Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When you wake up, you were in a hospital bed. You felt like you had been split into a million pieces and you had been sloppily put back together. Every movement hurt. Every breath made you want to die.

You couldn’t remember your name. There were people around you, cheering as you woke, but you couldn’t stand their voices. They hurt. 

You couldn’t speak, all you could do was listen.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find those fucking monsters that did this to you!”

“We’ll get even for you!”

“If you can survive an attack like that, we can do anything!”

“Dust will fill the fucking streets!”

….

You want to jump out the window.

---------------

Six weeks later, your body still aches. You have distanced yourself from your supposed ‘family’ the first chance you got. They were monster haters. Apart of some group, you didn’t bother to remember the name, that actively hunted monsters and dusted them.

They called you Angel.

Short for Angel of Death.

They had big plans for you. You were supposed to take over as head of the family a few days before whatever had happened to you.

Now, the thought of any of these people touching you made you want to throw up.

You had thrown up a few times when your family hugged you or simply touched your arm. Their touches were bad. So bad, it made you feel disgusting.

You felt like dying constantly.

You had a plan. Not a very good one but you had one.

You were released from the hospital and your family brought you short shorts, a thin tank top, and a small jacket. Bright colors.

You threw up after putting on the clothes.

You still refused to talk to them.

You could but you refused to.

You had nothing good to say to them.

They were wrong. Why did monsters deserve to die?

From what you gather, their very existence was a menace to your family. 

Somehow.

You didn’t understand and you couldn’t even toy with the idea. How weak did you use to be? To let them think like this? To be around people like this?

The doctor said something was wrong with your soul. Something about it changed. You had a full trait color now. Before, you had the same muted tones of your family. Yellow and purple were long gone from your soul. Now it was green. You didn’t know what that meant but evidently, it was very confusing to the doctors.

They wanted to hold you for more tests but your family forced your discharge papers through.

The doctors said it was a bad idea. You had many cracks on your soul, they said, you would surely die if you left.

Your family said you were strong. They would take care of you.

They promised to take care of you.

So, you dressed in the skimpy clothes and followed them outside. 

You piled in the car, resisting the urge to vomit when your brother pressed his side against yours.

“I’m taking her out tonight with the boys. We got work to do.” He said proudly.

You didn’t want to go out.

You didn’t want to.

But he said you would be going to a bar.

You remembered your plan.

A drink, then a fall.

You didn’t want to be here.

You were determined to not be here.

You were unaware that your soul dripped red with your thoughts.

--------------

At about 10 pm, your brother’s friends came. They picked you and your brother up and took you to a bar two hours outside of town. Grillby’s.

Looking in, you could see that it was a monster bar. 

They wanted you to…

You wouldn’t, you resolved yourself as you followed them in the bar.

You took a seat at a booth, being sure to seat yourself on the outside so you wouldn’t be pressed in between those two disgusting men. Your brother sat opposite you, opening the menu.

You sigh quietly and look at your menu to go over the drinks.

You just wanted your drink and then to leave.

The monsters here were staring down your table. Your brother and his friends were being obnoxious as hell. You did your best to ignore them.

Out of the side of your vision, you saw a group of dog monsters playing poker. They must all be bad at poker, they weren’t good at concealing how they were glaring down the only group of humans here.

You looked up when a purple fire elemental walked over to your table.

“What the hell do you want?” He asked, placing his hands on his hips.

“It actually goes ‘hello, how can i help you today’?” Your brother snickered at the fire elemental.

‘How are you this fucking stupid?’

You thought to yourself. The fire elemental smirked, giving you a look out the corner of his eye.

“Sure there, I’ll try again. The fuck do you want? Buy something or get the fuck outta my bar.”

Your brother rolled his eyes.

“We’ll take some fries, a pitcher of water, a round of beers for the boys!” He clapped hands with one of his friends while you shake your head.

‘I don’t care what I drink as long as I can’t fucking think afterward.’

“Got it,” The fire elemental smirked at your group and left.

“Fucking freak,” Your brother’s friend hissed quietly.

You sat on the edge of your seat, wanting to be as far as them as possible.

Maybe you can sneak off to the bar and order a drink since you didn’t get to while the idiots were ordering.

Just get a drink and find a cliff.

After an hour of listening to your brother and his friends bitching about the service, loudly, and whispering plans you weren’t paying attention to, your drinks finally came.

Lukewarm beer was passed to the boys, a pitcher of water set in the middle of the table, and, to your surprise, a glowing blue drink set in front of you.

“We didn’t order that,” Your brother pointed at your drink.

“I ‘eard the lady clear as day order it,” The fire elemental smirked, “Go on, try it.”

You shrugged and reached for the drink, taking a sip.

The alcohol burned your throat as it went down but left a pleasant taste of blueberries in your mouth. Maybe you were an alcoholic before because you didn’t mind the burn at all. It took your mind off the pains aching your body.

‘Fuck, that’s good.’

“We’re not paying for shit we didn’t order,” Your brother started.

“I’ll make the lady a tab,” The elemental waved off your brother as he walked away.

‘Fuck, maybe I should stay alive long enough to pay that…’

You shake your head, deciding to keep to your plan as you tilted back more of the drink.

The fries never came and the boys’ drinks were never refilled.

‘Stars, do you not get that we’re not fucking welcome here. Fucking idiots, think they can’t see right through you?’

You shake your head and got up. Your brother grabbed your arm tightly as you started to walk away from the table.

“Where are you going?”

You pointed to the sign for the bathroom.

“Whatever, hurry the fuck up.”

He let go of you. You used the bathroom and unfortunately, the window in the bathroom was too small for you to get through.

You’d have to walk out the front door and hope the idiots didn’t notice.

You walked outside the bathroom and stopped.

It was like time slowed down.

Your brother was standing behind the fire elemental who had his back turned to him. Your brother was lifting up the water pitcher, ready to pour it on the fire elemental.

You knew instinctively, that would kill the monster.

You knew your brother would laugh with his friends about it.

To think this would happen, in front of you, when you could do something, killed you.

The red dripping off your soul moved upwards, lining your soul with bright determination.

You ran, knocking your body into the large fire elemental and knocking him onto the table where the dogs were playing poker. 

Time moved in a regular fashion as you were drenched in water.

You glared up at your brother.

“Are you a fucking idiot?! Did your head get knocked around?!” Your brother raised the glass pitcher, ready to strike you down.

Your voice stopped him.

“You can waste your time killing me, or you could start runnin’.”

Your brother paled.

“That’s not your...What the fuck!? Why do you fucking sound like that?!”

Did you sound different? It was your voice, it sounded fine to you.

“Ya think these monsters are gonna letcha walk outta here?” You snickered, giving your brother a dark look, “I think ya got about three seconds before they rip your heads off.”

Your brother glared at you before looking to the dog monsters as they stood up, weapons in hand as they did.

Your brother walked back slowly before glaring at you.

“Don’t try coming home,” He warned you, “I’ll fucking kill you first chance I get.”

“Ain’t got a home, and I sure as hell ain’t goin’ to your shit hole,” Your voice softened at the end.

Talking was draining. You were so damn tired as the aches in your body returned in full force.

Your brother and his friends ran out of the door. You watched them for a minute before looking at the fire elemental who was now standing beside you. He was glaring down at you.

It was a long minute before he pointed and said: “Bar, now.”

You shrugged and walked over to the bar, sitting on a stool. You set your arms on the bar and push your head on top of them.

So fucking tired.

A hum that had stopped when your brother and his friends had walked in started up again. Chatter resumed. The poker game kept going.

A glass was set in front of you, filled to the brim with that glowing drink you had before.

‘Save a life, get a drink. Fuckin’ love this bar.’

You drank it up eager and set it back down empty with a small sigh. Like before, as the alcohol coursed through your system, it took away your aches.

A towel was thrown on your head and you pulled it off right away, frowning up at the fire elemental.

“You’re gettin’ my damn bar wet, dry off,” He said.

You wrap the towel around your shoulders as he refills your drink.

“The name’s Grillby, I own the place,” He said to you, staring in your eyes as you sip your drink.

‘I fuckin’ care why?’

You frowned up at him without saying anything.

“You’re gonna care ‘cause I don’t let myself get in debts like this,” He hissed at you.

‘You’re reading my thoughts?’

Grillby shrugged at your shocked look.

“You’re speaking with your soul. Not many do that anymore,” Grillby picked up a glass to start cleaning it, “Humans can’t hear it but monsters can.”

You blinked at him stupidly for a moment before turning and looking at the dogs playing poker.

‘Hey, poochie!’

All the dogs turned. Most of them glared at you, but the biggest one looked at you curiously, tilting his head and letting his tongue loll out in a pant.

‘Huh, shit ya can hear me. Won’t bug ya again.’

You shrug at them and turn back to the bar and your drink.

“Where are you going after this?” Grillby asked, frowning at you.

‘Mountain.’

“Not lookin’ to stay around long?” Grillby’s frown deepened, “Given up that fast?”

‘Don’t know nobody, don’t want to be around those assholes. Don’t know what kinda shit I did before I woke up. Might as well.’

You shrugged at Grillby then looked down.

‘Ain’t got nothin’, not lookin’ to find nothin’, ain’t worth the trouble.’

“Yer stayin’ here tonight then,” Grillby said, causing your head to snap up at him.

‘The fuck? Why do you give a shit?’

“I’ll give you a job and a room until you get yer shit together girl, now what’s your name?”

‘Why do you give a fuck?’

Grillby leaned in close to you, hissing, “You just save my fucking flame, you think I’mma let people think I’m weak that some suicidal fuck saved me?”

You glared at him.

‘I ain’t gonna live for you.’

“You’ll get the fuck over it eventually,” Grillby said, standing back up properly.

You glared at him before standing up, knocking the stool over as you did. You kept your glare on him as you left the bar. Outside, you glared at him through the window before you walked down the street, heading to the mountain.

It was only minutes later when you heard dogs barking and running.

You didn’t bother to run. It was too much damn trouble.

They surrounded you, brandishing their weapons and growling to intimadate you.

You pointed to the large axe.

‘Ain’t that kinda against the point? Or are ya gonna slice me up with that shit?’

The dog holding it frowned at you, then let his weapon fall away, disappearing before it hit the ground.

“You’re coming back…”

“...to the bar.”

One dog started, a male, then a female finished for him.

You stared them down.

‘If I leave again are you just gonna come after me again?’

“As many times as we have to,” Another dog said, smoking what looked to be a dog treat.

You groaned and ran your hand over your face. You walked up to the one smoking and pulled the dog treat out of his mouth.

You started walking back to the bar wordlessly as the dog monsters stared after you. You took a drag from the treat and coughed immediately.

‘It tastes like shit?! What the fuck?!’

A small chuckle ran through the pack before they followed you. 

You still smoked the dog treat, throwing your jacket off your shoulders and on the ground. You hated the colors of it and weren’t interested in keeping.

One of the dog’s held the door open for you as you walked in.

You glared at Grillby as you walked back to the bar. Quietly, you picked up the stool that was still on the ground. You sat and took another drag as Grillby stared you down.

‘You fucking win.’

You told Grillby as you let out the smoke.

He smirked at you before setting two shots in front of you, one bright orange and the other a cool blue.

“Drink ‘em up.”

You shrugged and took the orange shot first, resisting the urge to cough as it burned like fire going down your throat. After a moment, you took the blue shot, sighing in relief as it cooled the fire.

“Ey, little one…”

“...Come join our game!”

The dog couple called to you.

You blinked over at them confused.

‘Why the fuck do you want me to do that?’

“Because you’re fuckin’ pathetic. Take the pity and get your ass in a chair,” The one smoking yelled at you.

You frowned at him and flipped him off, turning back to Grillby as he set another drink in front of you.

You started to sip your blueberry concoction, but nearly spit it out when something furry nuzzled your cheek.

‘The fuck dude!?’

You looked and noticed it was the big dog. He whined and nuzzled your cheek again.

‘What do you want?’

You sighed at him and he only whined again and stared up at you with big eyes, sitting on the ground to look up at you.

‘Are you...are you fucking giving me puppy eyes?’

Before you realize it, you were smiling and holding back a laugh. When the giant dog tilted his head and whined again, you laughed loudly with the alcohol buzzing through your veins.

‘Scariest one of the pack and you’re lookin’ at me like a fuckin’ puppy!’

He just whined at you again, his tail wagging at your sudden friendly nature.

You reached out and scratched his ears. He set his head in your lap and closed his eyes. You idly pet the large dog and sipped at your drink, a small smile settling on your face.

“Will you get the fuck over here already!?” The smoking dog yelled to you again.

You rolled your eyes and flipped him off. He growled at you which only made you smirk.

‘I’ll play...if you let me smoke more of those gross ass dog treats.’

“You’re fucking barginning with me?!” The dog growled at you, looking in your direction but you noticed he wasn’t actually looking at you.

You snapped your fingers, getting his eyes right on you.

‘Ya fuckin’ blind?’

“I’m not blind!” He yelled, fur rising on the back of his neck.

‘Sensitive aren’t cha?’

You whistled at him.

He just glared at you. Then he smirked.

“Greater, fetch the girl!”

The big dog who had been resting on your lap suddenly wrapped his arms around your thighs and hauled you up, carrying you over to the table.

‘Oh, the fuck?!’

You wouldn’t admit it but you pouted at Greater as he sat you in the chair he had been sitting in before.

‘Well, fuckin’ fetch me my damn drink then rude ass.’

You didn’t think he would but you felt a little spark of guilt when he listened and brought your drink over to you.

You frowned as you took it from him. Part of you wanted to apologize but...you couldn’t make yourself. Instead you scratched his ears again, which made him wag his tail happily.

‘Dumbass, ya shouldn’t listen ta folk ya don’t know…’

“He isn’t…”

“...Normally so friendly.”

The dog couple explained to you.

You quirked an eyebrow up at them then sighed and patted your lap. The giant dog, Greater, laid his head in your lap and let you pet his head and neck, his tail smacking the floor loudly.

‘Still shouldn’t listen ta me.’

Cards were thrown in front of you and you picked them up, frowning at them.

You were in for a long night.

----------

By the time the bar closed, you were very, very wasted. You played the night away with the dog pack, drinking anything Grillby set in front of you. You found out those shots you drank earlier were monster alcohol and they made your veins glow orange and blue after a while. The effect lasted about two hours and while you were glowing, the whole bar couldn’t tear their eyes off of you.

Not that you noticed. You were so drunk at that point, you barely noticed you were glowing.

At the end of the night, after the dog pack cleared out, Grillby carried you upstairs despite your drunken protests.

You slept on his couch.

------------

You woke up much too early, your head pounding in protest to being awake. You groaned and rolled over on the couch.

“Get the fuck up, yer workin’ tonight and I ain’t havin’ some human slut workin’ in my bar,” Grillby said as he walked past you.

‘I am human Grillby.”

You hissed at his loud voice.

“Jus’ shut up and c’mon,” He barked at you.

You groaned and got up, shoving your shoes on and following him downstairs.

A car ride and half an hour later, you were in some boutique. You looked around at the lolita dresses with a frown.

‘I thought the point was for me to not look like a whore?’

“Yer not gonna when Muf is done with you,” Grillby said, sitting on a purple couch.

A spider woman came out of the back and smiled at you.

“Oh, dearie, are you looking for something-” When she saw Grillby, she glared at him and tensed, “The fuck are you doing here?!”

‘Just a guess but I don’t think she likes ya.’

You smirked at Grillby who glared at you.

“Ain’t here to cause trouble. Just need her not lookin’ like a hussy while workin’ for me,” Grillby said, “I’ll pay ya double so just get it done.”

Muffet glared at him and gave you a once over.

She seemed to think it over as she walked around you, eyeing up your form with her five eyes.

“Huhuhu, you’ll pay triple for the trouble you cause me in the past,” She glared at Grillby again.

“Triple!? Fucking!” Grillby’s flames grew larger but you were impressed when Muffet stood her ground, “Fine, just get it done. She needs a full set of clothes and shit.”

“Come with me dearie!” Muffet eagerly took your hand and led you to the back. You knew she was only seeing dollar signs now.

------------

You left Muffet’s shop feeling much more comfortable. She was preparing some clothes specially tailored to you but gave you some to wear out.

Now you wore combat boots that had dark jeans tucked into them, a skin tight army green shirt, with a dark leather jacket. You tried to refuse the shirt, but she refused to give you any shirt that wasn’t green.

She said it looked good with your soul.

Grillby said the same.

You didn’t really know what that meant but you didn’t complain.

Grillby took you to the mall and picked out a bed and a mattress to be delivered to the house. He got some other furniture for you to fill up the room you hadn’t even seen yet.

‘Why are you gettin’ all the expensive shit? I ain’t gonna be able to pay you back for all this shit for years. Ya know that right?’

“Yer not gonna have to pay for any of it,” Grillby glared down at you, “Ain’t gonna have you using shit when I’m takin’ care of ya.”

You rolled your eyes and rubbed your forehead. Your headache still hadn’t gone away. You wanted to nap it off but you didn’t bother complaining as Grillby dragged you into another store.

“Go on, pick some shit you like,” Grillby said, pushing your shoulder.

‘I told ya, I just woke up from a coma. I don’t know what I like really.’

You frowned up at him.

“Dumbass, jus’ look around until you find something!” Grillby all but yelled at you.

He grabbed your upper arm and pulled you over to a shelf filled with some glass pieces.

“Jus’ look around and-...” He looked down to keep scolding you but stopped when he saw you staring at his hand on you in wonder.

It was the first time he touched you while you were sober.

You thought you didn’t mind last night since you were drunk. But, now you were sober. You didn’t feel sick. You didn’t feel bad. It felt normal.

Even when the doctors and nurses examined you, you had gotten sick from their touches.

You hesitated before touching Grillby’s arm.

‘Ya ain’t makin’ me sick?’

You thought to yourself in wonder.

“It makes you sick when people touch ya?” Grillby tilted his head at you with a frown.

‘When...when humans touch me but, I don’t feel nothing bad when you touch me.’

You had refused to let Muffet touch you when she was taking your measurements. Each time she had grazed your skin, you reflexively pulled away from her. Her touched wasn’t bad. It didn’t make you sick. You just didn’t like it.

Grillby looked away from you and pushed your shoulder again, making you look forward.

“Jus’ take a look around and see whatcha like,” He looked away from you now.

You stared at him confused but stared at the glass pieces.

You pointed to a plain glass paperweight that held a flame within it.

----------------

You pulled out your notepad from the apron tied around your waist and jotted down what the table of monsters wanted before walking back to the bar. You handed the slip to Grillby for grabbing the tray of beers to serve to the dog pack.

You set them down by each of them, giving Great a small pet as you went by him.

‘Dude, you need to bluff hard to win this shit.’

You thought as you leaned over Doggo, just to irritate him and ruin his hand for him.

He snarled at you and you laughed as you walked away. Dogamy and Dogaressa snickered together at the two of you while Lesser barked at Doggo.

You went behind the bar and started putting away the dry glasses as Grillby finished mixing the drinks for your table.

“Yer not half bad at this,” Grillby said in a quiet tone.

You looked over at him, surprised he was talking so quietly.

‘Workin’...ain’t so bad.’

You shrugged before moving around the bar to take the tray over to your table. You set the drinks down in front of the proper monsters who ordered them. You went behind the bar and filled another beer glass while Grillby was busy with another customer. You took the beer over to the drunk bunny and replaced her empty one with the full one.

“Thanks, bun-bun~” She hiccupped and slid the beer closer to her.

Without thinking, you patted her head and started walking back to the bar.

The door slammed open and a small group of humans filtered in. All men. All with a certain intent in their eyes.

 You stared them down with a small frown before walking behind the bar. 

‘Want me to handle them?’

You asked Grillby, still staring them down.

“Unless yer suddenly not a fuckin’ mute, man the bar,” Grillby didn’t look at you as the men took their seats and opened the menu.

You did as Grillby asked, staying behind the bar and filling the orders you could since you didn’t know how to mix drinks properly.

Everyone in the room was staring the men down. The dog pack watched carefully, and you had to sigh at how obvious they were.

“...some beers and a pitcher of water,” One of the men said.

You tensed at what they asked for. Did they think they were slick? You made a decision in that moment to not let Grillby serve them further.

Grillby just shrugged and walked back to the bar. He frowned at you and pointed at you as he passed you to go into the kitchen.

“Don’t do shit, don’t go near that table,” He hissed at you before going in the kitchen.

You frowned at him and slammed a beer mug down in front of a monster before moving to wash some glasses behind the bar.

One of the men was staring at you. You looked up at him and frowned before looking back at the dishes.

