chilly outsides causing fingertips and noses to turn pink, winds so strong they push heavy snow into drifts alongside houses and cars, and the sounds of daily life muffled by the thick white blanket that had seemed to pile up over a matter of minutes- all held behind a small pane of glass within your reach.

'did you know that snow acts as nature's very own soundproofing system?!' you looked over to see a tall friend had sat down next to you. 'the great dr alphys told me that's what makes it cozy-'

'its so SLEET to see you guys enjoying the weather,' another shorter friend had taken seat beside you, almost as if he'd teleported to that spot.

papyrus looked appalled, but seemed to be stifling a smile. you let out air from your nose, rolling your eyes but enjoying the joke nonetheless.

'whats that reaction for?' sans snickered 'this is SNOW laughing matter-'

'SANS PLEASE WILL YOU QUIT IT,' papyrus couldn't hold back his laugh anymore, but it came in the form of tears rolling down from his eye sockets. suddenly a completely serious look washed over his face. turning to sans, eyes wide, he said 'but- ICY what u did there,'

sans burst out laughing. 'its ICE to see you starting to come around on my jokes, bro,'

papyrus chuckled to himself, he seemed proud but a little disappointed.

a silence fell in the room as everyone turned their gaze to the window, the snow falling clumsily against the drifts. not a being in sight, just houses with shut curtains that emitted a warm yellow glow. the odd snow poff could be seen in the distance, hiding unknown trinkets. a comforting smell wafted towards your nose, that of a hearty tomato pasta sauce.

without a word, but instead the faint creaking of bones, the tall friend arose and strolled to the kitchen, the silence remaining. faint sounds of water boiling soon reached your ears, followed by the shaking and twisting of a salt shaker. you looked over to see papyrus, a pink apron suddenly covering his baggy grey sweatshirt, standing over the stove, a large wooden spoon in hand. he grinned and brought his free hand to wave at you. you returned the gesture.

sans, too, lifted himself up and headed to the door, in which he opened, and with a wink and small salute, he closed. a gust of wind had blown a small amount of snow into the house, which fell to the carpet but didn't melt. a thought briefly grazed your mind at how he hadn't bundled up before leaving the house, but you were quickly reminded he didn't have skin.

the stirring of a spoon against a pan rang out softly, and as you returned your gaze to the kitchen, sans stood, whisking what looked to be hot chocolate. he copied papyrus' previous movement of a reassuring grin accompanied by excessive waving.

you turned your eyes back to the window, leaning your head back until you felt it join with the comfy carpet below. the fireplace was cackling merrily to your right, and as you moved to face it, a warmth flooded over you. you curled your knees to your chest, closing your eyes.

'don't fall asleep on us yet, kid,' sans' voice echoed. 'dinners almost ready.'

you rubbed your eyes and sat up, hugged your knees to your chest and brought your eyes back to the window.

a memory flickered outside, the sight of your tall friend, adorned with a toque and a large puffy jacket appeared on the snow soaked lawn. sans stood adjacent to him, in a jacket a little bit puffier than his usual blue hoodie. instead of his regular pink slippers, he wore an identical pair that he called his 'outdoor slippers'. you had enquired about whether he could tell the difference, to which he has responded with 'they're totally different! can't you tell?'.

papyrus had a thick pair of red mittens on, encasing his finger bones in warmth. he reached down to grab a snow poff and a small dog poked it's head out with a squeak. the tall friend held the small dog up to his face to get a better look at them, to which it responded by licking his cheek, hopping down and scampering away. he was caught off guard, but with a smile, he reached down and picked up another, dogless snow poff. he rolled it into a ball between his mittens, picking up more snow and packing it on. soon he was rolling the ball on the ground, it gaining in size.

'a perfect bottom!' he exclaimed before realizing what he'd said. you and sans burst out laughing, leaving papyrus flustered and rolling his eyes. 'y-you know what I mean!' he spoke, his brow furrowed. 'sans, how's that middle going?'

sans' snow middle was a misshapen pile rather than a round ball.

