#rainwrites

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It was a slow day when the walking cancer stick came in, and if you had to choose, you'd really rather stick two needles to your eyeballs than welcome him to his shop.

Unfortunately, you needed those eyeballs, and you needed it bad. How else would you live anyway? If the only thing keeping you alive is your business, which heavily required vision, and you happened to have damaged said balls able to provide said vision, you may as well take the leap and wave the world goodbye.

So, yes, you had no choice but to let him in, to tell him, “Good day, sir, how can I serve you today?” and to watch as that knowing smirk graced his teeth once again. It never grew old, that smirk.

And nor did he.

Anyway, he just gazed down at you, sockets unblinking, and you knew, you knew he was eyeing you up and down. Of course he was.

“any chance you're on the menu?” he asked, pulling out a cigarette. All these years and he still couldn't quit them, huh?

“Sir, this is a tailoring shop. If you want food, feel free to leave this store and walk across the street. I'm sure Miss Muffet would be glad to serve you again,” you droned out, trying and failing to keep your face neutral, but when he pulled out a lighter, your eye twitched.

“You can't smoke here either, sir. If you wish to relieve yourself, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave.”

He chuckled, putting both the cigarette and lighter away. “as icy as always. I missed you, y'know?”

“Hm, right, and I missed three minutes ago when I didn't know you were still alive.”

“ouch. anything i can do to make up for it?”

“Either you buy something, put an order in, or leave.”

He hummed. “that's three options, darlin’. shouldn't have used either there.”

Your eye twitched again. “And I don't care. My name is yn, use it.”

“i need a new jacket,” he said. He lifted his right arm and pinched the sleeves of his jacket. There was a tiny tear. “see this? your hardwork's got a little damage already. i'd like a new one. same color and design, just sturdier, maybe.”

You scoffed, bending down to fetch your notepad and pen; you scribbled down his measurements. “only you would insult my creations then ask for more. talk about being ungrateful.”

There was a pause, a large one. You looked up from your notepad to see him staring at you, sockets wide.

“i… you know i didn't mean it like that, yn. i was just—”

You scoffed again. “Whatever. Come back next week. Your hoodie will be ready by then.”

His sockets widened further. “but–but you haven't even taken my measurements yet. you—”

“It's all taken care of,” you interrupted as you put the notepad away and turned to the computer and added his order to your log. “Thank you for choosing (shop name), have a good day. Please leave this establishment before I call in security.”

From the corner of your eye, Papyrus stood there, unmoving for a full minute, waiting, but you stood your ground. Eyes on the screen and hands on the keyboard, you pretended he wasn't there.

Eventually, he spoke again.

“right. thanks, yn.”

And then he was gone.

In a flash, you ran to the back and into the closet, where you slid down to the floor with your hands on your face.

Hopefully your sobs were quiet enough that no one would hear.

---

--

He was a weird fellow, as far as weird fellows go, and a skeleton one at that. A first impression overwritten in seconds the moment you noticed the group of snickering monsters (a tall fish lady, a small lizard lady, and another skeleton) that stood on the other side of the street.

Alleged weirdness aside, it must've been a dare of some sorts. His friends dared him to approach you. Yeah. That was it. Maybe. Could be. Possibly. Because why else would a tall skeleton dressed in business casual cross the street and approach you? It definitely wasn't one of those cute-little-girl-scouts-selling-some-yummy-cookies moments, or those random people outside of stores handing you brochures and pamphlets. No. This was definitely different. Unfortunately, that conclusion did not help you at all. So when he finally stood before you, eye sockets meeting yours, you could only stand and stare. Had you not known any better, you would’ve thought time stopped right there and then, but the illusion was broken by his sockets darting left and right from one of your eyes to the other.

How it did that? You might never know.

And, before you knew it, he broke the silence with a question you never thought you’d ever get.

“so, how’s it feel like? seeing the milky way every day?” he breathed out, if that was even possible for a skeleton with no lungs.

And like the graceful, quick-witted lady that you were, you replied with another question.

“Sorry?”

The moment the apology left your lips, you wished for the ground beneath you to open up and swallow you whole, never to be seen again. 