The first thing you learned was how specific Grillby was about his glasses. You couldn’t leave any watermarks and it, unfortunately, took most of your concentration to not leave those stupid marks.

“Hey cutie,” The man that had been staring at you slid onto the barstool in front of you, “What’s a sweet girl like you doing in this dump?”

He flashed a smile at you.

‘I’m mute jackass.’

You frowned at him and went back to cleaning the glasses and making a point to ignore him.

“Aw, come on cutie, don’t leave me hanging. I just want to show you a good time,” He smiled at you, leaning down to be in your vision.

You sigh at him and shook your head.

“Give me a chance before turning me down. Let me see that sweet smile cutie.”

You ignored him again, walking away from him.

He leaned over the bar and slapped your ass suddenly.

You bristled and looked back at him with a wild look in your eye. Something in you snapped as he laughed at your expression.

You grabbed the small knife Grillby had been using earlier to cut up fruit for drinks. You jumped over the bar and kicked him in the chest, landing right on him. You heard a satisfying crack from his ribs and he yelled out. He moved his hands up to throw you off when you placed the knife at his neck, digging it in just enough to draw blood. His hands quickly went up in surrender and he whimpered.

“It-It was just a joke, c’mon, don’t do something you’ll regret,” He pleaded.

You glared at him before looking up at his friends who stared at you in shock.

“Yer gonna leave,” You spoke evenly and clear, “Go get your car started, rev it twice when yer all in and if ya do it within the next two minutes, I won’t be cleanin’ your friend’s blood off the floor,” You gave them a dead look as you spoke.

They hesitated for only a second. The other three men stood and ran out the door, quickly following your instructions and pulling up to the door, revving the engine twice.

You stood up, smirking as the man under you moaned in pain. You stepped off him and leaned on the bar, wiping the blood off the knife onto the underside of your apron.

“Friends only left you thirty seconds, ya better run,” You smirked down at him.

He crawled out of the bar, one hand holding his ribs as he did. When he got to the door, one of the other men pulled him up and practically ran to the car. When you heard the tires screeching in their escape, you were surprised.

The bar cheered for you.

You look at them confused.

‘The fuck?’

Grillby was standing in the doorway to the back, his expression unreadable to you.

‘Hey, I listened! I didn’t go causin’ trouble, it came to me!’

You frowned at him.

“Get your ass back here,” Grillby motioned for you to follow him.

You sighed and followed him to the back. 

You quickly went to the sink in the back and cleaned the knife off and set it in the rack to dry.

“I didn’t tell ya to come back here ta fuckin’ ignore me!”

You were confused. Grillby didn’t sound mad. He sounded...amused?

You looked over at him and tilted your head.

‘Thought you were gonna be mad at me.’

“For what? Defending yerself?” Grillby asked, walking up to you.

He seemed to hesitate before setting his hands on your shoulders.

“For someone that wants to die so bad, you put up a damn good fight,” He said.

You looked away with a frown but leaned into his touch. Anything to feel better after that man touched you.

Grillby frowned at you.

“What’s wrong?”

‘Nothin’.’

You knew you replied too quickly and winced at it. You crossed your arms and didn’t look up at Grillby.

It was quiet for a moment.

“You never told me yer name.”

‘Don’t got one. That old person died when I went into the coma.’

You shrugged and stared at the drying rack.

Grillby stared down at you for a solid minute, as if he was considering something.

“If I give you a name, you gotta stay,” His voice was so quiet.

You looked up at him confused.

“You can’t die on me if I give ya a name. And if someone tries to kill you, you kill ‘em before they kill you,” His voice was hard as he spoke to you now, something in his fiery eyes that you had a very hard time understanding.

After a minute of considering this, you nodded.

‘I can do that...I like this place so, I can do that.’

Grillby rubbed your shoulders with his thumbs before saying, “Your name is Ember. Yer my lil’ Ember now. Get it?”

You stared up at him for a moment before quirking up an eyebrow.

‘You adoptin’ me Grillby?’

“Yeah, if you take the name I am...based on our old ways,” Grillby straightened your shirt before letting go of you, “You walk like a monster, talk like a monster, you take this name you will be a monster to us.”

You looked down, staring hard at the floorboards.

‘Yer gonna get sick of me.’

“Family always gets sick of each other,” Grillby said, looking away from you.

You hesitated but you moved and wrapped your arms around Grillby’s waist and hugged him tightly. Grillby wrapped his arms around you.

‘I need a nametag now. It’s gotta say Ember.’

Grillby flamed up and held you to him tighter.

“I gotta leave a mark on you, so other monsters know. It’s gonna hurt-”

‘Think I give a fuck?’

Grillby chuckled softly. He let go of you and you dropped your arms. He looked over you before he raised his hands to your upper arms and slowly moved them up. You felt the skin there burn. You didn’t move, didn’t even flinch.

Grillby looked proud of you.

When the burn was done, you couldn’t help but to look.

Grillby left a brand. A long flame starting at your elbow and curving slowly behind your shoulders.

You looked back up at Grillby and smiled. It felt real. It felt too good to be real, but you’d rather be happy and crazy than suicidal and sane.

“Let’s go celebrate daughter,” Grillby said, escorting you out to the bar.

The monsters of the bar cheered once more.

Chapter Text

You hop out of the cab of the moving truck and stretch out, popping your back as you do. You look around the street and sigh. You were gonna miss the old place.

Two years, Grillby and you had stayed in that shitty little town near the mountain. The monsters had only stayed there while New Home was being constructed states away. Construction finished a month ago and Grillby decided it was time to pack up and move into the proper building.

The neon lights of Grillby’s was turned off for the daytime. You looked up and down the street. It was full of monster shops and the like. You turn and look back up at the building. It was a red brick building with a large window. The inside was already furnished. The upstairs held an apartment, a nice one for Grillby and you to live in.

You just hoped the dog pack would come by soon after they finished unpacking. The place wasn’t the same without them there to stink it up.

“Would you get that fucking ass in gear!” Grillby yelled at you as he opened up the back of the moving truck.

‘Pops, you hired movers remember? Ya don’t need to move the shit yerself.’

You crossed your arms at your father and frowned.

“They’re gonna be late, they always are. We can get the boxes up at least. Now hurry it up if you want ta be open tonight!”

You only hesitated for a second before you moved to start helping Grillby unpack the boxes from the truck.

You loved working in the bar and you really wanted to be open tonight. You were nervous being in a new place. You had grown so used to the old bar that you already missed it.

As you picked up a box to bring it inside, Grillby grabbed your upper arm.

“Quit frettin’ over it, monsters ain’t gonna fuck with ya. Yer one of us,” Your father said.

‘Not recognized by the royal family though, until I am, someone could want to fuck around.’

You frowned and looked down. The regulars at the bar were like your family. They looked out for you because you looked out for them whenever humans came in and started trouble. But the monsters that didn’t know you here were likely to start some trouble with you and you weren’t looking forward to end that trouble.

Grillby frowned at you and ran his hand over the flaming mark he left on your upper arms.

“Do you doubt my name? My standing in the community?”

You looked up at him surprised and shook your head quickly.

‘Course not Pops, ain’t dumb enough for that.’

“Then you don’t have shit ta worry about other than gettin’ these fuckin’ boxes upstairs. Go,” He said and crossed his arms.

You roll your eyes but flash him a smile and ran upstairs and put the boxes in the right room.

You sighed and looked around the large apartment.

It was gonna be a long day.

------------

You weren’t able to open the night before, but you and Grillby moved easily around each other as you set up for opening night. 

Your father would be running the kitchen and you were manning the bar yourself. You had learned a while ago how to mix drinks and all the recipes. Grillby even taught you how to sprinkle your own magic into the drinks so they tasted right.

You didn’t question why you had magic, honestly, you just thought all humans did but they needed someone to show them how to use it, like Grillby did for you.

When you were ready, you looked to your father in the back to make sure he was ready. With an excited squeal, you smoothed out your clothes and the black apron tied around your waist. You were wearing your dark jeans and combat boots with a green tank top with an open back. Your marks were fully on show tonight to introduce yourself to the community. You flipped on the neon sign, causing the street to light up. You smiled and flipped on the neon open sign as well before unlocking the door and taking your place at the bar.

Grillby stepped out of the back and slapped his hands down on your shoulders. You looked up at him with a bright smile as the first customers started pouring in. You both got to work eagerly. You were relieved when the regulars you knew came in. You poured their beers, mixed their drinks and delivered them with a smile on your face.

The new monsters weren’t sure of you. With Grillby’s marks they didn’t take you as a threat, and when you spoke to them with your soul, they just got wide eyes, making you laugh.

It was such a good night.

Until a truck stopped outside the window.

You got that familiar feeling. Time slowed as it came time for you to make a decision. This happened so many times you didn’t question it anymore. A grenade crashed through the window and your eyes widened.

Men with guns rolled down their windows, their faces covered with bandanas, aiming at the customer.

Even with time moving slow, you reacted as if your were in normal time.

You jumped on a table and grabbed the grenade in the air and threw it back through the window.

Time righted itself.

The grenade landed loudly in the truck bed.

One of the men screamed: “Holy fuck!”

The truck exploded. 

The force of the explosion broke the rest of the glass and you did something you didn’t know you could.

You weren’t going to let this ruin everything. Not everything your father had worked so hard to build.

You had to protect it. As his daughter.

Your soul was filled with the Determination to be kind.

You spread your arms out and a green shield extended on either side of you, blocking the monsters from the blast. You blocked your father from the blast.

The blast destroyed the glass and the shards came at you, slicing into your skin, landing in your body and spilling your blood. 

You were sent back from the blast and you fell on the ground, ten feet away from the table you had been standing on.

Your shield dropped as you passed out, it’s job done as the blast was over with.

You heard your father scream your name as you passed out.

Chapter Text

You ran your hand over the new scar on your face. The glass had done a helluva makeover on you. You had scarred all over you from the grenade’s explosion and the glass flying at you. You had a scar on your forehead, crossing back across your temple. A scar going horizontally down your right eye. It took a lot of healing magic, directly from the Queen, for you to keep your eye.

There were scars on your neck, running across the sides. You had a few on your chest that would show when you wear low cut shirts. You had two scars running right through the middle of your palms on both hands. Vertical scars littered your thighs and calves as well.

To put it simply, you looked like you had gotten thrown in a blender. 

It happened a month ago and you had been in the Queen’s care for most of that. She was dubbing you well enough to go home now The Queen also dubbed you as a mage and you were ordered to be trained by her. You agreed, so long as both she and the King accepted you as Grillby’s daughter. They did, publically, and even gave you the honor of their blessing in life for protecting monster-kind that night.

They asked if you would do some political work but you refused. You didn’t like humans and wanted nothing to do with them. Luckily they understood.

You had met their child as well. The human child, Frisk, and their best friend Flowey. They kept you company when you were stuck in bed. They were...strange to say the least. Like they were hiding something, or something was hiding in their shadow.

You weren’t sure what it was, but you left it alone. You just wanted to get back to your father and the bar.

You left the King and Queen’s house early, saying you wanted to surprise your father by coming home early.

The Queen forced you into a hug and the King ruffled your hair before allowing you off.

The walk home was nice, some monsters recognized you. Ice Wolf, one of the dog pack’s cousins they had talked about, came up to you. He told you that Muffet wanted to speak to you in her shop.

You walked into her new place and looked around. Her little spider family greeted you happily. You found it strange since they had never done that the few times you visited her shop before.

‘Why are you lil’ fucks so happy. Huh?’

You leaned down and allowed a few to crawl on your hand before you stood straight again. The three spiders crawled over the scar on your palm excitedly.

“Huhuhu, dearie! I’m so glad you came to see me!” Muffet came out from the back and pulled you into a hug.

Huh, she felt different. Actually...grateful?

‘Who the fuck are you and what’d ya do to Muffet?’

You teased as she let you go, but kept two of her hands on your waist. You allowed her to keep her touch on you since it wasn’t as off-putting as it once had been.

“Huhuhu, dearie, its little ole me. I’ve got a present for you!”

You raised an eyebrow at her and crossed your arms as the spiders crawled up to your neck, eagerly looking at the scars there.

‘You don’t give out presents.’

“I don’t give out presents to those that aren’t important. You did receive a blessing from the king and queen did you not?” She smirked and stepped away from you to go behind the counter.

‘So? What’s that matter to ya?’

“Here,” She held out a package to you.

You hesitated before taking it. You unwrapped it and stared down at the lettering.

A leather jacket with removable sleeves. On the back of it, it said ‘Grillby’s’ in red letters, just like the sign. You stared at it for a moment and run your finger over the letters.

Muffet would never do something like this. She still had a grudge against your father for some wrongdoing that happened way before you had been around. You looked up at her in shock.

She smiled at you. A genuine smile you had never seen on her before.

“I take that as you like it dearie. Try it on,” She motioned to you.

You set the wrapping down and pulled on the jacket. It fits your figure perfectly, ending just above your hips and clinging to you easily.

‘Muf...I uh...Thanks.’

You looked away from her with a small smile, not knowing how to take this.

“Go on home, your father is missing you I bet by now,” She said easily and turned away from you to head to the back.

You let the spiders off at the counter before you turned and walked out of the shop, still in shock from the thoughtful gift.

‘What the hell just happened?’

You looked down at the jacket before shoving your hands in the pockets and walking again. You didn’t notice but you had more of a skip in your step now. 

You saw Doggo as you walked.

‘Ey, fucker!’

You called to him and waved, moving your body so he would see you properly. Doggo saw you and got tense.

“The fuck Pup?! Go away!” He yelled before running off.

You stopped waving and tilted your head at the direction he ran off in.

‘The hell is his problem?’

You shrug it off and kept walking to your father’s bar. As you were about to turn onto the block, Dogaressa slammed into you, knocking you back.

‘Watch it!’

You snapped at her but she took no mind, grabbing your shoulders with small tears in her eyes.

“Lil’ Pup! I can’t find Greater Dog!” She practically yelled at you.

‘Um...ya check the park or somethin’? Why do ya have it in yer head that I know where that dog is?’

You stared her up at her confused, shoving your hands in your pockets once more.

“You have to help me find him!”

It was weird hearing her talk without her husband finishing her sentences. Or starting them.

‘Why? I gotta go see Pops-’

She cut off your thought by wrapping her arm around your shoulders and walking you the opposite way.

“We’ll start looking at home, then the park!” She declared.

‘Bitch, I got shit ta do!’

You yelled at her but she paid you no mind as she steered you forward.

------------

Two hours later on your search and no Greater dog. You were more than annoyed by this but you were trying to keep your snappy comments to a minimum. After all, if you had to go looking for your dad, you knew Dogaressa would help you no matter what.

You searched high and low on a mountain trail, calling out to the giant dog as you looked. You pulled out your flip phone and texting Dogaressa that you hadn’t seen Greater Dog yet and you were heading back to the trail head.

Doggy-Momma

~That’s okay. Just head to the bar! We’re regrouping there!~

You paused for a moment then frown.

You

~Are you already at the bar?~

Doggy-Momma

~No of course not! What would make you think that? Just head to the bar I’ll meet you there!~

You growled and pocket your phone.

‘Cause you’re already fuckin’ there! I ain’t stupid dammit!’

You grumble and head back through the trees and through the city, grumbling the whole time. Guess you should have just stayed with the Queen for a while longer. You definitely weren’t getting home early like you had wanted.

Half an hour later, you were walking down the block that had your father’s bar on it. You frowned when you saw the lights off.

Did they head somewhere else?

You tried the front door and it was unlocked. What the hell was going on? Pops didn’t leave the bar unlocked like this.

You entered, preparing for a fight when the lights turned on and a banner rolled down from the ceiling saying ‘WELCOME HOME’.

You could only look on dumbly as the dog pack stood around a table with a cake on it, the regulars of the bar sat in their normal spots but giving out a cheer when you came in.

‘Um...the fuck?’

Your father snickered and came to the door and slapped his hand on your shoulder.

“Welcome home my little Ember,” He smirked down at you and wrapped his arm around your shoulders before dragging you in.

‘The fuck?!’

You glared at Greater Dog.

‘He wasn’t lost this whole time!? I got bit by fuckin’ bugs for the last two hours for nothin’?!’

Grillby just laughed while Dogaressa snickered and covered her snout.

“Sorry, we had…”

“...To keep you away for awhile, Pup.”

You glare at the couple.

‘Fuckin’ assholes…’

You stare down at the cake for a moment then looked away with a frown and a blush.

‘Thanks assholes…’

----------------

Even with it being your welcome home party, you were still helping out your father at the bar. You got the dog pack refills in between the hands in your poker game and served the regulars. A few randoms would pop in the bar and order food and you would man the bar then.

Now was one such moment.

Your dad was in the back, cooking up a storm while you manned the bar. It wasn’t too busy. You got a refill for a couple monsters at the front of the bar when you heard...something clacking on the bar top. You set the drinks in front of the monsters and looked over at the edge of the bar and raised an eyebrow.

A skeleton monster in a big black and yellow coat was sitting at the end, glaring you down.

Weird, you didn’t hear the door open. You shrugged and walked over to him.

‘What’s yer poison?’

You asked him with a frown.

“who the fuck are ya?”

‘Right to the point huh?’

You rolled your eyes at him while his eye lights widened at you then glared harder at you.

‘Yer not really intimidatin’ ya know? Yer jus’ makin’ yerself look like an idiot like that.’

You shake your head at him as he fists his hand angrily.

‘Name’s Ember. Now, am I jus’ gonna call ya stupid or do you ‘ave a name?’

“how do ya know how to talk like that?”

You frown at him. You set your hands on the bar in front of him and leaned in towards him.

‘Here’s how it’s gonna go. Yer gonna shove your questions up yer figurative ass and order a damn drink, or yer gonna leave. Got it?’

He growled at you, ready to say something when the door slammed open and a man walked in. A human man. You bristled for a moment, feeling the hate dripping off him even from behind the bar.

“yer boyfriend?” The skeleton smirked at you.

You turned and glared at him.

‘Leave fuck face.’

You turned and walked away from him and walked to the seat the human sat at the bar. Carelessly, you threw him a menu.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes at you.

“Really? You gotta work in a monster bar and you gotta act like them to?” The man frowned up at you only to pale at the glare you gave him when he met your eyes.

He coughed and looked back at the drink menu before pointing to a drink. You took the menu back and quickly made up the drink, pouring it in front of him and putting it down.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw the skeleton still there. You rolled your eyes and went to washing some glasses.

The man sipped his drink and coughed quickly. You saw the skeleton chuckle at him. The man was sweating heavily, looking more nervous as the skeleton got up.

‘Don’t cause any fuckin’ trouble Skull.’

You shot the skeleton a glance. He waved you off and went to sit right next to the human. The skeleton easily double the height of the man.

“get me a mustard,” The skeleton ordered, not even glancing at you.

Your eyes widened only slightly. Huh, so that’s why Pops showed you how to make spiked condiments. No one ordered them often but apparently he had one customer that would order them nonstop.

You took two of the mustard bottles and uncapped them, pouring in some of the strongest monster alcohol the bar had before recapping them and shaking them up. You put some healing magic in it, like your father showed you, before setting them both in front of the skeleton.

You would play nice. From what your father said about this customer, he was a regular and you could tell Grillby liked him well enough.

The man stared as the skeleton drank the first bottle like a shot. You snickered and popped open another couple of bottles and prepared them for the skeleton.

‘There’s a room in the back ya can rent if yer plannin’ on fuckin’ ‘im.’

The skeleton turned his glare on you, making you smirk as you moved to clean some more glasses.

Grillby walked out of the back, taking some plates of food to a couple of customers before moving behind the bar.

“Oh, I thought I smelled some shit,” Grillby said as he gave the human a glance while walking behind you.

Grillby stopped in front of the skeleton, talking to him about something but you couldn’t hear it. Your ears started ringing. You placed both hands on the sink to balance yourself as a nauseous feeling overcame you.

So much hate.

It made you antsy and itchy. Stars, why couldn’t this human just fuck up already, give you a good reason to beat the shit out of him so you could get this feeling off you.

You looked behind you and saw the human glaring down Grillby. You gripped the sides of the sink tighter, watching him like a hawk for any wrong move.

His hand went to his stomach, feigning an ache that Grillby and the skeleton ignored, but you didn’t. His wrist flexed as he gripped something. He slowly pulled his hand out and you saw the gun.

Before he could fully pull it out, you launch yourself at the bar, grabbing the human’s greasy hair and slamming it on the bar top. You lifted his head up just enough as he struggled and snatched the gun from his hand.

‘Looks like I got a new toy Pops.’

You told Grillby as you backed away from the human, the barrel of the gun raised to the ceiling and your finger far away from the trigger.

The human fell off the bar stool and on his ass, holding his broken nose as blood flowed.

