voice, hoping it'll get your point across.   “Yes i will ma, jeez." she says in her mocking tone.   “Love you bi-i mean, bye.” you cover with a fake cough and chuckle.   “Mhm, love you bye.” and with that she hangs up.   Not seconds later, you have a new text. It’s a picture, and oh god, those lights are bright, it beams obnoxiously even through your dimmed phone screen. “‘Mettablook’s lil’ corner’?”you mutter under your breath, in the side photobombing her own picture kat looked at the lens with a grin and slightly giving a thumbs up.   “Hey, any news on kat?” you jump from the sudden voice asking you that question. Jake just chuckles as you silently curse him out.   “Yeah! I do! Now tell the others while you stare at this bright thing!” you shove your phone with that bright picture still up in his face and he winces pushing you away.   “Yeah, i'd rather not go blind, thanks.” he looks at the picture from a distance. “That's where she is? ‘Mettablook’s lil’ corner’? Sounds like a porn star's website or something..”   “Huh,” you pop your lips, “didn't think of it that’ till now, there goes that last bit of innocence i had.”   “Pff, what innocence!?” he gently laughs, slapping your phone back in your open palm as he returns to the group again, calming himself to tell the group where they needed to head. It’s all settled, you hold them up buy some food first, before you almost forget, and then you slowly travel a few hundred miles to the other side of the mall, your cheeks slightly flushed from the non stop walking, compared to the rest of the lively group.   “So out of shape…” you huff and pat your warm cheeks before squatting to ease the rest of your quads.   “There's this thing called exercise, you know.” andrea quips.   “Exercise can go fuck itself and die.” you snap playfully, sticking your tongue out as she does the same.   Jake hands you the two cups of popcorn chicken, while he munches on his. “So where is this store? I thought it would be easy to find.”   “Yeah, i was thinking the same thing.” you pop a piece in your mouth, spinning slowly on your heel as store names come and go. “i mean, with that title, and those bright lights, it should stick out like a sore thumb-agh, fuck, i think i found it.” you wince as you vaguely point to the bright blue lights obstructing everything else in your vision, if it’s brighter than that picture, it may as well be the sun.   “Oh, wow that's really annoying.” terrance agrees as he stands close by your side. You glare through the bright cerulean to find kat waiting patiently with sunglasses, lollipop and a magazine, flipping through page after page with a grin against the candy between her teeth.   “Hey, look, it's kat!” you point enthusiastically, unlike your blunt expression. “Im just gonna maim her real quick, if ya don’t mind.”   “Uh-uh-uh! Hey!” carly grabs you by the hood, yanking you back before you can use any small bit of reflex you have, gagging against the abrasive fabric as the woman glares at you with dagger pupils. “She was just at a different store, stop getting so pissy just because she’s not within your one foot radius.”   You groan inwardly as you shove her off of your hood. “Im kidding, im still mad. Well, pissed. But what if something bad happened to her!?” you retort and rub your neck, hoping they’ll get the picture.   “Dude, she’s your sister. I think she’s fine. You do this everytime we go out, and has she once been hurt?”   Carly has a point, shit. “...besides tripping over her O-tubes, no.” you sigh, turning around to glare at kat before whistling loudly towards her, her heading jerking up to look at your angry face. You jerk your head towards the group behind you, and she waves as she gets up to tread your way, eyes still locked on yours.   “Hi,” she says enthusiastically, before glancing to and fro your face and group, her smile fading into a pout. “I didn't think i would find the store today,” she explained with a half sorry and happy expression, “i forgot if it was finished being set up this week or the next. And then i got tired looking for it.” she chuckles softly, trying to savor at least a smidge of joy in her joyous moment. You loosen your glare a little, sighing and handing her a cup of popcorn chicken she asked for, and she giggles and hugs you tightly as she can before plopping two bits into her mouth with a satisfied little hum. You smirk to yourself, remembering you stole a few after you finished yours. They tasted like evil satisfaction.   “Alright, what are we here for? What do we need from this store that’s so important?” you wave off the silence and cover your eyes from the..scintillating, store title.   “I got a free magazine while i was waiting..oh!” she opens it and hands it to you on a certain page, decorated with rainbows of clothes and accessory items for phones, piercings, pets, you name it. “I wanted to see if these were in stock!” she points her two fingers to a little picture of plushies and phone charms, all with individual or grouped people in each charm or plush set they came in.   “I understand charms, i guess, but you’re twenty one, why do you want some cotton dolls?” sure, they looked pretty cute, but glancing at the price.. “Yeah, sixteen dollars for a damn toy, and ten for a charm, great deal.” you scoff, curtly handing her back the magazine. Did you already mention you were broke? And the fact you established earlier that you hate using your credit card.   “But bigs! Please?” kat takes your hand in hers and squeezes it softly, her nails ready to dig in at a moment’s notice and you don’t wanna take chances. Her grip is fearfully strong, mind you, even if she gets weaker everyday. It’s something she’ll take with her to her grave, a touchy, but true subject you think with a hang of your head.   “Fine, but only to look.” she grins away her hidden persistent eyes, sparkling with a hint of adoration in them as she giggles and drags you into the store, the others forced to follow out of habit and the fact that kat is the lead of the group now, this new store now being her permanent turf. Seems eavesdropping on those band vlogs of kat’s last week paid off, they had been talking about the stores they were putting out, different names, but all from the same brand, and you guessed it: Miscellaneous Rose. You would say ‘besides you,’ but that band is really the only thing she cared about these days. Now you sound like a frickin’ grandma with ‘these days’, and shit.   You look around, and compared to the other tiny stores, this one by far is the biggest. It’s ceilings are at least about fifteen feet tall in some places, and for plus sizes the ceiling is raised several feet taller like an upside down hall from the entrance to the very left of the store. Good thing you won’t have to buy from there unless you want a nightgown that hangs past your feet. You snicker to yourself.   And now you could notice the customers. Which a good majority were monsters. Humans, too, but the population of regular selfish human kind was miniscule. And monsters were so different, in size, shape, colors, hell, some were elements and the others were just a couple of anthropomorphic animals. Furries must have gone crazy with those guys.   “Oh! Bigs, look!” kat leads you to a shelf of cordless headphones and mics, and her hands run across the spongy texture of a testing mic, tapping it lightly, the sound coming through a pair of close by speakers. “I think these fit you, see?” she slips thin black leather over your ears, the navy blue and neon orange adjustable headband fitting perfectly accustomed to your size and liking.   Kat picks up a mirror, holding it up to her chin as she grins widely, you turn your head to the side a little, testing out the angles you can see so far it looks cute and cool on you, you take one muff off and grin, there may not be any music playing on them, but they looked swag as fuck.   “can i help you, by any chance?” a deep English baritone asks from behind, causing you to jolt and yank the headphones off your face lightning fast. Kat just looks up behind you and giggles, like she’s laughing at the ceiling because it might actually say gullible there.   “Oh, no thanks uh, we were just trying..out headphones.” you choose to turn around and have to strain your neck only a little, but your eyes landed on a broad, yet lazy orange clad chest. You lead your eyes up further and they land on a skull full of interesting ivory features. Which threw you off more, because it was just a skull with features, and not skin, or fur, or scales, or something else besides bones. Monsters threw you off a little at first but this was no where close to how bewildered you were by this encounter. Stars forbid there be another...   And another thing throwing you off: he was tall as all fuck. You estimated the ceiling being fifteen feet tall? He looked to be at least eight or nine. He could dunk a basketball without even trying. You never thought you might ever meet anybody taller than him..   And what could be his eyebrows, they rise and lower in different directions, orange pupils his skull watching with wonder at your appearance. He might think you’re some kind of emo, but you’ve already finished that stage the day you started it, and that was only because someone smacked the shit out of you for being so rebellious and looking stupid with black makeup on. So much for being free, the only thing free about you now is your asshole attitude and your long brown bangs.   “Actually, we were just trying on headphones, i think we just wanna know your opinion, Papyrus!” kat says, apparently reading his name tag, which read off the name in small, elegant yet, equally lazy scratched up letters. Though, she said it with that familiar tone of close friendship, it could just be because he was a monster, but that could always differ.   He grins with a lazy raise of his bare teeth that dare defy logic and create that handsome curve, and holds out his hand towards you. You stare at it before glancing at yours, still baring the pair of headphones you held and you nervously hand them to him, warm boney fingers making soft quick contact with your fleshed digits before static clicks against you both, causing you to hiss in flinched wonder, and it barely phases him as he raises and adjusts the headphones onto his earless head.   “well, first you need music, of course.” he chuckles a lazy breath, his chest expanding and contracting in a racking of gentle laughter. He reaches for the testable charging station, firmly pressing a button as a screen started up with a music video of a song, the music pouring from the phones as he adjust them back to how they were and sets them on your head, making you flush a little. Damn this skeleton and his generous help, this is too much social interaction for one day. That was by far the weirdest sentence you’ve ever said before.   I_give_in_to_the_lesser_fire, my_body_aches_to_be_satisfied, My_weakness_comes_and_goes, my_weakness_comes_and_goes,   Oh this song again, you roll your eyes and scoff to yourself of course this song would play, it’s a Miscellaneous Rose store, it’s supposed to support their own songs. Papyrus picks an orange pair for himself and slips it over his head, while kat does the same with a pink pair, all three listening to the song with interest and love for high quality headphones and good music.   The music video is of some tall guy dancing and singing into a head mic, his feet practically gliding across the floor as he slides and does a few old and new school moves, spinning and jumping as his silver and orange hood hides and shows his face. You look at kat as she bobs her head gleefully, mouthing something but you don't know what. You try to quietly ask her what she said but you can barely hear yourself, and you were actually pretty loud.   There's a nudge on the side and you slowly twist it until the volume goes down, all the way down.   And then you hear nothing. Like a void surrounds you, angrily taking away your sense of hearing, not even vinyl white noise like old headphones make, or the ping of your nerves on panicking overdrive knowing you can’t hear them fills the silence.   Just.   Unnerving.   Silence .   You take off the headphones and huff, you can hear yourself just fine, now. The music wasn’t even that loud, headphones shouldn’t block out that much noise. Papyrus pulls his pair down around his..vertebrae, looking at you both with a satisfied grin.   “likin’ what you hear so far?” papyrus asks, mirth clear in his tone. You can feel the mischief and over all laze in his tone, a slow vibrating rumble of words as you stand bewildered.   “Yeah, kinda. It scared me at first because i literally can't hear anything with them on when i mute them.” you look at the phones before placing them on the station semi-cautiously, and papyrus raises a brow.   “don't you want that?” most people would, but you didn't want to think you died and have no pulse or something.   “I can't hear my nerves ringing, how does it block out so much when i barely have them on, like hanging off my head?” you ask nervously, feeling like you’ve asked a dumb question. The tall skeleton chuckles and shoves a hand in his hoodie pocket lazily, gesturing to the station with boney digits.   “These headphones are just like any other pair from normal stores; they trap in each individual sound and create a sort of high definition surround sound, keeping as much outside noise from interfering as well, besides your voice but that depends.” he pulls his pair off, and adjusts the ear speakers, “it’s just like any other pair of headphones made a few years ago before monsters got rights to tinker, but these are infused with artificial magic, which bonds with the thinnest outer layer of your soul and creates that, ‘eerie’ silence. Monsters are more used to it, so humans are more flabbergasted when they can't hear the light ringing of their own nerves pumping signals, but that magic is important, because it helps actually block out more,” he sets his headphones on the station rack, “and it gives out more.”   it was hard to understand most of that. You know about souls, you just didn’t think you had one. And artificial magic? There’s more than just magic from monsters, and shit? Boy, you have a lot to learn. Papyrus notes the confusion on your face and sighs.   “it’s a lot to take in if you haven’t met many monsters, but i’m sure this lil’ lady can show you the ropes of this whole magic-shtick.” papyrus points to your starry eyed sister, obviously hiding something as she winks without noticing your attention towards her. She glancing at you and grins a nervous grin, and you narrow your eyes as she brushes you off.   “Anyway,” kat says, breaking three second silence, “i think these look great, don’t you think, bigs?” kat gestures to a large jet black headset, an emotionless color that would fit your similar standards. Although, you could say you had no use for the mic piece, you did like adding vocals to your music in private. However, you suck at keeping some of your own secrets..   “Eh, i don't know…” you hesitate with an ‘iffy’ look before slipping it over your head. “I feel like i work at a calling company now.”   “well, they’re some for gaming, if you’re all for that.” papyrus points to the other side of the aisle, if he tried he could actually grab something by just lowering his arm.   “I’m not into gaming,” you shrug, “if i were to buy a new pair of headphones or a mic, i’d need something compatible with my acoustic room.” In others words, not everything works with your small foam-lined walk-in closet you make music in. It mostly has to do with the clothes and extra computer you crammed in there interfering with the quality of the sound, but whatever. It is what it is.   “oh, so you work in the music business?” the towering skeleton asks with a slightly less lazy expression, sockets and..weird pupils wider with enthusiasm. Seems like someone else in the world speaks musician tech.   “Yeah, but i guess i’m not lucky enough to hit stages other than shitty small nightclubs. Apparently people like the fake shit more than real hard work put into actual music.” you’ve come across a lot of people with shitty chicken scratch put on an album and call it music, some have even come from Miscellaneous Rose, but not very many, thankfully.   Papyrus furrows his brows, causing you to quip back. “I’m not saying that Miscellaneous Rose is bad, but i’ve heard horrible songs from lazy stupid people only trying to make a quick buck, is all.”   He seems to slacken a little, both hands in his pocket, he decides to take one out and holds it out to you.   “i think you’d do good, if given the chance.” papyrus quips, giving you a sly smug wink. You’re glad you couldn’t feel the red pooling against you pale brown cheeks, because you’d do something entropic and drastic. “i’m papyrus, if you couldn’t tell yet by the big sticker,” he looks at his name tag with a goofy tone, and you chuckle, taking his hand to shake it.   “I-i’m sa-” before you could say your name, you felt an intense jolt tingle and numb up your arm and you curse as you yank back your hand in a startled panic, crushing it against your small chest. Papyrus snickered, causing you to flush harder against your will as he pull his hoodie cuff down to reveal a shock button barely clinging to his boney hand.   “i don't think I’ve ever seen someone as shocked to the bone as you are.” papyrus shakes his head as he pulls the palm shocker off, visibly pleased with your reaction. You couldn’t help but chuckle at that stupid little pun, but he didn't seem to notice as he held out his hand again, causing you to frown once more. “alright take two. c’mon, i won’t bite as bad this time.”   You glare at him before slowly lowering your hand back to hesitantly touch his index phalanx, another spark of static causing your own finger to clench a little before they slip into his large palm, bones pinching and molding against your skin as you shake hands, hoping he doesn’t do anything else 'funny'.   “Sam.” you say curtly, glance from your tiny hand in his big hand to his impossible expressing face. “It’s sam.” you make sure his phalanges don’t touch your wrist, not wanting him to do something like push up your sleeves by accident.   “well, it’s very nice to meet you, sam.” he grumbles low in his chest, causing a small tingle to trickle slowly up your spine from him having just said your name. “I gotta patella you though, you look cute with a shade of red like that.” he then leans forward and brings your hand up to his teeth in a chaste skeleton kiss. “Honestly, i get the femur that we can get along very well.”   “U-uhm,” you whisper nervously, slowly taking your hands back to check your cheeks. Sure enough, you were engulfed with a red fire pooling in your cheeks, that information causing them to burn deeper. You then realized he was flirting with you. Damn.   Kat’s been silent for a while, you think to yourself before glancing at where she used to stand, now gone with the only trace of her having been there was the faint scent of her mint perfume, the weird girl.   “U-i..need to go...do a thing, real quick.” you stammer softly, quieter to let your voice from squeaking, and papyrus frowns in slight confusion as he watches you leave, pulling your hood over your head and growling in frustration under your breath.   “Kat, you little demon!” you whisper yell, making sure not to come across any normal person who might think you’re crazier than you already are. “Where are you?”   “Miss me?” kat wraps her arms around you, a small shrill yelp jolting from your lungs as your calves give out on you, your mind bracing your knees for impact involuntarily and you crumble to the floor, kat following as she holds your shoulders tightly and gaging you slightly.   You grab her by the arm, making her face you're glaring face. “You know something i don’t. Tell me.”   “What?” kat raises a brow at you. “Tell me what i’m supposed to know, ‘cause that was more vague than your bangs.” she then stares at your face, breaking into a girn. “And why are you blushing? You look adorable!”   “Never mind that!” you use your free hand to pull your strings together, most likely making you look dumber, but you don't care. “You know him, that papyrus guy. Spill it.”   Kat furrows her brows, and hums in thought. “Well, i have seen him a few times at a breakfast nook i get my coffee from, so...that’s it?” she shrugs with a tiny lying grin. “Other than nice chatter, it’s no big deal.”   You narrow your eyes. Should you press on? Maybe, but you’re both in public and sitting on the ground, should you talk about a guy-er, skeleton that could just turn around the corner-   “need help getting up?” your shoulders tense as the newly familiar deep rumbling voice greets you with query, skeletal hand outstretched to you as he grins the laziest grin you’ve ever seen. Speak of the devil.   kat seems the most unphased by it, taking his hand and grunts as she kneels and stands to her full five-foot height. And then comes you.   You look up at him, he looks down at you, it’s like he’s a giant, lost in the clouds, and you’re just a dwarf, sitting under him as his shadow looms over you. You give him your hand, and in no time he easily lifts you up, causing your chest to fall into his chest. Well, more like...his pelvis. Holy fuck, he’s about three feet taller than you.   You glance up at him, seeing his skull dusted with orange paint. Or, blush? Blush, because it’s growing deeper across his cheekbones. Is that his magic? You’ve heard of magic having to use colors to identify, and orange was...bravery? Or justice… oh, wait, you forgot something. Papyrus is staring at you, and your chest is pressing against his empty pelvis. Or not empty pelvis? Maybe you should back up and then think of questions that will never get answered.   “S-sorry, sorry, s-s-sorry.” you sputter, slowly stepping away with a million things running through your head. Some of which weren’t anywhere close to family friendly. Damn you, perverted brain. You’re supposed to cooperate appropriately.   “i-it’s fine, kinda my fault, really.” papyrus rubs his hand across the back of his skull, chin still pressed against his sternum as he smirked nervously down at you. He must do that often, you think with a ragged sigh, having to look down at people all the time.   “Hey!” andrea pops up from a corner, looking at you with an expression similar to your usual blunt face. “Carly says we gotta hurry, so-holy shit, you’re tall.” she glances up at papyrus as he gives her a curt wave. “Do you play basketball? Cuz you’d make a great player.”   Papyrus chuckles, “well, i don’t do sports, but in a way, i still am a player.” andrea scrunches up her face as she comprehends that riddle. It only takes you fives seconds as you furrow your wide-eyed brows in newfound exasperation, your blush evanescing in a fraction of a second, and kat looks like she's used to that joke as she shakes her head and pats papyrus arm. That was an obvious hustler pun, no wonder he was flirting with you, he wants to get in your pants.   Some people.   “So we’re leaving soon?” you ask, fixing your hair for hopefully the last time and andrea nods, looking at kat.   “Yes, so if you’re getting something, hurry up and let carly know, cuz she’s offering to pay, but you'll owe her.” kat nods, a look of determination in her eyes as she dashes out of sight.   “You getting anything?” andrea asks you, and you're about to shake your head before she adds with a leering smirk, “besides a boyfriend?”   You glare at her before you earn conscious feeling back in your hand, another boney palm pressing against your weak one and detailed digits wrapped tightly around as you look at the culprit still holding your hand. “E-uhm...oh, your hand.” you lift up your hand, still entwined with papyrus’ own phalanges, and he chuckles lowly nervously, seemingly letting go with reluctance in his voice. You both jam your hands in your hoodie pouches, you feel a sliver of skin shown before you pull your sleeves into the pocket.   “Anyways,” you murmur, pulling the front of the black baggy cloth down, showing a the miniscule skin of your neck. “I’ll meet up with you.” andrea chuckles, but shrugs it off, knowing there’s that look on your face but you can’t will it away, it’s like the red beet juice stained on your apron; it only fades very slowly.   As she disappears, you look back up at papyrus with a stare, the kind that’s undefinable, but just the bit sinister. He looks down at you with a raised eyebrow. “something ya wanna ask me?” he queries, an unnoticeable tension in the air, but you couldn’t feel much of it unless you really tried to.   “Do you know kat?” you shoot with a blunt tone and eyes, raising your head higher to look him clearly in his confused sockets. “My sister, i mean. Shorter, was just with us?” he eases his stare and nods.   “yes, why?”   “How do you know her?”   “met at a coffee bakery a long time ago, hit it off like best buds.” he says like it’s the most obvious thing in the whole world. So kat was right, or she told him to say that.   “Uh huh,” you pop your lips, looking down in slight awkward embarrassment. “Sorry, just wondering.”   “she mention me or something?” papyrus asks and you shake your head.   “No, actually.” you couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed at that fact, more than angry.   “well,” he smiles a lazy slow smile once more before bowing a little ways down, and you can smell a stronger scent of honey and sugary sweets on his tiring, yet enchantingly cute aura as his skull hangs a foot and a half above yours. “i think we’ll be seeing each other real soon.”   Your cheeks give a little mercy this time, dusting barely pink rose as he chuckles, standing back to his full height, almost walking away before your mouth deceives your mind and blurts out an unbearable nagging question for you.   “How tall are you?” you cover your mouth in shame over how loud that came out, and papyrus pauses in his steps for a solid good minute before turning to you with uneased lidded sockets and a haunting strained grin, like something is slightly off about what you just asked. Did you say that wrong? You replayed it in your mind before he speaks up.   “Eight, five.” he grits through his teeth, and seems to march off in jagged kicks of his legs. That was..slightly creepy. All you asked for was his height, right? Nothing weird, or perverted, or dumb, right?   You shake your out of your thoughts, your own legs involuntarily carrying you out of the store as kat looks your way, holding up a big bag of...plushies. Good thing thing it wasn’t you buying, but carly glares back and forth between you and your little sister. You can live with that.   ===============================================================================     You hum slow_exhausted_music quietly as it trills in easy piano chords, something you weren’t as acquainted with as you’d like, but you taught yourself to play many songs without sheet music before. The sun is trailing under the horizon faster than from your bedroom window, and the tiniest of droplets speckle their way on your window, the flashing cool night breeze quickly vanishing as the window rolls back up despite your protesting growl.   It seems like you had spent an eternity in that mall, but now that it’s passed, it feels all like.. A millisecond of second-hand joy. A common habit of being around kat yourself, you only feel her happiness, which gives you yours. The car is quiet once more, after so much walking you’d be sure that everyone will get a good night’s sleep. Maybe even you, but...you’d be lying if you promised yourself that.   Kat yawns softly under breath, leaning on your shoulder and nuzzling into your hoodie as you stare down at her. Her eyes don't close, but she’s mostly likely beaten to the bone, so you’d best not interrogate her again.   “So you were talking with papyrus.” she mutters under her breath, so soft you can barely hear it. Well, nevermind, talk away.   “Yeah.” you nod to yourself, even though she doesn’t look up, she can feel it through your arm. “There has to be more than that.” Again, she just shrugs.   “No, not really.” she smiles fondly, “that’s really it. I..promise..” she lets out another yawn, her dark hazel orbs finally closing slowly with a flutter.   “That’s it, huh?” you yawn yourself, leaning on your arm, watching as the sky grown dimmer. It’s still early, but it quickly becoming winter by the second. You love winter the most. You can put on as much clothes and blankets as you want and not suffer, like in the summer. And you only get to very few things, because of it getting too hot to do much. In winter, there’s beautiful scenery, and between the change, there’s more thunderstorms. Flashes of bright ominous light and the loud crackle of thunder as it rocks you to sleep sometimes, depending on how close it is to the house. And the rain as it pitters and patters against the window, lulling you to sleep faster than music.   A dim blue flash makes itself know as it charges for tiny buildings at breakneck speed, so fast you can barely see it well before it’s gone, and a low rumble growls seconds after, you take out your headphones and enjoy the rain slowly picking up it’s harsh and bittersweet rhythm. Chapter End Notes I thought about changing papyrus and sans' dialogue to their fonts, but I found out that doing all the changing and previewing would take forever, and I'm not as great at code as I want to be. but I tried! and thanks again for reading! End Notes I just realized the tags aren't in the order I put them in. it pisses me off but like id spend hours trying to fix it. id rather get the next chapter up instead of tinker with the frickin' tags. although, I would suggest you read most of them, they're extremely important. especially if you get triggered easily. 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