A/Y/N Is Almost Your Name

You were walking in the hallway with the biggest laundry basket you were sure your Masters owned. It was filled to the brim with red, blue, and orange clothes, and you had to wonder how only six monsters could produce so much laundry (though, you were positive a certain couple of spiky black shirts were thrown in there despite not needing to be washed). You couldn't very well see in front of you, so you just walked blindly hoping that if any of your Masters would pass by, they'd have the common sense to avoid walking into you.

Abruptly, you heard the sound of clanking metal in front of you. Curious, you peered out from behind your giant laundry basket to see Master Orange walking pass, with something you couldn't quite see in his hands.

Your mind carried the idea of what could possibly be in his hands all over the place. Your Masters had a knack for letting you know as little as possible about themselves, and you couldn't say that you were entirely content with that. Especially when it came to Master Sans, Orange, and Red. They would all make jokes and act silly around you, but you were certain there was more than meets the eye when it came to those three. Though, from the moment you started working for them, they made it very clear that you would not poke around in their personal business.

The memory of that moment made you shiver, but you still wanted to know what Master Orange was upto. Perhaps it was because you're always forced to be compliant, so the thought of rebelling in the little ways made you feel better. Or maybe you just REALLY wanted to know what Master Orange was doing. Either way, you set down your laundry and silently followed your tall, skeletal Master.

As you tailed your Master with a good distance between you two, you still couldn't entirely see what was in his hands. Confused, you tried to get just a little closer so you could see. You quickly followed your Master as he turned a corner, and when you turned the corner yourself...

He was gone? You tilted your head in confusion. How did he...

"ms. y/n."

When you turned back around, your Master was right in front of you! You put your hands over your mouth in shock and took a step only to hit a wall behind you.

"M-Master Orange!" Your eyes glanced down to his hands. Nothing. Of course, there was nothing! He wouldn't try intimidating you while holding the thing he was hiding! You mentally berate yourself before looking back up into your Master's eyes.

He put a hand against the wall to keep you from escaping, "what were you doing?" The question seemed innocent enough, but his voice was laced in an underlying subdued tone.

"I-I was just-! W-well, I-I-!" You couldn't help but studder under his intimidation, your eyes darting everywhere but him.

"y/n." He drew a hand along your jawline, before tugging at your chin to look at him. "don't lie to me."

Holy wow monsters could be SERIOUSLY scary sometimes. You pulled your hands to your chest, before you lower your head.

"I'm sorry, Master Orange! I was curious by the clanking sound of whatever you had in your hands, I just wanted to see what you were holding!" Your voice sounded shaky even to your own ears.

"that's all?"

You nodded up and down, "That's it, I promise!"

"heh, alright." he said, but his expression went cold. "don't do that again."

You nod up and down even faster this time, completely terrified. "Y-yes, Master!"

You looked up at him, and your feelings must've shown on your face because Master Orange's expression softened. He put his hand on your head, and patted it gently. Like that was going to make scaring the crap out of you any better.

"hey, lighten up. i won't hurt you." After threatening you like a scary evil monster? Sureeeee. "come with me, i need you to make a packed lunch for me."

You nod as he begins walking. You followed a little bit behind him, leaving enough room just incase. "W-why do you need me to make you a packed lunch, Master?"

"me, sans, and red are going out today." Master Orange replied.

You decided not to ask him where he was going, in fear of him turning cold again. "Should I make one for Master Sans and Master Red, too?"

"nah, they can pick something up at muffet's." he winked. "i'd much rather see them jealous."

You tilted your head, "I can assure you, Master, that Muffet's food is much better than my cooking."

"that's not..." Master Orange sighed, "never mind. i'd still prefer the packed lunch, if you wouldn't mind."

"Alright, it's your call, Master." You shrug. "What would you like for me to make for you?"

Master Orange smiled, "how about you make it really cute? with lots of hearts on it? maybe even a 'love you'?"

You scrunched up your face in confusion, "Why would you want that, Master?"

Master Orange laughed, "just trust me, it'll make sans and red flip."

You sigh. Your Masters are so weird.

---

You finished tying a red ribbon on the pink lunch box. Yep, that looked cute enough. You thought it was strange that Master Orange requested such a thing, but, hey if he was into that, to each his own.