The skeleton stared at you as Grillby took the gun from you. You turned and washed your hands in the sink quickly, trying to get all that hate off your skin.

At least you could breathe again.

You heard the dog pack arresting the human for intent. It wasn’t a viable reason anywhere else in the country but it was here in New Home.

You hated guns. You hated them passionately. The people who typically owned one and walked in the bar was always dripping with hate and plans to use their weapon.

Only cowards used guns in this world.

Grillby rested his hand on your shoulder.

“Ember, go wash up then come back out. Want ya to meet someone proper,” Grillby said, his tone low.

You nodded and went to the back and ran up the stairs to take a blistering hot shower to rid yourself of this feeling.

---------------

Sans tapped his phalanges on the counter top of the bar, staring at the door you ran through. Grillby shook his head and settled in front of Sans, drying some shot glasses as the dog pack took the man out of his bar to drag him to the police station.

“Some welcome back that was,” Grillby grumbled, looking pissed.

“who is tha’ fuckin’ girl grillbz? ya get lonely without me around?” Sans smirked up at his friend.

“The girl is Ember. She’s my daughter.”

Sans’ eye lights went wide.

Grillby?

Adopting some fuckin’ human?!

Sans laughed hard and he laughed long, ignoring Grillby’s unamused look.

“you adopted some human bitch?! the fuck is wrong with ya grillbz?! i knew were fuckin’ crazy but i didn’t think-”

“You’ll shut yer fuckin’ mouth Sans,” Grillby hissed out lowly, glaring down the skeleton monster.

Sans felt all the amusement leave him.

“she’s a fuckin’ human, grillbz,” Sans frowned at the fire elemental.

“She ain’t no more. Fully recognized by a monster, by the royal family,” Grillby smirked.

He was smug.

He was proud.

Of. A. Human?

“so you pulled some strings and got a favor from the royals, ain’t that fuckin’ hard-”

“I didn’t do shit,” Grillby’s smirk widened at Sans, “The Queen did it herself after she heard what my daughter did. Protectin’ everyone in the bar with green magic from some humans that threw a grenade in here.”

Sans looked at the bartender shocked, then frowned, staring down at the counter.

“She knows trouble as soon as it walks in the door. She walks like a monster and talks like one,” Sans frowned at how proud his friend sounded, “Now the Queen herself has taken on the role of teaching Ember mage magic.”

Grillby paused and frowned at one of the few monsters he thought to be his friend.

“I know ya don’t like humans Sans, but she’s one of us. Ya think I’d be stupid enough to jus’ pick her up off the street if she wasn’t? Give her a chance when she comes back down,” There was a warning tone as Grillby ended his sentence.

“or what?” Sans frowned up at Grillby.

“You cause trouble with my daughter Sans, there ain’t gonna be enough room here for ya anymore,” Grillby crossed his arms as Sans filled with dread.

--------------

You finished redressing, your skin now a red color from how hot the shower was. You pulled on some ripped up dark jeans and fit a chain across your hips and you shoved your favorite combat boots on. A green tank top that ended just above your hips, showing the little amount of midriff your father would allow you to show (only because the shirt shrunk in the wash), and finally your new jacket. You pulled off the removable sleeves and showed off your marks.

If you had showed them before, you doubted you would’ve had trouble with that skeleton monster.

With a final sigh, you fixed your hair into something presentable before you headed downstairs. Hopefully, the dog pack would be back soon and you could get back to the poker game.

You entered the bar while tying a clean apron around your waist, only for your father to step in front of you and hold his hand out.

‘I’m good ta work dammit-’

“Yer suppose to be off anyways. Give it,” Judging from his tone, Grillby wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

You rolled your eyes but pulled off the apron and handed it to your father before moving around the bar.

“Ember,” Your father waved you over to the skeleton monster, who was giving you an easy smile now.

You crossed your arms but walked over to them, staring down the skeleton monster.

“This is Sans. Sans, this is my bitch of a daughter Ember,” Grillby said casually, making you smirk at him.

‘Daw, Pops yer so nice today.’

You turn back to Sans and blinked when you saw him holding a hand out to you. You took his hand, not flinching when a shock went up your arm.

‘Fuckin’ serious? Joy buzzer?’

You frowned as you shook his hand.

“normally, it’s not such a buzz killer,” Sans chuckled to himself.

You weren’t sure how you felt about Sans. His touch didn’t give off anything. Like he was totally neutral. But you could feel something underneath it all.

You shrugged and got on the bar stool next to him as Grillby pulled out some shots and poured them.

You easily took back the orange shot, then the blue as your father made your favorite drink.

‘What’cha do Sans?’

You asked, frowning at the small talk but you weren’t drunk enough to be social enough to deal with meeting a new person right now.

“ ‘lil of everything,” Sans shrugged.

It was quiet and awkward as your father set your drink in front of you.

Grillby shook his head at the two of you before leaving to tend to more customers.

You sighed out, relieved now that your father wasn’t hovering over you. You had a feeling he’d be like this for a while since the whole grenade thing.

‘Look.’

You pulled out a pack of monster cigs and tapped a couple out, holding one out to Sans. He took it after a moment.

‘It’s pretty obvious you don’t like me. I don’t care if it’s ‘cause I’m human or whatever. But Pops likes ya so I ain’t lookin’ to start trouble with ya. I’d appreciate ya if ya did the same.’

You lit the cig with a lighter and took a deep breath before passing Sans the lighter.

“i get to ask my questions then we’ll decide that,” Sans said quietly with a frown.

You sighed out your smoke and ran a hand through your hair.

“what game are you playin’?”

‘Ain’t got a game to play.’

“what human girl like you is gonna leave behind her life for a monster’s life huh?” Sans glared at you now.

‘Didn’t have a life to leave before. Woke up one day as nothin’, found Pops and it’s been like this since.’

You frown at Sans.

‘I got each of these marks protectin’ those I care about, I don’t need your approval for shit Sans. I got my family and that’s all I give a shit about.’

You slam the rest of your drink down and took another drag from your cig, staring forward.

It was quiet for a moment.

Grillby wandered back over to you guys and sighed deeply, thinking you two hadn’t spoken still.

“Ember, be fuckin’ social. Do you need etiquette lessons from the Queen too? Fuck’s sake!” Grillby said, preparing you another drink.

‘We both know ‘m perfectly social when I’m social, Pops.’

You took the blueberry drink and sip it easily.

“go easy on her grillbz, we’re settled an’ square. think we got a good picture of each other now,” Sans said, leaning more on the bar, sipping his mustard and making a face, “tho’ you could teach ‘er how to make a decent mustard.”

You smirk and laugh once before turning to Sans.

‘Fuck off and pay your tab and maybe I won’t skimp on the good shit.’

“oh, that’s fucked up! grillbz, you agree with me, that’s fucked up! i am a paying customer and i should get the product i paid for,” Sans held his head high.

“Then fucking pay for your shit instead of puttin’ it all on yer damn tab!” Grillby yelled at Sans, who just started snickering.

You hid your smile in your drink as you sipped it.

------------

You ditched Sans and your father when the dog pack came back.

You went over to them with your fifth drink of the night and wrapped your arm around Dogaressa’s neck.

‘ ‘bout fuckin’ time ya came back! How am I supposed to take all yer money if ya ain’t here to play poker with me!’

“Psh, shut up Pup. I beat ya last hand,” Doggo said, puffing up his chest proudly.

‘Yeah, I felt bad for ya. Thought ya needed the win more than I did so I let ya ‘ave it!’

You snickered as Doggo growled at you. Dogaressa and Dogamy covered their snouts to try and hide their laughter.

“Lil’ Pup, take it easy on him…”

“...He’s having a rough week.”

‘Why do you think I let ‘im win?’

Doggo snarled at you this time before stomping to his chair and sitting down.

“I’m fuckin’ dealin’! Get the fuck over here already!” He yelled at the group.

You followed the dog pack over and sat down. Greater took his normal spot by your feet and laying his head in your lap for your pets.

“He’s missed you…”

“...Quite alot.”

You looked over to the couple and shrugged, scratching the giant dog’s ears.

‘I missed you guys too…’

“Ha, yer gettin’ soft-!” Doggo started.

‘Who are you again?’

You cut Doggo off with a smirk and couldn’t hold back your laugh when he growled at you.

“Yer pushin’ yer luck tonight lil’ Pup!” Doggo warned as he dealt the cards.

You felt a hand at the back of your chair and looked up, frowning as Sans leaned over you.

“bettin’ girl huh?” Sans asked, leaning on your chair.

‘I don’t bet, I win.’

You said easily, looking at your cards with a smirk before making eye contact with Doggo, moving your body side to side lightly so Doggo could see you. As much shit as you gave Doggo, you always moved around in some way so he could see you.

Sans watched as you easily cleaned up in the hand of poker, taking the pot and sorting through it. Eagerly, you picked up the dog treat from the pile and bit off one end, swallowing it before lighting up the end you bit off.

You sighed out the purple smoke and leaned back further in your chair, leaning on Sans’ arm as he kept leaning over you and watching you play.

“Ya gonna join or keep peekin’ down lil’ Pup’s shirt?” Doggo smirked up at Sans.

“i ain’t peekin’ on nobody ya fuckin’ perv!” Sans said, his face heating up quickly.

You just laughed as the cards were dealt and sipped your drink. Getting more into that drunk side, you just motioned to Sans.

‘Get a spare chair and get dealt in already.’

Sans shrugged and grabbed a chair and sat next to you.

------------

You woke up in bed the next day, stretching out and grumbling to yourself quietly. You had quite the hangover.

‘Pops! Where are my fuckin’ pain killers?’

You called when you couldn’t find your painkillers on your bedside table where they normally were.

Grillby opened the door to your room and rolled his eyes, throwing a bottle to you.

“Hurry up, breakfast is almost ready then you got your lessons at the Queen’s!” He shouted with a wide smirk, enjoying it when you threw your pillow at him. He caught it and threw it on your bed before walking out of your room.

You started getting out of your bed, rolling your neck to get the cracks out of it when your phone went off. You picked up your flip phone and opened it.

Sans

~don’t 4get 2day @ 5~

You rubbed your forehead and frowned.  You made plans with that asshole?

You

~What? I don’t remember shit fuckface~

After a moment, you smirked and changed Sans’ name in your phone before getting up and getting ready for the day. Before you got in the shower, you took another look at your phone.

Fuckface

~u said u wanted to meet @ motorcycle shop bitch~

You did? Yeah, you wanted a motorcycle, but you didn’t know how to ride and your father had made it clear if he ever caught you on one he’d behead you.

He was very specific about the beheading.

But, going to a shop to look...it wasn’t like you would be on one.

With a smirk, you sent back a text.

You

~c u there fuckface~

Chapter Text

After your lesson with the Queen and her kid, you headed straight off to the single motorcycle shop in the city. You got there abit early but waited for Sans to show up. You checked for messages on your phone and quickly closed it. You flipped it open and closed a few times before rolling your eyes as the time changed from 4:59 to 5:00.

With a small smirk, you sent a quick message.

You to Doggo

~fuck u~

You only had to wait a few seconds for the message back.

Doggo

~GO FUCK YOURSELF YOU FUCKIN BITCH~

You snickered, flipping your phone shut and pocketing it. Your attention was drawn up to a motorcycle passing on the street. It was a harley, blacked out and fuck, she was a pretty one.

It pulled into the shop’s parking lot and your admirable staring turned into a glare.

That mother fucker did not-

Sans pulled off his helmet and turned to you with a smirk.

‘That’s fuckin’ bullshit!’

You called to him as you ran over to check out the bike.

‘That’s so fucked up, yer actually cool?’

You were so busy looking over the Harley, you didn’t notice Sans’ cheeks turning red.

“shut up, ya fuckin’ bitch. get yer tongue back in yer mouth and let’s go in. i gotta grab some shit,” Sans said, getting off the bike and throwing his helmet in the storage in his phone.

You stared at the motorcycle with wide eyes, part of you wondering if, despite what your father told you, you could somehow fit the motorcycle in your own phone storage.

“dammit, quit yer damn droolin’ and come on already!” Sans yelled from the front doors.

Without turning to him, you flipped him off and rounded the bike excitedly, bending over to get a closer look at the dials.

Sans stared at your ass for a moment, silently cursing you for being Grillby’s kid, before shortcutting back over to the bike and grabbing your arm.

“C’mon, ya look like a dumbass,” Sans said, half dragging you into the store.

At the last second, you went totally limp in his hold.

Sans stared at you for second then started sweating.

“don’t tell me i just broke grillbz’ kid…”

You snickered and stood up right again and went into the store, running up to the display over another bike right away.

“ya fuckin’ idiot!” Sans yelled at you, following over.

‘Yer the idiot that fell for it!’

You smirked over at Sans before looking back up at the bike.

Sans rolled his eyes and went to grab some parts while you wandered around the store, mostly staring at the bike displays. 

Sans went up to the counter to pay for his parts and you followed him over, watching the transaction.

‘Oh, woah, I didn’t know that.’

“know what?” Sans frowned at you.

‘That cha knew how ta pay for shit.’

Sans glared at you as you snickered.

“keep bein’ a bitch and i won’t let ya ride with me back to grillbz place,” He smirked at you.

Your eyes went wide.

‘Bullshit you’d let me ride with ya.’

“i was entertainin’ the idea but with ya bein’ such a bitch...” Sans kept his smirk as he started to walk out of the store.

You frowned at his back but then ran past him and back to the bike. You stood by it and you were practically bouncing on your feet.

‘Let me ride with ya and I’ll stop bitchin’ about yer tab for the night!’

“a week,” Sans countered.

You rolled your eyes at him.

‘For a five minute ride? Fuck off.’

“then i guess yer walkin’,” Sans shrugged, putting the parts he bought in his storage before straddling his bike.

‘Two nights, final offer.’

You bargined with a smirk.

“a whole week~” Sans said in a singing tone.

You frowned at him, prepared to turn away and walk but thinking about it…

The smirk on your face was down right nasty and you knew it.

‘Alright, alright, ya got me. I’ll leave yer tab alone for a week if ya let me ride.’

Sans didn’t notice the change in your smirk and scooted up in the seat. You eagerly climbed behind him and held onto the sides of his jacket.

Your smirk got wider when Sans didn’t bother with helmets as he revved up the bike. He smirked back at you before suddenly taking off.

You gripped your hands tighter on his jacket as he drove off into the street. You leaned closer to his back and blushed as he started going the opposite way from the bar.

‘Long way?’

Sans just nodded to you, taking your around the city. As he drove you around, you relaxed more, leaning on his back fully and wrapping your arms around him to hold onto his sweater instead.

He took you on a road out of town.

“hold the fuck on!” Sans called back you.

You smiled and held onto him tighter, even squeezing your thighs tighter on the bike as he took off faster. You almost felt high as the bike sped up. You held onto Sans even tighter in excitement.

It wasn’t possible for you to see the bright blush on his cheeks as he drove you around.

----------

Sans drove you back to your father’s bar and parked right in front of the window. Sans turned off the bike and set the kickstand up before standing.

He looked down at you with a big smirk.

“now we ain’t talkin’ about what again?” He cupped his hand at the side of his head as if he had an ear.

You snickered, still sitting on the bike since your legs were shaking still from your first ride.

‘Don’t know what yer talkin’ about Skull.’

Sans smirked, shoving his hands in his pockets. He looked like he was going to say something else when the door to the bar slammed open.

Sans turned to see Grillby, flaming angrily as he stomped over to him.

‘By the way, I’ll go ahead and give ya two weeks since ya showed me such a great time.’

“What the fuck Sans!?” Grillby yelled as he stomped closer.

-----------

You were sitting at the bar next to Sans, a big smirk on your face as you nursed your drink.

“fuckin’ bitch ya knew didn’t ya?”

‘About my pops wantin’ ta kill ya as soon as he saw ya drivin’ me around on yer bike? I don’t know what yer talkin’ about.’

Sans growled at you and pointed at you.

“fuckin’ stupid little games yer playin’ are gonna get ya in real trouble girlie!”

“Both of you shut the fuck up!” Grillby yelled in front of the both of you. He turned to you first, “What the fuck were ya thinkin’?! I told you not to ride those fuckin’ things!”

‘I wanted ta so I did it.’

Grillby’s eyes widened at your obvious rebellion. He covered his mouth.

“Oh fuck, oh shit, yer gettin’ in yer fuckin’ teenage years! Fuck, I ain’t prepared for yer fuckin’ around an’ shit!”

‘Pops, I’m twenty-somethin’. Past the teen years?’

You looked at him confused.

Grillby ignored you though, instead turning to Sans and pointing a fiery purple hand in his face.

“This is yer fault!” He yelled, “My daughter always listened to me before she met ya!”

“yes, grillbz, i’mma terrible influence,” Sans rolled his eyes at his friend.

“No more rides!” Grillby said seriously, looking in between the two of you. Grillby pointed at you and hissed, “Yer lucky I don’t make good on my words! Now get the fuckin’ bar ready!”

You snicker after he entered the back and you shed your jacket, heading behind the bar to set up.

You set a spiked mustard infront of Sans with a smirk.

“what words?”

‘Pops said he’d behead me if he ever caught me on a motorcycle.’

You smirk at Sans evilly before you kept moving to do your job.

“really got ‘im wrapped around yer finger don’t cha?” Sans snickered as he sipped his mustard.

You shrug at him in response as he kept snickering.

------------

Sans took up his normal seat, watching you set up the bar. He only took you to the shop since you were talking about it last night, he hadn’t planned on taking you on a ride. Really, he didn’t even like you that much.

You were just some dirty human he had to play nice with for Grillby. 

But, he actually liked it when you clung to him like that. He liked the way your eyes lit up when he offered the ride. You were growing on him in a weird way.

He watched the way your hips naturally swayed as you walked to flip on the neon signs.

You were a damn good looking dirty human at least.

He still had his suspicions though.

You wouldn’t notice a quick CHECK would ya?

Sans’ eye flared up red as his other socket went dark.

Ember

LV 4

EXP 0

‘Knows you’re CHECKing her out.’

...Well, shit.

------

You turned and frowned at Sans after flicking on the lights.

‘Thought we were past this shit Skull.’

Sans rubbed the back of his neck as you walked back to the bar.

“jus’ makin’ sure-”

‘That I wouldn’t dust someone? You think I’m fuckin’ stupid?’

You glared at him, crossing your arms.

Sans stared down at the bar quietly in response. You glare at him for another minute before you heard the door open. You shake your head at him and turn away, greeting the customers instead.

When you turned back, Sans had left.

-----------

Hours later, you were drunk as hell, sitting at the poker table with the dog pack, playing poker. The whole incident with Sans out of your head by now as you fucked with Doggo. He snarled at you when time slowed.

You stood up in a panic.

When this happened, you had to make a life or death decision, but you didn’t see any danger. You didn’t sense any danger.

In front of you, the world started to rewind and your drunken state was suddenly pulled out of your body, making you feel shaky and nauseous. Time flew by you and all you could do was watch until you were standing in front of the motorcycle shop, holding your flip phone with a message ready to send.

You to Doggo

~fuck u~

You started shaking. You fell to your knees and vomited on the concrete under you.

‘What the fuck was that shit!?’

Were you going insane or did time just move backwards ?!

You heard a motorcycle pulling into the lot. You looked up and stared dumbly as Sans pulled off his helmet and smirked over at you. His eye lights went wide when he took your form in.

You look away from him, wiping your mouth as you shakily stood up, grabbing the brick wall behind you to try and steady yourself.

Sans went up to you, looking you over carefully.

“the hell is wrong wit’ ya?”

You shake your head at him before turning away to walk to the bar.

“hey, i’m fuckin’ talkin’ to ya!” Sans yelled at your back.

‘Fuck off!’

You yelled at him as you walked away.

You felt so sick. You were sweating and freezing at the same time. 

You didn’t know what to do so you just wanted to get home to your pops. You couldn’t feel anything and you were terrified but numb all over. You stopped walking after a block, feeling the urge to throw up again.

You shoved it down and kept walking only to walk straight into someone’s chest. You glared up at...Sans? How the fuck did he get in front of you?

‘Get the fuck outta my way!’

You yelled at him but his hands grabbed your shoulders.

“jus’ calm down!” He frowned at you, “yer fuckin’ sick, i’m jus’ gonna get ya home.”

‘Why the fuck would you care?!’

You glare at him and shove him off you, taking a step back from him.

“for fucks sake! jus’ let me help ya!” Sans said, taking a step forward.

‘This is yer last warning Sans, back off.’

You hissed at him this time. He stared at you, looking pissed off. Then it was like something connected in his head.

“ya fuckin’ felt it didn’t ya? the LOAD?” He spoke quietly.

