Chapter Text
Chapter 1: The First Skele-bro
You don't consider yourself much of a braniac, despite always running around your college campus on the weekdays. Your school days usually consist of you attending classes, to participating in tutor centers as you work towards getting the necessary credits for your major.
You're already 21 years old- the age when alcohol consumption is usually a problem with students. Well, not you though. You actually aren't much of a party person, so to speak. Your short weekends (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) are usually either reserved for extra study time, reading time at home with the kitten, or hanging out with your best friend, Libby.
As if you have time to go out and make young mistakes...
Anyways, since all of your time is usually spent at the community college campus, you're pretty much the person to go to when it comes to new students looking around the school or old students frustrated and confused by the inefficient school website. You know the school from top to bottom- No one is as informed as you, and it's probably because you spend a lot of time reading the school paper (unlike most other students).
See, that's why you aren't surprised to see the abnormal influx of students not present that Monday morning. The school looks like it's having weekend classes or a lockdown, and although you don't have weekend classes this semester, you know well enough that the campus only looks this empty on those three days.
There's only one reason why this many students would choose not to show up... Yes, it has to be because of the enrollment of monsters into the community. It was bound to happen eventually, though it took a lot longer than expected, in your opinion. You reckon your college should feel lucky enough that they were able to enjoy their one hundred percent human environment for a longer time than the other unfortunate colleges with early monster enrollment.
It feels as if they'd only left Mt. Ebott yesterday, however in reality it must have been four months since that salty day.
Monsters are everywhere now, but you tend to follow the crowd when it comes to approaching them. You almost didn't leave your house today either, but you decided that monsters lurking in the halls just isn't worth missing a day of class. Eventually, you'll pay the price later if you miss a class session.
You cross the final field of grass to the Business Education building with a slight loss of breath, glancing at the watch around your left wrist every now and then until you make it to your classroom door.
Luckily, you're five minutes early.
On the apparent flip-side though....
"Well... This was a complete waste of time," you mutter to yourself, leering at a pink paper taped to the contrasting dark brown door with a few names signed on the rows of available lines
Prof. Gerard's 8:00 am CIS course is cancelled. Sign to show attendance.
You don't really understand why teachers do this sort of thing. What about the poor people that are given rides to class? The ones that live far away and are forced to spend extra time waiting for their ride to come back and get them? Is the professor just too lazy to send out a mass email?
Sighing heavily, you adjust the straps of your blue backpack and turn around to walk back down the stairs that lead to the building. You dressed up rather nicely today too, hoping to impress one classmate you have a crush on. Currently, you have on thick black tights under a pair of maroon shorts and some small cream colored booties. Your top consists of a brown long sleeved sweater and an intricate infinity scarf that makes every color you wear mesh together.
...To be completely honest though, you aren't the one that picked the outfit out. Not to say you have bad taste in clothing, but if it were up to you, you would be too lazy to doll yourself up the proper way. Mentally, you always know what goes together well and what doesn't, it's just that you're always in too much of a hurry to put those ideas to use. That's where your best friend Libby usually steps in.
At the thought of impressing your classmate, you pause and race back to your classroom door scanning the sign in sheet hastily.
He hasn't signed his name in yet. He's probably still on his way. Maybe you can stall for time and run into him or something! Then again... You'd probably look really weird standing by the door waiting- not to mention completely obvious. Besides, who stands by their classroom after learning of its cancellation? Any student in their right mind would pivot on their heel and get the hell out of there to enjoy their free day if they were you.
But you just have to see him.
You want to get to know him more. He's quite attractive, and he seems like a really nice guy... Especially on the first day of class, when you left your smartphone behind and he ran all the way to the parking lot to bring it back to you. The breathless way he introduced himself was adorable, and his freckled cheeks make your stomach do flips when you think of them.
Ahhh...
"Need a pen?"
Startled out of your innocent fantasies, you jump nearly two feet in the air before spinning around, only to feel a smile stretch across your features when you realized who it is.
"Alan!" You chirp, feeling your mood drastically improve when he holds out a pen to you and returns your grin. With slightly clumsy fingers and a rapidly beating heart, you take his offered pen. "T-thanks. I kind of spaced out for a second!"
"No problem," he answers patiently while you move to scribble your name on the pink sheet. "I'm guessing he must have taken the day off or something."
"Yeah. Kind of like all the other students, eh?" You reply, waiting for his answer on what's going on. He may not be as well informed as you are on school matters, but the monster news? Everyone who isn't living under a rock knows about that.
"...Are you afraid?" He asks gently after a moment, leaning over to take the pen back and scribble his name under yours. You can feel his body heat from how close he is to your back, and wonder what it means. Does he like you back? So far, everything seems platonic... He's not really dropping any hints your way on the matter.
You bite your lip and pull your small hands together in front of yourself, twiddling your thumbs in embarrassment.
"Maybe...? I don't mean to sound like those monster haters, but to be honest, even other people make me nervous. So I'd like to believe it's just my social issues... However, I'd be lying if I said it was just that entirely," You carefully answer him, darting your eyes away when he begins to look down at you from the classroom door.
