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The One Where Sans Tells It Like It Is. (Or: The One Where Sans Is Number One Dunckle)

Summary:

When Toriel asked him to attend the meeting in her place for one night he thought it wouldn't be a big deal. Turns out Sans could not have been more wrong.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

When Toriel asked him to attend the meeting in her place for one night he thought it wouldn't be a big deal. Turns out Sans could not have been more wrong.

Tori needed to attend an emergency meeting with Asgore and some of the human leaders about something; he didn't really care enough about politics to pay much attention. So that left Frisk needing a babysitter and a PTA meeting that needed attending.

Which is how he found himself entering the brightly lit cafeteria of Frisk's elementary school and trying to ignore the stares he got from the suburban moms as he strolled in late, Frisk padding along just behind him.

At least there was food.

"Why don't you go grab us some seats and I'll grab us some grub," Sans suggested, looking down at his charge. The kid looked up at him, chewing a little on the edge of their sweater sleeve before nodding and heading over to the table. He smiled after them for a moment before turning his attention to the food.

He knew that despite Papyrus' best efforts the kid was picky eater so he looked over the selection carefully, picking out some nice looking carrots and grapes with a handful of pretzels. He was just about to head for the condiments when he heard one of the parents whispering loud enough for everyone to hear, "Should we let it touch the food? I mean, that is a health risk right?" Sans' grip on the paper plate got tighter and his expression darkened.

"Why would he even get food?" Another piped up. "He's a skeleton. it'll fall right through." Looking over his shoulder Sans saw a thin, blonde woman who's hair was up in a tight bun and kept her hands neatly folded over a small green binder leaning towards the woman next to her. The second woman was shorter with a brown bob cut that did not suit her at all and red lipstick that had left marks all over the paper cup she was holding. The two were looking right at Sans without a hint of shame on their faces.

Did Toriel have to deal with this every time she came to one of these meetings? He was going to have a serious talk with her when they got home that night; letting these people say whatever rude and ignorant things they felt like was unacceptable. Knowing that Frisk was around this kind of behavior was even worse. No wonder the kid had asked to just skip the meeting and watch movies instead.

Before any of the women could say anything more Sans made a decision and started piling snacks onto his plate. He made a show of it too, if he was going to expend energy on these people it was going to be worth it. The ever-present grin on his face got wider as he watched the horrified expression of the brown haired woman when he started picking up some brownies. They must have been hers and the thought made him laugh a little on the inside.

Once he was satisfied there were enough food items on his plate he made his way over to the end of the table where Frisk was sitting and set the plate down between them as he sat. The kid hummed appreciation and grabbed a cookie to nibble on.

"You should say thank you when someone brings you food sweetie," the closest mom said laying her hand on Frisk's arm. The kid froze, and Sans grabbed the lady's arm before he even knew what he was doing. A blue spark flickered in his eye as he stared at her.

"Frisk knows their manners lady," He said, voice low and serious. "So why don't you mind your own business, eh?" He let go and the woman pulled back her hand, fear evident on her face. Sans bit back a sigh of frustration as he noticed the silent room. He was as much a threat to these people as a fly was to Muffet. At least, in the sense that he would never do something that could possibly get Frisk kicked out of such a good school.

He leaned back in his chair, glancing to make sure the kid was okay, before tossing back a couple of potato chips. The people didn't even hide their fascination with his biology and he tossed back a few more before asking when the meeting was going to start.

With that everyone suddenly got very busy with their hands, papers, and counting ceiling tiles as the blonde from before stood up and cleared her throat. "Well, for all the new comers we have tonight i would like to extend a warm welcome and introduce myself as Linda, the president of the school's PTA." She paused, waiting with an expectant smile. The brown haired woman started clapping and Linda waved a hand in fake modesty. "Please, it's no big deal. We're all her because we care for our children and want to help give them the best learning environment possible. So without Further ado let's begin." She shuffled some papers around.

Sans was already starting to doze off, feeling a little sorry for the kid who had eye lids and couldn't get away with sleeping through meetings like he could. (One of the main reasons he had agreed to come was because it meant he wouldn't have to do anything after all.)