‘I don’t know what the fuck yer talkin’ about and I don’t care! Jus’ let me pass so I can go home!’

You glared at him, trying to be intimidating. You wouldn’t admit it to the skeleton monster but you were so scared and you felt so weak. You couldn’t fight him off like this and you both knew it. You hadn’t felt so weak before and it frustrated you to no end.

Yet, even feeling these things, you felt nothing . That empty feeling you had when you first woke up from the coma. You hadn’t felt like this in years. Like nothing mattered.

The same aches were running through you, starting at your joints and radiating pain through your whole body.

Was the pain this bad when you first woke up?

“let me get ya home, Ember,” Sans said in a softer tone.

‘Don’t need yer fuckin’ pity.’

“it ain’t outta pity,” Sans rolled his eye lights and took the step closer to you and softly held onto your arm to steady you, “yer gonna pass out on the way if ya don’t let me. i ain’t lettin’ grillbz’ kid sleep in a fuckin’ gutter.”

You gasped as the pain suddenly picked up, making you go limp in his hold much like you had joked before.

Sans was quick to grab you, wrapping his arm around your waist and pulling you close. Frustrated tears built up in your eyes as you had no choice but to let him hold you.

“jus’ close yer eyes, i’ll get ya home.”

------------

You woke up in your bed, shaking and turning over to throw up off the side of your bed. Luckily, it all landed in a bucket that had been placed for just this purpose.

“Shit, girl!” Grillby was at your side in an instant, holding your hair back as you empty your stomach, “Jus’ get it all out,” He soothed you in a quiet tone.

‘The fuck happened Pops?’

You groaned after you finished.

Grillby pulled you into his lap, trying to warm you up to ease your shaking form.

“Sans brought ya home, sayin’ he found ya like this on the street,” Grillby said, running his hand up the mark on your upper arm.

‘I don’t feel nothin’ Pops. Why don’t I feel anythin’?’

Grillby didn’t say anything as he held you tighter.

You held onto his shirt tightly and started to hyperventilate. You tried to push it down but you couldn’t. You felt open and raw, but so damn cold and numb.

‘Pops?’

“Yer soul...yer soul is kinda fucked Ember,” Grillby said quietly, “Queen came by to check on ya. She checked yer soul an’ it’s breakin’.”

You shook harder in his hold and Grillby tried to heat you up more with his flames.

“Queen said she can heal ya weekly and that’ll help it but, it ain’t lookin’ good,” Grillby rubbed your mark harder.

‘ Am I dyin’?’

When Grillby didn’t say anything, you couldn’t help your sob.

‘I’m sorry Pops!’

You apologized for the first time you could remember.

“You got nothin’ ta be sorry about girl,” Grillby tried to soothe you but his voice cracked.

You felt something hot trail down your shoulder and you realized your father was crying.

You cried for him, not having the ability to care for your own life once again.

Chapter Text

Toriel pulled her glowing green hands from your soul. You didn’t like looking at your soul. It was covered in cracks, the green coloring of it very dim. This was the culmination of your very being. This was truly you.

Broken and barely surviving.

You leaned back on the Queen’s couch as your soul floated back into your chest. You had been doing these weekly visits for nearly a year now. You hadn’t told anyone what truly happened. Time rewinding in front of you. How powerless you were to it.

You waited for it to happen again. 

Each day you just waited. You didn’t drink much anymore. Maybe a shot or two a night, but not enough to get even buzzed. You didn’t want to feel food and drink being pulled from your body again. As a result, you only ate enough to make your father happy.

“I’ll get you some pie to take home. I baked it fresh this morning,” Toriel smiled at you before leaving the room.

She had started giving you the pie when she saw how much weight and muscle you were losing.

Toriel also gave you pie to take home when she felt guilty about not being able to heal you more.

So, you and Dad had pie every week.

You sigh and rub your forehead quietly.

“Hey…” Flowey spoke quietly.

You look up and at the entrance of the living room. Frisk stood there with Flowey on their shoulder. 

The kid always had such a guilty look when they saw you.

You couldn’t help your eyes softening at the two of them. Frisk was about fourteen now and in that awkward growing phase.

‘Sup you two?’

Frisk jumped as you spoke, like they always did. They hesitated before they came over to you and sat next to you. Flowey looked at them worriedly before up at you.

Frisk started signing quickly, leaving Flowey to translate for them.

“Frisk is asking if their mom was able to help,” Flowey looked away from you with a guilty look.

‘Nah, but I’m still kickin’ so that’s something. It’s more to keep me stable than anything.’

You shrugged at them.

Frisk hesitated again before signing again.

“Frisk wants to know is Sans has messaged you lately?” Flowey frowned at the kid.

‘No? Why would he?’

Ever since you got sick, Sans was more of a ghost than Napstablook. He only ever showed up to the bar to get shit faced and he only did it when he knew your father made you stay in bed for the night.

You only knew that because Doggo bitched about it during your poker games. He kept saying Sans was getting soft, not being able to face you. The dog pack truly believed that you will pull through this.

You wished you believed them but you got more tired everyday. It was harder to move everyday. You had to constantly eat monster candy or anything with healing magic to keep the aches and pains away. Everytime you put one in your mouth, you would feel a small spike of panic at the idea of it being ripped from you by time.

You had gone to a human doctor but they said it was a disease of the soul and had nothing like it in recorded history.

You had gone to Dr. Alphys with your father but she had been useless. She said there was nothing she could do.

You kept up with your healing treatments for your father and the dog pack more than anything else.

Everyday, it was harder to care about your upcoming death.

With a small sigh, you leaned back into the couch and closed your eyes.

You were so tired of holding on, but you were doing it for your family.

You had to be strong. 

You had to pull through.

“Frisk says you just need to stay determined,” Flowey smiled at you and waved his petals at you.

As if sensing your exhaustion at the simple words, he wilted abit and pressed his face into Frisk’s neck.

How could you be determined when you never were before?

‘Tell me kid, ya determined to ever talk? With yer soul or yer voice?’

Frisk jumped at that then looked at the ground.

You felt a small amount a guilt. The kid was just trying to help.

‘Determination can only get ya through so much. Not everything is possible. Don’t worry about it kid.’

You ruffled their fluffy hair before dropping your hand back in your lap.

But Frisk was filled with determination, even more so from your words than you’d know. They pulled out their flip phone as their mother came back in the room with a box of pie for you.

You stood up and took it.

‘Thanks Tori.’

You said and turned your eyes away tiredly.

“Of course child, would you like a ride home?” She asked, resting her large paw on your head.

You shake your head.

‘Pops says the air will do me good. He’s got me walkin’ at least twice a day now.’

“Oh, that’s wonderful news!” Toriel said with a smile.

You nodded to her and popped a monster candy in your mouth quietly. You turned and raised your hand in a silent wave as you left.

You nearly spat out your monster candy when Frisk suddenly rushed you and hugged you tightly around your waist from behind.

“Wait! Wait! You can’t go yet!” Flowey said quickly.

“Why ever can she not?” Toriel looked down at her child in confusion.

“She uh, we um, Frisk wants to play a board game with her! Yeah! A really fun one!” Flowey said quickly.

You put your hands on the tiny hands around your waist.

‘Sorry kid, I’m not really up for a game today and Pops is expecting me back soon.’

Frisk only held on tighter.

Toriel placed her paw on your shoulder.

“What if I made some tea? I’ll call your father and let him know you’ll stay a little later than normal,” Toriel smiled and her tone sounded friendly but you could tell she wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

You nod to her instead and pat the kid’s hands. Frisk let you go and ran over to their game cupboard and pulled out a game quickly.

-----------

An hour later and you were just staring at Frisk. At first, they had been texting under the table when it wasn’t their turn. But they seem to get more and more...angry with each message. Finally, they had their phone on the table and was madly texting with a red face while Flowey looked on worriedly.

‘Alright kid, what gives huh? Why’d ya want me to stay so bad and who are ya textin’?’

You frowned at them.

Frisk paled and looked away. They looked hopefully out the big window of the living room.

‘Not gonna talk ta me?’

The kid didn’t answer and kept looking out the window, as if trying to will something into existence by doing so.

‘I’m leavin’ kid. Thanks for the game and thank yer ma for the tea.’

You said, standing up and grabbing the pie up. It would just cause trouble if you didn’t take it.

Frisk looked up at you with wide eyes of terror. They walked with you to the door and stepped out with you, looking up and down the street with hope in their eyes.

‘Kid, what the hell are ya lookin’ for already?’

You glared at Frisk now but they paid you no mind. After waiting a minute with no answer, you shake your head and walked down the driveway to the sidewalk.

You didn’t get far from the house when you heard a familiar motorcycle.

You looked over your shoulder and saw Sans. He pulled up next to you with a shocked look.

You raised your eyebrow at him.

‘Keep starrin’ if ya want but I’m still gonna stand here ya fucker.’

Sans stared at you for another moment before turning his head and looking at the front door where Frisk was still standing.

“you fuckin’ lil’ shit! ya said she was hurt! she’s fuckin’ fine you lyin’ sack!” He yelled at Frisk.

Frisk just gave you both a big smile and a thumbs up before running in the house.

You sighed and rub your forehead before popping another monster candy in your mouth.

‘Yer a fuckin’ idiot, fallin’ for the kid’s trick.’

Sans turned to you with a glare.

“shut the fuck up! i was worried about yer ass!”

‘Why?’

You raised an eyebrow at him and he seemed to pale and looked away. You roll your eyes.

‘Ya ain’t worried about me. Yer worried about Pops. I don’t care, I appreciate it believe it or not. But, get yer shit straight.’

You turn away from Sans to keep walking down the sidewalk.

“hey, wait! i came all the way here so… fuck it, ya want a ride?”

Sans asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

You looked back at him, your mind trailing back to the one time you rode with Sans. A time that hadn’t happened now.

Did he know that?

Then you remembered him CHECKing you and reminding yourself it was all an act.

You push down the rising anxiety at the thought of time rewinding.

You turn away from him again, feeling the pain in your arms peak so you shoved your free hand in your jacket pocket. You hid your wince from him and shook your head.

‘Nah, it’d freak Pops out.’

“right…” Sans looked down at the handles of his harley.

Your legs ached as you started walking home.

Hearing steps behind you, you ignore them and tried to walk faster but only managed to speed up a small bit.

You were so damn useless.

After a few blocks, you turn and look up at Sans.

‘I ain’t gonna die walkin’ home ya know? Ya ain’t my babysitter and I don’t need one.’

Sans sighed and ran his hand over his skull.

“i know ya don’t believe me but i am worried about you. not just grillbz,” Sans said suddenly, “jus’ let me walk ya home without a fuss.”

You stare at him before you sighed tiredly.

‘Fine.’

You kept walking, going back to your normal pace. Slow as shit.

You rolled your shoulder to try and ease the ache as you walked. Sans stayed quiet the whole walk home, but you could feel his stare on your back.

You pushed the door to the bar open with your shoulder, wincing as you did. Sans noticed and pushed the door open for you, looking away with a guilty look.

You shake for a second, staring at his reflection in the glass.

How dare this fucker pity you!

But what could you do about it?

The anger left you trembling but you couldn’t act on it so the emotion left, the trembling didn’t.

Grillby looked up, seeing the exchange, he walked over to you.

“Another pie huh? Didn’t even finish the last one,” Grillby said, taking the box from you and wrapping an arm around your shoulders to guide you in.

Sans hesitated at the door, ready to turn and leave but Grillby motioned for him to follow in.

You sat on a barstool and Sans sat next to you as Grillby went around the bar.

“How’d it go with the Queen?” Grillby asked as he mixed a drink for you, putting extra healing magic in it.

‘Same as ever.’

You shrug at your father and stare at the bartop.

“Yeah, I fuckin’ figured. Otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten another pie,” He sighed, setting the drink in front of you before setting a spiked mustard in front of Sans.

You tried to hide the tremble in your arm as you sipped you drink, leaning heavily on the bar and hunching over it. You could feel Sans staring at you. It made you angry, for a moment, then the anger was gone.

Was that progress or regression?

-------------

After leaving the bar, Sans decided he wasn’t doing this.

It was his fault.

You were dying because of him.

Sans took a shortcut all the way back to that fucking mountain. 

He had gotten drunk that night after CHECKing you.

He went back to Snowdin.

He texted the kid, asking them to LOAD to that afternoon.

He went to his old lab.

He had wanted to retry. He wanted to fix the trust he broke. Fuck, after the Frisk getting so many, why can’t he have one?!

He tore the tarp off his creation, the machine he had been building to try and bring his father back. 

He had been so prepared when the LOAD happened. Had the perfect puns lined up. He was planning on hauling your ass over his shoulder and carrying you around that stupid shop just to piss you off when you went limp in his hands.

Sans glared at the machine, determination filling his soul.

The LOAD had taken your soul and smashed it to pieces. You were so scared. You had remembered it. He knew you remembered that ride with him that day, he was hoping you would take him up on the offer. You were so broken now you didn’t care about yourself anymore, only living for your family.

Sans got to work, pulling metal plates at the machine to get at the wires.

He couldn’t fix you. But that crazy mad scientist father of his could.

------------

Boss called him everyday the month he trapped himself in the workshop. Sans didn’t say what he was doing, told his brother he just needed a break and was working on something back in Snowdin. He knew he was worrying Paps, knew it when his brother actually said his name rather than yelling it annoyance.

He had to get this done.

He knew you didn’t have much time left.

Soon enough, you wouldn’t be able to care about even Grillby enough to hold on.

He ran a final diagnostic test on the machine.

It should work. 

It was locked onto the signature he loaded in. He didn’t have his father’s soul frequency to load into the machine, so he used his as a base, adding into the machine to account for variations so it should be able to pull his father through.

Sans’ hands shook as he pressed the button.

It pulled what it was locked onto.

Sans just hadn’t realized he pulled the wrong monster through until it was too late.

Err, monsters.

---------------

You watched the lasagna in the oven carefully. You had to pull it out at the perfect moment. Only the best for the captain of the Royal Guard. He had booked the bar for a party. Some family members came into town and they were celebrating their get together with lasagna, spaghetti, and tacos…

Strange but hell, what did you care?

Business was business. You didn’t get to work in the bar often now. The Queen requested that you got plenty of bed rest now. The only reason you got to cook for the party was by sitting in a chair while you work.

The past few weeks had been very rough. You had been in and out of consciousness for a week straight. Your father thought you had been falling down. The human equivalent of it anyways. So, he had called the dog pack, the king and queen, and attempted to call Sans to your bedside to be there for your final breaths.

The Captain, Papyrus, had shown up in Sans’ place. Papyrus said that Sans wasn’t in town and wasn’t able to be here. He apologized to Grillby but, he had been so angry.

But, it had been forgotten when you started gasping for air.

You didn’t remember much of it, despite everyone being around your bedside only two nights before. You just remembered your soul feeling so far away. Then, almost like a blast, it had been pushed back into your body.

Not fixed, but whatever had happened had allowed you to hold on a bit longer.

The dog pack had a small party planned at their den for you at their den tonight. You thought your father would be reluctant to let you go but he was all for it. He wanted you to live as much life as you could before…

You shake your head of the thoughts and pulled out the pan of lasagna. You turned off the stove and went up to your room to get ready for the pack to pick you up.

-------------

Sans wasn’t sure what was up with his brother. Ever since they got to the surface, his brother had slowly but surely loosened up. The Great and Terrible Papyrus was acclimating to the surface and trying to be a ‘better brother’. The change wasn’t unwelcomed and they still yelled at each other daily, but there was an ease to it now. Not having to worry about constantly being dusted did a wonder for nerves.

But this was still out of character for his brother.

When Sans told his brother of his fuck up, all Papyrus did was ask if Sans was hurt, if any of the new arrivals were hurt, and if he was ready to come home.

Papyrus picked them up in a rented van and drove them back to New Home. They had a large house so space wasn’t a problem. Not once did his brother say he fucked up. Not once was he yelled at for his catastrophic mistake.

All Papyrus told him was that Sans almost missed you falling down for these newcomers.

Three miracles occurred the night that Sans dragged these other versions of himself and his brother into his world.

Two of the miracles was that the signatures he locked onto had been close enough with their brothers that they had been pulled through as well.

The third miracle was that you had pulled through. You didn’t fall down.

Guilt was eating up his soul. He was the cause of your death and on top of it, he almost missed it.

Papyrus could see that easily and so he called Grillby. Booked the bar for a family dinner for them all

They walked to the bar now, Papyrus and Sans leading the gangle of skeleton monsters. Two of them were nicknamed Vanilla and Sprinkle. Vanilla was a softer version of Sans. He wore a blue hoodie and pink slippers everywhere. He was every bit as punny as he was but Sans hadn’t been up to joining the pun wars between Vanilla and the version of his brother they were calling Stretch. If Vanilla was soft, Blueberry was like the world’s tiniest pillow that was full of fluffy kittens. Not for laying on but just for looking cute. Sprinkle was similar to Blueberry but it was so weird seeing a version of his boss, brother, that so damn naive.

Not to mention these fucking nicknames were driving him crazy. He had let them name each other. Blueberry had picked out the names ‘Vanilla’ and ‘Sprinkle’ while Vanilla had picked out ‘Stretch’ and Blueberry’.

How the fuck was he suppose to talk to someone named ‘Sprinkle’ starsdammit!?

The whole situation was insane.

Now he was walking to Grillby’s with the fuckers, hoping he would get to see you and hoping he wouldn’t at the same time.

His indecision seemed to work in his favor for the moment. He looked up and saw you were standing outside the bar with the dog pack. He glared at your form.

You were so tiny now. You use to have muscle, you use to have a true figure. Now you were a shadow of your former self.

And it was his fault.

“LOOK STRETCH! A HUMAN!” Blue yelled and pointed, instantly drawing the dog pack’s and your attention.

Sans wanted to walk down the alley and never be seen again.

“i just see the bar bro,” Stretch said around the lollipop in his mouth.

“LOOK IN FRONT OF THE BAR!” Blue said excitedly, still pointing at you.

“oh, hey what do ya know?” Stretch smiled at you as their group stopped by the dog pack.

“HELLO HUMAN, I AM THE MAGNIFICENT S-BLUEBERRY!” Blue rushed in front of everyone and held his hand out to you.

You blinked at him, completely confused by this little ball of sunshine. Sans didn’t blame you, Blue was confusing as hell. How could a monster be an adult, small as all hell, and friendly? It just didn’t add up in this universe.

You turned to Blue fully and took his hand to shake it.

‘Sup shorty? By the way, I’d appreciate it if ya didn’t call me human. I’m a recognized monster here. Jus’ like yerself.’

Blue stared up at you with stars, literal stars in his eyes. He only came up to your hips.

Doggo took a closer look at the bouncing Blue.

“Never seen you around ‘fore. Ya jus’ get outta yer stripes?” Doggo sniffed Blue’s skull.

Before Blue could answer, Sans intervened.

“he got outta his stripes a few years ago, they stayed underground. paranoid bunch if ya ask me.” Sans said as casually as he could.

‘Big family to keep hiding.’

Sans really wished you would stop looking between him and Vanilla like you knew something was up.

“we’re skeletons so it’s pretty easy,” Vanilla shrugged at you, an easy smile on his face, “all we gotta do is get in a closet.”

Sans’ eye twitched before he glared over at Vanilla. The fuck was he playin’ at? Was he flirting with you?!

Vanilla ignored his taller counterpart easily and held his hand out to you.

“they call me vanilla,” He said casually.

You took his hand and shook it slowly.

‘Right...Vanilla.’

Oh shit, you knew. Sans felt some sweat beading up on the top of his head, only growing more nervous as you shook hands with Sprinkle and then Stretch.

‘My name is Ember. This is my Pops’ place so don’t fuck it up too bad tonight.’

You motioned to the bar with a nod.

Vanilla’s eye lights went wide for a moment and he looked at Sans confused.

“MS. EMBER, MIGHT I HAVE A HUG FROM YOU?” Blue said, opening his arms up in front of you.

Sans couldn’t take it anymore.

“haha, fuckin’ family an’ shit right?” He moved and grabbed Blue’s shoulders and steered him into the bar, “come on blue, we’re renting by the hour here!”

Papyrus sighed deeply, “I Apologize For Any Inconvience Ms. Ember. Our Cousins Are...Unorthodox.”

‘It’s fine. Weird as all hell but it’s okay. ‘M not gonna get offended from a hug Cap.’

You shrug up at the tallest skeleton. You lean back on Dogaressa’s shoulder.

‘We’re gonna head out Cap, ‘ave fun with yer family.’

You turned and walked away with the dog pack as Papyrus went into the bar.

