"What are you doing?"
His voice startles me, and I lose my concentration.
I fall off my toes, and stumble.
"Where'd you find those?" Sans asks me, gesturing down at my feet.
"I found them in Waterfall," I explain to him.
"You haven't gone back into the Underground have you?" he asks, looking concerned.
"No, I only just remembered I had these, I thought I'd use them," I tell him.
"Well you're doing well," he says.
"How long were you spying on me?" I ask, curiously.
"A couple minutes," he smiles at me, "You didn't see me did you?"
"I had my eyes closed!" I protest.
"Okay then," he says.
"What do you want? I'm pretty sure you didn't just walk in here to spy on me," I ask him, changing the subject.
"I was wondering if you wanted to go out somewhere," he says, nervously looking at his sneakers.
"What do you mean?" I ask, confused.
"Just came to ask if you wanted to go on a date with me," he says, looking up into my eyes.
"Yes," I reply, trying to hide my excitement, "I'd love that."
"Awesome," he says, looking relieved, "See ya later then kiddo, I'll pick you up at six, okay?"
"Okay."
He teleports away.
I look back around the room.
The basement isn't my first choice to dance in, but at least it's clean and spacious.
I look down at the ballet shoes on my feet, wondering who they used to belong to.
I slowly lift my arms above my head, and bend my knees, leaping through the air, landing nimbly on my toes.
I wonder how old the child wearing these was. Pointe at my age is a bit extreme. Luckily I manage.
When I was younger, my mother used to let me take ballet classes. I think it was because she wanted me out of her sight as much as possible.
When I cried at her for not attending my first concert, she cancelled my classes.
I still vaguely remember the positions.
I do one final pirouette, ending with one leg behind me, head bowed in front.
I sit down on the steps leading to the basement, and untie the silky straps twisted around my ankles.
I pull my usual brown boots on, and walk up the creaky stairs into the hallway.
Toriel looks over at me, as she sits at the dining table, holding her phone to her ear.
She smiles at me, which I return wholeheartedly.
Once I'm in my room, carefully placing the shoes onto my bed.
I pick up my phone to ring Thalia. She'd kill me if I didn't tell her Sans just asked me on a date.
Flopping onto my bed, I punch Thalia's number into my phone.
It rings four times and then I hear her voice.
"Hey, it's Thalia speaking!"
"Thalia, it's me, Frisk. Can you come over to my place? I need to tell you something," I say.
"You got it sister! I'll be right over," she replies, before hanging up the phone.
I place my phone back on my bedside table, and go into the dining room, where Toriel has finished her conversation.
"Hey Mum? I invited Thalia over for a minute, is that okay?" I ask.
"That's fine Frisk," she tells me.
"Also Sans is taking me out somewhere tonight, he's picking me up at six," I tell her.
"Okay, just don't do anything stupid," she says.
"I won't. Don't worry about me," I say, letting her kiss me on the forehead.
"It's my job to worry, my child," she says, laughing.
"That is true," I laugh, as there's a knock at the door.
I race over to the door, and pull it open.
Thalia stands on the other side. She's holding her sketchbook, which I can see has rough sketches plastered on the cover.
"Hey," she says breathlessly.
"How you doing?" I ask her, standing aside so she can come through.
"I'm doing great actually!" she declares, "Last night I started drawing in my sketchbook, and I have some really awesome pictures to show you!"
She's a little pink in the face, obviously having ran here.
We both go into my room, shutting the door behind us.
"You go first," I tell her, sitting down on my bed.
"Okay," she says, "So I first drew Alphys, it's not my best work, but it's okay."
"It's cool!" I say, smiling at her. She then flips the page, and I see a familiar head of hair, who's arms are wrapped around a smiling Toriel.
"Wow," I breath, staring at the beautiful lines of pencil creating the masterpiece, "That's... It's... Just amazing..."
"I thought you'd like it," Thalia grins at me, quickly giving me a small hug, "Now, what did you want to tell me?"
"Well, um..." I stammer, going red, "Sans asked me out on a date tonight."
Thalia starts dancing around the room, squealing.
"Geez, calm down," I say, trying to stop her from crashing into anything, "You're more excited about this than I am."
"It's my job! If you're not excited, I have to be!" she cries.
"I never said I wasn't excited!" I argue.
"When is he picking you up?" Thalia asks, still hopping from foot to foot. She never runs out of energy!
"Six," I say, sitting back down.
"SIX?" she screams, looking startled.
"Hey, it's okay, that's in three hours!" I say, surprised.
"Exactly! THREE HOURS!" she screams again, "We don't have enough time!"
"Time for what?" I splutter, seriously thinking my friend is going crazy.
"To get you ready!" she cries, like I'M the one going crazy.
"Get me ready?" I ask, now having absolutely no clue what she's talking about.
