Chapter Text
Three years ago today, the barrier that held the monster race underground, long forgotten by the humans above, was broken. Many heard the loud sound of glass shattering, followed by a brilliant white light in the towns surrounding Mt. Ebott. They stopped their daily activities to gaze up at the mountain in both confusion and bewilderment. The child known as Frisk guided the monsters out of the earth and into the rays of the rising sun. As the warm rays fell on the forgotten race, some for the first time in their lives, they finally were free. Or so they believed at first.
Humans as a general rule are afraid of the unknown. They don’t like change, especially in a drastic sense. When the monsters emerged, they were met with hostility. Though some empathized with the poor creatures, most of the humans feared them. Therefore, for the safety of the monsters, they were housed in separate areas than the general population. It was like this for a while until the rules began to relax about two years after the barrier break. Monsters slowly began to live outside of the designated monster districts. Monster owned businesses opened up further and further into what had previously been explicitly human territory. Humans became more accepting of the monsters as the years passed, though there was still a long way to go to total acceptance.
~~~~
Most of the time, opening the café by yourself wasn’t your favorite thing in the world. But this particular morning was one of the only exceptions. He came in earlier than usual. Monsters weren’t exactly uncommon on this side of town since it was close to the monster districts but skeleton monsters were pretty damn uncommon. This particular skeleton had started coming in about a month or so ago. The order’s the same each time: a cinnamon dolce latte, extra cinnamon on top.
When he came inside the first time, he looked completely and utterly lost. He had told you “JUST MAKE ME SOMETHING, HUMAN. AND IT BETTER NOT RUIN MY MAGNIFICENT PALLET.” He seemed like a spicy sort of guy so you rolled with it. Hence the cinnamon latte. When he skeptically took a sip of the drink he glanced away from you and spoke in a softer voice. “WELL THIS ISN'T ABSOLUTELY VILE. I SUPPOSE IT WILL DO, HUMAN.”
Immediately your smile brightened up and you quickly walked over to the register.
“Hey! You’re here early.” You greeted, both hands placed themselves onto the countertop so that you could lean forward on them a bit. “Is it going to be your usual today, or are you gonna switch it up on me?”
The tall skeleton’s eyelights shifted down to look at you, his hands moved to grab his wallet from his back pocket. “YES, THAT WILL BE SUFFICIENT.” He spoke, pulling out a card from the depths of his wallet along with a small slip of paper. He pushed the paper onto the counter toward you as you rang him up. “HUMAN, ARE YOU FREE TOMORROW EVENING?” He asked.
The question caught you slightly off guard and you turned to look at him. Sure he had spoken to you before but he hadn’t shown much interest in you other than enjoying the coffee you made him almost every day.
“I think so…why do you ask?” You inquired as you started brewing the espresso shots and steamed the milk for his drink.
“I WANTED TO KNOW IF YOU’D JOIN ME AND MY…COUSINS…FOR DINNER.” He said as he moved over to the pick up area to wait for his drink. “I MAY HAVE MENTIONED YOU IN PASSING CONVERSATION AND NOW THEY WOULD LIKE TO MEET YOU OUTSIDE OF THE WORKPLACE.”
“Sure. That sounds like fun.” You smiled as you placed his drink on the counter in front of him. “And here’s that cinnamon dolce latte with extra cinnamon, Mr. Edge.” You spoke as his gloved hand reached up to grab the drink from the countertop.
“I LEFT MY PERSONAL PHONE NUMBER ON THE COUNTER. ONCE YOU ARE OFF OF WORK SEND ME A MESSAGE. I DO NOT LIKE TO BE KEPT WAITING, (Y/N).”
You were pretty sure that was the first time he had actually said your name. Up until that very moment it had just been ‘human’. You looked stunned for a moment before you blinked a few times to snap yourself out of it. You gave the tall skeleton a mock salute and smiled. “Yes, sir!”
The answer caused Edge’s eye sockets to widen slightly and a smirk formed on his skull. “GOOD ANSWER, PET.” He said before he sipped at his hot coffee and made his way out of the store.
Pet…? Had this tall…menacing…leather-clad skeleton really called you….pet? You felt your cheeks heat up before you moved back to the register and stuffed the slip of paper he had left into your apron pocket. “That’s…well…better than just human I guess? Maybe?” You softly questioned aloud before you quietly continued on with your shift.
