Chapter 7: Chapter 7
Frisk walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Papyrus set down in front of him a glass of water and a plate of spaghetti and meat sauce that smelled…indescribable. Frisk bent his face down close enough to smell it as was his habit with food he found questionable and immediately gagged.
"Frisk, that is not how you eat artisan spaghetti," Papyrus said pulling back his shoulders until he was resting against the back of the chair. "You eat it with utensils. Wow. You've been out on those streets for far too long. You've forgotten how to eat nice food. Not to worry. I'll find you a napkin and utensils and tell you what to do."
Papyrus turned away, and Frisk looked around desperately for a trashcan to dump his spaghetti in. He spotted a trash can in the corner. Unfortunately, he was too late. Papyrus walked over with a napkin and knife and fork.
"The napkin goes in your lap, like so," Papyrus said putting the napkin in Frisk's lap and then putting the fork and knife in his hands and cutting the food, "Then, you cut up the spaghetti like this, so you can eat it in bite-sized pieces. Now, you try."
Papyrus let go of his hands, and Frisk cut up the spaghetti like Papyrus showed him though he really didn't need the help. He did it slowly to avoid the painful and inevitable for as long as possible.
"Good job, Frisk," Papyrus said. "Now, eat as much as you want. We're celebrating!"
"What are we celebrating?" Frisk asked in confusion.
"What? You mean you didn't notice? Your HP has gone up. You're one step closer to being all better."
Papyrus waved his hand and made Frisk's soul and HP appear. Frisk looked at it and realized that his HP had indeed gone up by one point.
"But how?" Frisk asked himself out loud.
"I gave you a reason to have hope," Papyrus said proudly. "That's how. Nyeh heh heh! It's because of my friendship and older brothering. I gave you love and support so now you're just a little bit happier than you were before. You're one step closer to loving life again."
Frisk said, "Thank you. I have always wanted an older brother."
"And I've always wanted a little brother who appreciates me and doesn't make fun of me every ten seconds like my OTHER brother does. Looks like we both win."
Frisk smiled genuinely for the first time in recent memory.
"Now, eat your lunch," Papyrus said pushing the food closer to Frisk. "I just know it'll make your stats go up even more."
"Suddenly, I'm not really hungry," Frisk said pushing the food away. "I don't think I'm feeling well."
"You can't fool me, Frisk," Papyrus said pushing the food back towards him. "I've been reading about depression. I know a loss of appetite is a symptom. That's why I must insist that you eat. It'll make you feel better."
"I'm going to lie down," Frisk said pushing the food away again.
"Come on. Just eat it already. Just one bite. Please."
"I can't."
"Eat."
"No."
"Eat!"
"No!"
"EAT!"
"NO!"
"Leave him alone, Papyrus," a voice just outside the kitchen said.
They both turned around to see Sans.
"Where have you been?!" Papyrus asked crossing his arms in annoyance.
"I spent the night with a friend and went out to eat at Grillby's," Sans said walking into the kitchen holding a to-go box from Grillby's and sitting in a chair across from Frisk.
"You were supposed to be getting a toothbrush!"
"Right, I knew there was something I forgot to do."
"You are so irresponsible! While you were off boondoggling, I had to go to the store to get supplies and look after the human all by myself! Maybe, he hasn't been that bad, but he's still been depressed!"
"But you've done such a good job. You didn't need my help."
"Of course, not. I, the Great Papyrus, am the world's best human-sitter! It is my royal guard duty now. Undyne said so."
"No kidding. She knows about him and she's alright with him staying with you?"
"Well, until he gets better…I convinced her that it was dishonorable to kill an enemy who had no will to live."
"Was it hard?"
"Not really, she seemed reluctant to kill Frisk after he got on his knees and begged her to kill him."
"I gotcha. Well, good job, Pap!"
"Thank you…Wait, I'm still mad at you…"
"How ya doing, Frisk?" Sans asked taking his attention off Papyrus who was fuming against the stove. "You're looking good. My clothes seem a bit big for ya, but that's okay. You might fill them out better when you're less malnourished. Speaking of which, I brought you some food."
Sans put the to-go box on the table and pushed it in front of Frisk. He opened the box and looked inside. It was a hamburger with fries.
