Whelp. Monsters, apparently, were a thing. You heard the tales of course, of beings underground with great and evil power. But only children really believed in them until recently. New travel options showed up to explore the underground towns and "live like a monster," though most of the monsters moved out soon as they had a chance. It was a strange first few months, watching these creatures slowly occupying more and more of the land above, taking places in daily life and fitting in almost seamlessly.

That was of course, if humans didn't get in the way of that happening.

"HA! Look at that little beast! It doesn't even have any arms!"

You stop mid-way placing groceries into your basket, hearing the voice of some human man. A couple other voices laughed, and you could hear a few small objects on the other side of the grocery aisle fall to the floor. Bad news.

"Man, talk about weird! How do you even dress yourself?" Another voice hollered louder than necessary, making the rest of the store quiet. You quickly grab a couple of small blue boxes of pasta to put in your basket, wanting to get out of the store before the fight started. There have been plenty of cases of humans picking fights with monsters- never the other way around, how ironic- that quickly get disastrous. The media was never afraid to report every occurrence. However they tend to forget to mention most fights start because humans are idiots.

"C-come on guys! I-I don't want a-any trouble…"

Shit. That sounded like a kid. Grinding your teeth, you hastily walk down the aisle and look down the one you heard the voices coming from. Three guys surrounding an orange monster wearing a striped shirt, who was shaking and backed against some fruits lining the wall with a few apples by their feet. The monster was easily half the size of the humans, still a child from anyone's guess.

You felt like you were going to regret this.

"Hey assholes, leave the kid alone." Your voice sounded a lot calmer than you felt, just barley loud enough to get the attention of said assholes. They turned to you and you managed to see the "HP" patch shaped like a rock on their jackets. Ugh, Human Pride. Gone were the days where Harry Potter or computers came to mind with those initials, now they stood for "I'm the biggest prick around, and I'm not afraid to prove it."

"Sure, no problem." The tallest one in the group said, and the others snickered. Why couldn't they be serious when they said that? "Unfortunately for you," his hand grabbed one of the spikes on the top of the crying monster's head, "I don't see any kids here-!" A basket full of groceries suddenly cracked against his face, spilling goods all along the ground as he toppled back. It took you a moment to realize that your hand was outstretched, and it was your basket that just smacked the prick in the face. A rush of exhilaration rushed through you, a moment of self pride of actually being able to throw so accurately, before the others stopped looking at their bloody leader picking himself off the ground and started looking at you.

"Uh… please?" You swallow and wish of being able to reset that moment. The leader straightened himself up, rubbing at his bloody nose with the back of his hand, and glared daggers at you.

"You are going to regret that." His teeth are showing, but he isn't smiling. He makes a movement, and suddenly they are running at you.

Grocery shops aren't the most open places to run, but you manage to keep ahead of the group enough to run out of the store, groceries forgotten. You hear them close behind you, shouting at each other as much as you, but you can't help but look back to see them. You only glance for a moment over your shoulder, but it was long enough to see that you really should have kept exercising all those years ago.

You see blue.

Everything is too still and your head is spinning and your legs hurt. "Oof… Hey are you ok?" You hear a low voice ask from underneath you, and you realize you aren't standing anymore; rather you are on your back on top something- or someone. There is shuffling nearby, and a pit ate at your stomach as you got ready to face the consequences of standing against HP.

"Whoa man, is that Undyne?" You hear the short prick's voice ask, and the other voices mumbled a bit. You try to right yourself, feeling vertigo engulf you as you look away from the sky and to the parking lot. The HP pricks stood just a couple yards away, all looking at a tall blue monster with wild red hair that was standing beside you.

"Damn right I am Undyne, whatchu got?" The female monster stepped in front of your view of the pricks, crossing her arms. The humans mumbled something before sulking away, glaring at you one last time before walking out of your view.