Suddenly, you heard the front door open. You quickly grabbed the box and ran to the door before your Masters could leave.

"Wait, Master Orange!" You caught up to your Masters Orange, Sans, and Red who were all about to leave. "I made you your lunch."

You handed him the sweet looking box, and Master Sans and Red looked slightly shocked. Master Orange smiled, "aww, sweetie, you shouldn't have."

Sweetie? "But you asked me to-!" Before you could say anything else, he gave you a quick kiss to the cheek. Surprised, you just stared at him in shock.

"uh, kid," You dragged your eyes away from your tall Master, and turned toward Master Sans. "you wouldn't happen to have one of those for us, would ya?"

You shook your head, "Sorry, Masters."

Master Sans and Master Red looked visibly disappointed, while Master Orange just shrugged, "well, dang! i guess you guys will have to get something at muffet's then! oh well!"

Master Red audibly growled, "it's grillby's." Before he stomped out the door, with Master Sans trailing behind him.

Master Orange laughed, before winking, "thanks, sweetie." He shut the door behind him.

You exhale. You're gonna have to mention to Master Orange that you're not a fan of that nickname, but right now you were just glad to have less people in the house. It made cleaning easier.

You began with sweeping the hallways upstairs. Master Blue came by and chatted with you for a bit, before going off to do some puzzles of some sort, leaving you to do your cleaning. As you swept, you passed by each of your Master's rooms. One, Master Blue. Two, Master Papyrus. Three, Master Black. Four, Master Red. Five....

Master Orange.

You know, you bet Master Orange set whatever he had in his hand earlier that day in his room. It could be casually lying about, all out in the open like it was nothing.

You bit your lip, you weren't allowed to enter your Masters' room after you were done waking them up and making their bed in the morning. You Masters wanted it that way so they could put away their personal items at night, and then take them back out when you were done.

Mmmmm, but it was so tempting! No no, you really shouldn't. You saw the way Master Orange looked at you when you were just following him, you probably wouldn't live to see another day if he found you sifting through his stuff.

But it was sooooo tempting! And Master Orange would be gone the whole day, it wasn't even close to lunch time yet? No, you can't. Even if Master Orange was gone, what if Master Blue or, worse, Master Black caught you?

Nnngggg, what if you just went in and out really quick? Nobody would even know you disappeared?

No, it was rude to shift through somebody's personal belongings, and you'd get in serious trouble if you were caught. You somehow managed to stop yourself from going into Master Orange's room...

Kidding, you straight up dropped your broom and jumped into that forbidden mess.

You looked around the room, curiously. Unlike when you wake him up in the morning, every surface in the room was littered with items. There were a couple of socks scattered across the floor. You wondered why your Masters didn't want you to clean it, considering if it was this messy then it would be hard to clean up every night. Wait, how'd he get it so messy in just a few hours?

Pushing strange questions aside, you looked at the knickknacks on his dresser. There was mostly just old trash, socks, and cigarette buds on it, but you smiled when you saw a photo of him and Master Blue sitting on the dresser. You picked up all of the items anyway and shook them, but no clanking noise.

You opened his dresser, but there were only socks, cargo pants, and tank tops (and boxers, but you closed that drawer immediately. Well, if you were being honest, almost immediately). This came no shock to you, though, considering you did his laundry. He only ever washes his only sweatshirt when he needs it, afterall. You found it interesting that Master Sans and Master Red were like that, too. You picked up all of the items from the dresser, but to no avail, no clanking noise.

You moved onto the bedside table. There were a couple books on it, which varied from genres. One looked like a joke book, while another seemed to be about astrophysics. One of was a science fiction book you've actually read before yourself. You laughed, but none of the books had any clanking noise to them. Inside the bedside table you found another picture of Master Blue and Master Orange, causing you to smile again, and a metal key.

You move over to a second dresser located across the room. This one seemed a bit more interesting than the others. It was covered in books like the bedside table, but they were all in a writing you couldn't read. The letters seemed to be replaced with small pictures, like hieroglyphics but... not. There were blueprints and maps on the dresser as well, covered in the same kind of writing, which you looked over. Was it for a machine? You couldn't really tell.

