Beep! Beep! Beep!
You quietly groaned as you extended an arm out of the covers to shut off the blaring alarm, missing a few times before knocking it off the nightstand completely, giving up and using your telekinesis to set the now broken alarm clock back where it belonged with a click.
"Mom, I'm going out to the store!"
You called as you adjusted your black and red striped sweater and softly shut the door behind you.
It had been a few years since monsters had been released to the surface and for the first few weeks you were too afraid to leave your house because of the stories you were told and the things people were saying online.
Even now you felt a light wave of anxiety wash over you as you passed a tall monster lady with razor sharp teeth and what appeared to be fins at the sides of her head, her skin covered in a coat of blue scales that glistened in the sun and her red hair tied up in a high ponytail.
"What are you looking at, punk?" Her raspy voice boomed as the cold morning wind howled, causing both of your hair to flow when her piercing amber eye met yours.
"Sorry..." You muttered with an apologetic bow and hurried off, the sound of your footsteps crunching in the fresh snow fading as you disappeared around a corner.
"Man, why do they always run?" She rolled her one eye and peered around the corner you ran around to see that you were gone, even your trail of footprints reaching a dead end, and narrowed her eye in suspicion.
「Sans POV」
"SANS, YOU LAZYBONES!" Papyrus tore the blanket off of the smaller skeleton who was sprawled out in bed, making him lazily open one eye.
"Morning, Paps." Sans yawned and turned over, snuggling into his blue hoodie.
"IT'S NOT MORNING!" Papyrus facepalmed with the edge of the fluffy blanket still in his hand. "THE DAY IS HALF OVER!"
At the sound of snoring, the taller skeleton stamped on the ground in frustration. "SANS! I NEED YOU TO GO TO THE STORE TO PICK UP INGREDIENTS SO I CAN MAKE US SPAGHETTI FOR DINNER."
"Why don't you cook something else?" Sans mumbled, half asleep. "Life is about..."
"SANS, NO!" Papyrus put his hands where his ears would be.
"Exploring the pasta-bilities." Sans finished with a chuckle as his brother left his room in a fit, about to slam the door but stopping at the last second and closing it nicely.
"Let's see here..."
Spaghetti Noodles
Tomato Sauce
Ground Meat
Parmesan Cheese
Papyrus was reciting his grocery list out loud as he was walking to the nearby corner store, stopping at the edge of the parking lot and taking out a pen.
"How could the Great Papyrus forget?" He gasped dramatically. "Ketchup for the best brother in the whole world! Nyeh heh heh!"
"Hey, can't you read the sign?" A police officer pointed to a sign with a prohibited symbol over an icon of a monster. "No monsters allowed."
"Oh..." Papyrus quickly stepped to the side off of the grey pavement. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention but I will remember that for next time!"
"There won't be a next time..." The officer darkly said as he pulled out his baton and lightly hit the palm of his hand as a threat.
「Y/n POV」
You were looking at the ground that was covered in a thin blanket of snow as you walked with your hands in your coat pockets to the corner store, enjoying the pleasant weather that wasn't too cold for a winter day.
"I'M SORRY! PLEASE DON'T HIT ME!"
You perked up when you heard someone in distress from a block away, as did other passersby who simply ignored it and carried on with their day, doing nothing more than glance in the direction it was coming from, whisper to their companion, and continue walking with a shrug.
Papyrus covered his eye sockets with his gloved hands in fear, when he felt nothing and shakily lowered his hands to see the officer telekinetically thrown across the parking lot, and he almost assumed it was his brother's doing but quickly realised the magic was an unfamiliar red glow and there was no one else but him and another human.
"HUMAN!" Papyrus called you out just as you were about to walk away, startling you and causing you to teleport. He then sighed and said in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. "... Thank you."
「Sans POV」
Sans stretched, popping a few bones and swinging his legs to the edge of the bed to put on his fuzzy pink slippers and shuffle downstairs, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "What was I supposed to do again? Oh yeah, Paps wanted me to go pick up some ingredients for his spaghetti." He paused for a moment of thought and shrugged. "Welp. Guess I'll just take a shortcut."
「Y/n POV」
You tried to lift a heavy bag of potatoes and faltered, dropping it and causing it to spill four of them as you mentally cursed yourself.
One potato...
Two potatoes...
Three potatoes...
Mentally keeping count as you picked them up, you scanned the floor not seeing the fourth one when someone tapped you on the shoulder. The finger felt unnaturally slender and not soft, but was gentle to the touch.
"Hey, spuddy." A deep voice spoke as you looked up to see a skeleton in a blue hoodie, much shorter than the one that was towering over you several minutes ago in the store parking lot. "What? Potato puns are a-peeling."
At the same time, he was also taking in your appearance that was strikingly similar to someone he still had nightmares of, the rosy cheeks and red eyes, but brushed it off in time before you said something.
"I yam just a spec-tator." You finally spoke after taking a few seconds to get used to his appearance, which wasn't too difficult because he resembled a human more than other monsters, and he started laughing.
"Heheh, that's pretty good, kid." He wiped a glowing blue tear out of his eyes that you presumed was magic considering monsters were made of magic, unlike humans who were made of fluid. "The name's Sans. Sans the Skeleton. What's your name?"
"Y/n..." You told him your name as you accepted the dropped potato he handed you.
Your hands touched for a brief moment, and you confirmed that it was the same bony hand that touched you earlier.
"I guess you could say I... gave you a hand back there. Heh." He chuckled at how you looked at the bones and joints of his hand in yours with big curious eyes, quickly pulling away when he noticed.
"I'm sorry, I just..." You kept your gaze on the tiled floors of the store and backed away a few steps. "I've never seen skeletons before."
"It's alright, kiddo." Sans sheepishly stuffed his hands back in his pockets. "I can't imagine what it's like seeing monsters in your world all of a sudden. You're taking it a lot better than other humans, I'll tell you that much."
"Our world."
"What was that, kid?" He hummed, making an expression as if he was raising an eyebrow.
"It's our world now." You quietly said as you managed to pick up the sack of potatoes, unknowingly dropping something in the process, and though it blocked your sight you had no trouble exiting the aisle.
"Hey, kid- Y/n, wait!" He grumbled in frustration that he was too late to ask for your phone number when he saw you dropped a card and picked it up. It was your ID card.
_______________________________________
We are related to Chara as a distant relative. I think Chara died hundreds of years ago because they were the first child to fall into the Underground. We are like the newest generation of Chara's bloodline. Chara is like the child of our great-great-great aunt. Not specified how many "greats" but many generations ago.
Y/n's appearance is not explicitly described in the text of the story, but below is a drawing I made as a default appearance for a canon visualisation of my image.
We have red eyes and rosy cheeks like Chara and are described to closely resemble them. Our powers are like StoryShift! Chara. There is telekinesis, teleport, and telekinetic red knives that can be summoned.
Y/n's personality is designed to be as relatable as possible so they may give common responses or whatever response people around them will like to hear. They are depressed though it does not explicitly say anywhere in the text because I prefer to show it than say it. This is how depressed people can look like to others in real life, charming but doesn't feel much. However, the experience is different for everyone. It feels as if there is a wet rag over your emotions all the time.
The title "Under the Surface" is because the monsters are on the surface now. It is also ironic because it says "under" but it is because it refers to "under the surface" as in getting to know someone for who they really are.