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Chapter Text

Frisk had no doubts that she made a lot of mistakes in her life, but she never expected one of them to come back and haunt her like this .

It was a day like any other. She came home in the evening with her groceries, which mostly consisted of instant noodles, some premade popcorn that she could snack on and the cheapest coffee she could find.

She turned on the TV to have some background noise, but then she heard news that had her scrambling to sit down and actually watch it. The news that shook her to the core.

Monsters were real. Hidden under the mountain Ebott behind the magical barrier that was now broken.

Her stomach felt like it was tied in a knot. Her biggest childhood trauma - Underground, Flowey, the whole race of monsters - a fantasy that she spent ten years in a mental hospital convincing herself was a fantasy... was real.

And things… things haven't been going well for monsters in that time. Apparently, a few short years after her departure, they ran out of energy, food, and, as consequence, magic. The goofy characters she did not want to let go of as a child turned into literal monsters.

Frisk felt sick. For the first few days after hearing the news she had not left the bed, eyes glued to her phone. She refreshed the web news page every few seconds in an effort to convince herself that this was not just a screwed up dream, or another vivid hallucination like she was told Underground was — this was real.

And it was a horror to behold.

Seeing the mutated, hungry beasts emerging from the mountain, humanity's first instinct was to attack. Frisk had to fight her tears every time she saw the number of monster casualties rise.

A month after the initial breakthrough, it was announced that all monsters were yet again contained under the mountain Ebott.

Frisk hated it. There were not a lot of humans supporting monsters — even after a speech given by Aliza, a 14 year old girl who was the one that broke the Barrier (she was just a kid... just like Frisk herself had been back then, when she left them down there to starve- ), monsters were still viewed as beasts.

Experiments had begun - scientists had taken a few monsters, studying them as well as the preserved technology and literature from the Underground. There was little coverage on that matter, letting Frisk believe the worst.

No matter what happened, there was no good future for the monster race.

Endless what-ifs filled her head, every day. What if she stayed Underground, instead of blindly going forward without looking back at what she was leaving behind. What if she came down again after she left, instead of believing it never happened, believing there was no hole in the mountain and that it was all her make-believe fantasy. What if she found a way to break the Barrier, which evidently was possible even now, so it should've been even easier back then- What if she wasn't such a coward, such a failure, such a useless piece of-

Nine months passed. Nine months of scarce news, of rainy days and her overlapping depression, nine months of trying to keep it together and not letting herself fall apart.

Every day, Frisk still obsessively checked the updates on any monster-related news, passively refreshing webpages every free minute she got in a day. And then, one evening, the news dropped.

Monsters will be deployed as a workforce.

The news was followed by the presentation of a brand new invention, a combination of the latest human-made technology and magic-infused technology found in Underground. Control collars.

Frisk's heart sank.

Monsters were to be slaves .

Due to their mutated strength and unique talents, they had been bought by multiple different companies and forced to work for nothing. One company in particular moderated the collars and started selling monsters to the general public for an ungodly sum of money.

And this... this was what broke Frisk.

If only she had the influence. The money. If only she had made something out of her sad miserable life, instead of closing herself off in the dusty library she worked in...

She could have saved at least a few of them. Provide a safe haven. But as reality stood now, when she could barely afford her rent every month...

Frisk would never get a monster.

At least that's what she thought in the next three months - three months of seeing terrible conditions monsters were forced to work in, three months of seeing brand-new updated collars being released almost weekly, all retaining their electric-shock core, three months of hearing people paint slavery of monsters as the best-case scenario… 

Until that one Tuesday morning.

She was running late for work — her shower head broke and she had to wash her hair in the kitchen sink — hurrying down the street past the brand new monster adoption center which opened a few weeks back, and saw a new bunch of monsters being dropped off. They seemed exhausted - most dragged their feet as humans pulled them by the leashes, some clawed on their collars in vain attempts to get them off, but none tried to fight or even run.

None except for one.

One of the monsters was surrounded by numerous humans and was trying to fight them off even with the pain of constant electroshock. All the racket caught Frisk's attention, and she unconsciously stopped to watch. It took a lot to subdue him - the monster kept fighting until his red orb of an eye landed on Frisk in the distance. Their eyes met, and she thought her heart would stop.

She could've sworn he froze just as she did while they stared at each other, and the humans used this chance to finally rein him in, dragging the skeleton into the building. He was big, much bigger than she remembered, his bones no longer white under the layers of dirt and dust, with a giant hole prominent in his skull as well as his big pulsing crimson eyeball in the left eye socket.

He looked terrifying. A monster right out of the horror book pages. But all Frisk could think about was a short skeleton, smiling to her as she squeezed a whoopie cushion between their hands.

Sans the skeleton.

She could barely do any work that day, her thoughts all over the place as her mind replayed the moment their eyes met over and over. When closing time finally came, Frisk bolted straight home. She's been counting all her expenses in her head the whole day, thinking what she could pawn off to get more money - maybe the bank will give her a loan and she'd have a chance of getting enough to buy one monster.

It was Sans . He was right there . She had to get him out.

But first, she had to know the actual price.

Stepping inside the monster adoption center felt like a bad kind of weird - goosebumps ran down Frisk's skin as she saw monsters curled up inside cages with big colorful price tags in front. The longer she stared the sicker in the stomach she felt… the bigger prices rose right before her eyes. No way she could afford anything in here without pawning every piece of tech she had at home, down to the refrigerator.

