Wake Up Call
Waking up in that night was weird. You should really stop sleeping on couches so often. It was really going to mess up your neck. As you sat up, your back popped, and you let out a grunt. The TV was still on, but now it was playing some X-Men movie.
You stood from the couch, being careful not to trip over anything, and walked to your kitchen. Grabbing a glass, you poured yourself some water, and leaned against the counter, trying to wake up still. You hadn't planned on napping for so long, and doing so had messed with your sense of time.
The knocking at your door startled you so much that you nearly dropped your glass. You sat your drink down carefully, clearing your throat. "I'll be right there!" Your voice cracked, so you cleared your throat again as you went to open your door.
Frisk was standing in your doorway patiently, a big smile on their face. You were surprised to see that they were still here, but didn't think about it much.
"Hey Frisk, what's up?" You bent down to get on eye-level with the kid.
They started to sign something, but noticed how uneasy you looked, and instead made an oval with their hands.
"Frisk, I-" You stopped again as Frisk started to flap their arms like wings. Like a chicken. You couldn't help but giggle. "Do you need eggs?"
The child nodded, jumping up and down. You smiled at them and opened the door wider, standing up.
"Alright, I'll go get some. How many do you need?"
Frisk held up two fingers, and you headed off to the kitchen again. You hadn't even noticed that Frisk had followed you in until you had turned back with the eggs in your hands. Of course, being yourself, you jumped, lost your grip on the eggs, and they dropped to the floor. And broke. Frisk looked uneasy and quickly started to sign "sorry" over and over again.
"Hey, it's alright, wasn't your fault." You tried to laugh it off, but you could see how worried they were. "Frisk, really, I've got more. Besides, these eggs weren't good enough anyways." Smiling at them, you reached back into the fridge and grabbed two more eggs. "See? These ones are way better."
You handed the eggs to Frisk, who held them carefully. They smiled back at you, but when their gaze hit the eggs on the floor, they scrunched up their nose.
"Really, Frisk, you're not in trouble. I'll clean this up, you go back to Paps'. " Was that the first time you had used a nickname for one of the skeletons?
Frisk nodded again, and left your apartment. You grabbed a few paper towels and cleaned up your mess, grumbling to yourself. Geez, you really needed to stop being such a klutz.
After you cleaned up the floor, you went to your room and pulled out your laptop. You scrolled mindlessly on the Internet for a while, curled up in a blanket. You had fallen asleep again before Frisk had showed up to ask you over for supper.
________
There were many things you missed about living in the middle of nowhere. For instance, when you live in a small town, friends have a tendency to just walk on in to your home. But not in the city. No, in the city, they knock. And knock. And knock. And when people city knock, and knock, and knock, it wakes you up. And when you're waken up from someone who knocks, and knocks, and knocks, you have a tendency to be pretty grumpy, to say the least.
You yawned, glaring at your alarm clock. Yeah, it wasn't early, but you were still tired. The knocking started again, so you gave up and swung your legs out of bed. Your bare feet hit the floor and you stumbled forward, nearly falling forward. You barely caught yourself in time, gripping onto your nightstand for balance.
Stumbling out of your room, you made your way to the front door and opened it slowly. "Who the heck-"
You were met face to face with an annoyed looking Catty. "Finally! I thought I was going to be here for like, forever!"
"Oh, Catty, I totally forgot." You groaned to yourself, rubbing the sleep from your eyes. "Just- I still need to get ready."
Catty scrunched up her nose, but then nodded. "Okay, fine, but you're totally going to tell me everything when you get dressed."
She followed you inside as you walked back to your bedroom, but waited outside as you changed into shorts and a t-shirt. Could it quit being hot already?
"Okay, like, spill the beans! Why were you blushing? It was, like, wicked cute!" You could practically hear Catty grinning through the door.
"It's not a big deal, really." You were try to convince yourself this, too.
Catty sighed, rolling her eyes. "_______, I'm so not dropping this."
"Well," you started, biting your lip. Might as well tell her. "He kissed my cheek. Again."