Linda droned on in the background, becoming white noise. "And i know you all agree with me that these mandatory vaccinations have to be stopped. For the safety of out children." What? "I know in an ideal world they wouldn't exist at all but we must be prepared to deal with the things those liberals in government try and impose on our families."

Sans sat up. He blinked, brows furrowing. There was no way that lady had just said what he had just heard he said. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?" He interrupted her mid sentence.

Linda gave him a tired look. "Please do try to keep up. We're discussing the school's current policy on mandatory vaccinations. Now as i was saying, we need to-"

"What's wrong with the current policy?" Sans cut her off. Linda scoffed as though she just couldn't believe what she was hearing while the brown haired woman spoke up.

"Well they're required for all students." She said in a matter of-fact-tone. A few parents made noises of agreement while the rest stayed quiet.

Linda rested a hand on the woman's shoulder," Thank you Helen." She turned to Sans. "That policy is completely unacceptable. We need to make the school see sense and stop letting out children be poisoned." She handed a staack of papers to Helen who took one and passes the rest to the woman next to her. "Now I've prepared an outline of what the new policy will be and how we're going to change it. I want each of you to take one and make sure to sign the petition before you leave."

Sans accepted the paper from the woman next to him, who was more than happy to get them out of her hands (and hers away from his), giving it a once over. "This is stupid." He thought out loud to himself. "Like, really stupid."

"I'm sorry what?" Linda glared at him with a forced smile, one corner of her mouth twitching ever so slightly. She rested her hands on the table.

Sans dropped the paper on the table in front of him and picked up a brownie. "This is stupid. None of these claims are scientifically accurate and the current vaccination policy is in place to ensure the long term health and safety of the students. The policy you're suggesting we adopt would allow students to go vaccinated. It's-"

"We?" Linda cut him off, sound just a little too polite. "I wasn't aware there was a 'we' here. Where you Helen?" she asked turning to her friend. The shorter woman shook her head with a smile.

"I've no idea what this... monster, is talking about. It sounds like a lovely plan." Her brown eyes darted around the room. "All of my research as shown that vaccinations pose a multitude of health risks, especially for children. Besides what would it know about human health anyways?" She bit back a small laugh on the last part and Sans just watched as several other parents nodded and murmured in agreement.

He let out a sigh before glance at Frisk. The kid was watching the people in the room intently while slumped back in their chair holding onto their cookie like a life line. He didn't want to cause a scene but Frisk seemed to be doing well so he gave the kids shoulder a little tap before looking up to Linda and Helen.

"Okay first," He held up a bony finger, pointing it straight at Linda who swallowed as she looked between it and his face. "I am a part as this as much as the rest of you because I am here in the best interest of my child" He motioned to Frisk who looked up at him with a strange expression. (He would worry about that later.) "So yeah, I'm a part of the collective 'we' which has gather to decide on ways to improve this school for our children's education. Secondly, the suggestion that vaccines pose any kind of health threat to anyone is bull. Unless a person has an allergic reaction to a specific drug there will be no negative side affects asides from a sore arm. But hey, what's having a sore arm lump compared to decades of living in an iron lung am I right?" He let out a tiny laugh, glancing around the room. Most of the Parents and the few teachers seemed dumbstruck. A few were actually nodding in agreement to his delight. Knowing some of these people had common sense, it filled him with a sense of confidence. "Thirdly," he said pointing at Helen this time. "I have a human kid. It would be irresponsible for me to not know all about human health; how could I take care of them if I didn't even know how their body worked. So don't you go around suggesting that because I'm a monster I have no say in what happens in my kid's life." He sat down with a puff, already worn out from the out burst.

This was supposed to be lazy nap time. Not tell off crazy humans time.

Besides him Frisk stuffed their cookie in his jacket pocket and started running their fingers through each other. Sans grimaced, ashamed to have upset Frisk with his outburst. He leaned over a little to whisper a quick apology. Frisk smiled up at him and waved a hand in a dismissive way. Sans nodded, "Gotcha."