Fortunately, the man did not seem to share your sentiments, nor did he sense the embarrassment oozing out of you. Or maybe he did and simply said nothing about it. Either way, you knew life had to go on. You blinked the embarrassment away and redirected your attention back to the man; you waited for him to elaborate.

“yeah, that,” he said, then gestured vaguely to your face with his bony hand. Heat crept from your neck and you tried to fight off the warmth before it could reach your cheeks.

“Oh,” was all that you could muster to say, half flattered and half still confused at what he’s attempting to imply. You looked down and played with the strap of your satchel.

He laughed, and you couldn’t be more redder then. “you’re really cute too. can i have your name?”

At the question, your head returned to earth. “May,” you said to him with a frown.

“may, huh?” he said, and a soft chuckle left his teeth. “nice to meet you, may, the name's—”

Your giggle interrupted him. His sockets widened when you shook your head up at him with a small smile.

“That’s not what I meant, I was trying to say that—”

“IF YOU TWO KISSED, REST ASSURED, DINNER WILL BE ON ME,” another skeleton hollered behind him. You remembered then the assumption you had on why this man approached you, and you were right; he really was dared!

This time, it was the man’s turn to be embarrassed, evident from the tinge of orange that painted his cheekbones. He turned back towards the group before he faced you again with his arm raised and his fingers scratching the back of his skull.

“ah… just–just ignore them. they’re… uh.”

You couldn’t help but grin at the situation. The man from earlier that had approached you with pure confidence had then crumbled into an embarrassed mess.

“Come on now, you silly punks!” another one from the group urged, relentless, and it was the yellow lizard lady that time. The skeleton man looked away when the rest of the group began to chant, and his bony fists clenched the hem of his dress shirt like it was the only thing keeping him grounded.

To save him from further embarrassment, you steeled yourself before you stood on the tips of your toes and leaned in, pressing your lips to his still orange cheeks. The man stiffened, while a resounding cheer erupted from the group.

You did not linger long. With a tight grip on the strap of your satchel, you leaned back and trained your eyes down on the pavement.

“Wouldn’t wanna pass up free dinner, y’know?” you murmured, but you did not dare look up at the man you had just kissed on the cheek, nor did you dare think. You knew the moment you let a single thought run in your mind, the train of panic would come rolling in, and it was never fun when the train of panic would come, especially with what you had just done. You've never done what you just did before, and quite frankly, this was the first time you ever did something remotely romantic.

To distract your mind from it, you willed your eyes to go back up, back to the face of the man in front of you, only to see he himself was looking away.

“right… uh… yeah.”

You bit your lip, unsure what to do next. To your delight, someone else had decided it for you, in the form of a… a goat shaped gentleman, and a child, presumably the man’s friends, who pulled you two from the pool of awkwardness you both swam and drowned in.

“Well, come on, then. We heard what happened. It's time for dinner,” the man said as he turned to you. “Unless you two prefer to have each other for dinner?”

The frown returned to your lips. “That’s…. Wouldn't that be illegal?”

From beside you, the skeleton man let out a series of soft nyeh heh heh's. It's a sound that echoed in your head over and over, even when you were finally sat at a table in a restaurant surrounded by six people (two skeletons, a lizard and a fish lady, and a goat man and a child) you don't know, and they were at total ease scooping and shoving food in their mouths while you were still trying to fight off your anxieties of not looking like a fool while sipping the soup.

It was just soup, what was so hard about it?

Well, okay, maybe sitting right across the skeleton whose cheek you just kissed earlier would make eating soup a little difficult, and glancing at him, he wasn't faring well either, just twisting his spoon around this way and that.

“So, dear, what was your name again?” the goat man from earlier asked, who you just realized was the king of the monsters himself, Asgore, and he was feeding a child, the very child who happened to have freed the monsters underground.

“oh, her name’s may—”

“It’s YN,” you corrected, smiling at King Asgore, before turning to the tall skeleton man. “I’m YN.”

“Papyrus,” he replied as you faced each other. “Nice to meet you, YN.”

“You too, Papyrus.”

Your eye (or socket?) contact was broken by someone clearing their throat. It was the other skeleton man sitting right next to Papyrus, who wore a blue bandana. “SO, HOW DID YOU TWO MEET?” he said with a grin as he perched his elbow on the table with his mandible on his palm.