You opened the dresser and were surprised to find a red box. You picked up the box and shaked it a little bit. Bingo! That was the clanking noise! But what could be inside the box? You try to open it, but it wouldn't budge. You exhaled sharply, this was getting more and more irritating by the second. That's when you remembered the key. You went back to the bedside table and grabbed the key, then back to the dresser and opened the box. With a soft click, the box opened and you found...

Things. You weren't entirely sure what they were. They were parts to a machine, you knew that, but you weren't an engineer so you didn't know what they were for, let alone what they do.

Oh well, curiosity halfway satisfied, you supposed. But why did Master Orange want to keep it a secret? You didn't even know your Master was educated in engineering and astrophysics, so what else could he be hiding? These questions would have to go unanswered, because there was no way you'd bring up, 'Hey, Master Orange? I assaulted your room and personal privacy because of my soul-crushing curiosity, and I noticed these weird machine parts in that secret box that you keep the key to at your bedside. Mind telling me what those do?'

You locked the box and put it back, then put the key back in place. You were about to leave the forbidden room behind... until something caught your eye.

There was a typewriter on Master Orange's desk. You thought it strange, considering a computer would be much more efficient. You looked over at the typewriter, and was happy to see it wasn't in that weird language you saw before. You read the beginning of the page that was still in the typewriter.

chapter 13: a rainy night

finally out of the rain, i set my coat up on the rack. my secretary came to greet me, with concern in her eyes.

"Russ!" she cried, "You didn't answer my calls! I was so worried!"

"heheh, sorry sweetie." i set my hat up on the coat rack as well, "i was a little busy with the case."

she stepped closer to me, a soft hand brushing against my cheekbone where i previously had been hit.

"S-sir..."

i turned my head, "oh, this? don't worry, sweetie. i won."

her brow furrowed, obviously not pleased with my reply. but then her expression softened. she lightly pushed me to the desk, beckoning me to sit. when i did, she placed her short frame in between my legs as she undid my tie.

"I... I don't like it when you get into trouble." her face was bright red. "It makes me worry, Russ..."

"a/y/n..." i pull her chin up slightly to meet her gaze, but she turned her head away in shyness.

"I-I should-!"

i pulled her into a deep kiss, the dim lighting being the only source of visibility. she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled herself against me.

You put a hand over your mouth to keep yourself from grinning childishly. You couldn't believe it! Master Orange was a writer! Not only that, but he wrote romance! And it was kinda good!

Okay, you needed to stop right there. Not only was it a HUGE invasion of privacy to read his writings, but it was also a HUGE jerk move. You already assaulted his privacy enough, now was the time to be the better person and go back to cleaning. You decided you were not going to be the worst person ever, and left the room...

Kidding again, you look through your Master's desk and find a bundle of pages. Sifting through them, you find chapter one and began reading.

As you read, you were starting to get the plot a bit. The story centered around a 'Detective Russ', who was trying to solve a murder case, and his secretary 'Ms. A/y/n', who has a secret crush on the detective. But since boss/employees can't have a relationship in the police force, A/y/n doesn't reveal her feelings to Russ. That is, until one night when Russ almost got killed, A/y/n confessed everything. This eventually leads into them having a secret relationship (with certain... steamy parts that you couldn't bring yourself to read). Oh, and there was a murder case or something like that going on too, but it was kinda in the background because the main focus was on the romance.

You were smiling as you read pretty far into the story, but your face immediately fell when you heard foot steps.

"MS. Y/N?" You heard Master Blue call. "MS. Y/N, WHERE ARE YOU?"

Drat! Why do you always get pulled in by the allure of being forbidden to do things! You should've just ignored your curiosity and went back to sweeping, or better yet not come in at all! You cursed yourself for your indulgence before stuffing the papers back into Master Orange's desk.

"MS. Y/N?" Master Blue opened the door to Master Orange's room right as you rid yourself of the evidence. "WHY ARE YOU IN PAPY'S ROOM?"

"Because," It was so much easier to lie to Master Blue than Master Orange. "I think I accidentally lost something in here when I was cleaning this morning." That sounded plausible, right?

"... WHAT DID YOU LOOSE?"

"A hair thing." That sounded reasonable, right?

"..." Master Blue looked at you with skepticism. Crap, it wasn't reasonable or plausible enough. You held your breath.