-------------

Sans rubbed his forehead, sitting at the booth with Blue as the others filtered in. He watched you leave with the dog pack before he set his head on the table.

“fuckin’ shit blue. really? a hug!?” He hissed.

Blue just smiled up at him.

“I’VE NEVER GOTTEN TO HUG A HUMAN BEFORE!”

“She ain’t human,” Grillby said, placing the pre-ordered food in the middle of the table, “She’s my daughter and a respected member of the community. Callin’ her human is sayin’ she hasn’t done shit for us. It’s an insult.” He cast a warning glare at Blue before moving to the back to grab more dishes.

Stretch was at his brother’s side in an instant, glaring at the door Grillby disappeared through.

“he sure is a hothead ain’t he?” Stretch grumbled.

“Leave Him Be,” Papyrus frowned at Stretch as he sat next to Sans, “He’s Going Through A Rough Enough Time Already, You Don’t Need To Make It Worse.”

Vanilla sat at the end of the table with his brother.

“that was his kid out there, what’s wrong with her?” Sans asked, eye lights trailing over to the door to make sure Grillby wasn’t coming in during this conversation.

“it ain’t our place ta say-” 

“Her Soul Is Cracking And Breaking. She’s Falling Down,” Papyrus frowned and ignored his brother’s glare, “The Only Reason I Am Telling You This Is So You Don’t Say Something Stupid To Either Of Them.”

Stretch rubbed the back of his neck while Blue looked down with a sad look.

“is that why you tried bringing ‘him’ through? you thought he could fix her?” Vanilla looked over at Sans who stayed quiet.

Vanilla leaned back in his chair, mulling over this information as Grillby brought out more food.

Before being pulled here, he had been stuck in an endless loop, watching his brother die over and over again. He had no plans to go back there. This place was rough, he could tell that much from the little he had seen, but his brother would be safe here.

He wasn’t planning on leaving.

Vanilla thinks he just found a way to ensure he’d get exactly what he wants.

--------------

You know you’re on the down slope. After a few hours of poker and a couple of drinks with the dog pack, you didn’t refused their offer to have Greater Dog take you back home. 

You didn’t care that monsters did things for you anymore because your body was shit. You rode on Greater Dog’s shoulders, giving him little scratches as he walked you home. When you finally arrived, he set you down in front of the door gently.

‘Good boy.’

You gave his ears another good scratch before heading in.

‘Hey Pops.’

You called as you walked in. The fire elemental came to your side as you looked over at the skeleton group lounging in a booth.

You frowned when you didn’t see Sans there or the one with the blue hoodie, Vanilla or whatever his name is.

You had wanted to see Sans. For some reason.

Grillby wrapped his arm around your shoulder and tugged you close to him as you glared at the floor.

“You should have an early night tonight girl,” Grillby said, pulling you into the back, away from the curious stares of the skeletons.

‘Ya good Pops? Yer off today.’

You say, looking up at your father.

What did Sans matter? Not like he actually cared anyways.

At least your father did. You tried to hold onto that and keep reminding yourself that.

“ ‘m fine, don’t worry over me,” Grillby smirked down at you as he led you upstairs.

At the door to the apartment, he let you go.

“Yer ass better be in bed by the time I wrap this shit show up,” He warned as he went back downstairs.

You sigh quietly before going in.

You head to your room and pull off your top as you enter. Your body felt like it was suffocating constantly lately. You knew you were close to the end. Part of you just wanted it over with already but, you had to hold on as long as you could for your father.

A low whistle pulled you out of your thoughts.

You looked over and saw Sans laying on your bed, his jacket off and hanging on the chair to your rarely used desk.

‘The fuck are you doing up here? I ain’t in the mood for yer shit tonight Sans.’

You try to glare at him, but all that’s on your mind is sleep. You just wanted to turn off and not feel the constant aches that plagued you.

“c’mere sweetheart,” Sans drawled.

You sighed and rubbed your forehead tiredly before covering your eyes.

‘Yer drunk Sans, go home.’

You hear him grunt as he gets up and hear his slow, heavy footsteps coming towards you.

When his hands land on your waist, you look up at him.

“i know yer hurtin’,” One of his large hands went around your waist and rubbed circles into your lower back, gently pulling you to him, “jus’ let me stay the night. let me keep ya warm. won’t try nothin’, jus’ want ta hold ya sweetheart.”

He was very drunk, you could smell the alcohol on him as he pulled you to his chest. You set your hands on his chest and look at him confused.

‘Why? What do ya get out of it?’

Sans chuckled lowly.

“i get ta hold ya.”

You didn’t get it but you were too tired to question him further. You grabbed the front of his sweater and pulled away from him, leading him to your bed. You didn’t feel anything as you shed your pants in front of Sans and got in your bed. You curl up under the covers, trying to hide your trembling body from him under the thick covers.

Sans crawls over you and lays next to you, not bothering with the covers.

He pulled you to his chest, guiding your head to rest on his outstretched arm while his other curled around your waist and drew slow patterns over the skin of your back as his hand started to glow with healing magic.

You close your eyes and listen to him breathing, his soothing touches leading you into sleep. You didn’t notice his eye lights looking at you softly, a red blush dusting his cheeks that had nothing to do with the drinks he had earlier.

The machine hadn’t been useless. He had a way to save you now, thanks to Vanilla. He just had to make sure you would make it the next two days. Sans could do that. You held on this long, if he had to, Sans would carry you the rest of the way.

Chapter Text

The morning had been...weird.

When you woke up, Sans was still in your bed. His eye sockets were closed and he was holding you tightly, like he was scared you wouldn’t be here when he woke up.

You can't wrap your mind around it. Why did he suddenly care? You weren’t stupid, you knew he cared, but for your father’s sake. He did say he cared for you because of you but that didn’t make any sense to you either.

He didn’t trust you.

At most, he spent maybe twelve hours in total with you since you moved here.

After a few minutes, you stopped caring. At least he was warm and, strangely, your body didn’t ache so badly with him around. You closed your eyes and gripped his sweater tightly as you curled closer to him.

If you were normal, if you weren’t breaking would this happen? Would he have stayed with you, just to hold you? 

As soon as you started to wonder, it became too much work to care for it again.

You pushed your forehead into his chest, a small hope in you starting to grow. You were starting to hope that you would live long enough that Sans would hold you again like this.

“mm, fuckin’ hell,” Sans groaned and rubbed his forehead as he woke up, no doubt with a hangover.

‘Mornin’.’

You mumble to him.

He looked down at you. He just stared at the top of your head for a moment before he pulled you even closer. His thumb brushed over the small of your back gently.

“did i wake ya?”

You shake your head and sigh softly, wrapping an arm around his ribs and holding onto him.

‘Few more minutes…’

You just wanted a few more minutes, pain free, before you had to get up and carry on.

Sans was quiet for abit. A few minutes turned into thirty. Those minutes turned into an hour that you held onto Sans.

He was running his hand through your hair and you noticed the front of his sweater was wet. You touched your cheek confused.

When did you start crying?

“i heard a sayin’ once,” Sans’ voice was low and soothing, calming your hiccuping breaths, “if ya can’t run no more, ya walk. when ya can’t walk, ya crawl. when ya can’t do that anymore, ya find someone to carry ya.”

‘What’s that matter Sans?’

He shivered for some reason.

“i’m askin’ ya to let me carry ya the rest of the way through this.”

‘If it’s outta guilt or pity, I don’t want ya to.’

Sans hand his hand carefully through your hair again.

“i wanna do it ‘cause i care.”

------------------

The next day...was even stranger than yesterday morning. Sans had left after you finally got up yesterday, saying he had to get some stuff taken care of. Today, Sans was hanging around the bar, doing little things to try and get a rise out of you. It annoyed you abit that he kept pushing you to eat. Every so often, while you dusted the bar down and cleaned the bottles of alcohol, he would push a monster candy to you or part of a cinna-bunny or some of a spider donut.

You would eat it, just to appease him. You did your best to ignore the spiking anxiety every time you put food in your mouth.

It hurt to swallow.

Throughout the day you were feeling weaker and weaker.

By noon, your father was demanding you go back to bed.

Then you couldn’t hear anything but this loud ringing.

One second you were listening to your father bitching at you, then just...nothing but that high pitch squeal. You covered your ears to try and block it out and closed your eyes tightly. But the ringing turned into a squeal, then the squeal turned into a scream.

Just as suddenly as it started, a loud hum overcame the sounds. Slowly, unsure, you uncovered your ears to listen to the hum. It was low and deep. After a few minutes, it started to sound more like a melody.

You focused only on that until you fell asleep, forgetting the pain, forgetting the monsters around you. There was only darkness and that melody.

-----------

Sans isn’t sure if it was timing or if your body just finally gave out.

He was sitting at the bar, trying to get as much magic into you as he could. The more magic in your body, the stronger your body is, the better the chance Vanilla had to fix you.

Grillby came out of the back and seeing your state, he started laying into you.

“Stars, fuck, girl!” He shouted, “How many times do I need to tell ya to get rest! The place isn’t going to fall apart without ya down here,” The fire elemental sighed and walked over to you, placing a hand on your shoulder, “Jus’ go upstairs and take a nap. Ya know? Relax for a minute…” Grillby stared at you as he realized you had yet to react to anything. “Ember?”

Sans stared at you, his eye glowing as he looked into your soul and performed a quick check.

Ember

LV 4

EXP 0

‘She knows her time is almost up.’

It was quiet at first. Your soul called for help.

Sans was shocked in his seat as he stared at you. It was different to how you spoke with your soul. The voice was tiny and small, as if it were far away.

It got a little louder and you shut your eyes and covered your ears, shaking where you stood.

“Ember, Ember! C’mon girl, pull through it!” Grillby tried to call for you, wrapping his arms around you to keep you from falling, “Don’t do this! Dammit! C’mon!”

Sans took a shortcut behind the bar, reaching out for you.

Then your soul screamed. He felt his own soul quake hearing the pure fear in the core of your being.

He acted before he thought. Sans pulled you from Grillby and into his arms, pressing your chest to his and calling on his soul to soothe yours. 

The screaming stopped. Slowly, you lowered your hands from your ears.

You relaxed and your eyes stayed naturally shut as you drifted off.

Sans hesitated before looking up at Grillby. He wasn’t sure what to say at first, he just knew he was out of time and he didn’t have the chance to really explain to Grillby now.

“I...gotta make some calls. Put her in her bed,” Grillby said and started to turn away, the guilt written all over the fire elemental.

“grillbz!” Sans called to him quickly, “jus’ stop and listen ta me, i ain’t got the time ta tell ya everythin’ but jus’ listen. there’s a chance for her to live but i gotta take her and i gotta take her now.”

“The fuck do you mean there’s a chance for her to live?! Look at her! She’s thinner than you for fuck’s sake! Her soul...her soul ain’t up for bein’ here no more Sans.” Grillby motioned to his daughter then looked away.

“why do ya think i’m suddenly bringin’ family around grillbz?! they can help her, fix her soul! but ya gotta understand what i’m sayin’ here! if it works, i’ll bring her back here and she’ll be yer same lil’ Ember ya never shut yer damn trap about!”

Grillby looked at him, Sans recognized some hope filling his friend’s eyes.

“ya gotta understand this ain’t fullproof though, i might not be able to bring her back to ya…i can’t promise anythin’,” Sans looked down at your body, picking you up properly and resting your head on his chest.

“Ya think you really can fix her soul though, don’tcha?” Grillby asked quietly.

“i do,” Sans didn’t hesitate to look back up to his friend.

Grillby looked at his closest friend holding his daughter, so many emotions running through him before he nodded.

“Go ‘fore I change my damn mind,” He hissed.

Just like that, Sans was gone with his daughter.

---------------

Sans set you down gently on the bed in the spare room of his home.

“get yer ass in here vanilla!” He yelled as he began stripping your shirt off.

“what happened to it bein’ tonight?” Vanilla took a shortcut and was moving around the room quickly, pulling an IV stand with a glowing green bag attached to it over to the bed.

“she fell down while at the bar. she don’t got the time now,” Sans said, watching as Vanilla found a vein in her elbow and pushed the needle in.

“how much magic did you get in her before she fell?”

“not enough,” Sans was sure of that.

Vanilla held his hand out over her chest and slowly, gently, tugged the abused soul out of your body.

A cracked soul, barely held together with only the faintest of green shining through a mask of white.

Vanilla grabbed another IV stand, this one filled with a glowing red liquid. He moved onto the side of Sans and gently reached out to her soul. He turned it over and frowned.

“i can’t get the needle in like this, it’ll break her,” Vanilla said quietly, “you have to give her some of your magic, directly.” Vanilla moved away from Sans again to pull at a machine closer to the bed.

Sans blushed brightly, “i don’t know how shit works in yer universe, but that shit is for when yer mate is pregnant, ya idiot!” He looked between your soul and Vanilla, silently hoping he was joking.

“she’s gonna die if you don’t. i’d do it myself but i don’t know how her soul is going to react to magic that isn’t from her home universe. it’s safer for you to do it,” Vanilla said as he methodically attached nodes onto your chest. The machine brought up your heart beat after a moment.

Sans hesitated still, looking between your soul and your face. Healing a soul directly was much different from just giving pure magic to someone’s soul. Healing a soul, normal. Done in hospitals all the time and the Queen was famous for healing monsters and humans directly in soul.

Giving his raw magic to your soul...you weren’t even courting each other dammit!

“buddy, i really hate to rush ya but if you want this to work, you need to do it now.” Vanilla said seriously.

Sans cursed him quietly under his breath before reaching for your soul. He cupped his hands around your most vulnerable part and let his raw magic fill his hands. Desperately, he prayed to the stars that you would accept it. If you were too far gone, if you wanted to die you would push him away and-

Sans’ eye lights widened as your soul took in his magic, his red magic washing over your soul in a hypnotic manner.

Vanilla moved next to him again.

“keep your hands steady and keep feeding her magic,” Vanilla said, taking the needle again.

Sans watched worriedly as Vanilla inserted and attached the needle to your soul. He could feel your soul shudder in pain and without thinking, more of his magic filled his hands to keep your soul strong through this.

“that’s the dt?” Sans glanced back at the bag filled with red liquid.

“artificial DT,” Vanilla corrected him, “the old man figured it out back in my universe. doesn’t do well for monsters but with her being human, she should be able to take it and be healthy.”

Sans felt his soul’s hum stop for a moment as his eye lights disappeared.

“should…?”

Vanilla frowned at him.

“if she rejects it i can’t do anything about it,” he shrugged casually, as if you weren’t on the cusp of death right in front of him, “i set it up to drip into her soul over an eight hour period. it should be slow enough that it won’t be overwhelming for her.”

Sans settled at that and looked your soul over again. It was going to be a long eight hours.

-------------

After two hours of feeding your soul his magic constantly, Vanilla finally said he could stop. Sans was so damn tired. He pulled a chair up to your bed and sat by you. After hesitating for a moment, Sans held your hand. The beeping from the heart monitor helped ease him. Your hand so cold but your heart was beating. That was a good thing.

Right?

Sans was worried he was just prolonging your suffering, trying to make you hold on when you didn’t want to.

You could be mad if you wanted to when you woke up, as long as you could go back to the life you had before he had shoved himself in it and ruined it.

He had so much to make up for. There was so much he knew he should tell you but he doubted he ever would. How could he?

‘Sorry for almost killin’ ya, I jus’ really wanted to show you that you could trust me. Ya know, by reLOADING the world after I CHECKed you to make sure I could trust you.’

That would go over well.

Vanilla kept checking the bags and watching the monitor closely. The bag of green healing magic had run out so he went about replacing it. It was important to keep your body alive and you needed nutrients to do that. Green magic wasn’t a cure all but it would keep your body from starving to death while you underwent this treatment.

“call me if you need something or she starts moving around, i’m gonna go check on everyone,” Vanilla said before walking out of the room.

Sans watched the door shut and looked down at you gently.

This had to work.

It had to.

-------------

You shifted and grunted. Another day, another four hours before your father forced you back into bed for ‘rest’. You didn’t remember getting into bed last night, or whenever your father was bitching at you to get in bed.

Your bed felt weirdly stiff. Your chest was freezing. You shiver and open your eyes. You look around quickly realize this wasn’t your room.

‘What the fuck?’

You sat up, moving slowly.

Why was your chest so heavy?

You set a hand on your chest with a wince. You felt weighed down in a strange way. As you moved, you realized that your arms weren’t hurting. Your mouth opened in astonishment.

“heh, good to see ya awake there sweetheart.”

You looked over and saw Sans, sitting in a chair next to the bed. There were some IV stands on either side of you with empty bags.

‘Where am I? What’d you do?’

“jus’ employeed the right person,” Sans gave you a wink and rubbed his thumb over the back of your hand he was still holding.

Then it hit you.

You were starving . You held your stomach and frowned.

When had you gotten so thin?

“how ya feelin’?”

‘Hungry and...the fuck did ya do? I’m feelin’ shit? I’m fuckin’ feelin’ shit!’

You held Sans’ hand tightly as you looked over him.

“yeah, vanilla got yer soul fixed up. so ya don’t gotta worry about that shit anymore.”

‘I’m really not dyin’ anymore?’

Sans nodded and squeezed your hand before standing up.

“get dressed ya fuckin’ lazy bitch,” Sans smirked at you, throwing your shirt at you.

You looked down, realizing that the reason your chest was freezing was due to the fact that you only had your breast band to cover you.

‘Ya...Ya fuckin’ cockmuncher!’

You yelled as you pulled your shirt on quickly.

‘Ya fuckin’ stripped me!?’

“yer welcome for savin’ yer life,” Sans said easily as he walked out of the room, leaving the door open for you.

You glared at him and shakily stood. You waited for a second, waiting for the pain to return.

No pain.

You smirked and ran out the door past Sans, who stared at you like you were insane. 

Maybe you were because when you saw the stairs, you didn’t bother with them. You grabbed onto the banister and flipped over it, landing easily on your feet.

Sans ran to the stairs and stared down at you.

“ya crazy bitch!? the fuck do ya think yer doin’!?” He yelled down at you.

You had a wide smirk on your face as Sans walked down to you.

‘I can fuckin’ move without feelin’ like I’m dyin’! I’ll jump off that shit again if I want, cause I fuckin’ can!’

You laughed. As Sans came up to you, happy tears started slipping down your face.

“c’mon, why ya cryin’?” Sans looked worried and reached to brush some of the tears away.

You chuckled and reached, grabbing Sans’ collar and dragging him to the kitchen.

‘Ignore my lil’ bitch tears and help me find some damn food.’

You didn’t see Sans becoming a blushing mess as you tugged on his collar and lead him down the hall. He didn’t direct you, just so he could watch you get lost in the maze of a house his brother designed and tug him around more.

His soul sang happily as he followed you around.

He had done it.

Chapter Text

He had done it.

Sans watched you move around the bar easily, almost dancing as you went in between customers and regulars, serving out food and beer easily.

You had gained back some weight and some muscle over the past few months. You were slowly returning to your old self. Sans checked in with you a few times everyday through texting you, then he’d come to the bar every night.

“she’s really something huh?” Stretch said on his right.

Making Sans remember why he still hated his life.

“she’s really good with the customers, as rough as they are,” Vanilla said on Sans’ left.

Stars, he really wished they would fuck off.

He glared at the counter.

Every night, these two idiots would come with him. Every. Fucking. Night.

It’d be nice to just pretend everything was back to normal but he still had to deal with these two idiots. Then their idiot brothers when he got home.

Sans set his forehead on the counter with a huff.

“would you two just give me one fuckin’ night alone?” He groaned.

Vanilla and Stretch just chuckled at his expense.

‘It’s yer family time, quit whinin’.’

You waved a spiked mustard in front of Sans’ eye lights when he looked up at you.

‘Quit sulkin’ and I’ll give ya this on the house.’

“ya think i’m a fuckin’ dog or some shit?!” Sans sat up and yelled at you.

You just smirked and grabbed his collar.

‘Sure, this is jus’ for fashion, eh?’

Sans blushed a bright red before hitting your hand away and pulled his hood over his skull.

“fuckin’ bitch,” He grumbled as you set the mustard in front of him.

He couldn’t help but smile as you walked away to serve others. 

You had been tugging on his collar every chance you got now. Sans liked to think it was you flirting with him. While the thought of you just flirting with him made his soul soar, he wouldn’t let himself flirt back. He had it set in his head now, you didn’t deserve a mess like him. You were probably just clinging to him because of the residual magic he had given to your soul.

Vanilla said that all the extra magic Sans had given you would’ve ran out by now, but Sans still refused. You deserve someone that hadn’t almost killed you.

