Merry Christmas to All! Or whatever holiday you celebrate! I'll greet you with mine, you feel free to send back a greeting of your holiday! Now if you'll excuse me I need to finish wrapping some presents at 5AM in the morning! Enjoy…

Eventually Asriel notices Frisk shivering and immediately pulls them closer picking up the long forgotten umbrella. "We should get you somewhere dry Frisk," he says keeping his arm around them using the umbrella to cover both him and Frisk. Frisk merely nods and presses against Asriel's wet sweater trying to ignore the smell of wet fur. "Heh, sorry," Asriel says having noticed Frisk's wrinkled nose, "I know how bad wet fur can smell."

"Smfine," Frisk mumbles keeping close.

"What did you say?"

"It's fine," Frisk says looking at their feet again, "you can't help it. If anything I should be sorry." Their voice drooping along with their eyes.

"Gosh Frisk," he ruffles their thoroughly soaked hair, "it's not that big of a deal. What do you say we stop in Snowdin?"

"Sure, why?"

"Because there should be a fireplace there somewhere, and we desperately need to dry off," he chuckles. "Wow, I forgot how much maintenance this form requires." That comment earned him a fierce look from Frisk. "Hey, I never said I minded it!" Frisk can't keep their stare up much longer so they merely stick out their tongue at Asriel.

"I know you're trying to make me feel better Asriel, but please don't joke about…that," Frisk sighs, "I don't think-" Frisk sneezes.

"Are you sick," Asriel's face contorts in panic.

"Dunno, I do feel a bit light-headed, but that's probably just the headache talking," Frisk notices that the skeleton brothers' house is not far from here, "race ya!" With that they dash off in the direction of a domicile with two mailboxes; both empty for once.

"No fair!" Asriel yells chasing after his friend. Eventually Asriel's slightly longer legs allow him to catch up to Frisk, and he tackles them just outside the front door. The momentum of his tackle sends them both sliding into Sans' shortcut. For a brief moment there is only darkness, and just as soon as it started they were standing in the middle of Snowdin's town square. Immediately the duo begins laughing again both at their antics, but also the fact that they fell into San's shortcut again.

"What'd you do that for Asriel," Frisk asks trying to catch their breath. The laughter had shook them down to their very core, and Frisk was so very tired and very cold.

"I dunno," Asriel responds with a chortle flopping onto his back. "it just seemed fun at the time I guess. Oh my gosh I didn't hurt y-" he's cut off by Frisk poking his nose with their index finger.

"Nope I'm fine, and yes it was fun silly," Frisk dusts the snow off their clothes as best as they can and stands up. They reach down to Asriel who is busy making snow monsters on the ground, and starts to feel just a bit warmer. "Here take my hand you big goofball," Frisk helps Asriel up, "Now all we have to do is go back through."

"Alright," he says with a twinkle in his eye, "but on one condition." Frisk immediately tenses up.

"W-what is it Asriel?"

"Don't worry it's not anything about me reverting, so please stop giving me that look," he squeezes Frisk's hand reassuringly.

"Okay then, what is it Asriel," Frisk asks genuinely curious.

"That tomorrow we make a snowman," Asriel gives a jovial wink and a slight tilt of his head that causes his ears to flop about.

"Sure," Frisk says recalling a certain snowman, "actually I think I have something better to show you tomorrow."

"What is it?"

"You'll have to wait till tomorrow to find out. Let's go, I'm freezing out here," as if to prove a point Frisk's entire body shudders.

"You're right," Asriel says studying Frisk carefully, "let's get you warmed up." Both monster and human jumped back into the shortcut enjoying the brief sensation of weightlessness that came with it.

"No matter how many times I use that thing I don't think I'll ever get used to it," Frisk rubs their eyes trying to stave off their headache.

"Let's get inside Frisk," Ariel turns the doorknob and lets Frisk go in ahead of them, "Frisk you do know this is someone's house right?"

"Yep," Frisk nods innocently, "but I know the boneheads won't mind."

"Boneheads?"

"Yeah Pap and Sans," Frisk grins, "the two skeleton's that used to live here."

"Was that a bone joke," Asriel asks his voice dropping low in annoyance.

"Yes it was Asriel," Frisk notices him rolling his eyes, "what can't handle any humerous?" Frisk gives Asriel a knowing wink upon seeing his response of smacking a paw to his head.