The monster squealed, and then gasped in excitement. "Oh. My. God. What else? That can't be it. Like, there's got to be more, right?" Catty's words were coming out fast, and were hard to hear through the door.
"And..." You paused, slipping on your shirt. "He kind of... Asked me out?" Catty practically screamed, and you cringed, opening your door.
"Seriously? Where are you going? When are you going? Oh my god, _____, this is so exciting! What are you two gonna do? We totally called it!" Catty looked like you had just told her that she was going to Disney Land. Did monsters even know about Disney Land?
You shook your head, leaving your apartment with Catty, who was busy typing away on her phone. "Catty, I'm trying not to freak. He's taking me dancing, but I don't really know anything else."
"You mean, like what you have to do everyday?" She raised an eyebrow at you, stepping into the open elevator.
"I don't think that there could be a better first date." You stuck your tongue out at her, following her in.
Catty shrugged, hitting the '1' button. "Like, at least now you can actually call him your boyfriend." She smirked at you, nudging your arm. "Riiiiiight?"
You laughed, shaking your head. "Catty, it's a first date. Nothing is official."
"Other than your huge crush on him."
"Catty!" You could feel your cheeks heat up, and made a side note that you should learn how to not blush all of the time.
"You know I'm right, _____."
The elevator doors opened, and the two of you walked out of the building and to the animal shelter. You were about a block away when Catty finally stopped teasing you.
"So, you think that they won't mind me being around?" You asked her.
"Of course not. As long as you aren't, like, bothering the animals or anything." Catty stretched, letting out a soft mew. "Plus, the manager is like super crazy nice." She opened the door, swinging it a bit harder so you could get through too.
The first thing you noticed was the older lady behind the counter. She wasn't elderly, really, but her hair had already turned quite gray. She also seemed pretty stressed, but as soon as she saw Catty, her eyes softened, and she seemed to relax.
"At least someone showed up today," the woman sighed, stepping out from behind the counter. "Catty, you know I hate to ask, but Josh didn't show up again." The last word came out with such hostility that you were certain that Josh was on his last thread.
Catty suddenly became really uneasy, and her fur bristled a bit. "I like, guess so," her ears drooped as she looks at the back door.
The woman seemed just as uncomfortable as Catty. "They're just a couple of dogs, it's not a big deal. And none of them have ever tried to hurt you." She stepped closer to Catty, putting a hand on the monster's shoulder. "You'll be fine."
"Just a few blocks." Catty nodded to herself, and then she smiled up at the woman. "I can totally do this."
"Um," you weren't sure what to say. What did Catty hate so much about the dogs? "I can help, if you want. If it would made the situation any... Better?" Smooth, as always.
Catty's grin grew, looking much more sincere. "Oh my God, that's such a great idea! Dorris, _____ can help, right? It's just walking, like no biggie!"
The woman, Dorris, turned to you and held out her hand. You shook it as she spoke, "Nice to meet you kid, I'm Dorris. I run our little animal shelter. " There was some dinging noise from somewhere in the building, and she gave you both a quick nod before dropping your hand and chasing after the sound. "You two be safe!"
You followed Catty into a room down a small hall, but as she chattered your mind was somewhere else. You knew it was stupid, but hearing someone else calling you kid, it suddenly felt weird. Could Sans really impact you like that? You hadn't even known him for two weeks, but suddenly the littlest things reminded you of him. You felt that tugging in your chest again- you had nearly gotten used to it. It happened so often with Sans, but you had just chalked it up to butterflies.
Catty called your name again, finally catching your attention. "Like, geez, if you find me boring you can just say."
Her paws were on her hips, and when you looked behind her you saw several cages, with the most adorable dogs you had ever seen. One of the dogs barked at you, and Catty jumped higher than you thought was possible, her fur standing on end.
"Hey, hey," you put your hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her down. "You're good, Catty. They're just excited."
