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“Well, that's the last episode. D-do you –”
“WHAT?” Undyne shouted, popcorn spraying onto the floor and Alphys's labcoat. “Last episode?! He just... he's in another dimension, and his brother isn't armor anymore, and that's it? How can that be the last episode?”
“Well, my best guess is that the source material –” Alphys suddenly remembered the whole “human history” thing she had going, and for a brief moment she felt like her guts had just gone on vacation. But if there was one thing she was good at, it was salvaging a lie. “That is, the, uh, records must have... been lost, or maybe he just never got back to his home dimension and the whole thing was like a memoir! Or, uh, m-maybe they hadn't... uncovered all the historical context, yet. When they published the recording I mean. Um...” She glanced over her shoulder, checking a clock balanced precariously on top a stack of old boxes. “It is pretty late, though. M-maybe this is for the best?”
Undyne stared blankly at her. “Wait, how late is it?”
“Like... half past midnight, ish?”
“Already? Seriously? Ugh.” Undyne grumbled and hopped to her feet, stretching her arms. “I bet this never happens above ground.” She crossed her eyes, waved her hands and spoke in a goofy, sarcastic voice as she shuffled to the front door of the lab. “Hey, look at me, I'm a human! I got a big fancy color-changing sky that lets me know when I need to stop watching anime and go home!” She grunted as she hoisted her breastplate from the floor, already irritated at the thought of buckling everything up just so she could take it back off within the hour. “Man, I bet the boat guy's asleep by now, too. I don't feel like walking all the way back to Waterfall.”
“YOUCOULDSLEEPOVERTHEN!” Alphys turned red and brought her hands up to her mouth. Oh god. Oh god! Oh GOD???? Then, the backpedaling, her voice going squeaky. “Uh! You don't have to though! If! If you d-don't want to, obviously! Th-th-that, was, uh, a sug... a suggestion, b-based on the whole, not... wanting to walk...”
Clang. Already, the armor was back on the floor and Undyne was reclining on the couch (her legs swung over one of its arms), gnawing on Pocky. “Well, if you're gonna insist! So, what're we watching next?”
Alphys took a deep breath and started looking over her collection. A solid third were out of the question – no way Undyne would buy monster-human romance, and she really doesn't need “monsters waging war against each other for human amusement” to radicalize her even more. She reminded herself to move those to a separate shelf, as if the previous five mental notes had made a difference. “Uh, let's see... there's the one I've been telling you about, with the gambler guy... I've got a couple, uh, volumes about the golden age of piracy – ”
“Is that the one with the goofy skeleton? With respect to my distinguished co-worker and my, uh... protege...” Undyne didn't want to act like Papyrus wasn't improving (and quickly), but it still sounded very wrong to call him that. “...I get enough of that in my own life.”
“Okay, r-right... oh, you'll like this one! It's about, um, a monster-human robot war. But the humans are the ones underground?”
“...That happened? ”
Alphys bit her lower lip. “S u r e?”
“Good! That proves that someday, we can kick their butts all over again!” As she popped the disc in and headed over to switch off the lights, Alphys caught a glimpse of Undyne's smile, big and wide. Something about that smile... she found herself looking past the whole snaggletooth thing. It looked perfect, she looked perfect, how are we actually friends I don't deserve someone as good as her I certainly don't deserve to –
“Hey, you gonna sit down and watch with me or not?”
“Oh! S-sorry!” Alphys nodded and shuffled over to the couch; Undyne lifted her head and back to make room, but didn't quite sit all the way up. She dropped back down as soon as Alphys was seated, her head coming to a rest in the lizard's lap. “...Uh, Undyne?”
Undyne rolled onto her side to get a view of the screen. “Yeah?”
“You, uh – um.” Alphys gingerly placed a hand on Undyne's arm, praying she wouldn't notice how sweaty she was. “Y'know what? N-never mind, it's nothing! Just, um. Let me know if you want me to go upstairs so you can sleep, okay?”
Undyne gave her a little nod. “I'm fine with you being here, Alphys. You make a good pillow.” She shifted her arm a little, back and forth, and Alphys found herself fixating on Undyne's scales – smooth as she moved one way, rough as she moved the other. Then, worried she was staring, Alphys tore her gaze away, and focused instead on her own scales (grimy, slightly slimy), the claws brushing up against her friend (uneven and rough, too much time gnawing on them and too little filing them. She hated it, but never could manage to stop herself).
Her hand wasn't good enough to be where it was. “D-do you want me to move –”
“You're fine right where you are.” Undyne lazily raised her other arm and poked Alphys's snout. “'kay?” (What went unsaid was your hand feels nice there, I don't want it to ever leave, I want to fall asleep touching you and being touched by you in small and big ways. Undyne wished she had the courage to say it – but now was not the time.)
“...Okay.”
The sound from the old TV had seemed to fade into the background long ago; lying there, both of them were far more focused on the other's breaths. Drills and swords hardly mattered – what mattered was the glow of the screen, the way it shined on their faces like a spotlight from another world.
Four episodes in, Undyne found herself yawning, and had trouble keeping her good eye open; she let it stay shut, focusing on the dialog to try and keep track of things. Technically speaking, she was supposed to sleep there, anyway. She nuzzled Alphys's coat, trying to get as comfortable as she possibly could. Alphys took notice of the fin thwapping against her knee, and couldn't help but grin. Still, it was crucial Undyne didn't bow out before episode eight – she'd be a total sucker for that – so she paused the DVD. “S-so, uh, should I turn it off?”
“Nnnnnnn.” Undyne playfully swatted at her, not even bothering to sell her fake anger with a scowl. “I'm not falling asleep.”
“I didn't say you were.”
“Yeah but you meant it! I can see right through you, Doc!”
“P-pretty sure you can't see anything right now, sleepy.”
Defiantly, the fishwoman opened her eye. “See? I'm awake.” No sooner had she said this than she'd shut it once more, and gone back to nestling her head in Alphys's lap. “Now keep playing it.”
“Heh. Alright.” And the pictures went on moving, and the humans kept on talking, and the hours slipped away until – at last – the lab was silent, aside from soft snoring and the hum of machinery.