2 more months passed and the fixing of the machine had been going well, almost halfway there, Stretch had moved the machine into his old workshop to protect it from the cold wet snow. You had spent 5 months total in this universe and you were getting quite used to this place but you were getting antsy about getting back home. The few friends you had and your family must be worried sick about you. Did the time flow the same as it did in your universe or was the timeflow different since your universe was technically further ahead in time? You could ask Stretch about it but it scared you to find out and you know what they say... ignorance is bliss.
You had returned back to the inn of course and the innkeeper sighed in relief when you came back to work for them, you had explained that your sickness had gotten worse than you had expected and that's why you had been gone for several days. You didn't feel the need to disclose that you stayed with the skeleton brothers during that time since it wasn't relevant.
You had become a regular at Muffet's but unlike Stretch, you actually paid for your orders. Muffet had become somewhat of a friend of yours, her spiders always waving to you to greet you. Muffet"s had basically become your usual hangout spot and of course you bumped into Stretch a lot with a honey bottle in hand, oddly he wasn't here today. You ordered your usual, a spider donut and some non alcoholic spider cider.
"So darling, how's that blue skeleton doing? I heard you and him have gotten to know all of the town's residents" Muffet inquired, You had asked Lucky to introduce you to the residents in hopes of finding him some decent friends for him and luckily there was this one monster that thought Lucky's blue cape was super cool. He had white fluffy fur and some horns were beginning to protrude from the top of his head, he introduced himself to be Asriel. Lucky had quickly befriended Asriel so even if you weren't around, Lucky would have someone to rely on... plus you got to meet the residents here and finally introduced yourself after 5 months of being in Sunnedout. "He's doing alright, made a new friend and everything" You happily told Muffet in-between bites of your spider donut. "You've been such a good influence on the skeleton brothers... honestly I'm surprised Papyrus hasn't picked you up for himself darling" Muffet gave you multiple winks with her multitude of eyes and you rolled your eyes at her, she rolled away with a laugh. After that interaction, you saw a bunny monster scowling at you, she was a regular here. You were about to ask her what was wrong but she hopped out of the bar before you could... How odd, did you do something wrong? You don't think so since nobody else was reacting like that to you.
You finished your spider donut and started to sip on your delicious spider cider, the liquid looked like a purple galaxy with speckled stars in it, very fancy looking and it tasted delicious! You had finished everything you needed to do in here so you said goodbye to Muffet and waved to her little spider workers. You jumped off the bar stool and as you were about to leave the restaurant bar, abruptly Stretch came in and he had a pretty looking monster attached to his arm. They had the traits of a horse but they had a small protruding horn on their head and a beautiful fluffy mane. You gave them both a quick wave, you saw that the handsome monster had a very long tail with tufts at the end, they looked to be more of a Kirin than a horse. Stretch asked you if you wanted to join them but it looked to be a date so you declined and exited the restaurant, you had a goat dad to visit after all!
Stretch watched you leave with an excited smile on your face, where were you going with such an expression? He felt his soul pulsate for some odd reason. He couldn't dwell on it any longer as his supposed date nudged him to move, not liking his lingering gaze. "I'm your date, remember?" They subtly hinted and he quickly apologized, leading them to the barstools he once led you to. "Sorry about that, it was a friend of mine" He apologized yet again and his date gently shook their head, their mane flowing elegantly with the movement. "It's okay, they looked quite adorable and I think they were checking me up" For some reason Stretch didn't like that, was he jealous of you trying to steal his date? Couldn't be... You didn't seem like you were trying to... quite the opposite, you would have accepted his offer if your goal was to ruin his date. "I'm your date, remember?" He threw the exact words back at them and they got flustered while trying to backtrack. He let it go and they began to small talk, he found it a bit boring and dry but he didn't comment on it. That would ruin the mood for sure. "Oh don't you have a younger brother? The one who acts a bit odd?" They suddenly asked and it was true but calling his brother odd was a bit rude of them plus his brother wasn't younger but older.
"Yeah but I'm the younger one, cool isn't he? Always taking care of me and the house" He could see his date didn't quite believe him, without his brother around he wouldn't have made it as far as he had gotten in the underground. So what if he was a bit socially awkward? He was just a bit more honest than most monsters were. "He seems more like a child than an adult... oh well, we can't all be flawless" They snickered, he could see this date wouldn't get a second chance, rudely talking about his brother in that way? It was a huge deal breaker for him. He dropped the niceness the rest of the date, resulting in it ending in a sour note. His date huffed in anger as they walked out, not satisfied with how everything went... Shouldn't have insulted his brother.