~~~
You sent the monster you had come to know as Edge a text once you had made it back to your apartment.
XXX-XXX-XXXX:
Mr. Edge? This is (y/n) from the café. You asked me to text you once I was off of work.
You let out a soft sigh as you pressed send. You tossed your phone down on the bed before you changed into some much more comfortable clothes. By the time you came back into the bedroom, your phone screen was aglow with a text from Edge.
Edgy-Man:
HELLO, PET. THAT WAS QUICKER THAN I WAS EXPECTING. MY FAMILY WILL BE GLAD YOU HAVE ACCEPTED THEIR OFFER. WILL 6:00 TOMORROW EVENING WORK FOR DINNER? I EXPECT PUNCTUALITY OUT OF YOU, PET. DO NOT DISAPPOINT ME.
XXX-XXX-XXXX:
That should be fine! :) I’ll be right on time.
Edge then sent you the address of what you assumed was his home. Dinner with a skeleton and his cousins. What could possibly go wrong? What if they didn’t like you? What if you made a bad first impression? What if- You closed your eyes and shook your head.
“Nope. Not gonna think like that. If I think about it negatively now, that’ll just make things worse.” You spoke to yourself before laying down on the bed’s plush surface and ran a hand through your hair. “You’ll do fine. It’s not like you’ve never met a monster before. Just be nice. Just be yourself.”
You’ll do just fine.
~~~
You fiddled with the hem of your sweater as you stood at the front door of this absolutely massive house. “Deep breaths, (y/n). Deep breaths.” You told yourself before you reached a trembling hand up to knock on the door.
You had barely touched your knuckles to the door when it swung open to reveal, not Edge like you had been expecting. The monster that stood before you was maybe half an inch taller than you. He had a wide grin on his face and a lazy but suspicious look in his white eyelights. He seemed to look you up and down before his mouth opened to speak.
“can i help you, kid?” He asked in a voice deeper than you had thought he would have.
“Does Mr. Edge live here? He asked me to come over.” You explained as you watched the skeleton stuff his hands into the pockets of his blue hoodie.
The explanation seemed to make him relax slightly and he let out a soft, rumbling chuckle.
“so you’re the coffee human edge won’t shut up about. i’m sans. sans the skeleton. why don’t you come on inside, kid?”
“It’s nice to meet you, Sans.” You gave him a smile and stepped inside.
He closed the door behind you before he seemed to move in front of you impossibly fast. He gestured for you to follow after him and you did so, sticking close so you wouldn’t get lost.
“edge should be home soon. he had to work a little late.” Sans explained as he led you into the open kitchen and dining area.
You could see another two skeletons in the kitchen. One was tall like Edge the other was shorter like Sans. They seemed to be bickering some.
“NYEH!” The taller skeleton held a baking tray over his head and out of the other’s reach. “THESE ARE FOR AFTER DINNER, RED! YOU CAN’T EAT THEM ALL. ALL THE HUMAN FOOD WILL MAKE YOU SICK!”
The one called Red scowled, baring his single gold canine at the taller skeleton. “so fuckin’ what? i can eat whatever the hell i want. you ain’t the boss of me!” He shouted angrily.
Just what had you gotten yourself into?
Sans cleared his throat…somehow…and the attention turned to him. “pap. the human’s here.”
He had barely finished getting the words out when you were hoisted into the air by your waist. You let out a startled yelp, hands moving to grip at whatever was holding you aloft.
“WOWIE! YOU ARE THE COFFEE HUMAN EDGE SPOKE OF?? NYEHEHE! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” The tall skeleton spoke excitedly before he pulled you in for an almost bruising hug. It sure knocked the wind out of you for a moment.
“H-Hi…Papyrus…I’m (y/n)…It’s nice to meet you…” You managed to get out as he practically squeezed the air from your lungs. “Can’t breathe…!”
Almost immediately Papyrus put you back down and gently rubbed at your back while you coughed. “I AM TERRIBLY SORRY, HUMAN! I GOT A LITTLE TOO EXCITED.”
“It’s ok, Papyrus. No harm done.” You responded, giving the tall skeleton a smile to assure him that it was ok.
“no harm except he almost broke you in half.” The shorter one, Red, spoke up. “didn’t know my bro would’ve taken a liking to such a cute little human. heh. name’s red, don’t forget it, dollface.”
