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Frisk eats through their breakfast with excitement. Not because it was good - although, it was, it was fantastic and they will always love Toriel’s chocolate chip pancakes - but because the day ahead of them promised to be awesome. The grand opening of Toriel’s new school, something she’d been working on for a long time at this point. It was December, and wouldn’t be properly starting classes until the following September, but today marked the beginning of operations to help the school prepare for its very first year, and the building finally being complete.
They finish up quicker than they usually would and give Toriel a thumbs up to let her know the breakfast was good, and though she’s on a phone call she gives them one and a smile in return. They bolt up the stairs to get ready. Only half an hour left until they leave!!
They brush through their hair in the mirror, making sure to smooth down the pieces in the back that never seem to sit quite right. It’s gotten long in the past few months, they haven’t bothered to cut it and the nice thing about their guardians now is that no one asks them to. Or, rather, reminds them that they look messy and unkempt.
Hair clip. Blue one in the back of the box, with the gold studs.
Good morning to you too, Chara.
They have an agreement. As part of sharing a body, they alternate who gets to pick their style of dress each day. They alternate some other things too, like who has control of the body, though that’s circumstantial rather than scheduled.
It was good that it was Chara’s turn to pick out their clothes, in their humble opinion, because while Frisk prioritized comfort, Chara prioritized appearance, and today was a day where they needed to look like the human-monster ambassador. The press would be there, writing articles on the new school, and how Frisk dressed would certainly influence their impression of the place. After all, if Toriel couldn’t get the charge under her care to dress properly, how could she possibly expect to teach hundreds of students?
You’re being paranoid again, Chara. It’s going to be okay.
It will be okay, because it’s my turn and I will make sure that is not an issue.
Frisk huffs, but lets Chara take control of the body once they finish brushing through the tangles in their hair.
As long as you don’t dress me like a clown.
Please, you think I would do something like that?
But the outfit they want to dress Frisk in is conveyed through their mental link, and they can imagine ever so clearly what Chara actually wants them to wear.
Actually, the clown suit would be better.
—
For the millionth time, Frisk tugs their collar away from their throat.
Does it need to be buttoned up so far?
Yes, of course it does. It doesn’t look right if you don’t wear it correctly.
It can’t hurt the look that bad if I just-
They reach their hand up to loosen the very top button of their dress shirt and the other one comes up to grab the wrist of the first and pull it back into their lap.
Here, if it bothers you so much, I will take control while we ride there. Sound good?
Good enough.
Chara settles back into control of the body and fixes the few wrinkles in their suit jacket, and recenters the locket around their neck.
“You look very dapper today, Frisk. Are you nervous?” Toriel glances back at them through the rearview mirror.
Chara shrugs. “A little, I guess..”
After a couple years of doing this, Chara has become an expert at mimicking Frisk’s behavior, their speech patterns, their body language. The only one who seems to be able to tell the difference is Alphys, and they’re half convinced she can’t tell the difference and all her offhanded comments about “it’s almost like you’re two people sometimes, haha!” are actually just anime induced conspiracy theories.
Toriel smiles gently as she does when they say they’re feeling less than good. “You’ll be okay. You’re going to do great, Frisk.”
“Thanks, m-“ But she’s not Frisk’s mom, and it would be weird if they said that, “Thanks.”
She pretends she doesn’t notice the slip up. So good at mimicking Frisk, and still so bad at pretending they aren’t themself. It’s a miracle they haven’t been discovered by anyone but Flowey yet.
They feel something warm in their chest, Frisk trying to comfort them. They accept, but can’t bring themself to reciprocate.
After a quiet car ride with just the radio on low in the background, the car comes to a stop in one of the faculty parking spots around the back of the school.
The two of them have seen the school at various stages of built, even saw the empty lot while Toriel was talking with the project manager. It’s nice to see her dreams culminate in something so grand as an entire school building.
Seems like we’re not the first to arrive.
Chara’s observation is blatantly correct, a few other vehicles pulled up around the building. A human woman bundled up in a big jacket stands at the doors.
Toriel approaches her, and Frisk follows. “Goodness, you must be freezing, standing outside in this weather! You’re quite early, you know. The tour’s not meant to start for another hour and a half!”
The woman shivers. “I know. I just wanted t-to see if I could get a few questions in, b-before the proper opening.”
“Oh my, well, come on inside. It’ll be warmer in there, and I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have. Are you a parent, thinking of enrolling your child here?” Toriel unlocks the door, letting the three of them inside. It is much warmer in here.
“No,” the woman says, relaxing in the heated air of the building, “I’m with the local paper, I wanted to know…”
Frisk stops listening after that. They take off their own heavy jacket. The suit is already way too warm, and the jacket makes it worse. It still presses on their neck.
Fix your posture, Frisk.
I’m wearing the suit already, Frisk complains, I don’t need to look any more formal.
That’s not why I-
“-Ambassador?” the woman asks them.
“Huh?” they tune back in the conversation.
“Will you be attending school here in the fall?” she repeats.
Frisk nods. “I will, and I’m really excited to go. I can’t wait to meet everyone and see how monsters and humans get along.”
This is a practiced response, something that they’ve said in their head many times before. They expected the press would be here, so they have a number of responses prepared to a variety of questions.
No more questions come though. Toriel brings them to the administrative office, answering questions along the way. Once they arrive, she says, “It has been lovely to chat, but I have some things to attend to before the event really starts. Will you be among the tour group?”
“I will,” the woman smiles. “I would love to see more of this school. It was lovely to meet the both of you, and I love your little suit.”