But there was no way she was leaving Sans behind. not again

She found him in the furthest corner of the shop. And the price on him was... half as any other monster.

"Oh, it's probably better not to bother with this one." A worker called out to her when Frisk stopped in front of the skeleton's cage.

"Why is he at half price?" She couldn't bring herself to lift her head and look at the monster's face, but she could feel him watching her.

"It's highly aggressive, resists commands for the longest time, and, if you ask me, acts creepy on purpose. A broken model." Worker hummed. "If you want a big one how about that wolf-"

Frisk wasn't listening, overwhelmed with feelings. 

It. A broken model. She wanted to cry, to scream, to punch that lady in the face for insulting her childhood friend, but all she did was swallow, forced out that she'll be back later and left, still feeling the weight of his gaze creeping on her back.

Half price seemed doable, but Frisk still had to sacrifice something. Something pretty important to her. With a heavy heart, she dug out a shoe box where she kept all the important things - mementos, small trinkets, letters she really valued - and pulled out a ring.

The engagement ring that's been passed on for four generations to all women of her family. Her last link to her mother.

Frisk closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Sans... he needed her. She owed him so much more than a piece of jewelry, no matter how much emotional value it held.

Still, her lips trembled when she walked out of the pawn shop. It wasn't the first time she parted with something important, but it felt like now she had nothing , nothing to her name and nothing she could leave behind.

But it didn't matter. she deserved to be forgotten

Thankfully, Sans was still at the shop when Frisk returned. 'Adoption' and collar calibration went well, with the skeleton being weirdly calm during the whole thing.

He had only stared at her for the whole time, never blinking.

When the purchase was complete and Frisk stood outside the shop with papers in one hand, a remote control device in the other and her childhood monster friend on a leash she felt... lost.

What will she do now?

She bought Sans, true, but now what? Let him go? No, she couldn't - he'd get caught and apprehended again, or even outright killed. Keep him at home? She couldn't treat him like a slave, but what would he think?

He still hadn't spoken to her. Did he recognise her at all? She couldn't tell for sure - his singular eye was still focused on her, but the expression on his face remained unchanged.

"Follow me, please." Frisk awkwardly said and started walking home. Getting Sans out was her urgent priority, and now she just wanted to bring him to a safe place to rest. Frankly, he wasn't the only one in need of that - her heart was still racing, hands shaking and brain feeling like mush.

Sans barely fit into the door of her little apartment when they finally got there. The skeleton monster was still acting very passive - no sign of resistance that she witnessed the morning she saw him. Now that she could, Frisk took a nice long look at her old friend - he was wearing  an outfit she'd seen most monsters wear in the adoption center -  a cheap-looking poorly made gray shirt and pants too short for him in his bigger state. Up close she could see scratches on his exposed bones, as well as multiple scars, most of which could only be a result of some nasty fights. If somebody did clean him, they haven't done too good of a job - she guessed they sprayed him with some sort of air-freshening aerosol, since he smelled like a garbage bag with a hint of a Midsummer Breeze.

The bath, Frisk noted, is one of her later concerns. First priority - get him fed.

Leaving Sans in her living room, she went to the kitchen and rummaged through her fridge. She doubted he was fed anything in captivity, and the odds are he still has not eaten anything in years , so she had to bring out the savoriest of foods, if not her entire food stock. She popped the box of store bought nuggets into the oven and decided to look over the brochure she was given at the monster center.

"Thank you for your purchase of a “Monster Helper”! Please read safety rules and conditions before employing your new worker:

1) Never, under any circumstances, take the collar off of your monster helper. If you have any technical difficulties with the control collar device , bring your monster to the nearest monster-calibration center.

2) Always put your monster into a sleep state using the "Sleep Mode" button on your control device. For your health and safety, and continued use of the product, never leave a monster helper awake and alone. 

3) It is strongly discouraged to override or tamper with the core orders programmed into your monster helper’s control collar device.

4) Keep your orders clear and concise for the sake of the control collar device. Complicated commands can confuse the device’s system and potentially cause a feedback loop. Be sure to verbally state rules and conditions, also in a clear manner.

5) If a monster helper refuses a command, it will be given an electric shock through the control collar device. Do not interfere in the process, or else risk an electric shock to your own person.

6) Do not feed the monster helper.

If you have any problems with the monster helper, or the control collar device or watch set needs repair, please contact us at our official website, or give us a call at 111-111-1111."

Frisk's mouth felt dry.

'Don't feed the monster'.

That... didn't make sense in her head. Would feeding him only make him feel worse?

Oven beeped done.

Frisk bit her lip. She... she couldn't leave him without food. She just couldn't. She'd rather starve herself than not feed him now that she finally could.

Pulling nuggets out, she briefly wondered if Sans still liked to drink ketchup like she remembered. It was a weird detail in her make-believe story, the one she questioned a lot back in the mental hospital (he couldn't be real... a skeleton? Drinking ketchup and using a hairbrush on his invisible hair? Ridiculous...), but after the Barrier broke, all of the sudden everything and nothing made sense in Frisk's life.

So she splurted a bit of the ketchup on the side of the plate. Won't hurt to have a little flavor for him to enjoy.

