Frisk and the Kitchen Sink
7. How does OC get along with Frisk?
(A/N: This drabble is actually super short and is gonna set the stage for a future one. I figured I should throw a little tiny bone about it, though. I didn’t get an actual request for this, but after the last drabble, I thought a short explanation might be in order. Ya feel?)
Though it might have had to do with what Sans knew about Frisk, he was surprised at how quickly, and how well, the two humans had become good friends. Sans knew very well that the child didn’t relate well to other humans, much less humans their own age, and favored the monster family they had accumulated. Communication was hard, as Frisk was mute and Rian only knew about half the ASL alphabet, but there was something to be said for sheer enthusiasm and determination.
Frisk spent a lot of free time asking about Rian, and often attempting to monopolize the teen’s time. Rian was happy to oblige and, once summer had started, had spent most days off taking Frisk around to various parks and playgrounds. (accompanied by Sans and Papyrus on their days off, of course.)
Frisk had enough love for the older teen to let them sleep until almost noon, before throwing open the bedroom door and jumping them as Sans watched from the door. (Sans wouldn’t let himself admit that something that should have been cute actually made him nervous. It didn’t happen often, but he still sometimes had nightmares about when Frisk was Possessed by Chara.)
“Five more minutes...”
Sans watched as Frisk frantically signed. “Frisk says that if ya wait any longer, they’ll eat all the cake so you can’t have any. i suggest getting up for frisk’s sake. toriel baked three cakes.”
Yawning, Rian complied. “Alrighty Frisk. Lemme change quick please? I swear I’ll be over in five minutes, or I’ll get you free icecream for a week.”
Frisk was satisfied by this. Their Rian always kept the promises they made! With the matter settled, Frisk bounded back to Tori’s appartment as Sans grinned. “what do you and a bike have in common?”
Rian yawned. “I don’t know... what, boneboy?”
“you’re both two-tired for this.” Sans laughed, quickly teleporting away before Rian even had a chance to throw a pillow at him.
8: Anon: In which the main protagonist fixes Sans’ sink. Plus plot stuff? I wanna hear more about Rian’s childhood. RIAN IS THE KIND OF PERSON TO RANDOMLY BE GOOD AT FIXING SINKS RIGHT?!
(A/N: ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE ANON.)
It had been a few weeks since Rian had been ‘adopted’ by Asgore, and Rian had built up a bit of a routine. They’d eat breakfast with Asgore, then they’d both go to work. Being a part-timer, Rian only worked five hour shifts, so Sans was kind enough to pick them up since he only worked afternoons as a security guard for the apartment complex (a job even he wasn’t able to complain about). On days Sans didn’t work, the two of them would hang out, watching TV or playing games. On days when Sans DID have to work in the afternoon, Rian would either be dropped off at the Gym, or be taken home to hang out with Tori and Frisk or Alphys and Undyne, or read and study for next school year until dinner (Rian was about to be a high school senior). After all of that, the entire group usually met for a late dinner at around 7:30 or 8 o’clock. On days like today, when Rian didn’t have to work, they simply lazed around the apartment and read books until someone came looking for them, usually Frisk or Sans. What was unusual, was the way someone got their attention today. Given the fact that Frisk was constantly running around between apartments, it was a rare thing to hear Sans randomly yell the word FUCK, but yell it he did that morning, and that gave Rian all the incentive they needed to put down their book and trot to the apartment across the hall.
“Hey Sans what’s uuuuuoooh boy.”
A grumbling Sans was halfway under the sink, rapidly fiddling with one thing or another as water sprayed and dripped from the cabinet. It was obviously in the midst of slowing down, and Sans was soaked as he backed up with an exasperated huff. “hey kid...” he sighed, struggling out of his dripping hoodie and walking over to toss it to the laundry room. “now i know you’re perfect and all, but you wouldn’t happen to know a damned thing about-” Sans stopped short as he came back to find Rian taking his place under the sink. “and apparently you do.”
A muffled laugh. “I do this stuff all the time, Boney. What was the initial problem?”
Sans grinned with relief. Trust the teen to be skilled in something as random as plumbing! “the faucet was leaking. not just dripping, but a steady stream of water. i thought i could tighten it and fix the problem.”
The kid scoffed. “And so you decided that DISSASSEMBLING half the piping in your sink would fix the problem?”
“shut ya face.”
Rian laughed, grunting softly. “You can use five syllable long words to tell me how you teleport off the couch without taking the couch with you, but you’ve never heard of righty-tighty-lefty-loosey before?”
“i said shut ya face!”
“Sure, sure... wouldn’t want to put a damper on your mood!”
“careful there shorty, or my temper will get pipin’ hot.”
They both laughed softly as Rian work, Sans forcing himself not to look too closely at the kid while they put the plumbing back together. It was a nice angle to view the 18 year old’s butt... you know, if you were looking.
Sans coughed. “so uh... you said you do this a lot?”