“bro, stop,” Papyrus said, and the other skeleton, who was his brother apparently, laughed in response. His laugh was funny, a series of HEH HEH HEH's so similar yet so different from Papyrus.

You could only stare at the exchange, until the fish lady to your left called for your attention. Her voice was soft and meek.

“It–It was Sans w–who… who told Papyrus to… to c–come up to you earlier. I'm… I'm Undyne, b–by the way… And, uhm, this is Alphys.”

You nodded. “Nice to meet you, Undyne, Alphys.”

Alphys grinned. “Nice to meet you too!”

“I DO RECALL SAYING DINNER IS ON ME IF YOU TWO KISSED,” Sans started, gaining everyone’s attention. “BUT YOU GUYS DIDN'T EVEN KISS!”

“yeah, we did,” Papyrus argued.

“THAT WAS ON THE CHEEK! I NEED AN ACTUAL KISS! YOU KNOW, NOSE BONE TO NOSE BONE, TEETH TO TEETH, AND MAYBE EVEN A—”

Papyrus clapped a bony hand on Sans mouth (?). “yeah, no, that’s enough.”

The whole table laughed at that, even you couldn’t help the giggle that escaped your lips, the sound catching Papyrus’ attention, and your gazes met once more.

“We can save the actual kissing some other time,” you said, trying and failing to stifle your smiles. Papyrus' jaw dropped, while Sans and Alphys hollered and laughed. Blue even repeatedly smacked him in the back.

“Man, good catch, Rus!” said Alphys.

“YOU HAVE A KEEN EYE, BROTHER!” Sans added.

“shut up,” Papyrus spat and smacked Sans' hand away, and the whole table erupted in laughter.

Just then, the King stood up. All eyes were on him now, and you had to crane your neck so you could look at him.

“This has been wonderful,” he began with a smile, “I enjoyed meeting you, Yn, and so did dear Chara over here, but unfortunately, I have to get them home before sundown. You know how it is. I do would love to see you again, dear.”

“Me too! Please take care!” You smiled at him, then waved back at Chara who was waving at you.

“OH, OF COURSE!” Sans added. “GOODBYE, KING FLUFFYBUNS!”

The rest also bid their farewells as the two left, and just as they exited the establishment, Alphys stood up as well.

“So that was fun! I'm gonna have to go now, though. I've got some errands to run. Yeah! Errands.”

“errands,” Papyrus repeated blandly.

“Yep. Very important. Bye, nerds!”

“YOU KNOW WHAT,” Sans started, and he directed his grin specifically at his brother. “A LIEUTENANT GOES WHEREVER HIS CAPTAIN GOES, SO UNFORTUNATELY, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I HAVE TO BID FAREWELL AS WELL! I DO HOPE TO SEE YOU AGAIN SOON, YN!”

Although puzzled, you nodded back. “You too, Sans! Take care.”

You really couldn’t do anything but blink as the number of people at the table dwindled, leaving only you, Papyrus, and Undyne left.

“I–I think,” Undyne spoke, her eyes darting back and forth from you and Papyrus, “that… that this is m–my cue to leave, uhm, have–have fun. I hope?”

As the last of Papyrus’ friends left the establishment, leaving just the two of them at the table, Papyrus took this opportunity to turn to Rune and apologize.

“i, uh, listen, i’m really sorry about… all this, it’s just that–”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind,” you assured him.

Papyrus heaved a sigh of relief. “good, i just… wait.”

At his sudden silence, Your eyebrows furrowed. You almost lifted your hand to reach out for his. Almost. That's weird. Then, Papyrus’ sockets widened like dinner plates.

“shoot, you weren’t about to go somewhere earlier, were you? did i just pull you from something important?”

“Huh,” you breathed, looking down. You wouldn’t exactly say it was important, nor was it something you could just ignore. It was a minor inconvenience at most.

“yn?” Papyrus called. You blinked, before you shook your head, along with the thoughts clouding it.

“I’m glad I got to join you guys for dinner, even though I didn't know any of you at all,” you answered, finally.

It was silent for a moment, then it was broken by Papyrus' soft laughter.

