A Second Chance (Papyrus X Flowey/Asriel)

Important Questions, Important Decisions

"Jeez, that guy is full of surprises, eh?" Undyne huffed as she closed the door to her room, the tired skeleton resting peacefully inside. Her expression was thoughtful, something Asriel wasn't used to.
"You don't have to tell me, you think I planned to come back out of the blue?" Asriel chuckled quietly at the memory, what felt like days ago now more like weeks.

He pulled out a seat at the table, Alphys sipping tea diagonally across from him.
"So, what sort of stuff have you gotten up to since you're like, alive now?" Undyne asked bluntly, making Alphys choke on her drink mid sip and rapidly try to excuse her manners.
"Undyne you-you can't just ask that!" She coughed out, face pink with embarrassment.
Asriel had to hold his muzzle so he wouldn't laugh at the morbid question,
"It's alright, Alphys. Honestly, most of my time is just spent figuring out the soul stuff with Papyrus, he's almost as big a nerd as you guys sometimes." He tried to use banter to ease any of the awkwardness, internally sighing in relief when it got a chuckle out of the guardswoman.
"Yeah, you guys are practically connected at the hip! What's Sans had to say about it all?" She pulled up her own seat at the table, next to the nervously fidgeting dinosaur. Asriel didn't think her scales could glow a brighter red, but he proved himself wrong in that moment. He tried not to stare for her sake.
"Well, he wasn't happy when I had to drag Paps home hammered-"
"Wait wait wait, he drinks?" Undyne would've spit out her drink if she'd had one, leaning over the table till Asriel could make out the stitches in her eyepatch.
He leaned back into his hood quickly, his figure shrinking till almost the scientists level.
"Not usually! It was a big misunderstanding, ok? Ask him about it, it's not my place to say."
While technically telling the truth, he was truly just hoping to get out of a scolding from the admittedly intimidating monster. A comforting tap from Alphys brought her back down to her seat, sighing to herself.
"Guess he's full of more secrets than I thought, I gotta give him credit, he's a great actor."
"Probably got it from all the Mettaton he wants to watch, constantly." The goat huffed, crossing his arms as he leaned into the back of the seat.
"Oooooh, Are yo-you jealous?" Alphys chimed in with a growing mishief in her tone, Undyne following with her own amused oooh-ing.
Asriel sputtered, feeling his fur stand up as the accusation hit him.
"Jealous? Of that cheesy rust bucket? Have you guys forgotten who I am all of a sudden?"
"Sounds like jealousy to me, Alph."
"Yu-yup, definitely." The two said through shared giggles, ignoring the royal card he pulled completely.

Even while somewhat offended, the strange positivity Asriel felt in his chest almost made him queasy, hardly able to put a name to it.

Papyrus could name it, he thought.

"Moving on, I've been meaning to ask you about something actually." He continued with a tinge of nervousness that made his voice crack. Undyne motioned for him to continue, leaning an arm on the back of Alphys chair
(Which Alphys was totally cool about and not at all going to write about later.)

"Paps job, all his training stuff, he's not gonna be able to do it that well while we're figuring stuff out, is he?" Even if rhetorical, the silence that followed the question left him only more worried.
"Well, it depends, yknow? As much as I'd like to, I can't give the guy special treatment just because he's my bud. If he needs time off, I can see what I can do." She tried to compromise, the topic making her visibly nervous.
"We both know Papyrus, he'd rather dust than take sick time, and 'Sans might worry.'" he mocked the skeletons tone, trying to stay at least lighthearted.
"I mean, what about Sans? Surely he'd help out more knowing his brother is recovering." Undyne added somewhat defensively, though her tone betrayed her lack of confidence in him.
"But then he'd want to know why he's recovering, me and him before weren't exactly- buddies?"
"Before? I thought you were just dead?"
"It's a long story okay? This isn't about me anyways, Papyrus works too hard to have two deadbeats to feed." He answered, showing more frustration than he'd intended to.
"Look, I know times are tough, but I'm at a bit of a loss here too, 'kay? If you've got any better ideas I'd like to hear them." The tension mirrored in the other, conflicted on what she could even say to the former prince of the underground.

Then, Alphys cleared her throat, having built the courage to include her own idea.
"Wha-what if.. uhm.. and you can totally say no!" Alphys prefaced, nervously gulping when the attention suddenly focused entirely on her,
"..Undyne trained you fo-for the job.. too?"

The two looked at her in silence for a moment, making her squirm only slightly under the pressure, before looking at eachother.

"I.. am so down for that." Undyne stated after only thinking for a few seconds, the regular upbeat determination in her voice returning.
"Re-Really?"
"HELL YEAH!!" She suddenly shouted, standing to accentuate her excitement in the idea without even taking Asriels reaction into account.
"It's perfect! You guys can bring home double the G, and I'll get to be the one that trains the super weapon that you guys are!" There were practically stars in her eye as she spoke, stunning Asriel in silence as he took the idea in.

..to be fair, he couldnt think of much wrong with it, besides her obviously still wanting them to fuse. He'd watched Papyrus do his job for years, he could handle a little training, and not being so dependent on him could take some stress off Papyrus's shoulder balls.

"-at do yo-you think Asriel?" Alphys broke his train of thought, a nervous grin on her face.
"..I guess it's pretty good." He admitted with a nod, only furthering Undynes violent excitement. She refrained from throwing the couch, thankfully enough.
"It's a deal! I'll get the boring papers and stuff, we can consider today's training your test that you passed with flying colours," she ranted on, Asriel soon tuning out the ramble. The mood was indeed infectious, he only hoped Papyrus would react the same once he finally woke up.

Which, as it turns out, would be quite soon.

1135 words
(Welcome to the end of chapter 24! Terribly sorry it took so long to write, but I'm excited to show you all what I've had planned for this story! As always, happy reading folks)