Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

And from the dark, into the light

I saw a star burst into life

And in the corner of your eye

I saw a dream that never died

Speak to me, speak to me

With love in your words

Make for me, make for me

A soft universe

Soft Universe by AURORA

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Chapter 1

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…breathe…

…mustn’t…

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…why…?

…what…?

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Huh…?

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It encompassed them, heavy and yet weightless.

They see nothing, and yet they see everything.

Sightless yet nothing escapes them.

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From within that darkness comes a pull, leaving that comforting darkness behind, they rise up and up and up.

Then—

—Light.

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“aaa…aaah…”

Something round appeared when they heard that strange…noise. What was it?

“aaah...” more round things appear, they go up and up and up before vanishing from sight.

So…so strange and yet—

“aaah..”

—more.

But what was the strange noise?... What does noise mean? What does anything mean? What…

What?

The strange thing that touched them, yet they couldn’t—hold? swished, pressing against them…

What was them?

White.

A colour—they didn’t understand how they knew it was a colour, nor did they understand what a colour was.

But—white.

It moved!

…why won’t it move again?

Move!

It moved!

“aaaah!”

More round things.

…was…

Were they doing it?

Was this them?

Something glowed below them, they see more white, it was so strange.

But inside…them, yes, the white thing was them! Was something else, it was…it was not like the white thing, it glowed, seeming to pulse softly, expanding then deflating…

Like a lung!

…what was a lung? How did they know the word and what was it?

Then they feel a strange sensation, it tingled along their body (up their spine) and they raise their head with curious eyes to see…something.

“aaah.”

More round things.

The thing on the other side of the strange liquid stared at them, deep purple glowing eye against black was surrounded by white too! What was it? Who was it?

They…who were they? What were they?

So many things they couldn’t even begin to comprehend…

But they stare at the figure, at the large being as it slowly raised—they had that too! A strange formation of the white, each part moving all separately! —and placed it on the thing that keeps the liquid in.

“aaah…”

They mimicked what the purple-eyed being did, raising their own strange white things. Smaller, their own was much smaller! Why was it smaller?

Another, a different sound escaped them, it was them making the sounds, this time.

The purple colour went fuzzy and expanded.

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It was the painful thudding of their soul, like it was trying to escape their sternum that roused them. They whimpered and clutched at their shirt, pulling and tugging at the fabric—papa had said pulling their ribs would hurt them—it did hurt them.

They slipped their legs off their bed, feet touching ground and for a long trembling moment where they rattled, they are paralysed with pain. The back of their mouth tastes like saltwater—they don’t know why they know what saltwater tastes like, but it doesn’t matter.

(It happens a lot. Sometimes they know things they don’t think they should. They don’t remember learning it, or papa teaching them it—the knowledge is just there. Like it was buried deep within their non-existent brain, that fact at first had sent them spieling into a confused panic—whywhywhywhywhy? Whyshouldtheyhaveabrain? They’re a skeleton. Skeletons don’t have a literal brain inside their skull.)

Sans isn’t sure how long they clutch at their bed, slumped over but when their eyelights focus, they’re not where they remembered. Instead, papa had them curled up on his lap, his own frame cocooning them, so they are as close as possible to papa’s soul.

The deep thrumming soothes and slowly their rattling trails off.

“s’hurts.” Their voice is slurred, sight fuzzy with blue tears.

“I know, Sans.” Gaster whispers gently, stroking their skull. His voice is trembling too, he blames himself for the pain in their soul, but they know he shouldn’t. “I’m sorry you’re suffering, and I can’t do anything.”

Sans whimper and they kneed his sweater. “soul,” they whisper, nuzzling into his shirt to listen to it, “soothing, nice. helps.”

A soft wet chuckle is his response before Gaster rumbles deeply and Sans sighs at the vibration, the painful pulses slowly eased into a dull thumping and before long, they’re back to sleep.

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Sans turns the page of the book, eyes hungry for knowledge. This time it was the History of Monsters, Sans had not met another monster before, not beside papa. They’re not…they are not, bothered? Yeah, they are not too bothered about the lack of other monsters, not when they have all these books to read and learn from.

But—Sans supposed they would not know if they were not bothered if they have never met another monster before: what if they meet someone and realise that they are very much bothered with not talking to more people than just papa?

A quiet noise of annoyance escapes them at the way their thoughts had gone—they were trying to read about Monster History!

But…Sans wonders what other monsters there are. Gaster had said they were both the only skeleton monsters, so they know no one else will look like them, so what?

A cat? A dog?

A rabbit? A bear?

Sans isn’t too sure what those are…

Pouting, Sans closes the book after marking the page, knowing at this rate they wouldn’t get around to reading what they wanted.

Still, this wasn’t the first time Sans remembered strange things—when they think of them, they picture fur. Rabbits are… tiny? Small? Cats too! Bears are large… lots of different colours…

Whining, Sans flops back onto their bed, browbones furrowing as they let themselves follow this train of thought, it sometimes—

(“I dunno, Kris.” They hear a familiar voice, tone teasing. “I’m thinking we should get a cat, I’m too lazy to want to walk a dog.”)

…a dog—you’d walk a dog! Yes! Is a dog a pet? It seemed…right? Was a cat a pet too, then? What about bears?

…no, Sans thinks bears are too big to be petted. They—just know. They’re confident in that thought.

They’re confident in that thought like the fact they know fire is dangerous, deep water is dangerous, heights can kill—kill…kill…

Their soul hurts.

It’s…it’s not the normal pain, this time their soul feels too heavy for them, feels like someone had wrapped a hand around it tightly but not enough to squeeze, just uncomfortable.

They rub their sternum absently.

(“What’re you doing?” Confused laughter followed.

“Ah, c’mon! Don’t you wanna get closer? Don’t be a chicken!”

“I’m not a chicken!”

“Bwak, bwak, bwakbwakbwak!”

“Stahp!” more laughter.)

(“Wait, hold on a sec. Luke, please.”)

Sans exhales, uncurling their fingers when they realise they were clutching again. Bad Sans! No grabbing!

But—what was that?

They sometimes hear that voice—always accompanied by another different one, but… strange. (Sans had heard that voice for as long as they could remember, and while it sometimes worried them, it must be normal, right? Why else would they be hearing it?) It was strange today; nervousness was a common one to hear from them. The other voice…Luke? was something—someone?—Sans had become familiar with.

What were they doing? Why had the voice sounded so… nervous?

Sans sighed and rolls out onto their side, staring at the History Book with—someone’s figure on the cover.

(“Honestly? Kinda prefer Asgore to Toriel.”

“But why? Goat mum?!?”

“Kris!” a whine, “People grieve differently, and yeah, okay, it was a bit extreme but he lost his kids, he wanted his peoples' freedom, all Toriel did was divorce his ass and move to the ruin where she did squat shit in the end. She didn’t even try and properly prepare the children! So, yeah, Goat dad!”

Kris huffed playfully.)

“Ehhh???” Sans squinted at the book. They didn’t have a single clue what that was—but goat, the Monster figure on the front of the book was a goat.

What a strange trigger.

(How did they know what a goat was?)

(They choose to ignore that fact for now.)

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

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Sans pottered along the empty and silent hallway, the faint sound of electrical wiring and lights buzzed in their non-existent ears. That silence was a normal one, there wasn’t much sound in Gaster’s part of the lab. Sans had heard people talking in the Main Lab before, but they never went that way when monsters were working; it got noisy.

They rubbed the remains of sleep from their sockets and yawned widely, feeling their jaw crack. They shuddered at the feeling, it always felt good to feel—and listen to.

(They twisted this way and that, spine popping and cracking all the way up and was followed by a happy little groan.)

Sans shuddered again at the phantom sensation.

When the door slides open to reveal the kitchen, Gaster already sat at the table, bent over some paperwork, Sans shuffles over to put their book on the table for safekeeping.

“Good morning,” Gaster greets, eyelight slowly sliding from the paperwork to them, “Hungry?”

“morning and yes! cereal please,” Sans chirps as they climb onto the chair.

Their papa chuckled as he moves to fetch them their breakfast and as they eat, Gaster sits back, pen tapping against his teeth thoughtfully. He had been like that a lot recently, Sans realised—papa was a busy man, he worked more than he healthily should and tapping his pen against his teeth was his go-to thinking face.

So, Sans set his spoon down. “what you thinking?”

“It is what are you thinking,” Gaster corrected absently before frowning and set his pen down with a soft clink. “You are eleven-years-olds; it has come to my realisation that…that I have deprived you of the rest of the Underground. Deprived you of social interaction beyond just me.”

“s’okay,” Sans perked up, they knew why their papa was hesitant to let them far from his sight—what if their soul started hurting and no one was around to help? “I’m not bothered.”

Gaster purple eyelight softened, “Perhaps, but it is wrong of me to still deprive you. To not allow you to make friends and act like a normal child.”

Sans squinted in confusion, unsure why he was so insistent on the matter.

“So that is why I have decided to bring you with me to meet the king, he has agreed to introduce you to his son, who also lacks any companionship. It is our hope that you will be able to become friends.”

Sans would have dropped their spoon if they were still holding it, “ehh?”

Gaster gave a shaky sigh—a kind of sigh that was clearly from withholding a chuckle. Sans had heard it enough to know by now, they grinned sheepishly, tugging their scarf up to hide the embarrassed flush that rushed to their cheeks at the unintelligent response, but—????

Instead, their papa eyed them with a look in his eyelight—one Sans could never quite pin down—and lent his elbows on the table, resting his chin on his linked fingers. “I know you have not expressed any desire to explore the world outside the lab and that is my own fault, I raised you in an environment that…discouraged is not the correct term, but because I have not given you a chance to know what you are missing; you do not know what you do not have. Does that make sense, Sans?”

Their eyelights dropped to the cereal bowl. They don’t know what they don’t have? It…it had been on their mind a lot—that papa kept them within the lab, that is. But they had not really felt any inclination to leave.

Their browbones furrowed deeply, is that what don’t know what they don’t have means?

(“Heyyy,” Kris tugged on them, “You don’t know if you don’t like roller-coasters unless you’ve been on one! I mean, how could you have never been on one before?!?”  

“Okay, okay!” laughter, “It’s not my fault my parents just never took me and my bro to any theme parks as kids.”)

“…okay,” the word leaves their mouth before Sans realises. It was quiet, and weak—unsure, so they repeat it, stronger this time, “okay.”

Gaster smiles.

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Sans trailed their papa down the hallway of the lab, clutching a book close to their chest as it helped ease the strange heaviness in it when they did. They think—they think they’ve read about it before; papa had given them a book on psychology and while they didn’t understand everything, they weren’t that smart enough yet, Sans could remember reading about emotions.

Perhaps this is what anxiety felt like? They have never felt—they couldn’t remember feeling nervous before and papa always liked to say experiencing them is superior to reading as reading can’t give you a true understanding of what it feels like.

They rattle softly at the realisation and wanting some clarity, they ask papa.

Gaster turns to glance down at his child with sympathy. “It does sound like anxiety, Sans, why do you think you’re feeling like this?”

Sans looks down, shrugging half-heartedly as they toe the tilted floor. Their grip on their book tightens, “dunno.”

“You don’t know isn’t an answer Sans,” Gaster chides, “I won’t judge you for what is causing you to worry.”

Shyly, they met papa’s eyelight, “other people.”

Gaster softens, “Ah, of course, perhaps I should have expected it. But you have nothing to fear nor worry about. King Asgore is the friendliest monster you will ever meet. He won’t harm another being if it is within his power.”

King Asgore.

King Asgore

Asgore

Asgore

AsgoreAsgoreAsgoreAsgoreAsgoreTorielAsgoreAsgoreAsgoreAsgoreAsgoreAsgore

The softest mumble: “goat dad?”

GoatDad

WhoisAsgorewhoisgoatdadwhoisTorielwhoisgoatmum

(Laughtertouchflashinglightsheatsweat)  

(“Idon’twanttoplaythegenocideroute,seemswrong.Evenifitspartofthegame,y’know?”they commentedsoftly,curledupwithinKris’sarms.  

Inreturn,Kristeased,“Idon’tunderstandyourempathticnaturesometimes.”)

KrisKrisKrisKrisKrisKrisKrisKrisKrisKrisKrisKriswhereareyouimscaredhelpmepleaseithurtshurtshurtshurtshurtsKrisKrisKrisKris

(“Asgoreisthefluffiestandsoftestmonsterever,whyFlowey,why?”theywhined.“Where’sSanswhenyouneedhim?”)

Wheredotheyneedtobe?WhywouldsomeonehurtAsgore?WhoisFlowey?Whydidtheycallthemhim?Theytheytheytheytheytheytheytheythey—!

“—Sans!”

They sucked in a wet breath, they trembled and rattled—no control.

“Sans, shshshsh, look at me, Sans.” Gaster cupped his child’s face, stroking and trying desperately to bring them back but they only mumbled incoherently.

“kris, kris, kris, kris, kris, kris, kris, kris, krissss, kris, kris, kris, kris, kris, kris—”

Gaster scooped them up into his arms, cradled against his chest as he stumbled, ‘ported and fell into the armchair in the kitchen.

“—kris, kris, kris, kris please, please, please, pleasedon’don’tdon’tdon’tleleleleeave~” Sans sobbed and sobbed.

Gaster rocked them, jaw tight in confused worry—Sans had never had such a reaction before, Gaster had expected tugging and whining but this—this was a full-on episode. He tightened his grasp when they writhed within his grip, knowing Sans would only hurt themself otherwise.

His child was calling for someone, a Kris, somebody Gaster had no knowledge of and knows that none of the books Sans had included the name Kris—he had read them all himself after all.

But—after all this time, with only incoherent mumbling during these quiet painful moments, Gaster could do nothing to physically help his child.

For five years, where he has watched his child mentally rapidly grow to match the body they inhabit, he had also watched them suffer.

Overwhelmed, does not begin to describe how he feels most days.

With all these responsibilities upon his shoulders as the Royal Scientist, the betterment of all Monsters, the sustainability of the underground in which they are forced to live in, and the Barrier which traps them down here.

Gaster has lived long; he has seen Monsterkind at their worst, fighting and warring to simply survive and to the chaos of the realisation that they were to be rendered forever imprisoned in these caves by humans who feared them for the endless magic they wield. He had seen the dusting off Monsters he had been friends with—considered family.

His own bondmate slaughtered before him.

Gaster has strived to never let himself dust until he can find a way to free Monsterkind, to give the children born into this world deprived of the surface the sun and moon, of the fresh air and trees—of crystal blue lakes and thundering storms, of grass below their feet.

And far has he and others come with helping improve the lives of Monsterkind however, there is nothing he could do to help his child. When he had created Sans, using a piece of his soul, he did not truly know of the results—despite the months and years of research.

He could not pray tell the end result, despite his endless notes and knowledge at the end of it all.

Gaster did not plan to bring a child into this world only to cause them possible life-long pain. He would have shelved it, never touched it again if it meant even possibly harming them…

…and yet, as he holds Sans close, their sobbing slowly tapering off, rattling softening, he did just that.

Gaster heaves a sigh.

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“We can rearrange, Sans.” Gaster offers softly as they snuggle close, he keeps his movements soft to not jolt them.

