“What can I do to help?” Frisk asked as they walked into the kitchen.

“You look so cheerful today!” Toriel said happily. “Oh, it is good to see you smile like that. Go ahead and set the table, if you would, please.”

“Of course,” Frisk said, completely unable to stop smiling. They did try, it just wasn’t working.

A happy little tune hummed out from them as they went about setting the table.

“Hmm… I know that sound,” Toriel said with an amused glint in her eyes.

“Oh?” Frisk asked.

“You have found someone, have you not?” Toriel asked and Frisk turned bright red. “Hee hee! I knew it.”

“I, er, um,” they stammered out and put down the plates so they could cover their blush.

Toriel giggled some more.

“Love is such a wonderful thing,” Toriel said, with a glowing smile. “So tell me all about it, my child.”

Frisk smiled up at Toriel. It was so sweet that even after knowing that they were an adult, Toriel still wanted to call them her child, since they were calling her mum.

A surge of love of a completely different sort filled them as they smiled at the wonderfully kind, loving, and accepting person holding a bag of potatoes in the kitchen.

Still…

“It’s kind of complicated,” Frisk said, looking down awkwardly.

“Hmm,” Toriel said. “It often is, in the early days. New love is a beautiful thing. Have you two started dating? Maybe held hands?”

Toriel had this amused, teasing expression on her face and Frisk just exploded into an embarrassed heat of blushing.

“Y-yes, we did hold hands,” Frisk said.

This was technically true, even if the context was completely false.

But what the hell were they supposed to say? They didn’t want to refuse to answer, they didn’t want to push Toriel away. At the same time, uh…

“How delightful,” Toriel said, still with a mischievous, teasing tone. “Do I know them?”

This question… how could Frisk… they looked down, frozen.

“You do not have to answer if you do not wish to,” Toriel said, sounding a little sad. “It is all right.”

“I… no, I mean, I want… uh…” Frisk said, and took a breath. “You matter to me, mum. I don’t want to keep you out of my life. I mean, I can’t tell you everything, like, y’know, confidential work things and stuff, but… I, uh…”

“You can also tell me things at your own pace, my child,” Toriel said warmly.

Frisk reached out and took her hand, squeezing it. Toriel squeezed back, beaming at them.

Sans’ cascade of lies to Papyrus, because he didn’t want to face the truth, poked at them. If they tried to hide things from Toriel, they might find themself in a similar spiral. Best to own up to things immediately, even if it was really uncomfortable.

“This is awkward,” Frisk said, looking down. “But I want to be honest with you, and I’m worried that I’m going to make you uncomfortable, but…”

Toriel sat down at the table.

“I am here to listen,” she said, and Frisk smiled at her gratefully, sitting down beside her.

“I, uh, I know how you feel… I mean, I kinda could see, um…” Frisk said, and sighed, trying again. “Um… would it bother you if Sans and I were together?”

“Ah,” Toriel said, a mournful expression crossing her face. “I do see why that concerned you. No, my child, I have no objections, not on my account. I had even guessed it was him, and had just wanted to tease. But I do have a concern. While I do not know quite how old he is… is he not far older than you?”

“I… um…” Frisk said, blinking. “I have no idea how old he is.”

“It might be worth finding out,” Toriel said. “You are young enough yet that it still matters. Barely an adult, and still finding who you are.”

“I will totally ask him,” Frisk said. “That is definitely a thing that I will do.”

Toriel laughed at that.

“That is good,” Toriel said. “I do confess that I had considered the idea of a romance with him myself, but you do not need to worry about my feelings on that account. It was clearly not meant to be. If you two can be good for each other, then I am truly happy for you both.”

Frisk looked down again. Toriel was… maybe too nice. This was making them feel more guilty, not less.

“We have shared some really good moments,” Frisk said in a low tone. “I do think we’re good for each other.”

“I am glad. I had teased earlier, but I am curious what stage you are at,” Toriel said. “I know you have held hands, but have you begun to date? Have you had thoughts of marriage, of a family?”

Frisk blushed again and looked away. They’d specifically had thoughts of being Sans’ possession, and the idea of marriage and a family seemed… weird. Toriel’s perspective made them feel incredibly alien.

“We’re kind of, um, playing things by ear,” Frisk said, feeling overwhelmingly awkward. “And… uh, there’s also, I mean, I don’t actually know what Sans wants at all?”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“Hmm,” Toriel said. “I do understand that problem, very much. I hope that Sans proves to be more forthcoming with you than he was with me.”

“This is a known challenge with Sans,” Frisk said with a smile and Toriel smiled back, a touch sadly. “But I think I understand why he has trouble with that. I… well, we’ve talked and with some stuff we’ve said, I have real hope that he will talk to me. For real, I mean, to really connect.”

“That is a good thing to hear,” she said, seeming relieved. “It is important to know who someone really is. Being surprised about a person’s true nature is… well, it can be quite painful.”

Somehow, Frisk didn’t think they were exactly talking about Sans anymore.

“Surprises are inevitable,” Frisk said. “Sometimes, life events can impact people. Can change them. Sometimes, in unpredictable ways.”

Toriel frowned a little.

“I believe that life events merely allow different parts of who a person is to come out, to be clearly seen,” she said. “If I had been… that is, if someone is more perceptive, they could see problems ahead of time.”

Yeah, they weren’t talking about Sans right now.

“People can change who they are, though,” Frisk said. “I mean, a true change, even at a deep level, from a significant enough event. Especially the kind of event that destroys you - what emerges can become something new.”