"OKAY..." Master Blue toyed with his fingers, "BUT YOU SHOULD STOP DOING THAT NOW, PAPY WOULDN'T BE HAPPY IF HE KNEW YOU WERE IN HERE."

"Oh, my apologies, Master!" You died a little inside, wracked with worry that he was going to mention it to his brother. "I didn't even think about that."

"THAT'S OKAY." Master Blue said, opening the door wide while you walked through it. "JUST... DON'T DO THAT AGAIN."

"Of course, Master."

---

You were drying the dishes from dinner, your mind wrapped up in it's own thoughts. So far, Master Orange had acted completely normal throughout the day since he came back, so you guessed that Master Blue had either spared you or forgotten about it. You wanted to sigh with relief, but you couldn't help but feel like you just had to wait for the storm to come.

You heard two knocks on the door frame. You turned around, it was Master Orange.

"hey, kid."

Yep, you were dead.

"M-Master Orange!" You put down you dish, "What do you need?"

"nothing much," he edged in closer, and you edged back. "i just wanted to chat."

This is what knowing that you're gonna die feels like.

"W-what about, Master?"

"hmmm, is there anything you want to tell me?" He got even closer, and you took even more steps back.

You wondered if death hurt.

You shook your head quickly, and he took another step forward. You were about to take another step back, but then you realized you reached the counter.

"nothing at all? that's funny." Master Orange cornered you completely at this point, before he leaned down to your ear. "a hair thing? really?"

You inhale sharply, but he covers your mouth with his hand. His smile is strained, and you can see the anger in his eyes.

"y/n, you should know better than to go into my room, or any of our rooms for that matter. invasion of privacy and all that."

His hand let go of your mouth, but still lingered in a threatening presence.

"and after this morning? what's your game?"

Oh snap. You were being accused of some pretty serious stuff here. Humans aren't known very well for being kind to monsters, so it wouldn't be surprising if a human were to accept a job from a monster just to hurt them. That's one of the reasons why humans and monsters kept separate. Some of the time kept separate.

"I don't-!"

"and don't" he interrupted, "lie to me. just answer me one question, what were you doing in my room?"

You froze, you knew if you lied he'd be able to tell, but if you told the truth he'd kick you out or worse. You had to think of something, fast, so you said the first thing that came to your mind.

"I was reading your story!" You covered your head in your hands to hide your embarrassment. Master Orange's demeanor and expression immediately changed.

"huh?" he took a step back.

"I'm so sorry, Master! I couldn't help myself, it was really good, and once I started reading I couldn't stop!" You put your hands together in a begging motion, "Please don't be mad at me! I know it was wrong to go into your room and look at your personal belongs, I'm soooo sorry! Please PLEASE forgive me!"

"you..." Your Master grew a little orange. "read...." He grew a little more orange. "my...." He grew even more orange. "...oh, geez..." At this point he was glowing bright orange. He put a hand over his face to try and hide his blush, but to no avail. "... and you liked it?"

Your smile was genuine, mostly because you realized that you weren't going to die today. "Oh, yes definitely, Master! The characters were really believable, and the romance was so appealing, I found my heart racing at times!" You flushed pink, then toyed with your fingers, "Though... I have to admit, I skipped over the more... intimate parts."

"oh my stars." Master Orange put his blushing head in his hands.

"B-but it was really great, overall!"

"heheh... thanks." Master Orange scratched the back of his head, "uhm, what did you think of a/y/n?"

"If I'm being honest, Master?"

He nodded.

"Well, she was okay." You put your hands behind your back, "I liked her character, but I feel like she was a little too much of a pushover. Plus, Russ seemed to give her ALL this work, so I just ended up feeling bad for her."

"heheh, is that so?"

"W-well, that's just one opinion, Master. You should probably give her a reason why she does so much for him."

"isn't her feelings for him, enough?"

You give your Master a knowing look, "If it's her feelings that are causing her to do all of that work for Russ, then that's an abusive relationship."

Your Master pursed his teeth together, "i... i guess so. well, thanks for the advice, y/n."

You smile and nod.

"and y/n?"

"Yes, Master."

"don't ever go into my room again."

You stiffen, "Y-yes, Master."