What is Family for? [UNDERTALE] (COMPLETE)

[1] House Fire (Not Really)

The door swung open with a small creak and in trudged Frisk, quiet as usual but with a defeated tone surrounding their usual bright and determined personality. They glumly sat down at the table, where a slightly terrified Toriel was teaching Papyrus how to properly cook spaghetti. (What? No, no, nothing is SUPPOSED to explode... I don't think...)

Frisk was quickly greeted by the 3 guardians, who only received a small grunt of acknowledgement in return.  Silence followed, and the brothers exchanged a small look of concern. (Papyrus had caught something on  fire and Toriel had to rush to make sure the house didn't burn down.)

"So, uh, Frisk..." Sans began. Frisk looked up, if only for a moment. "...How was school?" They puffed out their cheeks and looked down at the tabletop again. "Yeah, okay, that explains a lot." Sans politely asked Papyrus to return to the smoke filled kitchen. He complied, more concerned for Frisk than for the potential house fire. 

"Did you, uh... get a bad grade?" (They shook their head no.)

"Do you have a lot of homework? That sucks." (They denied.)

"Did... Did someone pick on you?" (They shook their head no vigorously and crossed their arms.) 

There it is, Sans thought, torn between feeling relief for finding out what was wrong and anger for having someone hurt Frisk. 

"So, what went down?" Frisk sighed and kicked their feet back and forth. "Listen, kid. Whatever they did... it doesn't matter. I mean, no, I didn't word that right... Um." Frisk was silently seething. "Was it physical? Like, did they punch you or pull your hair?" (Silence.) "Did they call you names?" (Silence.)

Sans sighed. "I don't want you having a bad time at school." (Frisk gave Sans a tired and confused look, as if saying "Oh, really?" Sans felt like a hypocrite, for some reason.) "It's supposed to be fun. Well, no, not really. It's supposed to be lame." Sans smiled, glancing the other way. The end of Frisk's lips twitched up into a small smile. 

Frisk sighed, and slowly moved her fingers about to form a sentence. "It's just some people at school." They didn't meet Sans's eyes. Sans faked a grin. 

"Alright, kiddo. If ya say so!" He winked. Frisk smiled a bit. 

Toriel returned with Papyrus, holding plates of steaming spaghetti. This, surprisingly, was edible. Papyrus nearly wept while eating while the other 3 chose to stare. 

After dinner, everyone was excused and Frisk's dark mood returned. They practically dragged themselves up the stairs and plopped into their bed. Sans watched them go, and decided to follow.

"Hey, Frisk." He began quietly. The door creaked a bit as it opened. Frisk rolled over - they were already asleep. They seemed a weird mix of irritated and scared - their personality clashing with their human instinct. Which meant, Sans decided, Frisk was being trapped in a situation where they were afraid and angry and seemingly defeated. Sans felt his fists clench in silent determination and anger - he exhaled, gingerly closed the door and headed to his bed. 

"i'll deal with this tomorrow."  he grinned.