"My oh my! You are oh so positively bad at dating dearie!" Muffet rolled up to him, giving him an extra bottle of honey to try and cheer him up. Not that he needed it but he couldn't say no to an extra bottle of honey. "Eh just a bit rusty... Anyway, where did Y/N run off too?" Stretch inquired about you, were you going to visit Lucky? You usually did after all. "Ahuhuhu~ Maybe if you pay off your tab I'll tell you" She snickered, obviously that was a joke, she knew he probably would never pay off that huge debt. "But honestly, I don't know where they went... usually they would interact with my little spider workers but it seems today they didn't have time..." So you were in a rush? To see his brother? Heh no crush you say?
"Heh is that so? Seems they have a lil crush on my brother" He told Muffet, perhaps she could join in on teasing you. The two of them could double team in making you flustered, oh what a sight that could be. "Crush on Sans? I don't think so, they don't have that kinda look when he's brought up besides they usually don't rush out like that just to meet him" Muffet smugly smirked at his shocked expression, if you weren't with his brother then... where did you run off to? And why did he care so much...? The odd pulsation in his soul came back but quickly died down. He was just worried about you, that's all. "Eh... maybe you're wrong" He couldn't drop it, you definitely had a crush on his brother. "Dearie, I see a lot of couples looking at each other in my fine establishment" She started, as her multiple eyes turned into him. "And I know they don't have a crush on Sans but you however... you're quite fond of them aren't you?" Her smile turned quite frightening as her multiple eyes stared right into his soul. Him? Having a crush on you? Nonsense, he just liked you like a friend.
"Uh huh sure... Welp thanks for the honey, I'm going back to Sans... where Y/N will probably be" He snarked a bit at the end but Muffet just chuckled. "I'm always here to help whenever you realize your own feelings dearie!" She teased as he got up from the bar stool, luckily it seemed that nobody had eavesdropped on their conversation. This is not how he expected things to go, he wanted Muffet to start teasing you but instead she had turned the tables around and teased him instead! Oh well, her words didn't hit him, a crush on you? Pfft- that would be foolish of him since you weren't staying in this universe for long, the machine was almost ready after all. He didn't mull on it any more as he made his way to his brother Lucky.
He made it to his brother and he was with another monster but you were nowhere to be seen. "Heya there, what ya up to bro?" He casually asked his brother, they both looked up at him. They seemed to be making snowpuff statues, heh his brother was really skilled in that. "WE ARE MAKING MAGNIFICENT SNOWPUFF STATUES! YOU WANT TO JOIN?" Lucky smiled at him and of course he couldn't refuse his generous offer. Lucky's new friend seemed to be decent and accepting of his uniqueness which made Stretch very happy... you were the perpetrator who introduced them weren't you? Speaking of... he hadn't seen you for quite awhile now... he thought you had gone back to Lucky but apparently you had gone somewhere else. His soul pulsated yet again... what in the world was wrong with his soul? "Hey Sans, have you seen Y/N around?" He inquired while lazily building up a snowpuff into a pile of snow and nothing else. "NO, I HAVEN'T... SOMETHING WRONG? YOU SEEM TROUBLED" Lucky had noticed his worried expression, he always could tell what Stretch was feeling. "Nah... just worried s'all" Lucky reassured him that you would return soon enough... let's hope that was the case and not the last incident where you vanished for almost a week.
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You happily walked towards the ruins after exiting Muffet's, you were going to meet Asgore again, it had been awhile since you first met him. You were gonna ask if another human had fallen but you also wanted to spend time with such a lovely goat. You got to the ruins door and knocked on it, you didn't know if he was down in the basement or if he had really good hearing but alas a familiar voice asked who was there. "Woo" You simply said, waiting for him to reply with a smile on your face. "Woo who?" Asgore said and opened the door, his big muzzle held a warm smile towards you. "Good to see you're excited to see me" You both laughed and abruptly Asgore gave you a very soft hug, his fluffy fur cushioning you in. "Y/N it's lovely to see you again, come on in..." He ushered you inside and led you upstairs just like last time.