Briefly smiling to herself, Frisk picked up the plate with the intention of presenting it to him back in the living room, but as she turned she nearly dropped it in surprise. Sans stood right in the doorway, occupying it like a brick wall, his crimson eyelight still staring right at her and pulsating with rapidly increasing speed.

Her hands gripped the edges of the plate tighter. Either she was too preoccupied with food and brochure, or he moved without making any noise, which would be very impressive with his size and her squeaky floorboards.

"I made you some food." His gaze did not move from her eyes as she said that, even as she took a few tentative steps towards him. "You can take it if you want."

Skeleton didn't move.

She lifted the plate a bit higher.

"This is for you." Frisk said with more confidence. "If you want it, you can eat it. I allow you."

She noticed a huge light on his collar blink before the plate was all but ripped out of her hands. Sans made a monstrous growl and gobbled the food in an instant, opening his jaw and letting it all fall in. Then he bit the edge of the plate, sufficiently cracking it, but instead of devouring the rest of it he slid it out of between his teeth and handed it back to her.

Frisk didn't take it right away, staring at him in bewilderment for a second too long before accepting it. Her eyes lingered on the string of drool coming out of his mouth before she looked back at her almost-broken china.

Well, the ketchup was gone. He did seem to like it. Probably.

Her gaze returned to the skeleton. He seemed to breathe heavily now, his shoulders rising up and down as if he was an animal gone feral, grin still hungry and dripping with saliva as his crimson iris dialed more and more. She could feel the chill running down her back - was feeding him a mistake, after all? Would it prompt him to do something dangerous?

Despite his disheveled appearance, the skeleton didn't move from his spot in the doorway.

I may be making a huge mistake . Frisk thought, walking to the refrigerator and opening it again. She never bought a lot of food for the keeping - she had some leftover cheese, a yogurt that must've spoiled some time last week, ketchup, a couple of potatoes and a dozen eggs.

She was unsure what feeding Sans more could cause, but he still looked so hungry and she just couldn't leave him at that.

"Listen, if you want to eat anything from the fridge, you can-"

He moved much quicker than she expected anyone of his size to move - pushing her aside, he dug into the fridge, shoving every food item she had into his mouth, containers and all.

"S-stop! Stop! Wait!" The skeleton froze in the middle of consuming raw eggs at her exclamation. She bit her lip, feeling guilty for forcefully holding him back.

Stupid collar. Can't say anything without it being an order.

"I'll- let me cook these for you." Frisk gave him a shaky smile. After his pillaging some of the eggs and ketchup survived, so she gently gathered remaining eggs and put them to the side before grabbing the ketchup and showing it to the skeleton.

"You can have this. Ketchup. If you want." Since it wasn't in a bottle and you had to squeeze it out she briefly pondered if she should do it for him, but Sans slowly took it from her hands.

And bit right into it.

"I-" What did I expect.  

Frisk sighed, turning back to the eggs to fry them. She watched them sizzle in the pan, trying to ignore the monster in the corner of her eye. After his messy eating he was covered in red stains, which made him look even more menacing despite her knowing it was just ketchup... When eggs were done cooking Sans seemed to slow down, still gobbling them off the plate using his hands, but at least the earlier urgency didn't seem to be there. His intensity seemed to lessen - his shoulders no longer shook and eyelight in his socket stilled, even though it remained wide and watchful.

"We... um... you really need a shower." Frisk looked over his messy form again. She didn't have any suitable clothes for him, so she had to find an alternative while she washed the current ones... Did they even sell clothes in his size around these parts? After her purchase of him she did have some leftover money they could last on for some time, though her balance certainly cried tears, so there was certainly no chance she could get him something custom-made...

She noticed that the skeleton did not bother to move from the spot he stood on, and let out a sigh. 

"Follow me." Frisk nodded in the direction of her bathroom. It was rather cramped even for her, but by her estimate (and hope) Sans should've fit into the shower cabin. She grabbed the shower head, turned the water on and turned back to the monster.

"Take yo-" she bit back her tongue in realization of what she was about to ask.

He was a skeleton, so it was okay, right? Not like he'll do it himself unless she orders him... still, it felt very wrong and uncomfortable and Frisk started to wonder if her decision to buy her old friend was a rash one.

It's alright. It's going to be alright. She had many other things to be concerned about, being weird about the shower stuff could wait.

"Please, take your clothes off." She asked, turning her back to him. She heard a growl, but he didn't seem to resist the order, and a moment later she could hear the sound of rustling fabric.

"Give them to me and take this." Still refusing to look at him, Frisk handed him the shower head and took his shirt and pants. "You can find soap on the shelf. I- uh- allow you to use it. Take a shower until you feel clean, okay? You  can call me if something is wrong. When you are done tu- gently turn these knobs to the right until water no longer comes out. Got it?"

Sans didn't say anything, but she was pretty sure she heard him let out a quiet unhappy humph as he stepped inside the shower cabin.

Frisk threw his clothes in the laundry and swiftly ducked out of the bathroom. She hoped he wouldn't try and misbehave - she didn't know what electroshock would do to him while he stood under the rushing water...

Sans spent a long time in the shower - so long that she briefly wondered if she phrased her words wrong, or he deliberately decided to run her into the ground with the water bills, but eventually the sound of pouring water stopped. She grabbed a blanket - it was her bed comforter, but she didn't have anything else big enough to cover him with aside for maybe her actual blanket - and gently knocked at the bathroom door.

