First Meeting

It had been a dumb idea.

Chara and Asriel had found an old skateboard in the dump, and after Asgore had fixed it up for them, the two had spent a few days taking turns playing on it.

But after Chara had learned to steer and ride well on it, she just HAD to try a stunt she had seen some skateboarders on the surface do; sliding down a railing on her skateboard. And she just HAD to try it on the palace steps.

Asriel told her it was too dangerous to try, but she had called him a worrywart and tried it anyway. And of COURSE he had been right like he always was. Chara had taken a rough tumble off the edge of the railing, falling down the last few steps, breaking her ankle.

And now she was in Dr. Gaster's office, waiting to get her broken ankle set with a tearful Asriel and worried but stern Toriel on either side of her.

God, she was stupid.

Chara was snapped out of her thoughts by a tall, thin skeleton in a white doctor's coat entering the room. He had two dark zigzag scars on his face, one from his right eye socket to the top of his skull and the left trailing from the bottom of his eye socket to his cheekbone. He looked stern but not unfriendly as he looked Chara over. He spoke in a strange language to himself and then signed something to her parents. Chara had just started learning sign language and wasn't familiar with it yet, so she could only understand a little.

Toriel on the other hand, understood everything. "She fell off her skateboard while trying to perform a stunt on our steps." she explained to Dr. Gaster.

Dr. Gaster nodded and signed something back as he started by looking at her broken ankle. He frowned a little and got a needle before signing to them again.

"He says he needs to numb and set it before he uses healing magic, Chara." Toriel told Chara gently. Chara nodded obediently, but in truth she was terrified. She was afraid of the pain, afraid of doctors in fact. Her biological parents had rarely ever taken her to the doctor, only when it was absolutely vital or questions were asked. And the doctor they chose was always cold, never asked questions, was never gentle.

She remembered rough jabs with needles, wounds being stitched or bones being set before anything was numb, having to fight back the tears because she would regret it later if they heard her cry...

She didn't realize she was breathing a little heavily until she felt two warm furry paws squeeze her hands. She opened her eyes, which she had squeezed shut, to see Toriel and Asriel looking at her in concern. And she remembered that she was underground, with her true family, the ones who loved her and would never hurt her.

Dr. Gaster looked at her in worry and compassion as well and gently patted her shoulder before rubbing a cold alcohol swab at the injection site, speaking in a soothing tone and signing to her when he was done.

"He says you'll only feel a small pinch and he won't set your ankle until the anesthetic kicks in." Toriel reassured Chara gently. Dr. Gaster nodded and reached for the needle. Chara again squeezed her eyes shut.

And that's when the door opened.

...

Chara turned to look at the door as another skeleton came walking in. This one was much younger looking, possibly around her age if she had to guess. They were around her height, maybe a bit shorter than her, and wore a blue hoodie with black shorts that had a white stripe along them. Instead of shoes, this skeleton wore a pair of fuzzy pink slippers.

The smaller skeleton turned to Dr. Gaster and spoke in the language Dr. Gaster had used earlier, holding up a lunch bag. They then noticed Chara, Asriel and Toriel. "Heya. Sorry about barging in, your Majesties. I was just bringing Dad his lunch. He left it at home." the young skeleton said sheepishly.

"It is no problem, child." Toriel told him. "And Gaster, you know you need to eat regularly. It's not healthy to skip your meals." she gently scolded the doctor, who now looked sheepish as well. She then turned to Chara. "Chara, I would like you to meet Dr. Gaster's oldest son, Sans."

"Nice to meet you." Chara told Sans politely.

"So you're the human the king and queen adopted." Sans said, expression neutral. "It's nice to meet you. I can tell you have real..." He then grinned. "CHARA-acter."

Chara hid a snort as Toriel burst out laughing. Chara then gave Sans a dirty look, causing him to shuffle nervously. "That pun was..." She then returned his grin. "SANS-sational."

Asriel shook his head as Toriel laughed even harder. She then looked to Doctor Gaster who smiled and went for his medical supplies again while Chara was distracted by Sans.

"Glad you don't have a BONE to pick with me." Sans joked, relaxing a lot.

"Hey, don't worry. You're not being that much of a pain in the skull." Chara replied with a smile. She then felt the tiniest pinprick and glanced over to Dr. Gaster, who was pulling the needle back.

Gaster signed something to her with an apologetic look and Toriel translated, "It helps to have a distraction."

Chara couldn't help but agree. Talking to the goofy skeleton boy had taken her mind off the needle, though she was still worried having her ankle set was going to hurt a lot more.

Sans saw that she was still rather nervous. "So what happened to you anyway?" he asked to get her mind off it.

"It was stupid. I was on a skateboard and I wanted to try this cool stunt I saw other people do where you slide down a railing on the skateboard. Well, the skateboard made it down the railing, but I went flying, then gravity took over."

Sans winced. "Ouch."