'I mean,' papyrus paused, 'good effort,' he picked up the pile and placed it on top of the perfect bottom. 'now for a head!'

you looked to the ground to pick up a fistful of snow but before you could, papyrus shouted something about how your 'human hands' could get hurt by the temperature of the snow, and handed you his fluffy red mittens. you placed them on your hands, they were several sizes too big. this caused you to grasp at the inside lining in attempt to keep them from falling off. craning your neck to look at papyrus, he smiled brightly at the sight of you wearing the oversized mittens.

you made a small ball, packed some extra snow into it and handed it to papyrus to place on top since you couldn't reach.

'perfect!' papyrus beamed. 'now for the finishing touches- sans?'

sans reached into his puffy jacket pocket, retrieving a handful of trash. he sifted through it, picking up a ketchup packet, two bottle caps of varying sizes, and the remnants of a half-eaten hot dog.

he made eye contact with papyrus, who immediately understood what the look intended. arms outstretched, papyrus placed his hands under to lift him up. once he was at eye level, sans opened the ketchup packet and drew on a nose. he made indents in the snow to indicate where the bottle caps were to go before pushing them in, giving lopsided sight to the ball. he manipulated the hot dog to form a smile before being set down, taking a step back to admire the snowman.

'its no snow papyrus, but wowie!' papyrus grinned. 'what a handsome fella!'

you smiled, and just as quickly as the memory had faded in, it was wisped away with the rest of the snowflakes in the crisp air. you felt a light hand on your shoulder, and turning around, sans stood holding out a heaping mug of hot chocolate.

'to keep your fingers warm,' sans grinned. 'like a weirdo.'

taking the cup, you did appreciate how it took the chill out from your fingertips. the steam emanating from the top smelled sweet and slightly of peppermint, it called you to down the entire mug in three gulps but you decided to take small sips instead. the warming feeling carried through to your insides, and it made your muscles relax. you were reminded of a certain distant diner, but you couldn't place where you had seen it before.

before long, papyrus had called you to the kitchen to dish up. you put the hot cocoa down at your spot at the dinner table on your way over. in the short amount of time it took you to get to the kitchen, he had already plated your spaghetti in a fancy and organized matter, and was sprinkling parmesan petals on top. he handed it to you, encouraging you to take the oven mitt with the plate so you wouldn't burn your hands. sans was setting the table, placing cutlery in three spots directly next to each other. you recalled the event that had caused this odd setup; when you all had first moved into the house, you had positioned the placemats all evenly spaced around the rectangle-shaped table, to which papyrus had been very taken aback by, as he wanted to sit next to both you and sans. ever since then, whenever someone has set up the table, the places have always been three in a row, with papyrus' seat in the middle.

you gently put down the oven mitt, the plate of spaghetti on top, and situated yourself to the right of papyrus' chair. sans seated himself on the other side of his brother's chair, leaned over to you and in a whisper, said,

'I'm so proud of how his cooking's got, Tori's cooking lessons must be really paying off,' he grinned. 'that is, when undyne isn't trying to add extra fire in the recipes.'

papyrus took his seat in between you and sans, he was smiling, very pleased at how his plating looked. before starting his dinner, he stared excitedly at you and sans, awaiting your opinions on the pasta. you went to take a bite, but papyrus stopped you,

'this is only the second batch of fresh pasta i've made on my own, but with the help of the great toriel's recipes and love of cooking, I think i may have figured it out this time!' his eyes went shifty. 'I didn't use as much fire as undyne had suggested though, so if it didn't turn out well- that's probably why,' there was only a hint of insecurity in his voice, but he seemed to be more eager to see your reaction than anything.

when sans had set up the table, he'd made sure to give you a spoon along with your fork, since he knew you preferred to twirl your pasta. you brandished your utensils, twirled the spaghetti with confidence, and took a bite. the mix of acidity and savoury flavours in the tomato sauce complimented the slight sweetness of the pasta. the spaghetti had been cooked to the perfect texture, it was flawlessly el dente amongst the smooth sauce. you couldn't help but smile with absolute admiration for how far papyrus' cooking had come.