"Argh!" she growls, rolling her eyes, "You can't just show up to these things Frisk! You have to be prepared!"
"Prepared?"
"Like for instance, what are you going to wear?" she asks, ignoring my other question.
"Wear? Um, I don't know?" I reply, sheepishly.
"That's what we have to organise!" Thalia says.
She goes over to my closet, and starts hauling clothes out. I stand behind her, catching the ones that don't meet her standard before they land on the floor.
"Is that really all you have in here?" she asks, turning to face me.
"Uh, yeah."
"Come on then! We're going to my house!" she says, dragging me by the arm out the door.
"Your house? Why?" I ask, hastening to dump all the clothes in my hands into a pile at the foot of my bed.
"So that you can try some of my clothes on!" she cries with exasperation.
"Okay then!" I say, allowing her to drag me out the front door.
"That is so not your colour," she says, walking in circles around me, examining the way too short dress that I'm wearing.
"Phew! There's no way I was wearing that," I tell her, unzipping it and changing into the next outfit she hands me.
"Hey, I'm the one who assess what looks good on you," she says, glaring up at me.
"But if I refuse to wear it, then you can't tell me I have to," I reply, lifting my eyebrows at her as she zips me into another dress.
"Then you'll go naked," she says, calmly, attaching a necklace around my neck.
"No. Not happening," I say.
"Then you'll do as I tell you," she tells me, stepping back to see me properly.
"That's cute," she says, eventually.
"Can I see it?" I ask, wishing I was standing in front of a mirror.
"Alright, you can," she says, stepping aside.
I peer into the mirror on her dressing table, and look at the dress properly.
It's a periwinkle blue, with black accents around the bodice and hem. A golden necklace with black beads hangs around my neck, perfectly complementing the dress, and on my feet are golden flats.
"Where do you get dresses like this?" I ask Thalia, still staring at the folds of silk falling from my waist.
"My mother is a seamstress actually," Thalia explains.
"Really? I didn't know that!" I say, amazed.
"She loves her job, but she's not happy that she doesn't get to spend much time with me because of it," Thalia says.
"Tell her I said this dress is beautiful," I say, still gazing at it. It isn't too short, but it isn't too long, stopping just below my knees.
I spin in the dress and Thalia's eyes light up.
"You're wearing this one," she states, reaching up to help me change back into my jeans and t-shirt.
"I don't disagree," I say, pulling my boots back on, and taking the necklace off.
Thalia runs out the room, and comes back with a garment bag, containing the dress, slung over her arm.
"Here you go," she says, handing it to me, "I'm going to come back to your house with you. You need all the help you can get."
"I don't know if I should thank you, or take offence," I say, sarcastically.
"Definitely thank me," she says, steering me down the stairs.
We walk back to my house, Thalia skipping by my side.
"So, this is your second date then? The first being with his brother?" she asks.
"Uh..." I stutter.
"Really? Who else?" she asks, stopping.
"Well, um... Alphys...?" I say, nervously.
"ALPHYS?" Thalia cries, laughing.
"It was a mistake, alright?" I tell her, "She was supposed to be going on a date with Undyne."
"Oh, they're so cute!" Thalia shrieks, grinning.
"That is true," I sigh.
She continues to squeal about them both until we reach my front door.
"An hour left!" she shouts, looking at the clock that's hung upon the kitchen wall.
"We took two hours?" I cry, shocked. "How did we take that long?"
"Come on! I have to do your hair!" Thalia says, dragging me into the bathroom.
"Do my hair?" I ask, "Why do you need to do my hair?"
"Because you can't go out like this!" she cries, grabbing a brush and pulling it through my chocolate-brown hair.
I sit in silence for the next couple minutes, as her fingers whisk around my head, pulling my hair into a braid. Small wisps fall from the edges, framing my face.
"Thanks Thalia," I whisper, leaning forward to try and see it properly.
"You're welcome, now you need to get changed!" she says, dragging me up to my bedroom.
She helps me into the dress, and I slip on the shoes.
When I look at my reflection in the mirror, I see a different person looking back at me. Not the shy, scared and hurt person I was before I fell, but a new stronger and braver person.
I hug Thalia, and she hugs back even harder.
"I really owe you Thalia," I say.
"Just tell me how it went tomorrow, okay?"
"Sure thing," I reply, smiling.
I jump at the sound of a knock at my bedroom door.
"I'm knocking this time," a familiar voice says, "Are you happy?"
"Very!" I call back through the door.
When I open it, Sans is standing on the other side, face blue, wearing a plain white shirt and long black pants.
He stares at me, mouth open.
"What's wrong?" I giggle.
"You look amazing," he tells me, giving me a kiss on the cheek.
I hold his hand, and with one final wave to Thalia, he teleports us away.