"If you’re done you can use the big towel. The one with a little scorpion pattern in the corner." She opened the door for a little bit, enough to fit her hands through. "When you are done with the towel you can wrap yourself in this... Sorry I don't have any other clothes for you, but when I can we'll get you some!" She added hastily.

She wondered if she could find a jacket similar to one he had back... back then. She could still remember the smell of it - pine trees, greasy food and some kind of a mineral smell, the scent she imagined bones might have.

Lost in the memories, she only snapped out of it when the door opened and Sans stood before her, rolled into her golden comforter like a fresh cooked burrito. He looked... not perfect, but marginally more clean, and the smell...

A mix of her coconut soap, wet socks and just a dash of Midsummer Breeze.

Frisk frowned, but decided that it will do for now.

"You can rest on the couch now, if you want." She nodded at the aforementioned piece of furniture, ducking past him inside the bathroom to throw his clothes into the washing machine and mull over her words for the conversation they were inevitably going to have.

He has not said anything since she brought him home, and had yet to express any disobedience or violent intent, which didn't give her any clarity on... whether he remembered her or not.

It's been fifteen years since they've last seen each other, and she grew from a scrumpy little kid into... still quite a short woman. She still kept her hair shoulder length, but otherwise she had changed. Still... Her name wasn't a common one, so she had to prepare herself to face him in case he did remember her.

Face his predictable fury. Anger. Rage. All well deserved.

After a minute of staring at the laundry basket, Frisk took a deep breath, preparing to face the music. Still, not prepared enough - Sans was right in the doorway, eyes watchful, making her flinch again.

She took the step forward, trying to sidestep the monster and hoping he'd get the hint and move.

He didn't.

"Um... please take a step back." She hated she had to give him commands as it is, especially for something as little as this. Collar light blinked red as the order registered, and Sans did as he was told, looking at her with what she was sure was contempt.

"You can sit on the couch if you want. I allow you." She said and tried to give him a smile.

He didn't move.

I really didn't want to have this conversation standing.

Frisk waited for a moment longer, but when she concluded that Sans had no intentions of sitting down, she decided it was time to stop procrastinating. She grabbed the papers she got in the adoption center, her intentions only partly related to the fact that she could hide her face behind them and swimmingly avoid eye contact.

"My-" Words seemed to get stuck in her throat. "My name is Frisk."

Her eyes flew from the paper immediately to observe the monster's reaction, and he... didn't appear to have any.

"This here says I should call you... Sans?" That, strangely, made him react - for a split second, his eyelight dialed, and she could've sworn his smile got tighter.

"I'm... um..." He didn't seem to remember her...

Maybe this was for the best?

"It's... nice to have you here. I hope we can become friends..." She trailed off lamely. She didn't need to be good at reading skeleton expressions to see his spite at her statement.

"I just want you to know that... You are not my slave. I want us to get along, and I want you to feel at home. So... let's try our best to get along, alright?" She gave him a smile. He… he didn't look impressed.

Frisk let out a sigh.

Just what has she gotten herself into?

Chapter Text

Frisk didn't miss the time she had to share a space with a roommate - she had lived with her boyfriend for a couple of years before they broke up. There was little fondness found in looking back at that time, but there was something comforting in being in the same room with someone, watching TV together or sharing a meal after a long day of work.

There was no such comfort with Sans the skeleton.

When Frisk bought him, she'd been given a collar, a watch with remote collar controls, a brochure with basic rules and a manual detailing how to control her brand new monster slave. 

Mostly, control was through verbal orders - with voice recognition function, the collar picked up on her voice and if she said something with an intent of it being an order, it forced the monster to obey. Intent was a big part of monster magic, and if the collar picked up any disobedience or harmful intent within the monster, it would briefly shock them with electricity. The collar itself was also programmed with a few core orders - no harm to other beings, no leaving the owner, no touching others, no stealing... The list went on, making sure monsters had less free will than dogs or any other kind of animal if they were locked in a cage.

Aside from the collar, Frisk was given another control device - those came in different shapes and sizes, some even as installable phone apps, but she was given a watch. She could plop the clock face open, revealing a couple of buttons - the sleep-mode button and the emergency call button. The call button made Sans's collar loudly beep and forced him to come to her location immediately if he was to wander off. The sleep-mode button...

When Frisk pressed it for the first time she thought she had killed Sans.

Rules stated to always put monsters in 'sleep mode' at night for safety reasons. Frisk didn't want to force the skeleton into it, but... she didn't feel safe, especially with him watching her as intensely as he was. At first she just tried to politely ask him to try and fall asleep, but that prompted zero reaction. Then she out-right told him to sleep and that... That was the first time Sans resisted her order.

She could see the skeleton's entire frame tense, and the next moment electricity jolts shot right through his body, making him release a low growl. She almost screamed at the realization, taking her command back instantly and nearly tearing up from being the cause of his pain.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." She whimpered, plaintively reaching out to touch him, but he flinched, his eye dialing as peered at her again, his face a scowl. She froze for a moment before hugging her hand to her chest.

Her fingers brushed the watch on her wrist - made to be small, slim and stylish, it felt like a steel shackle weighing her down instead.

Forcing him into a sleep state, especially after this, felt awful, but she didn't have any other options.

"I guess we're... doing it this way. I'm very sorry Sans. I hope it doesn't hurt." Her voice cracked as she opened her watch. Monster said nothing, though his shoulders tensed ever so slightly as he clawed at the blanket still draped around him.

