Merry Christmas /utg/

	The mall was the best place to go for all Christmas shopping needs, but it was also the worst time of year to do it. Mobs were formed, people were trampled, and petty thievery ran rampant. It was very reminiscent of old-time humans, the boss monsters would muse. But they had to do the deed. Toriel and Frisk moved towards the mall.

	Luckily for both of them, Toriel’s sheer size and composure commanded that people made way, parting to allow the monster and her child through.  The actual inside of the mall was actually very calm, since no one was able to get in with the extreme case of holiday jitters outside.

	“Ok, my child,” said Toriel, “What do you think we should get for everybody?”  Frisk stroked her chin in thought, trying to conjure up thought of what each monster would want.  What would Sans want? Ketchup? No, too basic, and he’s probably got a large stockpile… somewhere. He’s a jokester, so maybe a prank would be the best gift? That’s it, a prank! Something ketchup themed...

	As if the store next to her read her thoughts, on display in the window was exactly that.  Right smack in the middle of the showcase was a ketchup bottle, but not just any ketchup bottle.  It was a whoopee cushion in disguise. It even worked at a normal ketchup dispenser!

	“Mom!” Frisk said, pointing at the gag toy in the window, “That’s perfect for Sans!” Toriel leaned forward looking at the tag attached. She giggled at what she read, nodding to agree that it was in fact perfect.  One monster down.

	Now what would Undyne like? Manga seemed like the obviously correct choice, but that’s never fun.  What’s something that she might be running out of? She has infinite amounts of spears, she has good armor… that’s it! Armor polish, a knight’s best friend. Luckily enough, there’s a store for LARPing nearby that is perfect for Frisk’s needs.

	As she picked out her gift, she wondered what to get for Asgore. He was an old fashioned guy, so new, higher grade tools and teapots wouldn’t work. There was something he was talking to her about not that long ago. Some sort of card game. What was the name? Conjuring: the Group? No, that’s not it. Fireplace… boulder? No it either. Cellars and Lizards? Ok, now she was sure that there’s no way that there was a card game called that.  In her thought, she ran into rack of different brands of cards. Today was just her lucky day.

	Her eyes scanned the multitude of foil covered cards, the brands all having weird names. Then she saw it. Magic the Gathering, exactly what Asgore was talking about. She grabbed a starter kit, and found a cheap cloak nearby. Chuckling, she brought the gifts up to the guy at the desk. The purchase was made, Frisk returned to Toriel.

“Is that… a cloak?” asked Toriel, looking at the fabric lying in the bag she was carrying. Frisk nodded enthusiastically, her smile plastered on her face. “Please don’t tell me that’s for your father and his silly card game.” Frisk nodded again, her smile getting cheekier. Toriel sighed, “I can’t turn you away from it, can I?” Another nod. “Ok, fine.  But don’t come crying to me when he doesn’t leave his room for weeks at a time.” Frisk laughed, and Toriel broke her stern visage, joining in. Three left.

Alphys’s was rather easy, there was a “Mew Mew Kissy Cutie” collector’s set in a pawn shop, seemingly in near mint condition, and the clerk guaranteed it was from when the show was first released.  The cash register opened and money was exchanged for goods. Without Toriel noticing, Frisk snagged a rather thick snail pun joke. She made a hushed purchase with the worker again and hid it in her sweater.  One left.

Now for the last hurdle.  What would Papyrus want? He’s got all the toys he could dream of having, he sleeps in a kickass car bed, and the cupboards are already filled with spaghetti galore.  What does Papyrus love more than spaghetti? Sans? Maybe. Undyne is also a candidate. But then Frisk realized something. There’s nothing more that Papyrus loves more than his friends and himself. A tail whacked her out of thought.

	“Oh, I’m so sorry,” said the owner of the tail, who jumped back, his face full of regret at hitting a child. Frisk had the wind knocked out of her “Maybe thinking while walking through a mall is not that great of an idea” she thought to herself, but offered a thumbs up to show no harm no foul.  She looked at the monster, who was holding an almost comical amount of art supplies in his arms, almost covering his face.

	“Is there any way I can make this up for you? A drawing, a painting, a bust, 3D model?”

	A bust.

	“That’s perfect!” said Frisk, the energy and excitement scaring the poor monster even further, “I want a bust of my friend, Papyrus!”  She showed the artist a picture of the skeleton on her phone.

	“Easy enough,” said the clumsy art maker, “come on, we’ll go over details at my stand.” The two made it over to his stand, which was basically just a sign that said “Artist for Rent,” he plopped his tool down and went to work, making the bust almost immediately. “Anything else that you need?”

	Frisk looked around, noticing Toriel walking up.  The child moving forward and whispering something into the dragon’s ear. “Oh yeah, I can do that. Might take a while, but count on it being done before Christmas.”  Frisk thanked the artist and walked away, the bust in her arms.