"So is anything troubling you my child?" He gave you tea and some biscuits like last time but this time he took a chair on the opposite end of the table so he could face you. "No! Just came in to say hello!" You smiled at him and you ate some of the biscuits, you couldn't drink the tea yet since it was piping hot! "Well that is good... I thought a certain skeleton had given you some problems when I saw you but I assumed wrong" You nodded, it was really obvious that Asgore did not like Stretch at all. "Me and Stre- Papyrus are getting along, he was scary when we first met but now he's like a soft marshmallow" You chuckled at that image, when you thought about it, his bones didn't feel too hard like a normal human skeleton would. "Hmmm... I see, then he has judged you to be good enough to be around other monsters, what a relief" You could sense a heavy feeling coming from him, something was wrong. "Why do you dislike Papyrus so much?" You bravely asked and Asgore looked at you with sadness. "It is... not a good story to tell, are you sure you want to know? It might ruin your friendship with him" It was that bad huh? Had he murdered the humans he deemed too violent? You had thought about it but you didn't know if it was true.
"I... am, it's actually why I'm here... If another human falls down, I want you to keep them inside here so I can break the barrier myself... If I'm still here" Asgore looked at you horrified, you could see the cup he was holding was shaking... "That is very noble of you Y/N... I must apologize for the underground for being hostile towards your kind" You shook your head, he didn't need to do that! No monster had ever initiated a flight with you at all! "Very well... I'll tell you why I do not like that orange clad skeleton but do not let him know I told you" That was a reasonable request, Stretch liked to keep his secrets hidden and if one got leaked without his permission, well that probably wouldn't end too well. You nodded in understanding and Asgore told you the reason he didn't like the laid-back skeleton as you sipped on your tea.
Asgore told you that Stretch hadn't murdered the humans directly but had guided them towards their death by subtly informing the royal guards about the humans he deemed too dangerous. Welp that could have been you if he didn't find you non-threatening and interesting since you came from a different world. That could quickly change if he decided to change his mind about you... it's best to tread lightly from now on. "That's actually slightly better than what I had imagined what happened between you two" Asgore hung his head low in shame, you quickly got up and rubbed his back to soothe him. "It's not too bad here Asgore, I'm enjoying my time here quite a lot so you don't need to worry" He couldn't control what had happened to those humans but he must have felt a big burden on his shoulders. "I failed those humans Y/N... and now you're saying you want to sacrifice yourself if another falls down, it is not fair!" He began to sob as tears fell down on the table, his paws curling into fists.
"I know but I want it to be me if someone else falls down here" That didn't help as his tears doubled, suddenly he went to grab you in a tight hug. "You are so brave and kind, I wish I could make you stay here with me but I'm certain a skeleton would notice your absence" He sniffled, he wasn't wrong about that seeing as Stretch had basically invaded your room in the inn when you got sick. "I'll come visit more often?" You heard him give off a small chuckle and let you go, his baby blue eyes gazed at you softly. "Please do... you are awfully good at keeping me company" You smiled and put your hand on his fluffy paw. "Better expect more surprise visits then!" You cheered and it seems you had successfully calmed Asgore down. The both of you talked some more before it was time for you to leave, you didn't want to walk in the forest during the dark hours of the underground after all. Asgore escorted you down to the exit and opened the heavy stone door for you.
"Be careful Y/N" He bid you goodbye and you gave him a wave as a reply, he closed the door with a worried smile. That old goat wouldn't stop worrying about you even if you said everything was fine... you couldn't blame him though. You trekked back to the town and abruptly you heard your name being called. You looked in the direction and saw Lucky with Asriel and Stretch, you smiled at them, all of them seemed to be having a good time without you. That was good, a little painful but you weren't staying in this universe for too long. "Hello there Lucky, Stretch and... Asriel was it? Nice to see you again" Asriel blushed as he fiddled with his hands as he looked up at you meekly. "Ah you remembered my name..." He shyly said and you smiled softly at him, he was such a precious thing like Lucky. "Of course I did but it seems you're the only one that doesn't have a nickname... would you like one?" Lucky looked at you like you had said something outrageous while Stretch just lazily observed the three of you like usual, though somehow you could feel his gaze lingering a little bit too long on you or was it just your paranoid self? Asgore had told you that story after all.