She smiles at Frisk, who smiles back and thanks her briefly. They can say with complete confidence that they do not agree.
She parts ways with them, leaving Toriel and Frisk to enter the office. Toriel then addresses Frisk, “It’s going to be a bit boring to watch. If you would like to explore the school you may-“
At the permission, Frisk takes off, excited to explore a new area.
“Don’t wander too far!” Toriel calls.
“I won’t!” Frisk responds. They can almost feel her sigh as they round the corner.
It’s just like every other school they’ve been in, with white walls and white and grey floors, with a royal blue painted in as an accent. The doors to the classrooms are black, but the classrooms themselves are empty in a way they’ve never seen before. Not even right before summer break. Even then, the teachers will still have their own individual decorations up, the end of school year posters, the teacher’s desk all done up with their coffee cups and the pictures on their desks.
These are so empty. There’s student desks and teacher desks, there’s filing cabinets and closets, but there’s not any sort of personality in the space yet. They’d never even considered what such an empty school might look like, everything stripped down to its bare bones.
They find one classroom in particular, one that they’ve been shown before. They step inside to admire it and let the door click shut behind them. They’re too old to be attending any classes in this hallway, the elementary wing, but Toriel was proud of her new place as the kindergarten teacher. While she planned on taking some administrative duties, she’d never been fond of them, and had instead opted to delegate the tasks. She would much rather work with the kids directly.
She’s already begun decorating. Frisk has helped a bit, thinking of their childhood classrooms and giving input on the ways they remembered their own teachers decorating when they were in elementary school. It’s nowhere near finished, but it’s coming together nicely.
Frisk takes a seat at one of the desks. It’s too small for them, not helped by the suit and the way it seems to bunch up under their arms as they rest them on the desk, but it’s nostalgic.
“Well, don’t you look dapper today!” they’re greeted by a voice they’ve known for decades, and also only a couple years now.
“Hiya, Flowey. Chara picked it out,” Frisk says.
Flowey nods. “That sounds right, you have no fashion sense.”
Frisk scoffs. “Excuse you, I am so fashionable I’d make the magazines weep.”
“Out of shame that anyone could choose to put your outfits together, maybe,” Flowey jabs back.
Remind him that he wore ugly Gyftmas sweaters year round unironically.
How bad?
Hot pink with pom poms and the words “meowy catmas” on it under a print of a cat face.
“So, Chara tells me that you used to-“ Frisk begins.
“If this is about that sweater again I don’t wanna hear it,” Flowey grumbles.
Frisk snickers. “Anyway, what did you want?”
“Just wanted to see how Toriel’s whole teacher thing was coming along. Or falling apart. I’m not picky,” Flowey shrugs his stem.
“You’re a bit early to see anything,” Frisk points out.
“Well, maybe I wanted to check in on how you were doing too. Ever think of that, if you know everything?” Flowey rolls his eyes.
“Aw, that’s so sweet,” Frisk smiles. They reach out to pat his petals and he ducks away.
“Hey, hands off! I bite!” Flowey bares comically huge and sharp teeth to prove his point.
It’s Frisk’s turn to roll their eyes. They smile though and back off. They straighten out their collar again and readjust their sleeves. They huff when it still hugs their neck, digging into their skin, and the fitted nature and stiff fabric of the shirt makes it hard to get a good deep breath in. “I feel ridiculous in this. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Chara was trying to make me look dumb.”
I resent that.
“Nah, they like you too much for that. Also, they like to keep up appearances too much for that. This is really just the kinda thing they think is appropriate for an event,” Flowey says.
“I dunno, this thing is hard to wear,” Frisk says.
“It looks hard to wear, and I don’t have the body to wear it. Literally. But I know Chara. They spend ages agonizing over what to wear and how they look for stuff like this. They put you in this on purpose, and not for that purpose,” Flowey says.
If you’d listen to me, you’d have known that already. Additionally, you’d know how to wear it too.
“I’ll let’cha be for now, but I’ll be back later. I’m hitting up the cafeteria. I hear Greenie’s making cookies and I’m not missing those,” Flowey leans in conspiratorially before ducking back into the floor.
“Of course he knows everyone by their soul colors,” Frisk mumbles, though it is a bit funny.
The other humans, resurrected when the barrier broke, have definitely introduced themselves to Flowey, but now that they think about it, they can’t remember him calling any of them by name except the yellow soul, Clover.
You ready to take my advice now?
When were you trying to give me advice???
When I told you to fix your posture. Stand up straight- yes, now hold your chin up. A little higher. Pull down the jacket, it’s all wrinkled and that’ll make it worse. The end of the cuffs should sit right at that freckle on your wrist. There you go. Breathe with the top of your lungs now, not the bottom. Feel any better?
They take a deep breath and though it does feel weird standing so tall like this, it does very much alleviate the issues they’d been having with the clothes.
It is fitted specifically for your body. You should not experience such significant discomfort with an outfit made for you. If you are, change something. Make it easier on yourself.
You’re certainly one to talk.
Yes, yes. I’m aware of my shortcomings as a person and learn and grow from them. Huzzah.
You know, this is a really good metaphor for-
Didn’t you want to see the rest of the building?
Yea, alright, where do you wanna go next?
Well, if Flowey’s right about the cafeteria…
You want to see if you can pry the chocolate chip cookie recipe out of Micheal.
Guilty as charged.
Frisk is pretty sure they remember where the cafeteria is. It was down the hall, next to the band room, right…?
It’s a really good metaphor for mental health and how changing your perspective on something can make it feel easier to deal with-
I hate sharing a mindscape with you. Become a therapist.
Frisk laughs.