	Toriel had bags all up her arms, gifts weighing them down.  “Are you ready to go, my child.”

	Frisk nodded and they made their way home, a brown paper bag over the face of the bust.

																	~~~

	The dinner table was cleared, most plates licked clean. Toriel has the magic ability of making anything she touches perfectly delicious, her Christmas dinner was no exception. Ham was carved and vegetables were steamed, and everybody ate with renewed fervor. No morsel was spared, they ate this feast with no survivors.

	Toriel was also very adept at clean up, nobody was faster. The finished plates and discarded silverware were gone in an instant, already in the sink. Suds floated in the water, more forming as she scrubbed the pots and pans.  She hummed a tune, wiping her hands on her apron as she finished.

	The door burst open, behind it stood Asgore with his recently chopped down tree.  The strong scent of pine and spruce filled the house as he lugged it up into the living room, and placed it down next to the fireplace.  “Ok folks,” he said, clapping the stray pine needles off of his hands, “Let’s get decorating!”

	All of the monsters in the house jumped up, each holding a tub of their own ornaments from when they were underground. Papyrus and Sans brought little glass baubles of a multitude of colors, and little knick knacks: a little wooden toy car from Papyrus and a rock on a string from Sans.  Undyne brought along her most prized possessions, a few small scale fish made of wood and her spears. She tried to angle a javelin to be the most appealing on the tree, but Asgore stopped her in just the nick of time, saving the tree from being impaled. Undyne settled on just placing her little fish on the tree.

	Alphys didn’t want to impose her tastes on the others, so she brought simple little metal snowflakes, which gleamed brightly, freshly polished.  Toriel and Asgore brought out their old set of dusty ornaments, old stuffed animals, and glitter covered pine cones.  Asgore, with the help of Sans, loosely wrapped the lights around the branches, plugging them in putting on a multicolor lightshow.

	“I don’t know if humans celebrate like we do during the holidays,” said Asgore to Frisk, still admiring the lights, “Do you guys celebrate “Christmas” like we do?”

	Frisk giggled at the large monster, “It’s almost identical.”

	“Perfect!” he exclaimed, “Let the decorating and merrymaking begin!” And so it did, all seven of them placing assorted adornments on the tree. Some tinsel there, a snowflake there, Undyne even managed to hide a spear or two in there. Toriel balanced a few small stuffed toys on the branches, her collection slowly running out, Asgore still placing his little pine cones.

	A small gasp came from Toriel, her hand covering her mouth as she looked at the bottom of the container. Her eyes turned misty as she stared. Asgore noticed that his wife was upset, “Tori? Dear, are you alright?” He walked over, looking at what was causing her so much strife.  Then he saw it. The toys that he got for Asriel, so many years ago, were sitting at the bottom of the bin, still slightly dusty.  He reached in, grabbing the wooden and stuffed forest animals, looking them over.  He picked up the last toy, a small teddy bear.

	“That… That was his favorite,” said Toriel, her voice barely above a whisper.  Her eyes welled up, the tears now freely flowing down her cheeks.  Asgore reached over and wrapped his queen in a hug, rubbing her back reassuringly.  An idea came to him.

	“Hey Frisk,” he said, “Can you come here for a second?” The child nodded and walked over.  Asgore released his wife, the teddy bear still in his hands.  He kneeled down and offered it to Frisk. “Would you do the honors and put the topper on the tree?”

	Frisk took the toy in her hands, looking down at the faded fur and slightly chipped buttons.  She returned her gaze to Asgore, she nodded again.  Asgore smiled wider and picked up the girl, allowing her to fasten the bear to the topmost branches.  After making sure it wouldn’t fall, she told Asgore to let her down, admiring the tree when she was back on solid ground.

	The group joined her, staring at the fully decorated tree. Toriel wiped a tear out of her eye. smiling again. “It’s beautiful. Thanks, all of you, it’s wonderful.” No one spoke up, they just stood in silent agreement.

	Asgore moved towards the kitchen, “Does anyone want some tea or cocoa? We’ve got plenty.”

	“yeah, tea sounds really good,” said Sans.

	“I’LL TAKE A COCOA!” said Papyrus, “EXTRA MARSHMALLOWS!”

	Everybody got their hands on a hot beverage, sipping on them slowly. Asgore snapped his fingers and the fireplace came to life, filling the room with a pleasant heat.  Presents were placed under the tree and stockings were filled, all of the monsters took their places in the living room.  Sans and Papyrus next to the fireplace, Alphys and Undyne in the love seat, and the three Dreemurrs snuggled in on the couch. One by one, they all fell asleep, waiting for christmas morning to come.

																~~~

	Deep, deep underground a small piece of paper was tacked onto the wall. On it was a drawing of the Dreemurrs tree, the teddy bear on top the focal point.  Written under it was “Merry Christmas, Asriel.”