Helen scoffed and muttered something under her breathe but was pacified by Linda's hand on her arm. The taller woman looked between Frisk and Sans before tutting. "Vaccinations are the very things that cause problems like these." She waved a hand at Frisk who looked down, faced turning red. "This child would have been healthy if she had been raised right by parents who knew what they doing."

A blue pulse in his left eye. "Just what are you saying lady?"

"That you're enabling inappropriate behavior in this little girl," Linda all but shouted. "You are letting her wave her hands around like an animal instead of making her use her words, Letting her stuff food in your pockets, " Frisk started to waved their hands more rapidly, in a way that was clearly telling Sans that they were distressed by all of this. "and denying her her girlhood by making her act like something she's not. Surly this mental affliction-" Frisk started tapping the table with one hand, the other folding and unfolding rapidly "- is the fault of poor parenting. Will you just use. Quiet. Hands." Linda snapped at Frisk.

Sans tensed, confused by what Linda meant. He felt the small body next to him go completely still and looked over to see Frisk sitting on their hands, shaking with the effort to remain perfectly still. Realization dawned on him and Sans glared at Linda, the pinpoint of his eye turning blue.

Frisk looked up at him, holding back tears and biting their lip. Sans stood up, lifting the kid into his arms, and walked out of the room entirely. He set Frisk down in the hallway and gave them a serious look. "Hey kiddo," he whispered to them, "everything is going to be okay. You just stay out here and I'll make the grown ups in there be nice, okay?" Frisk nodded, trying to muster up a smile.

Sans ruffled their hair. "You wanna borrow my coat? It's nice and fluffy and soft." At Frisk's nod Sans slipped the coat off and draped it around their shoulders. Even with how short he was the thing drowned the kid who just ran their hands over the soft lining and giggled. Sans ruffled their hair and turned to go back in.

A small hand grabbed his wrist stopping him. "Be nice," Frisk whispered with a little flap of their hand. Sans nodded and opened the door.

Back inside he took a short cut straight to his seat, making the people around the table jump. Sans smirked at them, knowing how this was going to go down and not caring how furious Toriel would be when when she heard about it. (But really, these people needed to be put in their place.)

"So," he started, "You do not EVER get to do that to my, or anyone else's kid, ever again. Capiche? The world does not have to conform to your tiny understanding of it. You don't get to demand that it does either. People are different and you have adapt and learn about them, not change them to be like you.

"Speaking of which, Frisk is not a 'she'. Frisk is a 'they'. They are uncomfortable being referred to as either a boy or a girl because they just don't see themselves as either. No one knows a person better than the person, so if a kid says they are a gender than they are that gender. You don't have to agree but you have to respect it.

"Also, Non Verbalism is not a 'mental affliction'" Sans air quoted. "Stimming is coping mechanism and Frisk prefers to communicate with their hands and with little verbalizations. If I could learn what all of those little hums mean then so can everyone else. I'm not sure how you guys do it up here on the surface, but in the underground we care more about the well being of our kids than the crappy politics of suburban housing committees but hey, who am I to judge cultural differences?"" He looked at the people gather, most of whom seemed utterly shell shocked by the night's events. Linda sat, staring at her folder with a blush rising to her cheeks.

"Also, your brownies are crap Helen. Learn to bake." That earned him a small cheer from someone off to the side. Sans smiled wider.

"So how about we discuss ways to educate our children on diversity?"

Notes:

This is my first Undertale fic, written for my lovely S.O. I hope you enjoyed it.

This Frisk can be read as autistic or non verbal but does not have to be; I left it open ended for two reasons. 1) I am not autistic nor am I consistently non-verbal (I have my talking days and my quiet days.) so I feel under equipped to accurately portray these things. 2) I feel if I leave the interpretation open it adds more to the immersion of the story, something that is a big part of the game.

Please comment to tell me how my characterizations are and if you'd like to see more for this particular little AU (or a possible second chapter.)

EDIT PLEASE READ::
Since posting this fic I actually have been diagnosed as Autistic! A lot of comments mentioned how Frisk seemed super Autistic. I actually based their behavior off of my own so that paired with some other circumstances in my life led me to ask around and eventually to a diagnosis!