“no,” they protest, large blue eyelights, despite how tired they look, despite how dim they had become from their exhaustion, still glint with nervous excitement. “wanna make a good impression.”

Gaster chuckles softly. “Neither Asgore nor Asriel will think badly of you because you do not feel well, Sans.”

They pout, “but i wanna go.”

“Of course, of course.” Gaster agrees, smothering a grin that wanted to overtake his face, that deep endless guilt and uselessness easing for the time being, “Then off we go.”

He ‘ported them.

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He bounced up and down on the spot, heart fluttering a million miles an hour, in an attempt to stop himself from biting his claws anxiously as he awaited Dr Gaster and his—what was the correct term? Child? Asriel wanted to make a good first impression, he didn’t want to offend them!—Sans, their name was Sans, he recited again and again.

When his dad had first mentioned Dr Gaster bringing Sans with him to meet Asriel, he had been suspicious—Asriel knew his parents were sad at his lack of social interactions beyond his role as prince. But—it was like that because the other kids only saw him as their prince, he couldn’t befriend someone who was cautious and not willing to do something that might upset him.

(What was the point of friends that didn’t point your errors out or show disagree with likes or dislikes?? Your friends aren’t supposed to bow to your wants over their own! You’re equals!)

But his dad had said that Sans hadn’t met any other monsters before; which—confused Asriel, and his dad only said Dr Gaster was a busy man and Sans was a bit of a special case.

Apparently, to Asriel horror, Sans was suffering from something wrong with their soul. He’d never heard of someone’s soul causing pain before. But while Sans did have some problems, they were a normal monster and to not let this affect how he’d treat them.

And, that, was why Asriel was nervous. He didn’t want to make possibly his first-ever friend embarrassed or not want to be friends!

Asgore gave a hearty chuckle as he watched his son flitter back and forth between his paws, happy to see his son happy—it had been a long time since Asriel had been so excited about something.

It was the sound of shoes on stone approaching that had Asgore setting his watering can down.

Asriel went stock-still and Asgore coughed to cover a chuckle at his son’s expense.

“At ease, my son,” Asgore pat his shoulder and Asriel deflated with an exhale.

“…Sorry,” Asriel murmured in embarrassment—which was quickly forgotten when Gaster stepped into the room.

Asriel had to remind himself to breath for a moment.

Dr Gaster was carrying Sans cradled against his chest and—Asriel wilted slightly when he noticed Sans’ closed eyes and soft breathing.

“Forgive us for the tardiness,” Gaster voiced apologetically, “We encountered a slight issue before we left.”

Asriel thinks Dr Gaster was referring to Sans’s condition but doesn’t want to pry—or seem rude—and so nods as his father greets the scientist, waving his apology off.

“There was no harm, my friend,” Asgore smiled warmly before his gaze dropped to Sans, “This must be Sans then, yes? Rough day?”

The soft smile his father gives Dr Gaster makes him think he knows a lot about Sans condition.

“A particularly rough day but Sans was insistent we come along,” Gaster smiles down at him and Asriel has to bit his smile back—Sans wanted to meet him too!

Gently, Gaster shakes Sans, rubbing up and down their spine. Sleepily, eyelids—or did skeletons call them bonelids? Asriel pondered—and revealed blue eyelights beneath. A wide yawn and Sans reached up to rub their eyes.

“papa?”

Asriel really did bit his lip this time and felt himself fluster a bit at the adorable display—Sans was just too cute!

“We’ve arrived,” Gaster shuffled them and those words seemed to make something click because the sleepiness vanished in a split second and Sans was sitting up.

Sans eyes immediately found his and Sans perked up even further—albeit in a shy manner. “…hi.”

“Howdy!” Asriel beamed up at them and they flushed blue, trying to hide in Dr Gaster’s arms.

Gaster only chuckled and Asgore gave a hearty laugh as the older Skeleton set Sans on the ground. Asriel took that as permission to move close where he held out his hand, “I’m Asriel.”

Sans shook his hand, “sans.”

Asriel recalled all the prep work he’d done for just this moment and asked: “Can I show the castle? Dad said you haven’t been this far out before!”

Sans rattled softly, pupils wavering and seemed almost like they wanted to change shape—something he’d be sure to question later!—before beaming, “yes please!”

So without hesitation, Asriel began to lead Sans from the room by their hand which he hadn’t released. Sans giggled softly and shuffled to keep up; Asriel couldn’t stop grinning.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

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Sans held tightly onto Asriel’s hand as they strolled through the Waterfall marsh, the soil beneath their shoes were soft, the grass dark and river glowing electric blue. Sans’s eyes took everything they could in, the Echo flowers, the water sausages, the quiet rushing of water—

They hadn’t seen anything like it before—

Unable to help it, Sans let go of Asriel’s—they’d been friends for a week already! Sans couldn’t believe it!—fluffy hand and knelt at the edge of the riverbank, staring into the slow rushing water.

Asriel muffled his giggles behind his hands and Sans quickly twisted their head to stare wide-eyed, a blue flush creeping onto their cheeks, and whispered in a hushed tone: “it’s so beautiful.”

(“it’s so beautiful,” the Echo flower repeated.)

Asriel—couldn’t put into words Sans’s awe at everything new they saw, and it broke his soul at the thought they hadn’t been able to see this before. He could come and go as he pleased—as long as he was responsible about it—and so knowing Sans hasn’t had this chance to see the Underground in such a way before…

It warms his insides at the fact he gets to experience Sans reactions to all these sights—that he’s the one to show them it all.

He wants to hoard the rush he gets at the look on Sans’ face, at the pure joy and awe, all to himself, selfish and guiltless about it—because he was Sans friend, and as his friend, Asriel would do his duty to show Sans everything they hadn’t been able to experience.

Asriel crouched beside Sans to stare into the seeming bottomless river with them.

It’s their breathing, the rustling of grass, the rush of water—the only sounds in the marsh.

It’s silent between the two children for a long time, a peaceful moment and Sans feels their sockets begin to burn and their sight blur the longer they stared.

(“I want to go with a blue theme,” a quiet murmur, “Himalayan blue poppies. They remind me of the Echo Flowers in Undertale.”  

Kris giggled, arms tightening, “Blue and white? What about some yellow to?” She wiggled her brows and there was more giggling from both this time.  

“That’d make my daisy.”)

Sans sucks in a breath, browbones furrow in confusion—what did that mean?

(And was that a pun?)

They blink and the strange gathering of magic in their sockets fall.

“…Sans?” Asriel hesitant voice turns their head. More of the magic falls. “You’re crying…”

Crying?

…they were…crying?

They blink and raise a hand, touching the magic that was falling, catching some of the glowing blue.

…had they ever cried before when they weren’t in pain?

They couldn’t remember…

(Their eyes met as Kris walks down the isle of pews , a giddy grin stretches across their face.)

Sans’ hadn’t cried with this strange feeling before. They’re firm in that thought but—

They know they’ve cried like this before.

…why did they know that.

“…i am,” they finally whisper in astonishment, “i…don't know why. should people cry when they’re happy? when they…feel…i…i…don’t know.”

Asriel giggled sympathetically, “Sometimes when someone’s really happy, they can’t help but cry. Mum says it’s because feelings can get overwhelming. She said she cried when she found out she was pregnant with me!” He grinned.

“overwhelmed?” Sans looks ahead again as they let the word sink in… overwhelmed to the point it makes someone cry? Was that possible? Is this what was happening to them?

It felt…surprising good, relieving in some strange way—like a weight was being lifted from their shoulders.

They sniffled before giggling, “thank you for showing me this.”

Asriel beamed, “I thought you would love it!” Then his smile turned sheepish, “But this isn’t what I had wanted to show you, this was just the way to it.”

Sans’ eyes widened, “o-oh.. sorry.”

“uh-huh, don’t apologize!” Asriel shook his head, “I want to show you everything the Underground has! I’m glad you find it all so amazing!”

Still, Sans flushed, unable to help the feeling of embarrassment for getting distracted, a sheepishly laugh escaped, “Mweh-haha.”

Asriel’s eyes twinkled at the sound, biting back a squeal, so cute! His cheeks warm from his attempts to withhold his noises. He cleared his throat and stood, holding his hand out, “I wanna show you what I brought you here for in the first place!”

Sans’ pupils shifted into stars and they grinned, taking his hand, where Asriel pulled them to their feet and began to lead them.

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Asriel led them to a…statue.

Confused, Sans turned to Asriel, ready to question why he had brought them here when before they could, their friend let go and rushed off towards a pot of…

…were those umbrellas?

…Sans wasn’t sure how they knew what an umbrella was…

Still, Asriel picked a red one and darted back, a wide and excited grin on his face. He offered the umbrella, “Put it in the statues’ hand.”

Hesitantly, Sans took the umbrella. They stared at it for a moment, then swirled their eyelights to the statue which they realized was being rained upon, water spilling through cracks in the cavern roof. Sans approached the strange statue—it looked almost goat-like. Large horns, big paws like the King had. Its eyes were closed, a soft look had been carved onto its face and there was no erosion despite it having been under the drip, drip, drip of water for who knew how long.

Sans eyed the large paw, it was curled into a way that looked like something was meant to be there—Sans’s eyes darted to the umbrella handle in realization, so that was what Asriel meant!

They slipped the handle in and the water hit the umbrella with soft pattering and—

Sans froze.

A chime began playing softly from within the statue…

…what was this sound?

(“I always adored the soft music box theme Toby Fox gave Asriel, it was really fitting,” they commented.  

Kris made a noise in agreement as a soft hum escaped them and—)

(How do they know Asriel’s name? Was it like how they knew their name? But they had called them a him, they weren’t a him.)

Sans found themself echoing both the voice and strange chime.

Absently, Sans heard Asriel suck in a breath but—they couldn’t bring themselves to focus on him at that moment however, their entire attention tied to the chiming from the statue and humming from the person. They realized it got to a point where it repeated, where it shifted and—soon, they were humming along with no mistakes.

(Kris laughed, “It will never not amaze me at your ability to understand music so quickly. It’s beautiful, you’re beautiful.”)

Sans didn’t often understand a lot of what they heard from the Voices, but they think this time, they do. Kris’s voice echoed within their non-existent ears, light and affectionate—loving and longing. They rattle when a deep ache makes itself at home in their soul at the thought of Kris.

Sans’ didn’t like to give them much thought—it always resulted in deep aching and longing for more from the Voices. All of the Voices would result in strange emotions that Sans could hardly ever understand.

But this time, it leaves a soft feeling beside that aching. It feels like the emotions Sans get when they think of papa, but—they’re different, the same but different. Sans doesn’t understand why they are so dissimilar.

They trail off when enthusiastic clapping snaps them back to the present. Blue erupted on their skull in embarrassment—they hadn’t meant to get carried away! They don’t even know what they had been doing! They’d never done anything like it before!

“You’re really talented, Sans!” Asriel praised and the blue darkened—or would brightened be the appropriate term? the goat pondered not for the first time—and Sans squeaked like a mouse.

“i’ve never done that before,” they admit shyly, “it…” Sans trailed off in confusion, “it just felt right…?”

Asriel tilted his head, his own confusion visible—that happened a lot, he realized, Sans seemingly knowing something however had never actually done it before, or so they claimed (Asriel didn’t doubt, their shock was proof enough) but…this was a real talent! He hadn’t meet anyone they could memorizes and repeat music like that before. Other monsters, himself included, spent lots of time learning and studying to do what Sans had done in a matter of a minute.

…it gave Asriel, ideas.

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Sans couldn’t get the music box song from their head no matter what, even hours later after returning home, they still subconsciously hummed the lullaby. When they joined papa for dinner, they supposed he could help answer some questions that was floating around their head.

They’d kept quiet for a while, but after everything as of late, the Voices, the strange attack they’d had when papa had told them Asgore’s name…

At first, Sans had believed everyone heard Voices, but—now, Sans wonders if that’s true. Their papa didn’t suffer these attacks, didn’t mention a peep of anything to do with hearing voices.

“papa,” Sans starts but paused when they realize they have no idea where to actually start.

Gaster hummed in acknowledgement and patiently waited for his child to gather their thoughts. It happened a lot, his child not being able to find the right words or how they wanted to go about a conversation.

It by no means made them slow, in fact, Gaster found an intelligence there that pleasantly surprised him. Sans was surprising mature for their age, despite their naivety about the world—the latter mostly his own fault, but Sans still didn’t see any fault in his actions despite there being plenty Gaster could name. None bothered Sans, even when he voiced some of them the other week.

Sans had clearly gone along with his suggestion, at first anyway, because he was more curious about where it would land them then actually meeting and befriending Asriel. Of course, now Sans had actually met Asriel, finally gained a friend, Sans had shown a happiness Gaster hadn’t seen from them before.

It makes the guilt feel worse, knowing he had deprived them of this happiness for a long time.

Sans opened their mouth, then closed it, hesitated before finally gathering the courage. “sometimes I can hear voices.”

Gaster blinked.

Sans blinked.

“…What?” Was his unfortunate oh-so intelligent response and it caused Sans sank into their seat, pulling their scarf up to cover the lower part of their face in an attempt to hide the scared look.

It takes a moment for Gaster to really understand what Sans had said—like most would. He takes a breath and crouches in front of them. “Sans.” He keeps his voice soft, especially when he sees the tears start to gather. “Tell me about it.”

Sans pussyfoot, his fear crystal clear, “sometimes when i do something, they speak—not, not to me, its like i’m just overhearing the conversation.” They fiddled with the scarf, “sometimes i get sensations, but…and information! like, like king asgore’s name! they said his name before, and i don’t know why but they knew about him and miss toriel and me and asriel they spoke like—like—i don’t know how, it shouldn’t be possible?!”

“Sans, Sans,” Gaster took their hands in his and rumbled softly to gather their attention. They stilled and stared, pupils large, leaving only a tiny ring of eyelight. “Easy, easy.”

Sans wilted and scrambled into his arms, he grunted at the sudden movement but quickly lifted them and sat in the chair, setting Sans in his lap so they could cuddle close.

“Is this related to this Kris?” he questions.

Sans nods, “she’s one of the most common voices, she always there talking with them—with the person—I don’t know, it’s just—”

Gaster hushes them, cradles them close as he lets the information sink in—but really, hearing voices wasn’t good, however, Gaster knows in this context, it’s not related to LV because Sans doesn’t have any.

So that only leaves a few other options, none of them something Gaster thinks could possibly ever happen, not logically despite there being magic. It simply wasn’t—

—But it could.

But really, it shouldn’t be. Every bit of the scientist in him screamed it wasn’t—but Sans.

Gaster stared down at Sans, and they stared back—it shouldn’t be.

But—Gaster is more inclined to believe what he hears and sees, and experiences then just believing it isn’t possible.

Because if what he’s hearing is correct—

—Sans quite possibly has memories of a past life crammed into their head and there is so much more to just that and—

—Gaster doesn’t know what to do about it.

—Doesn’t know where to start.

—Doesn’t think he can wrap his thoughts around just what Sans might be experiencing and seeing and—them, those voices and memories knew about Sans, about Asgore, about Toriel, about Asriel as if it might simply be—

(Gaster can’t bring himself to finish that thought.)

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

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Asriel waddled through the water, determined to find what he was looking for—he had seen it weeks ago before he had met Sans. It had been just lying there and it’s odd shape had struck his curiosity enough for a peek inside the strangely shaped black container.