Catty smiled nervously, nodding. "T-totally. So, like, w-we've gotta walk them. They aren't t-too bad," she took a deep breath, and you removed your hands. "Josh usually walks them, but since he didn't come in," the monster drifted off again, grabbing a leash from the wall. "And hey, since there two of us, we can totally take them all in one trip!"
You began counting the dogs, five in all, and went to grab for a leash before Catty handed you something else. It was one of the ones that was wound inside of a container, and you could lock it into place. This one, however, had three different leashes in it. You flipped the device over in your hands, trying to get a feel for how it worked.
"You don't mind taking an extra, do you?" Catty asked. You finally noticed her tail between her legs. "I don't have the best luck with dogs."
"What happened? Dorris said that they haven't hurt you."
"We can talk about it on the way." Your monster friend nodded to the cage, and the two of you started hooking dogs to leashes.
You and Catty walked out of the building without much fuss, but you could see it as Catty calmed down. "So," she started, tugging the leash a bit closer to her body, "When we first came up to the surface, there were, like, a lot of different things, y'know?" You nodded, and she continued,"We had monsters that looked like dogs, but the ones up here are, well, they're totally different. And I don't mean like, talking and stuff, some monsters don't do that either! But, your dogs, on the surface, they can be totally mean. Bratty and I totally didn't know that when we first met some."
You pulled one of the dogs away from the street, keeping them safe. "Yeah, but they aren't all mean. And the ones that are mean, usually they were raised like that. Or something bad happened to them. Dogs aren't all that different from us."
Catty made a noise that you couldn't quite hear, and she continued on. "On the surface, dogs and cats don't get along, do they?" She shook her head, speaking before you could answer, "Bratty and I were out one night, and there was this little dog. We figured that it was like, just another dog, right? But, like, this dog wasn't like Doggo or Dogaressa. So, when they came up to me and barked, I just thought they were saying some totally weird version of 'hey." Catty shuddered, eyeing the dogs in front of her, "So of course, I reached out to pet them. Because dog monsters totally love when you let them. It's wicked cute. But when I like, went to pet the dog, they totally bit me!"
She still sounded shocked at the event, even though this must of happened months ago. You let her talk more, figuring that an interruption opulent help. "So Bratty and I are like, totally afraid of dogs now. Well, regular, like, surface dogs."
You turned the corner with Catty, and you could see the animal shelter again. "I promise, they aren't all bad. I had a dog back home, a long time ago. She was pretty dumb, but she was the sweetest thing. I've always been more of a cat person though."
The two of you locked eyes for a moment before you remembered that Catty was, well, a cat. "Cat person, hmm?" She practically purred the words, a smirk spreading across her face.
"Crap, yeah, that sounds weird. I've always had a thing for cats?" You tried again, making it even worse.
"Wow, and here I thought you had a thing for skeletons." Catty teased.
You couldn't help but blush as you walked closer to the shelter. "You know that's not-"
"______ is in love with a skeleton!" Your friend practically yelled. What was this, middle school?
"I am not in love! I just.... I have a crush on one." You pat one of the dogs, looking anywhere but at Catty. Your heart had flipped as you had spoken, finally admitting your little crush.
Catty laughed, opening the door for you and the dogs. "At least you can like, admit it."
You had only taken a few steps inside before you stopped. In front of you and Catty was Dorris, and a young man. His hair was dark black, but it seemed to gleam purple in the fluorescent lights.
"This was the last straw, Joshua!" Dorris yelled, her hands running through her hair impatiently. "I hate to lose another volunteer, but you are never here to do your job."
The guy, Josh, rolled his eyes, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his skinny jeans. "Whatever. Didn't want to be here anyways." And with that, he left, sneering at you and Catty as he walked by.
"Like, it's about time you took a stand, Dorry," Catty smiled at the older woman, shifting the leash into her other hand. "He was a total pain, anyways."
Dorris nodded, and Catty took you back to all of the cages. You helped put the dogs back in their proper places before Catty waved you off, saying that it was her job, not yours. You gave a quick goodbye to her and Dorris, and was soon on your way home. At least this time you didn't get lost.