Frisk's Gift

Flowey breathed deeply.

It was an incredibly beautiful spring day. Birds chirped merrily from the green trees. Flowers were in full bloom. The sun shone warmly on Flowey's petals. There wasn't a soul around in the garden where he lived to disturb the peace.

Flowey could barely appreciate any of it.

Even on a normal day it was hard for him to really feel at peace, but today he was completely on edge. In another lifetime, it would have been a special day, but now, it was just another reminder of everything he'd lost.

He lowered his head. Why did he have to be like this? It was just another day. Just another day.

He only had to wait for Frisk to come home. Then everything would be better.

It couldn't be too long now, could it?

It seemed to be taking longer than usual. There weren't any clocks around for him to check, but Flowey could tell by the position of the sun that Frisk should have been there about half an hour ago. What was going on?

Another hour passed, and finally Flowey could hear Frisk coming up the path. Wanting to hide his relief, he put on a disgruntled face. "Where the heck have you been? I've been waiting for forever."

"Sorry, I had to do something at home, and it took a while," Frisk replied, sitting and dropping their bookbag to the ground. "I had to get it perfect before I went anywhere else."

"Well, a little warning would've been nice," Flowey grumped. He knew he was being a little unreasonable; Frisk couldn't know when their parents would have a chore for them to do. But he didn't care. He'd been having an emotionally taxing day and only having Frisk around helped ease the pressure.

Frisk hesitated. Flowey was never really a sunshine and smiles kind of person when he was being visited, but something really seemed to be bothering him today. "You doing okay?"

Flowey sighed. "Does it look like I'm doing okay?"

"No… that's kind of why I asked. But there was an obvious answer, I guess," Frisk admitted. They played with a twig on the ground for a moment. Then they looked up. "Maybe this will help you feel better. I… heard today was kind of a special day for you."

If Flowey had had a heart, it would have skipped a beat. How could Frisk know?

Frisk pulled a small wrapped gift from their bookbag pocket and held it out to him. "Happy birthday, Flowey."

Flowey couldn't move. He could hardly breathe. Revulsion and something resembling gratitude surged through him simultaneously. At the same time that he wanted to accept the gift and thank Frisk for caring enough about him to do this, his entire being revolted at the idea of having birthdays in this life. Birthdays were for Asriel, not some soulless flower.

Frisk pulled back when they saw a tear fall from Flowey's eye. "I'm sorry. I knew I shouldn't have done this, I knew it'd just bring back memories, I just—I just—I just wanted to show you that I'm happy you're here. I care about you."

Flowey scrubbed at his face furiously. "I'm fine! Really I am. But I mean…" Flowey stopped and looked back at Frisk. "You already proved that you cared when you came back for me."

"Well, yeah, but… caring, it's… You can't just do something once and hope the other person gets it, you have to come back every day and say, 'This is how I'm going to love you today.' It's a continuous thing. It never ends."

"You've been doing that too. You didn't just dump me here and call it a day. You've come back every single day since I was planted and talked with me and played with me. That's more than I deserve."

"It isn't even half of what you deserve," Frisk said sincerely and gently, but firmly. Flowey didn't have the heart to argue.

Frisk looked away at the gift they'd brought. "I can put this away if you don't want it. I don't blame you."

"No! No. I—I'd like to see it. Trust me, I'm… I'm as grateful as I can be for it. I'm just… there's a part of me that thinks… I'm not allowed to have birthdays anymore," Flowey confessed. He felt the tears gather again, but he didn't even know why. He couldn't feel anything. "I mean, only humans and monsters get birthdays. Asriel had a birthday. But I'm not a human or a monster anymore. I'm just a thing that happens to be able to think like one."He practically spat the ugly words out.

Frisk set the gift down. "Flowey? Can you look at me?"

Flowey forced himself to look into Frisk's eyes.

"Flowey… this may be hard for you to accept, but… you're still Asriel. You might have a different form, and a different name, but you're still you. I guess just… the things that happened to you have changed how you react to some things. I mean…" Frisk thought for a minute. "When you first realized you were a flower, wasn't your first thought, after asking for help from Toriel and Asgore, wasn't it to help people? If that wasn't Asriel, who was it? And now that we're on the surface, and you can't reset, don't you kind of dislike the idea of hurting people now? Who is that, if it isn't you?"

Flowey didn't answer, only breathed heavily.

"There's a big word Dad uses sometimes, I think it's 'circumstances,' and it's like, where you are and what's happened to you. He's said that 'extreme circumstances' can change us. And I think that's what's happened to you. Absorbing your best friend's soul, dying, being resurrected as a flower without a soul—they changed you, for sure. But you're still you."

Flowey took a long time to answer. "Thanks, Frisk," he finally replied quietly. "I—I don't really know if I can believe you just yet. But… thanks for trying to help."

Frisk smiled a little. "So… you still want the gift?"

Flowey stretched out his vines and took the little wrapped box. He didn't open it right away, just stared. Then he asked suddenly, "How did you know?"

"Oh." Frisk shifted. "Yeah. A while ago, I was at Toriel's house. I told her I'd looked in one of her old photo albums and seen you, and asked who you were. She was a little… quiet at first, but once she got started it was like she couldn't stop talking about you. I asked some questions too, like what foods you liked and clothes you always wore… and when your birthday was." Frisk smiled. "I was glad that I hadn't missed it yet."