"Ah. Well... I'm sure they're not that bad. We actually had a few books on them in the school library and I took a look-see after reading that the school would be taking in monster students now. Apparently they're all made up of magic, unlike us who are made up of water. Know what else they're made of? Love, compassion, and kindness. I'm sure you don't need to worry about a thing," Alan replies with that earnest smile of his, putting his pen back in his backpack. "Well, this is the only class I have on Mondays, so I guess I'll head back home. Need a ride?"
The blood vessels in your cheeks immediately rise up to your cheeks, but you manage to reply, "N-no thank you, I still have business to attend to here. I'll see you on Wednesday!"
Alan chuckles a little, eyes twinkling in amusement. "Alright then, stay safe. See ya!"
And with that, you watch your crush turn away to leave the college campus, leaving you standing by your class with a rapid paced heartbeat.
Wow... He's amazing! You think to yourself like a dork, resisting the urge to sigh out loud. Too bad you really do have things to attend to, or else, you'd have accepted his offer on the drop of a dime! ...Okay, well, maybe not that fast. You don't want to give away that you like him, after all- at least not in a manner such as that.
A breeze sends a few of your locks flying for a second as you turn to head out of the building, making your way towards another part of the campus that's just a couple meters away. Out of the corner of your eye, you notice a group also making their way up there and stop dead like a deer caught in headlights.
Oh no. There they are.
Monsters.
In a solid group of what looks to be seventeen rather diverse looking monsters, you see a man around your age leading them up to the library, only for him to stop once he spots you. Your body immediately goes rigid at the cruel grin that suddenly curls along his lips, and you have to mentally convince yourself not to run away when he suddenly power walks the rest of the way to you, grabbing your left hand and slapping one of the many free college planners that are still being handed out to all the freshman on campus. After all, it's still the first week of the new semester.
"Ah, there you are (Name)! Can you take care of our lovely new students for me while I deal with some stuff in the admin office? Thanks!" The guy who's name you don't care to remember practically shouts before walking around you and speeding away. You follow his form with astonished eyes, barely able to comprehend what has just happened.
Well, no, you understand exactly what he's just done, that good for nothing staff member...
Clearly he doesn't want to deal with showing the monsters around the campus, so he's dumping the job on you, a well known student (albeit socially awkward girl) in the student body who would more-or-less make his job easier by freeing his money hungry hands of the dirty work he has to deal with on the campus.
Tch... That bastard...
"Um, excuse me... Where's he going?" A soft feminine voice inquires, making you turn to the group and sigh heavily.
He's going to laze around the office now that he found a worthless student to do his job, you want to say to what looks to be a cute dark purple slime monster with several legs, who wears a red bow tie around her neck and a black blazer over a white beaded blouse.
Instead, you hear yourself reply (reluctantly), "I'll be showing you the rest of the campus actually, so don't worry about him. You guys were headed up to the Library, right?"
"Y-yes, ma'am!" One other monster chimes in, who appears to be a little spit fire of a thing that has to jump up over the shoulders of the taller monsters to be noticed. For being only three feet tall, you're surprised it's even attending college, but then again, you assume with this many diverse monsters, not all of them could be as tall as regular adult humans.
"Follow me then," you hear yourself say, nervously leading the group up the steps that lead to the large fancy school library. Part of you is internally cursing that staff member for dropping his job on you, and you make a mental note to find out his name after leading the monsters around.
For some odd reason though, there's another part of you, and it's extremely small... That is sort of excited at the prospect of interacting so close with the monsters. It isn't a good reason, but...
Maybe if you get close to them... It could impress Alan.
As you enter the lobby of the library, you turn to face the freshman monsters and offer them your best smile (which isn't actually the best you could muster since you're doing the task reluctantly).
"Well, here's the library. We have a writing center at the very back where students can have their essays proof read for an unlimited amount of times before they're turned in to their professors and all computers are free for students to use as long as you know your student ID number and date of birth. If your password is specially issued, it probably won't be your birthday, in which case you will have to go up to the admin office to request your password. If it's too much of a problem to talk to the staff, feel free to email the school and request it that way," you explain, leading them over to the computer area.
It's then that one of the librarians, a woman with red hair and an ugly Christmas sweater (it's only September...), leans over the counter and taps your shoulder, making you glance over at her in confusion. Upon her gesture for you to get closer, she starts to whisper in your ear.
"Um, we have students studying right now, can you please show the... special attendants... a different building? They're going to distract the others," she says, causing a foul sense of annoyance to suddenly fire up in your gut.
You already don't want to show the monsters around, and now this dumb lady wants to make your job harder? Oh hell no. Normally, you aren't much of a confrontational person, but if pushed enough, even you have a snapping point.
"Listen... Do you want to show them around? No? Then please mind your own business," you hiss, making sure none of the monsters behind you catch what you're saying. "I'm trying to get this over with quickly for your entitled ass- don't make me take longer. The less you complain, the faster we leave."