"Yeah." Chara felt her ankle beginning to grow numb.

"I actually did something really crazy this week myself."

"Really?"

Yep. So I was at school, and these kids dared me to go to the Catacombs at midnight and bring a video camera to show I was there. Now this place is horror movie level of creepy. Dark, cold tombs that hold the treasures of monsters who have died and had their dust scattered on them. It's said that at midnight, these objects will move all on their own and you can hear the voices of the monsters who had died. But everyone was too scared to stay long enough to get proof...if they made it out alive at all." Sans said in an ominous voice before switching to a more natural one. "But it was a triple dog dare, so I HAD to go. And I figured "Hey, monsters don't stay around after death. All that stuff is just crazy!" His voice then darkened again. "But it wasn't."

Asriel nearly jumped out of his skin.

"What happened?' Chara asked, forgetting about her ankle as she wanted to hear this story.

"I went there. A monster had died the night before. Old Monster Jenkins. He was a grumpy old guy, didn't love anything at all, so they didn't know what to scatter his dust on. So they just put it in a coffin and placed it in his tomb. And when I went there with my video camera, that coffin was the first thing I saw. Didn't think much of it. It was midnight and nothing was happening. Quiet as a tomb. I just passed it by. Took a video of the catacombs to prove I was there, and then I started to leave. And then...I heard it..."

Chara's eyes widened.

"Something right behind me. Thump...Thump...Thump...I slowly turned...And that coffin...It was moving. You'd better believe I threw the camera and ran out of there. But I could still hear it following me. Thump...Bump...Bump..."

"You're kidding, right?" Chara asked. She was so caught up in the story she never noticed Dr. Gaster put his hands on her now numb ankle.

"It-It's gotta be a joke..." Asriel whispered though he looked a bit spooked.

"C'mon, guys, throw me a bone here. Let me finish my terrifying story before you two cruelly dismiss it as lies." Sans said and Chara and Asriel quieted. "I just kept running. Yelled for help, but no one came. And still it followed...Thump...Thump...Bump..."

"So what'd you do?" Chara asked.

"I ran all the way home and locked the door. Hid in my room, thought I would be safe. But then the door slowly creaked open. And I could hear it coming down the hall...Thump...Bump...Thump..."

Asriel looked like he was about to hide in his sweater and looked around like he thought the coffin was going to come through the door at any second.

"How the heck could a coffin get in your house?" Chara asked disbelievingly. She only vaguely noticed Dr. Gaster setting her ankle bone into place.

Sans did too and moved closer to get Chara's attention off her ankle and onto his story again. "Ask Old Monster Jenkins. So the coffin's now in my house, and it's coming up the stairs. Now I'm really freaked out and trying to figure out what the heck I'm supposed to do. I run to the bathroom and shut the door. And I can hear it coming up the stairs...Bump...Bump...Bump...And then I finally figured out what I needed to do to keep it from coming to kill me. I knew exactly what I needed."

"What?" Asriel asked, his claws digging into his chair as he clutched it tightly.

"I ran for the medicine cabinet and grabbed the cough syrup." Sans grinned as he saw Chara's eyes widen as she caught on to the joke. Asriel groaned a second later as he caught it too. "And that stopped the coffin!"

Chara stared at him blankly for a minute. Then she burst out laughing. "That was terrible!" she said through her laughs. "Awesome, but terrible!" She was laughing so hard tears were in her eyes. "I can't believe you pulled that off with a straight face for so long!"

Sans grinned. "It's a gift. And it took your mind off your ankle, didn't it?"

Chara glanced over to see Dr. Gaster's hands glowing as he sent healing magic into her ankle before pulling his hands away. He gave her a thumbs up to show her it was all done. "It did. Thanks."

"Thank you, Sans. And you did great, Chara." Toriel told them, both speaking for herself and translating for Gaster. "We can go home whenever you're ready."

Chara turned to Sans."Thanks again for distracting me." she said gratefully.

"Hey, no prob. I had a lot of fun telling jokes with you." He smiled at her and she smiled back.

Toriel smiled at the sight herself. Her daughter was normally withdrawn around people she didn't know, but with Sans, Chara was genuinely smiling and laughing, something she had only really done around them, Asriel, and occasionally Undyne. She had an idea. "Dr. Gaster, why don't you, Sans, and Papyrus come over for dinner tonight?" Chara and Sans's eyes lit up at this.

Dr. Gaster couldn't resist the puppy eyes that Sans and Chara(though she didn't know she was doing it and would deny it if someone pointed it out) were turning on him. Plus, the queen's cooking was always amazing. "I accept your invitation. Thank you, your Majesty."

Both Sans and Chara grinned widely at the chance to hang out longer and share more bad jokes and puns. Asriel smiled too, glad his sister was happy(though he had the feeling they were going to both drive him nuts).

They all knew it was going to be the start of a beautiful friendship.