You served up some beers to the dog pack, smirking at Doggo and saying something to him to rile him up. Doggo snarled right in your face while you just smirked at him, daring him to try something.

“she’s really not afraid of anything,” Stretch said quietly, nursing his honey.

“not a damn thing,” Sans found himself saying, taking a big gulp of his mustard and looking away from you.

Grillby came out from the kitchen, serving the skeletons some fries and then leaning on the bar, lighting up a cig. Sans didn’t doubt that he had taken it from your pack.

“How’s the Captain doin’ Sans?” Grillby asked, sounding bored as he looked around the bar, quietly taking a head count. He always checked up on his regulars like this quietly.

“eh, training two new recruits ain’t takin’ anything outta him,” Sans shrugged.

He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. Things were finally going right. You were on the road to being healthy and stronger than before, now that you were learning mage magic from the Queen herself.

His bro was happy, teaching his counterparts how to properly cook and training them to be in the royal guard. Even with these two idiots following him around, his soul felt lighter than it had in a long time.

You came back around the bar, settling easily into the routine you did every night around this time. You were cleaning glasses, filling a new beer glass and taking it over to drunk bunny. You gave her the normal pat on the head before washing up her empty glass and started preparing another round of drinks for the bird monster and the fish monster at the bar.

As the night went on, Sans and his two newest family members proceeded to get more wasted than normal. They were completely plastered by the time a group of three humans walked into the bar and sat at the bar.

They ignored the humans, just some runts, they looked barely old enough to be in here anyways. It’s not like they could cause much trouble anyways. So, they bounced puns off one another naturally, enjoying their last drinks.

Then, time slowed. Sans felt his breath leave him as he was stuck, moving slowly in his space, just like the two skeletons on either side of him. None of them missed the way you moved though. You had been across the bar, picking up some empty glasses.

As soon as time slowed, you moved normally. You dropped the glasses and ran behind the three, grabbing two of their wrists. Two of them were holding water balloons. With no mercy, you kicked the third kid to the ground and pulled the other two off their stools, gripping their wrists tightly.

“Drop it,” Sans’ eye lights widened as he heard your voice for the first time. Fuck, he might be drunk and a little freaked out by time suddenly slowing, but your voice was perfect. It was so strong, it had to be followed. He’d follow anything you told him if you talked to him like that.

The two kids dropped the water balloons and looked terrified. You kicked the one on the right and away from you. The kid you were still holding ended up with his chest on the bar as you moved quickly, holding him there by the back of his neck and twisting his arm behind his back.

“Two of you, out. Or I’m gonna break yer buddy’s arm here.”

The two kids ran out the door. You turned to the last one.

“You and yer friends come back, yer not gonna be leavin’ this bar on yer legs. Get it?”

The little brat quickly nodded into the bar, whimpering. You shoved him across the bar and towards the door.

“Go, ‘fore I change my mind,” You crossed your arms and stood tall, glaring at the kid.

The kid didn’t need the warning, running out of the bar quickly.

Sans was just staring at you. Fuck, how could he not when he just saw all that. He never heard you actually talk before. Your voice was soothing and strong and fit you perfectly. Your body was perfect and Sans was sure with the muscle and weight you’ve managed to gain back you would fit just right against him now-

Holy fuck, how drunk was he?

Sans forced his eyes back on the bar as you turned around. He looked up to notice both Stretch and Vanilla eying you up. Stretch in awe and Vanilla in a hungry way. He growled under his breath and shoved them both to snap them out of it.

Stretch at least had the decency to look down with a little shame, but Vanilla simply eased himself on his elbow and smirked at Sans before trailing his eyes back over your form.

That fucking bastard-

‘Last call fuckers.’

You called over to them, going back to picking up the glasses at the table as you had previously, as if nothing had happened.

Grillby looked proud of his daughter, setting another round of spiked condiments in front of the skeleton trio. You came around the bar, starting on the dishes left by the other regulars. Dogaressa came up and started talking to you as you did. Grillby went over to join the conversation.

Sans turned to his counterpart with a small growl, “don’t you get any fuckin’ ideas vanilla .”

“why not? ‘s not like ya got claim on her,” Vanilla said easily, his eyes lingering on you for a moment more before turning to Sans.

“look, i’ll give ya a pass since yer drunk and outta yer fuckin’ head, but i’mma say it again and ya better take it to heart, ” Sans chuckled, seeming friendly enough before he lost his eye lights and grinning wider at Sans, “ya try anything with her, and i’m gonna have a g r e a t  t i m e ,” Sans smiled normally at Vanilla, his eye lights coming back, “get it, ‘buddy’?”

Much to Sans’ liking, Vanilla looked at him shocked. Much to his dislike, Vanilla got a wide smile and looked at ease.

“sounds like you’re going to have a b a d - ”

Stretch stood up and got in between them, grabbing them both by their hoods.

“you’re both drunk and we need to go home!” He said loudly, frowning down at them both.

“he started the shit!” Sans glared at Vanilla still, his fingers twitching to throw some bones.

“and i am ending it!” Stretch said quickly, “let’s just go home before one of you starts a stupid fight.”

“i’ll end it quick,” Vanilla said, looking like he had the same urge to throw some bones at Sans.

‘Hey!’  

The three skeletons were startled by you walking over to them with a frown.

‘I’m the only who gets to fight in this bar, got it fuckface? So, unless ya want yer ass kicked by me, get outta my bar.’

You cross your arms, frowning at both of them.

Sans looked down, calming down easily when you said that. He wasn’t stupid, he knew you didn’t like to fight with monsters. It made you nervous and twitchy the few times he had seen it. You never hesitated, despite that. He had a lot of respect for you, so he backed down. A glare still set on his face, but he did.

“sorry, sweetheart,” Sans mumbled, leaning back on the bar.

Vanilla, on the other hand, looked like he still had energy he wanted to get out. Preferably, by hitting Sans.

You roll your eyes at the blue skeleton and looked up at Stretch.

‘Can ya get him home without me havin’ to knock him out? I’ll get Sans back home in a bit, hopefully that asshole will ‘ave settled down by then.’

Stretch just gave you a thumbs up and the two of them disappeared before your eyes.

Sans watches as you shake your head at their antics and started wiping down the bar. Your father was cleaning up the kitchen and Sans guessed the dog packed had walked out a while ago, before things had gotten too heated between the skeletons.

‘What’s yer cousin's problem?’

“he’s a fuckin’ asshole,” Sans sighed, laying his arm on the bar and resting his head on it, “don’t worry about it. nothin’ i can’t handle.”

‘I ain’t worried about you gettin’ hurt, idiot. Don’t want ta see ya get shitfaced ‘cause ya feel bad for hurtin’ him later.’

Sans huffed out a small laugh, letting his eye sockets close.

“like i’d ever feel bad for that asshole gettin’ what’s coming to ‘im.”

You roll your eyes at that and clean up around Sans. You purposely bump into him a few times, just to annoy him. He grumbled at you each time and once glared at you, making you smirk at him.

You didn’t notice his blush when you looked away.

He hated that you were right. It irritated him abit that you had him pegged so well. Sans was proud of the small amount of LV he had but they were on the surface now. There wasn’t any need for that anymore. Being out of the underground made him realize he didn’t actually like dusting. He’d do it in a soul’s beat if someone was threatening Boss or Grillbz or hell, even you.

There was a part of his soul that was warped enough by his LV that would allow him to enjoy hurting his alternate self. But after, you were right, he’d probably be here drinking away any other feeling. Didn’t help that the bastard only had one HP. If Sans did anything to Vanilla, it’d end up dusting him.

Sans would love to be able to do what you did so easily. For as violent as you were, as high as your LV was, you never killed. You didn’t have the EXP to prove it. With you LV, Sans could guess the worst you had ever done was break someone’s kneecap and they deserved it. At the end of the day, you were practically a pacifist compared to the rest of them.

The lights went off after Sans heard you click the lock in place at the door. He heard you walk over to his side and closed his eyes, feigning sleep.

‘Ya can’t sleep at the bar.’

“ain’t ready to go home and deal with that asshole’s shit right now,” Sans yawned, opening his mouth and showing off his sharp teeth fully.

‘C’mon then, you can sleep on the couch upstairs. Pops won’t mind, prolly.’

You pointedly look away from him and make your way to the back, holding the door open for Sans. He watched your hips sway for a moment before shutting his eyes again.

He was too damn drunk to deal with you right now. To deal with feelings. This...longing in his soul. Even being drunk, he reminded himself again, he didn’t deserve you.

Caught up in his thoughts, Sans didn’t hear you groan in frustration before walking back over to him.

You grab his upper arm and drag him up.

‘Let’s go already! I ain’t dealin’ with yer shit tonight Sans.’

With a small smirk, Sans let you pull him up but then he dumped his weight on your shoulder. You were struggling to keep him up but he could tell you were trying to stay up right and strong. He wanted to chuckle. You were so damn tiny compared to him, the hell were you thinking, trying to drag him up like this?

‘Dammit, would ya jus’ hold yerself up fuckface!?’

Sans chuckled, leaning closer to you and placing his hands on either side of you, trapping you against the bar.

“daw, sweetheart, why ya gotta call me fuckface huh?” He leaned in close to you with that smirk.

You would back down. In the back of his mind, he was sure that if he just showed you how fucked up he was, you’d go running for the hills and he’d be back to just being another monster at your father’s bar.

Maybe showing you he was a sloppy drunk would get it through that damned determined head of yours.

With a smirk, you tugged on his collar once, watching his face heat up again but not from all the alcohol he drank this time.

...Or not?

‘Fuckface. It means, face I would fuck. Dumbass.’

You chuckled and crossed your arms confidently, tilting your head up at him as if you had won something.

He stared down at you shocked, his face lighting up even more now, making your smirk widen. He glared at you suddenly, his shoulders hunching up. He gripped the bar tightly, his arms trembling as he stared down at you angrily.

Why didn’t you fucking get it? He was nothing to everyone except his brother. He was trash and he didn’t deserve your attention.

He almost killed you. Didn’t you get it already!?

You looked up at him with a frown.

‘What the fuck is your-’

“don’t call me that again, an’ don’t fuckin’ touch me anymore. got it?” His eye lights went out as he warned you.

You glare up at him now, masking your confusion with anger easily.

It reminded him of how right Grillby was. You talked like a monster. You walked like a monster. You would get it now.

‘What? Ya got a fuckin’ problem with me now?’

“yeah, i do,” He growled at you.

It was a challenge.

He didn’t leave you any room to be unsure. He was drunk and he knew one night, he would be drunk again and you would pull on his collar and he’d be at your beck and call. He could see it so clearly. He fucking fantasized about it. He’d follow you into bed and take you, because you wanted him.

He couldn’t let the opportunity come up. He couldn’t let you make that mistake because of some of his magic running through your soul.

You didn’t know him.

You didn’t trust him.

You didn’t even like him.

It was just his magic on your soul confusing you.

‘Get the fuck outta my bar.’

Sans didn’t need to be told twice.

--------------

You stare at the empty space in front of you, wondering what the fuck had just happened. The anger and confusion mixed unpleasantly in your soul.

You stomp and rush up to the apartment, shaking with anger. You ignore your father and slam the door as you enter the bathroom and prepare a shower as you thought.

Why? You and Sans had been flirting in the last few months since you started getting better. You knew he cared now. You felt it in the little touches he’d give you rarely, like when he’d take a bottle from you.

You stood in the shower as your cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

Maybe you had read too much into this. You thought he liked you. How could you not? He held you while you were sick, ‘just ta hold ya’. Tears burn in your eyes and mix with the hot shower water.

He had just taken pity on you.

He had only saved you for your father’s sake.

You touched your chest, over where your soul was hiding in your body. You had started to believe that he actually cared about you.

Now, what the fuck were you suppose to believe?

-----------

Sans knew he fucked up the moment he walked in the bar with Stretch and Vanilla two days later.

You looked up and glared at Sans before going back to your work. When they sat, you wordlessly slid over the spiked ketchup and honey. Then you threw the mustard at Sans before walking away.

“you really pissed her off, huh ‘buddy’?” Vanilla smirked widely, sipping on his ketchup.

“shut the fuck up,” Sans growled at him in warning before glaring at the bartop.

Sans had been hoping to talk to you. Alone. Smooth things over as best as he could.

He wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but the last two days had been hell. His soul was calling out and humming a restless beat he couldn’t ignore when he was alone. Even in the house now full of skeletons, he felt so lonely. It was numbing. His nightmares were now morphing and twisting into images of you instead of the resets. They served as reminders that he once again, hurt you. He had to fix it and he felt relieved in a small way.

You got it now. You deserved better than him and you would give up on this little flirt thing that had been going on. If he did it right, he could salvage a friendship with you again. If he could move out of town, this wouldn’t be a problem. He’d be out of your life entirely. But moving out wasn’t exactly an option when Boss had his whole life here and now he had to babysit these jackasses.

If he couldn’t leave, he thought it’d be fair enough to at least be friends with you. Hopefully, that would ease his soul somewhat.

But these two assholes refused to let him come to Grillby’s alone. Now, he knew he wasn’t going to get the damn chance to fix things tonight. It was a Friday and the place was busy. The hours passed quickly, with you busting your ass and serving customers, looking more and more tense as the night went.

When things seemed to finally settle more, Sans looked away from his conversation with Stretch, his eye lights trailing around the room to find you.

He finally found you, over by the jukebox. With Vanilla standing beside you, chatting you up.

Sans’ eye lights widened, turning to the seat beside him.

That fucking asshole had just been beside him not a minute ago!

You were on your knees with the jukebox pulled out. It must be acting up again and you were working on fixing it. Vanilla crouched beside you, pointing something out, catching your interest and leaning closer to him to see.

If Sans had blood, it’d be boiling.

-----------------

When you finally get a moment to breathe, you went back over to the jukebox, settling behind it and looking at the back. It had been acting up over the past week and it crapped out about an hour ago. With your father still busy in the kitchen, you decided to look over it yourself, settling on your knees to do so.

“heya,” You looked up and saw Vanilla standing by you, “guessin’ you’re gonna have to beat this thing into submission to get it to work huh? ‘careful, i hear it’s got jukes .”

‘Was that a double pun? Fuck, you really are related to Sans huh.”

You rolled your eyes at the skeleton and turned back to fiddle with the machine. Ever since Sans snapped at you, you hadn’t been in the mood to deal with any of the skeletons. Honestly, Vanilla kinda weirded you out. He looked so much like Sans it was almost creepy.

“you have no idea,” Vanilla mumbled to himself. 

He settled himself into a crouch and you looked at him.

‘Ya don’t hafta help me jackass, I’ve fixed this thing more times than I can count at this point.’

“eh, two sets of eyes are better than one, and hey, mine might just light up your life,” Vanilla smirked at you.

You stared at him for a moment, not really sure how to handle the obvious flirt, when he pointed at the jukebox.

“wires are chewed through there.”

You just blinked at him and moved abit closer, leaning in and seeing that, in fact like Vanilla said, his eye lights were actually lighting up the back of the jukebox better and you were able to clearly see the messed up wires.

‘Huh…’

You give him a look before shaking your head and moving to strip more of the wire and tie it back together, tying it with electrical tape. You plugged the jukebox back in and it started working perfectly.

You moved it back in its place, surprised when Vanilla moved to help you. You allowed it, still thrown off by the flirting. No one had ever really flirted with you other than humans. Most monsters didn’t because one, while you were seen as a monster, you were physically human. Not really attractive to most monsters. Secondly, Grillby was your father and no one would risk his wrath by flirting too heavily with you. Sans had really only been the one you ever flirted with and you thought he had been flirting back. But after that…

Well, you had shoved that thought to the back of your mind and decided to not give a fuck about it. You had your Pops and the dog pack, what more could you need?

Now, Vanilla was openly flirting with you? In a way you hadn’t seen monsters flirt with each other before, but you weren’t sure if it was just because you were human or the monster himself was...unorthodox as the Captain put it.

‘I suppose you’ve earned yourself a basket of fries on the house.’

You shrug at him, not reading too deep into it.

“tempting,” Vanilla leaned back on the wall beside the jukebox and closed his eyes for a moment, then he popped one socket open and smiled at you easily, “how about a date instead though?”

Chapter Text

What do you do?

You rummage through your closet, taking careful inventory of your shirts and pants and skirts. All in an attempt to figure out what to wear on this date.

A date with Vanilla.

Why did you agree to this?

When Vanilla asked you last night, you ended up flustered and agreed. It wasn’t like you could just turn him down. Right?

With a groan, you sit on your bed, rubbing your hair back with a frown. You hadn’t been on a date before. You had seen a few at the bar, of course, but Vanilla was very...unorthodox. 

When you told your father after the bar closed, he didn’t have much of a reaction at first. Then he flared up, as if he was going to march to the skeletal household and burn it down. But then, he relaxed and placed his hands on your shoulders, and told you to be careful around these newcomers but to have fun.

Definitely not the reaction you had been expecting. You weren’t even entirely sure what to make of it.

You sit on your bed, staring at the outfits for a moment.

What were you even supposed to do on a date?

With a groan, you do what is probably one of the more embarrassing things you had ever done.

You called up Dogaressa for advice.

--------

To say the dog woman was happy to be doing this would be a very dramatic understatement. She had rushed over to help you prepare for the date.

She helped you pick an outfit all the while, explaining how a first date normally went. A fishnet shirt with a green plaid shirt buttoned up over it. Tight ripped jeans that your shirts were tucked into, a thick belt with chains around your hips.

“Keep it buttoned up like this, any lower and you’ll be sending mixed signals. The belt shows that you aren’t interesting in having sex right away,” Dogaressa explained, patting her paws excitedly together when you were in the outfit, “I can’t believe Sans finally asked you out!”

‘He didn’t,’ You frown at her, pulling on one of the chains at your hips, ‘Vanilla did.’

“Oh…” Dogaressa frowned then and crossed her arms, “Little...don’t worry Pup.”

Dogaressa came to your side and touched your shoulder, “It’s just one date, it’s not like you’re bonding with him. Maybe this will be a lot of fun though?”

‘ ‘m not even interested in the guy,’ You admit, crossing your arms, ‘I just couldn’t say no, ‘cause I freaked when he asked.’

“It’s just a date, it’s not a big thing. ‘Sides, maybe this will put some fire under Sans’ ass,” She grumbled the last part to herself.

‘Doubt it. He made it clear he didn’t want anythin’ ta do with me,’ You shake your head and move to sit on your bed.

“Pup, are you sure?” Dogaressa looked at you confused.

‘He threatened me,’  You shrug, ‘Makes it pretty damn clear.’

“He can go fuck himself then,” She said seriously, sitting next to you, “The ultimate way to say ‘fuck you’ to him is by going out with Vanilla tonight and having a wonderful time! Don’t let Sans drag you down because he doesn’t know what he wants.”

You sigh at her and nod, feeling a little bit of anger and determination running through you. Grillby knocked on your door and opened it.

“That lil’ shit is here to pick you up,” Pops said, leaning on your doorframe.

You pat Dogaressa’s leg before you leave the room.

As soon as you do, the dog monster stood up and went over to Grillby.

“Why are you allowing this?” She asked quietly, watching as you stepped over to the strange skeleton.

Atleast Vanilla had dressed for the date but it was barely a change. He was wearing a black button up dress shirt and jeans. He still wore that blue hoodie. He smiled as you walked towards him, a light blue blush on his cheeks.

“I highly doubt any connection will happen between them,” Grillby said back quietly, “But she hasn’t been on a date since I first took her in. She needs to learn these things if she’s ever going to marry one day.”

Dogaressa frowned at the fire elemental, “Yer just hoping this will snap some sense into Sans aren’t you?”

Grillby smirked.

“Ya think a skeleton would ‘ave a damn spine.”

--------

You walked out of the bar with Vanilla, pushing your hands in your jean pockets.

‘So, what’d you have in mind fer this?’

Vanilla shrugged.

“i’ve got a couple ideas floatin’ around my skull,” He said before holding his hand out to you, “ever taken a shortcut before?”

Your answer was a shrug as you reached for his hand. To your surprise, he held your hand for a second before pulling you close, wrapping his arms around your waist. You grab his jacket, about to shove him away when you felt the world fall away from you.

Gasping, you were wishing you were wearing your jacket as you felt an unnatural chill pass over you. You hold onto him instead, shutting your eyes as he holds you tighter. All you can think of was how unnatural it felt holding onto Vanilla. It was so close to feeling right but there was just something off about how he held you.

You feel ground under your feet suddenly and feel the urge to shove him away when he tightens his hold on you for a moment.

“ya took that better than i thought you would,” He said, sounding impressed.

He stepped away from you. When he did, you crossed your arms and looked around the area.