Toriel was frowning thoughtfully.

“Beyond that,” they continued, “sometimes the deepest parts of who a person is? No one knows - that person themself, anyone else, it’s just not known. Loving someone is risky. You have to accept that risk, to trust that their soul is basically what you perceived it to be. And, to love them enough that, even if there’s some darkness blended in, that you can accept them and love them anyway.”

Toriel’s gaze was distant for a moment.

“Do you believe I was wrong to have left Asgore?” she asked, her voice solemn.

“I don’t know nearly enough to judge something like that,” Frisk said. “I don’t know what you saw, what you tried, what you thought, what you felt, nothing. And even if I did, love isn’t rational. If what Asgore did was enough to break your love for him, then that’s simply the truth of the situation. The truth of your nature - the sort of person you can love, the sort of things you can accept. You can’t force yourself to love someone. If you’d tried to force yourself to stay with him, even after your love was broken? Now that would have been unquestionably wrong. Everyone’s love should have some limits of what they can accept before their love is destroyed - that seems healthy and right.”

Not that Frisk had such limits, but well, Frisk had no delusions about being “healthy and right.”

And all this was, of course, why Frisk had never and would never tell Toriel about the genocide timeline.

And come to think of it, might also be why Sans couldn’t pursue things with Toriel, either, despite the obvious chemistry and mutual appreciation between them. There was too much darkness in Sans and Frisk both, and Toriel had turned away from someone she’d dearly loved for the crime of lashing out in wretched grief. What Asgore had done was wrong, no question, but still… he was a better and kinder person than either Frisk or Sans, by some measures.

Toriel looked contemplative and a little sad, for a moment.

“Do feel free to not answer, but I am curious to know,” Toriel said. “Do you merely like Sans or are you in love with him?”

Frisk smiled at that.

“I am fully, completely, and absolutely in love with Sans,” they admitted freely. “And I have been for a while.”

“I had noticed that your eyes followed him, whenever you were together,” Toriel mused. “But it did not seem… hmm. You did not glow as you glow today.”

They grinned a little, feeling kind of sheepish.

“For his part, though,” Toriel said, frowning more. “Does he love you back?”

They could almost hear the objection in her voice - that she’d seen them watching Sans, but not vice versa. But he’d already addressed that. He’d gone out of his way to avoid thinking of them that way.

“He hasn’t said the words,” Frisk said, feeling a little uncertain. They’d felt the connection in his soul, but apparently him not saying it outloud left a little room for insecurities. “But he has said that he cares about me. That he trusts me deeply, that he wants me around. I really feel like he does love me.”

“Have you ‘said the words,’ as you put it?” Toriel asked.

“I did,” Frisk said, looking down again.

“You told him outright that you love him, and he did not respond in kind,” Toriel said, looking mildly upset.

“It’s hard for him,” Frisk said with a shrug.

“Hmm,” Toriel said. “It is hard for him. Well. That may be. Perhaps, then, I should ask as to your thoughts. What do you want from your relationship with him? Are you focused on the moment or are you thinking of your future - of marriage, of family, of a life together?”

“I want to be with him forever,” Frisk said. “But as to the details… really, I have no idea.”

“Surely you must have thought about it,” Toriel said.

“Weirdly not, actually?” Frisk said. “I just want to be with him, in every way that I can. I want to be by his side forever. And whether that looks like a normal relationship or not, or if it involves marriage, or a family, or anything… I just… I don’t know. I want us to be happy, and whatever that looks like, then, well, that’s what I want. And a lot of that depends on what Sans wants.”

“Which you also don’t know,” Toriel said.

“Yeah,” Frisk said.

“It is the early days of your time together, yet,” Toriel said with a smile. “I do know the feeling of a new bloom of love. There are things you should do, things you should learn. His past and nature, what he wants for your relationship, what he sees for your future. But regardless of all that, I am glad to see your joy, and am glad you have spoken to me of this.”

“Me, too,” Frisk said. “I’m glad you’re always there for me to talk to. And I will totally ask him things. In fact, I think I’ll go right now and text him.”

Toriel tittered at that and got up. When Frisk stood, too, she pulled them into a hug.

“That is good,” Toriel said. “Do tell me how old he is, too - I find I am curious now. I will resume making dinner and I will let you know when it is done.”

“Thanks, mum,” Frisk said with a grin and then went back to their room.

That conversation was totally not what they’d expected, but it was nice. Weird, to somehow feel both loved and accepted, but also isolated and pushed away, in a single conversation. Still, it wasn’t like they didn’t know Toriel would have problems with… uh… everything.

At least, they assumed so. It wasn’t like it’d be okay to abuse the timeloops to actually find out her real reaction. Sans was really annoyed the one time they’d passingly mentioned the idea - at least, in regards to friends. That was just standard operating procedure with politicians, but they did understand why he felt it was wrong and manipulative to do so with people they were close to.

They passingly wondered if he’d feel any differently now that he could personally benefit from it…

But no, that wasn’t the priority. They weren’t going to ask about things like marriage and a family - god, no - but they could ask how old he was.

Frisk: Hey, I was talking to Toriel, and a random thing kind of came up. We were sort of wondering how old you are?

Awkward, but… well, that was fine. He didn’t respond right away, so they put their phone aside. He often didn’t pay attention to his phone, unless it was blaring alarms.

In the meantime… this might be a little difficult. The memories were compelling, but they needed to make sure they’d be fit for showing up to dinner.

Their hand drifted lower. Well, they knew how to focus through their lust… this might still be just fine…