"Thanks for the effort, Sans," Papyrus said sarcastically. "But that wasn't necessary. As you can see, I've already made him spaghetti. He doesn't want…"
Frisk couldn't control himself. He grabbed the burger and started forking it down as quickly as he could. It was better than any burger he had ever had. Frisk enjoyed its flavor so much that he didn't care about the conversation going on.
"Woah," Sans said in amusement. "Calm down, kid. You're eating like you haven't had a decent meal in years."
"He probably hasn't," Papyrus said. "He's been homeless for almost three years. He told me."
"Seriously?" Sans asked looking over Frisk in newfound pity.
"Yeah, he's also only a kid. He's not fully-grown yet. He's a baby human."
"I knew that already…"
"I didn't. That means he's going to get bigger than this."
"Probably…"
"Oh, I learned something else, too. His parents are dead, and he has no other family or friends to look after him. He's been living on the streets, Sans, and he's been lonely. That's one reason he's been so depressed, but I've made it better and increased his HP by one point."
"Nice! How'd you do that?"
"I'VE ADOPTED HIM!"
Sans and Frisk froze in action. Everything was silent for a moment except for Frisk swallowing his food and dropping his burger in the box.
Then they looked at Papyrus and simultaneously said, "WHAT?!"
"I told him I'd be his friend and honorary older brother since he doesn't have a biological one, Sans," Papyrus said excitedly picking Frisk up and swinging him around. "I figure that involves some sort of adoption. Doesn't it? Come on, Sans! I'll take care of him! I mean, by default, that means you're his older brother now too, but you never do anything anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem for you. I've always wanted a little brother. Please, Sans! He's a baby human. We can't leave him by himself. We have to take care of him until he's old enough to look after himself."
"I am old enough to look after myself!" Frisk yelled trying fruitlessly to squirm out of Papyrus' arms. "I've been doing fine for three years."
"Really? What is the age of maturity for your species?"
"Ten!"
"Bull!" Sans said with a smile. "Humans ain't considered fully grown until they're at least 18. You need someone to look after you, kid."
"Then, that means…" Papyrus said getting more and more excited.
"Yes, we can adopt the human," Sans said nonchalantly. "I mean, there are a lot of things we have to figure out first, but he can stay here. I don't mind. You're just going to have to figure out what to tell Undyne."
Papyrus stopped swinging Frisk around and said thoughtfully, "You're right. She can't fight him if he's never leaving…"
"Wait!" Frisk yelled finally shaking out of Papyrus' grip and landing on the floor. "I said I wanted to be your friend. I never said anything about living here permanently. You both said I could leave when I was 'better!' I can't just stay here forever!"
"Why not?" Sans asked. "What else are you gonna do? The last time I checked your only plan was to let yourself die."
Frisk's sad eyes looked at the ground for a second. He tried to come up with a meaningful answer, but he couldn't think of one.
"Come on, Frisk!" Papyrus said trying to make him feel better. "This place won't be like the orphanages on the surface you stayed away from. It'll be much cooler because you get to live with your friends who are also orphans! We'll be the best family ever! You'll still get to see the Underground. Wait, I have an idea…"
Papyrus turned to Sans and started discussing something. Frisk didn't hear what it was. He didn't listen. He saw his chance. Frisk snuck over to the door as quietly as he could.
He meant what he had said to Papyrus. He wanted to be friends. Frisk just didn't want to stay there permanently. He did not want to relearn how to live in a home. The only home he had ever had was with his parents, and now that they were gone…
Frisk reached the handle. Sadly, that's when his soul came out of his chest and he felt himself being pulled backwards into the kitchen.
"Did you forget I could do that?" Sans asked in amusement while moving Frisk back into his chair.
Frisk responded by crossing his arms and lying with his face down on top of them trying to hide his frustrated tears.
"What's gotten into you, Frisk?" Papyrus asked rubbing his back again. "I thought you wanted to be our friend."
Frisk looked up, wiped his eyes, and said, "I do. I just don't want to be forced to live…"
Right then, Papyrus took a fork full of spaghetti and put it into Frisk's mouth. He then held his glove over his mouth so that Frisk had no choice but to swallow the food. His eyes immediately started watering. It happened so quickly that Sans didn't even have time to react. Frisk felt like his stomach had caught on fire.
"Pap, what did you do that for?!" Sans asked incredulously.
"He was refusing to eat my spaghetti," Papyrus said while Frisk's eyes went bloodshot and his skin paled. "What else was I supposed to do? If he's living here, Frisk needs to…Frisk?"