“Please let it still be here!” he worried his bottom lip anxiously.

From the corner of his eye, Asriel saw it—the black case and a grin spread across his face in excitement, “Yes!”

He fished it out and dragged the case from the water so he could unclip the locks and flip it open—the instrument had signs of wear but thankfully no water damage from sitting so long in the Dump after being washed down into the Underground.

Asriel had no real knowledge on the care and craftsmanship it takes to create and maintain an instrument but his parents were sure to know someone that could help get it back in tip-top shape to give to Sans!

He was sure they’d love it!

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Dark, darker, yet darker

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There was no end in sight.

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A never-ending abyss they would forever—

F

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And yet—

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Sans laughed, rushing after Asriel, “slow down! i don’t have as long legs, As-reeee-iel!”

Said monster just laughed breathlessly louder, “Maybe grow some more then~!”

A shocked gasp, more giggles and finally they reached where ever it was Asriel had decided to take them today. Sans was thankful Asriel had shown them Snowdin before so that they could shortcut them both there—they were sure they wouldn’t of managed all the way from the lab without getting exhausted.

…Sans wasn’t the most active Monster—power-saving twenty-four-seven as papa had jokingly commented when he found Sans nodding off while standing upright more than a handful of time…

…not some of Sans proudest moments…

But Sans was far more interested in the purple stone doors before them with the familiar Delta rune symbol on them.

“huh?” was all that escaped them.

Asriel took a moment to catch his breath before laughing, “This is the entrance to the Ruins!”

Sans perked up, the Ruins? They could remember reading about them! It was the only other entrance into the Underground. They could recall that it was a deadly drop however, that anything that fell was unlikely to survive the fall. Deceased animals from above had been found there before but no humans had fallen, which led to the belief either humans had purposefully blocked the entrance to stop anyone from getting near it or—it was so well hidden that humans had forgotten about it altogether.

…Sans had the strange feeling it was the latter one.

They followed after Asriel as he pulled open the doors and trot into the Ruins.

For some reason, Sans expected it to be dark and dank—but it was the complete opposite; bright and unmarred from the decay of time.

They awed at the sight and linked hands with Asriel once again as they walked down the long hallway.

They come up into a strange, empty and abandoned home.

“There used to be a Care Taker of the Ruins,” Asriel explained, “But after all this time without any Humans falling, my parents thought it best to retire the role.”

“ooooh,” Sans nodded—that would explain it.

There was a black tree outside the house—almost completely bare with a large pile of red leaves surround it as if they would fall off as soon as they were fully grown. So strange.

Sans made the shy acquaintance of a few Ribbits that called the Ruins home and they had a ball with the traps and puzzles filling the place.

(“The Ruins have to be one of my favourite places in the Underground, it’s all so cute,” soft laughter and Kris nods in agreement.

“So cute, especially all those Ribbits—those Vegetoids too.” they both guffawed loudly.)

Huh…it had been a short while since Sans had heard the Voices—they had been silent since they’d spoken to papa, who had acting odd since they’d confessed to him. They believed papa when he told them it wasn’t their fault, just he had a lot on his mind now that they had…they had told him about the Voices.

Sans wonders what’s causing him to ponder on it so much—that night papa had reassured them that while hearing Voices wasn’t normal, that their case was unique? They didn’t understand why it was unique in any way…

But papa promised to explain when they were older—something about it being not something they needed to worry about just yet…

It made them even more curious but Sans trusted Gaster’s decision on the matter.

“where are we going now?” Sans questioned when they reached some stairs.

“The end of the Ruins, where the hole into the Underground is,” Asriel confessed and San’s eyes widened, eyelights expanding—

“really?!”

Guffawing, Asriel tugged Sans onwards—the younger of the two flushed blue at how overly excited their words had come out as…

“It’s not far ahead n—”

The two children stopped short when they heard something.

…no Monsters come out this far into the Ruins, often lingering in the main community they’d build.

With clear hints of confusion and a dash of worry at the sounds that clearly portrayed pain, they ran toward.

“Hello?”

“anyone out here?”

Soft crying.

“It sounds like it came from over here…!” Sans followed after Asriel.

More moaning, more whimpering and it led the duo right to them and within the golden patch of flowers lay—

—a Human.

“Dear stars!”

The monster duo shared a startled and hesitant glance—what were they supposed to do?!

Taking the initiative, Sans was first to approach, spotting the red liquid pooling around their leg and knew that the liquid wasn’t a good sight.

“their bleeding!” Sans informed and Asriel rushed to the other side of the human and knelt—he was by no means an expert, simply a beginner but he could at least offer some sort of healing!

Sans lent over the Human seeing that their eyes were open, “hello?”

A wet breath with hazy red eyes and pain twisted expression—the human sucked in another breath as they locked eyes with Sans.

“Nnnhar…aaaahn” a breathless sound and Sans panicked, kneeling as Asriel concentrated on healing them.

“I can’t do much more,” he admitted shamefully, “We’ve got to take them to mum, she really strong with healing magic!”

“okay, I can shortcut us!” Sans nodded, panicked and twitchy and quickly tried to keep a level head—shortcutting when panicked was never a good idea.

When the Human made another sound, Sans lent over them again with a soft, albeit hesitant and awkward, smile, “hi,” they repeated, “i’m sans! sans the skeleton!”

Asriel failed to keep a hysterical giggle in at his friend’s awkwardness—he couldn’t help it, he needs to release his panic somehow!

“can you tell us your name?”

“Ch…Char—ara.”

“chara, huh?” Sans beamed, “that’s a really nice name! o—oh, and this is asriel! we’ll take care of you, promise!”

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“…promise!...”

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“…promise!...”

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“…promise!...”

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“…promise!...”

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

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“…promise!...”

Chara…did not expected to wake up.

A fact.

One they’re not sure what to think about now that they’re here, alive and healed, trapped below the ground with Monsters that are nothing like they’re depicted as by books and drawings.

The last thing Chara could remember was the sight of those large blue orbs—eyes, even with fuzzy sight and crippling pain, Chara could tell they had been eyes. Soft and worried.

Chara couldn’t remember who they belonged too—

(The strange person lent over them with a soft but also undeniably hesitant and awkward smile, “hi,” their voice was gentle, “i’m sans! sans the—!”)

So maybe that was a bit of a lie, they could remember faintly hearing them speak—Sans, but what was Sans? Asriel had been gushing that they would like Sans, that they (someone else that was like Chara! They’d never met someone else like them before!) were adorable and anyone that didn’t like Sans had to have something wrong with them.

That had made Chara giggle and it made them eager to meet Sans, but Asriel hadn’t actually told them what Sans looked like, always getting distracted before he could.

All Chara could think about were their eyes, those glowing blue orbs that looked so—so beautiful that they had thought they were stars in the night sky. They could distantly remember thinking Sans was an angel there to send them off to whatever came after death and they flush in embarrassment whenever they're reminded of it.

A week had already passed since they’d woken up and healed—magic! Real actual magic!—by Toriel, who was insistent Chara call her mother.

She certainly deserved the title with her motherly ways—Chara wouldn’t mind calling her mother, it felt right. After all these years of losing their real mother, the witch that called herself their stepmother was a foul and disgusting woman who turned their father against them.

Their father had loved them the way they’d chosen to live! Had accepted that they didn’t like calling themselves male but calling themselves female didn’t feel right either! Then when he’d remarried, that woman had twisted his thoughts—made their father believe there was something wrong with them, that they should be put into one of those lunatic asylums.

But they wouldn’t allow it! They’d heard all the horror stories that came from those places…

…and so, here they were, thousands of feet below the surface, now living among Monsters who had been far kinder to them in the week Chara had been with them than most Humans had been in their entire life.

It was both upsetting and relieving—that there were people out there that generally liked them, but it had only taken them trying to take their life that they finally discovered these loving people.

But seeing the way Asriel was practically bouncing off the walls when Chara came stumbling out of their shared bedroom that morning, something had clearly happened to have made the youngest goat monster excited.

Asriel grinned widely at them, “Chara! Sans is coming today! You can finally meet them!”

Chara beamed, now they understood why! But nervousness quickly began settling in their gut as the morning dragged on.

—what if Sans didn’t like them???

—what if Chara said something offensive to Sans by accident???

—What if they just don’t want to be friends???

But Chara took a deep breath and reassured themself that with everything that Asriel had told them about Sans, they didn’t have to worry.

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San wonders when they’ll get to see Asriel again, and so ultimately get to meet Chara.

Their boney hands clutched their book close to their ribs and withheld a wail of misery.

It had been a week.

Sans was…lonely.

It was a strange realisation—that after all that time without anyone, without a friend, that now they have one, that the thought of not seeing Asriel every few days leaves a dampener on things for Sans.

…they don’t know if this is normal…

They hope it is…

Did Asriel feel the same way? Did he miss them? How well has he gotten to know Chara?

Sans wasn’t going to deny that they were jealous—why shouldn’t they be?! Sans bets Chara is a great friend and the thought that they could have already been getting to know each other has a whine escaping every time.

Sans isn’t even embarrassed about it! In fact, there have been a few times they purposefully moped in front of papa in hopes he’d speed everything along!

…It didn’t work… papa just looked plain amused which—Sans takes offence to! Their misery isn’t something to laugh at! They made sure to give papa a stern talking to when they realised this…

…Papa might have actually just laughed at them, despite trying very hard to stifle the sound and—this time Sans was a bit ashamed to admit they did burst into tears.

Papa had quickly tried reassuring them but—heh, it took a while before Sans could calm themselves down.

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Yeah, it wasn’t one of Sans’s proudest moments, but it definitely got the ball rolling because papa promised to speak to miss Toriel later that day.

Sans just giggles thinking about it, only the tiniest bit ashamed of the entire situation.

And now, Sans was going to get the see Asriel again, going to get to meet Chara!

They held onto papa’s hand tightly as he ‘ported them.

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Toriel opened the door with a smile, “Hello Gaster, Sans.”

“miss Toriel!” Sans beamed, rattling excitedly.

She laughed heartedly, purple eyes shining brightly at the sight of Sans, “Yes, hello little one.”

Sans wasn’t even offended when Toriel called them that—Sans loved her too much to be! So they simple rattled again as they are invited into the cosy home.

Then, Sans was hit with a burst of anxiety at the impending meeting.

Oh no, oh no, oh no—should they have brought something?!?! Were they dressed okay? Would Chara be okay with them wearing their kinda muddly dungarees??

Sans danced foot to foot before papa lay a hand on their shoulder, “At ease, Sans.”

Their pupils wavered and forced themself to stand still, okay, okay—they could do this!

Toriel stifles a sympathetic giggle, brushing a hand over their skull, “You have nothing to worry about, Sans. Chara’s been eager to meet you too.”

Sans froze, sockets slowly widened, “r-really?”

“Really,” Toriel brushed a finger down their nose before booping playfully.

The tense feeling drained from them and they smiled happily, everything would be fine!

Then there was loud giggling coming towards the entryway and Sans rattled, their grip on Gaster’s hand tightened as—

“Sans~!” Asriel came darting towards them.

“as~riel,” Sans beams in return, dropping Gaster’s hand to allow themself to get swept up in Asriel’s fluffy hug.

“You’re here~!”

Sans giggled, arms wrapping around Asriel as best they could being in their position, “I am~.”

Toriel laughed softly and Gaster smiled warmly at the sight.

Then they burst into tears, “i missed you!”

“A-ah, Sans!” Asriel set them down in a panic.

Toriel fret quietly as Sans sobbed uncontrollably, Gaster at first deadpanned—he hadn’t truly realised just how bad it was, whoops—before rubbing the back of his skull sheepishly, setting a hand on his child’s shoulder.

“i’m sorry, i just—i just missed you so much,” they rubbed their sockets of their tears, “i can’t help it!”

“Oh, my child,” Toriel knelt, taking one of their hands, “Come now, we’re sorry for the delay, little one, had we know how much it affected you, we wouldn’t have waited a week.”

Sans shook their head, “s’okay! i understand, but—but, is it normal??? To, to feel lonely??? Like this??? I don’t understand???”

…Gaster really doesn’t know how he underestimated Sans’ feelings on this one, he grimaced as he too knelt, rubbing his child’s back in an attempt to comfort them. They’d never had such an emotional response before, episodes not withstand, and he’s, unfortunately, a little out of his depth but thankfully, Toriel was here.

“It certainly is,” she confirmed, wiping the tears as they fell, which had started slowing down, “It’s also okay to feel like this, and you’ve never had a friend before Asriel, so it’s a new experience. It’s a good one, despite the pain.”

Sans sniffled, “really?”

Toriel hummed with a nod, “It is. Does that make you feel better?”

Sans blinked and…yeah, it did. They nodded, “i’m sorry for crying.”

“There’s nothing wrong with crying,” Gaster added, “Crying is a normal emotional reaction, Sans.”

They were reminded of Waterfall when they’d cried at the strange feeling from the Voices and Asriel’s explanation. Huh.

Asriel turned suddenly with a wide smile, “Oh! Chara! Come meet Sans!”

Sans rubbed those few reminding tears as Toriel and Gaster stood, and they flushed in embarrassment—oh stars, the Chara had seen their entire breakdown!!!

Another wail of misery threatened to escape but Sans held firm and—immediately hid behind papa, burying their face into his coat tail.

“Sans,” Gaster scolded likely at their sudden shyness, “Come now, don’t go hiding.”

More blue crept onto their face and down their neck, they peeked out from behind papa and…met red eyes.

Oh wow.

(“We don’t actually know what Chara’s eye colour is,” Kris mused, “but everyone draws them with red or brown, so.)

(“Going by Frisk’s skin, Chara could have red eyes,” they argued.)

So pretty.

Sans didn’t realise they’d moved out from behind Gaster until they were in front of Chara and greeting them with a shy, “hi.”

Chara stared eyes wide, “You’re…a skeleton?!? But, how???”

San rattled softly with a mwah-haha, “yep! imma skeleton!”

“Ahhh?” Chara reached out, hands cupping their cheeks, “You—a real skeleton???”

Sans beamed, “i’m asriel as it gets!”

A beat—

—Toriel roared with laughter, followed shortly by Asriel himself. Gaster choked, patting his sternum.

Chara sucked in a breath, the red on their cheeks darkened, “So freaking adorable.”

Sans epped, ducking from Chara’s hands to pull their scarf up to hide in it—Chara thought they were adorable?!? But they were a skeleton?!?!? How does that make them adorable???

“Dear stars, little one,” Toriel finally caught her breath, “That might be one of the best puns I’ve heard in years!”

Another mwah-haha, this time sheepishly and the blush darkens, “it just slipped out!”

“How comes you didn’t tell me you enjoyed puns, Sans?” Asriel pouted, “We coulda had lots of fun messing around!”

Chara grinned, “I think we’ll all get along nicely if that’s the case.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

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“we’re almost there~,” Sans smiled, tugging their two friends along by their hands.

Chara, even after these last few days, was still shocked at Sans’ shortcutting abilities, to which they’d laughed, “it was magic i inherited from papa. you should ask him if you’re really curious about how it works.”

Chara gave a determined nod, promising they’d remember to do so the next time they saw the older skeleton.

“Where are we going exactly?” Asriel questioned, amused confusion filling his voice.

“grillby’s~,” Sans cheered, “he makes the best milkshakes and burgers! plus papa has a tab, so grillby lets me eat for free!”

Asriel muffled a laugh and Chara didn’t bother trying too, “How often do you come here?”

Sans grinned sheepishly, swinging their linked hands back and forth, “since asriel introduced me to snowdin, papa told me about grillby, even took me for dinner which is amazing cause i found out dad has a really bit soft spot for fries and so i started coming in for milkshakes and burgs when i was craving or papa was busy and it might happen more than it should but can you blame me?”

“Breaths Sans!” Asriel fret comically and they did, then coughed slightly as Chara shook with the force of their laughter.

“I’ve never seen someone speak so fast before,” Chara giggled.

Sans flushed brightly, hiding in their scarf—Chara always made them blush! How do they keep doing it?!?

And Chara, seeing Sans reaction, grinned wider, so cute~.

Sans released their hands, rushing forward with a quiet eep. Thankfully, they had arrived and Sans pulled the door open.

The fire Monster at the bar perked up as the door opened and Sans grinned at him.

“grillby!”

“Back again…so soon?” He crackled fondly.

“yelp! this time I have asirel and chara~!”

Said two greeted Grillby.

Sitting at one of the window tables, Grillby wanders over.

“What…would you both…like?”

Sharing a glance, Chara and Asriel followed Sans’ chose of a burger as well as a milkshake—but to the siblings' surprise, Sans didn’t order a drink. Instead, they made puppy eyes at Grillby, enlarging their eyelights to the max.

Grillby sighs, “…I’ll bring one…with your food.”

Sans beamed, “thank you~!”

“What was that about?” Asriel questioned.

Sans flushed at the sudden realisation neither of them knew about their…addiction.

Sans hadn’t meant to let it become an addiction! It had started innocently when they’d accidently covered their fries in too much ketchup…then papa didn’t exactly stop them from adding more and more each time they ate and…it got to the point Sans had even started drinking it straight from the bottle!

It got so bad that Grillby only kept the bottles at the bar cause stripes weren’t allowed to sit there without adult supervision and…well, Sans couldn’t get their hands on a bottle now without Grillby giving it to them.

So Sans had…perfected their puppy eyes for this reason!

…Although, Sans will admit the Voices had given them the idea. Something about such an expression being irresistibly cute if done right? So Sans had practised in the mirror…

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Yeah, it was totally an addiction Sans wasn't ashamed about

“ehehehe,” was the only response Sans gave, their blush creeping back into existence, darn! They’d finally gotten rid of it too!

Would they judge them for liking ketchup perhaps a bit too much?

“i drink ketchup?”

("Sans is addicted to ketchup.")

They really are.

“What?”

“what?” Sans parrots innocently but the deadpan looks they get from both Chara and Asriel…

Heh.

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Sans clutched the pillow to their chest nervously—this was the first time they would be sleeping somewhere that wasn’t the lab! They were really excited but also anxious at the same time. They had never been this far from papa at night before.

They won’t hear the faint electrical buzz from the hallway, won't wake and instantly know they were in their own bed. Sans can’t help the worrying thought maybe they’d panic because they’re not awake enough to realize where they are.

But Sans is still thankful papa allowed the sleepover to happen! Asriel and Chara had been really excited at idea but papa had been trying to put it off for a while however he’d finally caved to their begging.

Sans thinks papa might be worried they’ll have an episode, it’s something Sans is worried about too. Especially since they haven’t had one in a short while, and it worries Sans despite the hopeful idea that maybe they were getting better slowly.

Still—turns out, Sans wasn’t wrong to worry as hours later, at the dead of night, they scream themselves awake to already see Asriel and Chara fearfully fretting over them, holding their arms away from their sternum.

A squeal escapes as they kick and thwack their head onto the ground in delirious distress in hopes to make the pain stop.

“Sans!”

“My child!”

They could hardly see through the tears in their eyes as Asgore and Toriel come rushing into the room, sweeping Sans from the ground and their children’s grasp to huddle them close between them in hopes their souls would help sooth Sans like Gaster’s does.

But Sans’s fights them in a panic—the agony not letting them think clearly. Toriel wraps an arm around San’s waist, another holding their skull against her chest. Asgore keeps them from kicking, gently rubbing soothing circles.

The kicking and writhing eventually are replaced by uncontrollable sobbing and trembling bones.

“M-mum?” is Asriel’s shaky question. Chara just bit at their nails, eyes ringed red and their hands quivering, “Dad?”

Asgore heaves a heavy breath and releases Sans’s legs to sit back, gesturing for the other children to come and sit beside him. The two huddle close.

“What happened?” Chara absently fiddled with their shirt sleeve to stop themselves from biting their nails any further. Their eyes never strayed from Sans, who hiccupped and while awake certainly didn’t look aware. It squeezed their chest tight at seeing their friend in such distress and pain.

“Asriel already knows this, but Sans experiences these…episodes. Gaster isn’t sure what exactly causes them, but it’s related to Sans soul. But you two did well keeping their hands away from their chest. Sans could have seriously harmed themselves and with their low HP, it could have dusted them.”

Asriel feels the blood drain from his face, fresh tears immediately falling at his father’s words—Sans could have—

“…Dusted?” Chara echoes unsurely.

“Ah, forgive me, Chara,” Asgore runs a hand over their hair, brushing their fringe from their red eyes, as he softens his voice, “We Monsters are made up of magic, we aren’t built the same as Humans are, so when we die, our bodies turn to dust.”

Chara chokes, burying their face into their father’s chest to muffle their cries.

“Gaster had believed Sans to have been improving, this is the first episode since, well since Sans had met Asriel. Normally, from what I’ve been told, Sans would get them weekly.”

“I think you two should go have some golden tea to help calm yourselves,” Toriel spoke up tenderly, “I’ll take Sans to our room to hopefully get them back to at least a fitful sleep. I’ll keep watch to make sure nothing else happens, okay?”

Asgore stood, taking his children’s hand and led them from the room, even while they lightly protested, not wanting to leave Sans just yet, they didn’t fight against Asgore.

“Oh, my dear child,” Toriel sighs, nuzzling their skull lightly, “you poor thing.”

Sans murmurs incoherently and shifts just enough to look up at the motherly goat, “m’sawee. I ru’ed ‘very’ing

“oh, none of that, Sans,” Toriel slowly stands, settling Sans onto her hip and rubbing their back, “You have nothing to apologize for. You can’t control your episodes, okay? Now try and sleep, little one, you must be exhausted.”

Sans absently nodded, lids drooping more and more as Toriel’s movements soothed them to sleep. It didn’t take long for them to return to unconsciousness.

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“Sans,” at their papa’s voice and their name, Sans turns their attention away from their book.

“sup?”

Gaster cocks a browbone and they grin sheepishly… Chara had rubbed off on them perhaps a bit too much. Either way, Gaster gestures for them to follow and sliding from their seat, Sans does so.

Recently, Gaster had been very busy with work. Something that Sans had tried to pry out of him, but had only gotten, “You’ll see soon enough,” and it finally seemed like papa was going to show them! Sans grinned and hurried after him.

Sans only faintly recognised the room Gaster led them too—it was the glass tube, their first memory, now mostly hazy but they held onto with every fibre of their being. It felt wrong not too.

Gaster led them to a smaller tube beside a computer and Sans found themselves cooing softly at the sight of an infant soul.

A hand brushes along the top of their head and Sans meets Gaster’s eyes, “This will be your sibling.”

Sockets widening, pupils forming stars, Sans gapped up at papa in shock, “really?!”

“Yes,” was Gaster’s fond answer, gaze turning back to the growing soul. Sans followed, phalanges grasping at the edge of the desk, chin resting on them as they peered at the young soul in awe.

A sibling? They were going to have a little brother or sister? Or maybe they would be like them! But something wiggles inside Sans’ soul that says it will be the former, a brother. They don’t know why; it was one of those times Sans just knew.

They’re not sure why, their little sibling didn’t even have a body yet!

Sans can’t wait to tell Asriel and Chara the news!

…Sans wonders how Humans are made.

.

.

.

“You’re in a really good mood today, Sansy,” Chara noted as they swung their hands back and forth as the duo watch Asriel animatedly chat with Gerson in the near distant.

Sans beamed happily, a happy flush coating their cheeks as a little sigh escapes, “i’m gonna have a little sibling! i saw their soul! papa’s been working endlessly the last week to help strengthen them!”

Eyes widening, Chara grinned, “That’s amazing Sans! You’re gonna be a great big sibling, I know it!”

The blush darkened and Sans tugged their scarf up in an attempt to hide, soul fluttering away at Chara’s words. They wanted to melt into a puddle of goop at all these soft feelings Chara gives them.

“Know what?” Asriel chimed curiously as he trots over.

“Sans is getting a little sibling!”

Asriel bleat excitedly, “That’s great!” Then a curious look took over, “But how does Dr Gaster do it? I know he doesn’t have a bondmate.”

Chara frowned, “Bondmate?”

“Oh, a Bondmate is our other half, the person we tie our souls too. It allows us to then have children. Mum and dad are bondmates!” Asriel explained.

Sans nodded, “Uh-huh!”

“Wow!” Chara awed and mused, “Humans don’t have that! We only get marriage, nothing that connects our souls together but I doubt any humans actually remember we have literal souls outside religious people.”

“yeah, you humans sure forgot a lot of stuff about how the world works!” Sans commented cheekily.

Chara stuck their tongue out at Sans, who just continued grinning.

“So how were you created, Sans?” Asriel draws them back to the original conversation.

“oh, papa used a piece of his own soul to prompt my own to grow? i don’t know how to explain it really, but that’s the gist of what happens, it’s how papa explained it to me, just…simpler.”

“…He grew your soul?” Chara blinked owlishly.

“yep!” Sans beamed, “he's done the same for my little sibling!”

“…Is that why you have, uh,” Asriel hesitated slightly, not wanting to be rude, “soul problems? Or—”

Sans shook this skull, “it’s something else!” they looked off to the side tentatively, “it’s…i’d rather not—”

“You don’t have to tell us if you’re not comfortable, Sans,” Chara smiled and Asriel nodded eagerly in agreement.

“Yeah, only if you’re ready and if never, then that’s fine!”

Sans beamed, “One day, I promise!”

.

.

.

“Happy birthday!” they cheered and Sans flushed brightly, shyly hiding behind papa.

“Sansy~,” Chara grabbed their hand, pulling Sans out from behind Gaster, who just watch on in fond reminiscences.

“chara!” the blush almost encased their entire skull now and Asriel laughed softly as Toriel and Asgore smiled.

“You’re twelve now! We’re the same age!”

Sans pouted, “not for long, you guys are gonna be thirteen soon.”

Chara guffawed, “Just means we get the smoother you in more affection as the youngest!”

“ahhh!” Sans tried running away as soon as Chara started making kissy noises.

Oh no, oh no, oh no! Chara’s trying to kiss them! An internal panic hit Sans; that really, really strange feeling in their soul returning full force, oh stars! It was to much! Mustn’t—let—Chara—

A squeal escapes when Chara lands a peck to their zygomatic bone.

Sans’ knees stopped working and they slumped to the ground, pulling their scarf over their face to hide in the fabric as they tried, and failed, to get the heavy but weightless sensation in their sternum to stop and get their blush under control.

Toriel muffled her laugh, burying her face into Asgore’s chest, whose brows had shot up at the reaction. Gaster covered his teeth, lips curling up knowingly as Asriel laughed loudly.

Chara themselves had flushed but stared in mild confusion at the reaction Sans had given to the kiss but stars, it was adorable.

“Come on, Sans~” Asriel crouched, tugging the scarf from their too blush face, “You’ve still got to open your presents!”

That thankfully was enough prompting for Sans to slowly uncurl and stand but refused to meet anyone’s eyes in embarrassment.

A complicated puzzle from Asgore and Toriel, storybooks from papa and a joint gift from Asriel and Chara.

Sans blinked at the oddly shaped box.

“Open it!” Asriel beamed.

They did to reveal an instrument—a guitar—inside.

“You picked up the statues music really quickly! I thought maybe you might want to learn to play an instrument!” Asriel explained.

“And since Asriel got you that, I thought what about a book to teach you how to play?” Chara chimed and handed over said book.

Sans sniffled, blue tears welling up, “thank you!”

“awwwe~,” Chara cooed and wrapped their arms around Sans. Asriel quickly joined the hug.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7

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.

.

(“Hey Kris,” They call, turning their gaze away from the mirror as they brush at the skirt, “Are you sure this dress looks okay? Don’t you think it’s a bit short?”

Kris in all her beautiful glory peers around the bathroom door frame. She grins, “You look perfect, honey. The gorgeous person I fell in love with.”

Their cheeks burn warmly and Kris laughs, ducking back into the bathroom to finish her makeup.)

Sans exhales, blinking bleary sockets up at the ceiling of their bedroom.

(“What is it you wanted to show me?” They asked, slipping their arms around Kris’s shoulders, resting their chin on her shoulder.

“A game,” she turns her head enough to leave a peck on their cheek, “I think you’ll really like it.”)

(“What do you wanna name them?” Kris questioned.

“Don’t just ask a loaded question like that Kris! Do you know the pressure in which you’ve put upon me?!?”

Kris laughed.)

(“A talking flower!.... What no! I thought you were kind~!”)

(“Awww! A goat! How cute!”

Kris laughed.)

(“Puzzles! I love puzzles!”)

(“No! Goat mama!”)

(A squeal, “Oh my God! Sans is flipping adorable!.... Kris! Kris!....Papyrus?!?!?! Those puns!”)

“papyrus,” Sans echoes the name aloud, expression void as they listen to the Voices. Let’s the information and memories sink in.

They exhaled shakily, unsurely.

There is a tremor in their hands, their body rattles as they acknowledge what they hear.

…papa…they…they want to speak to papa…

Sans’s movements are laboured, sluggish as they slip their legs over the edge of their bed to stand. They sway, lightheaded but they push on, stumbling out their bedroom door. The hallway lights buzz quietly, a reassurance to Sans in that moment—this was real. Them here, in this lab, a Monster, a skeleton, this is real—

—And yet, a part of them hopes it is nothing more than a dream. That desperate and heartbroken part of them. That longing and choking feeling that threatens to suffocate them.

Their soul stutters inside their ribcage, it aches in a new and yet familiar way.

Sans supposed it only felt that way now because they know why it hurts, why they dream these strange things, hear these weird Voices that speak as if they had known them and Asriel and papa and Toriel and Asgore and Grillby and—Chara.

Sans stops dead in their tracks, eyelights vanishing.

Chara.

The door to the kitchen-lounge opens, Gaster is inside at the table. He looks up at the sudden opening of the door, a confused frown on his face which turns in to concern at the state of them.

“Sans?”

Sans

Sans

Sans

Sans

Sans

Sans

Sans

SansSansSansSansSansSansSansSansSansSansSanswhythem?

His name is on the tip of their tongue.

For a moment the idea of calling them papa feels foreign.

They want to call the Monster in front of the Gaster, want to call him Wing Dings.

They open their mouth, then close it again.

They don’t know what to say.

Don’t know how to say it.

How to say this world was nothing but fiction once a upon a time for them.

How to say they know what could happen in the future.

How to say—how to say—

“Sans,” Gaster had stood, concerned eyelight fixated on his unnaturally still child.

They feel lightheaded.

They feel like they are suffocating.

Feel like someone had shoved a hand inside their ribcage and grabbed their soul in an unforgiving grip, threatening to shatter it into nothingness.

—It had happened before.

—They knew what dying felt like.

—They knew what it felt like to fall and fall and fall.

—They knew what it felt like to break every bone in their body.

—They knew what betrayal felt like.

—They knew—They knew—They knew—

“Sans!” Gaster has them by the shoulders, crouching before them, “Breathe now!”

They suck in a breath and that does it, they break down into tears. They sob and sob and sob with no end in sight.

All Gaster could do was hold them.

—They sob because it hurts.

—They sob because they’d been cruelly robbed of and from Kris.

—They sob because they had trusted Luke.

—They sob because it’s the only thing they could do; the only way they know how to let everything out.

They know Gaster will have them, they know papa will comfort them; won’t let them go until their ready and maybe not even afterwards.

Papa rocks them and strokes their skull but says nothing.

And for that, they are forever grateful.

.

.

.

They clutched Chara’s hand tightly.

Sans is not oblivious to the concerned glances Chara sends them every now and again, instead, they chose to ignore it.

Today it is just Chara and Sans.

It had been almost a week since Sans had seen either Asriel or Chara.

It had been almost a week since—

Sans exhales and squeezes Chara’s hand, another reassurance that this is real; that this is happening.

They want to smile and laugh like they had used to—before they had remembered things.

They couldn’t recall everything, just the things they’d already seen, giving the conversations and flashes meaning and context. Things they could remember of their—

—of their past life.

It’s difficult for Sans to think it, let alone say the word.

“…Sans?” Chara speaks up, concern colouring their voice, “Is something wrong? You’ve been really quiet today.”

How could they say they might know what might happen to them in the future? Might know that Chara kills themselves and gets Asriel killed in an attempt to break the barrier keeping them down here?

How does one smile in the face of someone and possibly know what their ultimate fate might be?

How does one laugh and find joy in someone’s presences that could one day haunt another, a child—could congratulate Frisk-slash-Player for slaughtering all the Monsters in the Underground because they go on to hate everyone.

.

.

“i remember,” they finally manage to choke out, “papa! it hurts, it hurts!”

“I know, I know,” he rocked them, “I know.”

They sob.

“I have suspected for a while,” he confesses, voice quiet; like it was a secret between them that the world mustn’t hear.

They think that it’s not too far from the truth—how would this world react if—

“papa,” they whisper, voice strangled as they meet his sole eyelight, “how? how? why?”

“I don’t know, Sans,” he admits, pressing his forehead against theirs, “And I’m sorry for that.”

.

.

They want to—so badly they want to tell Chara. They want to explain just who they had been once upon a time—

But...they can't do that to them.

…What would they think?

They had been learning how to deal with everything, but how does one learn to deal with the distinct feeling of being an intruder in your own life?

A fake.

(Someone that didn’t do anything to deserves a second chance, deserve this chance; this experience.)

They can’t, and so Sans blinks, “just…” they trail off, “just a lot on my mind, is all.”

Chara’s concern look becomes more prominent, “Anything you could use an extra ear for?”

Sans simply smiles softly, “I don’t think you’d really get any of it.”

Instead of questioning them further, Chara, understanding the cue for leaving a topic alone, turns and leads them towards the Wishing Room.

“So, how’s the guitar coming along?”

Sans, thankful for the distraction, beams happily.

.

.

They rub their sockets of the tears that just wouldn’t stop. A hiccup escapes and bury their face into papa’s chest, nuzzling the soft fabric as heartbreak squeezes at their soul.

Luke.

They clutch at papa’s shirt at the burst of betrayal and anger and—defeat, confusion, why?

Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?

(“Do you know long I’ve hated you? God, mum and dad never failed to abandon me if something came up for you. Like you were a goddamn messiah,” he snarled, hands clenched into fists at his sides.

Their heart pounded, confused—that? They didn’t understand, they have no idea what Luke was talking about. For as long as they could remember, mum and dad had loved him just as much as them. Luke had just always been a delinquent, acting out, getting into trouble both in and out of school. Sure, their parents were hard on him, but it was because they only wanted to best for both their children.

It was Luke’s own fault he perceived that their treatment was better than his, it was his own actions that got him into trouble.)

They want to sob again, thankful this time because they can’t remember the feeling of falling down and down and down to their death.

.

.

Sans skips to the lone echo flower that illuminated the darkroom. In the distance, you could hear the faint pitter-patter of the falling water. Sans reaches out, letting the tips of their phalanges brush along a petal.

(“A long time ago, monsters would whisper their wishes to the stars in the sky. If you hoped with all your heart, your wish would come true. Now, all we have are these sparkling stones on the ceiling…”)

Sans coos softly, sadly, as Chara settles on their knees beside Sans. When they glance at their Human friend—crush? Sans knows what they feel now. At least their memories gave them something useful, but they don’t want to touch that realisation with a ten-foot pole just yet—to see a bittersweet expression. Sans stills, pursing their teeth.

“…chara?”

Red eyes blink and flash to them, “Huh?”

Like an echo of their conversation minutes earlier, Sans asks: “is something wrong?”

Chara chuckles weakly, clearing having the same thought as them and found it funny but couldn’t bring themselves to force an actual laugh. Their red eyes are darker in the dim light, flecks of amber appearing in the blue light of the echo flower.

Sans has to remind themselves to not let their thoughts wander, despite how much their phalanges itch to get closer to examine the beautiful colouration in Chara’s eyes—this wasn’t about them; Chara needed a shoulder, needed a friend and they would always put aside their desires to help their friends.

“Since I’ve fallen down here,” Chara starts, brows furrowing nervously, fingers playing with the edge of their sweater, “…I…you know I ran away from home? I ran because my father and stepmother wanted to put me into a—into this place where people with something wrong with them are put. But—but everyone knows its horrid in there, knows the people who run those places use the patients for science in a sick twisted way to ‘fix them’.” Chara used their fingers as quotation marks, an angry and bitter expression twisting onto their face.

Sans’ feels their soul pulse, clenching tightly inside them—a mental hospital? They…they could remember in their time, in their world, the regulations put into place for the patients’ safety and health but…

But Chara makes it sound like it’s the early nineteen hundred. It’s a chilling thought, one Sans doesn’t want to put much thought into, not yet.

“Before my birth mother died, he loved me. My father loved me, accepted what I wanted to be called,” they sniffle, “But my stepmother ruined him, made him into a vile, disgusting man.”

A pregnant pause.

“Sans…can I ask you something?”

(“Sans…can I ask you something?”)

“of course.”

(“of course.”)

“I see all these Monsters and they look at me like, like I’m some sort of savour from above. Like I’ve been sent to…sent to free you all. Like I’m the angel from the prophecy.”

Oh.

Sans reaches out, hand taking theirs and squeezing tightly.

“…And I don’t know what to do,” they tremor, tears gathering and falling, “Sans, what do I do? Because you deserve it! Everyone down is here is so—so wonderful and kind and how could Humans have ever thought Monsters were dangerous? That Monsters deserved this fucking imprisonment?”

A hysterical laugh wells up at the back of their mouth, desperate to escape but Sans swallows it down, linking their fingers together.

“What do I do?”

(“What do I do?”)

“bud…” Sans starts, hesitates because—what were they supposed to say? How were they supposed to comfort their friend? How did they lessen the burden Chara was feeling?

Chara sobbed, free hand reaching up, tugging at their hair, “To break the barrier their needs to be six Human souls—but how? How would we get them? To even pass the barrier—I, I would need a Monster soul but, but that would mean I have to—have to kill someone, or someone takes my soul…but, I don’t want to because I’m a fucking selfish person who doesn’t want to do anything because—because I hated it up there. I hated the life I had, hated how disgusting humans could be and…and Monsters don’t deserve to have such hatred,” Chara met their eyelights, “Sans, what do I do?”

Sans doesn’t think they’ve seen any one look so distraught, even…even before. The sight has their own tears welling up, eyelights dulling.

They don’t know what to say, don’t know how to put into words everything they want to say. So, Sans tightens their grip on Chara’s hands and takes a deep breath. They consider everything Chara has told them, hoards the information and loves them just that bit more that Chara has such trust in them to come to them with this.

But in the end, Sans just…doesn’t know what to say. There will always be a part of them from Before and now, that wants to see the sun, wants to walk on grass and breathe in that fresh air. However—after everything the Humans had done to Monsters, do they want their kind to be subjected to the torment again?

The answer is obvious.

"Sans..." Chara’s voice cracks, desperation filling their voice. "What am I supposed to do?"

They spend just a few more moments in silences and brush their thumb across Chara’s hand, leaning forward to rest their foreheads together.

“more than anything i want to tell you what to do,” they whisper, “but the truth is, there isn’t an answer i can give you because there isn’t a right answer.”

Chara buries their face into Sans shoulder and sobs.

“but…i won’t be the only person to tell you that your life is just as important as anyone else’s. you mean a lot to me, to asriel, to your parents. no one is gunna fault you for not wanting to risk your life. because you matter chara. you matter to asgore and toriel, to asirel. you matter to me,” Sans slowly wraps their arms around them, holding them tightly as Chara sobs; as Chara cries the tears they’d allowed to build up to a breaking point; as Chara lets themselves express themselves without hesitation.

“Sans,” they cry, “Sans.”

“it’s okay, chara. i’m not going anywhere. i promise.”

(“—i promise.”)

(“—i promise.”)

(“—i promise.”)

(“—i promise.”)

.

.

“There you go,” Gaster hands them the mug of golden flower tea before settling beside them. Sans shuffles without hesitation into his lap and Gaster wraps around arm around them, the other stroking their spine gently.

Taking a sip, Sans blinks tired sockets up at him, “Can we name him Papyrus?”

Gaster eyes Sans and they simply give a knowing smile.

“If you wish,” There is a soft fondness in his voice, and it makes them feel happy, peaceful, loved.

It would be okay.

Maybe not right away.

Maybe not for a long time.

But one day, they know they’ll be okay.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8

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.

.

Round and round and round.

Asriel and Chara watched as their skeletal friend paced back and forth in front of them, practically wearing a deeper and deeper hole into the snow.

Neither knew if they should be amused or worried at the state of their best friend.

“Sans!” Asriel finally blurts, practically feeling the anxiety that was pouring off Sans, “Please sit! You’re just gonna make yourself dizzy at this rate!”

Chara giggled, “Assy’s right, Sansy.”

Finally, Sans paused their pacing but immediately starts shifting their weight between feet, “argh! i can’t help it guys!”

“Gaster knows what he’s doing, you don’t need to worry!”

Chara stands to take Sans’ hand and tugs them to sit down. Sans sits between them before heaving a sigh, “i can’t help it?!? what if something goes wrong and something happens to papyrus? what if something happens to papa?”

“You’d doubt your dad?” Asriel raised a brow and Sans froze.

“what? no! never!”

“Then relax, Sans.” Chara smiled, look far too amused for their liking. Sans pouts and looks ahead, burrowing their face into their scarf and takes a breath, papa has it.

“Maybe some Grillby’s might take your mind off it?” Asriel hummed, eyeing the nearby building. On the plus side, it also looked nice and toasty inside, they had been out in the snow for a while now…

Distracting Sans had become their number one priority when Gaster had arrived that morning with the younger skeleton. They had the important job of keeping Sans busy and mind off Gaster and Papyrus until Gaster came to introduced Papyrus to them.

It was a nerving wreck, even to the royal siblings—so they know most certainly San was feeling triple what they were.

Sans perked up, “…maybe…”

Clearly Sans wanted to decline but—burg and ketchup.

It was a hard decision…darn it!

The two siblings had to tug their best friend along when Sans refused to move, froze in their spot on the bench. It got light laughter escaping at the sight. When they finally entered the building, they got a few amused glances at the odd but kinda normal Sans behaviour—something Chara and Asriel recognized not long after knowing Sans was that they were an anxious Monster. Shy and awkward. Chara thought it was adorable—as normal—and it just continued to reaffirm that Sans was just too precious for this world for Asriel.

The skeleton was just too cute. Perhaps sometimes too intelligent for their own good and completely oblivious to the atmosphere in the room but—a shy and anxious bean.

Forcing Sans to sit, Chara perches next to them with Asriel the other side. The siblings make light conversation, mostly in an attempt to keep Sans’ attention on them and not actively worrying.

Grillby brings ketchup when coming to take their order and Sans tearfully thanks him, which gets them a soft smile from the Elemental Monster.

Sans picks at his burger slowly, the worry gnawing away at their non-existent stomach more than their hunger. They hadn’t eaten that morning either, so they know they should be focusing on eating but—Papyrus??? Papa???

Chara shoves the ketchup bottle in their hand, “Just drink Sans.”

A quiet whine escapes but Sans does as instructed.

Before, they had only liked ketchup in small quantities and usually with certain types of food but—now?? They can’t get enough of it. It tastes the exact same and yet, where before too much made them gag, now they get grumpy without their fix. It’s so confusing.

They were smarter too, Sans believes that all comes from papa’s soul splint he used to create them since they can remember they had been average at best.

But—Sans pushed that thought aside since it had to do with papa—

—they wonder how smart Papyrus will be—

—no, stop! Mustn’t. Think. About. Papa. Or. Papyrus.

Sans groans and thumps their head against the table, thankfully missing their burger, rattling the cutlery.

They get a sympathetic pat on the back from Chara.

.

.

.

The snow crunched beneath their shoes and Sans hummed a gentle tune. They only felt a bit guilty at ditching Asriel and Chara when their backs were turned by shortcutting out of there. But Sans needed a little while to get their skull back on the straight.

They loved Chara and Asriel very much but, they were doing everything possible to distract them and it was getting a bit overwhelming—on top of their already overwhelmed thoughts.

A soft sigh, but then a noise in the near distances caught their attention.

…it kinda sounded like arguing?

Squinting in confusion, Sans wandered closer, unable to help their curiosity. Plus, they could just shortcut out of there if necessary…

“what don’t you understand about not touching—argh! stop moving, squid!”

Sans blinked.

Laughter and sounds of struggling.

A sigh, “Ink!”

Ink?

InkInkInkInkInkInkInkInk?

(“The Undertale fandom has created some wonder universes. I love reading what people write and the type of art they make,” Kris commented lightly, her hand trailing through their hair.)

Huh…talk about a weird name choice.

Still, sure they could accept other universes exist—they were very much an example of this themselves—but the chances this could be another universe related? Sans doubted it very much, what are the chances their universe would be the one they wound up in?

“If you hadn’t attempted to attack us, then we wouldn’t be in this predicament,” a deeper voice, one that sounded like silk to their ears, commented, tone dry.

“Sorry brother,” the one that had called ‘Ink’ in a frustrated tone offered more sheepishly then anything.

“i don’t know what your apologizing for!” a fourth voice—this one must be Ink—huffed, and Sans could picture him crossing their arms…if they knew what this Ink looked like.

“Well we’re kinda tired up because you can’t keep your hands to yourself,” was the passive-aggressive response of the one that said Ink’s name.

A pause.

“I didn’t think you had it in you, Dream.”

Dream?

(“—And then there’s Dream and Nightmare, the guardians of Positivity and Negativity respectively…. Nightmare, having had enough, ate one of the apples, transforming him.”

“Heh, tentacles.”

Snickering.)

An embarrassed flush warmed their cheeks, whelp.

One of them sighed.

“can anyone move enough to get to the damn knot?” there was genuine distress in the—Sans wanted to say duel-toned glitchy?—voice.

“I’m too tightly pressed up against Ink to summon any tentacles.”

“Sorry,” Dreams.

“nope!”

…Maybe Sans should approach?

The glitchy one sighed heavily and cursed Ink’s existence.

Slowly, nervously fiddling with their scarf, Sans moved closer until they peered around a rock face. What they didn’t expect was to already see two of them looking in their directions.

Sans epped and ducked away.

“Wait!” Dream called, “Wait a second, could you lend us a hand?!”

“oh! who are you talking too?” Ink chirped curiously.

Sans took a breath, okay, they could do this…

Slowly they peered around the corner again, this time all four were looking, “…hi?”

“how cute!” the one splattered in black ink—clearly Ink, right?—grinned, “wasn’t expecting to see a sans all the way out here! i thought we were further back in the timeline!”

Further back in the timeline? Whatever.

Sans, burying their lower face into their scarf, step out from behind the rock outcrop and shuffled closer, eyeing the strange black rope that tired them all, backs against one another, together.

“…where’s the problem?”

“by me and ink,” the black skeleton with blue tear marks spoke up, he had red sockets and uneven eyelights. The right was a small speck of yellow while the left was a larger blue with an outer ring of yellow.

Sans shyly moved around the goopy skeleton—Nightmare, right???—who silently watched them, Sans tried their best to ignore him and crouched. The weird rope weaved in and out of them all—

Bewildered, they asked: “how?”

“it’s a long story, kid.”

Accepting that, Sans hesitantly reached in between the black skeleton and Ink, being mindful of the formers seeming aversion to touch—it was just something they knew oddly enough and hearing the conversation reinforced the idea.

Tongue poking out, Sans reached a second hand in and fiddled with the knot until finally, it gave way. The black skeleton sighed happily and scrambled free, brushing himself off.

Since Sans was distracted by that, they failed to see Ink move until he swept them up.

Sans screeched in momentary terror.

“Ink be careful!” was Dream’s concern filled voice.

“how cute~!”

Ohmystarswhatishappeningsomeonehelpmepleaaseletmego.

“squid, put ‘em down.”

Yes, please do.

“aww~” Ink thankfully released them, and they went stumbling forward in an attempt to put distances between them. Dream helped them regain their foot and they back away, tugging their scarf up more to hide the embarrassed flush.

They eyed Ink with distrust—what was wrong with him?

A deep and soothing chuckle escaped Nightmare and he commented mockingly: “You really need to work on greeting people, abomination.”

Supposed skeleton abomination frowned, “what was wrong with that?”

“you can’t just pick people up!” They huffed, they only let papa do that!...and maybe Toriel because she gave really good hugs. Who wouldn’t wanna get hugged by her?!?

Ink crossed his arms and pouted, “i still don’t know what’s so wrong with hugging new people?”

“do you not know boundaries?” they questioned incredulously.

Ink just blinked in confusions, “what do you mean?”

“is he always like this?”

“Yes.”

“yep.”

“Unfortunately.”

“my condolences.”

Snickering from the glitchy one before said one seemed to notice something, squinting at them.

“what’s up with you anyway, you feel like an outlier.”

Outlier? They suppose being reincarnated as a fictional character might class them as an anomaly or even the fact that they were created in a test tube but how could he tell something was different about them? Sans made a confused and questioning noise.

Nightmare eyed them too at the—they needed to know his name—glitchy one’s comment, “Curious. They feel normal to me.”

“Same,” Dream chimed and shuffled closer, they eyed Dream wearily and he didn’t approach any further. Thank stars, it was nice meeting new people, but Sans didn’t really like physical contact with people they barely knew.

“what do you mean by outlier?”

“they’re just strange objects or people or anything really in a universe. different from everything else but part of the natural flow of it,” he explained and crossed his arms with a frown, “normally they’re pretty rare in comparison to a normal anomaly which is my job to take care off.”

Sans had the feeling ‘take care off’ meant its destruction.

“does the fact I’m a test tube baby mean anything?”

“what?”

“what?” Sans blinked.

Ink snickered.

“What do you mean?” Dream tilted his head.

“papa grew me in a lab,” they chirped, hands on hips, “he used part of his own soul to prompt mine to grow? It’s more complicated than that but that’s how papa explained it. He’s done the same for my brother!”

Oh…oh stars! Papyrus!

They fret at the sudden anxiety—they should probably start heading back now! Chara and Asriel are probably worried! What if papa arrives and they’re not there!?

“What’s wrong?” Dream questioned softly, snapping them back to the present to see all four were looking at them now.

“…papa is taking my brother out today!” the shuffled, pulling their scarf over their head, “and i’m worried! what if something happens!”

A hand settles on their head and they freeze but then, slowly, they feel the anxiety dissipate…huh? What was…

Glancing up and out of their scarf they blinked to see Nightmare, who had reached out and placed a hand on their skull.

Was he…feeding off their emotions?!?

(“…Nightmare can feed off those negative emotions…”)

He was!

Dream giggling brought them out of their shock, eyelights snapping to him.

“You figured that out quickly,” he complimented. Does that mean Dream could feed off positive emotions? Kris’s voice didn’t say so, maybe his abilities are slightly different? Their positive based, so maybe he could influence???

But—they flush at the praise.

“i’m more curious about the soul thing,” Ink piped up.

“no one cares what you think, squid.”

They rattled softly with a quiet mweh ha-ha at the aggressive comment and watched as Ink pouted again, calling—Error, his name was Error, they learnt from Ink—a meanie…wow, talk about a childish insult. Sans could do better, had done better, jeez.

Anyway—Sans should probably get going…

“since you don’t need any more help, imma go? i kinda ditched my friends and they’ll be wondering where i went.”

An amused glance from Error.

“It was lovely meeting you!” Dream smiled and Sans gave an awkward smile and wave in return before blipping from existence.

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“Sans!” Asriel nearly tackled them and they yelped, “Where did you go!”

Laughing sheepishly, Sans answered with: “you guys were getting too much. went for a walk!”

“You should have told us, Sansy!” Chara scolded, hands on hips, “We only want to help. If we were overbearing, you shoulda told us!”

Flushing in embarrassment, they fiddled with their scarf, “i’m sorry, i just needed a moment to myself. i didn’t want to be rude.”

“You wouldn’t have been rude Sans,” Asriel reassured, then he beamed, “Now, perhaps we should start heading back?”

“let’s!” Sans grinned and took hold of Asriel and Chara’s hands to start walking.

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(In the near distance, the three children were oblivious to the two figures that watched them.

“So we are further back in the timeline,” Nightmare murmured, “Just this Sans was born earlier.”

“created,” Error corrected absently and it got him a look, “what?”

“Do you know what caused them to be an outlier?”

Error frowned and crossed his arms, “…no…but it’s definitely revolved around that soul of theirs. Nothing that’s trouble so i’m not worried it could evolve into anything bad. if anything it’s some sort of quirk this sans has. might even help them. still wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep an eye on them in the future just in case, won’t be any harm.”

Nightmare hummed curiously, especially when he felt the affection this Sans had for that Chara. Feelings that were most certainly returned. How peculiar.)

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“Hello children,” Toriel greeted warmly, “You must keep your voices down, okay?”

Sans went stock still—were…was papa and Papyrus here?

Toriel chuckled softly seeing them go still, even as her two children buzzed with excitement, “Sans Gaster is in the living room, why don’t you head on in.”

Stiffly, they nodded and shuffled toward the room, soul pounding away nervously. They glanced back once to see their friends fiercely nodding and shooing them along.

They could do this! There was nothing to be worried about!

Sans straightened up with a newfound determination and walked into the room, faltering only when their eyelights land on papa and the bundle in his arms, Papyrus.

They can feel the tears welling up in their sockets when they catch a glimpse of white inside the green blanket.

“Sans,” Gaster smiles, “Come meet Papyrus.”

Swallowing, they do just that, climbing onto the seat to sit beside papa and finally, they get their first true glimpse of their brother. They sniffle and reach out a phalange to brush against his cheek.

He’s so cute.

“papa,” they whisper and tremble.

“Would you like to hold him?”

Sockets wide, they look back up at Gaster, “really?”

“You must be careful, okay?”

Nodding and expression turning serious, Sans sits back and circles their arms in the way papa told them to, where he gently sets Papyrus in them. It was Papyrus’s weight that caught them off guard. For a skeleton, Sans had expected him to be lighter—they know they are light in comparison to Asriel and Chara…

Still, Papyrus slept on, undisturbed by the shifting and Sans sniffled again, not even trying to fight the happy tears. They’re pretty sure it’s love at first sight—Sans can’t remember a time they’ve felt so…happy. They don’t know what word to use, they’re just so, so, so happy.

A hand brushing along their skull has Sans turning back to Gaster to see the man smiling at them, “You’re doing good Sans.”

They were doing good! They grin and they shuffle to nuzzle against Gaster’s side, being ever so mindful of the precious cargo in their arms.

Everything would be okay.

Sans would do everything possible to protect Papyrus. They’d do everything to make sure nothing happens to Gaster. Make sure to protect the Underground from anyone that might want to harm Monsterkind. They would protect Chara and Asriel.

Sans wouldn’t allow Chara to risk their lives when there was no need.

It was a promise Sans makes to themselves.

Chapter Text

Chapter 9

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“—And there!” Chara beamed, holding up the complete flower chain. Sans awed at the sight of it and Asriel grinned, taking it from Chara’s hands and set it on Sans skull. They squeaked and the blue that flushed his cheeks complemented the golden flowers.

“Perfect!” Asriel chimed playfully.

“You look so pretty, Sansy,” Chara cooed, and the blush darkened.

When it slipped slightly, Sans reached up and righted it with a happy smile, “can you show me how to make them?”

Chara nodded eagerly, “Of course!”

Sans scooted closer to them and Asriel lay on his front, palms supporting his jaw as he watched as Chara instructed Sans on how to thread the flower stems.

“You know, it was almost two years ago that we met you,” He spoke up, mostly absently as he searched their surroundings—it was in this exact location that Chara fell and Sans and Asriel had found them. It had become a spot they enjoyed hiding out in when they wanted to avoid other monsters.

“Huh,” Chara blinked and glanced skyward to the large and all-consuming darkness above them that led to the Surface, “I didn’t realise. I hadn’t really given it that much thought, I’ve much rather forget everything from before I met you all.”

“Aw, Chara!” Asriel grinned teasingly, “That’s the nicest thing you’ve said!”

Sans giggled as Chara flushed, glaring at their brother, “Shut up! No, it’s not!” They pointed at Sans, “I call Sansy here cute all the time!”

Sans squeaked again, blush darkening and Chara grabbed their skull, pressing the loudest and most exaggerated kiss to their zygomatic bone.

“chara!” They yelped and dropped their half-formed crown to instead crawl away from Chara, but they just followed, “no!”

To their feet, they rush around the cavern to avoid Chara’s playful affection.

“C’mon on, Sans! Lemme give you another smooch!”

Asriel just laughed at the sight of his best friends circling around and around—poor Sans couldn’t handle such open affection very well…

…although, Asriel had noticed their blush always lingered when it involved Chara. He had the faintest suspicion his friend had a crush on Chara. Asriel also knew that it was very much returned since he caught Chara sighing dreamily on more than a number of occasions whenever Sans was mentioned.

They both were completely oblivious to each other’s crushes. It was hilarious.

It also gave Asriel plans; plans he was excited to execute.

When Sans’ is tuckered out from all the running around, now curled up into Asriel’s side for a nap and Chara, finishing up Sans forgotten flower crown and dropping it onto Asriel’s head when completed, has gone strangely silently contemplative, fingers gently fiddling with the stems of the golden flowers around them.

“Is something wrong Chara?” He questions.

His voice jolts them out of their thoughts and Chara blinks at him before sighing, rubbing the back of their neck, “I’ve been thinking about…about the Barrier.”

“…The Barrier?” Asriel echoed, nonplussed.

They nodded and there is silences in the air for a long beat, the only sound being Sans soft breathing—which always had confused the other two, did they breathe because they had to or to stimulate being alive as to not freak others out? They really had to ask about that some time—they don’t stir at the sudden conversation, so they must really be exhausted, although they could pretty much nap on command; Sans was very impressed with that skill. Asriel was mostly baffled about the fact anyone could nap on command and why they’d want to…then again, this is Sans, they properly had a reason they liked to nap all the time.

(Asriel wouldn’t be surprised if it was to raise additional HP because of how low theirs’s was naturally. He’d have to ask Sans about it later.)

“What about the Barrier?” He prompted when Chara didn’t say anything else for a long beat.

“I want to do something about it. It’s been weighing me on for a while, that your all trapped down when you don’t deserve it,” They explained, red eyes finding the abyss above them.

Asriel has to take a breath, feeling his soul thud inside his body… “But we don’t have any human souls. We can’t do anything? Not without a monster absorbing a human’s to leave and collect them.”

Chara gives him a look and—Asriel immediately knows; he sucks in a breath sharp breath through his teeth, “Chara,” his voice is a warning.

“C’mon Asriel,” Chara almost begs, “At least hear me out, won’t you? If a Boss Monster, like you or Sans for example, takes my soul and leaves the Underground, you could go and collect those—”

“no.”

Silence.

Sans sits up, teeth pressed firmly and there’s a look neither had seen before, “you’re not risking your life just so monsters can go free. we’ve talked about it chara, your life means just as much as anyone else’s.”

Chara flushes red, “Sans, just listen to me for a mo—”

“no,” they stand and Asriel scrambled off his belly to sit up, staring wide-eyed at Sans in shock. He’d never heard his friend speak like this before, “hypothetically, if we do this—then what? we rob those humans of those souls, killing them in the process. then what? bring them back to break the barrier but what after, huh? what will the reactions be of those humans? after what we did to get those souls? they wouldn’t hesitate to shun us and try and kill us for daring to take those souls. you said it yourself all those months ago, the humans wouldn’t understand, not yet. too close-minded, too intolerant to the unknown. they’d slaughter us and then what? because you won’t find me thanking you for the horrors you’d brought to us.”

They heaved, rattling as they stared Chara down with the intensely they’d never seen the likes of before from Sans—it reminded them of the Monsters that still lived through the war, from before the Barrier was erected.

Then: “we’d be the monster they think we are.”

Chara flinched and Asriel refused to look at either of them, not when Sans’ magic was fluctuating in the air around them and it made his teeth ache and not Chara who, shamefaced, has turned away, eyes wet.

Then Sans sighs, it a soft sound and jarring enough that Chara flinched again at the noise. Asriel picked at the bottom of his sweater and quietly watches as Sans moves, dropping to their knees in front of Chara.

This time when they speak, the remonstrate tone is gone, in its place is sympathy, “i know you want to help chara, but in the end, nothing is worth it. maybe one day, maybe never but what’s most important is the safety of the underground. that includes you.”

Asriel has to give them credit, he would have caved had he let Chara talk, he knows it deep in his soul. He’s too much of a softie and he’d hate it the entire time—even maybe messing something up along the way— but never has there been a moment more then this that Asriel is glad to have Sans as his friend—as Chara’s friend.

Because Sans was smart.

Sans was the voice Chara would listen to, even above his own. Asriel, while it aches to admit it, knows only Sans would be the one to get through to Chara about this—especially since they’d clearly talked about it before.

And he’s never been so grateful before.

Because he doubts Chara had truly thought it out; thought out the consequences of the plan and he wouldn’t have either—Sans, the voice of reason to two idiots.

Chapter Text

Take me

Take me to the sun

Take me

Far from this place

How do we find peace of mind

In a body that aches

To where it all begun

To where it all begun

Take me to the Sun by ELSZ

Chapter 10

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SEVEN YEARS LATER…

 “what about this one?” Sans pulled the yellow collar shirt off the rack and showed it too Chara. They eyed it with a hum, it wasn’t too bright—more of a mustard yellow and Chara nodded.

“I like it.”

Sans grinned and dropped it into Chara’s basket, “how many shirts do you want to get?”

“For now? Just a handful, that’ll be enough to last me a week or two,” Chara rubbed their chin thoughtfully. Considering it was going to be their eighteenth birthday in three days, they were ready to finally ditch their strips. But saying that—“You know, it still gets me how different Monsters and Humans really are.”

Sans snorts and shoots them an amused glance, “and i think the fact humans ditch their stripes by age is weird.”

Sans, while retaining memories of before, had always considered themselves a Monster—that was why it had been so jarring for them, the knowledge about humans and all the memories had contrasted Monsters is quite a few areas. So, the thought that only human woman could bear children was weird to Sans and while they know once upon a time that had been common knowledge, now it feels foreign and weird.

“i mean, poor human woman!” Sans huffs, “after you explained how they’re forced to bleed monthly; i’ve never pitied humans so much!”

Chara laughed, stumbling and leant against the shirt rack as they clutched at their gut.

“this isn’t funny, chara! think about the human woman!” Sans smirked as it just made them laugh harder, “but i also think monsters kinda have it worse. humans aren’t forced to go through heats once a year once they come of age. they aren’t forced to spend up to a week being incredibly horny.”

Chara choked on their laughter at Sans blatant crude language—honestly, Sans sometimes just didn’t give a heck about things.

“Sans!”

“what?” they asked nonplussed, “what’s wrong with stating a fact?”

“You’re really crass sometimes!”

Sans shrugged, “again, just stating facts.”

Chara rolled their eyes and grabbed Sans’ arm to drag them along, “C’mon, I’ve got enough shirts. I wanna go and pay.”

Sans chuckled as they let Chara pull them. It was just too good to pass up messing with Chara and Asriel like that.

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Papyrus ducked beneath Toriel’s arm as soon as she opened the door, rushing to greet Chara with a happy birthday, distantly Sans could hear Asriel and Chara laughing from the lounge.

Sans laughed sheepishly, “sorry.”

Toriel waved them off with a smile, “No fur of my back. It makes me happy to see him so excited.”

Sans bobbed their head in agreement—Papyrus, now six, had flourished before Sans eyelights but much like Sans, their brother was a lot more reserved in his nature. It made Sans curious—he hadn’t been sheltered like they were, Gaster had learnt and used those lessons to better raise Papyrus. Sans also had a large hand in it since they were old enough and it helped ease Gaster of his busy schedule.

“Well then,” Toriel opened the door further, “Best go greet the birthday person.”

Grinning, Sans stepped into the cosy home and followed after Papyrus, taking a moment to admire Chara in their new non-stripped cool shade of green shirt—it reminded Sans of Waterfall, the beautiful shade range of blues and greens that could be found there. Seeing Chara smile so widely had familiar warmth blossoming in their soul. A soft sigh escaped at the feeling.

“happy birthday, chara.” Sans smiled, and Chara returned it, pulling them into a quick but tight hug. When they pulled back, Sans pulled their present out of their INV to hand it over. It was a series of fantasy books they’d seen Chara eyeing recently and unsure what else to get them—Chara was hard to get presents for—decided on that.

“Thank you!” Chara pressed a kiss to their cheek, said cheeks turned blue at the display of affection and grinned excitedly at the cover of the first book.

“You know as soon as Chara has the chance, we’ll have lost them to the book, right?” Asriel teased.

Chara huffed, cheeks turning red as they grumble: “Oh shut up.”

Sans and Asriel share a glance before laughing.

“Chara!” Papyrus perked up and held out a tin, “Sans Helped Me Make Some Cookies!”

Books set on the table, Chara took the tin from Papyrus and cracked it open to immediately get hit with the smell of fresh chocolate cookies. Chara groaned happily, “They smell delicious, I can’t wait.”

Sans snickered.

Once Papyrus had moved to help Toriel in the kitchen—he loved to make himself useful—Asriel crossed his arms with a hum, “You know, once you finally shred your strips we should take a trip into New Home and go bar hopping.”

Sans pouted at the reminder that they were the only one still in stripes—Asriel had his first heat two months ago and now it was only them.

“That sounds like a good idea.” Chara nodded.

“except we have no alcohol tolerance?” Sans cocked a browbone.

“What better way to learn???” Asriel rebuffed and all three snickered.

“alright,” they nodded, “i don’t see why not.”

Now—if only their heat could hurry up and arrive already!

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Several hours later, after food had been eaten and games had been played, the foursome had huddled up in Asriel and Chara’s bedroom for the night. Mattresses, covers and pillows had been pulled off the beds and made into a nest on the floor.

Papyrus was already dozing off curled up in the blanket he had claimed as his. However, the older three were still wide awake and laying on their fronts as to not disturb the youngest too much.

“You’re working tomorrow, aren’t you?” Asriel questioned in a sudden change of their conversation.

Sans blinked but nodded, “yeah? but i’m only working the evening. mattie’s always gets busy friday evenings.”

He hummed, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

“What are you planning?” Chara cocks a brow, “We know that face anywhere.”

Asriel pouted—they knew him to well darnit!

“…Just wanted to go out to Waterfall tomorrow, is all.”

Sans and Chara share a quick and confused glance, sure they all enjoyed spending the day out in the marshes but the way Asriel had brought it was just plain…weird.

“don’t see why not.” Sans shrugged.

 Chara nodded, “Sure, we can pack some lunch and make it a picnic.”

Asriel grinned.

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Since it was a Friday, that meant all the kids were at school so they didn’t have to worry about them messing around in the marsh while the trio wanted some peace and quiet and if they were out in Waterfall until pickup time, Sans could simply shortcut there, so they had nothing to worry about.

However, Sans frowned, rocking on their heels when ten minutes passed the meet up time. It was strange, normally Chara and Asriel were punctual and Sans was the one that ran late, even with their shortcutting ability.

Absently fiddling with their scarf, Sans searched their surrounds once again in hopes of seeing white fur or brown hair but none.

…how strange…

Sans couldn’t help the anxious feeling and tried to reassure themselves that there must be a perfectly good reason the royal siblings must be late. So, Sans took a breath—

“Sans!”

They perked up at Chara’s voice, twisting to locate them and—there!

Sans beamed happily but then frowned in confusion at the lack of Asriel.

“Sorry for being late!” Chara gasped for breath, hands on knees as they wheezed, “Asriel ended up having something come up. The idiot!”

Sans laughed but their look turned to concern when Chara pressed a hand to their chest with a grimace, “Everything okay?”

The human nodded, “Just winded! I stupidly had the River Person drop me off in Hotland when I should have gone to Snowdin.”

Sans chortled with a fond smile, “idiot. this is why asriel’s the brains out of the two of you!”

Chara gasped in offence, “Sans, we both know Asriel’s certainly not the one with the brains! Don’t insult him like that!”

They snickered childishly.

“so, what exactly came up?” Sans questioned as the duo moved to enter the marsh.

“Eh, don’t know. He was vague about it,” Chara frowned, “He’d been acting really funny since you left this morning. It even got mum and dad raising a brow.”

“wow,” Sans brows went up, “asriel acting weird again? the more appropriate question is: when does asirel ever actually act normal?”

Chara choked on their laughter, whacking their chest when it hurt their burning lungs, “Jeeze Sans, go easy on me.”

Sans smirked, “I enjoy your suffering.”

More snickering.

When they finally find a spot out of the way of anyone that might pass through the marsh, Chara pulled off their backpack and the duo lay out the blanket, settling themselves on it. Nothing else was said for a long while, Sans simply pulling their guitar out to play and hum along as Chara happily watched on admirably.

Chara was sure it had, ironically, been a at first sight. Like it was out of some the storybooks they loved to read. Chara could never forget Sans’ star-like eyes, bright and so filled with life—which Chara always found so funny because, well, Sans was a skeleton and skeletons were symbols of death to humans.

(Chara can remember all the weird ways humans mourned the dead. The complicated periods of time, the black dress, the funerals. It always had felt strange to them but experiencing it first hand when their mother had passed away—they understood why people liked to have these extravagant mourning periods. They had worn mourning clothing for the entire year as was the standard for children when losing a parent, but it only served to remind Chara of the loss.)

But Sans had quickly endeared themselves to Chara—the way they’d cried at having missed Asriel had been, despite the situation, too cute to Chara. Then they’d grown shy and sheepishly when they realised Chara had seen their breakdown, the blue blush that had coated their cheeks as they looked at them with just as much awe as Chara at Sans.

Chara could remember feeling warm, their chest feeling heavy but in a weirdly good way. Like there were butterflies in their stomach wanting to desperately escape.

“hi,” Sans shyly greeted.  

Chara could only stare in awed shock at the Monster—at the skeleton. They managed to stumble out the sentence: “You’re…a skeleton?!? But, how???” 

San rattled—oh god, they could rattle their bones!—with a soft mwah-haha—adorable!—escaping, “yep! imma skeleton!” 

“Ahhh?” Chara reached out, hands cupping their surprisingly soft cheeks which were supposedly made of bone, “You—a real skeleton???”  

Sans beamed, “i’m asriel as it gets!” 

God Chara in love.

Chara loves the way Sans could be so crass both intentionally and unintentionally, getting wrapped up so much they don’t realise it. They love the way Sans is so utterly soft with Papyrus. Adore the way Sans flushes, grins and pouts. They had been a victim to Sans glare when annoyed plenty of times and the way their eyelights would shift with different emotions.

Chara knew they hadn’t been subtle about their pinning—Asriel had clearly caught on and they were sure mum and dad had noticed to an extent as well…

Gaster certainly knew if the amused glint in his eyelight meant anything!

But Sans was oblivious…

Asriel just said it was because Sans was oblivious…

However—Asriel was ninety percent sure Sans returned Chara’s feelings.

Yet Chara was a coward, they could never bring themselves to actually confess to Sans. It had been almost eight years, never once had these feelings wavered or changed. Chara loved Sans and the longer they went without being able to express their feelings, the more it felt like it was weighing them down.

Asriel hadn’t been subtle when it came to his attempts at matchmaking over the years and they had not been at all successful, just confusing Sans to the point they’d scratch their skull in perplexity. Actually, now that Chara thought about it, Asriel probably didn’t suddenly have something come up and instead used it as an excuse for Chara and Sans to spend more time together and hope one of them confessed.

Idiot.

Still—Chara would use this chance!

But what should they say? Nothing in any of their storybooks felt right in this instance. They’d read about the quickest burns ever to the slowest that it was glacial slow-moving. But none were examples that Chara could use.

Would just blurting it out work? That just seemed…crass—and that was Sans job.

Chara was brought back to the present with the realization that Sans had stopped playing and was now staring at them in concern, “everything alright?”

Their cheeks warmed and Chara cleared their throat, “Just got lost in thought, you know?”

Sans nodded but clearly, they didn’t believe it too much by the sceptical look in their eyelights. However they showed no signs of prying—they liked that a lot about Sans, they were the least vocal out of the three of them, Asriel being the most, and they much preferred to wait it out to see if the other person would open up on their own. It seemed to have stemmed from their introverted and anxious nature when they’d been younger.

(There wouldn’t be a day that Chara ever forgot what Sans did for them, because when they did speak, they didn’t sugar coat. Memories of the Ruins, of Chara’s desperate desire to help the Monsters—)

“…I…” They began unsurely and Sans met their eyes again patiently, “Sans…”

The guitar was set down and Sans shuffled closer, smiling softly, “take your time.”

But Chara wasn’t sure how to properly weave into words the complexity of their feelings. They’d tried so many times over the years to practice in a mirror, had gone out and brought one of those silly dating manuals Monsters had. However—Chara reaches a blank, a towering wall that they don’t know how to even begin to overcome.

They choke softly on their words and bit their lip, “Sans, I—” they’re halted by the soft press of Sans’s phalanges.

There’s a soft crease at the corner of their sockets, “i know.”

Chara feels like their breath had been stolen and Sans removes their phalanges to instead replace it with their mouth. They don’t freeze this time, returning the kiss—both of them, their movements are inexperienced but neither care.

Sans’ phalanges tangle themselves in Chara’s hair and they groan softly at the feeling, in return, Chara pulls Sans closer until their practically sitting in their lap.

Chara could get addicted to this and they didn’t care a single bit.

Chapter Text

Chapter 11

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The first thing that made Sans realise it, was the fact they were too warm—an uncomfortable warmth and Sans was perhaps a bit paranoid on the occasion and so almost immediately they knew.

But despite the excitement at the fact they’d finally get to ditch their stripes, they first had to go through a week of heat. The first are always the worst, they’d read, after that? It was mostly an annoyance. Of course, it varied from Monster to Monster, different sub-types were prone to different types of heats. Different Monsters had different needs after all.

Thankfully for skeletons, heats were an annual thing—some had it bi-annually and Sans pitied those that did.

However—when Sans did notice it was beginning to creep in, they were working. So, when their second break came up, they wandered up to Mattie with the awkward news. The feline laughed heartily and waved them off, telling them to get on home and that it wouldn’t deducted from their pay.

Sans wiped imaginary sweat off their forehead and packed their guitar away to shortcut home.

Gaster sat them down briefly to explained more simple things then shooed them off to their room—which, now that they thought about it, they had been collecting their blankets and pillows into a very nest-like bundle…

Perhaps that should have tipped them off sooner?

Nah—they did like to nest on the occasion so it wouldn’t really be used to depict if they were due their heat.

…this also means they couldn’t see Chara or Asriel for a week. Darn.

—However, Sans quickly comes to learn about heats is the throb that seems to resonate in their bones. They find themselves embarrassed just thinking about the reason for the discomfort and the only way to relieve the feeling was masturbation—something Sans had never really had much interest in. They knew their preference, knew the sex their body lent towards and it was the one they were more comfortable with.

Perhaps a leftover feeling from their past life, Sans decides, but then again, Before they’d only ever been with Kris—and Kris was a female in both body and gender identity. She was the one they had lost their virginity too, as much like now, Sans felt not sexual desire to anyone expect Chara (which had been the causes of many awkward situations over the years) and was because—actually, Sans wasn’t sure how to exactly explain.

But—they had no sexual feelings to anyone that they don’t have feelings for. That was one of the main things they’d remembered over the years.

That was why Before they hadn’t gone out like other people their age and lost their virginity however they wanted. It felt wrong for them to do that when there was no connection, even if it had been between two consenting parties. That wouldn’t be happening now either.

But they’re excited for the day they and Chara decide they’re both ready to take that step. It had been a topic that had come up, what they were both comfortable with and what they wanted to try and experiment with.

While Sans could change what exactly they had, Chara only had what they’d been born with. Which would be a new experience for Sans as Before, neither they or Kris had those parts.

The way their thoughts had turned made Sans groan and, cheeks bright blue, shoved a hand down their shorts, fucking heat.

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“Welcome to adulthood,” Asriel congratulated and Sans simply grunted, sockets lidded with exhaustion. They’d struggled to sleep all week—and that was with their ability to pretty much sleep on command.

Chara chuckled softly and stroked a hand across Sans skull as they lent into Chara’s chest.

“just lemme sleeeeep.” they whined.

“Sorry Sans.” Asriel lowered his voice but couldn’t get rid of the smile on his face—mostly at the sight of Sans snuggling into Chara’s side—because Sans was always amusing when grumpy and it was a rare sight since Sans liked to sleep a lot.

“Had you told us you were so tired, we’d have gone back to ours to let you sleep, Sansy.” Chara voiced, pressing a kiss to their skull and watching the blue that dusted their cheeks.

“nah, i’ve been inside all week, i need the break,” Sans hummed softly and sat up, rubbing a socket before stretching, “can we got for a walk in snowdin? i’ll shortcut us there.”

“Are you sure you should be shortcutting when so tired? The River Person’s port is just around the corner, we can catch a lift.” Asriel offered instead, a worried furrow of his brow appearing. One that Chara shared.

“I’m agreeing,” they nodded, “I’ll even give you a piggyback ride, Sans.”

They pouted but agreed, where Chara turned around and Sans hopped onto their back, snuggling into their shoulder with a happy little sigh.

“Guess we’ll be pushing back that bar hopping idea for when you’ve caught up on sleep,” Asriel commented offhandedly.

The other two snickered; of course that would be where Asriel’s mind went too. Honestly.

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Sans strut up to the bar in Grillby’s and with a grin, sat on one of the stools.

Grillby crackled fondly, “Just because…you can sit up…here now, doesn’t mean…unlimited ketchup.”

Sans pouted while Chara and Asriel laughed at the skeleton’s expense, “that’s not—”

“It totally is!” Chara guffawed and the few patrons all glanced their direction in amusement.

Sans turned blue and Grillby chuckled softly, setting a single bottle out for them to take.

“thanks, grillby!”

Grillby turned to Asriel and Chara, “What would…you both…like?”

“Just a chocolate milkshake please.” Chara smiled.

“Could I have a vanilla milkshake please?”

Grillby nodded and wandered out back.

Sans swallowed their mouthful of ketchup and spun on their chair to face their partner and best friend, “since i’m feeling better, you guys wanna go out tonight? i’m working the next few evenings so i don’t have much of a chance otherwise.”

“Sure, I’m down.” Asriel nodded and Chara bobbed their head but their eyes were focused elsewhere.

“what’s up, Chara?” Sans questioned. They hummed, turning back around and rested their chin on palm.

“I was thinking about maybe joining the Guard.” they confessed.

…it wasn’t too much of a surprise to Asriel and Sans, both had known for a while that Chara had taken an interest in the Royal Guard. But—they hadn’t thought them overly serious until this moment.

Still, Sans peered over their shoulder to the dog guards sat around the table playing poker and hummed themself, it had passed their mind in brief before—mostly because Chara had spoken about it.

“I say go ahead.” Asriel crossed his arms with a smile.

“…and i might join you.”

That, however, got surprised looks from the other two because Sans certainly hadn’t made any notion of being interested in joining as well.

“Really?” was Asriel’s sceptical response.

Sans snorted, “sure, why not? plus the pay is more, i’m not really earning much playing at mattie’s and as much as i enjoy science, it really isn’t something i want to dedicate my life too.”

Chara grinned, “How about next week we go and speak to Captain Selvin about it then?"

Sans returned the grin but then Chara turned and coughed into their elbow. Surprised and a dash of worried, Asriel and Sans fret over Chara as they whacked their chest, looking just as surprised.

They cleared their throat and shrugged at their inquisitive looks, “Just a cough.”

Chapter Text

Hey,

So I’ve come to the decision that I’ll be going on hiatus for a while.

The reason for this is because the next chapter is supposed to be up tomorrow and I have like 200 words of it written. I’ve also had like two weeks to write it but I’ve been struggling.

I originally step myself a one week deadline because I thought that I could do it, but then I found that growing too difficult to write chapters I liked so I moved it to two. But now I’ve hit a roadblock—writers' block—and I could try and force myself to finish chapter 12 but I’d hate it with a burning passion and I don’t want to give you guys something like that.

So I’ve decided a hiatus is for the best for the time being. This way I get to take my time writting some more chapters to give myself a heads up so I can’t fall behind.

I hope to finish chapter 12 before the 24^th, so I can give you guys one for Christmas eve but that won’t be the end of the hiatus.

I’ll hopefully be back around Jan 16^th, which is three scheduled uploads in the future.

Chapter Text

Chapter 12

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They passed the weight back and forth between their hands, a furrow at their brow, a gathering of magic on their skull and focus locked onto the feeling of the two other souls in the room, one of them held under their magic.

Albeit Papyrus didn’t seem all that bothered being held up in the air with magic; too busy reading his book.

Sans breathed slowly, other than a slight occasional wobble of their legs, they were doing good. Coming up for half an hour in fact.

The upside, Sans had discovered, was that as a skeleton you don’t have to worry about being upside down for too long which meant Sans had no real limit. That applied to a lot of things that limited humans.

When their dad had been younger, when Gaster had been what could be considered prime age for non-boss monsters, he’d kept up a routine to work on improving his magic.

Skeletons were a rarity even before the Barrier had been erected, but now? There were only five. The two others that Gaster—and so Sans and Papyrus too—had no relation too and had spilt, having had no contact in decades upon decades from to focus on his scientific study. Sans hadn’t met them, had no real desire to meet them, and over all didn’t care that much.

Gaster had told them they weren’t the most social skele-monsters anyway. They weren’t even humanoid—being from a canine line of skeletal-subtypes meaning they walked on all fours like normal animals.

Maybe one day, Sans would meet them, but again, they weren’t going out of their way too.

“Set Papyrus down,” Gaster instructed and, slowly, Sans did so. Listening to Papyrus grunt at the small and sudden drop as he wasn’t completely touching the ground when Sans released him.

Whoops.

Sans lowed their legs and stood, knees wobbly for the extended time not using them. They felt the familiar weak-kneed feeling but knew from experience it would ware off in a short while.

“You’re improving greatly,” Gaster complimented and Sans beamed happily.

With all the physical training that came with being a part of the guard, Gaster had taken the chance to help Sans hon their magic too. Sans, beforehand, hadn’t had much use for it—shortcutting, telekinesis, and just some basic bone attacks. There hadn’t been a need to explore their magic, hadn’t felt a need too.

But now? Now that they had chosen his career path, Sans knew they would benefit from the knowledge and skill if what was to happen would one day.

They had yet to be able to summon a Gaster Blaster, albeit, that wasn’t a ability that Gaster had and so Sans theories that perhaps it was something Sans might have created himself—which, isn’t that exciting? Then Sans would name the attack after his father? If that was the case, Sans was excited for when that moment came.

Since learning about that, they had dedicated a little piece of each day to working on their magic in an attempt to shape it into something like the Blaster.

They’d only gotten to summoning actual skull shaped bones, which—wasn’t what they wanted. So instead they worked on shaping that summon into a draconic form.

While they did that—

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Sans leapt over the hurdle and hit the ground running; behind them they could hear Chara rushing not far behind. A grin spread across their face.

They were winning. The finish line in sight.

As the only two new trainees, it meant only Sans and Chara were currently being, well, trained. Something that Sans had discovered, to both their and everyone else they knew, was that when Sans got moving, they got moving.

It was kind of hilarious considering they were possibly the laziest Monster to ever exist.

They fondly remember Asriel wheezing with laughter at Chara’s dropped jaw of disbelief which, Sans would like to state, was mirrored by them.

You see, they don’t go out of their way to excuse, don’t really like it all that much to be honest but there was this rush that hit them whenever they did. Captain Selvin had complemented their strange skill.

Although, Sans had also simultaneously discovered the more energy they put into things like this, the more likely they were to crash later on. Like completely drop-down-unconscious-on-the-nearest-surface-not-to-stir-for-a-few-hours kind of crash.

Already over a dozen times, they’d woken up to find themselves having been moved to the settee, covered with a blanket. Sometimes Papyrus had joined them for a nap but—Sans knew Gaster to be too busy to make a quick visit to check up and drape a blanket over them. But, they suppose, it could just be Papyrus. It likely was considering sometimes he’d nap with them… Sans knew they were light enough for Pap’s to drag and they were so out of it, it probably wouldn’t even stir them…

…where was this line of thought going?

Still, Sans darted over the finish line, stumbling to a stop and dropped into a chair, gasping for breath. Magic gathered on their skull and Captain Selvin handed them a bottle of water, which they happily took and drank down.

Chara crossed the finish line moments later and went stumbling. Instinctively, Sans reached out with magic to take hold of their soul to stop Chara from hitting the ground. Their bottle was set down as they righted Chara, listening to them wheeze, a grimace on their face.

Captain Selvin rested a hand on Chara’s shoulder and guided them to a seat.

“Perhaps I should revaluate how I go about your training,” he frowned.

Chara jerked, “No, no,” they coughed, whacking their chest, “I’m just really out of shape.”

“Perhaps,” was Captain Selvin’s terse response, Chara wilted under his stern gaze, “But you will gain nothing from pushing yourself too far, Chara. You will only bring harm to yourself. Clearly, I do not know the extent to which a human can push themselves before they hurt themself, and I have no wish to see you do so. Which, I would like the state, you are clearly reaching for.”

Sans was hit with a sudden feeling of being stumped…Was Chara pushing themselves? Sans knew there is a clear difference in which Humans had more limits than Monsters did. But it varied from Human to Human…

Was Sans not paying enough attention to Chara in this regard? Sans had been pretty focused on improving themselves recently that sometimes they forgot that Chara was even Human and might not be able to keep up with them.

They almost winced in guilt.

Captain Selvin rubbed his brow with a sign, his tail lashed behind him, “For now, I will minimise what exercise you will be doing until I can find a suitable balance for you.”

“But—”

“No buts Chara,” Selvin raised a hand, “I don’t want you to hurt yourself. You’re wheezing, which is not a new development in fact. You’re out of breath far too much by the end of activities. I will be reducing until I think you’ve reached a point your body can take it.”

Chara wilted again and nodded solemnly, “I understand.”

“Good. We shall end today here, both of your rest up, alright?”

Sans and Chara nodded, “Yes Captain.”

Captain Selvin turned and took several paces before pausing, “Chara,” said human looked up again, “I’m doing this because I care about you and have no desire to see you hurt, okay? I know you are a driven person and its admirable, but be aware of your limits because you have them, yes?”

Captain Selvin continued walking away.

Chara sighed heavily and Sans shuffled awkwardly for a moment before sitting.

Sans saw a look of frustration on their partner’s face but also resigned acknowledgement.

“I’m an idiot, aren’t I?”

Sans snorts, “of course you are.”

Chara nudged them for the cheeky comment and a small smile curl onto their lips which Sans counted as a score.

“wanna head to grillby’s?

“Sure,” Chara grinned, it was a little strained around the edges, and Sans knew Chara would spend time later thinking about what just happened but for now, Sans would do what they could to distract their partner.

So Sans stood and offered a hand to Chara, they took it and Sans pulled them to their feet, where the human groaned as their knees cracked.

“Jeez, my joints are killing me, and I only just stopped,” Chara complained and Sans laughed, twisting a heel and shortcut them away.

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There would never be a point in which Sans would never not adore Snowdin and the surrounding area. It was so calming and quiet. Just their sort of place. The sort they’d want to build a house in and live. Sans sat back in their chair at the thought.

Huh, now wasn’t that an idea.

They stored said idea for later.

Sans had had the thought in the past, but nothing really serious. But now? They were eighteen, almost nineteen. The idea of moving out had been a flicker of a thought before. They’d been making money for a while and Sans didn’t really spend much, so they definitely had plenty, but would that be enough to buy a house?

Probably not, which was a bit of a bummer, but this was a topic they wanted their dad’s opinion on.

Reaching under their station, Sans pulled out their ketchup bottle and drank from it. Maybe even a nap? Not like much happened in the Underground.

Those thoughts then got them here, in Grillby’s, several hours later, sharing a drink with Asriel.

“Isn’t there that old and empty house that’s been abandoned for years?” Asriel mentions after Sans had made the offhanded comment on moving out.

“huh,” Sans blinked in realisation, “you’re right.”

“A place like that would go for cheap, as long as you’re gonna put the effort into doing the place up. It’s been sitting there for years untouched,” Asriel added as he raised his glass to his lips.

Sans hummed. The large two bed house had been vacant for as long as Sans could remember, seems from what they’d heard over the years, that the people had moved to New Home. Or at least, from what they’d gathered when younger anyway.

Still, that was an idea Sans was very much interested in.

“Plus, Pap’s goes to school here in Snowdin,” Asriel continued, “He’s not old enough to teleport yet, so the journey would be easy for him to make without you having to take him each morning.”

Papyrus was, for a seven-year-old, an independent Monster. Sans doesn’t remember being like that, despite what dad said, who further added that intelligence was something that naturally ran through their family. It had expressed itself in Papyrus differently than in Sans, who like to obverse and stay in the background since they weren’t an overly social person. Papyrus didn’t shy away, enjoyed in fact, from engaging with others and certainly didn’t have any of Sans’ anxieties.

Which—Sans would like to state is a good thing. Sans wouldn’t wish anxiety on anyone. While they had improved over the years when it came to people they were unfamiliar with, Sans was always wary until the Monster proved themselves to Sans.

But back to the original topic, Sans didn’t start work until three hours after Papyrus was sent to school and it made it awkward for them to get up every morning and drop Papyrus off at school only to go back home.

Papyrus was smart enough to get himself ready for school and the like but needed Sans to take him and then later pick him up too.

So that was the main priority for them at the moment.

“Could ask Gaster for advice. I know he’d enjoy the motions of effectively rebuilding a house.”

Sans chuckled, knowing not only their dad, but they would too. There was nothing more satisfying about getting yourself lost in something that would be so rewarding.

“guess i know what i’ll be doing this week,” Sans chimed and Asriel chuckled as Sans downed the remains of their gin and tonic.

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“It is an extensive list,” Gaster raised a brow bone, “Do you think you’ll be up for the task?”

Sans scratched the back of their skull, “i think so, plus the end result will be worth it, ya know?”

Their dad hummed, eyelight contemplating them for a long moment before he dipped his chin, “Alright then. I shall offer a helping hand in this quest of yours.”

Sans squealed and wrapped their arms around their dad in their excitement. Gaster laughed and returned his eager child’s hug fondly. “Okay, okay, easy there Sans.”

Sans drew back, skull flushed in their embarrassment, “sorry.”

Gaster just laughed again.