"Y/N YOU CAN'T JUST GIVE OUT NICKNAMES WILLYNILLY LIKE THAT!" You chuckled which made Lucky squint his eyes? Sockets? at you. "It is alright... I've never gotten a nickname before plus I'm the only one who hasn't gotten one" Asriel agreed, you smugly smiled towards Lucky and he huffed as he turned his skull away from you while crossing his arms on his chest. Awh he was jealous, wasn't he? How adorable. "With no protests I declare your nickname to be... Buttercup!" You could see Buttercup's eyes widen in surprise but he quickly smiled. You knew it wasn't a very masculine nickname but he didn't seem to mind. "UGH THAT'S SUCH A FEMININE NICKNAME! ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE OKAY WITH THAT ONE? YOU CAN ASK FOR ANOTHER ONE" Buttercup shook his head and anxiously rubbed his neck to soothe his nerves, perhaps the little guy had social anxiety. "It... it fits me too well, that yellow flower means a lot to me" He smiled at Lucky, reassuring that his nickname was more than good enough. You kept smiling in victory and Lucky sighed in defeat and uncrossed his arms.
"VERY WELL THEN! BUTTERCUP IT IS!" Lucky declared and now it was official, Asriel would now be called Buttercup! "Hey miss Y/N, how come you don't have one?" Urk Buttercup got you there before you could reply, Stretch spoke up. "Of course they do, it's hon-" He didn't get to finish his sentence before a snowball had hit him straight in the skull, bull's eye! "Don't you dare finish that sentence, knucklehead" You could hear Stretch give out a surprised 'Nyeh!?' and Lucky gave his brother a look you couldn't quite decipher while Buttercup quietly chuckled. "ONLY YOU CALL THEM THAT!" You were disappointed that Lucky didn't help you with Stretch's embarrassing nicknames he gave you, you prefer not to be called honey or honeybun. "WELL SINCE WE ARE ON THE SUBJECT! I HAVE FOUND THE BEST NICKNAME FOR Y/N!" Ah, he had finally managed to find the perfect nickname for you! It only took him 5 months, he must have really pondered about it. "HOW DOES SUNSHINE SOUND? BECAUSE YOU'RE ALWAYS SO WARM AND BRIGHT" Your heart positively melted at that and picked up Lucky in a hug, you could hear him let out a prideful laugh. Buttercup and Stretch watched the both of you with a smile on their faces.
You had gained such lovely friends in this universe and it saddened you that you had to go back home to your world but it was for the best.
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You and Stretch continued to work on the machine, it wasn't long till it was properly fixed! You couldn't believe Stretch had managed to get his phalanges on all of the parts needed but he sure was resourceful. His previous job as a royal scientist probably helped him in getting the parts you needed.
"Hey so whatever happened to that pretty and handsome monster you brought in to Muffet's?" You hadn't seen Stretch with them after that brief encounter, perhaps the date went sideways? Poor guy. "Eh, why are you askin'? Interested in them?" Stretch gave you a glare but you rolled your eyes, he didn't need to worry about you stealing them away. "Relax, I'm not gonna take your bone-friend away from you, just wondering since I haven't seen them at all" Stretch blinked at you, he was processing your pun. He finally figured out the pun and you could see a small smile on his skull. "It didn't work out between us so we went our separate ways" He simply explained, it might have been a bad break up since he glared at you so intensely. "That's rough buddy" Stretch shrugged and continued to screw things in place as he looked over your drawn blueprint. "So... Do you still have a crush on my brother?" You groaned but this time it sounded like a sincere question instead of a factual statement he usually gave you. "No, for the last time... I do not have a crush on Lucky" You spelled out clearly, this time Stretch seemed to take you seriously, thank the stars.
"Anyone else then? I've noticed you're nowhere to be seen for awhile and then ya pop back in" Ah that must have been your regular visits to Asgore, sometimes Stretch could be way too observant... though sometimes in rare cases he was completely wrong. "Visiting a secret lover I don't know about?" Like this case for instance where he was completely off the mark. You scowled, why in the world did he go that route? For all he knew, you could be exploring the Lavarise caverns... "No I don't have a secret lover, if you really need to know, I visit Asgore sometimes" You weren't keeping your visits secret since you knew Stretch would eventually find out where you went so might as well tell him straight up. Stretch suddenly stopped moving and looked at you with analytical empty sockets, here comes the interrogation part. "Why? I see no reason for that" You inhaled and then exhaled to calm yourself, you really hated when Stretch became like this. "Because I enjoy his company, he acts so much like a parent which if you didn't know, I miss from my universe" That seemed to have shut him up, you must have stunned him with the unusual bite you had added to your sentence. You had one other ulterior motive to visit Asgore but if you told Stretch about your plan that involves you sacrificing yourself if a human fell down again if you couldn't get yourself back home, he might stop you from breaking the barrier.