"Good night."

With those words Frisk pressed the button.

The collar let out a beep and Sans made a brief sound, as if air got punched out of his nonexistent lungs. His scarlet eyelight vanished, leaving behind empty eye sockets, and his momentarily tensed body loosened. With a rattle, he collapsed on the floor.

This time Frisk did scream, falling on her knees and frantically tugging on a giant skeleton, who at the moment was more akin to an inanimate Halloween decoration.

After a good few minutes of shaking and calling out to him, Frisk gave up, caressing his skull in her lap and wiping away her tears. In her mind, she tried to repeatedly tell herself that, unlike her first instinctive thought, he wasn't dead - dead monsters turned to dust. This... this seems more like he passed out. The manual said that default sleep mode should last around eight hours.

Frisk felt sick to her stomach again.

Even in this forced sleeping state, Sans did not look peaceful - his eye sockets were open and seemed more dark and endless the more she looked into them, his smile was twisted, and his huge bones piled in a way that could not be comfortable. Frisk didn't have strength to move him from her living room floor, so she tried to arrange him as best as she could, draping the blanket over him and sliding a pillow under his skull, making sure the giant hole he had on its side wasn't jabbed on anything.

Thankfully, after eight hours Sans had awoken. Frisk set herself an alarm to make sure she was up earlier, so she witnessed him moving, his eye socket shining crimson as he slowly rose to a sitting position.

The eyelight instantly focused on her once he turned his skull in her direction.

Skeleton seemed just fine after that, but the 'sleep mode' still made Frisk feel awful every time she had to press that button, making her twist and turn in her bed more than usual. She contemplated just giving Sans the order akin to 'stay in the corner and stare at the wall for eight hours', but for some reason the manual insisted that sleep mode was a very vital part when it came to keeping the monster.

Just like the 'no feeding' part. She was already breaking one rule, and she was too afraid to break another.

To be fair, feeding Sans didn't seem to affect him in any noticeable way. He was a messy eater, especially for the first few days - he broke a few of her plates, bent a couple of forks when she tried to ask him to use them and left a very sizable dent on the kitchen table that might've been already a bit bent before his arrival.

Frisk cooked all of the food before letting him eat it, though it didn't seem to matter much judging by his reaction - he didn't seem to have any preferences either, just shoving whatever she offered right in between his teeth. That made her heart whine - he's been deprived of food for what must've been years... a small part of her was happy to see him finally be able to eat, but the desperation and the sheer look of hunger every time he did just made her feel more pain and regret.

It was the closest to showing emotions (at least any emotions besides hatred and contempt she knew he must feel towards her) he ever came to around her. The first week after he got bought, Sans spent acting like a very disconcerting wardrobe - unless it was a direct order, he did not respond to anything (she still hasn't heard him speak, unless she counted the growls; she started to wonder if he lost the ability to say anything at all), and, despite her giving him the freedom to move around the apartment wherever he wanted, he never sat or layed down out of his own will, instead just standing in the most shady corner of whatever room she was in and peering at her with his eye, never looking away or even blinking. The crimson eyelight was on her at all times, and the monster only moved from his spot to another room when she did, following her wordlessly and so persistently she had to order him to stay out of the room if she wanted any privacy. 

Frisk hoped that eventually the skeleton would warm up to his surroundings and act more like a living being rather than an inconveniently-shaped lamp, but so far his behavior had very few changes. She did her best not to give Sans orders, only doing so when he was in her way (she really hoped he'd stop trying to follow her to the bathroom, but so far he either didn't get the hint or liked to be difficult), when she left home (she felt very bad telling him to just wait for her in one spot and not do anything when she was away at work or at the grocery store, but she just... hasn't felt mentally prepared to take him outside with her yet), when they ate (at first she allowed him to eat any food they had at home, but he started to eat everything straight out of the grocery bags when she returned from the store, so she had to go back to allowing him to eat when she properly prepared the food) and when she went to bed (she always asked him to lay on the couch before she pressed the 'sleep mode' button... it didn't make her feel less terrible every time she did though). She tried her best, but every time she'd see little light on the collar light up red and hear the little chime noise ring as her command registered, she felt more and more like an awful person.

Frisk tried to talk to Sans, too. At first it was to see if the monster answered, but when that proved to be a fool's errand she just did it in the hope that he'll grow more comfortable around her. She would tell him little tid-bits about herself (leaving out the details about being Underground before and spending ten years in mental hospital after), about how her day was going, what she was planning to cook for dinner or breakfast, occasionally commenting on the show she was watching on TV (not like he watched it; she could feel that eyeball burning a hole in the back of her head), and contemplating reading out loud the book she was currently in the middle of, albeit she was quite far into it already and reading it to him from this point would be more confusing...

She'll try it with the next book. She can even pick up something Sans would like- at least the old version of him would have liked...

After a week she finally got the courage to take him outside. Putting a leash on the collar felt so humiliating, despite her not even being the one wearing it.

At first it was just an evening walk at the park. Going outside, Frisk noticed that the skeleton's gaze didn't just stay on her - the crimson eye would jump from one passing human to another, lingering on other monster slaves they would walk past and only returning back to her when they were more or less alone. She hoped he'd enjoy the scenery - the sight of the setting sun, bathing in the orange and purple hue of the sky - but Sans's expression remained unchanged, just as his gaze remained on her.