'well?' he asked, his suspense and anticipation bubbling to the surface.

you nodded, not able to speak with how much pasta you had fit into your mouth, and gave a double thumbs up. papyrus beamed with his entire being, his joy overflowing. the air in the room was filled with what could only be the most wholesome form of glee, everyone seemed to be so proud of everyone.

after you had helped clean up dinner, you went to put on your comfy clothes. and by 'your' comfy clothes, you meant those of sans and papyrus. over time, you had gradually stolen your roommates' clothes. they didn't seem to mind, you always gave them back, and as they made you feel comfortable, that was all that mattered. you walked to sans' room and knocked on the door before opening it. though both friends were in the basement, their rooms on the top floor, you never knew what was hiding in sans' room and wanted to be polite before barging in to commit a robbery.

there were piles of clothes stacked throughout his room, but he kept a couple outfits folded nicely in his closet- they seemed to be slightly too small for him to wear, so that was the pile you usually borrowed from. you picked out a black tshirt, one that despite being a little bit too small for sans, was still quite oversized on you. the short sleeves reached your elbows and the bottom hem fell just above your knees. you matched the shirt to a pair of grey sweatpants that if you wished, you could pull up to several inches past your belly button.

now onto papyrus' room for a sweatshirt, since he always seemed to have the best ones. you opened his door to find a small white dog napping on his racecar bed. its ears perked up when you took a step into the room, and with a squeaky bark, it made a face and disappeared. walking to papyrus' closet, you admired how his wardrobe had changed from two outfits to lots of warm, fall themed clothes. his royal guard outfit hung behind a pair of overalls. you sifted through his sweatshirts, finding a navy blue one with white writing on it. you pulled it out to read the writing, which read:

'COOL DUDE'

in boxy letters. you recalled he had bought it when looking for clothes after leaving the underground. he had accidentally left his date outfit at their house in snowden, and wanted to make a good first impression when meeting the humans. he said he felt this sweater matched the same energy he was trying to portray, letting the humans know he is a cool dude.

you changed into your newly acquired clothes in your room before heading to the basement.

faint sounds of a familiar movie drifted from the bottom of the basement steps to which you followed. when you turned the corner, you were met with the sight of sans and papyrus, sitting on their respective sides of the couch with fuzzy checkered blankets. you took seat in between them, and due to the large size of the blankets, u took parts of both.

noticing the movie that was playing, you looked at sans and papyrus, surprised they had remembered one of your comfort movies. they nodded, understanding your look wordlessly. you wrapped the blanket around your shoulders, laying your head down on the couch. a bony hand rested by your ankle, a larger one on your head. you smiled, content with the situation, solace enveloping you.

sans took the rest of his blanket off and moved it so it lied from your shoulders to just under your toes. with a little pat on your leg, he smiled and returned his gaze to the movie. out of an inside hoodie pocket he pulled a small box. you presumed it was a box of pocky, but upon closer inspection as he handed it to you, it appeared to be an MTT brand version labeled 'chocolate-dipped wafer legs'. taking off the top and revealing the wafers, you noticed they were indeed shaped like mettaton ex's legs, the chocolate coating shaped like his boots.crunchy, and otherwise like pocky, you took a couple before handing the box to papyrus. he took some, giving them back to sans. you then proceeded to hold one of the sticks between your teeth, the chocolate boot side outwards, and crane your neck to look up at papyrus. you raised your eyebrows as he leaned down to look at you. a realization hit him all of the sudden, and a flustered expression washed over his face.he started to stumble on his words, but you, contented with his reaction, turned your head to face the tv once again. he ruffled your hair in a sarcastic way, chuckling a bit.

after finishing your MTT brand wafer legs, you found your eyes starting to close, the weight of everything going on finally hitting you. sinking you further into the couch, the words drifting through the tv began to sound muffled, and slowly, you fell asleep.

-

-

an arm reached under your torso, supporting your weight while keeping you mummy-wrapped in one of the checkered blankets. your eyes fluttered open to see you were in the arms of your tall friend, a warm but sleepy grin laying across his face as you ascended from the basement steps. once he had reached the second floor, papyrus tip-toed steadily and carefully as not to wake you. he shifted your weight so he could open the door, and layed you down on your bed. though you were wrapped up pretty **comfily already, he tucked the sides of the blanket in around you to keep you more snug.

'goodnight human,' papyrus whispered, placing a bony hand on your head and patting your hair.

as he softly shut your door, you drifted back off, a feeling of being right where you're supposed to be tucked you in even more.