"Anyway... thanks for the help, I really appreciate it" You changed the topic and was that a yellow blush on his cheeks? It sure was. "It's... no problem?" You could tell he wasn't used to getting genuine compliments and you chuckled at his lost expression. "Do I get a hug as a bonus?" And now he was giving you a shit eating grin as he put the blueprint on the workshop table, of course he needed to ruin the moment but alas you couldn't say no to his request. You mentally sighed but softly smiled at Stretch, sometimes he truly was just a dorky skeleton. "Fine you can have one" You moved closer to him and as you were in reach, he suddenly grabbed you and dragged you into him. Before you could scold him for his rash actions, the workshop door suddenly burst open and Lucky's voice could be heard. "SUNSHINE! BROTHER! ARE YOU DONE WI-" Lucky stopped short of his sentence when he saw what position you and his brother were in. You quickly turned your head to look at him, he was stunned but his eyes had stars in them, why? He only did that when he was super excited about something.
"I AM SO INCREDIBLY SORRY FOR INTERRUPTING SUCH AN INTIMATE MOMENT!" And before you had the time to explain that this wasn't what it looked like, Lucky quickly slammed the door shut. You groaned and pushed Stretch away from you... he didn't let go and held tightly onto your waist. "Uh Stretch you okay there buddy?" You looked up at him and he quickly let go of you, huh that was weird. "Sorry about that, thought you would take a tumble" He winked at you and you once again rolled your eyes at him, quickly you exited the workshop to go find Lucky. He wasn't too far away and you managed to catch up to him, Buttercup was with him, Stretch had of course followed you out. "Lucky! Wait up! What were you gonna say?" Lucky looked at you then his brother then back at you again, what in the world is he thinking!? "I UH WANTED TO KNOW IF THE BOTH OF YOU COULD JOIN IN ON SOME PUZZLE SOLVING BUT I DIDN'T MEAN TO INTERRUPT YOUR TANGO" You cringed at his words, you hoped he would ever use that word ever again in that context.
"We would love to join in on some puzzles and for the record me and your brother are strictly friends, it was a platonic hug" You saw the quick flash of disappointment that crossed Lucky's skull but he quickly changed it into a big smile. "I SEE! WELL THEN, LET US GET GOING!" Lucky gleefully grabbed your hand and all four of you were going to do some fun puzzles.
Lucky and Stretch watched you and Buttercup trying to solve one of Lucky's puzzles, both of you were struggling but that gave Lucky some time to speak to his younger brother. "SO PLATONIC FRIENDS ONLY?" Lucky started and his brother looked down at him with a confused face. "Yes? It's what they said" Lucky could tell Stretch really liked you in more than just a platonic way, it was obvious with how his gazes always went back to you. Though it didn't seem his brother had quite realized his feelings for you yet. "YES IT WAS WHAT THEY SAID BUT OBVIOUSLY I KNOW YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE A PLATONIC FRIEND" Stretch flinched at Lucky's words, what was it with people saying he had feelings for you!? He certainly did not! "Don't know what you're talkin' bout bro" He deflected and Lucky sighed. All of a sudden both of them could hear you and Buttercup cheer in victory as you had solved the puzzles.
Stretch's soul suddenly jumped in glee at the display, this wasn't really normal behaviour for a soul... "BROTHER... YOU'RE SMILING LIKE SOMEONE WOULD WHEN THEY ARE IN LOVE" Stretch shrugged nonchalantly, he really didn't want to hear anymore of it and it seems Lucky picked up on that so he dropped it, he knew that his brother would realize it sooner or later and then he could tease him about it! "Heard you have a big crush on Napstablook, good luck with that one bro" Stretch winked and left him behind as he walked towards you and Buttercup. He couldn't believe it! His brother had found out about his little crush! Ugh he knew he didn't quite hide it but his brother seemed to genuinely not notice his reactions whenever Napstablook came onto the TV...
Lucky would make sure to tease his brother some extra when he tried to court you!
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