pluto_has_autism

First Encounter

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This fucking sucked. 

Toriel wasn’t so bad. She did mistake Pluto as a child at first, but then she gave them pie and a comfortable place to sleep for a few nights. They did have to fight her in order to leave, but she didn’t go too hard on them so there were no hard feelings. 

The snowy area after that wasn’t exactly great, but once they managed to make it over the various ravines and cliffs, there was a quaint little town to settle in for a while. They did have to fight several dogs in metal armour, but the Cinnamon Bunnies the shopkeeper sold them did help them feel more awake. They also appreciated that the innkeeper returned their money after they accidentally only took a nap in the room before leaving. It really had felt like they slept an entire night. Grillby’s was awesome, too. Finally a nice warm place with greasy food and good drinks. 

Waterfall was hell in a handbasket, though. It seemed nice at first, but then they had to wade through several lengths of water and got chased by a giant monster in metal armour three times! And then they had to fight said monster head-to-head before fleeing to Hotland, which could easily be described as walking straight into Satan’s asscrack on a 100 degree day. Pluto didn’t understand how temperatures could change so drastically so quickly, but they also didn’t understand most of what was going on around them. 

Then came the massive Lab. 

Monsters had been warning them about the area for their entire trip, telling them not to enter and to stay away. That every monster that went inside didn’t come out. Pluto, however, was one curious cat. Besides, satisfaction brought the cat back, right?

…right?

The Lab didn’t look like much at first, just a mess of moldy instant noodle cups, dust, and dilapidated anime posters lining the walls. It looked less like a Lab and more like an oversized teen's room. 

The True Lab was so much worse. That’s what made Pluto regret ever scaling the mountain, or leaving the Ruins, or living past Undyne, or stepping in that stupid fucking elevator. And of course there was no electricity. They had flipped several switches thinking there was maybe a puzzle to turn the lights on, like what Toriel had shown them, but all they heard was a distant click followed by nothing else. They had nothing but the flashlight of their phone to traverse the long halls and dustbunny-infested rooms. 

One of the most frustrating things was, even though there was no power, the stupid screens on the walls would turn on when they walked past. Neon green letters would suddenly blind them and make them yelp in surprise. Pluto ignored them at first but, out of boredom, began reading them. They quickly found out that the screens were used as a kind of note system. The first few were a bit confusing, but after a while they began to piece the story together. 

The lower level of the Lab was used for something called ‘The Marigold Project". The main test subject for this project was referred to as ‘Dog’. There had been another referred to as ‘Stray’ but they were only mentioned a few times in the earlier entries. Most of the notes consisted of the progress Dog was making with strengthening his magic, but a concerning amount mentioned him being in the infirmary due to self-inflicted injuries. One of which was a caved-in skull. A good majority of the entries were written by a scientist named ‘Dr. Alphys’, but a handful were written by ‘Dr. W.D Gaster’ who seemed a bit less…cruel.

A low, rumbling growl down the hall took Pluto’s attention away from the current screen they were reading, but when they looked down the hall no one was there. They shook their head and pocketed their phone while they continued to read the words on the screen. It was describing another incident with Dog…

Another growl sounded from the other end of the hall. Pluto’s head snapped to look. There shouldn’t be anyone there, the only way anyone could get from one end to the other was by walking past Pluto, and they were sure they would have felt or heard someone walk past them. When they saw no one, they shook it off again. They were just psyching themself out. There was nothing here, and if there was it would have died a long time ago. 

Another growl just over their shoulder. 

They whipped around to face whoever it was, only for the exiting hall to be empty. Alright, that was it, they had to get out of here, now. It was a fun adventure, but it wouldn’t be if they ended up dead from some unseeable force. They didn’t even bother taking out their phone to use as a flashlight to guide their way out of here. 

It had only been about 6 months since Pluto joined the…odd group of skeletons led by Nightmare. When they first arrived, the deity had warned them about the other’s feelings toward humans. They didn’t think it would be much to worry about at first, but only a few days later they were attacked by Dust during breakfast while he mumbled something about the stripes on their sweater. Luckily, they only got away with a few scrapes and a bruise or two. As a result of the attack, Pluto began avoiding Dust, and pretty much everyone else, as much as possible. However, Nightmare called them to his office just a few days ago to talk to them about at least trying to get along with the others, stating it would be easier for everyone when it came to missions. 

So here Pluto was, sitting on the couch in the den, trying to act relaxed while Dust sat just a few feet away from them. They tried to focus on the stupid adult cartoon on the TV, but the potential of being attacked again was enough to distract them from the crude humor that they would normally laugh at. It took a good three episodes for them to finally start to relax and actually pay attention to the show rather than Dust. 

Then they felt the couch shift and looked over to see Dust about five inches from their face. 

Pluto jolted and pressed themself back against the arm of the couch, “What the fuck, dude! Give me a warning before yo-”

“Shut up.” Dust demanded plainly.