"And I thought Sans was bad enough," Asriel laughs despite his aforementioned distaste.

"Then why are you laughing," Frisk grins.

"Couldn't really tell you," Asriel grins mischievously, "guess it's just your punsona?" An awkward paws follows Asriel's attempt. "Oh come on I thought it was good…"

"Your delivery needs work, but you show puntential young goat," Frisk nods sagely, "yes I shall take you as an appunrentice." Asriel cannot help but laugh at how terrible these puns are. The pair continues to laugh for quite a long time until Frisk starts coughing again.

"Frisk what's wrong," Asriel rushes to their side.

"I'm *cough* fine Asriel," Frisk tries to laugh it off, "rea-," they are cut off by another coughing fit. All Asriel has to do is raise an eyebrow for Frisk to understand his intent. "I'll go get some sleep Asriel. Here's my phone, if you get hungry the pie is in there as well as the last of the dreams." Frisk keeps coughing on their way to Papyrus' bedroom. If they were going to be forced to sleep might as well do it in a bed where they could go zero to sleeping.

Asriel heads to the kitchen to see if the brothers had left anything in the fridge. Hot sauce, spaghetti, ketchup, a piece of quiche, more spaghetti, hot sauce, spaghetti, ketchup, a piece of quiche, more spaghetti, hot sauce, spaghetti, ketchup, a piece of quiche, more spaghetti…the fridge seems endless…Asriel cannot see the back or the bottom of the fridge…Asriel suspects that this fridge is the portal to the spaghetti dimension…He closes the fridge door and decides that nothing caught his eye. Seeing as the fridge had nothing Asriel would call edible he pulls out Frisk's phone.

He opens dimensional box A and takes stock of its inventory. Thankfully, unlike the fridge this box seems to have limits upon what it can carry. Let's see here…Pie, five dreams, two bags of potato chisps, and two more jugs of spider cider. Taking great care to circumvent the spider cider Asriel pulls out the pie and a bag of potato chisps. He heads back to the kitchen to get a plate and fork for his meal grabbing a glass of water on the way back to the living room. Asriel sits down on the sofa and cuts himself a slice of the pie before promptly returning the leftovers to Frisk's dimensional box.

He tears into the pie, still unsure as to why it somehow tastes better than he remembers it, not caring that it is now almost freezing cold. He finishes his slice and washes it down with a quick swig from his glass. Still hungry, Asriel reaches for the bag of chisps only to recoil in shock when his hand feels oddly warm. He looks for the source of the heat and notices that he accidentally grabbed a dream from the dimensional box. The warmth wasn't oppressive, if anything it reminded him of sitting by his mother's chair next to the fireplace while she read to him, it was the kind of warmth that you feel when recalling a fond memory or person. Asriel checks the dream again, this time taking it reverently into his hands letting the warmth spread through him. The memory of his his mother's smile, his dad's voice, and Frisk's laugh come to him. Oddly enough Asriel isn't the least bit hungry anymore; actually, he feels kinda sleepy as well. Despite his concern for Frisk the pleasant warmth of the dream lulls him into a peaceful slumber as he curls up on the couch.

Frisk awakes feeling miserable. They are cold and drained. Frisk barely feels like they have any energy at all. They try to call out to Asriel, but the only sound they make is a gravelly gargle. Their throat is too sore to even make sound. Frisk lies there unable to do anything but wait, and hope that Asriel comes in eventually. Thankfully they don't have to wait long until they hear a series of four quick knocks. They can't respond so Asriel knocks again, this time calling out to them.

"Frisk? Are you awake Frisk," he knocks again, "I found some left over spaghetti," his voice seeming every so slightly scared with that statement. "So I was thinking we could have that after you woke up." Frisk still hasn't replied. "Fair warning Frisk I'm coming in," he announces as he steps into the room. Almost immediately his eyes fall upon the bleary eyed and obviously sick form of Frisk lying still in Papyrus' bed. "Frisk, what happened?"

Frisk opens their mouth letting loose another gargle and a cough. Asriel runs back out to the kitchen to get a glass of water. "Here you go," Asriel tips the cup gently into Frisk's mouth observing Frisk greedily gulping down the water.

"Th-Thanks Asriel," Frisk says weakly trying to sit up in bed.