“i’m, uh… i’m glad you had dinner with us. a bunch of randos that you just saw on the street. not every day would you see someone accept a stranger’s request to have dinner with them,” he said, before his sockets widened and he shook his head at the implication of his words.

“i don’t actually… i, uh… i hope this isn’t a habit of yours?”

You giggled as he sputtered and winced. And when you kept giggling, he began to laugh along with you. It took a while before your laughter came to a halt and you had to catch your breath. Did he even have to do the same? Was there a breath he needed to catch?

“It’s not,” you said when your breathing finally evened out. “I still don’t know what you meant by what you said earlier though. Or, I think I do? But I kinda don’t either. I’m not really sure.”

“oh, that? i was just, uh, surprised… is all,” he said, looking away. He was scratching the back of his neck again.

“What do you mean by that?” you asked. Papyrus turned his head back and your gazes met once more. But instead of answering, he looked away and cleared his throat.

“oh, whoops. looks like it's, uh, getting late,” he said as he stood up, and he checked his wrist watch. You frowned at the change of subject, but said nothing. Instead, you craned your neck upwards once more.

“you, uh, okay going home? do you need me to come with? would that be okay? or would that be too weird?” he rambled on as he played with the hem of his shirt. You stood up as well, watching as he pulled and pinched the cloth. Could you stop his fidgeting by holding his hand in yours? Would they still once your skin met his bones? Would it—okay, no, stop. You distracted yourself by focusing all your energy on gripping the strap of your satchel as hard as you could.

“It’s fine, I can get a taxi from here,” you said as you looked down at your feet.

“good. that’s good.”

After that, it was pure silence. Aside from the sounds of utensils scraping on plates and the constant incoherent chatter from the people inside this tiny diner they were in. You wanted to slap yourself at your inability to continue conversations. Not wanting to look crazy by physically slapping yourself, you mentally did it instead.

Much to your delight, you were saved from having to physically slap yourself later when you got home by Papyrus who cleared his throat once more.

“so, uh, i’ll be going now, i guess,” Papyrus said, but made no move to “be going now.”

You nodded. “Right.”

“and you’ll be going too.”

You nodded again. “Yeah.”

“and I hope i’ll, uh… see you around? i guess?”

You were smiling now. “Me too.”

Papyrus played with the hem of his shirt again, before turning around and making a start for the door, but not before you called back for him. He turned back around, your gazes met again.

“You’re not gonna ask for my…” you trailed off as you lifted your phone, giving it a little shake.

His sockets widened. “is… you don’t mind?”

Your grin widened in return. “I mean, I am asking for it, aren’t I?”

After an exchange of numbers, Papyrus insisted to see you off as you called for a taxi. You exchanged tiny waves before you entered and then you were off.

It was only when you made it back to your home with your shoes and socks finally off and now discarded and forgotten on the ground did you notice the new text Papyrus sent you.

“It was your eyes,” you read out loud. You repeated it once, twice, then thrice. Until you couldn’t as you planted yourself face first into the sofa, your squeals were muffled by the pillow.

---

Sooo like the other papyrus fic i posted, this is also just a draft for now, and I'm basically posting this to incentivise myself to continue and finish this in the future :D

The only difference here is that this fic was originally a short story I wrote last year that I never finished because I got stuck lol, so I figured, maybe if I reworked it into a fanfic instead I might actually finish it?

Since this is a work from a year ago, the writing is kinda different, and I'm gonna have to revise this a bunch I think :D

I also wrote a poem for this last year! I just, uh, dunno where it is now but I'll try and find it! It's called milky way like the title of this fic is gonna be

Rambled a bit there oops

“Error!” Athena called out over the whiteness with her hands cupped over her mouth. “Are you there?”

At her call, several blue strings appeared from above, followed by the skeleton himself. He stood several feet away from her, his body surrounded in glitches and errors, hence his moniker, and so was his voice, but when he spoke, she could hear him loud and clear.

“You again? What do you want?” he huffed out.

“I came back as promised! For the tea party!” she replied. She put the basket down on what should be the floor, then she materialized a teapot and two tea cups in her hands. “Well, Minus the tea, I suppose, since we both happen to like chocolate more.”

“What?!” he exclaimed, hands flailing in the air. “I don't remember agreeing to this? I never agreed to this!”