“Red? It’s nice to meet you.” You said, turning to the other skeleton. He definitely looked like Edge with all the red and black but he resembled Sans much more than anything. He was similar in height to Sans as well, maybe just slightly taller? Papyrus had to be pushing at least 6’6” and you just now noticed he was wearing a ‘Kiss The Cook’ apron over…armor?
“the rest of the family should get here soon. go ahead and have a seat, kid.” Sans said, his smile had grown slightly before he pulled a chair out for you. As soon as you sat down a lard fart noise ripped through the room and Sans absolutely lost it.
“SANS! NO PRANKING THE COFFEE HUMAN!” Papyrus protested as you pulled the deflated Whoopee cushion out from under your backside.
“sorry pap, can’t help that it didn’t tickle your funny bone .” The skeleton in blue shrugged.
“SANS! NO PUNS!”
“ tibia honest, there’s a whole lot more where that came from.”
“SANS!”
“you’re smiling, pap.”
“I KNOW AND I HATE IT.”
“So, how many cousins do you have?” You asked, looking over at the trio before you. “Edge mentioned he had cousins but he didn’t say how many.”
“in total? Ten. but two of them don’t live here. they don’t do so well around people.” A new voice spoke into your ear. You turned to the new voice to find another tall skeleton in a orange hoodie, a short skeleton in blue walking up next to him. “so here, there’s eight of us. i’m stretch, by the way. this is my brother, blue.” He introduced.
“Stretch? That’s an interesting name. I’m (y/n).” You spoke as you leaned over to give a friendly wave to Blue.
Blue seemed to perk up at the wave and ran around his brother to meet you face to face. He took your hand and shook it excitedly. “WOWIE! IT'S NICE TO MEET YOU, HUMAN! I AM THE MAGNIFICENT BLUE!”
“Well, it’s very nice to meet you, magnificent Blue!” You laughed softly as you returned his handshake.
Blue’s eyelights seemed to sparkle happily and his smile widened. Blue was shorter than you, but not by much. Stretch on the other hand was slightly shorter than Papyrus but it was hard to really tell from where you sat.
“IS IT HERE YET?” Another voice boomed from the top of the nearby set of stairs.
“yea, black. she is here. be nice and get your spoiled ass down here.” Red grumbled with a roll of his eyes. He folded his arms over his chest, frowning some.
You glanced over to the stairs, hand still being held captive by Blue, to see another duo. Black and purple seemed to be their color scheme.
“NICE? I AM BEING NICE. I HAVEN’T KILLED IT YET.” The one seemingly named Black huffed as he walked down the stairs, the taller skeleton trailing behind him. “MUTT, MAKE SURE I SIT FAR AWAY FROM THAT…HUMAN PEASANT.”
“yes, milord.” Mutt spoke as he rounded the table and pulled out a chair for Black to sit in.
Peasant? Seriously? Your smile faltered slightly for a moment and Sans glanced over.
“sorry about him. he’s not much of a people person. neither is edge to be honest with you. we were all pretty shocked when he actually complimented you after blue bugged him about his mysterious coffee human for about a week straight.” Sans explained.
“yea. boss doesn’t exactly say nice things about people. ever. it was really fuckin’ weird.” Red butted in as he walked over to the dining table.
“LANGUAGE, RED!” Blue shouted as he and Stretch sat down at the table. Blue made a conscious effort to sit on your left.
“bite me, blue.” Red barked, sitting down as well.
As everyone but Papyrus took their seats at the table, the door to the room swung open. Edge stepped through the door, ducking under the doorway as he went. Seeing you at the table caused him to smirk. “I SEE YOU FOUND YOUR WAY HERE. GOOD. GLAD TO KNOW YOU DON’T DISAPPOINT, PET.”
Sans’s brow bone rose at the nickname but he didn’t say anything.
“Found the place just fine. Oh! Speaking of that.” You paused and reached into the bag you brought with you. “I picked up some wine. I’m not sure if you guys will like this but it was one of my dad’s favorites.” You explained as you handed the wine bottle to Edge who took it quickly and examined the bottle.
“THE PEASANT BRINGS A GIFT IN THE HOPES OF MERCY. HOW CUTE.” Black smirked, leaning his elbows on the table.