Going to the shop went the same way - she was very worried the sight of the abundance of food on the shelves would set him off (she still kept up with any monster-related news, and outbreaks like these did happen, usually ending up with a hefty fine and a pile of dust), but Sans didn't appear to be affected or even interested, watching people more than anything else.

Bringing him to work was a different experience. Frisk worked as a librarian, either sorting out the books in the back or assisting people at the reception with the book they wanted or hooking them up on the library computer. After getting tired of feeling guilty for leaving Sans at home alone like she did, she thought bringing him to her job wouldn't cause any issues - the library didn't prohibit people with monsters, and the skeleton didn't do much anyway aside for standing in the corner - Frisk would feel much more relieved if she could keep an eye on him at all times.

Though, with his tendencies, it was more like he was keeping an eye on her...

However, as weird as it sounded, she didn't factor in that Sans looked like a monster. When it came to Frisk, she mostly lamented how roughed by life the pudgy skeleton she once befriended looked - his eye sockets, sinister smile, skull cracked open, broad structure - she knew he looked creepy, but she didn't feel scared, pity and regret filling her heart instead.

Other humans, however...

Most people just stared at him as he stood behind Frisk when she dealt with customer requests. A few people haven't even come in, rushing out of the door the second they spotted him. A couple of children watched him in awe, while one little girl outright cried, hiding behind her mother.

Frisk had to accept it wasn't just humans being humans - she noticed Sans deliberately changing his expression - smiling wide in a creepy blood-chilling way, his eyes either empty or his crimson pupil following a newcoming customer, pulsating more and more rapidly. Back in the adoption center when she was told he acted 'creepy on purpose' she didn't really believe it... But this couldn't not be deliberate.

After a day like that Frisk decided it would be better if she went to work alone. For the sake of her job, Sans could handle a bit of waiting. She left the TV on for him while she was out, but she doubted he actually paid it any mind, considering that when she returned home his gaze was right at her just like when she left - he most probably burned the holes in her front door with his gaze while she was away.

Though she could've sworn one time she came back home to TV playing another channel instead of one she left it on for him...

Having Sans in the corner of her eye (and the corner of the room) every day prompted a lot of memories in Frisk. After being told it was all a lie for eight years she had suppressed almost all of them, but having the living and breathing (figuratively) proof of her journey Underground being real, a lot of it resurfaced in her mind.

Sans was one of the reasons she could never leave Underground as a fantasy in her mind - he was just so... complicated. A punny jokester on the surface, but somebody who spared her life only because of a promise to a friend he has never seen... A good chunk of the time she'd been under the mountain she spent with the skeleton brothers, staying over for a few sleepovers, playing with the snow and puzzles and dog guards and sneaking into Grillby's with Sans when she needed a breather and some warm food.

He'd always ordered too many fries for her, only so he could ruin half of them with ketchup and claim them for himself with an innocent smile and a wink.

When he appeared further on in her journey she didn't question it - he had a job, but she thought he just wanted to hang out with her. Telescope pranks, hot dog towers... 

If that really happened, it meant she could balance 29 hot dogs on her head for real. Huh.

She was too small back then to realize the full gravity of words he told her in Mettaton's restaurant. Even looking back at the memories now, Frisk never believed he had any ill intentions towards her - he was her friend, and that was that. Maybe she just didn't want to believe...

If that Sans, her friend from the past, didn't have any ill intent, then this Sans certainly did.

What he said to her in the judgment hall, however, resonated with Frisk even back then. Even as a kid she felt the weight of the moment, heard his words and felt his judgment.

He told her he believed she'd do the right thing.

And then she’d let him down. Not just him - Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne... all of her monster friends - she’d let all of them down.

It was all a blur - maybe she blocked those memories too well, but she couldn't recall much - her determination pushing her through, meeting the king... something hot against her skin, and... terror, the soul-gripping fright, feeling of helplessness, calling out for help…

And then she was outside, laying on the grass and staring at the cloudy sky.

Those feelings haunted her for years - not just fear... a feeling that she messed up, somehow. Tripped and fell right before crossing the finish line.

Monsters were still under the mountain, and no matter how much she pleaded or screamed at the adults they would not listen.

Instead they locked her up, too. Told her she made all this up, that monsters did not exist and that there's nothing under the old mountain. She probably fell into an old mineshaft, they told her, and imagined herself some companions to cope with the fear of the dark.

Monsters were not real. Magic did not exist. A little kid like her should not invent stories that included the tragic death of seven children.

Frisk clinged to her memories for a long time, but years upon years in the mental hospital wore down even her determination. She never quite let go, but was heavily punished for it. Even after being let out at eighteen years old, people in the town talked. She was the 'monster girl', a crazy child who never let go of her messed up imagination. No matter where she worked or stayed, she could always hear faint murmurs of people talking about her behind her back.

Bullying her. Belittling her. Judging her.

Frisk would be lying if she said it didn't bother her... but a major part of her felt like she deserved it. Even after convincing herself that there were no monsters trapped under the mountain... she still felt guilty.

Her fantasy never got a happy ending. She got to be the main character of a story, and even if it was her brain that made it up, she failed to save the day.

That guilt only tripled when she first heard the news that her fantasy was not a fantasy at all.

She did not only leave them trapped, she left them to starve. To lose their intelligence. To suffer.