“Oh.” Athena's face fell. “You… you don't want the chocolate?”

Error stopped flailing his hands. He gave another huff, then stomped his foot on the floor. “I–I never said that either! Give it here!”

One of his blue strings sprouted out of his hands and slithered towards Athena, aiming for the teapot itself. He must've known it had the chocolatey goodness inside, but this wasn't how it should go! They didn't even have a table yet!

“Now, wait a second!” she said as she bloomed her own string from her hands and stopped Error's from its tracks. “We must do this the right way!”

Not one to give up, more of Error's strings rushed their way to Athena, and she blocked them with her own strings in turn. Then, she turned to the teapot and tea cups', lowering their gravity and leaving them floating in the air. With her hands empty, she grabbed the basket again full of chocolate and cookie goodies and set it on a table that she summoned before her.

After that, and Error had yet to notice it, Athena also made another table appear next to him. She returned to the basket and opened it, pulling out four bowls. Two of them contained chocolate bars, left untouched for its consumer to break or crush, while the other two had chocolate chip cookies. She took one bowl of chocolate bars and one bowl of cookies and levitated it over to Error’s table, followed by the other empty tea cup.

It was a wonder Error still failed to notice it, but one glance at him and Athena found he was more focused on fighting off her own strings than taking the teapot from her anymore.

“Error, please stop spawning more strings. Your share of the tea party—er, chocolate party treats are already over there at your table.”

He heard her, thankfully, for he stopped the very second he heard the word chocolate. The blue strings disappeared—and so did Athena's—as he looked down at the table next to him bearing the bowls of chocolate bars, cookies, and the tea cup.

At his findings, Error crossed his arms with another huff. “What the hell. No chairs?”

“Oh! I apologize.” Athena clapped her hands twice. “There. It's behind you now.”

And when he turned around, his chair was indeed there already. Its seat and back was cushioned for his utmost comfort.

He stared down at it for a moment before sitting down, albeit reluctantly, and while he adjusted in his seat the teapot flew over to him and tipped itself over, pouring him a cup of chocolate.

“Would you rather it be hot or cold?” Athena asked.

“Hot.”

“Alright! There!”

The chocolate bubbled inside the teacup, then smoke appeared from above.

The teapot then flew over to Athena next, and it filled her cup as well while she sat down herself. She took a cookie from her bowl and bit into it, humming while she munched away. Afterwards, the teapot returned over to Error again.

With Athena chewing, a momentary lull passed them. She glanced over at him, but he was merely looking down at his table, sockets wide in disbelief, as though he couldn't fathom what was in front of him. Had he never been to a chocolate party before?

Then again, this was Athena’s first chocolate party too.

“How do you like the taste?” she asked, prompting him to move.

Error jumped, his entire body glitching out, shifting in black then white and back, and their gazes met for the first time since Athena arrived, but he looked away in not even more than a second to glance down at the food in front of him. A beat later, he reached his hand out and grabbed the cup by its handle then lifted it up to his teeth.

He was about to tip the cup over, when he turned his head at the last second to look at Athena, and she smiled back at him in what she hoped was a look of encouragement.

He returned it with a scowl. “What are you looking at, you freak?”

The smile was wiped off Athena's face, and she looked away, the corners of her lips curving further downwards while she lifted her own cup, but she couldn't bring herself to drink from it.

Error looked angry, so angry.

“I–I’m sorry,” she squeaked out, and her arms started to shake. “I didn't know staring upsetted you too. I simply wanted to know if you liked the chocolate. I'll… I won't look in your direction anymore.”

And so she didn't. With quivering lips and a lump lodged in her throat, she tried her best to still enjoy the chocolate and cookies. Her fingers trembled while she broke the chocolate bars into tiny pieces, then popped them in her mouth.

At least chocolate retained its tastiness despite the somber mood.

The two bowls were almost empty, and Athena dreaded how to end such a party. Was it even a party at this point? No one was celebrating.

It was only when Athena ate the last piece of her cookies that the silence was broken.

“It's good.”

Athena almost turned her head towards his direction, but she caught herself in time, and she slapped her hands on either side of her face to prevent her head from moving.

“I–I’m sorry?” she stuttered out.

“I said it's good! Ugh, are you deaf?” Error snarled.

His outburst almost scared her again, almost, but when it dawned on her that he complimented the chocolate drink—maybe even the treats itself too—what little fright that bubbled in her chest melted away, and in its stead was a steady warmth that spread throughout her body, causing a full blown smile to bloom in her lips.

“I–I'm very glad you liked it, Error!” she said. Her hands were still on her face to ensure she wouldn't accidentally look at him. “It means a lot that you do!”

An exasperated sigh came from Error's direction. “Look, you don't have to not look. It was just annoying earlier, okay?”

Athena blinked. “Oh! So… I can look at you?”

Error scoffed. “Yeah, whatever. Not like I'll crumble just ‘cause some weirdo’s staring at me. I'm not weak.”

“Good to know!” she replied. This time, she finally looked at him, then at his table, only to find that his own bowls and teacup were already empty.

“Oh! You already ate them all.”

“Yeah, I did. Got a problem with that?”

“Not at all! I'm glad actually! Because that meant you liked them!”

Error huffed. “Whuh! It wasn't that good. Don't get so full of yourself.”

“I won’t. I worked hard on making the cookies and preparing the drink, and I even made the chocolate bars myself! I’m simply happy for a job well done!”

“Huh? You made them?”

“Yes! It was really fun, I must admit. It did take a lot of time for them to harden, but I could make more if you want?”

“What, you mean another tea party?”

“Chocolate party,” Athena corrected, “and, sure! Why not? Uhm! O–Only if you want to, of course! If you do not wish for me to come back here again, then that's… also okay. I understand I might've overstayed my welcome here. I suppose I was simply excited to have met yet another chocolate enjoyer.”

“Chocolate enjoyer, huh?”

“Yes! I've met many others, and I think it would be fun if we could have some sort of gathering to celebrate our appreciation for chocolate together! Almost like a party of some sorts! But with more people!”

“No.”

Athena stopped. “No?”

“A party of two can work already, right?”

“Well, yes, but—”

“Then I don't see why we have to add more!” he exclaimed, suddenly, and for a miniscule second his entire body was riddled with errors and glitches, so much that you couldn't even see him, then they subsided in a blink.

“But… why not?”

“Because you being here is enough already!”

“Oh. It is?”

“Yeah, in fact it's too—”

Athena beamed at him. “That's so nice of you to say, Error!”

Error stiffened. “What?”

“I do admit, even if it is just the two of us here, I still managed to find it very enjoyable! Er, as unenjoyable as some parts of it were, but, nevertheless! It was still fun!”

“What?”

“On our next chocolate party, is there something you'd like me to bring? Any requests?”

“Uh. A bear?”

“What kind of bear? Like, alive or—Oh! Did you mean a stuffed bear?”

“It’s not what you think, okay?! I just—”

“Okay! I'll bring one next time. Would you like me to knit one?”

“—need something to beat up because I'm—Wait, you can knit?”

Athena nodded. “Yes! I like knitting!”

“Oh.”

“Do you?”

“I… That's none of your business!”

Athena flinched. “I'm sorry. I won't push.”

Error's scowl faded, and then he sighed, scratching his skull.

“Just give a warning next time before you come back, alright? And bring more chocolate.”

Like lightning, Athena's face brightened in a flash. “I will!”

fin.

So there's a story here, somewhere. I wrote this in one sitting back in January apparently according to the doc's date of creation, and I have so many questions to past me like how did this even happen in the first place, or how did ath even make it to the anti void somehow, but I guess I'll never know with how terrible my memory is.

---

So, uh, Stretch got a little too deep there. Whoops.

Anyway, I hope you guys like these as much as I like making them :3. I actually had to go back to my old poetry works for a little inspiration, and it was honestly a little jarring to read stuff I've written some time ago. It's like opening a time capsule, lol.

Also! The first, second, and fourth poems wouldn't have existed if it weren't for that one reader who commented how they imagined Stretch as the crying anime girl writing more dramatic poetry after the mess that was Athena's date with Blue

I dunno if I should mention their name, but if you're reading this, you know who you are and you totally rock!

anway

behold, stretch's yearning in poetry form