"…. excuse me? Are you …?" The voice from underneath you spoke out again, only just registering in your brain. You jump up surprised and trying to get off of the voice, only to have the edges of your vision darken and your legs feel weak. Large gloved hands grab your shoulders, steadying you as your vision came back.

"Whoa there, the pavement sure did a number on you." The blue monster laughed as she looked back at you, looking at your forehead. You looked up as if you could see what she was looking at before tenderly touching your forehead. Your fingers came back red. You blinked slowly; everything just wasn't clicking in your head.

"UNDYNE, I DO NOT THINK THIS HUMAN IS WELL." The voice of the glove owner yelled, not helping with your dizziness.

"We can see that, Papyrus. Don't worry- hey, look at me." The low voice from under you before was now in front of you, speaking lightly, and you looked down to meet it. A short, plump skeleton stood in front of you, half of his blue jacket dirty. He had a smile plastered on his face, though his eyes showed concern even if they were just pins of light in hollow sockets.

There was something really calming about the short skeleton. You found your breath and your legs seemed to be slightly sturdier, to the point that the glove owner –Papyrus- loosened his grip to let you stand on your own. You looked at the monsters watching you, seeing Papyrus was another, taller, skeleton, before turning your attention to the sound of footsteps running towards you.

"Thank you a bunch for saving me!" The little orange monster without arms ran up to you, looking up with big eyes and a larger smile. "You really showed them!" That statement doesn't quite sound right, but the kid seems happy so you don't correct them.

"Er… No problem." You crack a smile, feeling more attuned to reality. Unfortunately that meant you were becoming aware of the throbbing at your forehead. The monster turned and showed that they were carrying a plastic bag on their tail, placing it in front of you.

"I bought you your things, sorry about making you throw 'em!" They looked up at the tall blue monster, as if suddenly noticing her. Before you have a chance to say anything, the kid jumped and turned around. "I have to go, thanks again!" And they started running off. You watched long enough to see them trip and land on their face, but they got up with a smile and continued running.

"So that's why those idiots were after you? Glad we chased them off." Undyne said while placing hands on her hips, looking almost proud of you.

"Yeah, thanks for that." You said sheepishly, rubbing the back of your neck. The short skeleton seemed less concerned now that you were speaking and he started brushing off the dirt of his jacket. "Oh! I'm so sorry for running into you! I suppose I should be watching where I run when getting chased…"

He laughed, putting a hand out. "It takes more than that to rattle my bones." You looked at him for a moment, letting a smile escape when his joke registers. He seemed to like that. You bend to pick up the grocery bag and the world starting spinning around you. "Whoa, its ok, slow down there." A boney hand gripped your elbow to keep you from falling over.

"I'm fine… Thank you but I'm good." You smiled, carefully grabbing the bag and straightening up, trying to make the world stop rotating. "Just a bump on the head, nothing I haven't dealt with before. Besides, my home is just down the block a bit, I can make that." The short skeleton nodded, still looking ready to grab you if you started to fall again.

"HUMAN, I DON'T THINK YOU SHOULD BE ALONE WITH THAT WOUND. IT IS UP TO I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, TO HELP YOU BACK TO YOUR HOME." Papyrus announced while striking a dramatic pose, making you hold back a laugh.

"Yeah, I'm with Papyrus, I don't think its smart for you to be walking home alone, especially since you just pissed off a rather shady looking group." The short skeleton glanced back where the HP pricks were. You admit that you would feel a lot safer with them around… at least for the walk back.

"Sure, I wouldn't mind the company." You nodded and Papyrus seemed to jump with excitement.

"I'll grab the goods and get Frisk from school then. You bros have fun." Undyne said, turning to the store. "Oh, and Sans," she looked back. "Try not to scare the human." She smiled and waved, and you felt a bit of concern pointing out that you just asked monsters to walk you home.

You swallowed the concern and turned to the road, leading the way with the two skeletons a step behind and to your sides. The air was a bit chilly, not that it seemed to bother the skeleton brothers. They did seem quiet, or maybe they were quiet because you were. Fuck…

"So… You guys live around here I take it?" You slowed down a little to be more in line with them; luckily this sidewalk was built big enough for three people to stand on at one time.

"YES. WE LIVE WITH UNDYNE AND ALPHYS IN AN APARTMENT."

"It's pretty small, but you humans sure like to pay a lot to live someplace." You bit your lip at San's comment. This area wasn't the most expensive around, but you did hear rumors about places raising prices for monsters.

You turned and started walking down an alleyway, as it was your usual route home, and heard Sans laugh. "You got tibia pulling my leg, this is how you get home? Even after today?"

Ignoring the pun, he had a point. "It's my usual route, and nothing ever goes on down here… Besides, I have you two to scare off any baddies." You smiled, and then realized what you said. "Not that you are very… scary, or anything. Just that, you know, you…" You weren't about to just say 'you're monsters' but they seemed to understand anyway.

"I hope you have other routes home, for when we aren't here." Sans raised an eyebrow…bone? You don't know how someone without flesh on their face has so many expressions.

"Of course, its longer though. This cuts down right through the block." You clarify. After a few more moments of silence, you and the skeletons get through the buildings. You pull out your keys, stumbling over your fingers a bit before finding the right one, and opened the first door to the right. "Come on in, its not much but you guys can relax a bit if you want."

The skeletons took your suggestion, walking in and looking around your simple home. It had the basics; TV, table, couch, lazy chair, table, kitchen. There was a small hallway to the bathroom and two bedrooms, but they were just as empty looking as the main room. You haven't been here for too long, but long enough to not use it as an excuse for the emptiness. Your last roommate vanished once news of the Monsters came around, not a word said. They left almost everything they had; yet the place still seemed pretty empty.

You watched the brothers look around a moment, before feeling a throbbing at your forehead. "Oh right…" You walked into the bathroom and started digging around under the sink for a Band-Aid large enough. The box was there, but it was empty. You were about to give up when you found one tucked between two other boxes.

"Need a hand?" You jumped and hit your head on the sink lip, hissing and pressing a palm to the second injury your poor head received today. "Oops, sorry." Sans didn't sound too sorry with that smirk on his face. He kneeled down by you, lifting your hand off of the bump slightly. "No open skin, so at least you only need one Band-Aid." He grabbed a small towel from the rack and got it damp, pressing it gently to the other injury. He was surprisingly gentle with you. You had assumed since he was a monster… well, it was pretty obvious the media wasn't helping with monster stereotypes.

After a while of cleaning off your forehead, Sans took the large Band-Aid from your hand, carefully brushed your hair out of the way, and placed it properly. "There. All fixed up." He said with a wink, and you couldn't help but smile a bit.

"Thanks." You were glad you got to meet him, even if a gang may or may not be after you now. Ah well.

"No problem. It's the least I could do for someone that saved a friend from turning into dust."

You paused at that response. "Um…"

"SANS. THERE IS A COOKING SHOW AND THEY ARE DOING IT WRONG." Papyrus's voice cut through the air, startling you for a moment.

Sans smiled. "What are they doing bro?"

"THEY ARE MAKING PIZZA WITH THE SPAGHETTI. I MEAN HONESTLY THESE HUMANS…. It actually looks pretty good…" You laugh when you hear his voice tone down, more into the show.

Sans gives you his hand to help you up, and you both walk into the living room. Papyrus is sitting on the ground a few feet from the large TV, knees to his chest and intently watching the cooking show. You decide to watch along, sitting on the couch. There wasn't a particular rush to get the skeletons out of your home after all, a show or two would be just fine. Sans sat on the other side of the couch, grinning at how his brother seemed confused but interested in the show.

The cooks voice was rather monotone, and you found yourself taking extra long blinks before too long. You adjust your seat so your neck had support, but you tried to keep awake for your guests. Sleep stowed away with you soon enough anyway.