Chapter Text
Over the years, you’ve managed to get quite good at makeup. You wouldn’t call yourself the next MUA Influencer, but you would really use that concealer and colour correcting palate like it was nobody’s business. The bruise on your temple that you’ve gotten from being knocked out disappeared faster than candy on Halloween and you only flinched lightly. The one on your jawline proved to be a bit more difficult, as it was a moving part. You were lucky that your lip wasn’t split, no concealer could help you with that. The last time that happened, you had to deal with that for half a year, because you kept picking at it.
You hated doing this. Most days, you didn’t bother because you rarely left the house as is, but you had things to do that you’ve wasted makeup on yesterday. Besides, you were expecting guests tonight, so it had to be done anyways.
The door creaked open behind you, and you lowered the mascara wand cautiously. Hugh was leaning against the doorframe, a cocky smile on his face.
You wanted to vomit at the sight of it.
You didn’t, of course. Instead, you plastered a smile on your lips that never reached your eyes. Your fiancé sauntered over, grabbing your jaw a bit too roughly, inspecting your work.
“Hmh. I like your face better like this, dove”
Then don’t paint it blue, you ass, you thought but instead, you just bit your tongue and smiled a bit brighter instead.
“Of course. Whatever you want, beloved” He grinned at you, dropping your chin again.
“That’s my good little birdie. Steve and Kitty will be here around five, I expect you to act accordingly?” You nodded and turned back to the armoire, finishing your mascara.
“Of course, beloved”
“I’m gonna take you grocery shopping later,” he said, before leaning in closely. “Don’t want another accident to happen to you, right?” You shivered, as his warm breath brushed across your ears in the most unpleasant way. You just wanted to curl up and hide yourself away somewhere.
Ramming the brush in your hand into his eyesocket was also tempting.
You were comparing the pros and cos of sour cream and crème fraiche in the dairy isle, just happy that Hugh was more interested in the alcoholic assortment than the complexities of creams, when your ears perked up at a familiar voice.
“WHERE ARE YOU LEADING ME, HUMAN? WE ALREADY CONQUERED THE MILK MAVENS TODAY!” You couldn’t help but smile as you turned around, facing a rather perplexed skeleton, lead straight to you by a kid that couldn’t be older than maybe ten or twelve years old.
“Greetings, little one” you smiled at them as they stopped in front of you, wildly gesturing between you and Papyrus. “And a warm hello to you as well, Papyrus.”
“TINY HUMAN!” he exclaimed overjoyed.
“I didn’t think we would see each other again this soon?”
“WHAT A PLEASANT SURPRISE! DID YOU GET HOME WELL?” His joy was infectious, and you couldn’t help but smile a little bit brighter.
“Why yes, thank you for asking.” Not wanting to be rude, you turned towards the child. “You must be Miss Toriels kid, right? I remember your face”
They grinned up brightly at you, starting to move their hands in what you were surprised to recognise as sign language.
“THEY ARE SAYING…” Papyrus began, obviously used to interpreting for the child but you crouched in front of the kid, waving off the skeleton.
“That they are happy to see me again, I know. Thank you though” You glanced up at him shortly, before giving the child your undivided attention. Your signing was a little bit rusted, so you were slower that someone who was proficient, but you could make do.
Slowly, you repeated your previous statement and when they realised that you could actually hold a conversation, they nearly exploded with joy.
Yeah, name’s Frisk! I was in bed last night when you left, so I couldn’t say thank you!
“No problem, Frisk. Your mom’s right, sleep is important.”
How do you know how to talk to me?
“My mom… thought that it was important to learn it so we can speak to the people that have lots to say but nobody will listen to. It’s also really good for gossiping in front of rude people at the family gathering. I haven’t used it in a while though, so I may be a bit slow” They stare at you for a while, reading the pain in your eyes before patting your elbow.
I’m sorry that you lost your mom. You were surprised that they could read you like an open book, you were expecting something more like….
“I AM SORRY TOO, TINY HUMAN! I HOPE YOU CAN FIND YOUR MOTHER SOON!” yeah, that.
“Thanks Papyrus.” You didn’t have in in you to tell him. “I’ll keep looking.”
“Frisk, Paps, are ya badgering people again? We talked about that.” Your smile grew a bit in size suddenly, and you got back up, your knees just slightly cracking.
“Sans. It’s good to see you again.” The skeleton joined his brother and smiled at you. He always had a smile, being a skeleton and all, but this one felt genuine, at least.
“Elaine, right? Whatcha doing here?” Your lips curled, as you grabbed your dairy products, showing them off with a tiny wave.
“Contemplating the differences between different kinds of cream that happen to be sour.” He barked out a laugh, that you found oddly endearing.
“Ah! Any conclusions reached?”
“Yes, they are exactly the same, but one is French, so obviously its more expensive.”
Papyrus let out an indignant yelp, while Sans couldn’t help but laugh wholeheartedly.
This was nice. You enjoyed the conversation. It just flowed so easily, you didn’t feel like you had to watch your every word and Sans never failed to make you giggle, to poor Papyrus’ demise. But nice didn’t last. It never did.
You felt an arm curl around your waist, seemingly gently but the fingers were digging into your skin.
“Little Dove. These people bothering you?” Hugh’s voice had a certain edge to it, that made the hairs at the back of your neck stand up. Sans seemingly picked up on the sudden mood change, his eyesockets narrowing at you suddenly shrinking in size, the joy of the conversation sucked out of you. Whereas your face seemed animated and full of life before, it suddenly turned almost blank and doll like. It creeped him the hell out.
You shook your head, not sure if you meant your fiancé or the skeleton. Your eyes were suddenly glued to the floor.
“No, its fine.” Your voice was barely a whisper. You hated the effect he had on you. Nervously, you started to braid the strand framing your face again.
You mumbled a quick and apologetic “I’m sorry, I gotta go” before hurrying off, pulling your fiancé with you. You really didn’t wanna cause a scene.
“Gee, I didn’t think they would let their kind into a store like this…” Hugh mumbled, and for some reason, that made you seethe.
“I actually found them quite lovely. And why shouldn’t they be here, they are just people, like us.” you gritted out between your teeth. You stopped and stared at each other. For once, you held his gaze. He seemed surprised by this and turning away with a disregarding “psh”.
“Whatever…” You knew that you would probably get into serious trouble at home, but this felt like an immense victory for you. Revelling in the small win, you didn’t notice the two white pinpricks of light follow you, browbone slightly furrowed.
“…Quantum electromagnetism is not supersymmetric, but it has supersymmetric extensions. We throw in more particles, both bosons and fermions, so that the resulting theory exhibits supersymmetry.” You quietly read from your textbook, the faint beeping of the EEG in your ear.
Looking at the time, you quietly sigh and close the book, stuffing it back in your pocket. You knew that Hugh hated it when you read “smart” books, especially the Quantum Physics ones. It made him feel inferior, you guessed.
A smile graced your lips as you looked at your mother in the hospital bed and you brushed some of her dark hair out of her face. You must have missed it when you were braiding it before. You’d have to redo it better tomorrow. Her skin looked ashen, and she seemed so frail and fragile in the bed, surrounded by all those machines. At least her heartrate was calm. But it was always calm and steady after you’ve read to her.
You pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek, as if you didn’t want to disturb her. She didn’t react anyways.
“I’ll be back tomorrow, Ma. You smiled again, brighter this time to hide away the prickling in your eyes.
You carefully slid into the passenger seat of Hugh’s car, closing the door as quietly, as you could. His mood was clearly sour, his fingers drumming against the steering wheel.
“You took too long,” he grumbled.
“I took exactly 34 minutes!” You protested, rolling your eyes but he just clicked his tongue.
“Deal was 30 minutes!” You flinched as he punched the wheel, accentuating his words.
“Yes, and I missed my 30 minutes yesterday, so I am sorry that I took an extra four today!” You didn’t know where you’ve got the bravery to talk back suddenly. Clearly, he wasn’t happy about it either.
“And whose fault is that, dove?” As fast as your newfound bravery came, it left again. You tried to make yourself as small as possible, but it was too late. “Don’t forget who’s paying the hospital bills.”
Steve and his wife arrived at 7 o’clock sharp. You opened the door after the first ring, dressed up nicely in your fancy housewife garb. Face painted and hair coiffed. Kisses were exchanged left and right. Hugh and Steve shook hands. They knew each other from university and worked together. Rebecca-or Kitty, as your fiancé seemed to prefer-was everything you could never be. She was tall, curvy, and always perfect. She never talked back and her house immaculate. The kids well behaved and her food incredible. My god, you hated her.
Upon closer inspection, you managed to see some fine wrinkles appear around her eyes when she laughed at Hugh’s jokes a bit too hard, her hand lingering on his arm a moment too long, their eyes meeting too much.
Suddenly your smile was that much brighter, thinking that the 5 years everyone had on you were finally starting to show.
“I’ve heard that you have been attacked by monsters last night, Muffin” You almost choked on the food, surprised by Rebecca’s words. You managed to cough out an undignified “What?” that earned you a short glare from Hugh.
“Yes, Hughey here told us all about it!” She grasped your hands between hers and you noted that the nail polish on her ring finger was slightly chipped. “That must have been terrifying!” Her husband nodded solemnly, and she powered on. “Ever since these… creatures came up to the surface, more and more attacks have been happening, it’s- “
“Actually, Becky, it was humans that attacked me.” You carefully wiped your mouth with the expensive white fabric napkins, purposely smearing the lipstick in it, like always. “You must have misheard, because a group of very sweet monsters helped me afterwards, I would not have known what would have happened, if I just laid in that alleyway for hours. At these temperatures and bleeding?” Your smile was dripping sugar and spite. “I count myself very lucky.”
Rebecca hesitated, quickly sending an unsure glance at her husband and Hugh. The latter was silently seething in his chair.
“Well, I-“
“You must forgive my fiancée, she hit her head very hard yesterday.” Hugh hissed at you, and you glared back. “I don’t know what’s gotten into her all of a sudden.”
Neither did you, but you felt suddenly embolded, the tiny voice inside you roaring with pride and rage. The chair squeaked as you stood up, the wooden legs probably scratching the hardwood floors.
“Yes. I should probably go lie down. We don’t want my head to get worse, right, Honey?” You didn’t even wait for permission, just strutting into your room, the lock gently clicking as you turned it.
Frustrated, you ripped out the expensive diamond and pearl earrings, you’ve gotten for your third anniversary and threw them across the room. Panting heavily, the full weight of your tantrum just hit you and your legs gave out, your back sliding down the door.
You couldn’t believe what you did. Why couldn’t you keep it together just once? Good god, the repercussions of this would be so bad.
Wasn’t it worth it though?, the tiny traitorous voice whispered again, We should do that again sometime.