"Easy there Frisk," Asriel speaks softly helping Frisk up and propping a pillow behind their back for support. "Can I get you anything? Are you hungry? Thirsty? Well I mean obviously you're thirsty but I mean," Asriel's mouth is running a mile a minute with worry.

"No, no, yes please," Frisk responds raspily.

"Okay, I'll be right back then." Asriel goes back to the kitchen and grabs a pitcher. He fills the pitcher with water and takes both a recently refilled cup and the pitcher of water back into Frisk's room. He sets them down on the bedside table and sits down on the edge of the bed. Asriel stays there dutifully refilling Frisk's cup when they finish one, and only stepping out when the pitcher needed to be refilled. He carries on like this for the next few hours never once complaining his concern overriding any discomfort at the menial tasks.

"Asriel," Frisk's voice weakly calls out. Thankfully due to both the silence and Asriel's already sensitive hearing he heard them.

"Yes Frisk? What is it?"

"I'm hungry, and I think I need to use the bathroom," Frisk coughs again.

"Alright, anything you particularly want?"

"Just hungry, surprise me," with that Frisk crawls out of bed and stumbles to the bathroom.

Hmm…something to eat. Well I guess the pie would be too hard on their throat, and I'm not exactly sure spider cider would help. Maybe a dream…I've got it! Asriel recalls a time when he was sick.

"Here my child drink this, it'll fill your stomach." Toriel says lovingly while spoon feeding Asriel a strange liquid.

"What is it mom?"

"Soup…"

Right, mom used to make me soup when I got sick, and it always made me feel better... That and I guess I should return the favor of Frisk baking the pie. Asriel decides to make soup for Frisk. At that moment they walk out of the bathroom and lie back down in bed too tired to be flustered by Asriel tucking them in.

"Hey Frisk," Asriel scratches the back of his head, "you're still hungry right?" Frisk is too tired to speak and therefore only nods. "Alright then I'm going to go make us some soup. Will you be okay by yourself for a bit," he waits for Frisk to nod, "Good. Get some rest Frisk, I'll wake you up when the soup is done." Asriel leaves the room noticing that Frisk is already fast asleep by the time he has shut the door. Heading to the kitchen Asriel remembers one very important detail, he doesn't know how to make soup…

Asriel heads into the kitchen contemplating on what he should do. He recalls what soup his mother made for him…it tasted vaguely of tomatoes and that it was mostly liquid, but salty. Figuring that this is the best he can manage Asriel tentatively walks to the pantry. Gulping nervously he opens up the pantry, steeling his nerves for another infinite loop. He pulls the door open breathing a quick sigh of relief when the pantry seems to be perfectly content staying within three dimensions.

The pantry is filled mostly with dry spaghetti, tomato sauce, other related pasta ingredients, and a small quarantined area labeled 'drinks'. These 'drinks' consist of ketchup, hot sauce, and an empty bottle with a string of notes attached to it. Asriel checks the notes.

Sans this pantry is too full with this bottle I'm going to have to move it to the fridge.

s'not full anymore

The pantry not the bottle!

oh, huh, guess I'll just take some ketchup then

SANS THE BOTTLE IS EMPTY!

nah bro, it's all a matter of perspective ya gotta see the bottle as full

NGAAAAAAAAAAAH!

hey nice scream bro

Thanks. I've been taking lessons from Undyne! This note has a series of smaller notes attached horizontally to it each one alternating between Nyeh and he-heh!

Asriel smiles at their antics and grabs spaghetti, salt, pepper, pasta sauce, and some ketchup. He places the tomato substitutes over on the counter and grabs two comically large pots placing them on the burners of the stove. Following the instructions posted above the stove he throws the spaghetti in full force the stalks shattering upon meeting the metal. He then drowns his enemies by filling the pot half way. Then to assert his dominance he turns up the heat boiling them in his rage! Asriel does not remember cooking being this fun when his mom would ask him to help; however, despite having fun he quickly remembers why he's cooking in the first place.