Pluto obeyed, much to their own dismay. Dust wasn’t looking directly at them, more like in their general direction, but it was still enough to be unsettling. Then a moment later, he began looking around before pausing for a second, then looking around again. 

It was when he started to feel around the couch cushions that Pluto finally decided to break their obedience and ask, “What the hell are you doing?”

He didn’t bother looking back at them when answering, “You don’t fuckin’ hear that?”

Pluto, despite being pressed about as close to the arm of the couch as they could get, pressed themself further into the couch, worried this was another one of Dust’s mental breaks, “Uh, hear what?”

“The fuckin’ thumping,” Dust grumbled as he continued to shove his hand between the couch cushions in search of what was making the supposed noise. 

Pluto glanced at the TV before looking back at Dust, “Do you think it could be coming from the TV?”

Dust finally looked up at Pluto, making a shiver run down their spine, “I know what the fuckin’ TV sounds like. It’s not that.”

Hearing the growing annoyance in Dust’s voice, Pluto opted to stay quiet and turn their attention back to the TV, hoping one of the others would come into the room soon to deal with Dust. Unfortunately, that is not at all what happened. Instead of a saving grace, Pluto was suddenly grabbed by the shoulders and pinned to the arm of the couch by Dust. Immediately going into a panic, they tried shoving him away, “What the fuck! Get off me!”

Dust ignored them, shoving their arms out of the way and, of all things he could’ve done, pressed the side of his skull to their chest. Pluto’s panic was still present, but now they were more confused than scared. Then, after a few seconds of them trying to shove Dust away, he mumbled, “It’s comin’ from you.”

Pluto froze, slowly processing Dust’s words and trying to figure out what the hell he was talking about. They assessed the situation fully for a moment before it finally clicked, “Are you talking about my fucking heart?”

Dust leaned up to look them in the eye, “It makes noise?”

“Uh, yeah. I thought you’d know that.”

Dust deadpanned and they narrowed their eyes, “Look, I get that you guys are skeletons n’ shit but Nightmare said you had experience with humans so I figured you’d know our hearts make noise.”

“I’ve never heard that sound from a human before, though.”

Pluto’s eyebrows knit together in confusion, “If you’ve ever been close enough to a living human, then you’ve heard it.”

“...Do they have to be living?”

“Wh-uh, yes. Yes, they do. Our hearts only beat if we’re alive. If they stop beating then we die,” Pluto explained.

Dust didn’t respond, his eyelights turning to Pluto’s chest, in the general area of their heart. After a moment, Dust planted his head right on their chest, facing the TV to continue watching the cartoon.

“Uhhh, Dust? Do ya mi-”

“Shut up.”

Pluto’s jaw clacked shut instantly. No way in hell were they gonna risk pissing off the skeleton that has routine mental breakdowns. When it became clear Dust wasn’t moving any time soon, Pluto gradually relaxed. Slowly, they rested their arm over Dust’s back. 

The Sans featured in this drawing is Green's version of UnderLust Sans. Green is creating his own version of the AU as a way to teach others and spread awareness about the struggles queer and poor people face as well as SA (Sexual Assault).

I cannot describe with words just how much it means to me that he is doing this. When I was 10/11 I heard the term 'gay' for the first time. I was with brand new friends in the first few months of middle school and I had to ask them what gay meant. That delved into an entire conversation about different identities I had never heard before. In the span of 10-15 minutes I found out I was genderfluid & bisexual. That has since changed to non-binary and pansexual, and is still subject to change. (I had a dream recently where I got bottom surgery and was so sad when I woke that I cried)

My mother is Christian and never even spoke about homosexuality when I was growing up. I remember that a year or so before I heard the word gay, I was in the car with my mom on the way to an Easter party at a relatives house. I saw a rainbow in the sky and said 'It's a rainbow! Like Noah's ark!' She scoffed and said 'Rainbows don't mean what they used to'. It wasn't until my friends in middle school taught me about the LGBTQ+ community that I understood what my mom meant.

The craziest part of me finding that out about myself was that the first thing I thought was 'Mom isn't gonna like this.'

I never once thought that what I felt was wrong or bad, but I had no one to tell but my friends, and they only knew so much. I was fine with genderfluid and bisexual, but something always felt kind of off about it. It wasn't until high school when my mom wasn't checking my phone all the time that I actually got to explore further and found out I was non-binary and pansexual PLUS polyamorus.

I wished I had easily reachable resources at that age, things that could teach me about being queer and all the different identities there are, but I didn't. Green is bridging that gap for people and I think that is absolutely amazing. I've dealt with a myriad of homophobia, SA attempts against me, harassment, and so much more. Through all of it I didn't have many people to talk to and I felt incredibly alone for a VERY long time. Green is making sure he can both teach people, and make them feel less alone.