"Couldn't stop going on about me, huh," Flowey whispered.

"Nope." Frisk kicked at a clump of dirt, then looked back at Flowey. "She still misses you every day, you know."

"Yeah," was all Flowey could manage.

He hesitated, then, taking a deep breath, he used a thorn to rip away the paper on the box. He was speechless as he removed the lid and stared at what was inside.

Frisk bounced anxiously. "It was the only thing I could think of. Something to—replace what you had, I guess. I can take it back if it's too much…"

Flowey barely heard Frisk as he lifted a brand new shiny locket from the box. It was shaped like a heart—a human soul—with the words BEST FRIENDS FOREVER inscribed on the front.

"There's something inside."

Flowey popped the locket open. Inside on the left was a picture of Flowey's friends and family, some old and some new—Toriel, Asgore, Papyrus, Sans, Undyne, and Alphys. On the other side was himself and Frisk, both making goofy, mischievous faces.

He looked back at Frisk, completely lost for words.

Frisk couldn't read Flowey's expression. "I know it's—maybe it's too similar to what you guys had a long time ago. But this time, Flowey, I want you to know—when I say we're best friends forever, I really, really mean it. And so does everyone else. We're all here for you. Until the end of time."

Flowey wrapped the locket in his vines and held it to his stem, where he believed his soul would've been. Though he couldn't explain it, he knew that Frisk was telling the truth. And he was more grateful than he could ever tell.

"I'll—I'll keep it with me. Forever. Th-thanks, Frisk," he finally choked out. "It's more than I ever hoped for."

Frisk leaned forward and gave Flowey a careful hug and a little peck on the head. "So, it's not upsetting to you? You're okay?"

Flowey breathed. "I'm—I think I'm more than okay, honestly. It's like—there isn't a weight on me anymore. I'm about as good as I can be."

Frisk smiled. "Okay, then."

For a few minutes, both of them sat back and watched clouds float by. Then Frisk asked, "So… how do you feel about going out tonight?"

"Going out? What do you mean?"

"Well… it's Friday, I don't have to go anywhere tomorrow. So, I may have asked Papyrus to drive us out for pizza and video games. I probably should have asked you first, but I got really excited when I found out it was gonna be your birthday soon…"

"Wait, WHAT? Did you tell him—?"

"No! No, I didn't tell him it was a special day or anything, just that it might be cool to go have a fun night out. And you know Papyrus, he always wants to do cool stuff." Frisk paused. "So, what do you think?"

Flowey couldn't stop a grin from spreading on his face. "Honestly? It sounds great."

"Okay, good, because he's probably gonna be here in a minute."

"HELLO? FLOWEY? FRISK? ARE YOU HERE?" A loud, rather commanding voice rang out coincidentally.

Flowey yelled back, "Where else would we be, bonebrain?!"

Papyrus came bounding up the path. "EXCELLENT! I SUPPOSE FRISK TOLD YOU I WOULD BE ARRIVING SOON TO TAKE THE TWO OF YOU OUT FOR FUN? BECAUSE OTHERWISE MY PRESENCE HERE IS PROBABLY A BIT UNEXPECTED."

"Yeah, it's all good, Pap. Guess you guys should go ahead and dig me up," Flowey sighed. Getting dug up wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world, but it was worth it to go have some fun with friends. Frisk pulled a flowerpot and a small spade out of their bag in preparation.

"OH, BY THE WAY," Papyrus said on the way to the car after they'd gotten Flowey out of the dirt, "SANS WANTED ME TO DROP HIM OFF AT GRILLBY'S, SO HE'S WAITING IN THE CAR."

"What? We have to ride with Smiley Trashbag?" Flowey grumbled, but not bad-naturedly.

"heard that," Sans called out in an amused voice from the passenger seat of Papyrus's convertible.

"COME ON, NOW, NO NEED FOR ANY OF THAT," Papyrus scolded them both. "WE'RE HERE TO HAVE A FUN TIME, NOT A BAD TIME!"

"we're just playin' around, bro," Sans chuckled as Frisk and Flowey strapped into the back seat. "i was thinkin', though, pizza and video games sound fun. instead of dropping me off at Grillby's, think i could join you guys?"

"What, no! Why? You're messy and you're not any good at games!" Flowey protested as Papyrus pulled out onto the street.

"i'm good at skee ball."

"Only because you cheat."

"how the hell do you cheat at skee ball, tell me that."

"You use your dumb blue magic to put the ball in the 100-point hole every turn, that's how."

"that's not cheating, it's called correcting my aim."

"That is bull—"

"DO I HAVE TO TURN THIS CAR AROUND?"

"Alright, fine, Smiley Trashbag can come cheat at games with us if he really wants," Flowey relented, though he'd never really objected to Sans being there in the first place. He just liked messing around with the skeleton.

"glad to have your approval."

"Shut up."

Frisk was giggling uncontrollably, and Flowey was pretty close to such a state too. As he watched the slowly setting sun across the countryside, listening to Sans's stupid jokes and Papyrus's angry noises of objection, he was reminded that these people cared about him, wanted to be around him, wanted to have fun with him. Even in the smallest of ways, even though they knew he could not feel the same way about them.

Though they didn't really know it, Frisk had given Flowey much more than a locket that day.

For the first time in a very long time, Flowey felt a tiny glimmer of true happiness.