																~~~

	Christmas morning finally came, and the monsters were apt in the unwrapping of presents. Everybody was excitedly giving and receiving a multitude of gifts. Asgore gave everybody a matching teacup, Toriel provided little story books for each of them.  Sans gave the gift of pranks to all of his friends. Papyrus was glad to give away his bones, which he already does most days. Alphys had Mettaton provide various merchandise, free of charge for all of her friends. Undyne gave them all spears engraved with “Merry Christmas.” Wrapping paper littered the floor, and new knick knacks and toys were near their owners.  Frisk walked over to Sasn, a wrapper cylinder in her hands. Sans took the present, giggling at the wrapping job.

	“lemme guess,” he said, peeling the tape, “a ketchup holder.” He finished unwrapping the gift, which he was partially right about.

	“Yeah, couldn’t think of anything else to get you,” said Frisk, rubbing the back of her neck, “I filled it with your favorite brand of ketchup though!” Sans shrugged, squeezing the tube. A loud “pfbllrlllblbllrlt” echoed through the now silent house. All merrymaking stopped, Sans’s face was dead serious.

	The air was tense, even the fire stopped making noise, Frisk and Sans locked in a deadly staring contest. Both of their stern looks faltered as they started cracking up, their laughs filling the silence. Everyone joined in.

	“that was a good one kid,” said Sans, wiping an eye socket, “i can barely feel my sides.”

	“Best part is that I think you can still use that as a normal ketchup holder too. Isn’t the future great?” said Frisk, wiping her own eyes.

	Papyrus picked up the porcelain present, the wrapping job just a brown paper bag with “FOR PAPYRUS” scribbled in black marker on the front. He peeled off the bag, only to stare back at his own gorgeous face.

	A tear came to his eye, “IT’S… IT’S BEAUTIFUL, HUMAN. I WILL TREASURE IT ALWAYS!”

	Sans came over and peeked at the bust shrugging as he said: “looks like a late macaulay culkin to me.” Papyrus slowly turned his head to stare at his brother, his eyes holding no warmth in his usual gaze. Sans got the message.

	Undyne picked up her gift from frisk, unwrapping the small box. Papyrus noticed and snapped out of his cold facade, “OH!” he put a hand next to his mouth trying to block the words from getting to Undyne, but still talked in his usual loud voice, “I NOTICED THAT YOU GOT HER THE WRONG GIFT! BUT DO NOT FEAR HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAVE GOT YOUR BACK!” Undyne’s eyes looked down at the “gift.” She picked up a small bone from the box, Papyrus winked at Frisk.

	“Um,” said Undyne, “Thanks. I’ll just put this with the others.” She placed her new bone with the one that Papyrus got her as his gift. Papyrus was beaming.

	Next up, Alphys. She carefully peeled the paper off of her gift, placing it neatly on the floor, slowly, she revealed the tin with the original “Mew Mew Kissie Cutie” logo. Alphys let out a gasp. “Is this the original collectors edition?” she forgoed the gentle unwrapping, tearing the thin paper right off of her gift, “with NO water damage?” She hugged the relic close to her chest. “Thank you so much, Frisk.”

	Asgore looked at his gift, thinking that it would be a new sweater for him to wear.  He ripped away the paper to reveal the dark green cloak and small card pack.  His eyes gleamed, looking down at the simple cards and several multi-sided die. “Thank you so much Frisk,” he said, giving her a big hug, “I’ve been meaning to get into this.” Toriel rolled her eyes, but still had a wide smile on her face. She slowly rocked in her chair, she didn’t get that many gifts, but she didn’t mind. As long as her friends and family were happy, she was happy.

	Frisk walked, up a book in her hands. She offered it to the old queen. Toriel took it into her hands, “1000 and One Snail Puns, You’d be Slow Not To Get Them.” “Oh you didn’t have to get me anything, my child.” She put her hand on Frisk’s head, closing her eyes, her warm smile growing.

	“There’s one more thing I got you,” said the child, removing herself from Toriel.  She ran over to her room, coming back with a picture frame. “Asgore, this is for you also.” The two boss monsters walked over to see what Frisk had gotten for them.

	She turned the frame in her hands, in it was a near perfect drawing of Asriel.  Toriel covered her mouth, to shocked to say anything. Asgore stood there, speechless, his eyes looking sad and happy at the same time. They stared at the portrait, not saying a thing. The room was silent once again. Tears started to stain the cheeks of the monarchs, who broke from their statue like gaze.  They took Frisk into a hug, smiling and crying at the same time. No words came from either of them, their thanks evident in their actions.

	Frisk broke the embrace, moving over to the mantel. She placed the picture next to the others collected, right in the middle.  “Merry Christmas, Az.”