Rian hesitated, but got back to work, a note of embarrassment in their voice now. “Oh yeah... The maintenance guys that came around the convent... let’s say they weren’t exactly “christ-like”. They didn’t always put things back together right, or they charged twice what they needed to. Since I know how to do this stuff, I’d fix it. Plumbing, electrical, a bit of the car stuff... I know enough about it all that I can at least patch things up. In exchange, the sisters would overlook our... uh.. differences in lifestyles. They aren’t bad women and I know too much to call them closed minded, but things got a little tense between us sometimes.”
“the parkour gym?”
“Huh? Naaah. The sisters were very pleased when I started applying myself. They loved to come and watch sometimes when I’d get competitive. No, it’s my uh... religion and gender that made them uncomfortable.” Rian said slowly, reaching for another sized wrench. Sans knew better than to interrupt when the kid was talking about personal things. “I’m an old-world Pagan. I believe Jesus and God exist and stuff, but I prefer other gods. I mean... I’m human, so I don’t have much of a right to say who does and doesn’t exist. You do you, and all that. And... you may have noticed that I’m not exactly everything I present myself as?”
Blushing, Sans rubbed his head. “yeah. i just figured you were like Frisk. A mystical, genderless creature. Lots of monsters are built without a gender, or with a mix. I’m not gonna lie and say I ain’t curious, but I respect the lifestyle of bein’ somewhere in the middle.”
Rian coughed awkwardly. They knew no one else was around and they trusted Sans, but this was hard to talk about. After a few more minutes everything was patched back up and Rian backed out of the cabinet. “Well uh... I’m a trans boy. I was born with a girl’s body, but it wasn’t right. So I’m working on myself so I do feel right to myself.”
Sans was nodding as he thought. “makes sense. scientifically speaking, humans have a lot of variables. one seemingly minor imbalance, and the whole body can suddenly go out of wack. a stray wire or two gets crossed during the fetus stage and... well you obviously know.”
Rian blushed as he nodded. “And it’s not that I think it’s a bad body either, it just... yeah.”
Sans chuckled. “no worries kid. ya don’t gotta explain yourself to me. i may not have your problem, but i sympathize with ya... so back to your special fix-it-man powers. where did you pick it all up?” Sans asked, tactfully changing the subject as he grabbed some towels and tossed one to Rian. “you talk, i’ll clean.”
Rian blushed and dried themself- himself- off as best as he could. “Well... I obviously didn’t always live with a bunch of nuns. I was taken to the convent when I was about 15. Before then I lived with my dad and his family on a farm, along with my great grandparents. About 520 or so acres. My dad was a diesel mechanic, as well as a born and raised farmboy, so he’d tinkered all his life and showed me how to tinker too. I picked up a lot of useful things, like how to fix all kinds of stuff, the science behind how the equipment worked... stuff like that. I thought of it as fun, sort of... it’s time I got to spend with my dad that he didn’t spend with my younger brothers.”
Hesitantly, Sans said, “i don’t like pushing you, you know that. but... well, you know what i have to ask.”
“I know...” Rian took a shaky breath. “It was a bad fire. On a night I was on a school trip. I was heavy into Sociology. Still kind of am. My teacher and a small group of us were a few cities away attending a college lecture on the way civilisations spread and intermingled in Asian countries. The bus dropped us back off at school, and a policeman was there, arguing with some of the teachers and the principle. My dad had kept my cellphone because he was afraid I’d lose it, and the cops didn’t want to go through the school to contact me, so I didn’t know until two days later. Which is honestly totally bogus, I mean... they should have at least tried. My dad had survived the initial burns and stuff but... he died in the hospital before I got there. My great aunts didn’t want me, and my dad’s parents were already dead. Most of my inheritance went towards the funerals and paying bills. I have some in a special bank account, but I can’t access it til I’m 20. The sisters agreed to take me in until I was old enough to stand on my own.”
It was quiet for quite a while before Sans spoke. “you’re strong to be able to talk about it. my father died when I was younger too. he wasn’t a good man but... he was still my father. I had Paps to take care of, and the King sort of took us under his wing until we took up the sentry post... thank you for trusting me like this Rian. i know it’s hard to look people in the eye after being ripped down.”
“Thanks... really, Sansy. I mean it.”
They were both blushing now. After a long, very awkward silence, Sans coughed. “lunch at Grillbs’?”
“Yes please?”
“let’s go kid, i know a shortcut.”
(A/N: Thank you for reading! This might be where people start REALLY disagreeing with me. I got one foot planted in the “Gaster is a shady customer and probably did something REALLY shady to Sans to make him as powerful as he is” camp, and my other foot is firmly in the “Sans definitely went through some heavy shit in his childhood and with the resets and probably has some form of paranoia/PTSD/anxiety, but isn’t as broken or unstable as a lot of writers make him out to be because a lot of what happened also helped him become strong” camp. I’m also gonna state here and now: My Frisk is following my Undertale playthroughs, my personal experience playing Undertale. There are only like... 6-7 resets, tops. I’ll explain more in a story time with Sans drabble I’m working on. I believe this is part of why I write Sans so differently and so much more positive and fluffy. More on that later though.)