And now, all she managed is to find one of her past monster friends, so she could keep him in her little apartment with not much food and little to no things she could afford.

What a hero she was.

"Lay on the couch, please." Frisk told the skeleton another evening. She watched him shoot her a brief glare as his collar light blinked, before shuffling over and doing just as she said, setting his head on one couch arm and dangling his legs over the other.

"Good night, Sans." She muttered, sliding her watch open and pressing the sleep mode button. She watched the monster slump before gently dragging a blanket over him.

"I'm sorry... for everything."

She felt like a failure almost every day of her life, but something always kept her going. Even after years and years of being dragged down, years of being silenced and oppressed...

She was still determined.

Monsters did exist. She was right . It was not a fantasy, not a dream, and now she had the smallest chance of making it up to at least one of them.

"I'll do anything for you, Sans. Just bear with me."

Chapter Text

"I have a day off tomorrow." Frisk almost sang, brushing her hair in a hurry and probably making it even more of a mess than it already was. "I know we went out a couple of times before, but I never showed you around."

Sans didn't respond - she didn't expect him to. She didn't know if he even listened when she was talking to him, and if he didn't it just wouldn't change anything, but some part of her - quite a large one - hoped that he did. She didn't hope for an answer, but she hadn't let go of a wish to see him be more comfortable around her.

"We went to the Redwood park, but there's another park nearby - I think it's called the Leftline park officially, but everybody just calls it the Fox park. It's not as fancy and streamlined as Redwood, more wild and natural, so if you really go far into it you can stumble upon some wild foxes." Satisfied with her hair, Frisk ran to put on her shoes and coat. 

"I've seen one when I was there once. I don't know why it was right on the path, but it hissed at me before running away. Freaked me out a little, but it was so pretty..." Crap, I forgot my satchel. She didn't want to get out of her boots now, so she tippy-toed her way to the room to grab it. She can sweep the floor when she gets home after her job. "If the weather is good we'll go tomorrow. There's a burger joint nearby there, too. We can eat there after a walk... If they let monsters in. If not, I'll just buy it for on the go and we'll eat at home."

Ready to head out, she turned to Sans. When they were in the living room, he loved to stay behind the couch and right next to a window - not quite a shadowy corner, but a good place for him to observe her no matter which room she was in.

"Okay, I'm heading out. The TV is on for you, you can change the channel or turn it off whenever you want until I'm back. Wait for me to return, do not leave the apartment. See you, Sans!" She gave him a little wave as she closed the door.

The work day was going quite well - Frisk was already excited for her days off. They could go outside for one day, and spend the next one indoors. She could bake something - it was her little hobby, though she wasn't that good at it. Sans probably wouldn't mind if the cookies were not exactly round and the icing was a bit all over the place... He did attempt to eat raw flour, once. She had to scrub his face quite a bit - did him not biting her fingers off count as him trusting her?

She hoped so. That lady from the adoption center made it sounds like Sans would be unruly, and from the display Frisk herself witnessed when she saw him for the first time after fifteen years she had same concerns, but so far he didn't attempt to harm her or escape... maybe, over time, he'll open up a little.

But for now, she'll do the best she could to accommodate him. Maybe instead of baking she can try to properly cook something - her paycheck was only a few days away, so if she could buy a nice chicken, she could season it up and grill it in the oven. Sans would probably appreciate it more. She could imagine him gobbling up the whole thing-

"Someone looks like she's in a good mood."

Frisk felt her blood run cold. Lifting her eyes from the books she was sorting while flying in her thoughts, she narrowed them at the person who effectively ruined her good mood.

"Hi, Brad." She gave him a brief glance before turning her back and looking for something she could use to pretend she was busier than she actually was. "What brings you here? Looking for a book?" Or you ran out of paper without me stealing it for you from the job every damn week?

"Nah. Was just dropping by since I'm back in town- missed seeing you." Turning her head back a bit, she could see him eyeing an exact bodypart he missed seeing.

"If you don't have any business here please leave." She faced him, crossing her arms.

"Don't be like that babe, I see you ain't busy." He chuckled, meeting her sour expression with a smile. "I just wanna apologize, if not on my behalf then on behalf of all the jerks back from the college. You were right all along - monsters were real."

Frisk bit her lip.

"I appreciate your apology, but it doesn't exactly change anything." She sighed. "It was never about me being right, it was about monsters being trapped under the mountain..."

"Well, they're out now, ain't they?" Brad hummed. "It's better than being back there."

Better?!

"Enslaved? Having their free will taken and still being starved??" Frisk snapped, raising her voice and making him take a step back.

"Woah, honey-"

"Please don't call me that."

"Frisky, chill. They aren't as cuddly as you said either, are they? They attack people-"

"Who keep them as slaves and make them do God knows what??"

"Yeah, yeah, but I mean before that. They were pretty aggressive when they got out of that mountain, weren't they?" He casually shrugged. "At least they didn't get genocided, yunno."

Frisk gave him an intense glare before shaking her head.

"Please, Brad... Just go." She turned away again, trying to hide her upset face behind her hair.

"Don't worry your little pretty face, I'm leaving. Just wanted to say... nice watch." Reflectively, her hand flew to her wrist, fingers feeling the outer shell of her monster control device. "Stay safe, Frisky. Don't get eaten... or exploded. I heard that's the thing that can happen." Before she could come up with a thing to say, he was already one leg outside the door.

