“Oh my Celestia, Flowey!” Twilight cried, ignoring Alphys’ warnings about the heat and rushing towards him. “Are you okay?!”
“I-I’m fine, Twi,” Flowey said. “I’m fine, just… Can I get some clothes, please? I’m… kind of naked in here.”
“Oh, right, yeah!” Alphys walked up, removing her lab coat and handing it to him. “D-don’t worry about staining it. I did a little bit of engineering to- um, nevermind,” she said. “Um, everyone t-turn away.”
Flowey accepted the coat and broke out of his cocoon fully, putting the coat on and buttoning it up. “I think I need a shower.”
There was a long wait before Twilight got to talk to Flowey again. Chara and Alphys reasoned with her, saying that the flower turned goat-thing really wanted to get cleaned up before facing them. Twilight accepted it readily, not entirely sure about confronting him anyway.
“O-okay, he’s ready,” Alphys said, walking into the lab, where Twilight had been waiting. “Do y-you want to see him right now?”
Twilight looked up at Alphys with tired eyes, worn out from all the excitement earlier. “I… Yes. If he wants to. If he doesn’t…”
“N-no, he made it clear he wanted to see you as soon as possible,” Alphys interrupted. “Follow me. He’s downstairs.”
Twilight followed Alphys onto a fast conveyor belt that brought them to the other side of the room, then onto a different belt that acted more like an escalator. She stepped off of the escalator as soon as she could, then followed Alphys a little farther.
Flowey, now not a flower, was sitting at Alphys’ desk with a regretful look on his face. He looked up when he heard hoofsteps. “Oh. Um, hi, Twilight,” he said quietly, his voice much softer than when he was a flower. It was jarring.
“Flowey, I’m so-”
“Stop.”
Twilight pursed her lips quickly, allowing Flowey to speak first.
“I’m not Flowey anymore, okay? That’s not my name. It’s a pseudonym I made for myself so nobody would know who I really was. My real name is-”
“Asriel,” Twilight blurted. “I know.”
“What? How?”
“It’s a long story,” Twilight said. “Which might include some overly meta pieces of information. But that’s off track! I need to tell you something, okay?”
Asriel frowned at her, eyes narrowing suspiciously. ”What?”
“I’m sorry for what happened last night,” Twilight said, trying to decide at that moment whether she wanted to make eye contact or not. “I understand if you don’t want anything to do with me after… all that. Even so, I want to give it a shot. And I completely understand if you don’t want to, but please, can you give me a second chance?”
“What changed your mind?” Asriel asked. His tone was almost cold, voice dropping into something closer to Flowey’s as he glared at her. At that point, Alphys seemed to recognize something was up and left before she intruded on their supposedly private conversation.
“I got advice from a trusted source,” Twilight said truthfully and proudly.
“And what source was that? A dating manual?”
“My brother.”
“The married one?”
“No.”
Asriel covered his mouth, snorting in a very unbecoming manner. He returned to his previous expression as if he had scoffed instead of snorted. “What makes you think he’d know anything about this? About me?”
“He doesn’t know a lot about you, but… he knows me better than anyone,” Twilight said. “I explained everything I could to him. Everything you did, everything I felt, all of it. He said… he said I probably loved you. I probably still do, as a matter of fact.”
“Probably?”
“I don’t know what love feels like, Fl- Asriel. I’m sorry that I can’t be more certain about it, but that comes with being an overthinker like me. If you don’t want to, I’ll go. I’ll leave- forever, if you want. But if you do love me, if you do want to give me a second chance, please tell me.”
Asriel opened his mouth to respond, but closed it again, frowning deeply. He turned his head away, contemplating his options. On the one hand, she had rejected him the night before. It was definitely a fast-moving relationship, considering they had met three days ago. On the other hand, he was sure he could roll with something like that. He was good at making decisions on the fly.
He looked back at Twilight, emotion going wild in his newly complete soul. Even though it was obvious she was nervous, something about her eyes was so captivating and reassuring. Everything clicked into place suddenly, his answer coming to his head, but never leaving his mouth. At a loss for words, he leaned in and gave Twilight a kiss on the lips, completely ignoring his concerns from the night before, now knowing she was probably okay with it.
Twilight happily leaned into the kiss. She felt Asriel’s arms go around her, pulling her into a hug, which she accepted with literally open arms.
“We should get going,” Chara said wearily. “I am very sorry to have bothered you, Doctor Alphys.”
“O-oh, it’s nothing, really!” Alphys shook her head, her entire body seeming to shake with her voice. “It w-was a matter of life o-or death for Flowey. A-and you can c-call anytime you want.”
“In any case, I thank you,” Chara smiled. “Frisk and I should go home now. Frisk, be a dear and get A- Flowey, will you?”
Frisk nodded and speed walked away, heading towards the main lab. She turned a corner and walked down the stairs. When she entered the lab, she saw Asriel and Twilight hugging. She walked over silently, but soon realized they weren’t just hugging. A small gasp escaped her lips.
Twilight looked up and saw Frisk, then pushed Asriel away with a panicked shove. “H-hey, Frisk!” she squeaked nervously, eyes darting around the room as her face flushed a deep red.
“Frisk, I can explain,” Asriel said, standing up and raising his hands defensively. “It’s not what it looks like, okay? Just let me explain.”
Frisk stayed silent for a long time, looking into Asriel’s eyes skeptically. “It’s okay,” she said finally. Her voice was soft, like a child’s, but it sounded as if she was five years old and not fourteen. There was a sweet, comforting quality to it- quite reminiscent of Toriel’s voice.
“Twilight and I are…” Asriel glanced at the mare behind him, then turned back to Frisk, speechless. He blinked several times, but didn’t say anything.
“Are you together?” Frisk asked.
“I don’t know,” Asriel admitted. He turned to Twilight. “Are we together?”
Twilight smiled. “Why not? After all, I do really think I love you.”
“I guess… yeah.” The goat looked at Frisk again. “Yeah. Twilight and I are together.”
Frisk blinked a couple of times, then gave a thumbs up. She turned away with a wave of her hand to indicate that they could continue what they were doing, beginning to walk away when Asriel stopped her with a vine.
“Wait, Frisk,” Asriel said quickly. “Can you get Chara? I want to talk to her… and you. It’s important.”
Frisk nodded and ran back to Chara as soon as Asriel released her.