You were in a clearing, surrounded by a thick forest. What caught your eye though, was the picnic set up close by.

You were thrown off instantly. Dogaressa was clear when she said the first date was done in public, around as many monsters as possible. Sometimes it could be showy and flashy, but most of the time it was just a dinner or a couple of drinks and talking.

What the fuck did all this mean then?!

Vanilla set his hand on the small of your back.

“uh, if ya don’t like it we can head back?” He offered, looking a little unsure now, “just thought it’d be nice to have a moment together. i can take ya back whenever ya want.”

Feeling a small rush of determination, you shake your head. To hell with how it normally went, it looked like he put some thought into this.

It was more than what Sans would do if he took you on a date.

You shake your head again, trying to banish all thoughts of Sans out of your mind. You looked up at Vanilla and realized how hard that was going to be when Vanilla looked just like him.

‘Nah, this is good.’

Vanilla smiled down at you before leading you over to the blanket. You sat beside him and he handed you a sandwich. The two of you started chatting. It was incredibly awkward and mostly quiet. It slowly got darker as you finished eating and Sans pulled a couple of hard ciders from the basket, passing one to you.

You took a large swallow, hoping some of Muffet’s speciality would help you be more social.

‘How do you like the town so far? You guys just moved out of the mountain right?’

“the surface is a lot better than the underground,” Vanilla shrugged, scooting a little closer to you and looking up at the darkening sky, “i’m just happy my bro is happy.”

‘Is Blue your brother? You, him, and Sans could all be twins.’

Vanilla chuckled and shook his head, “we’re all cousins actually. sprinkle is my brother.”

‘I’ve seen him running around with the guard. He’s training with them right?’

Vanilla seemed to perk up talking about his brother. You would happily listen to him ramble about his brother rather than sit in silence. As you both talked and drank, that awkward atmosphere disappeared. Eventually, you moved on in topics, talking about the city and what places you both liked to go. You talked about the dog pack, he talked about the skeleton household. You talked about Grillby and running the bar, Vanilla threw out puns as often as he could about how hot your pops was.

‘Sounds like you should’ve asked him on a date instead.’

Feeling more at ease, you let yourself smile.

Vanilla choked on his second cider, laughing.

It was only then that you realized how close the two of you had moved together. Your sides were pressed to each other and he had his arm leaning behind you, touching your back.

His touch was similar to Sans but not exactly. He had that same neutral energy and something hidden underneath.

You quickly bring your third bottle of cider to your lips and take a long pull of it. This wasn’t Sans, this was Vanilla.

“careful, with how fast you’re drinking these, grillby is gonna start thinking these are your favorite,” Vanilla teased.

‘Muffet makes good cider but it's not half as strong as Pop’s drinks.’

You shrug easily and find yourself leaning against Vanilla. Seeing him look up at the sky again, you do the same.

‘Must really like the stars, ya keep lookin’ up at ‘em.’

Vanilla looked back at you and smiled, “somethin’ like that. tell ya what, if you can guess what’s gonna happen next, i’ll ask your pops out on a date.”

You snicker at the thought of the soft monster asking your dad out on a date. Grillby would probably incinerate him.

‘It’s a bet then.’

You look at him again. Maybe it was the cider, but you were starting to think he was cute, looking at you the way he was.

‘I think you’re going to try kiss me.’

“well, that’s bound to happen but it’s not the next thing to happen,” Vanilla said with a playful smirk.

You tilted your head at him before you heard a whistle and then an explosion in the air. You jump and look around before up at the sky where the first firework that had been shot off was dying off in the air.

‘What the fuck!’

Another firework went up in the air, exploding into white shimmers in the air.

“some humans celebrating the day for some reason,” Vanilla shrugged, watching the lights slowly fall and die out in the air.

‘I haven’t seen fireworks in a long time.’

You admit as you settle back beside Vanilla, staring up at the sky as it was lit by another. Then another.

The two of you sat close to each other as the fireworks went off, both of you seemingly transfixed on the lights.

A few minutes into the show, Vanilla’s hand touched your chin and suddenly you were looking at him.

Then he kissed you as another firework went in the air, exploding into green and blue sparks.

He held your cheek, softly rubbing his thumb over you as his other arm snuck around your waist and pressed closer to you.

What really surprised you, was that you kissed back, one hand on his chest while the other went around his neck.

Only one of you knew of the stranger spying on the two of you from the bushes, seething in rage.

Chapter Text

Walking down the street from the queen’s house, you were frowning. You felt awful and sore but in a different way. Not in a physical way.

The Queen wanted to work on your stamina and endurance when it came to using your magic. Which meant you had to use everything you had. It had taken hours, your magical reserves were ridiculous and while you thought it had been badass at first, you were cursing yourself now.

You didn’t think it was possible for your soul to feel fucking sore. It felt like it had been strained and torn, like a muscle. The Queen said it was a good thing, it would build up your magical reserve even further and said you’d be doing this once a month with her from now on.

The thought of doing the training again made you feel angry. Fuck the queen, dammit, you were late to work at the bar because of it!

Walking down the street, finally on the block of Pop’s bar, an arm loop through yours.

You jumped then relaxed when you looked up at Vanilla.

‘For fuck’s sake, I toldja not ta do that!’

You scolded him half-heartedly.

Vanilla gave you an innocent smile and shrugged.

“i have no idea what you could mean.”

‘Yer too cheeky for yer own damn good V.’

“would it be ‘cheek’y askin’ what you’re doing tonight?” He asked, leaning down abit to press his cheek to the top of your head.

Over the past month, you have been going on dates with Vanilla. Nothing as… explosive as the first date (dammit were his puns rubbing off on you?) but they had been nice. You two hadn’t talked about bonding or being exclusive or anything like that.

You were easing into the dates though, slowly they were becoming less awkward in the beginning and more fun with each one, even if you just went to the movies with him or sitting in the bar for drinks.

It surprisingly wasn’t bad at all.

‘ ‘m workin’ tonight. What else would I be doin’?”

“Well, you could come to my place and watch some movies with me,” Vanilla offered.

‘Try chattin’ Pops up,’  You shrug at him, ‘ ‘m prolly just gonna fall asleep on yer couch though.’

Vanilla chuckled at that as you pushed the door to the bar open with your shoulder and walked in, all but dragging Vanilla in with you.

‘ ‘m home Pops!’

You called into the closed bar, untangling your arm from Vanilla before walking behind the bar while he walked to his normal seat.

“It’s about damn time, what took ya so long?” Grillby flared up, clearly upset seeing you walk in with Vanilla.

‘Queen was testing my endurance, it took for-fucking-ever.’

You frown up at him and cross your arms.

Ever since your first date with Vanilla, your father had been having nothing less than mood swings. Sometimes, he was totally fine seeing Vanilla, other times he’d fire up like this. You didn’t get why and when you asked, he’d blow you off.

“Fine. C’mere girl,” Grillby opened the door to the back and motioned you to go in.

You did so without hesitation, leaning against the sink as your father looked you over. Once the door shut, he ran his hands up his marks on your arms.

‘Somethin’ wrong Pop?’

“Nothin’,” You felt the familiar sense of a CHECK rush over you, “The queen did a damn number on you.”

‘I’m fine Pops, she said we’re gonna be doin’ this endurance training once a month from now on.’

“Jus’ call it an early night girl,” Grillby said, handing you a monster candy.

As you unwrap it and pop it in your mouth, you speak to your father again.

‘I’m gonna go over to V’s place then. We’re gonna watch movies and shit.’

Grillby frowned his fiery brow creased.

“The Captain going to be there?”

‘Prolly, but it’s not like I asked Pops. Why?’

“Don’t worry about it. If he tries any shit with ya, punch him in his teeth.”

‘He ain’t gonna try shit. He ain’t that stupid.’

You turn and head upstairs as your father heads back to the bar. You get changed into something a little more comfortable, setting in some dark jeans and throwing on one of your many green tank tops, happily showing off your marks.

When you go back down to the bar, you see Grillby glaring Vanilla down while the skeleton stood stock still, eye lights pin pricks compared to their normal size.

Rolling your eyes, you walk over behind the bar and grab a bottle of some of the whiskey your father makes, purposely bumping into him.

When you stood straight and see them still staring down, you scoff.

‘Ya’ll wanna go fuck upstairs? I can man the bar in the mean time.’

“Ember!” Grillby turned to you, settling his glare on you now as you laugh at him.

‘I’ll be back by elven Pops.’

As you talk, you walk over to the front door.

‘C’mon V, Pops doesn’t want ta ‘bone’ ya tonight.’

Vanilla finally shook out of his stupor and quickly walked over to you, ducking out of the bar quickly, getting another snort out of you as you wave to your father and the regulars.

You let the door close and take Vanilla’s hand, letting him lead you down the alley. You were used to his shortcuts now. He pulled you close and you both ended up in front of his house.

For a moment, you were a little surprised. He could shortcut anywhere so why not right to the living room?

You shrug and walk up to the front door with him.

As soon as you walk in, you hear a gasp and hear two sets of footsteps running at you. 

“EMBER!” Both Sprinkle and Blue call out your name, stopping right in front of you.

‘How’s it goin’?’

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” Sprinkle asked excitedly.

“WE THOUGHT WE WOULD HAVE TO GO TO THE BAR TO SEE YOU AGAIN!” Blue was practically bouncing, looking up at you.

‘I came to hang out with V and watch some movies.’

“DO YOU THINK YOU’D HAVE TIME TO DO A PUZZLE WITH US?” Blue grabbed onto the bottom of your tank, looking up at you excitedly.

“You Two Will Not Interrupt Her Time While She Is On A Date, It Is Rude,” Papyrus came out of the kitchen to answer them for you.

Sprinkle and Blue looked so disappointed at that, making you chuckle.

‘Don’t look so down. I’ll see if I can get the dog pack together one day and we might do some at their den or somethin’. Doggo has been yappin’ about some puzzle he made.’

They both gasped excitedly.

“A PUZZLE DAY!” Sprinkle called out.

“WE SHOULD START PLANNING NOW! THANK YOU EMBER!” Blue threw his arms around your waist, hugging you tightly before running off with Sprinkle.

“Blue!” Papyrus yelled at him in a scolding tone but walked over to you, “I Apologize For Him.”

‘I told ja before Captain, a hug ain’t gonna offend me. He’s yer youngest anyway, yeah?’

You shrug at him, being as casual as you could be to put the skeleton at ease.

“He Is But He Still Shouldn’t Do That Without Consent,” Papyrus said with a huff, “All The Same, I Appreciate Your Understanding Of The Situation.”

‘No problem Captain.’

“As A Guest Under My Roof, You May Call Me Papyrus.”

You were a little surprised by that. It was an honor for the Captain of the Royal Guard to allow someone to use his name.

‘Alright then Papyrus.’

“if ya don’t mind papyrus, we’re gonna take over the tv room for abit,” Vanilla said, slinging his arm around your shoulders.

“Entertainment Room,” Papyrus corrected him quickly with a frown, “I Live With The Epitome Of Nonsense.”

Papyrus turned and walked away as he spoke.

Vanilla didn’t seem bothered in the least, leading you down the hall. He opened a pair of sliding doors with his magic, showing a large home theatre system with some comfortable furniture littered around.

The screen was already lit up, playing a movie, making Vanilla roll his eyes and walk over to the couch. You walk over with him, peering over the top of the couch to see Stretch lying on the couch, watching the movie.

“hey, stretch, mind if we take over the room for abit?”

Stretch looked up at Sans, not saying a word. You looked a little closer at him and snickered.

‘Yer fuckin’ blasted aren’t ya?’

Stretch smiled and then started laughing abit, nodding as his laughing got a little hysterical.

“c-can you r-really tell that e-easily?” He choked out, sitting up.

‘Yer eye lights are like fuckin’ lightbeams.’

“so, you-you’re sayin’ i light up the room huh?” He giggled out, falling back on the couch.

Vanilla rubbed his forehead, turning to you with an apologetic look.

“sorry about all this,” Vanilla said, moving around the couch to grab the taller skeleton, “i’ll be right back.”

Vanilla used a shortcut to take Stretch out of the room. You shrugged and moved to sit on the couch, setting the whiskey on the table in front of you. Since you have the moment, you get comfortable, pulling your boots off and quickly shoving your socks in them.

“the fuck are ya doin’ here?”

You look over to the still open doors to see Sans standing there.

‘Came ta watch movies with Vanilla, that a problem?’

You frown at him. You two hadn’t spoken since he growled at you in the bar. You hadn’t even seen him in the bar since you and Vanilla started going on dates.

Sans bristled and cursed under his breath, looking away from you.

“naw, it’s fine.”

It was quiet for a moment before Sans came in the room and sat on the couch next to you.

“ya like ‘im?”

‘Well enough to keep going on dates with ‘im.’

You look away from Sans as he shoves his hands in his pockets.

It’s quiet for a long moment as you steadily grow more tense.

The fuck was keeping Vanilla so damn long?

“look, i didn’t mean ta challenge ya. i was drunk,” Sans said finally.

‘Well, ya did jackass. Look, if ya don’t like me or trust me, that’s fine. Stop fuckin’ around with me then.’’

“c’mon sweetheart, ya gotta know i do.”

You frown, remembering the time that never happened now. The oh so ‘subtle’ CHECK he ran on you.

‘Sure I do.’

You huff back at him, looking at the screen. Right now, you’d rather spend your time trying to figure out what movie this was than talk to Sans.

‘Don’t call me sweetheart.’

Sans tensed and then glared at you.

“sorry, would that bother yer datemate?” You could almost feel his sarcasm dripping in the room.

‘We ain’t that asshole. Only seems fair since I can’t call ya fuckface anymore.’

Sans tensed again then frowned and looked away again.

“look, i jus’ don’t want ya glarin’ at me everytime ya come over if this is gonna be a regular thing now.”

Remembering your first encounter with Sans, you turn to him.

‘I get to ask my questions then we’ll decide that.’

Sans frowned when you use his own words against him.

“what fuckin’ questions then?” 

‘Why’d you try so fuckin’ hard to save me? Why’d you use to text me everyday after that and check up on me and shit if ya didn’t care?’

“i do fuckin’ care about ya! quit actin’ like i don’t already!” He snapped at you.

Without realizing, you leaned in closer to him, glaring in his eye lights.

‘Then why challenge me on my turf?! Why fuckin’ CHECK me on my turf!? That’s the ultimate bullshit move and ya know it!’

Sans leaned closer to you aswell, trying to get you to back down as he struggled to keep down a frustrated growl.

“i challenged ya ‘cause you weren’t getting the message, sweetheart! i CHECKed ya ‘cause i didn’t fuckin’ trust ya yet!” Sans yelled in your face.

‘Don’t you fucking call me SWEETHEART!’

You yelled back at him, pressing your forehead to his skull, challenging him in your own way now. Sans openly growled now, glaring at you. You matched his glare, feeling your soul excitedly sparking in a way that hurt but you didn’t let that show.

You may have used up most of your magic, and while you didn’t think you could win physically against Sans, you were fucking determined and knew you would find a way to win if you had to.

“am i uh, interrupting?” Vanilla said behind the couch.

Both of you turned to him, seeing him standing there relaxed, with a small smirk, holding a bowl of popcorn and some other snacks. 

“as a matter of fact, vanilla , ya fuckin’ are!” Sans snapped at him.

“right, didn’t realize you were the one on a date, my bad,” Vanilla said, smirk growing a little wider with his sarcasm.

“yer pushin’ yer fuckin’ luck vanilla!” Sans yelled at him, standing up and turning to face him.

“SANS!” You all turn to the door, seeing Papyrus there.

Sans glared at Vanilla still.

“ain’t in the mood boss.”

“I Don’t Care, You Won’t Interrupt Them Any Further. Let’s Go,” Papyrus said in a warning tone.

Sans kept his glare on Vanilla but walked away to Papyrus. They walked out of the room and Papyrus shut the double doors, leaving you and Vanilla alone.

Vanilla turned, giving you a smile. He went around the couch and started to sit next to you when Sans opened one of the doors and shouted at Vanilla.

“an’ she only likes dark chocolate ya fuck up!” 

Sans slammed the doors shut then and you both heard him and Papyrus walk off.

Vanilla looked at the bag of milk chocolate mini chocolates in his hands.

“so, uh?” He held it up.

You glare at the door, feeling the urge to punch something or flip the couch or jump out the damn window in anger.

‘I fucking hate that he’s right.’

-------

You were sitting on the couch next to Vanilla, not touching at all. You were still thrumming with anger, your soul sparking angrily in your chest, even mid way through the second movie you two were watching.

You weren’t sure what you were watching, you were angrily forming a strategy in your mind of the best way to kick Sans’ ass from here to the mountain and back. Your leg was bouncing as you paid no mind to Vanilla until he set his hand above your knee, stopping your bouncing.

‘What?’

“look, i’m sorry about him,” Vanilla said in a soft tone.

You tense up, then sigh and shake your head.

‘Ain’t yer fault he’s an asshole.’

“yeah, but he’s my...cousin, so-”

‘I don’t want to talk about Sans.’

You look away from Vanilla, glaring at the screen again. You hear him sigh.

Feeling his hand move up your thigh, you blink and look down at his hand.

“how about i help get your mind off him then?”

‘Uh?’

You were trying to think of a way to even respond to that before Vanilla was kissing you. It was as sudden as your first kiss but you didn’t mind. You close your eyes leaning into him and kissing back, your arms going around his neck.

His tongue eagerly explored your mouth and you leaned closer, enjoying the little make out session. He moved you, laying you down on the couch and settling on top of you. His hands went down your sides. You relaxed, feeling some of the anger and tension leave your body slowly.

You gasp as his hand grip your hips suddenly, pulling you closer. Your hands move to his shoulders, holding onto him.

You gasp again, when you feel Vanilla pull you through a shortcut. Pulling away from the kiss when you land on something soft, you look around and realize you must be in his room. He suddenly went after your neck, kissing and licking over to find any sensitive spot he could as he gripped your hips tighter.

Despite the little noises you were making, you felt panic start to rush through you. It wasn’t until you felt his thumbs rubbing your bare hips and his pointed teeth at your neck did you start pushing him away.

‘Get off V.’

“c’mon babe, i’ve been waitin’ for this,” He said in a low tone, nuzzling your neck before licking over it again.

‘Not my problem, get off.’

You tell him again, pushing at his shoulders.

His fingers slowly trail up, going under your shirt. You suck in a breath, feeling your body tremble.

“just let me make ya feel good-”

“Get the fuck off me before I break your shoulder,” Your voice came through, angry and clear as you glare at the ceiling.

Vanilla hesitated, his fingers twitching over your skin. Finally, he got off you and sat next to you. You sit up and glare at him.

‘What the fuck was that V?’

“sorry, i, uh just got carried away,” Vanilla said, clenching his fists at his sides.

You shake your head, getting off his bed and moving to the door.

“where ya goin’?” He called, following you.

‘I’m going the fuck home.’

You open the door and storm downstairs. Vanilla followed you out quickly, moving behind you as you walked down the stairs.

“wait, babe, c’mon, i just got excited is all.”

‘Think I give a fuck?’

You turn and glare at him before storming off. You pass Stretch as you go to the entertainment room to grab your boots.

“babe!” Vanilla called for you again, following you as you sit on the couch and shove your socks on with your back turned to him and shove your feet in your boots.

“look, i’m sorry, i was readin’ ya wrong, i thought you would want ta-”

‘Fuck you? You thought I would want to fuck you when we ain’t even datemates, you idiot!’

“hey, if ya want to be datemates, we can?” Vanilla tried to smile but when you glare at him, his eye lights shrink, seeming to realize his mistake.

‘Were ya jus’ doin’ all this ta fuck me?’

He shook his head quickly.

“babe, no, it’s not like that!”

You scoff, not believing him for a second as you move around him. He grabbed your upper arm.

“can’t we talk about this?”

‘I already got the answers I fuckin’ needed. Now let go.’

“not until we talk about this-”

“she’s done talkin’ vanilla, let the girl go on her way.”

You both look up and see Sans standing in the doorway, glaring down Vanilla.

“don’t think it’s any of your business, sans ,” Vanilla glared back at Sans.

You shake your head and rip your arm out of Vanilla’s grip and go to walk away from him. He grabs your wrist tightly.

“don’t go-”

‘You leave a fuckin’ mark on me, it ain’t gonna be just me yer dealin’ with Vanilla.’

You warn him.

You feel yourself starting to shake in anger.

Is this what a relationship is supposed to be or is Vanilla just this shitty?

“i just want to fucking talk to you!” Vanilla said again.

