“Hey, I have another double shift. Are you gonna be alright? Do we need anything from the store?” I asked as I stuffed an extra change of clothes into my work bag as well as my wallet and keys, for both apartment and car. You never knew what could happen at the hospital. 

“I’ll be fine, my arm is getting better anyway and I can almost move it now. I hate to ask, but could you pick me up something cold?”

“More ice cream?”

“Yes, please.” 

After fixing his arm as best I could, the monster quickly grew to trust me. I learned his name was Nice Cream Guy - Nice for short - and I gave him mine: Megan Conway. We both agreed that it wasn’t safe for him on the streets, and I offered him the spare room in my apartment. Again, he mentioned that I could go to prison for even treating him with this kindness. And again, I told him that I knew. I didn’t care. Monsters didn’t deserve the treatment they got, and that quickly became apparent with how easily Nice warmed up to me and how easy it was to form a friendship. While I didn’t say it outloud, I vowed to protect him with my life if it came down to it. A few weeks had passed since he’d “moved in.” 

“Of course,” I teased. His love for ice cream was incredible. “I’ll grab a few cartons and we’ll split it during movie night tomorrow.” His ears perked up hearing that. 

“Sounds good! Have fun at work, and please stay safe.” 

“Always. You remember what to do if someone knocks, right?”

“Hide in your bedroom closet, behind the boxes. I know.”

“Good, you be safe. Take care, Nice.” 

I didn’t have a problem with leaving him in my apartment alone. If anything, having him there was a gift. He was a bit of a neat-freak, which really held my messiness and general apathy toward the state of my apartment in check. I trusted him completely. I did worry sometimes, though. The walls were thin in my building, and a few neighbors had asked about the new voice in my apartment. “Live-in boyfriend,” I’d tell them. Hopefully, they believed me without ever seeing his face. If word got out that I was protecting a monster, people would come for him and Nice’s life would be over. I couldn’t let that happen. 

Work seemed to be the only thing in my life that didn’t change. People kept getting hurt, and I kept doing what I could to get them better. The paychecks kept coming, and I kept saving. Nobody at work questioned my sudden burst of determination and avoidance of most coworkers. I couldn’t risk letting anything slip. 

Just as I was finishing my shift, one of the other nurses, Charles I think his name was, spotted me and tried to wave me down. I groaned internally and tried to pretend like I didn’t see him. He had been trying to ask me out for years and just couldn’t seem to get the hint that I wasn’t interested. He wasn’t terrible looking by any means, tall and tan with carefully styled black hair. He was just so pushy and something about him gave me a bad feeling. Unfortunately, he caught up to me as I stopped to clock out and grab my bag. 

“Hey, Meg! I don’t know if you’re busy after this, but-”

“Actually,” I interrupted, “I am busy. I’m sorry, Charles, but I have some… family issues I need to attend to.”

“Oh, come on!” he pressed. “It’ll just be one drink, won’t even take an hour. It’s on the way to your apartment too, so you wouldn’t be going out of your way or anything. Don’t be such a stick in the mud, Meg. Please?” He tried to give me his best pleading look, but it just annoyed me further. I had to get home to Nice. 

“Look, I really am sorry- wait, what did you say? Why do you know where my apartment is?” Immediately, scenarios of Charles discovering Nice started running through my head. Anxiety shot through me like a bullet. 

“Oh, I, uh, I just checked your file. I promise I’m not a stalker, I just-” Exhaustion and fear led to a quickly building outburst and I couldn’t find it in myself to be polite anymore.

“You have gone WAY out of line, Charles. I’m not interested in you and I never will be. If I see you anywhere near my home, I will report you to the authorities. Got it?” 

“Fine, fine. I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable.” To my credit, he looked embarrassed and taken aback. Serves him right. More than anything though, I just wanted to go home.

“I’m leaving. Stay out of my way, and I’d prefer it if you didn’t talk to me anymore. And don’t call me ‘Meg.’” I pushed past him, worried about my safety and the safety of the monster hiding out in my apartment. I couldn’t see Charles ever being a physical threat, but I wasn’t willing to find out. 

“Goodnight, Megan!” he called after me. I didn’t even look back. 

Once in my car, I pulled out my cell and immediately called the spare phone I’d given Nice in case of emergencies. He picked up on the second ring.

“Megan? Is everything okay?” He sounded worried, which was understandable. I’d never had to call before. 

“Yeah, everything is fine. Just a bad run-in with a guy from work. I needed to make sure you were safe.” I tried to keep the fear out of my voice, and just hearing his was helping the anxiety ebb away. 

“I’m okay. What happened?”

“He searched my file and found out where I live. We’ll have to be more careful from now on. No opening blinds or anything, okay?”

“Got it. Are you sure you’re okay? How much of a threat is this guy?”

“I’m fine, I think. He’s more of an annoyance than anything, I think we’ll be okay. Better safe than sorry though. I’ll be home soon, remember, if anyone knocks-”

“Hide behind the boxes, I know. Be safe, be careful.” With that, he hung up. I rested my head on the steering wheel. In my head, I kept chanting it’s okay, we’re safe, it’ll be okay, it’s okay. Once I was calm and clear-headed again, I started the car and pulled out. There was still time to stop at the store and get Nice his ice cream. A good movie night was exactly what we needed. Then, a plan. Just in case things went really wrong. 

The drive to the store was uneventful, I tried to pay attention to the news radio station, but monsters hadn’t been even passingly mentioned in months. It’s like people were trying to pretend they never even existed. It made me angry, but there wasn’t much I could do about it without revealing that I’m a monster sympathizer. All I could do was take care of Nice. 

