Champagne bubbles and glitters from the fountain of shimmering flute glasses before you as you stare up with wide eyes and wonder... how are people supposed to have a drink without toppling the whole bloody thing down?

This is the first time you've ever seen one of these things in real life so it's understandable that you have no idea how to navigate it. It's not often that you celebrate new year's eve at all, let alone in a party extravagant enough to have one of these.

All around you gold and silver balloons wave and bob in the cool, breathy night breeze, lit up by strings of golden fairy lights and blazing yellow candles. Warmth somehow permeates the air and the soft grass you stand on (despite the lateness of this winter night), curling up your body as you gaze up at the tower of bright, sparkling glasses.

You eventually move away from the mountain of alcohol, sighing at the missed opportunity of free drinks. Instead you walk around the edge of the garden, running your hands over the flamboyant peacock topiary (a reflection of the guy who's hosting, or so Sans told you) and smiling as you pass by familiar faces.

Music strums softly, it's warm hum intermingling with the gentle chatter of the many guests dotted across the candle lit garden.

You smile fondly as you see Fran animatedly talking to that shy ghost you briefly encountered earlier (Blooky or Napsta-? yeah you think it's Napstablook) and an odd robot-like guy with florescent-purple shoulder pads.

She gives you an excited thumbs up and a wink before turning back to the ghost with a toothy grin.

She's had that same exact reaction all night to pretty much everyone here (excluding Asgore who she had been too busy gawking at to give any other reaction than "oh my god".) Looking at that goofy grin and hearing her barking laughter, you're really glad you and Patter were given a plus one invite.

Speaking of Patter, you now spot him sat on a bench with Frisk, avidly watching their hands as they sign something to him.

You catch a glimpse and start to laugh to yourself as you realise who they're talking about.

'- and once I asked him to help me put my hair in a bun so he put a hot-dog bun on my head.'

"i miss a joke teach?"

Speak of the devil.

You turn around and grin anew as a skeleton approaches you with two flutes of champ- wait-

"Have you put ketchup in your drink?" You ask as he hands you a glass.

"may-be,"

You snort out a laugh as you clink your drink with his and take a sip.

You can't stop the moan bubbling from your lips. It's good, really good. this Mettaton guy really knows how to throw a party.

You close your eyes with a wide smile, sighing softly with the cool breeze as it sweeps through your hair. Your smile only grows wider as you open your eyes and see a familiar skeletal figure happily marching through the crowds.

"Hey Papyrus!" you call, waving your arm enthusiastically, beaming as he excitedly spins around and bounces over to you, almost tripping over several monsters in his rush.

"HELLO STAR TEACHER! HAVE YOU MET METTATON YET?! HE IS HERE AND SUCH A GOOD HOST AND HE IS SO COOL AND HE IS HERE! I SAW HIM TALKING TO YOUR HUMAN FRIEND... THE ONE WHO HAS SOMETHING IN THEIR EYE AND KEEPS TRYING TO SHOOT AT ME WITH THEIR FINGERS!"

Ohh, so shoulder-pads is Mettaton!

"I haven't talked to him yet, sorry. I'm sure I'll get a chance to meet him later though,"

"don' rush on that one," murmurs Sans, taking another swig of his ketchupane.

Papyrus hums loudly, turning to his brother, obviously not hearing exactly what he said but somehow aware that he's not as excited as he should be.

"Have you had any champagne yet?" You ask in an attempt to divert his attention.

"YOU MEAN THAT FIZZY GRAPE JUICE. SANS MADE ME DRINK IT LAST YEAR WHEN WE WATCHED THE NEW YEAR TELEVISION SHOW AND I MUCH PREFER A GLASS OF FRESH MILK!... DO YOU THINK THEY HAVE ANY?"

"Hi Papyrus!"

You watched as Papyrus's smile redoubled when Patter and Frisk bounded up to him, giggles bursting from their lips.

"I don't think they've got fresh milk but they do have:" Patter stops here and makes starts to sign. Both hands closed, with thumbs and little fingers extended, he makes small, alternating, up and down movements at first in front of his body then up, past his eyes.

It takes a moment for all of you to get it.

Papyrus looks like he's eaten a lemon, Frisk starts cracking a rib and Sans's face is utterly indescribable.

"past your eyes milk…you just made a pun with sign language. oh i'm dead kid. you killed me with your udder awesomeness."

Papyrus's reaction to that was loud to say the least, and attracted a lot of attention.

Luckily, said attention came in the form of two good friends: one red haired badass and one yellow-scaled genius.

"DON'T NOOGIE THE SKELETON!"

You laugh as Undyne bounds in and gets set to noogying Papyrus like a penny on a scratch card.

You catch Alphys smiling nervously at Sans before turning to give you a tight hug.

"Happy New Years," she murmurs in your ear.

You return her greeting with a grin like sunshine.

"Oh hello there," comes the sweet mellow tone of your boss from behind you.

You look around to see Patero bowing to Toriel much to her blushing embarrassment.

Not as half as embarrassed as me when I finally figured it out, you muse to yourself as you watch the woman gently tell Patter that no, there's no need to bow to her.

Sans steps in at that point though, either to save Toriel or to make things ten times as awkward. You find you can never predict which with that guy.

"man, torri. you missed the best joke from pats. he's a proper comedian in the making,"

Ah, saving it is.