He turns his attention on the tomato substitutes dumping all of the pasta sauce, ketchup, salt, and pepper into the other pot. Then to make it less thick and soupier he adds water miraculously reaching something resembling the consistency of soup. Stirring the contents of the tomato pot he takes the spaghetti off the heat this time being gentle as to ensure a great soup. Gently taking the strands of spaghetti out of its pot he moves them one by one into the soup. Stirring the ingredients together Asriel checks the soup one more time. Despite its off-putting oddly pink color it's not half bad. The pepper he added balanced out the salt of the ketchup while the spices contained in the pasta sauce add a pleasant garlic flavor. The noodles slide down adequately despite being a little overdone. All in all Asriel calls this a success despite not knowing why it tastes good.

A thought comes to his mind as he remembers that Frisk seemed deathly cold despite the copious amounts of blankets they had. The soup is warm, but will it be enough? Asriel figures he could add some hot sauce for added heat; that was how hot sauce worked right? It raised the temperature of the meal. As Asriel opens the pantry and reaches for the hot sauce he is suddenly reminded of another source of warmth. He vaguely recalls waking up warm despite the house having no heating. Could it have been the dream he ate? It was pretty warm…maybe I should use that. Asriel decides to use the dream instead. He takes the dream out of the dimensional box and drops it directly into the soup. It glows briefly, but other than that it seems to have done the trick. Asriel has created Tomato Noodle Soup (Good for the soul and your stomach. Just don't ask how he did it…maxes out your HP.)

Asriel ladles out a bowl for Frisk and grabs a spoon from the drawer; taking care not to spill the soup he carries it over to the room where Frisk is and knocks softly.

"Come in Asriel," a weak voice calls from the other side of the door. So faint in fact that Asriel barely registered it causing him to knock again. "I'm a-" Frisk begins to cough again. Asriel bursts in setting the soup down on the bedside table noticing that Frisk had emptied their pitcher of water, and that he had forgotten to come back and fill it.

"Oh Frisk I'm so sorry," He says while rubbing their back trying to ease their pain shocked that he could feel the cold through their sweater. "I got so wrapped up in making you so-" he is cut off by Frisk bumping their forehead into his mouth. Asriel does not like the taste of hair. Grateful for the fact that they are looking down and cannot see the bright pink showing through his fur he asks, "Do you need me to get you more water Frisk?" They nod. "Okay, I'll be right back ok?" Frisk nods again. This time Asriel leaves the bedroom door open when he goes to refill the water pitcher reflecting on how cold Frisk felt in his arms.

"Here Frisk drink up," he hands them a full glass once again feeling guilty as Frisk greedily gulps down the water. "The soup's done if you want some. I tasted it so you don't have to worry about that."

"Thanks, Asriel," Frisk says with a faint outline of a smile on their lips. "Hey, what," they are cut off by a spoonful of soup entering their mouth. Frisk swallows finding the soup to be quite enjoyable. In fact they could feel a vestige of warmth enter their body. Still upset about being fed Frisk looks at Asriel with squinted eyes.

"Gosh Frisk," Asriel chuckles, "haven't you ever heard that turnabout is fair play?" He takes another spoonful, "Don't be like that Frisk." He smiles at seeing Frisk scrunch their mouth shut and turn their head away; seeing Frisk gain back some of their personality fills Asriel with joy. He continues giving Frisk a sidelong grin and eventually they acquiesce allowing themselves to be fed. Eventually the bowl is empty and Frisk feels oddly tired. "You sleepy," he asks noticing their eyelids drooping.

"Yeah kinda," although their voice is strained it is no longer raspy, "hey Asriel?"

"What Frisk?"

"Thanks for everything today it was very nice of you," Frisk reaches over and weakly squeezes Asriel's hand in thanks not noticing the blush on his face.

"W-well, I figured I would return the favor y'know," he replies bashfully.

"Either way I appreciate it, Azzy. G'night," Frisk says turning on their side and drifting off to sleep.

"What did you call me?" Frisk's response is a peaceful snore. "Heh, Azzy…I kinda like it," he says to no one in particular unable to keep a smile off his face. For some reason coming from Frisk that name just seemed right. "Good night Frisk," he reclines back in his chair watching Frisk for any signs of sickness. His new nickname combined with seeing Frisk peaceful and safe fills Asriel with determination. He doesn't know why, but for some reason he feels much better than he has these past few days. Almost as if he had a SOUL again, but that was impossible. Chalking it up to just enjoying Frisk's company he nods off in his chair, unaware of the changes taking place inside of him at that very moment.