Ice cream. That’s all I needed. Easy in and out. That’s all it should have been. But instead, I got distracted by yelling around the side of the store. 

“Help! Somebody help!” 

I was the only one that reacted. Of course, people hear calls for help, and they stay out of it. I grabbed my bag out of the car and ran, phone out, ready to call the authorities. All I saw, though, was a man standing alone, a hand to his cheek. 

“What happened? Are you injured?” I was immediately reaching through my bag for whatever medical supplies I had on me. 

“A damn monster attacked me! A fuckin’ cat creature, scratched right across my face and took off!” Another monster? After months of silence? 

“Don’t worry, sir. I’m a nurse, I’ll take care of you. Which direction did he go?” I patched up his face as best I could, listening intently as he pointed towards the nearby woods. 

“He ran into the trees there, he was digging through the garbage here and I tried to kick his ass. Dirty monster has no right to steal our trash.” I pursed my lips at that, but kept quiet. Nothing I could do.

“I’ll make sure the authorities hear about this, you just get on inside and find some med supplies for yourself, you’ll have to keep those cuts clean. You’re right, those monsters don’t deserve trash.” It was a half-truth, at least. They deserved better. 

“You’re a hero, lady. I’ll be back to give my report to the police when they get here.” 

As soon as he went inside, I looked around, then took off toward the woods. No way could I let the police find this monster. Stars, this day was getting crazier and crazier. 

“Hey, um, monster!” I called to the trees, after making sure I was out of sight of the store. “I’m not going to hurt you, I’m here to help. The cops will be called soon and I need to get you out of here. There’s… there’s another monster at my place, it’s safe there. If you can hear me, please come out!” I was starting to lose hope when finally, leaves rustled nearby and out walked a bipedal cat monster, about the same size as Nice. His clothes were torn and dirty, and he looked too thin. 

“Which monster? Who’s at your place?” he asked. His claws were out and his pupils were blown wide with fear and aggression. 

“Nice Cream Guy. He’s been with me for a few weeks. I… I’m on your side. I want to do what I can to help. Now please, we have to go.” Thinking quickly, I pulled the spare clothes out of my bag. “Put these on and cover your face as best you can. My car is back there, I’ll take you back with me and we’ll sneak you in.”

“Little buddy, if you try anything, I swear to god I’ll kill you.” He tried to look threatening, but the desperate look in my eyes seemed to make him believe that I truly wanted to help. He grabbed the clothes and put them on. They were a bit small on him, made to fit my 5’4 frame, but he was thin enough that it worked. I pulled off your jacket - the same one I offered Nice all those weeks ago in the alley - and gave that to him, too. 

“The hood should cover your face well enough. Now come on, we need to hurry.” 

“Wait!” He turned back to the trees he had emerged from, and gave a short whistle. Two small frog monsters hopped out hesitantly. “They’re with me. I’ve been trying to keep them safe. If you want to help, you have to take all of us.” 

I didn’t have clothes for all of them, but… “They should be able to fit in my bag. Here,” I started. I turned the bag over, dumping out the contents. The only things I really needed were my wallet and keys. The rest, just makeup, tampons, old receipts and a few spare tiny first aid kits, weren’t important. I set the bag on the ground. “Hop in.” 

The frog monsters looked at the cat first, then squeezed into the bag when he nodded at them. I picked it up and slung it over my shoulder. They were much lighter than I thought. 

“Let’s go.” They followed me back to my car, the cat monster looking around nervously. “Right here.” I quickly unlocked it, setting my bag in the back seat as the cat slid into the passenger seat. I got in, started the car, and pulled out just as the man from before was exiting the store. Thank the stars, he didn’t seem to notice us pulling away, but he definitely noticed the lack of police and the empty sidewalk where he had left me. I sped away before he came looking. 

“Is, uh, is Nice Cream Guy okay?” the cat monster asked, breaking the silence. 

“Yeah. His arm was broken when I found him, but I fixed it and he’s much better now.” I looked over at my passenger, thankful that he kept the hood up. Any passing driver could look in and see that something wasn’t right. 

“He must’ve broken it himself. He’s always been pretty clumsy.”

“You two knew each other? And how do you know he broke it himself?” 

“If someone wanted to hurt him, he would be dust right now. That’s how it is with us monsters. We die as soon as anyone with ill-intent lands a hit.” He looked down at his hands in his lap after he said that, his claws still out. “That’s how we’ve lost so many.” 

“Shit, I’m so sorry. I wish there was more I could do… I’m just glad you’re alright and we got out of there when we did.” I adjusted my mirror to look into the back seat, only to see the frogs poking their heads out of the bag. I motioned for them to keep low. 

“Why? Why would you help us? You know what this could mean for you, right?” He looked suspicious, eyes narrowing. It hurt my heart that even after everything, he still felt like he couldn’t trust me. What had these poor folks been through?

“I can’t just sit back and watch an entire species go extinct because of us humans. It… happens more often than you’d think. I needed to do something. I found Nice in my alley, hurt and starving, and I just… couldn’t sit back and watch anymore.”

“Okay,” was all he said in response.

“Okay?” 

“Yeah.” His claws retracted and his shoulders fell. “My friends call me Burgerpants. Those kids back there are froggits.” 

“Oh! My friends- well, my name is Megan. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Burgerpants and froggits.” 

It felt good, helping these people. Even with no real plan in mind, I felt confident that things would turn out okay.

[This is redemption, hopefully, for the super shitty undertale fic I put out on my old account 4 years ago lol. Also I promise sans will come in eventually. ALSO if anyone could make me a better cover that would be amazing lmao idk how]