"Well Patero, if you would ever like to hear the 'tricks of the trade', Sans is going to be starting a comedian club in our school," Toriel smiles down at him.

"Really?" Patter asks looking at Sans as he gives a sluggish shrug.

"Indeed, I had wanted him to teach computers but he sadly does not have the drive,"

Patter looks up at Toriel like she's the second coming and you start chuckling.

"good one tori," Sans laughs loudly, smiling at the unladylike snorts emitting from Toriel.

"I am serious though child. If you would like to come to my school you are more than welcome. That is, if both you and your guardian would be interested in that,"

Patero looks at you, with wide, surprised eyes.

"It's your call Patter," is all you tell him.

Patero hums faintly, looking down at the ground then back up at Toriel, steadily meeting her gaze.

"Maybe if you ask'd half a year ago I migh've said yes. But I've got alotta friends now, the new head's real nice and- and I've got some stuff I don' wanna run away from. We can do it all now, so I wanna try..." He turns to you with a slow toothy grin which you find yourself mirroring without a thought. "May-be you should ask my guard instead, but like for a proper job this time,"

It takes about three seconds for you to register what he just said and one second for the smile to snap off your face and for you to turn into a tomato.

"Patero!"

You catch Sans shooting a winking finger gun at Patero but are in no state of mind to process this as your skin burns with embarrassment.

"TEN!...NINE!...EIGHT!..."

You give your thanks to whatever gods are watching over you tonight as the count down to midnight cuts this embarrassing topic short.

"SEVEN!..SIX!..FIVE!..."

There's a faint tug on your sleeve as Undyne and Papyrus start screaming out the count down, and you look around to see Frisk motioning you to lower yourself to their level.

"FOUR!.. THREE!.. TWO!.."

"What is it Fri-?"

"ONE! ! !"

Frisk plants a huge kiss on your cheek as the people around you scream out their 'Happy New Years!'

A shocked yelp of laughter bursts from your lips and you find yourself noogying the silly thing, much to their delight.

Fireworks explode and you're quickly distracted from the flirty ten year old by a whining yelp to your left.

Papyrus is covering the sides of his skull with an alarmed eye-popping expression.

"WHY IS IT SO LOUD?! I DON'T LIKE THIS SANS! FIREWORKS ARE NOT LIKE ON THE TV!"

You're reminded somewhat fondly of your childhood dog's yearly reaction to the 5th of November as you and Frisk make calming motions and try to get him to relax. Luckily this appears to work, that is until Sans and Patter decide to wind him up again with a flurry of firework related puns.

("i didn' know fireworks would send ya off your rocket paps," "This show really start'd with a bang huh?" "that joke was sparklin kid")

Soon enough though the puns fall onto deaf ears as Papyrus discovers that those loud explosions, while unnecessarily loud to his mind, are in fact actually very pretty.

Whizzing pops and crisp crackles of explosions echo through the garden as everyone 'ooo's' at the flaming pinwheels and sparking fountains, and 'ahhh's' at the many spiralling rockets of gold, silver and bright purple.

The fireworks don't seem to be doing their job of distracting one particular monster though, as Sans (the prat) just has to go back to what you were all talking about earlier.

"the kid's got a point about the school thing," Sans hums from your right, looking behind you to where Toriel is stood.

The monster softly nods, continuing to watch the display as she speaks:

"The job offer was going to be a surprise Sans, but I suppose I can not keep it a secret any longer... We are splitting up the key stage two classes and so we do need a few new teachers..." She looks down at you, eyes lit up by fireworks and fondness.

Your mouth drops open in shock as you look from her to Sans then all of those who surround you, who have turned to you with delighted expressions on their faces.

"congrats on the new job teach,"

The warm fizzing feeling in your stomach builds up into your throat and you suddenly find yourself laughing.

It's not a humorous laugh though, nor is it humorless. It is but a soft bubble of happiness bursting from your lips, quiet and warm, barely audible above the fireworks. Your friends still hear you though, smiles deepening and crinkling at their eyes.

The laughter fades and you're left with a smile that you think will never fade away.

With Patero's hand weaved into yours and friends by your side, you turn up to the sky once more and watch the new year in.

You've still got a way to go. You and Patter have a lot left to learn about each other, there are many hurdles to overcome both for you and all of your friends, and there are so many problems between Monsters and humans left to face...

But, as you hear far off barking laughter, as you see the many faces turned up to the sky as one and as you feel soft fur warm in your hand, you realise you know.

You know it's going to be a good year.

Wah! I can't believe this is finished. I really REALLY enjoyed writing this and I have to say a BIG THANK YOU to all those who enjoyed this too and supported me with their kudos and lovely comments.

I kinda wanted to keep on going forever on this one. I really wanted to write about their reactions to all the different holiday's and celebrations (Easter egg hunts and pancake day, or making toffee apples and watching scary movies for Halloween), going on trips to places or even just domestic things (like what would a summer barbecue even be like with these guys?) but I think this is a nice place to leave it, when all these things are left to come and you know they're going to have a great time. There are still things that they will have to do and problems that will come their way but I want to also show a sense of hopefulness and excitement for their future.

One last thank you to my beta Alkirian and to every one of you who has read up to this point. It means the world to me, it really does.