Why even try?

      ｢💗」”Yeah, and who said you were a bad person? Your ex?” 

      “Since you already told me to ignore him, then you should ignore him, too.” So has spoken the salt child – their logic was bulletproof.

      ＊ The rubs were nice, and they were doing a good job at calming the poor child down. Who knew Glitchy had a fatherly side to him? 

      “Thank you for being here…”

“Nah, just a general observation I made about myself... But hey, at least I can admit that I’m kind of an awful person, unlike some people we both know.”

Since he couldn’t rest his head on top of theirs (damn his short height), he gave them a little headbump instead, like an affectionate cat.

      ｢💗」”I’m not trying to.” 

      ＊ The slight whine in their tone made it clear that they were clearly failing at that, and they didn’t resist at all when they were pulled into a hug. Blue and gold… that was such pretty magic, like fireflies over the water. They had no doubt that Glitchy would use it to keep them safe, if things got to that point…

      “He got mad at me because I don’t care about a complete stranger dying. Is it wrong to think about myself for once in my life…?”

His sockets reopened, pupils now back to the usual white when his magic wasn’t in use. One arm continued holding them tight in a hug while the other moved to rub their back, soothing motions so gentle that they were practically uncharacteristic.

“Of course not. I can’t care about random strangers dying either, does that make me a bad person?”

A short, awkward pause as Glitchy realized just what he had said.

       ｢💗」”Well, he just called me a bully, and then he said that I’m the type that makes kids run to the mountain. So.”

      ＊ That hurt more than they expected. Oof.

He raised his left eyelid ever-so slightly, revealing that electric blue of his magic... along with those odd flecks of gold that had appeared in that sea of blue before.

“Did he now?”

Cold and quiet, far too quiet for Glitchy. A deep, steadying breath in as he closed his socket again, reaching out to try and pull them into a hug.

     ｢💗」”It’s okay, go back to bed. I can handle this.”

       ＊ Okay, well, at least Glitchy knew what a Player was… whether they existed or not in his timeline was another thing entirely. He was grateful, though, that he wouldn’t have to explain what the heck that person was… you know, not like what happened when he found out.

      ｢💔」”Yeah, no, I know, it’s just…” A pause as Mocha tried to figure out how to phrase things. “It’s just, what I’m saying is that your Frisk and Chara are gone, an’ you can’t ＲＥＳＥＴ… so who’s that leave?” Mocha shrugged. “Not saying that that’s what happened, but it’s a thought…”

      Mocha sat down on his bed, relatively sure that Glitchy wouldn’t attack him. He looked uncomfortable, but not because the skeleton was there…

      “… I don’t like mystery ＲＥＳＥＴs.” 

“You and me both. Well, it’s more resets in general in my case, but mystery resets are especially bad.”

Well, at the very least, he was following Mocha’s prediction that he wouldn’t be attacking the child for the moment. Instead, he began to pace back and forth, a hand moving to nervously pluck at the sleeve of his jacket.

“...But if it is them, then why choose now to come back? Hell, why even come back at all? There’s nothing for them in my timeline... and if they do still think there’s something for ‘em, I’ll show them otherwise.”

     ｢💗」”Oh, um… yeah… I can see how that’d be painful…”

    ＊ Latte shifted uncomfortably, the child’s mood becoming as sombre as their Dragon Dad’s. Their expression became distraught at the mention of Mocha, and they shook their head, their eyes squeezing shut as memories came flooding back.

    “Mocha seems sincere on the outside, but he was hiding the fact that he was leeching off my ＤＥＴＥＲＭＩＮＡＴＩＯＮ the whole time. It’s hard to believe someone when they say they’re trying to change when they do something like that without a single thought… and then when he feels the least bit threatened, he goes on a rampage to show that he’s not a pushover, even though it proves otherwise.”

    “… I’m sorry that you had to deal with that,” Latte continued as they moved towards Glitchy, gathering up the skeleton in a fierce and a sincere hug. ”I’m not perfect, but I have absolutely no intention to ruin things for everyone else.”

The skeleton froze up as arms wrapped around him, not expecting the physical contact, not after he had gone so long without it. But, upon realizing that this was genuine affection and not something meant to aggravate him, he relaxed into it. Glitchy’s own arms curled around his kid and he leaned his skull against their shoulder before letting out a gentle, humorless laugh.

“Thank you.”

His hands clenched up into fists against their back, shivering beginning to wrack its way through his body. His voice was uncharacteristically small, slightly hoarse, but full of relief all the same.

“You’re assuming I only want the happy ending for myself and not, y’know, all the other monsters around here.”