You know she can't get you in trouble despite your bad behavior, or she will have to admit to being a bigot (it's so painfully obvious too). As soon as your point has gotten across, she sits back down, but not before staring after you with a snooty glare.
Whatever, you think, facing the monster students and resuming the tour. "If you guys will follow me, I'll show you the next room over here. We have lots of books free for students to use and borrow outside, however, if they have a red sticker inside the front cover, the book cannot leave the library. If a book does not present a red sticker but still sets off the alarm when leaving the library, take it to one of the librarians to check it it's red tagged or not," you state, already exhausted of hearing yourself talk as you lead the students into the next room, where several small desks are set up, some in use on the bottom floor, but most in use on the second story where people can look down at the first floor to ogle at the new monster students around me.
"Miss Human, can you tell us what kinds of books are available here?" A loud voice startles you out of your sudden boredom, causing you to spin around and narrow your eyes on an ecstatic looking tall skeleton, who wears one of the most outlandish of outfits for someone attending college. To be honest, it looks like colorful... Armor. The kind of armor for battle or war. Between the short torso armor and the hipbone armor you can see his spine between the area from his hip to his upper rib cage, in plain sight for everyone to view moving around with his movements.
"...What's your name?" You demand, your brows creasing in a mild frown as you speak to the monster.
Seemingly oblivious of your reproachful attitude, the skeleton grins wide (though he looks to be already grinning since his teeth are visible due to lack of lips) and slapps his right hand over his ivory chest plate of a top.
"I am the Great Papyrus, at your service, Miss Human!" He announcs far too proudly for your liking.
You cross your arms and clear your throat to speak in a more authoritative manner, but feel the tickle of anxiety playing at the back of your head as you do so. "Well, Mister Papyrus, we're going to have to work on that 'inside voice' you should be using here. In the library, we have to speak in a softer voice, or else we disturb the other students that are trying to study." You scold him, causing the skeleton to slap his hand from his chest to his mouth before nodding and miming a zipping of his teeth.
For some reason, rather than looking like a kicked puppy after you tell him off, this Papyrus looks more excited than anything. It's an odd reaction, to say in the least, but you evidently wave it off and continue with showing the monsters around.
Papyrus says nothing else for the rest of the tour.
After that little quip, the rest of the tour around the campus is, for the most part, dreadfully uneventful.
You showed the monsters the campus, they asked questions here and there... And it was alright. None of them tried to attack or eat you (and by the end, you feel pretty stupid for even considering something like that) and the awkwardness and reluctant feelings from the beginning of the tour have soon faded away as you near the end of the tour.
Of course, you still have a bit of social problems, so you don't count on anything coming out of showing the monsters around- such as a new friendship or anything of the sorts.
Which is why you are shocked beyond belief when a hand suddenly stops you from leaving after you bid farewell to the monsters and turn to head back to the library, the unfamiliar hand clapping down hard enough that you feel like you're going to have bruising later on in the day.
"Halt, Miss Human!" Ah. This atomic explosion of a noise could only come from one person...
You turn to face the tall skeleton from before, only to suddenly shrink back a little now that he stands directly in front of you. Before, he'd been standing at the back of the group with the short spit fire monster, so it was hard to estimate his exact height. With him in front of you now though, he looks to be an astonishing height of either 6'6 or 6'7, enough to warrant him a ticket to be a basketball player or something of the sorts.
Your authoritarian attitude is slipping away.
"What is your name?" He asks, to which you tell him in a squeak due to his intimidating height. He nods in satisfaction before continuing to speak.
"Before, you mentioned we needed to 'work on my Inside voice', did you not?" He inquires curiously, making you blink before answering, "Y-yes, I meant-"
He cuts you off before you can elaborate. Indeed, your authoritative appeal has stripped away completely by that point, making you feel feeble and naked under the skeleton tower's gaze.
"Wondrrful! My brother will be happy to knoe I made a new human friend on my first day! This is my cellphone number, call me when you are free to help me 'work on my Inside voice'!" Papyrus hands you a piece of ripped paper that looks to come out of a page in one of the school planners, his number already scribbled on it in a barely legible handwriting that makes you question whether the digits are actually numbers or letters from a lost civilization.
You look up to ask what the digits are (are you actually considering calling him??) but he beats you to talking.
"Catch you later, Miss Human! Nyeh heh heh!" He boasts, just before turning away and striding to god-knows-where with those crazy long bony legs of his. You'll never catch up with him to ask, even running at a sprint, which you're unwilling to do, mind you.
He leaves you standing by the school cafeteria with the paper in your hand and you jaw parted slightly in shock. Is he for real? He actually thought you were offering to hang out with him one-on-one to work on his inside voice?
How innocent is that skeleton? Should someone of his caliber really be attending college?
You pout and glance down at the number in your hand. You could always throw it away... But then again, that monster seems like the kind of person that would have no problem confronting you if you failed to call as planned. For the most part, you could probably avoid the situation for a day or two before being questioned, but you'd rather get it over with as soon as possible so you could let him down easily.
You want nothing to do with monsters.