“yer really pushin’ it vanilla. grillbz will roast yer bones and put ya on the menu if ya bruise her. i’ve seen him dust monsters fer a lot less. but by all means, fuckin’ do it. i’d love to have ya outta my life,” Sans smirked widely at him, stepping closer to the two of you, “that is, if grillby can get ta ya before i do.”

Vanilla glared at Sans before looking at you. He tried to pull you to him, but you were determined and stood firm, not budging at all. 

“babe, c’mon-”

“If ya don’t let me go, I will break your wrist Vanilla,” You grab his wrist with your free hand, gripping it tightly.

Vanilla frowned at you, feeling your intent was true to your words, before letting you go. He stepped back from you and then smiled, giving you a wink before taking a shortcut out of the room.

Sans glared at the spot Vanilla had been standing in. 

You shake your head and rub your wrist, looking at it and feeling relieved that there wasn’t a bruise.

‘ ‘m leavin’.’

You tell Sans, walking past him.

“i’ll walk ya back,” Sans said, following behind you.

‘How many times do I gotta tell ya, I don’t need a fuckin’ babysitter?!’

Sans growled at you when you turned on your heel to glare at him.

“jus’ let me fuckin’ do this already!”

You shake with anger but then throw your hands up before storming out the front door, Sans quickly moving behind you to keep up with you.

Dusk was just falling as you walked back to the bar. Your soul was sparking again, angrily trying to form some magic and for an attack but you were far too exhausted for it.

“hey,” You ignore Sans as he calls you, “dammit, ember, knock it off already!”

When you ignore him again, he shortcuts in front of you and grabs your upper arms, keeping you in place.

‘Jus’ let me go home Sans!’

“jus’ tell me what he did.”

‘I ain’t in a talkin’ mood, fucker!’

“then jus’ tell me if he fuckin’ hurt ya!”

“What does it matter to you!?” You yell in his face, your voice ringing out loudly.

“stars fuckin’ dammit, what is it gonna take to get it through yer thick skull that i care about ya?!”

“Don’t let that asshole near me ever again! How about that!?”

“done!”

You stare up at Sans, a little confused as to why he just gave into your demand so easily.

“You expect me to believe you’d pick me over yer own fuckin’ family jus’ like that?!”

“that lil’ fuckhead ain’t my family, i don’t give a fuck what boss says about ‘im!” Sans glared down at you, “i care more about you than i do him.”

Before you realize it, your body is shaking in his arms. Your eyes start to water.

“I don’t fuckin’ understand you!” You shake your head and yell again, getting angrier when your throat gave out at the end, choking the end of your sentence, “Ya CHECK me and ya…”

You stop, at first because your throat hurts from all the talking you’ve done in the past hour, but then your eyes widened.

“yeah? i checked ya on yer turf, i remember,” Sans sounded tired just saying it.

You look up at him with wide eyes.

“How?” You say quietly, “How could you remember that?”

Sans’ eye lights blow up in realization then shrink to pinpricks.

“sweetheart, i,” He hesitated, hands gripping you tighter but you can’t find it in you to get mad about that, “i’m sorry.”

Chapter Text

Sans is quiet now as the two of you walk. You had passed the bar a long while ago but you both walked silently. You were stuck in your own mind, typically a dangerous thing, even on the surface. Your mind was racing. He remembered the day time rewound. He remembered CHECKing you. Did he remember the bike ride? Did he remember your father yelling at you both for it? How could he remember any of that day other than the CHECK?

While you walked, Sans took the lead, holding your hand tightly as you walked towards the trail leading outside of town. While you stared straight ahead, eyes wide and distracted, he glared at every monster you passed, occasionally squeezing your hand tighter. Sometimes, he’d drag you a little closer as you veered away from him in your thoughts.

He led you up the trail, deeper into the woods as night fell around you two. Sans stopped when you reached a ridge with a bench placed on it. You both sat and looked out over the seemingly endless forest over the edge.

It was quiet for a long moment, the two of you still holding hands as you looked out.

“how ya doin’ sweetheart?” 

‘How do ya remember? It, it didn’t happen...not anymore.’

“i…” You look at Sans and he looked like he was going through a mental battle, “i fucked up. i fucked ya up. ‘s my fault ya got sick like ya did.”

You stare at him. He was tense and holding your hand tighter, nervous sweat beading on his skull as his eye lights darted around the horizon.

“it’s called a LOAD...the kid can do it. they used ta do it all the fuckin’ time in the underground. i was the only one who remembered other than that fuckin’ flower. when we got to the surface, they swore they’d only do it if someone got hurt or shit started goin’ bad fer monsters.”

You frown at his explanation. The kid had done it? That tiny little Frisk could manipulate time?

You almost didn’t believe him.

‘How’s it yer fault then?’

“i asked ‘em to LOAD to ‘fore i met ya at the shop.”

The silence dragged on as you looked at the ground, staring down at the dirt you could barely see in the dark.

After a few minutes, Sans looked over at you. You were stock still and he couldn’t pick up anything from you as you looked down.

“sweetheart?” 

‘Why’d ya do it?’

Sans winced and looked away from you again. Part of him had been hoping you’d get angry, maybe kick him off this ledge and stomp off so he wouldn’t have to tell you why.

“i... ‘cause i fucked up by CHECKing ya. you were so pissed an’ i didn’t want ya ta hate me. i like ya and i jus’, i wanted a second chance with ya sweetheart. you were the one thing i didn’t want ta fuck up with,” He started breathing heavier, as if he was fighting to keep talking, “then ya got sick an’ it was my fault-”

‘So, ya left me with Pops fer a year?’

You frown over at him. Something in you must have snapped because you almost laughed when he slouched, as if trying to hide in the fluff of his hood. You knew you should be angry with him, and you were, but your soul was exhausted from both Sans and Vanilla already.

“thought it’d be better if i left ya alone. thought i’d only fuck ya up worse…”

You sigh, exhaustion flooding through you entirely. You felt a little numb. You wanted a shower, drinks, and to hang out with the pack. You didn’t want to think anymore.

‘Ya fucked me up but ya fixed me,’ You shrug at him, leaning back on the bench, ‘Don’t think yer off the fucking chopping block yet fer that shit but I ain’t mad at ya, not right now anyways.’

You could feel his eye lights trail over you, but you look over the horizon instead of looking at him.

‘I still got questions and shit I want ta know but I can’t take anymore of this shit tonight,’ You stand up, still holding his hand and tugging on it to get him to stand, ‘Let’s go get wasted.’

Sans stood and you turned to walk back down the trail but stopped when he stood still, his hand clutching yours tighter now.

“that can’t be it, ya can’t just roll over on this,” Sans said quietly, staring at you with a look you were too tired to place.

But for once, you were feeling hope from Sans’ touch. It was a little addicting honestly.

‘I already told ya that ain’t it, but I’m fuckin’ tired of thinkin’ about all this shit. Forget yer damn guilt and ‘ave a good night with me at the bar.’

“why the fuck would ya want me around ya still? after all that shit, why the fuck-?!”

‘You ain’t bad company, fuckface,’ You shrug at him and tug on his hand again, giving him a blank look, ‘Now am I gettin’ wasted by myself or are ya comin’ along?’

Sans stared at you for a minute before moving towards you and holding you tightly to his chest. You don’t mean to, but you let out a sigh of relief, wrapping your arms around him.

This felt so much better than anything you had done with Vanilla. Something about it was pure and sweet. You could recognize the relief rolling off of Sans but you don’t mention it to him.

Feeling the world drop away under you, you close your eyes and push your face in his sweater. Things finally felt like they were going the way they were supposed to again.

--------------

‘SANS!’

You scream into the kitchen as you walk into the back of the bar.

‘It’s starsdamned fries, what the fuck is takin’ so long?!’

“we’re outta fuckin’ potatoes!” Sans yelled back at you in front of the grill, looking just as annoyed with you as you were with him.

You roll your eyes and go to the pantry to find more.

Your father had gotten his heat early this year and was off taking care of it. As such, he left you in charge of the bar. The weekdays were easy but Friday and Saturday were sure to be too much for yourself. So, since you had decided Sans was in your debt for all this shit he told you about a couple weeks ago, you employed him for his help.

Pulling out a large bag of potatoes, he gives you an ‘o’ look.

‘Yer a fuckin’ idiot!’ You shake your head at him, shoving the bag in his arms.

“an’ yer a bitch, what’s yer point?!” He shouted back at you.

‘jus’ get this shit prepped an’ we’ll switch!’

“fine!”

‘Fine!’

You go back to the bar, huffing as you did. The regulars were giving you amused looks and some were snickering under their breath as you went back to making drinks. You were entirely unaware they overheard you and Sans yelling at each other. The monsters whispered to each other excitedly when you weren’t looking.

You served four more tables, your rage slowly growing as Sans seemed to take his sweet time. Finally, after serving the fifth, you couldn’t take it anymore. You went into the kitchen again, practically dripping in anger.

Sans looked up at you, holding some freshly cut potatoes over the fry basket.

You could feel your face going red.

‘What the fuck are ya even doin’ back here fuckface!? Jerkin’ off?!’

“i’m doin’ the fuckin’ fries!”

‘Go man the fuckin’ bar!’

You go over, taking the cut potatoes from him and throwing them in the fryer before grabbing his collar and dragging him out behind the bar.

‘An’ if I catch ya drinking mustard, I’ll charge ya triple for it Skulls!’

You warn the blushing skeleton before going back into the kitchen.

As you settle into a quick routine, frying and grilling, you serve it up yourself to the tables, happy to find that everyone had full drinks at least.

The night went on much smoother than it had with Sans in the kitchen. You rarely manned the kitchen but Sans said he used to work for Grillby as a fry cook back in the underground. Now, you were wondering if he had been fired by your Pops in the first hour with how slow he had been going.

He seemed to be a good bartender at least. 

After you served the last plate, you went behind the bar, working on some of the glasses that had piled up in the sink as Sans served up another round of drinks.

By the time the bar was empty, you were both exhausted. You lock the door and flip off the neon lights with a sigh.

You go back to the bar, pulling down some ice whiskey and make a spiked mustard for Sans, who was sitting in his normal spot, head down on the bar. He had his jacket off most of the night and you had no idea where he put it. It was weird seeing him in a black shirt rather than his usual red sweater but you didn’t comment on it as you set the mustard in front of him.

‘Here fuckface.’

You pour yourself a tall glass of the ice whiskey, enjoying the cooling effect of it. You had been sweating in the kitchen for hours.

“come sit with me sweetheart,” Sans said, patting the stool beside him.

You set your glass in front of Sans and hop on the bar, scooting over it rather than walking around and setting yourself on the stool.

“grillbz would kill ya seein’ that,” Sans chuckled.

‘Pops set my ass on fire once fer doin’ it, why do ya think I’m only doin’ it when he ain’t here?’

You both lean on the bar, enjoying the jukebox playing in the corner as you finished your drinks.

‘You can head home if ya want, I got the clean up.”

After finishing your drink, you move to stand up when Sans reached and grabbed your wrist.

“mind if i stick around fer abit? this is only my third mustard of the night after all,” He smirked at you as your eyes narrow at him.

Finally, you sigh.

‘Fuck it, fine. Jus’ don’t fall asleep on my bar.’

Not trusting Sans to not use up all your best spirits, you make six spiked mustards for him and set them on the bar before you went to the kitchen.

You scrubbed everything down, cleaned out the fryers, did all the dishes in the back and took inventory of the pantry, freezer, cooler, and hot fridge. Covered in grease, a little bit of grime, and plenty of sweat, you go back to the bar and start working on the glasses in the sink there.

‘Hey, fuckface,’ You look over at Sans and see he’s gone through nearly all the mustard you had given him, ‘Make me another ice whiskey. ‘M dyin’ here.’

Sans chuckled again, standing and going behind the bar. It was a tight squeeze for the bulky skeleton to move around you. He set his hand on the small of your back as he did.

When he’s beside you, pulling out the ice whiskey, you look over him.

‘How drunk are ya?’

“depends. ya think i’m drunk enough to hafta sleep on yer couch?”

‘No?’

“then i ain’t drunk enough yet!” Sans said, grabbing two glasses and filling them to the brim with the ice whiskey.

You shrug, reaching to take your glass when Sans pulls it back from ya.

“this is the good shit! i ain’t lettin’ ya get soap in it,” Sans said, pressing the glass to your lips.

Rolling your eyes, you take a deep gulp from it as Sans feeds it to you. You let out a happy hum as your skin tightens as if you had just felt a winter’s breeze. Very refreshing after working in that hotter than hell kitchen.

Sans leans on the counter next to you, sipping his own glass eagerly. You work on drying the glasses, leaning closer to Sans as he gives you more of your drink.

When you finished washing all the glasses, you and Sans ended up finishing the bottle of ice whiskey. You washed up the glasses you two had been drinking from, a concentrated look on your drunkenly red face. You hear Sans chuckling at you, sloshed himself, but you ignore him.

When you are done, you stand in front of Sans and reach up, hand going for his collar. You grab it differently than you normally do. Normally, you just loop a couple of fingers in the metal hoop where the leash would go. Instead, you wrap your hand around the leather of the collar and turn, dragging Sans to the back.

‘C’mon, I’m fuckin’ tired Skulls.’

Sans was quiet and if you had looked back, you would have seen his wide eye lights and red blush filling up his skull. You probably would have noticed his eye lights trailing down your body.

You flick off the lights in the bar and head up to the apartment. You pull Sans in and shove him on the couch. He fell onto it willingly, sitting up with his legs spread and looking up at you like a puppy.

You giggle drunkenly and pat his skull before turning away.

He reached out and grabbed your hand.

“where ya goin’ sweetheart?” He slurred.

‘I gotta shower fuckface.’

His brow scrunched up, “sounds like a bad idea, darlin’. yer gonna slip.”

‘Fine, fine, I’ll take a bath!’

You sway a little as Sans pulls you closer. He tugs you just a little too hard and you’re thrown off balance, landing in his lap. One of your hands is on his shoulder and the other on his chest as you try to balance yourself between his legs.

Sans lets out a soft growl unlike anything you heard from him before, wrapping his arms around you and holding you close. Later, you would say that you were too drunk to push him away. But you were only a little dizzy as Sans held you. You enjoyed the comfort of his arms and touch, the surety of safety his arms tightened around you.

‘Ya wanna do it again?’

“do what darlin’?”

You shiver, finding that you really enjoy the pet name. To reward him for thinking of it at a time like this, you nuzzle into his neck, smiling as he shivered.

‘Hold me, just ta hold me?’

Sans chuckled, pressing his forehead to the side of your head, nodding. He wrapped his arms under your legs and around your shoulders, picking you up easily. He walked to your room as you wrap your arms around his neck and nuzzle into his shoulder now.

He let out that strange, soft growl again before he opened your door. Before you knew it, you were on your bed, stripping out of your clothes and laying back in just your underwear. Sans pulled his shirt off and laid next to you, pulling you close and nuzzling into the back of your neck.

Humming, you turn in his arms and press your forehead to his, wrapping your arm around his bare ribs and rubbing the thick bone soothingly. Sans, feeling you intent, all but melted to your touch. His eyes sockets closed and suddenly, he was making a purring sound. You giggled and shut your eyes.

-------

With a groan, you flip around in your bed, reaching for your bedside table. Hearing your hand slam down on it, you shuffle it around, groping for the bottle of painkillers.

‘Dammit, where are my fuckin’-!’

You were a little startled when you felt yourself dragged backwards on the bed, into a warm body.

“what’s yer damn problem sweetheart?” Sans grumbled in your neck.

Relaxing, you shut your eyes, your fingers barely touching the edge of the table now.

‘Gotta headache, need my painkillers.’

Sans huffed, the hot breath moving around your neck and making you shudder. Sans placed one hand on your forehead and you felt the familiar warmth of green magic.

You almost moan in relief as your headache started to leave. You hear Sans chuckle quietly, pressing your body closer to his. Your eyes drift closed as he works his magic. A few minutes later, he takes his hand away, making you groan.

“what? still got a headache?” He grumbled in your neck.

You shake your head.

‘Jus’ like the feel.’

You admit in a drowsy tone, nearly knocking out again from the warmth coming from Sans. The comfort of his arms seem to bleed into your soul, knocking you back into this sleepy, relaxed state that you couldn’t get enough of.

The two of you stayed in your bed, both half naked and curled to each other under your fluffy covers. You dozed together and breathed easily, forgetting the world and responsibilities the two of you held daily.

In a daze, you feel Sans rub his thumb over your stomach back and forth. Feeling his intent to simply comfort you and nothing more, you push yourself back and closer to him. In your sleepy mindset, you could only think about how to trick Sans into your bed again somehow tonight.

You could very easily get used to waking up with the skeleton like this.

Your phone rang, shooting a sudden urge to throw it out the window for disturbing this peaceful moment.

Hearing Sans snicker at your reaction, you grumble curses and use gravity magic to pull your phone into your hand.

Sans whistled as you looked at the caller ID.

“gettin’ better darlin, showin’ off fer me?”

‘Sure fuckface.’

You twist around in his arms, pushing your forehead onto his left clavicle and opening the phone, pressing it to your ear.

‘Your highness, you rang?’

The same line you always gave the queen when she called you. It made her giggle every time. You could feel Sans tighten his arms around you and push his face in your hair, chuckling along with her.

“Yes, my child, I needed to place an order from the bar,” The Queen spoke, using that soft voice she used typically whenever you weren’t training.

She only used it for those she saw as her ‘children’. Honestly, it used to piss you off when she spoke to you like this but upon seeing her angry (quite a few times) you’d much prefer this.

‘Sure, what’cha need.’

Regretting it already, you sit up, making Sans growl, then pur as you lean over to pull the notebook and pen off your nightstand. His arms wrapped tightly around your hips as you lean over, ready to write her order, as he moved and curled around you, resting his head in the crook of your thigh and hip.

“Oh, am, am I interrupting something?”

‘No, why?’

“Well, it sounds like there is someone with you. But you sound like you just woke up. I didn’t know you were being courted!” She sounded so excited.

‘Calm down, your highness!’ You go to correct her quickly, doing your best to remember your ‘proper words’ as your father put it, ‘Ain’t courtin’ nobody, Sans just passed out at my place.’

That was proper words right?

In your head, you could see your father shaking his head at you and muttering about etiquette lessons again.

“Sans? Oh my, how interesting? Is this the first night he’s ‘passed out’ at your place?”

Not picking up the second meaning behind her words, you shrug.

‘Nah, he’s done it before-’

“haha, ember, how ‘bout not spoutin’ off about me sleepin’ in yer bed? sleepin’ is all we’re doin’!” Sans started off quietly then spoke louder to make sure the phone could pick up his voice.

You look down and see him looking nervous.

‘What’s yer problem? It ain’t like we’re fuckin’, we’re jus’ sleepin’?’

Hearing the queen laugh loudly, you look at Sans, then the phone, confused.

Sans shoved his face back in your hip, groaning at you.

“My child, I apologize for jumping to conclusions. I’ll have to talk to you more about this later though,” The queen was always gossiping, you reminded yourself, “Now about that order.”

After writing it down, you say goodbye and hang up, sighing as you check the time.

“ja have ta say all that?” Sans grumbled in your hip.

‘Would ya have felt better if I said we were fuckin’?’

“no!” You smirk as Sans’ voice got higher.

‘Then shut yer trap.’

You set your notebook and phone on the nightstand and try to move away from Sans but he tightens his arms.

“think i’m lettin’ ya go after embarrassin’ me?”

Rolling your eyes, you pat his skull.

‘I gotta go finish cleanin’ up the bar dumbass.’

“ya did it last night,” Sans whined in your hip, making you chuckle.

‘Fine, I owe ya another hour anyways from when I was sick.’

You rub his skull softly, smirking when he started purring and curled tighter around you. After about half an hour, your back was getting sore, sitting like this for so long so you sighed and stopped petting the skeleton.

As you start to move, Sans holds you tighter again.

“ya said an hour,” He growled in your hip.

‘My back fuckin’ hurts, I’m jus’ gonna lay with ya.’

He seems satisfied with that and lets go, holding up the covers with one hand as your move fully under them and curl up to him. He runs a hand through your hair, seeming content to play with it as you stay relaxed in his arms.

-------

As much as you both hated it, but neither admitting it to the other, at the end of the hour you peel away from each other and move to start your days.

You shower up and get dressed before heading down to the bar. You busy yourself with dusting down the bar and setting chairs down on the ground from tables.

Sans comes back when you finish up. You glare over at him and throw the rag in his face.

‘How convenient of ya ta come back when I finish cleanin’!’

“da’w, c’mon darlin’ it was jus’ a happy coincidence,” Red smirked, catching the rag before it hit him in the face.

Just like that, the two of you were back to smirking at each other as if you hadn’t been so intimate this morning.

It was perfect.