“HOLD YOUR TONGUE. BRAT.” Edge retaliated sharply. He then turned back to you. “THE GESTURE IS APPRECIATED, (Y/N). UNLIKE SOME, MOST OF MY COUSINS HAVE AT LEAST A LITTLE CLASS.” He placed the bottle down on the table before he sat down on your right.
Papyrus soon re-emerged from the kitchen with plates of food balanced on each arm. He set one down in front of each person before he sat down next to Sans.
“THIS IS ONE OF MY FIRST TIMES MAKING HUMAN FOOD FOR ANYONE OTHER THAN FRISK. I HOPE IT WILL BE ACCEPTABLE.” He said, typing a napkin loosely around his neck to keep any spilled food off of his battle body.
“I’m sure it will be lovely, Papyrus.” You beamed.
Papyrus’s cheekbones dusted themselves with a soft orange glow and his eyelights twinkled. You could have sworn you could smell clementines in the air for just a moment.
~~~
After dinner, Blue and Papyrus insisted on watching a movie. Something involving two famous monsters called Mettaton and Napstaton. It was better than you had expected. Once the movie was over, Papyrus spoke up.
“COFFEE HUMAN, WILL YOU COME BACK OVER?” He asked, looking over at you curiously. “YOU MENTIONED A FEW HUMAN RECIPES AT DINNER AND I’D LIKE TO TRY TO MAKE THEM. I WAS HOPING YOU WOULD HELP ME OUT?”
You smiled and gave him an enthusiastic nod. “I’d love to, Papyrus. Here.” You pulled out your phone and handed it to him. “Put your phone number in there. It’ll be easier to schedule a time that way.”
Papyrus carefully took the phone from you, the orange glow returning to his cheeks. “ALRIGHT.” He pulled off one of his gloves before tapping away at the phone screen. After a moment he handed the phone back to you. You thanked him as you stuffed the phone back into your bag.
“I’ll text you once I get home, ok?”
“THAT SOUNDS LIKE A BRILLIANT PLAN, HUMAN.” Papyrus smiled and Edge rolled his eyelights softly.
“I probably should get going.” You spoke after a moment. “I’ve got an early shift tomorrow.” You stood before you looked over at Edge. “Thank you for inviting me over. I had a nice time.”
Edge scoffed. “BLUE AND PAPYRUS WERE THE ONES WHO INSISTED THAT THEY MEET YOU.” He looked away. “BUT YOU ARE WELCOME, PET.”
Blue and Stretch walked you out to your car once you had said your goodbyes. Mutt looked like he wanted to speak to you but kept quiet under Black’s harsh eye.
“Thank you again for having me over.” You said as you unlocked your car and tossed your bag inside. “It was fun.”
“THANK YOU FOR COMING, COFFEE HUMAN! WOULD IT BE ALRIGHT IF MY BROTHER AND I CAME TO SEE YOUR WORK PLACE SOON?” The shorter skeleton asked, eyelights shining excitedly.
“Of course! I’d really like that, Blue.” You replied, giving him a happy smile before getting into your car.
“WOWIE! THAT’S GREAT TO HEAR!” He replied as he closed the car door for you.
“drive safe.” Stretch said, a lazy smile made its way onto his face.
“Thank you! I will!” You spoke before igniting the car’s engine. You carefully pulled out of their driveway and made your way home.
~~~
With the exception of Black and maybe Mutt, the skeleton monsters seemed quite nice. You smiled to yourself. Getting out and meeting new people would probably be good for you. Since you went to college, you drifted away from most of your other friends, though a few kept in touch. It would be good for you to socialize with new people.
XXX-XXX-XXXX:
Hey Papyrus! This is (y/n)! Looking forward to cooking with you. I’m free this Saturday. Does that sound good to you?
Master Chef:
WOWIE! I AM GLAD YOU MADE IT HOME SAFE, HUMAN! YES SATURDAY SHOULD WORK FOR ME. I DO NOT HAVE ROYAL GUARD DUTIES THAT DAY. I AM EXCITED TO COOK WITH YOU!
XXX-XXX-XXXX:
Perfect! Saturday it is, then! Have a good night, Papyrus. See you soon! :)
Master Chef:
HAVE A WONDERFUL NIGHT, (Y/N)!
You smiled to yourself before you plugged your phone in to charge for the night. “He’s adorable!” You spoke.
Whatever you had gotten yourself into with this crazy group of monsters, you were sure there would never be a dull moment. And for that, you were very excited