Frisk ran to the garbage can in the corner room and immediately started throwing up. It was only one bite, but the spaghetti was bad enough to make him empty the contents of his stomach.
"Oh, my God," Papyrus said. "Frisk, you should have told me you were allergic to spaghetti! Why didn't you say anything?!"
"He was probably afraid of hurting your feelings, bro," Sans said.
"Dammit! I've been a big brother for like 30 minutes, and I've already almost killed him! Maybe I'm not cut out for this after all. What do I do, Sans?! He's gonna die!"
"No, he's not, Pap. Stay calm. He'll be fine. He just needs a few things."
"Okay, what does he need?!"
"When he's done vomiting, he'll need water since he'll be thirsty…"
"Alright, what else?!"
"He's going to need something for his stomach since it's burning right now. Anything with ginger will be fine."
"Where do I find it?"
"They should have it at the store."
"Alright! Don't worry, Frisk. You'll be…Where'd he go? Frisk?!"
"He's sitting by the front door."
"Oh!"
Frisk was sitting on the ground and leaning against the doorframe with the front door open. His coat was under him serving as a cushion, so he could soak up as much cold air as possible. Frisk leaned out to the right of the stoop, scooped up a handful of fresh snow, picked up some of it with his other hand, and put it in his mouth to suck out the water.
That was when he felt himself being hit on the back of the head causing him to spit out the snow in his mouth.
"Frisk, no!" Papyrus chided. "Do not eat snow! You don't know where that's been!"
"It's the fresh stuff," Frisk said leaning his head back against the doorframe. "It's not dirty."
"I don't care. It could make you sick!"
"I'm already sick."
"We don't want you to get sicker! Here, drink this water. It'll make you feel better."
Papyrus handed Frisk his glass of water. He took it and drank it immediately.
"Good job, Frisk! Keep up the good work. I shall return! I'm going to get you some ginger ale!" Papyrus said before he sprinted out the door. "Don't die!"
Frisk put the glass down in front of him and continued leaning against the door. Sans walked over and sat down next to him.
"You'll have to forgive Papyrus," Sans said. "He didn't mean to poison you. He was just too excited about having someone to feed."
"It's okay," Frisk said.
The two were silent for a moment until Sans decided to speak again.
"About the whole 'adoption' thing," Sans said. "I think I've worked out a compromise you'll like. Papyrus and I talked about it, and well, he's willing to let you leave when you're better and let you explore the Underground, but you have to come back. That's the compromise. Does that sound good to you?"
Frisk didn't say anything. Sans looked at him and at the strange scars on his arms that he had not noticed before.
"It sounds fine to me anyway," Sans said looking away again. "I don't really mind the idea of having you around. You make Papyrus happy, and from your HP, it seems that he makes you happy, too. You know. It's weird. The first time I met you was yesterday when you were running away from me and Papyrus, but I feel like I've known you for much longer…"
Frisk tensed up at the last sentence. That movement was not lost on Sans.
"You should know. The reason I was gone last night and today is that I was talking to the lady who lives in the Ruins," Sans said making Frisk tense up even more. "I know you know her. She was worried about you and told me everything that happened between you. You started going on about weird things, about things you haven't done to people you shouldn't know. You left her very scared, especially considering you left behind a suicide note."
Frisk started shaking.
Sans put his hand on his shoulder and said, "Look, kid. I'm not mad at you. I'm not going to hurt you either, but you really should stop hurting others. You really hurt Toriel with what you did. You ran off when all she wanted to do was help you. That's not a good thing to do, and I'm guessing it's not the first time you've done it either. Is it? I believe you when you say your parents are dead and you don't have a family, but there was someone who cared about you. Wasn't there?"
A tear fell from Frisk's eye as he remembered Ally. He had returned home to see her, but when he did…
"There was," Frisk admitted. "But she's gone, too."
Sans stood up, put his hands in his pockets, sighed, and said, "I knew it. I can usually tell when people ain't being completely honest. Let me go upstairs to find you something for your stomach. I have more things I want to ask you if you're willing to talk. You don't need to run away, though. I won't force you to say anything you aren't ready to. You have nothing to fear from me. I only want to help."
Sans then shortcut away into thin air. Frisk leaned against the doorframe fighting his nausea and figuring out what to do next.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone