Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sans and Edge didn’t talk much when they were together. Both former captains of the guard in Fellverses, they understood one another in a way that, truly, no one else in this particular universe could. They were comfortable with each other, trusted one another, and they just didn’t feel the need to fill every second with inane sound like some skeletons.

The fact that Edge married one such skeleton never ceased to amaze Sans, but he knew better than to question another’s choice of mate. Certainly, he would rip anyone's spinal cord out through their mouth if they even thought about disparaging you . So he left it alone. Besides, he had grown rather fond of Stretch over the years, even if he still didn’t quite understand Edge’s adoration of him.

The morning was a cool one, but still unusually warm for the end of November. They both had on light jackets and jeans, though Edge’s was red and Sans’s was black. Edge picked Sans up at 8:30 a.m. on the dot, driving a borrowed Astro Van. Edge was sitting primly in the driver’s seat looking for all the world like he wasn’t driving a rusty purple van but rather some sort of golden chariot. Sans understood perfectly that they needed the extra space, certainly the backseat of his Tesla or Edge’s Porsche wouldn’t be particularly comfortable for the skeletons they were picking up, but stars could it have been uglier? He tamped down his irritation and teleported into the passenger seat without comment, and they drove the relatively short trip to Ebbott New Hope Center in easy quiet.

The Ebbott New Hope Center was a collaborative project between the Embassy and the city. When monsters came above ground and began contributing to society, the need for better mental health care had been painfully obvious. The Underground wasn’t exactly a paradigm of self-care, but monsters also didn’t have access to recent medical journals either. When they realized that there were actual research-backed ways to improve mental and physical health, monsters jumped on it. The local university was one of the first to graduate a class of monsters going into mental health care and the Embassy gave a sizable donation to support the building of a mental health center on the outskirts of the city. It quickly became a beacon of what mental healthcare could look like, and they were never short on distinguished visitors looking to replicate their success elsewhere.

It was a constant sore spot in Sans’s relationship with you that he adamantly refused to seek help for his mental health even though he lived in the Mecca of Mental Health Care. 

He didn’t miss the irony of the situation either.

Edge parked the ridiculous van in the “Patient Pick Up” area. Sans didn’t miss that he parked in a spot as far from the glass windows of the lobby as possible; despite his prim appearance, it was obvious that Edge also didn’t want to be seen in the van. That suited Sans perfectly and he continued their tradition of silent understanding by not mentioning it.

Edge, however, chose to break the silence. “Black,” he said slowly. Sans looked up at his friend and narrowed his sockets; he looked concerned. “I know that you agreed to this before the Thanksgiving mission, but I think it would be understandable if you needed some more time in light of those events.” Edge looked meaningfully at the crack webbing out from Sans’s left socket.

“I returned to work yesterday,” he pointed out.

“Getting two new housemates isn’t quite the same as returning to work. Particularly ones that may be… stressful.”

Sans shook his head. “I’m sure I can handle it.” Edge just stared at him, so Sans sighed and continued. Apparently, they had to discuss "feelings" today. “Alright, I’m not sure, but I cannot simply leave them here longer because my head hurts a bit. The doctor said that everything will likely heal fine. I can’t see the eye specialist for another few weeks and I cannot simply put my life on hold until I know how my eyesight will be affected.” He looked down at the floor and forced himself not to fidget. Ugh, feelings. “It will drive me mad.”

Edge stared at him for a second in that way he had. Edge wasn’t a Judge, not like so many of the others, but he could still read Sans’s face like one of those romance novels he read on the sly. Sans waited quietly for his friend's judgment. Finally, Edge set his hand on Sans’s shoulder. “Very well, but you will let me know if it becomes too much. You will promise me.”

Sans nodded. He doubted that he would ever reach the threshold of “too much” that would require him to beg for Edge’s help so it did not bother him a bit to promise. 

It wasn’t as if he had never broken a promise before, after all.

Edge seemed satisfied with that, though, so the two of them finally escaped the horrendous van and walked briskly into the lobby. There was a young female human sitting at reception. Her lab coat had the university’s logo stitched onto it; clearly, she was a student. She was wearing pale green scrubs, which told him that this was her first year in medical school. Sans wondered idly how she felt about working with so many monsters. The center wasn’t only for monsters, of course, but many were treated here, including the two they were here to retrieve. Security did their due diligence before allowing anyone to work at the center, but someone as young as her may have racist tendencies that she simply hadn’t lived long enough to display.

“Can I help you?” she asked blandly.

“Yes. We are here to pick up Sans and Papyrus of the Horrorfell universe,” Edge said. He set the discharge paperwork in front of her and she took it and looked it over.

“Okay. Are you aware of the discharge procedures?”

Never one to miss an opportunity to incite fear, Edge said, “Why don’t you explain them to me.” It wasn’t a question. 

The human’s face pinked a bit and Sans wondered if she knew who Edge was. It wasn’t likely; after all, Edge’s true job as the director of operations at the Embassy wasn’t well-known, even to monsters outside of the Embassy. It could be that she was simply frightened of the tall skeleton. Braver humans had blanched under Edge’s crimson eye lights. 

“Certainly. You’ll need to talk to their attending, Dr. Springer. She will fill you in on any medications they need and emergency procedures, as well as create a follow-up treatment schedule. I can page her if you want.” She pushed her dark bangs out of her eyes and smiled nervously.

“We know where to find her, thank you. I believe you should be giving us visitor badges,” Edge said. He held out his gloved hand and the human squeaked as she dug around in a drawer to retrieve the aforementioned badges. 

“Sorry, Mr. Edge,” she squeaked and Sans narrowed his eyes at her. How did she know his name?

“It’s just Edge,” he corrected as he affixed the nametag to his jacket. “I don’t use honorifics.”

“Sorry!”

“It’s quite alright.” With that, Edge turned on his heel and headed towards the stairs. Their charges were on the third floor, but both Sans and Edge preferred stairs to elevators. Not only did the physical benefits appeal, but the idea of being trapped in a small box was not one that either Fell monster favored.

“You know her?” Sans asked as they climbed the stairs together.

“Yes, only peripherally. I gave a talk at the university about field medicine and she was there. She follows Stretch on Twitter.”

“Oh, a fan,” Sans said with a sly smile.

Edge snorted, as expected. “She seemed very interested in Stretch, yes.”

“I think she seemed a fair bit more interested in you.”

Edge didn’t dignify that with a comment, pushing open the door to the third floor and striding into the hallway. “Doctor!” he called.

An older blonde female turned and smiled when she realized who it was. Dr. Springer was the head of the center; she had known the skeleton crew nearly as long as they had been on the surface. She didn’t personally treat any of the skeletons but had farmed them out to trusted colleagues, explaining that she was not comfortable treating anyone she worked with on a daily basis. She did see you, though, so Sans always felt a little strange around her. What secrets did she know about him? What had you told her, in the safety of that plush office? You never allowed Sans to go with you despite his many offers to teleport you from his house to her office. You were always oddly hesitant to have him around on days when you went to therapy, often apprehensive a day or two before your appointment. It worried him every time, but after three years as your datemate, he was beginning to anticipate the pattern. You’d go weird on him two days before, get snappish on the day of your appointment, then return to him lighter afterward. Sometimes you came over with your makeup washed off to hide that you’d cried; other times, you were all smiles. It was impossible to predict how you would respond to physical affection or even conversation those evenings. Sometimes you would practically throw yourself at him, nearly begging for his touch; other times, you would be oddly distant and curl up in the oversized chair in his living room. He had to admit that his favorite evenings were the ones when you were at neither extreme. Instead, you would curl up beside him on the couch, all tucked up against him with his arm around your shoulders or your head nestled in his lap. Maybe the two of you would talk, or maybe you would only quietly watch TV together until you led him to bed. Those nights your lovemaking didn’t have a slightly desperate feeling, only beautiful, exactly the way he always wanted it to be. 

Dr. Springer approached them and smiled. “Hello, Edge! Black! How are you today?”

“Very well,” Edge answered.

“I assume you’re here for my two newest patients,” she said.

“Yes, you said they were ready to go home.”

“Indeed.” She led them along down the hallway towards a patient room. Sans was very familiar with this hallway, having come here nearly every day since the skeletons were admitted almost a full month ago. “They have made remarkable progress and I think that they are ready to continue working at home. I’m very grateful that it’s in time for the holidays; we do everything we can, but spending the holidays in the center just isn’t the same as being home. You said that they would be staying with some of you until their housing situation is more settled?”

More like until we know they are not dangerous , Sans thought, but he didn’t say it out loud. Surely the doctor would take it as a personal insult if he questioned whether or not those two should be on their own just yet. Instead, he simply said, “Yes. They will be staying with my brother and me.”

Dr. Springer nodded. “I think that’s wise. Of course, I wouldn’t release them while I considered them a danger to themselves or others, but they have been through quite a bit and are in an entirely different world now.” She quirked a smile at Sans. “I don’t think that there’s anyone better suited to understand what they are going through, and you have done a lot to build their trust.”

Sans wasn’t sure how to take this unexpected compliment, so he simply nodded. He didn’t look at Edge, but he was sure the other skeleton noticed his discomfort. Like Sans himself, there was very little that Edge missed. Luckily Dr. Springer seemed to either not have noticed or was willing to ignore it because she knocked on the door and waited until she heard a gravelly voice bid them come in.

Inside the room, Red Sans ( we really did need to nickname these two , Sans thought bitterly) was standing in the center of the room fidgeting with his hands. He was wearing a large black jacket that Sans brought over earlier in the week and a pair of red basketball shorts. His brother sat on the bed. He wasn’t looking at them and was instead picking at the small suitcase that held their belongings. Sans brought him a soft maroon sweater and jeans. He noticed that the monster didn’t wear gloves, unlike him and Edge. 

“Are you two ready to go to your new home?” Dr. Springer asked brightly.

Papyrus didn’t look up, but Red Sans answered for him. “We’re ready. Thanks, doc.”

Sans noted that his double seemed to genuinely like Dr. Springer. Perhaps he didn’t have a problem with humans after all. His reaction to you had been less than ideal, but it had been a couple of weeks since you came by. Surely he was better equipped to handle seeing you now. Besides, Jupiter reported that he and Mars delivered your Thanksgiving basket to them; perhaps that made some difference in his perceptions of you? He could only hope.

“It’s been my honor, Sans. Papyrus?”

The skeleton finally looked up from the bed, his cheeks flushing at being addressed. It made Sans’s soul clench a little bit; he reminded Sans of his own sweet brother. As far as he could tell, these two were not from a “Swapverse” like him, his brother, Stretch, and Blue all were, but somehow this Papyrus seemed to have a bit of his brother’s shy personality. There was no evidence of the boastful enthusiasm that both Papyrus (of this universe; he didn’t have a nickname, of course) and Jupiter seemed to share, nor the cool competence that Edge possessed.

Dr. Springer plowed ahead once Papyrus looked at her. “Are you ready?” she asked, and Sans didn’t miss how her voice was softer when she spoke to him than it had been when she spoke to either Edge or Red Sans.

Papyrus wrung his hands together for a moment, then quickly signed I will miss you.

Dr. Springer smiled sweetly at that. “Oh Papyrus. I will miss you too, but this is hardly goodbye. You and your brother will each see me twice a week for individual sessions and you will have family counseling once a week as well. I will see you again on Thursday, in fact.”

What day is it now? Papyrus signed.

“It’s Tuesday, bro,” Red Sans said roughly. “We’ll see ‘er in just two days.”

Papyrus seemed to think about that a bit, then finally nodded slowly. Where are we going until then? he signed.

“To Black’s house,” Red Sans said, “until we get our own place.”

Papyrus looked over at Sans and quickly signed, Will the mage be there?

Red Sans stiffened and gave a low growl. “She don’t live there.” He rounded on Sans. “Does she?”

Sans stiffened. Both Edge and Dr. Springer looked at him with neutral interest. “She has her own home, if that is what you are asking,” he finally said evenly. Sans didn’t think he imagined Red Sans’s shoulders sagging in relief before he continued. “However, she is my datemate and is over fairly regularly. Is that going to be a problem?” He forced the edge out of his voice; these two were suffering, damn it, and he wasn’t about to threaten them.

Red Sans stared at him for a minute like he was going to say something, but Papyrus began signing first. I would like to see her again. She was nice. She gave us cookies and the basket of Thanksgiving.

Red Sans seemed to completely deflate at that. Ah, he couldn’t say no to his brother either. “It won’t be a problem,” he said finally.

“Now, Sans, if you have negative emotions about this, you need to speak up for yourself,” Dr. Springer said warningly.

“I said it’s fine,” Red Sans snapped. “Can we head out now? Been on the surface a month and still ain’t ‘ardly seen any o’ it.”

Dr. Springer pursed her lips but relented. “Of course. Edge, why don’t you walk these two down to the lobby? I have a few issues to address with Black before you leave.”

Edge nodded stiffly, then held open the door for the brothers. Red Sans marched out without looking back, but Papyrus seemed to fold in on himself a bit as he stood. He hunched over and walked behind his brother, pausing at the door to wave at Dr. Springer. Edge followed them out into the hallway, carrying their small overnight bag.

“I will see you on Thursday, Papyrus,” Dr. Springer reminded him gently.

And today is Tuesday, he signed.

“Yes. Very good.”

Papyrus nodded to himself, then trailed after Red Sans and Edge. Sans turned to Dr. Springer and waited for whatever she wished to tell him, standing at parade rest out of habit.

“You saw that Sans was not entirely comfortable with the idea of Eleanor being around,” Dr. Springer said softly. Sans nodded, and she continued. “He has a lot of anger towards the mages of his world. He understands that things are different here, but he may struggle. I would advise you to be careful about Eleanor being alone in your home with him until he gets a bit more settled. Once he sees that he and his brother are both safe, I think he will be much more open to her.”

Sans felt a bit queasy at her advice. “Are you saying that he is a danger to Eleanor?” He wouldn’t put you in danger, not for anything or anyone. But stars, he didn’t know how to turn these two away either, not after it became clear that he was the only one in this world that they trusted at all. Perhaps it would be best if you did not come over to the house, just for the time being. The idea made his soul balk, but perhaps that was the only choice?

“No, I don’t believe so,” Dr. Springer said firmly. “I would just encourage you to be cautious, just as I would anyone who is taking in a new housemate. I would never encourage a female to be alone with a large male until everyone involved was sure it was entirely safe.”

Sans had another horrible thought. “Has she… expressed concerns about this to you?” He had discussed letting them move in with him and Mutt with you, of course, but perhaps you were less okay with it than you seemed? If that were the case, he would need to take immediate measures.

“You know I cannot disclose anything that Eleanor does or does not choose to share with me,” Dr. Springer said, and Sans felt anger rise in him.

“I need to know if this is a problem for her--”

“And she will discuss it with you if it is. I will not breach her confidentiality for anything or anyone, Black, and I think that deep down you appreciate the safety that I offer Eleanor in that. I know you care about her very much and want her to be nothing but safe and happy. You would not want her trust betrayed by me sharing what she discussed in her sessions.”

Sans bit back a snarl, but damn it all, she was right. He knew that you needed Dr. Springer and, as much as he did not want to participate in therapy himself, he would have to be blind to not see how much good it’d done those around him. No, he didn’t want that confidentiality breached, not for anything. Not even for him. Your trust was too difficult to earn for either him or Dr. Springer to squander it like that.

“Please,” Dr. Springer said, holding out a business card to him as if he didn’t already have her number in his phone and memorized by heart in case you ever needed her, “do call me if you have any problems. This has my emergency line on it so I can be reached 24 hours a day.” Sans took the card, though he did not need it at all. It would probably be wise to hang it on the refrigerator in case his new housemates needed it, though.

“Thank you,” he gritted out, but Dr. Springer seemed to take it as he meant it, and he really did grudgingly appreciate her help. Angel knows he had no idea how to do any kind of mental health caretaking. His brother was a breathing testament to that fact.

She nodded and walked out of the room, leaving Sans standing alone. Natural sunlight beamed down on him as he shut his eyes and took a calming breath. He ignored the dull throb that still pounded outward from the new crack in his skull; it hurt all the damn time, but it was always worse when he was stressed. He took another deep breath. This was fine. After a moment, he began his walk to the van, forcibly banishing all negative thoughts from his mind. This was fine. It had to be.

***

Somehow, in your 430 years of life, you hadn’t ever managed to figure out what to do about your anxiety. You did the therapy thing, sure, and the medicine thing, yep, but you were still just so much more anxious than pretty much anyone around you. Case in point, you were scurrying around Sans’s immaculate house fluffing throw pillows and straightening tchotchkes while Red, Comic, and Mutt watched you in bemusement.

“You could help!”  you snapped as you rearranged the vase of flowers Sans brought you from the farmer’s market.

“How though?” Mutt asked. “You seem to, uh, pretty well have it under control, El.”

“Hate to mess with your system,” Comic added. Red didn’t even bother to look up from his phone when he contributed a half-hearted grunt to the conversation.

“They’re gonna be here any minute!” you hissed. “Everything needs to be perfect.”

Red finally looked up at that. “Ya know they came from Cannibal Murderville, yeah? Hell, I survived a Fellverse and I thought it was shitty, but can ya even imagine what it would be like if the fish bitch was queen?” He shivered.

“Woulda been Alphys in my world,” Mutt added, “and that would not’ve gone well.”

“Ugh, I wouldn’t want that cuckoo dinosaur runnin’ things either. Woulda all been lab rats.”

“Anyway!” Comic said quickly, obviously uncomfortable with the subject matter, though you weren’t sure if he didn’t want to be reminded of how terrible the worlds the guys came from were or if he wanted to avoid the subject of labs. It could go either way, really. “Nicknames! They need ‘em!”

“Still think Meatball’s funny,” Red said. “Could call his bro Noodle.”

“That’s the name of one o’ Stretch’s chickens,” Mutt pointed out.

“Think we’ll confuse the giant skeleton with a tiny dinosaur?” Red asked mockingly sweet.

“I think,” you said sharply, “you need to get your feet off the coffee table before I rip them off and feed them to the little dinosaurs!”

Red grumbled but obliged, and you hurried to wipe the table off. You looked up at the door when you heard a car door slam in the driveway. Your heart pounded. It shouldn’t be a big deal, you knew that, but you wanted this to be nice for them. They deserved something nice after all they’d been through, even more than Jupiter and Mars, even more than the other Fellverse skeletons. They’d been through so much and you only had to picture the terror in Papyrus’s eye lights when he had that flashback a few weeks ago to feel your heart melt for them. You just wanted this to be good. For everyone.

The door unlocked and opened slowly, revealing your beloved boyfriend. He narrowed his eyes at the suspiciously full living room and you shrugged. “Red wanted to come over to check on Edge,” you said, “and Comic followed him. And Mutt lives here.”

Sans nodded then stepped into the house, followed by his two new housemates. New Papyrus ( stars, they needed nicknames ) was the shortest Papyrus you’d ever met; he was a couple of inches shorter than Edge, the previous shortie of the Papyri. He topped out at around 6’ 5”, so he was able to walk into the house without ducking, unlike Jupiter. His eye light, the one that wasn’t caved in by his gigantic head wound, was wide as he took in the house. The New Sans looked around with mild interest until he saw you. You didn’t miss how his back straightened and magic flared in an aura around him. You could feel the intent rolling off of him in waves. It was so strong that Mutt teleported himself to a standing position in front of you. His body language looked loose, but you’d seen him fight enough to know that he was prepared for an attack.

Unexpectedly, Sans broke the tension. “Welcome to scenic ‘my house’,” he said. He gestured towards the living room. “This is the living room. The bedrooms are upstairs; the kitchen is over there. How about I show you to your room and you can get settled.” The way he said it made it clear that it wasn’t a question.

Papyrus tugged on his brother’s sleeve and the movement was oddly adorable. It was such a little brother thing to do. New Sans turned to him so that he could see what he signed. You didn’t understand Hands (you already asked Sans and Mutt to teach you and they agreed, but everyone was so busy) so you had to wait for the response to see what he said.

Your Sans chuckled and responded, “Of course, where are my manners? These are several of our alternates. That’s Com--er, Sans; this is his universe so he doesn’t generally go by a nickname. Red is Edge’s brother and Mutt is my brother. And you remember Eleanor?”

Papyrus signed something else and your Sans chuckled again. “Yes, she brought you cookies and the basket.” More signing, then, “He says thank you, my dear.”

Your cheeks burned. “It was no big deal. I didn’t make them the cookies anyway; Blue and Edge did.”

Papyrus stared at you for a moment, then turned to Edge and began signing frantically. Edge signed back so you had no idea what they said to one another. Everyone else in the room spoke Hands so you felt… Awkward.

Finally New Sans said, “Probably should go see the new digs.” Papyrus nodded, and your Sans led them up the stairs to the guest room where they would be staying.

As soon as they were gone, all eyes were focused on you. “What?” you asked.

“Are you alright?” Edge asked.

“Damn, darlin’, he was givin’ off some killer vibes,” Mutt said. He put a hand on your shoulder. “I dunno. Maybe… Maybe you should go home.”

“It may be safer,” Edge agreed, “just until they’re settled.”

“I know a shortcut,” Red said.

You blinked at them slowly. “Um… I don’t want to go home.” They all looked at you like you proposed sending them back Underground for another millennium. “It’s just… I know that the new Sans doesn’t like me yet, but I still want to be here for them. I don’t want to run away.” You tried for a winsome grin, though you were pretty confident you didn’t succeed. “‘Sides, Sans is making noodles for dinner.”

“I’ll bring some over for you.” You jumped at Sans’s voice suddenly appearing behind you. You rounded on him and tried to school your expression into “totally passive” and also “not inexplicably hurt that he didn’t want you here.”

The way his face softened told you that you were absolutely not successful. “Love,” he said gently, “I always want you here--”

“Except on Paperwork-pocalypse,” you interrupted.

“Well. Indeed. But that’s… You’re! You… you...”

“You’re a you you too, you,” you said with a grin. You heard Comic and Red both boo you softly.

Sans visibly straightened, putting on his Serious Time face. “Love, I am concerned that it is not safe for you to be here just now. I am not asking you to leave forever, just for tonight and perhaps tomorrow. I think it would be best to give them some time to get settled and I…” Sans looked like whatever he was about to say was being violently ripped out of him. “I do not feel that I can both keep you safe and help them settle into their new life on the Surface at this moment. I need. Well. I need you to be safe,” he said, each word softer than the one before.

You sighed. “Yeah, no, you’re right. It’s not like I don’t know how to spend time at my own house either. I’m just being a fuss.” You leaned up on your toes to plant a quick kiss on Sans’s teeth, then walked over to the door. “You don’t have to bring me food if you’re busy,” you added. “Actually, I’ve been meaning to try the new ‘za place downtown. I’ll see you for Thursday date night, yeah?”

“Aw hell, can I go with ‘er?” Mutt asked. “‘Za sounds so good right now!”

With that comment, you felt the tension in the room deflate like a balloon. You laughed, offered some parting pleasantries, then saw yourself out. 

***

As soon as the door closed, Sans slumped a bit. “Well that didn’t go how ya wanted,” Red drawled, clapping him on the back. 

“Obviously not,” Sans spat back.

“Ya did the right thing, Black,” Red said in what was probably a kind voice for him. “Better for both sides if they get some space between ‘em, least until they get settled.”

“Yes, I know,” Sans snapped. 

Red chuckled then shuffled towards the kitchen. “Anyway, I’m hella hungry. Ya got any eats in ‘ere for guests?”

“You think you can be irritating and I’ll just feed you anyway?” Sans asked archly.

“Yeah, I do.”

Sans sighed. “I made pumpkin muffins last night. They’re on the counter.”

Red winked at Sans over his shoulder as he disappeared into the kitchen. “Ya comin’, Sans?”

It took your Sans a second to realize that he was talking to Comic. Sometimes Sans regretted letting slip that he missed his actual name. You’d taken it as a personal challenge to only call him Sans, no matter who else was in the room. He had agreed to take a nickname when he came to this universe, after all, but there was something about his actual name, and hearing you say it that filled him with warm feelings.

It did make things more confusing on movie nights, though.

Sans startled at a hand on his shoulder. He glanced over and saw Edge standing there. “It is very kind of you to take them in,” he said. “It will all work out.” Then he strode into the kitchen after the others, leaving Sans alone in the living room to think. He knew that Edge was right, knew that he was doing the right thing, but he couldn’t shake the niggling feeling in his soul that this might have been a very bad mistake.

*tbc*

Chapter Text

It was Sans’s turn to plan Thursday night date night, a weekly tradition that had spanned most of your relationship, but he was completely overwhelmed with his work at the Embassy, not to mention the work of settling his new two housemates into the house. You and Mutt even had to go deal with an alliumede in the caves near Mt. Ebbott without him early Thursday morning. During your debriefing, you somehow figured out that he hadn’t made a plan yet for your date night and insisted that you had an idea you wanted to try. You framed it in a way that made it seem like you weren’t doing him a favor, but he knew you were and he was ashamed of himself as a datemate. Not only that, but that early-morning debriefing was the first time he’d seen you since the new skeleton brothers moved into his home. You promised that you didn’t mind at all, that you understood being busy, but he knew he was letting you down. Worse yet was the shameful relief he felt when you took over planning date night; it let him focus on getting as much work done as possible before he was scheduled to drive his housemates to their therapy session.

At exactly 3:15 p.m., he pulled into the driveway of his home and switched his Tesla for the dreaded Astro Van. He needed to ask Mutt where the blasted thing even came from, but he was certain he wouldn’t like the answer. When the two of them took the brothers on a sight-seeing tour of Ebbott, Mutt referred to it as the “Mystery Machine” and insisted on calling Sans “Daphne” the entire time, a nickname that he violently suggested had better not stick.

Mutt led the two brothers out to the van, both moving slowly and cautiously. Sans understood better than most; he had been shamefully cold upon arrival in this universe, constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. Even when Comic and Papyrus opened their home to their duplicates and Comic appeared before Asgore to explain the Fellverse skeletons’ LV, he still spent all of the time that they were in this Underground expecting to be killed. To his surprise, the barrier was broken just three months into their stay and the gaggle of skeletons found themselves blinking in the sun. If he were honest with himself, and sometimes he was, Sans would have to admit that he never expected to see the sun. He was forever in you and Frisk’s debt for the favor of showing his brother surface; it had taken Sans a lot longer to realize that the surface was for him, too.

He couldn’t be sure, but he suspected that Red and Mars probably felt the same way.

“Ready for another magical tour in the Mystery Machine,” Mutt said brightly as he clambered into the back seat. The Other Sans followed him in and Papyrus took the front seat.

Despite just seeing them for breakfast earlier that morning, Papyrus and Other Sans were wary of him. They didn’t speak (well, of course, Papyrus never spoke , per se) the entire ride to the Ebbott New Hope Center, but the silence was far from the comfortable one he’d experienced with Edge on his last visit to the center. In self-defense, he turned on the radio to an easy listening station that would be unobjectionable to everyone and listened to it the rest of the way to the center.

This time, rather than being greeted by one of Stretch’s fans, Dr. Springer herself was standing in the lobby when they walked in. “Hello!” she said warmly when she saw them. Her eyes flicked across Sans’s face and he forced himself not to look away. He wondered what she saw there; could she read the bags under his eyes from overwork, the stress, the shame of letting you down as a datemate? He may have been giving her too much credit, but he still felt her eyes anyway and had to force back a scathing remark of some kind. It wasn’t her fault, after all.

“How are you today, Black?” she asked, her voice warm but neutral.

“Very well, Dr. Springer. Work waits for no man or skeleton!” he quipped.

She laughed a little. “Well, that is certainly true. Thank you for bringing Sans and Papyrus in for their appointment! Are you two ready to get started?” she asked. Both skeletons nodded and her smile turned softer, more welcoming. “Wonderful! Do you remember where my office is?” Papyrus looked confused, but Sans nodded. “Good. Could you two wait for me there? I just need to confirm some information with Black and Mutt.” Sans narrowed his eyes in suspicion but directed his brother down the hallway anyway.

As soon as they were out of sight, she turned back to Mutt and Sans. “How have the last two days been?”

Sans didn’t really know how to answer that question, but luckily Mutt seemed to. “‘S fine,” he said with a shrug. “They’re nervous, but that’s not surprisin’. You shoulda seen us when we first got ‘ere. But, uh, they still don’t like Ellie.” He scratched his cheek awkwardly.

Apparently, that wasn’t enough for Dr. Springer. “Sans?” she asked. “How do you feel it’s going?”

“It’s fine.”

Her eyes flicked to the bags under his eyes then, “I see. How bad is it with Ellie?”

“It’s…” Sans searched for a way to get out of this conversation as quickly, but he wilted a bit under Dr. Springer’s gaze. “I had to ask her to go home. Sans’s aura was radiating killing intent and I couldn’t be sure she would be safe.” He looked down at his boots, feeling oddly like a child who just told the teacher he hadn’t done his homework.

“That was a good choice,” Dr. Springer said, and Sans’s head shot up. “You were trying to keep her safe and make your new housemates comfortable. I know that was a difficult choice for you, but I’m sure you did the right thing.”

Sans blinked at her, unsure of how to respond to that.

“I am going to go speak with them now,” she said. “Don’t forget to call me any time.”

“We will be here to take them home when they are finished,” Sans said. Dr. Springer smiled again, then walked off towards her office.

Sans made his way over to a waiting area and began to get comfortable, fishing his laptop out of his inventory to try to get some work done. It was no sooner in his hand than Mutt was snatching it from him. “Excuse you!” Sans squawked at him.

“You don’ have time to do any work right now,” Mutt said.

“What? Of course I do! They’ll be in there for at least an hour!”

“True. Ya still don’ have time to work.”

“You are infuriating! Give me my computer you ungrateful shit!”

Mutt shook his head and held out a bag. “Ya need to change.”

“What? Why?”

“‘S date night. El’s pickin’ ya up in a couple minutes.”

Sans felt himself blush. “What? I can’t just leave them here! I have to drive them home!”

Mutt laughed and waved the key to the van at Sans. How…? If Mutt lifted the key from him without him noticing he must be more tired and distracted than he thought “I got ‘em, bro,” Mutt said. “Real talk: You’re a real bastard when ya don’ get to see ‘er. You need this. Go change.”

Sans looked from Mutt to the bag. “Ungrateful shit,” he muttered, grabbing the bag from his brother and teleporting into the restroom to change into his date night clothes. He was nervous to see what Mutt picked out, but he was pleasantly surprised to see a simple plum sweater and jeans. 

By the time he was finished changing and made his way back to the front, you were sitting in one of the chairs beside Mutt. He was showing you something on his phone and you were howling with laughter. Probably a blasted Tik Tok, but Sans found it impossible to be annoyed. Stars, you were beautiful and you were right there, wearing a t-shirt under your jacket, with some skinny jeans tucked into a pair of black boots. He knew it’d only been two days since he saw you (less if he counted the morning briefing) but it felt like it’d been years.

He strode forward and, when you saw him, your whole face lit up. You never failed to be pleased to see him, he realized. You were the only person in the world that was ever so pleased with his presence. He felt like his soul might explode just from looking at you, so he quickly closed the distance between you and pulled you into a skeletal kiss.

He felt you stiffen in surprise but he also felt you melt into it a second later. Perhaps you missed him too, he thought.

Too soon, you drew away, likely out of deference for those around you. Mutt didn’t seem bothered, but there were plenty of humans and monsters alike milling around in the lobby of the center. Sans didn’t give two shits what they thought, but he let you draw away anyway, contenting himself with catching your hand in his. “Hello, my love,” he said.

“Hi there,” you said back. “Pretty good greeting; might wanna be more careful with those or I’ll come to expect it.”

Sans chuckled a little. “That would be a terrible tragedy.”

“Just leave!” Mutt groaned, apparently having reached the end of his endurance for “smoopy” as you liked to say.

“Jealous,” you said as you stuck your tongue out at Mutt.

Mutt rolled his eye lights. “Desperately. Go on ya date.”

You laughed and pulled Sans along behind you, out the door of the center, to where your Jeep was waiting. The top was down to better enjoy the cool air. Sans was fairly confident that you did that for him; his cold tolerance was much higher than yours and he loved the wind on his face as he drove. He glanced back at you and realized you were wearing an especially warm jacket, all prepared for the cooler air. He pulled you in for another kiss and if you guessed why you didn’t mention it. You simply climbed into the driver’s seat and motioned for him to get into the car.

“What’s first on the itinerary, my dear?” he asked. 

You grinned at him. “Oh, baby. So much.”

***

“Well, you surprised me this time, my dear,” Sans admitted as you turned off the Jeep with a triumphant grin on your face. “What exactly are we doing here?”

When you headed downtown, Sans thought that perhaps you were going to a local restaurant or taking him to another escape room, a past time that you both enjoyed greatly. He was, to say the least, surprised when you swiped your security badge and pulled into the parking lot of the Embassy. You even parked in his spot towards the back of the parking lot.

“I’m so glad you asked,” you said. You reached into the center console and retrieved a piece of paper. “Before I left after debriefing today, I coerced Edge into making a list of everything that you still needed to do to be caught up at work, plus all of the stuff that you needed to do tomorrow.” You waved the paper at him for emphasis.

“That paper does not look nearly large enough to contain such a list.”

“It isn’t,” you agreed. “This paper contains the list of what you still have to do after Edge and I divided your list among the rest of the Embassy. Anything that someone else could do has already been done by them.”

Sans stared at you. “For example?”

“For example,” you said as if you had anticipated that question, “Asgore did your security sweep this morning. Stretch ran the numbers on the cafeteria budget. Mutt hand delivered all of the paperwork that you owed Agent Marcie. Edge took all of the staff efficiency reports except for his and Janice’s, for obvious reasons, and he taught me how to handle all of the team’s incident files, so I will be doing those while you work on this stuff.” You handed him the list with a flourish. “It’s a work date!”

Sans felt a pang of shame. You were giving up date night, the only night set aside exclusively for you, in order for him to work. That wasn’t fair; you deserved more, so much more. “Love, I am so sorry I’ve been so busy--” he began, but you interrupted him by pressing one finger over his teeth in a shushing gesture.

“Stop it. This isn’t a punishment. We can all see how hard you’re working and know how stressful everything must be. We want to help, babe, and there is nothing I want to do more than spend tonight with you, getting you all caught up so that you can breathe a little easier.” He closed his sockets against the huge amount of love he felt flowing from your magic; it was all too much and never enough. “Good,” you said happily. “You’ve accepted your fate. This seems like a good time to tell you that I have already handled dinner; it will be delivered to us at dinner time. I also have Red, Comic, and Mars keeping Mutt and the Horrorfell bros company so that you don’t have to worry about Mutt being alone with them.”

He couldn’t wait any longer; he leaned forward and pulled you into a kiss. He tried to pour all of his love, all of his gratitude into that one gesture, trying desperately to show you how happy you made him. He didn’t deserve you, could never deserve you, but he loved you so fucking much.

After a few minutes, he forced himself to pull away and smirked at the dazed look on your face. “Ready to get to work?” he asked.

“Let’s do it,” you agreed.

***

True to your word, you had farmed out all of the jobs that he did not absolutely have to do himself. Everything left on his admittedly still long list were things that only he could do. You were also living up to your end of the paperwork bargain; you were curled up on the plush loveseat in his office with your laptop typing away on the incident reports for your last few cases. You also had one earbud in so that you could listen to the radio waves while you worked. In all of the excitement of bringing home the Horrorfell brothers he didn’t have time to scan the radio waves like he usually did on Tuesdays. And, since he was forced to stay home the previous Tuesday, the task was especially urgent now.

You also proved to be an excellent office companion, very different from even the most diligent coworkers he’d had in the past. You were quiet and worked hard and more than happy to scold him if he got off-task. The only time you distracted him was your bi-hourly “kiss breaks”. Every two hours, you would pause your work and slink over to his desk, give him a kiss, then slink right back to your paperwork and go back to ignoring him again.

It was perfect.

At six o’clock sharp, the door to his office swung open. Jupiter bustled in carrying a large tote. “Hello friends!” he said happily. “I have brought your dinner as promised!” He began pulling various takeout containers out of the tote and depositing them on Sans’s desk. Sans’s eye lights brightened at the sight. “Is this Helen’s?” he gasped.

“It is indeed,” Jupiter said with a grin. “Ellie requested it very specifically. There are plenty of BBQ nachos here to feed an army.”

Helen’s was something of a local legend. It was a BBQ restaurant run out of a small, one-room building. Helen herself made each order, though her granddaughter joined her kitchen as she got older. She made the best BBQ in the entire world. As such, it was nearly impossible to actually snag a meal there. You had to be willing to wait in a very long line and accept that Helen may run out of food before she ever took your order. Additionally, her restaurant was nearly an hour’s drive from the Embassy, on the very outskirts of Ebbott.

“How did you get this? It must have taken all day,” he said softly.

“Oh, I helped treat Helen’s son,” Jupiter said brightly. “She is a lovely woman and let me skip the line when I arrived!”

“You can just… get Helen’s? Whenever you want?” Sans didn’t bother to keep the awe out of his voice.

“Ugh, Jupes, you’re gonna have to leave before my boyfriend dumps me for you,” you said with a grin. Jupiter turned bright orange and sputtered at you, but you ignored his embarrassment and pulled the large skeleton into a hug. “Thanks, buddy; I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.”

Somehow, Jupiter’s blush managed to darken. He patted you on the shoulder awkwardly and muttered, “Pish posh.” Sans didn’t miss how his shoulders slumped in relief and disappointment when you finally let go of him. He stood still for a moment, clearly gathering himself, then jumped a little. “Oh! I nearly forgot.” He turned around and rummaged in the bag again and produced a small box. “I picked you up a Chocolatey Choco.” He sat the box in the center of Sans’s desk and Sans grinned. His favorite dessert; an excellent addition to his favorite food with his favorite person.

You really were incredible.

“I will put it in the freezer behind Thomas’s desk so that it does not melt. Ice cream cake does not store well at room temperature after all!” Jupiter said. “Well, I will get out of your hair, so to speak! Let me know if you two need anything else. I hope you enjoy your meal, Sans!”

Sans smiled at the tall skeleton. “I’m sure I will. Thank you so much, Jupiter.” And he was sure that he would enjoy it; after all, the ice cream cake, BBQ nachos, and you there to share them with him? How could he not enjoy it?

Jupiter beamed at you, then scurried out of the room with the cake. You looked over at Sans and the hopefulness in your eyes was absolutely endearing. “Come here,” he said, crooking a finger at you.

You approached him cautiously, which was wise on your part because the instant you were in grabbing range he tried to yank you down into his lap. You yelped and jumped back, but your smile was playful. “Oh, it’s like that, is it?” he growled.

“What’re you gonna do about it if it is?” you shot back, all false bravado. Your eyes sparkled mischievously and you darted for his office door.

He let you get out into the outer area of the office, next to Thomas’s desk before standing casually, straightening his sweater, and teleporting to the hallway outside of the offices. He leaned casually against the wall and waited…

… For the door to fly open as you dashed into the hall. He smiled wide and reached to grab you, only to find himself shoved backward by an invisible shield. You shot a shit-eating grin at him and said, “Problem?”

“You may have won the battle, my dear, but you will not win the war,” Sans vowed. 

You shrugged at his declaration, then took off running down the hallway. He listened to your footsteps, then teleported in the exact opposite direction. He positioned himself in the shadowy doorway of one of the other offices--that of a fish monster named Keels--and waited.

You did not disappoint.

You peeked around the corner of the hall and then crept quietly down the hallway, clearly attempting to circle back around to his office. Clever, but not clever enough. After all, strategy was his gift, and outthinking the enemy was his job. Even if the enemy happened to be a gorgeous mage that made his soul do cartwheels.

He let you get a few steps past his hiding spot before he sprung out of the doorway. He felt your magic buzz and grinned at the shield you put up. He should have known that you would guess where he was. “Very smart, love,” he said, “but you forgot one very important detail.”

“What’s that?” you asked, backing away from him.

“Shields are not effective against blue magic.” Your eyes widened, but he turned your soul blue before you could react and used his magic to pull you into his arms. He intended to catch you in an embrace, but you shifted at the last second and knocked his feet out from under him. He fell backward and you landed on top of him. He wheezed as one of your elbows connected with his ribs in the fall.

“Maybe,” you said, adjusting a bit so that you were more comfortably draped against him, your arms crossed on his sternum and your chin resting on top of your arms, “I didn’t forget anything and this is exactly where I wanted to be.”

He smirked at you. “It seems that perhaps our goals align then, my dear.” He dropped his magic and reached up for a kiss, thoughts of the security cameras in the Embassy hallways banished to the back of his mind. Surely this would be quite the show for some member of the security department on Monday, perhaps even one of his family members, but you were so warm, and beautiful, and right there and he couldn’t find it in himself to care much. His family watching a bit of making out wouldn’t kill him. He’d faced worse in Swapfell. You leaned closer until your lips nearly met his teeth before drawing back. He followed you a bit and it was your turn to smirk.

“If that’s the case, then we should probably go eat some dinner and get back to work,” you said using the same tone that you would have if you had suggested something very, very dirty. He couldn’t help but laugh a bit and firmly remind his libido that he was at the Embassy and security cameras really were a problem. 

You rolled off of him and scrambled to your feet, then turned back around to offer him your hand. He let you pull him up, but he kept hold of your hand and let you guide him back towards his office. “How are you so perfect?” he purred, pulling your hand up to his teeth to drop a kiss against your knuckles.

You snorted. “You’ve got a real bad case of the rose-colored glasses there, babe.”

But he knew the truth of it: you absolutely, positively deserved so much more than he could give you, but he was too selfish to let you go. Perhaps it was the Fell monster in him, but he wasn’t giving up any of it, not the paperwork dates or games of hide-and-go-seek after hours in the Embassy, not Helen’s or ice cream cake, and certainly not the soft warmth of your hand in his gloved phalanges. Not now and not ever.

***

Several hours later, long after the two of you finished the last of the nachos--it may not have been enough to feed an army, but it certainly left the two of you so full that you moaned you were going to explode--and he stored the remaining cake back in Thomas’s freezer for safekeeping, Sans finally finished the last thing on his list. You had completed everything that you could do a few hours earlier and ended up falling asleep on the loveseat, wrapped up in the blanket that he stored in one of the drawers under his desk just for you. He watched you indulgently, but it was very late and he wanted to get you home. He finished cleaning off his desk so that it would be ready to go when he returned Monday (and how incredible was it that he went from so far behind in his work that he could hardly function to ahead enough to take a day off for no reason other than he wanted to spend time with you?), then quietly padded over to you. He slipped an arm under your knees and the other under your back, scooping you up into a bridal carry.

You normally didn’t have any issue being woken up by him or by anyone. The Fell monsters and Cannibals all had issues; if you didn’t fall asleep beside them, trying to wake them would only result in injury. You and Stretch both learned that quickly to his and Edge’s shame; you’d each sported your own bruises for a while early in your relationships. 

This time, however, you yelped and threw a shield up around yourself. Sans gasped and tried to keep his grip on you, but you propelled yourself out of his arms and onto the ground. You gasped and scooted back from him until your back hit his bookshelf. Once again he was grateful for his fast reflexes when he stopped several books from falling on your head using his blue magic.

You kept your shield up between the two of you for a couple of seconds, but Sans saw the moment you recognized him. Your eyes went wide and you dropped the shield immediately. “Sans?” you gasped out. “Sans, I am so sorry!” You staggered to your feet and scrambled towards him and he pulled you into his arms, shushing you gently.

“Love, it’s fine,” he said. “I startled you. I think we both know that I would have done much worse if you’d startled me awake.”

“I guess but… I’m still sorry. I think I was having a nightmare.”

Sans furrowed his brow at that. You did have nightmares, of course, but it wasn’t nearly as routine as him or Mutt. You usually slept easily unless something specific was bothering you or your depression was acting up.

“I can feel you worrying about me up there, mama bear,” you said. “I’m fine it’s just been an eventful couple of months.”

Well, that was certainly true but, “What was the nightmare about?”

“I don’t remember,” you said quickly. Too quickly for his tastes. “Anyway, did you get done with everything that you needed to do?”

He decided to let it go for now; if it continued to be a problem, he would ask again or perhaps encourage you to set up an extra appointment with Dr. Springer. You only saw her once a month now. You joked that you’d graduated to that and you were extremely proud of yourself for it, but perhaps it was too soon? 

Before his silence became suspicious, he answered, “Yes, I am caught up on everything.”

“And ahead?” you asked and the hopefulness in your voice was endearing. “You can stay home with me tomorrow?”

“I can,” he agreed, nuzzling a kiss to your forehead. “And that’s all thanks to you, love. I know that this wasn’t the most romantic date we’ve ever had, but I cannot express to you how grateful I am for your help tonight.”

“Babe,” you said warmly. He leaned down and kissed you gently and when he pulled back, you were grinning. “You can thank me by hanging out with me all night and tomorrow. I’ve missed you.” You said the last part like it was a confession and he felt his soul flip a little at your admission.

“And I, you. Let’s go home.”

“Yeah,” you said happily. “Let’s go home.”

***

Hours later, Sans felt you stir next to him in his bed. He hadn’t fallen asleep yet, still basking in the afterglow a bit. You were snuggled in his arms, face pressed against his sternum, breathing evenly in your sleep, and he simply wanted to enjoy that for a while longer, let the stress of the week and the misery of turning you out of his home fade further and further away with each breath you took. 

So it was pretty obvious when your breathing hitched and you made a soft noise of discontentment. He froze and silently hoped you didn’t wake, but there was every possibility it was another nightmare, and he didn’t want to let you sleep through that either. He waited until he heard the second sound, a little whimper, followed by his name with a hint of fear to it. That was more than enough for him.

“Eleanor,” he said gently, shaking you a little bit. “Love, you’re dreaming.”

You made a small noise of fear and struggled in the blankets a bit. He let you instead of trying to touch you, though it made his soul cry out weakly to do so. He did not want a repeat of earlier, not here in the warmth and safety of his bedroom. 

Finally, you seemed to wake up enough to figure out where you were. You looked around, blinking owlishly at the room before turning to him. “Oh, sorry,” you said. “Did I wake you up?”

“No,” he said truthfully.

You nodded, then scrubbed a hand down your face. “I’m gonna get some water, okay?”

“Stay here; I’ll get it for you,” he suggested. You just looked so cozy in the blankets and he really didn’t want you to wander out into the cold dark, his need to keep you snuggly and safe rearing its head.

“Nah, thanks. I need to pee now, too.” There was no arguing with that, so he let you roll out of the bed and stagger over to his closet. You yanked down his bathrobe and tied it around yourself. “BRB,” you said, then let yourself out of the door and closed it softly behind you. He sighed and laid back on the pillows, waiting for you to return.

He must have drifted off a bit because it felt like a nanosecond later that he heard your scream from the kitchen, followed by the smell of burning magic and the sound of something crashing to the floor. He jumped out of bed, all sleepiness instantly forgotten, his mind reeling. What had he been thinking, bringing you here? He hadn’t been; too distracted by your warmth and your nightmare and your admission that you missed him. Just like in Swapfell, distraction got you and the ones you loved hurt. His last coherent thought before teleporting downstairs was the bitter realization that you were right; this really had been an eventful couple of months… and it didn’t appear to be over yet.

*tbc*

Chapter Text

Sans wasn’t as serious about promises as the lazy-type brothers tended to be, but there was one promise that Sans held to no matter what. Even if he messed it up a few times when he was younger, back before he had enough HP and LV to make it stick, he still held to it as tightly as he could, no matter what. It was a promise to himself, made in that tiny apartment that his mother abandoned him and Mutt in; he promised himself that he would do anything to keep those he loved safe. First, it was his brother back in Swapfell: taking a job with the guard, gaining LV, bending the knee to an insane monarch, all to afford Mutt just a sliver of safety in that world. Then, he added you and the rest of his little family to the list, working his tailbone off at the Embassy to keep everyone safe, always being there when you needed him. He would do absolutely anything to keep you and the others safe, lay down his life, or take the lives of anyone that he had to. He didn’t like killing, never had, but if it meant keeping his family safe? Well. There was no question, not for him.

Which is why, when he teleported downstairs, he was already pumping killing intent into his magic. He had no doubt that you were in actual danger, not just screaming in surprise. He’d been with you for three years now through a litany of surprising and frightening circumstances and you’d never screamed like that, not once. You were scared, probably hurt, and it happened in his own home while he drowsed upstairs.

Mutt stepped out of the void in front of him (and Sans spared a thought to realize that Mutt willingly teleported when he heard you scream. He must have realized the same things that Sans had: you were in terrible danger). Sans grabbed his brother and yanked him backward, hissing, “Stay back!”

“Sans, it’s--”

“I know,” he hissed. “Stay the fuck out here.” He needed his brother to be safe, to stay safe. He would handle whatever was going on in the kitchen, just like he handled all of the horrible things that went on in Swapfell, all so that Mutt wouldn’t have to.

With that, he kicked open the kitchen door, magic flaring around his hands. He was prepared to kill on sight, to make sure that his housemate (because who else would it be? No proximity alarms were triggered; the threat came from inside the house and there was one skeleton here who made it clear that he hated you) never, ever touched you again. Distantly, in the back of his mind, a small and too-quiet voice begged him not to, to find another way, but it was easily drowned out by the roiling LV burning in his soul.

The kitchen was dark except for the faint crimson glow of eye lights. Sans doubted that you could even see what happened; you didn’t have the dark vision that he did. You were pressed against the wall, arms clutching at your chest. You were shaking ; Sans could see it from the doorway. His robe that had been neatly tied when you left his room was now mussed like someone had tried to rip it off of you .

Attempted murder, he expected. Perhaps even an attempt at eating you, sure. But… this? He did not expect this. He felt like his LV was going to burn out of his chest, like his soul was a coal sitting inside an ice sculpture, destined to melt through and tear its way out. Distantly, he recognized a guttural growl from somewhere, a noise of warning, then he was advancing on the monster before him. 

He didn’t see anything, anyone, except RED, RED , REDREDREDREDRED .

The next thing he felt was a horrible, burning pain in his eye socket, then someone was screaming and he was hitting something hard, before finally slipping into unconsciousness.

***

When he woke, it was with a feeling of horrible urgency. You were in danger, he had to get to you, he had to, had to…

But when he opened his sockets, you were leaning over him. He was lying on the couch in the living room and you were sitting on the coffee table, concern etched on your face. You weren’t wearing his robe anymore; you’d traded it out for one of his hoodies that he kept for you and a pair of leggings. Even as fuzzy as everything was, he could see that you had a cut across your face that had already been cleaned up. His left eye socket hurt, felt like it was being stabbed, but he was far more concerned with the cut on your face and the way you were rubbing at your chest.

“Are you alright?” he croaked, reaching for you.

“I’m fine,” you said firmly. You pressed your hand to his skull and he leaned into the touch. “Are you okay?”

“Skull hurts,” he admitted.

“Yeah, gettin’ slammed into a wall will do that to ya,” Mutt said. Sans looked past you and saw his brother standing behind you.

“What the hell happened?” he growled. In his state, he nearly missed how you flinched from him when he made that sound. He missed what it meant entirely, his battered skull barely keeping up with the obvious stuff without even worrying about your body language.

“We had a little misunderstanding in the kitchen,” you said. His hazy mind whispered lying to him, but he didn’t know why.

“Misunderstanding?”

“Yeah. I, uh, got scared when Papyrus was in there. When I got up to get water.”

Not true. “Scared.”

“I scared you,” you said softly, apologetically. “I didn’t mean to. You… Your LV lashed out, babe, and you hurt your socket worse with the surge of magic. But we’re all fine now.” Mostly true.

“I…?” Sans reached out and touched the cut on your face. You stiffened and let him. 

“It’ll be fine with some healing,” you insisted. “Blue is on his way over.” You didn’t call for Stretch or Papyrus . That meant something, but he couldn’t place it. “I think you have a concussion, so Jupe’s on his way over, too. Besides, he’s gotta take a look at that crack.” 

There was a knock on the door almost as soon as you finished speaking. He heard Mutt talking in low tones to someone, then Blue and Jupiter came into view. They wore matching expressions of concern. “Heal Eleanor first,” Sans said.

“That’s very sweet I’m sure,” Jupiter told him, “but you are far more injured. We will see what you need first.”

Sans made a low growling noise of warning, too busy looking at Jupiter to see how you flinched away from the sound.

“You can growl all you want, Black, but you do not frighten me,” Jupiter said coolly. “Surely you remember that Mars is my brother? I’m accustomed to growling, LV fits, and dissociative states. I sincerely doubt that you can scare me.”

“Don’t scare easily,” Sans said, and leaned back while Jupiter pressed his hand to his skull. He felt hot, green magic pouring through him.

Don’t scare easily.

You don’t scare easily. You don’t scream like that, not for no reason, certainly not just because there’s a skeleton in the kitchen. That didn’t make sense. You were lying to him, flat out, and he didn’t know why, but he did know it needed to stop. You were his mate, his, and you couldn’t lie, shouldn’t lie, he’d make sure you didn’t do it again, he would, he…

Thankfully, he drifted off again before he could give voice to any of those thoughts.

***

It was morning when he woke again. You were curled up against him on the couch, one hand gently clutching his pajama top right over where his soul was hidden. Your face was healed, he was pleased to see, and a glance around told him that Mutt was asleep in the recliner nearby. He raised one hand to his still-throbbing socket and found that his socket had a bandage over it. Fantastic.

Beside the coffee table, the new Papyrus was standing, wringing his hands. Sans had his hands free, so he signed, What happened?

Papyrus looked stricken, then signed, I scared her. Then you were mad.

Sans shook his head. Don’t lie to me. That’s not all that happened.

I’m sorry, Papyrus signed frantically. I can leave. Just don’t hurt Sans.

Sans felt his soul break a little as Papyrus hunched over, waiting for Sans’s judgment. He still didn’t know what actually happened, why you were lying to him, or what the hell was going on. But this alternate that reminded him so much of his own brother, whose world was the worst of all of them they’d encountered so far, who was missing his jaw for fuck’s sake, looked so miserable. He just couldn’t make it worse. It’ll be okay. No one is leaving, he signed, feeling defeat settling into his chest.

Papyrus’s eye light widened and brightened. Thank you! I will be good. The taller skeleton scurried off to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water that he quietly sat on the table where Sans could reach it. Then, he dashed upstairs, leaving Sans alone with the two most important people in his life.

He shut his socket s . Whatever was going on would still be there when you woke.

***

Dr. Springer got all three of you--you and the Horrorfell brothers--in first thing that morning. Sans slept through it, he was annoyed to realize, but he was grateful for her prompt reaction to the situation. When he woke late into the afternoon, Blue was curled up in the recliner reading a novel. He brought over a doctor and Sans could admit that he was grateful that the small skeleton hadn’t tried to rush him to the hospital instead. The doctor, an insectoid monster with long antennae, declared that Sans’s eyesight was in more danger now that it had been previously and ordered that he continue to wear the eyepatch until the eye specialist could see him. He accepted it mildly, his mind still across town with you. Despite the fact that the eyepatch made him look like his Alphys, he didn’t much mind the thing, and he fully expected that his eyesight would completely recover. Although with how his life generally went, that optimism may be unmerited. 

After the doctor left, Blue quickly assembled other members of their family and soon Sans was being checked over by every skeleton in their cobbled-together group. Everyone had a different muttered opinion, worried question, accusing glance, but what they all had in common was that not one of them really knew what happened the night before. Mutt quietly filled in a few blanks to Sans’s horror, but the question of what happened between you and Papyrus in the kitchen that night still hung in the air.

There was also the fact that you were obviously avoiding him. You were around in the periphery, fluttering around getting everyone drinks, talking softly to Stretch, letting everyone check you over too (though you seemed to avoid Comic and Red and if his head was less fuzzy maybe he could figure out what the hell that was about)… But you didn’t get anywhere near him. Any time he caught you looking at him, you quickly averted your gaze and dashed off to do something else. At first, he hoped it was just your nesting instincts going into overdrive with everyone in the house and him injured, but as the night wore on, he was forced to face the fact that you were avoiding him.

It made his soul feel itchy. Heavy. Nervous. Scared.

The couch shifted as Edge sat down next to him on his right so that Sans could see him. He silently offered Sans a glass of water, which he accepted irritably. He wanted something stronger but Jupiter made it clear to everyone that he wasn’t to have alcohol for a few days “just in case.” He sipped at the water and watched you talk softly with Stretch on the other side of the room.

“I am sorry,” Edge said, and for a moment Sans thought that maybe his skull really wasn’t on straight because he didn’t follow the train of thought that got them here.

“You’re sorry?” Sans parroted back.

“I… I was sure that this would all be okay,” he said slowly and awkwardly. “I thought that just because we all adjusted well that they would, that the new Sans’s obvious distaste for Ellie would dissipate. I should have taken them in. I had my reasons, of course, but...” Edge trailed off and looked towards their mates, laughing on the other side of the room. Sans knew Edge’s reasons; they were the same ones that made him decide he was the one for the job. Stretch had low HP. If Papyrus had attacked Stretch by mistake, he could dust. You weren’t okay right now, but you were alive at least. And now Edge felt guilt over that?

Sans stared at him, then laughed. He managed to get himself under control when Edge began to look like he was going to go get Jupiter to check on Sans’s mental condition. “Sorry, no, no. It’s just… She was harmed by me in my home. How the fuck can that be your fault?” Sans’s eye light settled on your cheek where he knew you had a freshly healed gash from his claws. “She’s avoiding me. She won’t tell me what really happened. And I cannot do a damn thing about it because the entire multiverse is in my living room.”

Edge nodded. “I think I can help with that.” He rose from the couch, then looked back at Sans. “You and Ellie are important to me. If I can help…” He trailed off, looking as uncomfortable as Sans felt with this display of affection. 

“Save it for Stretch,” Sans said amicably. “But. Thank you, Edge.”

Edge nodded stiffly and then made his way over to Red. After that, Sans couldn’t say that he understood exactly how everyone was removed from his home so quickly without any yelling or swearing, but somehow they were gone. It left you without anyone to hide behind, but you tried anyway. “I’ll take care of the dishes,” you squeaked and darted into the kitchen.

“Go get ‘er. I’m gonna get the bros upstairs some grub,” Mutt said, having suddenly appeared beside Sans on the couch. “Call if ya need me.” Sans nodded at him and couldn’t hold back a smile as Mutt teleported away. It seemed that this recent disaster was making him more comfortable entering the void again.

Good. At least there was one silver lining in this gods awful cloud.

Sans chose to walk into the kitchen so as to not spook you (and because Jupiter made him promise not to teleport for a few days). You were standing with your back to the door. You were bent over the sink but you didn’t appear to be actually doing anything. “Love?” Sans said, just loudly enough that you could hear him. He felt like his soul shattered when you flinched a little.

“Hey. I got this,” you said. 

“You don’t appear to be doing anything,” he pointed out. He did not point out the way your voice shook when you spoke. He approached the counter slowly, giving you time to move away if you wanted to, but you stiffened and stayed still. “Talk to me,” he said. He heard the pleading in his voice but he couldn’t bring himself to be ashamed of it.

“What do you wanna talk about?” you quipped.

“Perhaps what happened last night.”

“I told you--”

“A lie,” Sans interrupted as gently as he could. “You told me a lie. Love, I don’t understand why you are lying to me about this.” And he didn’t. Did you think he’d be upset with you? Were you afraid of what would happen to the Horrorfell brothers if he knew the truth? He couldn't say.

Your shoulders sagged a little but you didn’t say anything, so he decided to go a different direction. “Alright, can we talk about why you are avoiding me?”

“I’m not.”

“That’s a lie, too.” Sans felt an ember of anger flash in his chest. “You made me promise not to lie to you because honesty is so important, but you are standing in my kitchen lying to me!”

“Sans--”

“No!” he said. He didn’t realize how loud his voice was until you shrank from it, and that simple action turned that ember of anger into absolute misery. He hadn’t seen you shrink like that, not in a long time, not since the last time Oliver had…

Yelled at you.

Hit you.

Hurt you .

Realization washed over him and damn it all, he was supposed to be smart. “I hurt you,” Sans said quietly, and that quiet confession did what the rest of it hadn’t. You turned and looked at him and he knew immediately why you hadn’t before: you were crying. “I hurt you. I scared you. It reminded you of him .” You looked stricken when he said that, but he could see that it was true and, “I am so, so sorry. I… It’s not an excuse. But. My LV flared when I saw… I thought he… and… I lost control. It’s not. It’s not okay,” he said. “If you need to… to go? To take a break. I understand that. It’s… It’s okay.” It wasn’t, it couldn’t be, he needed you, but more than that: he loved you. And he never wanted you to look like this ever again. Especially not because of him. “Yes,” he said, this time with more conviction. “You should take a break. We should take a break. I will get Mutt to take you home.”

You looked at him like he’d just punched you in the face. “Sans--”

“You don’t want Mutt?” he asked. No, you couldn’t hate his brother, too, just because of what he’d done. Maybe you just needed time. “That’s fine. I can call Stretch.” He fished his phone out of his pocket and began scrolling through his contacts.

“Put the phone down!” you said, a desperation in your voice he didn’t think he’d ever heard before, but he couldn’t do it. He didn’t want to look at you, to see the hurt and fear and whatever else he would see in your face. He couldn’t . He knew he’d lose his resolve, beg you to stay, and he couldn’t. You should leave. You shouldn’t be with someone with LV, someone who could ever hurt you for any reason. There were safer monsters out there; hell, every version of him was safer for you than he was. Even the two cannibals had lower LV than he did. 

But you didn’t leave.

You grabbed his phone and pushed it down. “Babe, look at me,” you said firmly. “Please.”

That ‘please’ got him. He looked at you and was surprised to see that you looked determined. Angry? Maybe angry. 

“Are you trying to break up with me?” you asked.

He blinked at you. Yes! His brain screamed. Yes, protect her! You said you’d do anything! Do this! He opened his mouth to answer, to say yes, to make you leave. It’d rip his soul apart, of course it would, but… He glanced at where the gash on your cheek had been before someone healed it. 

He hurt you.

“I hurt you,” he said finally. “I’m not safe for you. You should go.”

He expected you to yell at him, maybe cry, maybe storm out. He didn’t expect you to scoff and roll your eyes at him. You scrubbed your hands over your eyes and sighed. “If you skeletons could get over your martyr complexes maybe we could actually get somewhere.” You stepped forward cautiously and gently leaned against his chest and he froze. Should he hug you? Touch you? He didn’t know and he couldn’t bear it if what he did was wrong. “You’re not him, Sans,” you said firmly. “I know that. You’re the best man I know. I love you so, so much and… And that’s why I avoided you earlier. I shouldn’t be scared, I’ve never been scared of you. And I’m not! It’s… Loud noises. Yelling. I can’t control how I react and I know it’s not fair to you. I’m sorry.” You shifted so that you could look up at him. “But I always feel safe with you. There’s nowhere else I want to be. And, quite frankly, I’m a little offended that you think I can’t make that choice for myself."

He looked down at you and tried to formulate a response. He could feel his resolve weakening with each second that you leaned into him. Before he could think of something to say, you spoke again. “Do you want me to leave? Are you mad?”

Just like on the couch with Edge, what you said was so absurd that he couldn’t help but laugh. Your eyes widened a bit and he got himself under control. “I’m sorry. It’s just that question! Of course I don’t want you to leave! I want you here forever. The only thing I want less than that is for you to be hurt.” He took a chance and ran a finger along your cheek where you’d been bleeding last night. “I hurt you. I brought someone into this home that endangered you, allowed you to be attacked in my home while I was upstairs, and then hurt you myself. I would understand if… I don’t want! But if you needed to leave.”

“Okay,” you said, quirking a smile at him. “Neither of us wants out. So we’re in it. Stop trying to 'Captain of the Fucking Royal Guard' me. I'm a big girl and I know when someone is good for me, and you're good for me.” You wrapped your arms around him. “Hug me back, idiot.”

He did. He nuzzled against you, breathing in your scent. “I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you, too,” you assured him. “I don’t want to give up on the Horrorfell brothers,” you added, in yet another non sequitur. “They’re still you and Mutt. They’re still family.”

Sans sighed. “We will have to do more nights at your home. And you won’t be able to be alone in the house with either of them in it.”

You nodded. “That’s fair. I really don’t think Papyrus meant to hurt me; it was a lot like your LV states. They need this place. They need you.”

He didn’t realize how much tension was holding in his soul until he heard you say that you didn’t want him to kick them out and that you would agree not to be alone in his house for a while. He loved you so much and if anyone could help him help the Horrorfell brothers, it was you. The two of you stayed in the kitchen like that for a while before he teleported you home to get a safe night of sleep. He still didn't know what happened in that damn kitchen, but he would find out later. For now, curled up next to you in bed and watched you sleep. He silently hoped that you were right, that he wasn’t too dangerous for you, that you could stay forever. That he could keep his promise that he made all of those years ago, in another time when he was another person.

*tbc*

Chapter Text

You were just thirsty and focused on your nightmare. 

Someone was in the kitchen but that was totally fine. It was--

Sans? Sans was leaned over the sink. You smiled at him, but when he turned to you his eye lights--no, light--were red. You tried to talk to him, to ask what was wrong, but his face turned into an angry snarl. And… and that sweater… It was the one he wore when he left you for Nora. No. He wouldn’t, that wasn’t real--

Your cheek hurt. He cut it, you realized dimly, then you were flying through the air, slamming into the wall, and he was standing over you.

But it wasn’t him.

It was Oliver, his face twisted maliciously laughing, one eye light glowing--

No, it was Dr. Hueline with that machine and she was grabbing at you and your chest hurt and you were screaming screaming screaming scre--

Nearly two weeks had passed since The Incident in the kitchen and Sans was no closer to figuring out what actually happened to you. You weren’t about to tell him, not now and not ever, and if that meant enduring nightmares every night, well. That was just the price you would have to pay. 

Still hurt like hell, though.

You hadn’t slept at Sans’s house since that night. Any time the two of you shared a bed, it was your bed with your two fur children and one feathered one, but even that only happened the night after The Incident. You knew Sans wanted to stay with you, of course he did, but he also couldn’t bring himself to leave Mutt alone at the house with the Horrorfell brothers overnight. You knew that he was terrified he’d go home to discover another Incident happened and that he would find a pile of dust where his brother should be. At least you were safe at your house; neither of the Horrorfell brothers had ever been there so he didn’t have to worry about them showing up at your house while he wasn’t there.

Not that you thought that would be a problem. Horrorfell Sans seemed to mellow out after the incident and you were sure Papyrus never meant to hurt you in the first place. In fact, you were hopeful that you were making progress with both of the skeletons. Maybe soon you would get to spend the night with your boyfriend again instead of every night ending with a kiss goodnight in your living room when he teleported you home. Hey, a girl can dream.

Speaking of, Sans was picking you up soon. It was time for the monthly movie night and this time Stretch and Edge were hosting. You leaned over your bathroom mirror and fiddled with the concealer, careful not to encroach on Danny Butterman’s space on the sink. The pigeon always hung out with you, but lately he hadn’t left your side. It made you wonder if he knew what happened in the kitchen. The two cats, never to be outdone, were both curled up on the toilet lid lazily watching you try to blend the stuff into the skin under your eyes. You didn’t often bother with much more than eyeliner and mascara for movie night, but concealer helped hide the dark bags left by the nightmares. You could play it off, definitely for sure, but Sans was still a little fragile after… Well, everything. The two of you’d been up half the night talking and you knew he was still afraid of hurting you. Somehow you didn’t think that him seeing you weren’t sleeping would help things.

You heard a familiar pop of teleportation in the living room. “I’ll be there in a sec!” you called to him. You rolled your eyes as both cats scurried out of the cracked door and into the living room. "Traitors," you muttered under your breath.

“Take your time,” he called back, and you listened to him pad around the house. You grinned as you heard his low baritone talking to the cats. You finished primping and gave yourself a firm once over in the mirror. One of Sans’s shirts… Check. Cute hair… Check. A shade of plum lipstick that always made Sans’s eye lights flash… Check. 

Look, if you were trying to hide stuff from Sanslock Holmes out there, it was best to distract him.

You slipped out of the bathroom quietly so you could watch… Ah yes. Sans was in your living room and he had your huge black cat, Zuko, in his arms cooing at him. Your calico, Nugget, was perched on top of his skull kneading at it and purring. You grinned as you listened to him talk to your cats, his voice as serious as ever. “I know, I have missed you as well,” he told Zuko solemnly. “I promise that it isn’t you and, before you ask, it isn’t your mother. We are still very much in love. I just have some other things going on just now. But you are watching over her, yes?” His eye lights flicked up towards Nugget on the top of his skull. “I heard you caught a cricket for her last week. That was very brave and I am very proud of you.”

Oh, your HEART.  

You waited for a break in his monologue before taking a couple of deliberately loud steps so that he could hear you coming. You wanted him to keep doing cute shit and not get embarrassed when you caught him, so you were very careful to make sure you never “caught him.” When you entered the living room for real, both cats were rubbing against his legs and he was casually leaning against your couch.

Gods, he looked good . Somehow he was pulling off the eye patch; instead of absolutely ridiculous, he looked suave, like he'd just stepped off of a magazine cover. You wondered if he was trying to distract you from something because he was wearing that burnt orange sweater and jeans combo that you liked oh so much. It didn’t hurt that he was looking at you like you were a goddess either. He had bags under his eyes that you knew matched the ones you were hiding, but that adoring look was accompanied by huge, bright eye lights and you melted under that gaze.

“You look beautiful,” he told you softly.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” you told him coyly, and he crossed the room to pull you into a hungry kiss. You drew back, breathing hard, after a few minutes. “We don’t have to go to movie night,” you suggested.

He looked at you and you could see him wavering. Eventually, he sighed and shook his head. “No. No, this is their first movie night.” He looked at you apologetically.

Nope, none of that. You grinned and caught his hand. “I’m excited,” you said happily. “Let’s go.”

He paused before he pulled you into the void. “I don’t need to remind you not to be alone with either of them,” he said seriously.

“You don’t, but since you did: I will not be alone with either of them.” You leaned up and kissed his cheek. “I know how worried you are, babe, but we have a plan and this is all going to be fine.”

And you did have a plan. Dr. Springer got all of you into see her immediately the next morning--you called her emergency line that night while you waited for Sans to wake up--and she helped New Sans and Papyrus form plans that they shared with all of you. There were triggers to watch for, grounding techniques, breathing techniques, and even a directive of what to do when these attacks happened and what phrases would be helpful. They also had what Jupiter called “grounding objects” to help them recenter in the here and now. Papyrus’s was a necklace that had the most gaudy sun you’d ever seen on it and Sans’s was something that he kept in his pocket. You had no idea what the actual object was, but it didn’t matter. There was a plan and you knew that soothed your boyfriend’s frayed nerves a bit.

He pulled you into the void, and the two of you stepped out onto the porch of Edge and Stretch’s house. You kept hold of his hand and grinned up at him as he knocked on the door. It swung open only seconds later, a very bouncy Blue standing in the doorway with starry eye lights. “Come in!” he chirped, stepping out of your way so that the two of you could enter. 

The living room was already full of skeletons; it seemed that you and Sans were some of the last to arrive. Red and Comic were devouring the hor d'oeuvres--devilled eggs maybe?--and Papyrus and Jupiter were watching them in disdain. Mars was eating something that left his teeth stained a soft pink, to your utter delight. Edge and Stretch were nowhere to be seen and you privately hoped they weren’t making out in the kitchen or something. You wanted them to be happy but you had no interest in watching them swap spit.

Before you had time to wonder too deeply, there was another knock on the door. You felt Sans shift you a little so that you were behind him, putting himself between you and the door. You fought back your instincts to roll your eyes or make some quip about how you were not a delicate flower, but you knew that Sans was still struggling to tamp his LV back down. If standing between you and a door settled his soul, he was welcome to it. If Blue noticed this sudden protectiveness, he did not comment. He simply shoved past your boyfriend and opened the door with the same cheery grin that had greeted you. “Hello all!” he chirped. “Come on in!”

Mutt came in first, fist bumping Blue on his way by. He stopped in front of you and made a show of looking you up and down. “Do I know this person?” he asked in faux confusion. “I haven’t seen them in so long it would be impossible to tell!” You laughed and punched him lightly on the shoulder, which he responded to by adding, “Why it must be my old friend Eleanor! Only she would strike me in this way!” He dropped the faux confusion and swept you up into his arms, spinning around with you. 

When you stopped spinning, you were over by the sofa. You allowed the stealthily protective gesture because it really had been too long since you’d seen your best friend. The team’s caseload had been suspiciously light since the Horrorfell brothers moved in with half of your little team, partially due to the paranoia of your two Captains of the Royal Guard and partially due to the fact that Mutt had been hired by most of the town’s businesses to do their window display art this year. Everyone positively adored the mural that he did for the Embassy and, once they figured out that he could be hired, he’d had no shortage of commission offers. He’d even taken Mars with him on several of the calls. Apparently Mars was wicked good at small, detailed areas of the displays. All of that combined into a perfect storm that meant you literally hadn’t seen Mutt in the entire two weeks since The Incident. You’d texted, sure, but that wasn’t the same.

“Hi,” you said happily.

“Hi,” he answered. “Missed ya.”

“Yeah, it’s all very happy but can y’all sit yer asses down? My bro won’ bring out the homemade donuts ‘til we’re all ‘seated and properly prepared’,” Red said.

You snickered at his spot-on impression of Edge and sank onto the couch beside Mutt, leaving an open space for Sans on your other side. You glanced back at the door and saw that the Horrorfell brothers were standing with your boyfriend signing to one another. Stretch had been teaching you some Hands so, despite the fact that you were far from fluent, you did recognize your own name and the motion for ‘talk’ a few times in there. You elbowed Mutt, who turned back from whatever conversation he was having with Red with a grunt. “What’re they saying?” you asked softly.

He turned and watched the conversation for a moment then leaned over to you to whisper, “Apparently yer shrink told New Sans to talk to ya and our boy wants ‘im ta jus’ leave ya alone.”

“Ugh,” you said, crossing your arms and leaning back. “I know he’s got the LV flares right now but he needs to chill out. They’ve done fine the last couple of times I’ve come over for dinner. They’re wearing puffy coats right now, for stars sake!”

“Eh, I get it,” Comic said sagely. He slanted a glance at Red. “Be harder to forgive shit someone did to Red than it would if they did it to me.”

“Ya charmer,” Red said with a cute little blush.

While you were distracted, the little trio made their way over to the couches. Edge and Stretch appeared from the kitchen and Edge insisted on taking the puffy coats that the Horrorfell brothers were wearing and secreted them away in the front closet. Stretch dramatically placed a tray of Edge’s homemade donuts on the coffee table and had to promptly yank his arms back to keep Red, Comic, and Mutt from accidentally tearing one off in pursuit of a donut. 

Sans brought one over to you as he sat down next to you on the couch. You accepted the donut grudgingly and almost felt bad when he looked at you with one confused eye light. Almost. You did still allow him to snake his arm around your shoulders, though. You could be a little pissed at his overprotective routine and miss him desperately at the same time.

The movie tonight was a boring one. Even Sans’s progressively boldening wandering hands weren’t enough to keep your attention. Your little family was working their way through the Top 100 Greatest Films of all time and you’d already seen most of them. Tonight was All Quiet on the Western Front and how anyone thought showing a war film to a room full of PTSD patients was a good idea was beyond you. They all seemed to be handling it well, but gods you hated that movie. You stood and stretched, whispering assurances that you were fine and just needed the restroom. It was mostly true; you did need the restroom, but you also didn’t want to watch the movie and you were starting to feel a little sick.

You locked yourself away in the upstairs bathroom, the same one that you’d dreamed about when you were in Dr. Hueline’s machine and all hells you didn’t need to think about that right now, and peeked at yourself in the mirror. Your chest hurt again, but you looked okay. You freshened up your lipstick and concealer and leaned over the sink and took a few gulping breaths. It wasn’t that bad; you’d be fine.

There was a knock on the door and you assumed that Sans was here to check on you. How long had you been gone? Shit. You didn’t think it’d been that long; maybe he wanted to let his hands wander a bit further? “Come in,” you said, swallowing back the dull ache one more time and schooling your face into passivity.

Well, you were partially right that Sans was up here. You were completely wrong about which one, though. New Sans was standing in front of you with his claws tucked into the pockets of the black sweats he was wearing. He looked up at you and something in your face must have freaked him out, because he moved quickly, shoving you back into the tiny bathroom and pulling the door shut behind him. You heard the door lock click into place and you swallowed hard. “Uh… Sans?” you said hesitantly. You should scream, you knew you should, but the image of your Sans’s empty sockets as he reached for you in the throes of his LV was enough to shut you up.

“Doc said I should tryna talk ta ya,” he said.

“Okay… what, uh, would you like to talk about?”

He just stared at you for a minute, then he sighed. “I don’t get you.”

“Okay?”

“I… the mages in our world were worse than… than anythin’. It’s their fault Paps can’ talk an’... an’ e’rythin’ else,” he said softly. “I’ve been waitin’ for ya ta decide ta kill us.”

“I’m not--”

“Then Paps tried ta kill ya in the worst way. Ya coulda got rid o’ us. Easy.” Sans stalked towards you. “I don’ get it. I know what he tried ta do ta ya. I could feel it in my magic! An’ ya didn’ say nothin’! If ya had… If ya had, they’d of killed ‘im.” He was inches from you when he said, “Why didn’ ya tell Black? What do ya want from us?”

“I don’t want anything from you,” you said softly. “You’re the same people as my boyfriend and best friends, but in a terrible situation. I don’t want anything except for you guys to be safe here.”

He moved as quickly as you knew any Sans could when they wanted to. His claw shot out and grabbed you by the throat, lifting you off your feet. “I outa kill ya ta make sure ya don’ change ya mind,” he hissed. “Make sure ya ain’ lyin’.” You held still; you tried to summon your magic to your fingers to throw up a shield, but your soul whined in protest and you felt the magic fizzle. You tried to force down your panic as he stared at you, trying to figure out what to do if he didn’t decide to let you go.

He leaned a little closer to your face. “But then ya boys’d kill me. An’ if I die, Paps dies. Maybe that’d be better, though, yeah? He’s miserable, ain’ he?” You felt your eyes start to water. You were going to have to act soon or you’d pass out… 

Then he dropped you, letting you crumble to the floor and gasp for air. 

He turned his back to you, either not afraid of you or begging you to kill him, you couldn’t be sure which. “But I’m not gonna kill ya, mage. Not ‘til ya give me a reason. If there’s a chance… A chance my bro can be happy up here, that’s worth the danger.” He turned around to face you, one of his eyes glowing like you’d seen so many times in other skeletons. “When ya betray us, though, it won’ jus’ be you I kill. Ya feel me?” With that, he stalked out of the bathroom, leaving you on the floor.

***

Black was clearly getting worried. You’d been gone too long for his tastes; his LV was still unsettled and his worry about tonight, while not unfounded, was clouding his judgement. That’s why he’d carefully handed your care off to Edge for the evening. Edge’s mind wasn’t clouded by roiling LV so he would be less likely to make a critical mistake.

So, when he noticed that the new Sans was gone and you hadn’t come back yet, he nodded to Black and slipped upstairs himself. He heard muffled voices coming from the bathroom, one that he recognized as almost his brother. He gritted his teeth and shoved the door open, revealing you looking like you’d just fallen to the ground. You were sitting up a little bit and your hand was on your throat. Edge didn’t miss the angry red marks underneath your hand. He strode forward and knelt beside you. “Are you alright?” he asked softly. He looked around the room, heckles raised. As far as he knew, neither of the Horrorfell brothers ever developed the ability to teleport, but that didn’t explain where your attacker was now. If he wasn’t in the room, the Edge had no idea how he’d managed to slip by him without teleporting.

“I’m fine,” you said, and he didn’t miss that your voice was a touch raspy.

“So he grabbed your throat,” he said calmly. He was furious, of course, but it wouldn’t help matters for you to know that as well.

“Nope.”

Ah yes. Lying even though you were in a dangerous situation and it was painfully obvious that you weren’t telling the truth. It was no wonder that you and Stretch were best friends; Stretch also had no sense of self-preservation and a penchant for not telling the truth. 

Edge took a deep breath to settle himself, then tried again. “Ellie, I understand that you care for these brothers, but if someone is actively hurting you--”

“Then what?” you asked coldly. Your eyes snapped up to his and he swore he could see a pinkish red tint to them. “What do you do about it? Do you throw him in jail? Have the judge dust him? Kick him out on the street? What exactly happens, Edge, if it turns out that he did grab me?”

Edge was a bit taken aback by how cold your tone was. Did you truly believe that they would throw out their brothers into the cold?

“Or,” you continued, your voice taking a high pitch that Edge had long since learned indicated high levels of upset, “do you maybe just kick me out? They’re family; they’re versions of everybody’s brothers. If it turns out I’m not safe around them, I put them in danger of themselves, well, it makes more sense to get rid of the loud-mouthed meddlesome mage, right?”

By the time the first tear fell, Edge understood the problem clearly. He’d seen the simulation tapes for Dr. Hueline’s experiment and knew exactly what your brain constructed. He knew what everyone had said to you, how it hurt you enough that your soul cracked and nearly disintegrated on the table. He recognized that funhouse version of himself’s words to you when you’d come to ask for his help. He’d been at work when you snuck into his office and he’d told you that he simply didn’t need you, a loud-mouthed meddlesome mage, that you weren’t family, you’d never be family.

It seemed that those scars, left from wounds that weren’t even actually inflicted by him and the other skeletons, ran deep. 

He shifted and pulled you against him in a hug. You stiffened, shocked. Edge didn’t often express any affection to anyone except Stretch and physical affection was unheard of. It wasn’t his preference, certainly, but he could do it when his family required it.

“You are our family,” he said resolutely. “No matter what happens, who else comes to us. You are firmly established in this family and no one and nothing can take you from it. New family members do not mean that old ones are less loved. Do you care less for Red and me now that there are new Fell monsters here?”

“No,” you said. Your voice was small like it rarely was, a weakness you reserved for only the direst of situations.

“Then please believe that you have not and will not be lessened in our affections.”

“What if…” you trailed off softly, painfully.

“Ask,” Edge encouraged. Whatever it was clearly hurting you, it was better to lance the wound and get it out in the open, whatever it was.

“What if Sans and I broke up? If he… he decided to be done with me?”

Edge felt his soul squeeze at that thought. You and Black breaking up would be nearly as horrible as Stretch and himself separating, both for the couple and for the family, but, “I won’t lie to you, things would be very difficult. But you are my family whether or not you are dating Black.” He paused but found he had to ask. “Are you… is that something you’re considering?”

The aghast look you gave him settled something in his soul. “Of course not. He’s my life. But… He puts up with a lot of shit with me,” you said.

Edge sighed. “And you put up with a lot of shit with him. You are the single greatest thing that has ever happened to Black; I cannot imagine a circumstance under which he would decide to leave you. He is embarrassingly fond of you.”

You laughed a little and nodded. “Okay.” You pulled back from him and wiped your eyes. “New Sans… He, uh, wanted to know what I want from him, then told me that he wasn’t going to hurt me until I gave him a reason to.”

That, surprisingly, made Edge feel a bit better. “Sounds like you reached an understanding.”

“I think so. Do you have to tell Sans?”

“He’s going to notice the marks on your neck just like I did.”

“Heal them?” you asked. “It’s not… I’ll tell him. But his LV’s a mess right now and that’s the last thing he needs.”

“I will not help you hide this from him,” Edge said. “But I would suggest you borrow a sweatshirt and talk to him about it after the movie night.”

“Deal.” You pushed yourself to your feet, then held out your hand to Edge to pull him up as well. He let you pull him up, then retrieved one of Stretch’s hoodies for you. He escorted you downstairs and hid a smile when you flounced onto the couch and curled up against Black. He met Edge’s eyes, a question in them. She’ll talk to you later. Enjoy the movies. She’s alright, Edge signed in Hands. Black nodded almost imperceptibly and wrapped an arm around you.

***

Sans was obviously confused when you rejoined him on the couch in a faded orange sweatshirt. Hell, all the skeletons were confused, but no one asked any questions. You saw Edge sign something to your boyfriend, so you assumed that kept him from interrogating you. You swallowed back the Big Feelings that you accidentally spilled all over Edge. You really hadn’t realized that you were feeling so fragile about all of this. Just something you were going to have to talk to Dr. Springer about at your session next week. Awesome.

Sans kept fiddling with the hood and it was really distracting you from the calm facade you were trying to project. Your soul hurt, still whining from the attempt to expend magic and that was disturbing on its own, not to mention the handprint-shaped bruises you were sure were forming on your neck as you snuggled against him. 

It was a dangerous game you were playing.

Sans seemed far more interested in a different dangerous game, though. His hands were wandering even more than before you left and he was leaning over to nuzzle at your neck. He sighed contentedly as he did so and you gritted your teeth. “Not with the entire family here,” you hissed at him.

“Let’s leave,” he suggested softly in your ear.

“Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?” you said with a laugh.

“Your boyfriend has missed you desperately,” he said drily, “and this movie is terrible.”

You couldn’t argue with that, but, “What about Mutt?”

“He and the Horrorfell brothers are having a sleepover with Mars and Jupiter.”

“You arranged a sleepover for your little brother and his friends?” you asked.

Sans shrugged noncommittally and continued to nuzzle your neck. You gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead that he leaned into, practically purring. “What’s gotten into you?” you giggled.

“‘Bout a bottle of monster alcohol,” Mutt said.

“Oh no. Is he drunk?”

“Nope, just slightly impaired,” Mutt said. “You think I’d let him get drunk on the first night the two of you’ve had alone in two weeks?”

You firmly pushed Sans away and forced yourself not to laugh at the betrayed sound he made. “We are finishing the movie and you are keeping your hands to yourself until you sober up,” you hissed.

“I’m not drunk,” he countered.

You shifted and grabbed one of his hands in your own and curled up against him. “Then hold still and watch the damn movie,” you said.

“I can watch the movie,” he sniffed before disengaging from you entirely. He even scooted like three inches over so that no part of him was touching you anymore. You forced yourself not to whine at the loss of your skeletal heat source but you still felt slightly bereft. You rolled your eyes to cover your sadness and shifted so that your whole focus was on the screen.

Well, most of it. Your soul still hurt and your mind was still swirling with leftover emotions.

You felt eye lights on you and glanced around. Stretch was staring at you from across the sectional, sockets narrowed. You learned how to sign “what” already, so you did so. He continued staring intently at your chest for a moment before flicking his eye lights back up to your confused face. His skull was unreadable but you shot him a dirty look, just in case.

He didn’t see anymore, right?

You pointedly ignored him and tried to scoot back up against Sans, only to be met with him pushing you back. “I’m trying to watch the movie,” he told you with an arched brow. He didn’t even actually look at you. You sighed and pulled your knees up to your chest and pointedly didn’t rub your sternum and tried not to pout too openly.

“Here,” Mutt said softly and poked you with a bottle. It was the remnants of the bottle of monster alcohol that Sans hadn’t finished. You glanced at it and then took a sip. You didn’t want to be drunk either but all hells you needed something to do. “Prob’ly enough,” Mutt said, tucking the bottle back wherever it had come from.

Gods, this was the worst movie.

You sighed and climbed off the couch. “I’m getting more popcorn and another soda,” you declared to the room and wandered towards the kitchen. You shoved your way through the swinging door and stretched as you made your way over to the fridge. You opened it up and leaned against the cool shelves. Your soul was finally calming down so you let yourself take some more cooling breaths.

Only to nearly scream when someone grabbed you from behind.

“Sh, shhh,” Sans purred in your ear and you relaxed into his arms a little.

“You scared me!”

“Sorry, sorry. Just wanted to spend more time with you,” he said as he nuzzled against your neck. 

“Glad you did. I’ve really missed you.”

He sighed. “Say it again. Lunch dates and dinner is great but I’ve missed waking up next to you.”

Without thinking, you tilted your neck to give him better access. He pushed your hair out of the way and started to nuzzle at your throat. You startled when he made a sound of surprise. You glanced over at him and stilled when you saw that his visible eye light shrank to a pin prick. You were confused for a second until he gently touched the side of your throat. 

Fuck.

“Babe--” you began weakly, but he was already dragging you over to one of the kitchen chairs and frantically touching your neck with gentle and fearful prodding.

“What the hell happened?” he growled. “When did this happen? Who…?” he trailed off and his eye lights blinked out. “Sans,” he growled, more angrily this time.

As if on cue, the kitchen door swung open and Edge and Mutt came in. You gritted your teeth and pointedly ignored them, instead turning and focusing on Sans.

“Babe, stop. Turn your eye lights back on.” Your soul was pounding. You knew he would never hurt you, not on purpose, and even if he tried Mutt and Edge would intervene, but you didn’t think you could handle another LV fit, not right now. 

He visibly stiffened, then his eye light was back. It brought a wave of relief with it. He was still with you, not trapped in the dark corners of his own mind. “When you went upstairs,” he said blankly. “He did this when you went upstairs.”

“Yeah, but--”

“And you didn’t do anything,” he snarled. “You didn’t call for us, you didn’t use magic, you did nothing! Why? You said you wouldn’t do anywhere alone with them!”

“Sans--” Mutt said, his voice filled with warning, but you talked over him.

“I didn’t know it was him at first and then he just sort of… had a hold of me,” you said. “But he said he didn’t want to kill me--”

Sans snorted. “Is that supposed to be fucking comforting?”

That made you bristle a little. “Well, it would be comforting to me if someone said they didn’t want to kill you. ”

“Let’s all just calm down--” Edge tried.

“He tried to strangle you!” Sans yelled. “And you’re sitting here telling me not to worry about it because he told you he doesn’t want to kill you. Is this the same logic you applied to your ex-datemate, because if so I’m beginning to see how you got into that situation!”

You saw the regret on his face the instant the words left his mouth, but it wasn’t enough. You were on your feet and backing away from the table angrily. You turned on your heel and stomped towards the door, avoiding looking at Mutt and Edge. You didn’t want to see the pity in their eye lights or, even worse, silent agreement. You just wanted to get out before you lost your mind. Your soul thundered erratically in your chest as you tried to shove past them.

“Eleanor--” Sans began, but you rounded on him wildly.

“Not right now,” you said angrily. “I know you’re dealing with a whole fucking lot right now and I’m doing my best to support you, but that was across the line and you know it!”

He winced. “It was and I’m--”

“I said not right now! I am not having this conversation with you right now!” You resumed trying to leave through the kitchen door. “I’m going home. I’ll talk to you when I’m not so pissed at you that I can’t think straight!”

“Don’t leave--”

You wanted to slam the door, but it was a swing one so you had to just shove through it. The entire living room was staring at you with startled eye lights, all except the new Sans who was staring at the floor.

Fan-freaking-tastic.

“Bye,” you said angrily, dashing for the front door. You nearly stopped at his coat closet to retrieve a winter coat because you knew it would only upset him more if you went out in the frigid winter night in just a hoodie but fuck him anyway. You yanked open the door and Sans was standing on the porch in front of you. “Move,” you growled.

“Just let me take you home!”

“I’m a big girl, bud. I can find my own way, thanks.”

“Love--”

“Not while we’re fighting!” you yelled. “Don’t call me that while we’re fighting!”

He held up his hands placatingly and that somehow pissed you off even more. “Okay. Okay, I won’t. But don’t walk off into the night. It could be dangerous.”

You rolled your eyes. “Thanks, Captain, but I’m actually capable of protecting myself. Been doing it for years before you ever sashayed into my life in your fuck me jeans.”

“You’re acting like a child!”

“And you’re acting like an ass!”

“I can’t believe that you broke your promise to me, were alone with him and nearly got strangled, and I’m somehow the bad guy!” he yelled back. “You didn’t even defend yourself! Apparently, you do need someone around to protect you! What would you have done if Edge hadn’t come upstairs right then?”

“Wait, what happened?” Red growled, and fantastic, now he was at your elbow. You turned away from him and back to Sans, eyes narrowed. “Wait, you noticed that I was gone for a while and so was New Sans and you sent Edge to check on me?”

Sans huffed. “Yes, I asked him to keep an eye on you.”

You blinked at him. “Keep an eye on me?”

“Yes, since you keep getting into these situations--”

“I keep getting into these situations?!” you yelled. 

“Any time we leave you alone you get into trouble!” he yelled right back. “Just this year you nearly had your soul break down when you came to the Embassy alone, got kidnapped by mermaids, and almost fell to your death fighting an alien! Clearly, you’re fragile!”

Everything went silent, all of the other skeletons stilled at that statement. They all knew exactly how bad he fucked up with that. He seemed to have some inkling as well; even though he was still visibly furious, he also looked like he regretted his words.

He should.

You glanced over your shoulder at Edge and glared at him before turning back to Sans. It was time to call a timeout before you said something you would really regret. You looked at him angrily and said, “Okay, this conversation is over. Move.” He didn’t, so you stepped around him. “If any of you follow me, I’ll kick your ass!” you yelled over your shoulder as you stomped off into the night.

You didn’t look back to see Sans slump over and scrub a bony palm down his face, just like he didn’t notice you rubbing at your chest as you marched off into the night.

*tbc*

Chapter Text

It was actually a bit of a challenge to decide where to go after your brilliant decision to storm out of a warm house filled with all of your closest friends wearing only a threadbare sweatshirt, but you weren’t about to go back and admit fault. You’d been cold before; you could handle being cold again.

You rubbed at your arms and looked around while you walked through the empty streets of New New Home. You needed someone that would take you home without asking too many questions about why exactly you couldn’t get a ride home from the skeleton clan. You considered your options. There was Tori, of course, but she wouldn’t be satisfied with just letting you go home. She’d want to know what happened and, frankly, you weren’t sure how she would feel about the Horrorfell brothers if she knew the details.

So Tori was out, as were Undyne and Alphys for the same reasons. 

What was really frustrating was that you knew Sans wasn’t totally wrong. You should have screamed when a huge male that expressed an interest in killing you shoved you into a bathroom and locked the door behind him. And you certainly should’ve used magic… You glanced down at your hands. You couldn’t exactly just tell Sans that you tried to use magic and it hadn’t worked; the last thing he needed right now was to deal with your soul being on the fritz. Besides, in addition to stressing him the fuck out, it would really cement your fragility in his mind. 

What would he say if he knew that only a half an hour before you stormed out you’d been crying in Edge’s arms because you were worried about the shit that your brain made up about your most trusted friends? Because if that wasn’t fragile, you didn’t know what was.

You felt your tears returning with a vengeance and scoffed angrily before wiping them with the butt of your hand. You were not going to walk around crying in the dark because you got in a fight with your boyfriend. This wasn’t a teen drama from the ‘90s. You were fine.

But all hells, you missed him already.

You fished in your jeans pocket and pulled out your cell phone. If there was a time for the emergency line at Dr. Springer’s office, this seemed to be it. You made your way over to the school playground and plopped into a swing, gently kicking off the ground so you swung a little while you listened to the menu options on the phone. 

You were halfway through pushing the right buttons to get through to Dr. Springer when the hairs on the back of your neck prickled. Allimagic. Of course, your magic was acting up so you couldn’t be sure… 

You hung up the phone and slithered out of the swing. You let your senses guide you through the little cul-de-sac, surprised that it was leading you back in the direction you’d just come from. You felt your soul whine when you tried to push a little magic to your fingers and frowned. Okay, so this was a recon mission; you’d figure out if there actually was an alliumede in the area, then call in the appropriate backup. You weren’t stupid; you weren’t going to try to face one on your own while your magic was acting up.

Well, maybe you were a little stupid because you didn’t call Edge immediately, but how would you explain it if there wasn’t one?

You just needed to be sure, that’s all.

You snaked through a small side street that led you around and through the backyards of many of the New New Home houses. You frowned as you reached the bounds of the newer housing and crossed into Old New Home. This area was just as cookie-cutter as the rest of the monster settlement, but far less nice. These were the homes that went up hastily when monsters stumbled out of the mountain, back when two families shared one two-story house. Nowadays, few monsters still lived out there. Most took the offered new and nicer homes when the money from the technology patents started rolling in. No one had to take it, though, and some preferred to stay right where they were. Case in point, Red and Sans's house was in Old New Home.

You had to admit that you were relieved that the allimagic was coming from this section of town. The lower population meant that it was less likely that civilians would get caught in the crossfire.

The alley finally spilled out onto a main street. You staggered and gasped as the allimagic increased exponentially. You looked around, frantically trying to locate the source. 

The only thing that seemed out of place was one of those decorative boulders that some people kept in their yards. Kneeling on the side closest to you was a figure. You squinted at it, pretty confident you recognized it but deeply confused about why they would be here.

“Edge?” you asked quietly.

The figure snapped their head towards you and you realized that you were close to right, but not totally correct. Edge had both eye lights and a jaw, after all. Horrorfell Papyrus stared at you, eye light wild, and you recognized that look. It was the same look he had on his face when he had that flashback in the hospital. You swallowed hard and tried to decide what to do when the entire ground shook .

Something huge and dark peered around the corner of the house, its huge eyes level with the roof of the two-story house . You narrowed your eyes and looked at it. Its form was familiar; you had definitely seen it somewhere before…

Then it came the rest of the way around the corner.

It was a gigantic black cat. More accurately, it looked like a huge shadow of a cat. It was the shape of a cat, definitely, but it looked more like a shadow just blacking out the starry sky behind it than something actually made of flesh. The huge eyes gave a window to the stars behind the thing. It was gently batting at the side of the house just like one of your cats would with a toy mouse.

There was a sound, too, one that made your soul stutter. It was crying, screaming, coming from inside the house. There was a kid in there, probably in the upstairs where the thing was focused. You didn’t know if there was anyone else or not, but the screams were heartbreaking. 

It was time to call in the team.

You backed up and pressed your back to the next nearest house and did your best to stay in the shadows, scrolling through your phone and hitting the first contact that popped up. It didn’t even ring once before your Sans picked up. “Eleanor, I am so sorry, I--”

“Hold that thought, babe, we have a situation.”

You heard him take a steadying breath and say, “Are you alright? Is it Papyrus?”

You shut your eyes in frustration. “Well, he’s here, but it’s actually an alliumede. Can you put Stretch on? I don’t have my com.”

“Where are you?” he asked.

“In Old New Home somewhere. You’ll have to have Stretch track my phone; I don’t know exactly where I ended up. Now, put Stretch on so that I can figure out what the hell this thing is.”

“Alright.”

“Wait!” you said in spite of yourself. There was a pause and you could still hear his familiar breath on the other end. “I love you even when you’re an asshole.”

He let out what you hoped was a relieved sigh. “I love you too, so much.”

Your soul instantly felt a bit better. You were still pissed, but the two of you would work it out. You hadn't stumbled onto the unforgivable.

“Els?” Stretch said, voice panicked. “How dare you storm off into the night alone! What were you--”

“Hey! This thing’s a huge two-story black cat,” you interrupted.

“A… That’s weird… ok…” You heard some clicking as he typed on his phone. “What’s it doing?”

“Batting at a window with a kid screaming on the inside.”

“A kid?” he sounded like he was going to throw up. 

“Which is why I need the team and to know what I’m dealing with,” you said calmly.

“Right. Right, o’ course.” More clacking. “Huh. Ever heard o’ the Yule Cat?”

“The Yule Cat?”

“Yeah, it’s apparently a legend that…”

Stretch continued talking, and you definitely meant to listen to him, but the cat’s attention shifted from the bedroom to the rock that Papyrus was hiding behind. Your eyes widened as it crouched down in the universal cat attack position and focused on the terrified skeleton. Without thinking, you dashed towards him and skidded to a stop by the rock. He swung his claws at you but didn’t connect. You took advantage of his confusion to grab his arms and pull him with you. The two of you tumbled and rolled, landing in a pile of limbs. You glanced over your shoulder and gasped at the sight of the cat flicking the boulder into the road like it was nothing. “We gotta move,” you gasped to Papyrus, but he resisted your tugging. “Please,” you said. “Please, come on!”

He continued not to move and your face paled as the cat rounded on you. You struggled to your feet and took a calming breath. You could do this. You’d been in worse scrapes before. You could--

Someone grabbed you around the waist and pulled you out of the way as the cat jumped at you. You squeaked as you hit the ground, rolling over to see Red holding onto you and glaring at you furiously. “The fuck’re ya doin’?!” he yelled.

You blinked. That wasn’t Red’s voice. You shifted a little and looked up at Horrorfell Sans. “Trying to save your brother,” you said angrily. “He’s--”

“Dissociatin’ or havin’ a flashback, I know!” he snarled. “Just stay the fuck o’er here!”

You started to argue but he was gone already. He dashed over and positioned himself so that he was between the huge cat and his brother. Rust red magic crackled at his fingers and one of his eyes was glowing. He extended one hand and a blast of magic shot from his palm. It pierced through the cat, which let out a high pitched scream. 

Papyrus staggered to his feet with both hands pressed to the sides of his head. He dashed forward, straight towards the alliumede, and you screamed, reaching for him. You called up a shield for him to bump into (which stopped him thankfully), but your soul felt like it was ripping in half when you did. You gasped and sank to the ground, gritting your teeth against the pain.

Sans didn't seem to notice the entire exchange. His full focus was on the huge cat. He called up another attack and, before he fired it, you crawled to Papyrus. If he jumped up like that again, you didn't think he'd survive it and you were pretty sure you couldn't conjure up a shield right now. 

You knelt beside him and clung to him as tightly as you could. He was shaking and silent tears were falling from his good socket. Briefly, you wondered what it was that he was seeing, but you ultimately didn't say anything. You simply held him close and kept an eye on the alliumede and Sans. 

Sans, for his part, seemed to be holding his own against the giant cat. He kept shooting bolts of magic at it; the cat hissed and hunched down with its ears back, just like one of your cats would. You watched him fire shot after shot at it and felt a twinge of hope that maybe he would be able to just take it out on his own. He seemed pretty damn capable, after all.

Of course, you thinking that would jinx him.

You couldn’t see what he tripped over, only that he staggered and fell to the ground as the cat reared back to swat him. Thus far, he’d been dodging every hit, but you knew instinctively that he wouldn’t be able to dodge this one. You’d been fighting long enough to know when someone was getting ready to get hit.

Maybe it was because he looked so much like Red, or just that he was a Sans at all, that you moved without thinking. You already knew that any shield you tried to form would fizzle out, the pain in your chest made that clear. You really only had one option. You sent a mental apology to your Sans as you planted yourself firmly in front of the New Sans that was splayed out on the ground. You saw his sockets widen and his eye lights dim just before you felt huge claws rip through your body. You didn’t even scream as you were flung through the air, having the distinct sense that this was how millions of mice have met their end over the centuries, that thought almost making you chuckle morbidly as you slammed into the side of a house. You tried to breathe and could only gurgle blood.

It was too much. You could tell already. It wouldn’t matter how fast they got Blue here or how good of a healer he was. There just wasn’t going to be anything that they could do. You weren’t happy about it, fuck no, but it also felt good to go this way, saving someone else. You felt the world start to fade and were distantly grateful that you told Sans that you loved him when you called him. 

Your anger wouldn’t be his last memory.

You were nearly unconscious when you felt bony hands grab onto you. “Fuckin’ mage,” Someone growled. You whined weakly as the bony hands yanked you up and The Someone growled at you in response. “This time jus’ fuckin’ duck. Ya hear me, mage?” You made a weak noise that you hoped told The Someone you had no idea what they meant. It must have worked because they muttered, “I’ll jus’ tell ya when yer fixed. Hol’ on, I can’ fix dead.”

The next few seconds were some of the most buckwild of your life, and you’d lived a pretty insane life thus far. You’d been healed from near-death countless times. You’d teleported through the void, flown, shielded, and breathed underwater. You’d had potions of swiftness, of luck, of invisibility. If there was a type of magic, you had probably experienced it sometime in your four centuries of existence.

This was not something you had ever experienced.

You felt like you were being ripped backward through the void, but not in an unpleasant way exactly. You felt your ruptured organs pull themselves back together, every breath you’d breathed while hitting the wall suddenly forced back in and out of your lungs. Everything around you moved in reverse, from the huge cat that swatted you against the wall to insects that you could now see around you. A glance over your shoulder at Papyrus confirmed that he was rewinding as well.

Then everything froze.

“I’ll let it move in a tic,” a voice said beside you. You looked over and saw that New Sans had a tight grip on you, holding you firmly against his side. “When I do, jus’ hit ta ground. I’ll do ta rest.”

“Hit the ground,” you repeated numbly, unsure if this was a dying construct your brain was using to keep you calm or if this was really happening.

“Yup.” Him popping the ‘p’ like every other skeleton did when they wanted to be an asshole, surprisingly, was the thing that grounded you in the situation.

“Holy shit!” you yelped. “You can turn back time! What the fuck!”

“Don’ tell anyone,” he said urgently. “We’ll talk later, but… Please?”

“Why wouldn’t you want to tell anyone?” you asked excitedly. “That’s some Zelda shit there, my dude! That’s the coolest superpower yet!”

He sighed. “Takes magic to hold us ‘ere. Can I jus’ explain later?”

You nodded. 

“Soon as I let go, it’ll be showtime.”

“Hit the ground,” you said. “I’m on it.”

He nodded and then let go of you. He was right; the instant he let go, time seemed to move normally again. You did as instructed and threw yourself on the ground belly first, palms pressed flat so you could push yourself up quickly if needed. You coughed a little as your lungs were confused by air that they seemed to recognize from a few minutes ago, but you didn’t cough up any blood. 

He really did turn back time and heal you from certain death.

Holy shit!

You looked up and saw that the cat was swatting at Sans. He held out a hand and the cat froze in front of him, inky black claws extended. You gasped. He moved out of the way easily as the claws began to move slowly and, once he was out of the way, the claws resumed their normal speed. The cat made a small confused noise that would’ve been cute if this thing hadn’t literally just killed you a minute ago.

“Ellie!” a voice called and you swiveled your neck to see Comic, Red, Sans (your Sans), and Mutt stepping out of the void. They were all inexplicably carrying armfuls of clothing and, equally inexplicably, wearing a variety of clothing items that definitely weren’t their own. Comic had a fuschia knit hat with a little pom on top pulled down over his skull and Red wore a pair of socks with snowflakes on them that came up to the middle of his femurs. Your Sans wore a yellow plaid button-up that was clearly too big for him and hung open over the shirt he’d worn to movie night with a mysterious red backpack slung over his shoulders. Mutt was wearing a huge red scarf that you were sure had to belong to Pap or Edge.

Your Sans appeared next to you and urged you to sit up so that he could pull a scratchy knitted sweater over your head. It was clearly made for a monster much larger than you and one that was a father, based on the “#1 Dad Guy” slogan on the front of the pink wool. “Uh, we have bigger problems than me catching a cold,” you told him.

He rolled his eye lights at you. “The Yule Cat only attacks those who aren’t wearing new clothes given as gifts at the holiday season.”

“Seriously?”

“What, you think I just love plaid now?” he asked. He held out your earpiece to you and you popped it into your ear. Stretch was yelling at Comic about something so you tuned him out. “We brought items for everyone,” Sans continued, gesturing vaguely at where Comic was kneeling beside the still-terrified Papyrus and wrapping a scarf around his neck. Mutt was distracting the cat with blasts of magic (and he’d removed his scarf, you couldn’t help but notice) while Red forced a second itchy sweater, this one an icy blue, onto the other Sans.

Your Sans was looking down at you with a mixture of worry and miserable guilt written all over his features. You knew that the two of you would probably need to talk about the things he said and how you felt and all that couple-y shit, but the truth was you couldn’t possibly care less anymore. You were 150% positive that if the New Sans couldn’t turn back time (holy shit!), you would be a bloody pile of remains by the time they got here and you didn’t want to spend another second worrying about your fight. 

So you bypassed the talking part, just for now. You grabbed the plaid shirt and used it to yank him down into a kiss that you tried to pour all of your love into. Yeah, he could be a jerk, but you could be a pain, and there was nothing you wanted more in the world than to just stay and be a pain with this jerk for as long as possible.

After a minute, he broke the kiss and looked at you with hazy eye lights. “I’m really sorry, I shouldn’--” You cut him off with another quick kiss. He laughed when you drew back and said, “Are you trying to train me to apologize by giving me kisses every time I do?”

You laughed too, so thankful to be here to hear that deep baritone laugh of his. This all could have gone so much worse. “Nah, I just don’t want to fight with you anymore.”

He softened a little at that admission. “I don’t want to fight with you either.”

“Then let’s don’t.”

“Hey, this is all sweet as a puddin’ pie, but could we maybe fight the gian’ cat o’ death ?” Red yelled. He and Mutt had apparently been distracting it the entire time you were making out with Sans, while the New Sans knelt by his brother and tried to bring him back to reality. Comic stood awkwardly behind the brothers keeping an eye on his collared as he fought.

“I’m gonna ‘port these two to our house!” Comic called to Red. “Give ‘em time to calm down!”

“Sounds good,” Sans and Red said at the same time. A second later, the yard where they’d been kneeling was empty.

Sans turned to you. “We checked housing records. There are two children that live at this address, platypus-type monsters. Their father works the night shift at the Embassy so it is very likely that he is not home right now.” He pointed to the second story, at the same window the cat had been swatting. “According to floor plans, that is likely the bedroom that the two children share. We can get the cat to leave them alone, but we need to get some new clothes on them.” Sans shrugged the backpack off of his shoulders. “I called Thomas and he gave us some clothing that his niece and nephew were going to receive for Christmas. We just need to get up to that room.”

“Easy enough,” you said. “Just bust in the door--”

“It’s not a good idea,” he interrupted quickly. “Their father is a member of the security department and it is likely that he would booby trap his home.”

“Cool, cool. So how…?” You followed his eye lights up to the window and sighed. “You’re going to blue magic me up there aren’t you?”

“I promise I won’t drop you,” he said.

“Yeah, yeah, I know you won’t,” you grumbled. You grabbed the backpack from him and pulled it over your shoulders. You didn’t look at him when you added, “Hey, I’ve gone through a lot of magic in this fight so… I’m not sure how good my shields will hold just now.”

Sans narrowed his sockets at you but didn’t ask any questions. “I won’t drop you,” he repeated.

You stood up and kissed him lightly. “I know you won’t,” you said, this time more sweetly. You dusted the dirt off of your pants, hiked up the sleeves of the massive pink sweater, and turned towards the house. “Let’s do this.”

You felt his magic grab your soul and you held your breath for a second. You didn’t know if he would be able to feel how out of sorts your soul was or not, but if he did, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from yelling at you about it. You waited a beat, but he didn’t say anything. Incrementally, you relaxed and you felt him float you up to the window. He gently scooched you up to the glass and you rapt on it.

You saw four very frightened eyes look out at you. These kids were cute, both little brown and furry critters with giant eyes. You had no way to gauge their age, but they were clutching both each other and little stuffed animals, so you assumed they were fairly young. “I’m here to help!” you said in that voice you’d heard people use when they talked to kids. It was just a little brighter and higher pitched than your normal tone; you really didn’t do kids (even when you’d been a nanny you would argue you weren’t ‘good with kids’) so it seemed best to try to replicate the interactions you’d seen the others have with Frisk. Toriel always used this voice so it had to work, right? “I have stuff that will keep the cat away from you.”

The taller of the two looked at you solemnly. “I do not know you,” they said.

“I know. My name is Ellie and I work at the Embassy. I’m here to protect you from the cat.”

“Daddy says not to talk to strangers,” the child told you.

“Your daddy sounds very smart. But he knows me. I work in security, too.”

“What’s his name then?”

You hesitated and, fortunately, Stretch supplied you with the name, Chad, and you told the child. They still hesitated, but eventually opened the window for you. You pulled yourself into the room and immediately unzipped the backpack. 

“Why's that big cat hate us?” the smaller child asked.

You looked up at them. “It's called the Yule Cat. Apparently, it gets mad if you don’t have new clothes, so…” You fished out a couple of cute little sweatshirts that Thomas sent along and held them up. The smaller child gasped and immediately grabbed one that had a pretty cool looking dinosaur on the front. The other child took the second one, an orange one with little tiny tacos all over it. They both pulled the sweatshirts on and looked at you for confirmation.

“You both look great,” you told them with a smile.

“And it will go away now?” the smaller child asked.

“Yeah, it should.” You walked over to the window and peeked out. The cat was currently still engaged with the ground team, so you casually adjusted so that you could see out the window but were not a target. The two kids naturally moved to the sides so that they were out of the middle of the glass.

Smart.

“What’re your names?” you asked.

“I’m Lumi,” the littlest one said with a shy smile.

“She’s my sister,” the bigger one told you solemnly. “I’m Arlo, her big brother.”

You smiled warmly. “It’s so nice to officially meet both of you. You were very brave up here while the cat was attacking you.”

Arlo shook his head. “We screamed and cried. That isn’t brave.”

“If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have known you were in danger,” you told him. “You did exactly the right thing and you are both safe because you made the right choices. I’m sure your daddy is very proud of you.”

Neither child said anything to that, instead choosing to snuggle up against you. You held them and continued to watch the battle from the window. You heard Stretch tell the ground team that you and the kids were safe and watched as everyone put on their new articles of clothing. You knew that alliumedes had specific rules a lot of times, but you were still surprised to see the thing immediately lose interest in them the second they were in new clothes. It made a cat noise, then faded out of existence, leaving behind only the destruction in the yard as evidence that it had ever existed. You took in a shaky breath and looked at the stars that the thing had blocked out. You weren’t sure that you’d ever been so happy to see stars before.

You ended up staying with the kids for another hour while Edge shuffled people to get their father home. He turned out to be a stout platypus with dull brown fur and round glasses. He swept into the house and looked his kids over before turning to you. “Thanks,” he said. “I dunno what I’da done if ya didn’ find ‘em.”

You nodded. “That’s what we do. It’s not a problem at all, sir.” 

When it was time to leave, you found that it was hard to extract yourself from Lumi and Arlo’s grip. They clung to you long after their father arrived home. You sighed and figured it was because you were the mysterious woman that appeared at the window to save them from the cat. It took some doing, but eventually, you were able to coax them off of you. You promised to stop by again and made a mental note to remind Sans to buy replacement sweatshirts for Thomas’s family members. You weren’t getting those sweatshirts back from the kids any time soon. Finally, just as dawn was lighting up the sky, you stepped outside.

Sans was waiting for you on the porch. He held out his hand and you took it, smiling up at him. “Edge and Red are handling the paperwork here,” he told you. “I believe I promised you a night in without my baby brother or housemates.” He looked down at his boots shyly. “That is... if you still want to, of course.”

You caught his neck and pulled him down into a gentle kiss. “There’s nothing I want more, babe.”

Sans was smiling like a fool when he pulled you into the void. You knew that there were important things to discuss, that you couldn’t ignore the whole night forever, but just for now, the two of you needed a break. You’d tell him what happened, you’d tell him everything (well… almost everything, anyway), and the two of you would talk it all out and come out of the fight stronger, more in love. But that would be tomorrow. For tonight, you were just so thankful to be alive to spend time with your boyfriend.

Chapter Text

It was real obvious that Black was surprised to see ‘im up, but Black didn’ have a monopoly on gettin’ up at the asscrack o’ dawn.

‘Specially if Sans jus’ didn’ sleep the night before.

Black had stalked carefully into the kitchen ‘bout an hour earlier, sockets narrowed in interest an’ concern. “Sans?” he asked.

Sans didn’ have to look at Black to know he was dressed in his running get up, the dumb leggin’ things an’ a jacket. So he didn’. He just kept workin’ on the casserole an’ the fixins for the pancakes an’ said, “Me an’ the bro wanted ta make ya breakfast.” He hesitated, but he promised. “For ya an’ Mutt an’... An’ yer girl.”

There. It was out there.

Sans hunched and waited to see how Black would respond. Sure, he’d been much less cautious with you since the Yule Cat Shitshow a week ago, whatever sweet nothin's ya whispered to each other that night soothin' his constant worryin'. Even left the house with ya still in it. Course, he always left another skeleton, either Mutt or Stretch or even Mars one day, but it was progress, an’ it was more than Sans deserved. But Sans wasn’ stupid either, an’ he saw that your Jeep was always in here if you were, an easy way for you to escape, an’ he saw Black wait outside the bathroom for ya in the night. Sans didn’ know how Black’d feel ‘bout him cookin’ for you, so he waited and tried not to hope.

“Any special occasion?” Black asked in that damn neutral voice he had, an’ Sans never fuckin’ missed the Judge, not once, except right now.

“Jus’ wanna talk ta y’all an’... an’ thank ya.” Sans held back the urge to curse. He promised Pap he’d try, promised to be honest with ‘em. He couldn’ screw this up for his baby bro, he couldn’.

“Well. You certainly didn’t need to do that, but I’m sure they’ll appreciate it,” Black said. “I will wake them when I return from my run and shower. Is that alright? I can skip my run today if you would prefer.”

“Nah, ‘s not that long o’ a talk,” Sans said. He hoped. “‘Sides, casserole won’ be done ‘til then.”

“Very well. I will be back soon,” Black said, and Sans heard the kitchen door swing on its (near) silent hinges. He allowed himself to relax minutely, the first hurdle completed.

He kept working and just as he was startin’ the pancakes, he felt his magic output rise. His bro was wakin’ up. Sans hoped he remembered the plan and knew to come down to the kitchen. He’d go get him when Black got back if not, but he hated havin’ to remind Pap of stuff. Kid’s mind used to be a steel trap, never once forgot a word Sans said. Made lyin’ to him a bitch when he had to, but he’d give anythin’ to have that shit kid back. Stupid fuckin’ mages; the jaw an’ the leg from the damn flower weren’t enough, no, they had to take his brain, too, gods he hated--

Annnnnnnnnnn’ best not think on it, that’d only make all this worse.

It wasn’ Pap’s fault, an’ they were both here, safe an’ alive an’ on the surface. That’s what mattered. It didn’ hurt that all the rest o’ their hell hole of a universe was dead, good fuckin’ riddance, and the mages an’ the flower destroyed while he an’ Paps lived an’ made it to the surface . He did a coupla the breathin’ exercises the Doc taught ‘im an’ flipped the most recent pancake. He wasn’ gonna fuck this up for Pap. He wasn’.

He heard the kitchen door swing again an’ didn’ look over his shoulder as his bro entered the room. “Mornin’,” he said. Paps tapped a greeting back on the table an’ Sans smiled. These mornin’s were better, the ones where Pap woke up an’ knew where he was an’ how to communicate. Havin’ to tell his bro that his jaw an’ his leg were gone the first time was pure hell; at the time, Sans didn’ think it was possible to feel worse. 

Turns out, havin’ to tell him over an’ over for years felt worse. ‘Specially when he didn’ remember they were outta food, outta options…

But this mornin’ he remembered on his own.

Sans did another breathin’ thing an’ flipped another pancake.

“Told Black we wanted ta talk ta ‘em,” he said conversationally, waiting to make sure Paps remembered that he was s’posed to do that.

Good job. I’m proud of you , Paps tapped on the table.

“Promised, didn’ I?” Pause to add the bacon to the griddle. “You sure ‘bout this, baby brother?”

They saved us twice.

“Yer right.” An’ he was. You an’ Black were the ones who found ‘em. Black was his first friend outside o’ their Snowdin. He brought ‘em here, let ‘em live ‘ere even after… An’ you? Sans would never forget goin’ down that night--

A gods damned kid toy got caught under his foot, a little ball like the one he stole for Pap from the spider bitch back home. He knew in that second it was over, he was gonna die, an’ he had a second to feel shit ‘bout it. He didn’ wan’ Pap to die an’ he was pissed that after e’erythin’, he was gonna get killed by a fuckin’ cat over a ball.

He felt your magic ‘fore he saw you. He didn’ have time to react to you throwing yourself in front o’ him, an’ you didn’ make a magic shield, no, ya shielded ‘im with your body. He saw the claws an’ the blood an’ he knew there wouldn’ be any healin’ it. You’d die, an’ for a second he was gonna let you. No one knew ‘bout his little powers; they wouldn’ be able to blame him for it. Well, not more than they would for jus’ bein’ the one you died savin’. Hell, might even make ‘em more protective of him an’ Paps! ‘Course, Paps might know what he did, but even if he figured it out, he was jus’ as like ta forget the next day. 

‘Sides, it was your fault they were even out here. Your little show wit’ Black upset Paps; he didn’ like that Sans choked ya an’ he ran off into the dark. It was stupid, an’ it almost got him killed, would’ve if--

If ya hadn’ come along.

He saw ya use your shield, felt it when your magic screamed from the effort, an’ even then ya physically tried to move Paps when yer magic gave out. You were willin’ to die tryin’ to save his baby brother.

Tryin’ to save him .

He didn’ remember makin’ the choice; the next thin’ he knew, he was pullin’ ya into his arms an’ turnin’ back time to save you. An’ even after that, ya didn’ tell Black right away, instead explainin’ to him that you had to tell, that he wouldn’ try to abuse his power, he never would, an’ if someone ever did, the whole family’d be there to kick their ass. Sans’d been furious, but you were already keeping a secret for his bro, weren’t you? He couldn’ ask you to do more an’ you looked so fuckin’ happy when he agreed...

--Sans physically shook his head and grabbed a pancake to munch on dry. Magic drain was makin’ him emotional an’ shit. 

Didn’ change the fact that you were right, so far at least. Black didn’ even seem that blown away by the shit Sans and Paps could do. He agreed not to tell e’eryone yet, though he insisted on tellin’ Edge an’ Mutt. So far, no one’d tried to lock him or Paps in a lab anywhere, so maybe Paps was right an’ this was really goin’ to be ok.

Or maybe they jus’ ain’ had a good enough reason to betray ya yet.

He shook his head again and did another one o’ the Doc’s breathin’ things. Mars said that the fam didn’ betray each other, not ever once, an’ so did Mutt. If anyone understood, it was those two. A Fell skeleton an’ the other cannibal.

‘Course, they only ate the flesh, didn’ they?

Sans was violently wrenched from his thoughts by your voice from somewhere near the table. “Good morning. What is all this?”

He chanced a glance over his shoulder an’ was surprised to see Mutt sittin’ at the table signin’ to Paps ‘bout that damn video game they liked an’, standin’ in the doorway, was you an’ Black. You were wearing an oversized black shirt an’ some o’ them dumb leggins, lookin’ precious with your hair all tossled like that . Black was all dressed in his suit for work, which meant Sans missed him comin’ back from his run. He really had been distracted; he should’ve at least felt the magic shift when he teleported in if he didn’ use the front door today.

“Sans wanted to make us breakfast and talk to us,” Black answered for him, and Sans remembered you’d asked a question. He blushed a little an’ turned back to the pancakes, managing to rescue one jus’ ‘fore it burnt.

“Cool. This looks amazing!” you said happily. He heard your chair scrape lightly on the floor and assumed you settled into a seat. He couldn’ bring himself to turn aroun’, instead busyin’ himself with cutting the casserole. Eventually, though, there wasn’ anythin’ else for him to do. Time to face the music.

One more breathing exercise, then he gathered the plates an’ turned around. Everyone looked up at him expectantly. That was too much, so he kept his eyes down and slid everyone’s plates to them. He shuffled his feet and tried to gather his damn thoughts. 

“How’d you learn to carry that many plates like that?” you asked as you ate a little nibble of pancake. “Were you a waiter before or something?”

It was such a normal question that it snapped the tension in Sans’s soul. Here he was, freakin’ the fuck out, an’ you were politely askin’ about his work history. You even looked actually interested in his answer, angels wept.

“Eh… I… there was a place in New New Home, back ‘fore we moved ta Snowdin,” he said softly. It was a good place, run by a decent fire elemental, a cousin o’ Grillbz, but way kinder. It was one o’ the few places he wished hadn’ been destroyed when he an’ Paps came here. Most o’ the rest o’ the Underground could burn in hell, far as he was concerned, but--

Gods damn it, focus!

“This is fantastic,” you said, drawing him to the conversation at the table. You were eating the breakfast casserole an’ your eyes were lit up like it was the best thing that you’d ever eaten. 

“It really is,” Black agreed. Sans didn’ realize he was worried Black’d be pissed that ya liked his cookin’ until he saw that he wasn’. Instead, he looked happy, a little purple magic in his face givin’ away his contentment.

Sans fought back a growl as he felt another blush overwhelm his face. “Learned it at that diner,” he muttered.

He heard a sharp tapping on the table an’ didn’ have to look up to know Paps was tellin’ him to hurry it the fuck up. He took a deep breath an’ let it out slow before finally cleared his non-existent throat. Everyone looked up at him.

Well, he didn’ survive Horrorfell by bein’ a baby moldsmall 'bout shit.

“I… we… Paps an’ me, we jus’ wanted ta say thanks,” he said awkwardly. He tried to make himself stop fidgeting. “Y’all saved my bro an’ me an’ I know we ain’t done good ‘ere in this ‘verse yet, but this ‘ere’s our promise that wer gonna.” 

Paps tapped on the table to get everyone’s attention and signed, We are so thankful for all of you! He turned to you. You protected us from the bad cat. 

Black translated for you, though the way you squinted at Paps told Sans you were tryin’ at least, an’ you blushed. “Really, I’m pretty sure your brother handled most of that.”

I wouldn’t have been alive when he got there if you didn’t find me, Paps signed, and that got Sans’s attention. That was fuckin’ true, an’ that’s why he was doin’ this, right? That simple fact--that ya protected his bro when he wasn’ there to do it, when no one was an’ they wouldn’a known if ya just walked away instead, gods know it woulda made sense for you to after what he did--helped him refocus on what Paps really wanted to talk about with y’all. He rubbed the back o’ his skull an’ tried to settle his thoughts. This ‘verse was different; he could say the shit on his mind. No one was gonna use it against him. That much was obvious from the way Edge an’ Red crooned Stretch an’ Comic. If those two felt safe enough to act like that, surely he could speak up.

Well, shit, ‘ere goes nothin’. “Ya know ‘bout our weird powers an’ ya ain’ tryna experiment on us or nothin’. Y’all took care o’ us even when we weren’ worth ya time an’... an’ thanks.” He rubbed the back of his skull again and forcibly ignored the sweat beading there. “We… uh… we talked ‘bout nicknames las’ night an’...” He trailed off and swallowed. Paps gave an encouraging tap and he forced himself to just get it out. Quick like a bandaid, yeah? “... we want ‘em. We wanna be part o’ this family.” He trailed off and looked down at his feet and mumbled, “If y’all’ll ‘ave us.”

He felt like he was chokin’ on the silence that hung in the air after that little confession. What if… What if y’all decided ya didn’ want ‘em? Now that they’d decided they wanted to be part o’ the family, he didn’ know what he’d do if y’all turned ‘em out.

Y’all should turn ‘em out.

He shouldn’a been surprised that ya moved first. Ya stood up slow, keeping your hands where he could see ‘em. Smart. He finally looked at your face an’ saw that you were smiling like he jus’ told ya that ya won the lottery. You walked out from behind the table an’ held out your arms. He was confused for a second, then you said, “Welcome to the family.” You wrapped your arms around his chest lightly an’ let go ‘fore he could even acknowledge that you’d hugged him. You slipped over an’ then hugged Paps too. Mutt took your place, but offered Sans a sedate fist bump instead’a full hug, then did the same to Paps. Finally, Black stepped forward an’ held out his hand. Sans scanned ‘is face for anythin’--lies, hesitation, paranoia--but could only find happiness, welcome, an’ warmth there.

His soul ached. He rubbed at it subconsciously. “That’s… uh, that’s ‘nough o’ that,” he said awkwardly. Hells, he wanted a family, a family for his bro especially, but whatever y’all did to his soul was too much. He needed a break so he could breathe. Luckily, y’all seemed fine with that, returning to your seats and your plates. He did another o’ them breathing things (the Doc’d be real proud o’ him, though ‘e prob’ly wasn’ supposed to need them so often) an’ sat down. He scarfed down half his pancakes ‘fore he felt his soul settle a little. He heard a series of soft taps an’ glanced over at his bro thankfully. 

You did good, Sans. 

That was all he’d ever wanted, to do good by his bro. That settled his soul all the way, even made it thrum a little. He smiled a little at him, then went back to eatin’. He fiddled with the little keychain the Doc always insisted he keep in ‘is pocket. Not that he minded; it was the first (only) thing Paps got ‘im on the surface. He found it when Stretch took him… Somewhere? Sans didn’ know, didn’ care, not really.

It was supposed to help ‘im stay grounded, not have episodes or whatever, but he didn’ have as much trouble with that as Paps. He jus’ liked the damn thing.

“You mentioned nicknames,” Black said as he primly (gods, he was so much like Paps used to be) ate a piece of bacon. “Did you two have something in mind or do you want us to come up with something?”

Sans had an answer for that, but he had a question first. “How’d e’eryone else get their names anyways?”

You snorted around a mouthful of chocolate milk and Black rolled his eye lights. “Our hosts may not have been the most… creative with their naming conventions when we arrived.”

It was Sans’s turn to snort. “Yer sayin’ this Sans named all y’all?”

“Papyrus named the Papyruses,” Mutt said, ignoring Black’s quelling look at his mouthful of food.

“Papyri,” you suggested.

“Papreese,” Mutt shot back. “Like a goose an’ geese.”

“How about just ‘idiots’?” Black suggested in a syrupy sweet voice.

“Boooooo,” you said, but you were smiling, too. Then, you shifted your attention back to Sans an’ continued, “I nicknamed Comic so Sans could have his name, and Mutt’s nickname is from his Swapfell days. Good luck getting either of them to tell you why, though.”

Sans didn’ miss how Black stiffened at that comment, but you either didn’ notice or ignored it. Mutt simply shrugged an’ said, “Don’ remember. Jus’ always been called that.”

You shrugged, too. “I told him it sounded pretty derogatory, but he insists he likes it.”

“Feels like home,” Mutt said softly. Black looked away awkwardly.

In-ter-estin’.

“Well, we, uh, actually had some ideas,” Sans said slowly. He rubbed the keychain in his pocket when he felt that awful soul clench of fear from earlier. He took a deep breath; after all, nothin’ could be dumber than the color trio of nicknames he was already dealin’ with. 

Before he could gather his courage, Paps was signin’. We want them to be related to that night with the bad cat! Because that’s when Sans got his head out of his ass and figured out what being family is all about!

Sans rolled his eye lights amicably as Mutt and Black both snorted. He didn’ care, not really, helped him calm down enough to say, “Yeah, uh, we thought it’d be… good? Ta sorta remember that night?”

“What were you thinking?” Black asked, and his face was nothing but encouraging.

Tell them, Sans! Paps signed.

Sans sighed. “We, uh, got ta talkin’ ‘bout cats an’ there’s this one. We had a comic Undergroun’? I used ta read it ta Paps when ‘e was little.”

“You didn’ read ‘im Fluffy Bunny?” Mutt asked. Sans blinked at the surprise in his voice.

“Fluff what now?” he asked.

“That’s weird,” you said.

Paps tapped on the table an’ Sans shrugged at him. He had no fuckin’ clue what y’all were on about. 

“Sorry, sorry,” Black said, holding up a placating hand. “It’s just strange. Fluffy Bunny has been a universal constant so far; in all of our universes, the older brother read the younger brother a book called Fluffy Bunny.”

“Got a copy upstairs,” Mutt said easily. Black’s face turned a deep purple and you smiled indulgently.

Sans shook his head. That was fuckin’ weird. Universal constant that didn’ apply to them? What else didn’ apply to them? He quickly pulled the key chain out of his pocket and laid it on the table ‘fore he could get lost in his own damn brain. You leaned forward a bit to look at it. “‘S called Calvin an’ Hobbes,” he said, gesturing to the Hobbes keychain, confirmation that the comic existed here too.

You lit up. “Oh! I love Calvin and Hobbes. I think I have some of their comics at my house; I’ll bring them over!”

Papyrus visibly brightened at that. Paps loved Calvin an’ Hobbes, always asked for it as a kid (and more often since his injuries), an’ it was one of the few things he consistently remembered. “That’d be real good o’ ya,” Sans managed. His bro gettin’ to read those comics again? It was a dream come true for both of ‘em.

“So Paps thought Hobbes,” Sans finished.

“I love that!” you said happily. “Does that mean you want to be Calvin?”

Sans barely held back a mean laugh at that. Like he wanted to be named some nerd ass shit like that? He wasn’ a tiny child wit’ an imaginary cat friend, thanks. “Nah,” he managed. “I, uh, thought somethin’ else.”

Then all eyes (and eye lights) were on him. He didn’ like the attention, wanted to duck under the table, but he promised Paps he’d try, so he sucked it up and took another breath. Finally, he said, “Yesterday, when we wen’ ta Jupiter an’ Mars’s house? We watched that movie ya mentioned?”

You looked confused for a minute before Sans saw the puzzle come together in your head. “You watched The Matrix?” you asked excitedly. “Did you like it? I told you it’s just like your powers! And can you believe Agent Smith--”

“Love,” Black interrupted gently, “perhaps we should let him finish explaining.”

You smile at him sheepishly. “Sorry. Go ahead, please.”

Sans waved off your apology but did keep talkin’. “Yeah, can see why ya said ‘s a classic. But, uh… I thought... Maybe Neo? If ‘s not too dumb?” His face burned and he looked down at the table. It was stupid, he knew it, y’all hated it, ‘course ya did. Totally fair; ‘s a stupid idea an’--

“That’s perfect!” you exclaimed, interrupting his thought spiral. 

“P-perfect?” he stammered, fuckin’ smooth.

“Of course! I love it, and not just because it isn’t a color or an adjective!”

“My name’s not an adjective,” Mutt muttered and you threw a tiny piece of bacon at him.

"It actually can be an adjective," Black pointed out, "like in the case of 'neolithic', which, coincidentally, describes my brother's current mental and social development."

Mutt flipped Black off and you threw a piece of bacon at him while groaning, "You know what I meant! It's not a description of his physical appearance!"

Sans should’ve left it there, shoulda let it be, but he opened his damn mouth and said even more floofy shit. “An’ I like it cause… it means ‘new’? An’... An’ I want this ta be my new start, ya know? For me an’ Paps. I wasn’ always a good bro but…” he trailed off when he realized what he was sayin’ to ya. Soft idiot bullshit.

To his surprise, Black spoke up. “I can understand that. You’re, ahem, seeing the version of us that has been here for years already. We… I… I was not in a good place when we arrived and it took me a very long time to even get to where I am now. It’s a journey but it’s worth it in the end.”

“This ‘verse ain’ perfect,” Mutt said. “But ‘s way better than our homes, better than Underground. An’ havin’ all o’ us? It’s better than just two o’ us, ya know?”

Sans nodded mutely, his soul was quiverin’ an’ it felt all weird an’ warm. He startled when someone touched his hand, but when he looked up it was just Paps grinnin’ at ‘im like a fool. Sans understood; they’d never ‘ad a family before. 

He wasn’ gonna fuck this up.

Not again.

***

You shouldn’t have been surprised that, by the time Sans got off of work, there was a dinner party planned for your newest family members. You weren’t sure the exact chain of events that led there; you knew you texted Stretch and could assume that Sans told Edge at work, but you really didn’t understand the loopty loops that lead to the dinner party. After all, literally everyone worked that day except for you, the new family members in question, and Stretch, and as much as you loved your bestie, you knew there was no way he put this together.

You kind of suspected that very little work got done at the Embassy today, but you didn’t figure you’d ever be able to prove it. You elected to just not worry about it and move on.

New Sans Neo, when presented with the concept, asked nervously if they could try this universe’s Grillby’s. He didn’t elaborate on his relationship with the barkeep in his world, but you knew that absolutely every skeleton had a complicated relationship with the flame elemental; he was either a beloved and trusted friend or a filthy scoundrel depending on which ‘verse you were dealing with. Red didn’t mind him much but drunkenly told you that you couldn’t trust him. The Underswap brothers knew him only as the eccentric baker that lived in Hotland, though the way Blue blushed when he encountered this Grillby made you wonder if perhaps they’d been a bit more... intimate… than he’d let on. Comic and Mars both adored Grillby, though Mars admitted he wasn’t sure if his version was still alive even before he got pulled through to this universe. “It was too hard,” he told you once in a monotone while the two of you worked on a birthday cake for Jupiter, “jus’ watchin’ ‘im fade to nothin’. Was always afraid I’d go in there an’ find out he’d just been snuffed out by the wind one day, ya know?” You didn’t know, not really, but your soul still ached for him. Gods, the Underground sucked.

Sans and Mutt had the most extreme reaction to Grillby. You were there on their first visit to the bar; it was one of your first cases with the Paranormal Security Department at the Embassy, as a matter of fact. There was a report of an alliumede that could manipulate fire magic and your team was dispatched to check in with all of the fire elementals to determine whether or not they were in danger. Somehow, they didn’t expect Grillby to be a fire elemental, or maybe they just didn’t think about how much he might look like their Grillby? You didn’t know, but their reactions were… intense. Mutt had a panic attack and Sans fired off an attack that would’ve taken Grillby’s head off if you hadn’t thrown up a shield in the nick of time. Somehow, the fire elemental didn’t seem that angry about it. At the time you thought he was crazy, but now that you knew him, you understood. He had a knack for seeing bruised souls and knowing what they needed, didn’t he?

Fortunately for your relationship with your favorite barkeep, a few years make a big difference. Tonight, your boyfriend and his brother managed to enter the restaurant and converse with the elemental without losing control. Sure, Mutt still looked a little pale and you could feel Sans’s magic roiling anxiously, but they’d both been here several times and you knew that they could handle seeing Grillby.

For your part, you liked Grillby. He was kind and quiet, with a cutting wit. He was one of the few beings that knew how to wrangle the skeleton family without frustration or even raising his voice. You liked to think he liked you too, that he viewed you as a sort of wiry friend with an infectious sense of humor. He’d never said that or anything, but you got the sense that he liked you, at least a little.

“Hi Grillby!” you called brightly as you entered the bar. He nodded to you, which you took as an invitation to continue. “How’s it going?”

“Very well,” he hissed. “Fuku is rather enjoying university.”

You couldn’t help but grin at that. Fuku was one of the first monsters to attend the prestigious mage university, Universitas Magicae et Scholarium. It was very exclusive; you had to be downright incredible with magic to get in there, something like the Ivy League universities that the humans were obsessed with. Luckily, Fuku was a bit of a prodigy in a few of the color magicks and there were a couple of professors that were still loyal to your parents. You put in a good word for her and now Grillby’s baby sister was off at university learning all sorts of magic shit. He was unspeakably proud of her (literally, he never actually said it, but it was written all over his fiery face) and you were pretty sure that he was willing to put up with some of your bullshit just because you put in a good word for her. 

You didn’t tell him that she really didn’t need it, that she would’ve gotten in on her own without you. After all, one of the professors once confided in you that, had your parents not been traitors to their kind, you would have been recruited for the school. “Your magic is off the charts,” she told you over coffee in her office. “You have so much potential that you are wasting on pouting about your parents. Get out there and do something to prove yourself; the mage community will be forced to accept you then.” And if they’d consider taking you, they would certainly take her. The girl had a gift and the mages at the university were anxious to snap her up.

You were lost in your thoughts of the professor for a moment. Archmage MacQuoid. She had been one of your mother’s closest friends and you remembered her often coming to your house for meals with your parents before their deaths. She wasn’t known for her kindness, but her bluntness wasn’t totally unappreciated, even at your young age. Afterall, you were merely a teenage when you had that conversation. You could never find it in your heart to be mad at her for her harsh words, though; she’d maintained your parent’s innocence the entire time, one of the few who didn’t shun you when the Council labeled you sanguinem malum and expelled you from your ancestral home. Yeah, she was good people and you were grateful for her, even if her support wasn’t exactly warm and fuzzy.

You were lost in thought when your soul suddenly pinged blue. You gasped at the sharp pain that accompanied the magic touching your soul and glanced around to see which asshole skeleton was messing with your soul which was totally fine, they wouldn’t hurt you, they’d never hurt you, and unless they were a Judge they wouldn’t be able to tell --

Sans growled beside you and you felt everyone’s magic spike up around you, even Neo’s. You sucked in a breath and continued glancing around for your invisible attacker. Hell, magic wasn’t allowed in the bar, why the fuck wasn’t Grillby helping you?

“Oh my God, Ellie!” a voice similar to Grillby’s called out. You sighed with relief.

“Fuku, give me back my soul,” you admonished.

“Not until…” She approached you from behind and pulled you into her arms. She was hot (obviously) but not unpleasantly so. You laughed as she squeezed you, glancing over at Grillby to see his indulgent smile.

“There!” she said happily. With a flourish that you knew for a fact wasn’t necessary, she released your soul from her blue magic. You turned to face her properly. She was taller than she had been the last time you saw her. You two used to be of a height, but now you had to tilt your head up a bit to look her in the eyes.

“It’s good to see you!” you said honestly. You liked her. She had the spunk and the jokes, the best kind of friend, even if she was just a kid compared to you.

“You too! I’m home for holiday break until next month! Please, please, please say we can get coffee and catch up while I’m home!” She took both of your hands in her own as she pleaded.

You smiled at her. “Of course! I would love that.”

“Yay!” she said, releasing your hands to do a little happy dance. 

After that, she seemed to notice the skeletons with you. You could feel Sans’s protective stare at your side. You knew he was battling with his instincts to get the elemental away from you and you appreciated that he was doing his best to stand there and smile. You took his hand and gave it a little squeeze.

Fuku’s eyes followed the movement and her fiery face split into a huge grin. “I can’t wait to hear all about your… exploits.”

You rolled your eyes good-naturedly. The skeletons all began exchanging pleasantries with Fuku, so you slipped out of the way, onto a stool at the bar. Unsurprisingly, Sans followed you, keeping a tight grip on your hand. If Grillby noticed Sans’s hesitation to be around him, he never mentioned it, once again demonstrating his understanding of damaged souls. “So how’s the business going?” you asked him casually.

You really didn’t think that the question merited the brutally unimpressed look that Grillby gave you. “No trucks,” he said in an awfully cold voice for a man made of fire.

“Grillby, I’m telling you: People fucking love food trucks.”

“No trucks,” he repeated, even as he slid you and Sans your usual drinks. “Fuku, what do you think about actually seating our guests?” he asked.

His sister rolled her eyes at him, but she did move to grab some menus as if anyone at your table would use them. She kept chattering away with the skeletons and, you couldn’t help but notice, she spent a good deal of time hovering near Papyrus, giggling at every word out of his mouth. By the time you reached the large table in the back, she was leaning against him with her hand on his ulna, giggling as her flames flickered with a pinkish tinge that you assumed was blushing. Papyrus, for his part, matched her blush with a pretty orange dusting of his own on his cheekbones.

You were busy watching that show when Sans elbowed you in the ribs. You looked over and narrowed your eyes at Blue, who looked… crestfallen? You snapped your head back to Sans so quickly that your neck popped and he chuckled a little. You made a mad grab for your phone and shot a quick text to Stretch asked for ALL THE HOT GOSS RIGHT NOW. What was going on here? Were Paps and Fuku a thing? Were Blue and Paps a thing? Or were you witnessing a love triangle with unrequited love swirling around unhappily? You needed to know and you needed Stretch to tell you RIGHT NOW . However, he let you down, more’s the pity. He only gave you a helpless shrug when he saw the text; apparently, he knew as little as you did.

Interesting.

You made a mental note to dig into whatever the hell was going on there and returned your attention to the rest of the dinner party. Everyone was chattering happily; Hobbes was signing happily to the other skeletons. Even Neo seemed to be relaxing little by little as time went on. You were honestly thrilled by the whole thing.

Even after the fight with the Yule Cat, you really thought that Neo would never like you. Somehow, he’d started to warm up to you, though. He went from not speaking to you at all while radiating an aura of killing intent, to gruffly calling you ‘mage’, to calling you by your name and asking you questions when Sans was at work. You often caught him looking at you before he glanced away with a blush, and those stares seemed more curious than hateful. Someone was always around when the two of you were together per you and Sans’s agreement, but you felt like maybe the skeleton was going out of his way to try to get to know you.

You really hoped so.

There was a soft pinging of glass that caught everyone’s attention. Jupiter had risen from his seat at the table and was using a bony finger to tap on the side of his wine glass. “Everyone, I just have something I’d like to say!” he called out. Everyone looked up at him expectantly and he continued. “When my brother and I first came to this universe, we never thought we could belong anywhere after the turmoil of our universe. We found a family here, one that may have been cobbled together by fate and chance, but one that I wouldn’t trade for anything in all of the universes combined.

“And today we get to add to our family! I am so glad that the two of you decided to join us. I want to promise on behalf of my brother and I--” you saw Mars flinch minutely, obviously disconcerted at giving a promise, but he didn’t make any move to stop his brother, which meant he probably approved it in advance-- “that we will do everything we can to help you feel safe, welcome, and loved here in our little family.” He raised the glass and said, “To Neo and Hobbes!”

Everyone at the table raised their glass and repeated the sentiment. You watched as both Neo and Hobbes turned deep shades of crimson, even darker than Edge’s magic, but they were both smiling too.

You smiled at the proceedings, nibbling delicately on the sandwich you ordered. You tried to ignore the aching in your soul, the sharp pain any time you moved wrong, unfortunately made worse by Fuku grabbing it with her magic. You had to resist the urge to rub your sternum; it wouldn’t help you and would only attract the attention of at least one overly observant skeleton. Instead, you slipped your hand into Sans’s and let him anchor you into place. You were here, home with this weird little group, and you were so excited that from now on, Neo and Hobbes were home too. You were all going to be okay, even you.