She hated when he did this. Get the drop on her like that, trying to weave his way back into her life...

After that surprise visit the rest of the work day felt endless. By the time she got home she just felt exhausted. Sans met her like he always did - silence, staring, and a whole lot of nothing.

And then the kitchen lightbulb just had to go out. Great .

Skeleton moved to the kitchen, watching her climb the table to reach the lamp.

"If I fall, you better catch me." Frisk said jokingly, unscrewing the old bulb. "Didn't I change you only a couple of months ago? What's with this..." She rambled, finishing up the job and carefully making her way back down. Sans took a step back as she went to the fridge.

"Want anything in particular for dinner?" She poked her head out of the fridge door. He only stared in return. "No? Okay..." Refrigerator didn't have any glaring options, so she closed it and turned to the pantry. "Noodles? l can add leftover vegetables. We still have that sad bell pepper alone in the fridge." Frisk didn't bother to look at him this time - not like he'd give her any feedback... "I think we'll go to the park the day after tomorrow. I'm... not feeling too well." 

They ate dinner in silence, excluding the background noise of the TV playing in another room. Usually Frisk would try to talk to Sans more, but at the moment she was too preoccupied with falling down the memory lane again.

Dammit. That's why she didn't like Brad showing up, he always stirred old memories...

Frisk shook her head. It's all in the past. Future... didn't seem brighter, but at least she was free to make her own life decisions.

Unlike Sans, who was blocking the kitchen doorway again .

"Sans, please-" She was too tired for this. "Step back."

She expected him to back off, but instead, after her command registered, the red light didn't blink out.

Sans refused her order.

He clawed at the collar as electricity shot through him, his back bending as he refused to move from the doorway.

It caught Frisk so off guard for a moment all she could do was stare - but even when she snapped from her shock, she didn't know what to do.

"Oh my Gosh, oh my Gosh- Sans- please, stop, order canceled- what are you doing, why-" All she could do was panic as he grunted in pain. As electricity stopped, the skeleton was still hunched over, eye sockets open but both empty as he breathed rapidly (she couldn't recall seeing him breath before, he was always as still as the mountain).

Frisk was hyperventilating - why did he do that? She could understand the other times he refused her commands, but this- he was just blocking her way to the living room, like he did before, and she thought it was just out of spite, but he never caused himself pain-

She wanted to reach her hand out to him, to support him, but he never reacted well to her touch - whenever her hand brushed against his bones he would always scowl or outright let out a low growl not unlike an angry dog would. He never flinched or pulled back, or stepped away to avoid her running into him, but it was pretty clear he didn't want to be touched.

However, as he braced his shoulder against the doorway, partly leaning on it, he lifted his shaky arm towards her. She expected him to touch her, but his hand froze in the air. As if he wanted to lean on her, but something was stopping him.

The collar programming, she realized. One of the default orders was 'never touch a human unless the command requires it'. And indeed, all the times they touched were initiated by her - deliberate or accidental.

"You can touch me, it's fine-" Frisk blurred out, desperate to stable him. "What's got into you-"

Before she could finish her sentence, a skeletal hand seized her throat.

" g o t c h a "

Back of her head hit the wall, and the cry she let out got silenced by fingers that quickly tightened around her neck. Her hands reflectively clawed at them, panic and pain making her heart race, her own pulse echoing like drums in her ears. She couldn't breathe-

Only sounds leaving her mouth were choked up gasps- tears fogged her vision, but she could make out the dark eye sockets right in front of her face. A smile split the skeleton's face in half, his crimson eye rapidly shaking.

His face depicted absolute rage .

"finally..." His voice was raspy, coarse from what might have been months if not years of silence. It was just as deep as she remembered, but gone was the jolliness in it, the warmth that brought a smile on her face and sense of security even in a dark cold forest under the mountain.

"......S.....s....an....s......" Frisk felt lightheaded, still weakly trying to grab onto his hand around her throat. He snarled, looking even more angry as his grip tightened so much she couldn't close her lips.

" stop. saying. my. name. " Skeleton monster all but roared and slammed her against the wall again, kicking the air out of her lungs. "you.... humans.... i hate...... you......" He learned closer, his smile centimeters away from her face. "i'll... rip your eyes out... and watch you bleed..." A low chuckle rumbled all the way from his chest. "and... after that... i'll rip your head off. "

Frisk closed her eyes tightly (her biggest nightmare was coming to life, and despite knowing she deserved this she was so scared- ), trying to focus - she couldn't speak, but she had the watch-

Her shaky fingers slid to her wrist, but with her eyes closed she missed how his scarlet eyelight darted to her throat, and how his smile widened.

"na-ah."

Skeleton's unoccupied hand snatched her left arm, bringing it to the wall next to her head. He pressed it further, almost intertwining their fingers. Then, in a split second, he squeezed with what could've been all his might.

Her fingers bent in different directions, none of which were natural. She screamed, pain overwhelming her senses, black and red spots dancing in her vision, the shade of crimson shaking more rapidly as more tears leaked from her eyes.

"i'm....... in control.........." Sans rasped, his voice full of sinister excitement.

This is it...

Through pain and lack of oxygen, Frisk couldn't think clearly, but at the back of her mind, she knew... She always knew it'd end like this.

Everything. Leaving underground, refusing to let go of it, monsters, humans... because of her mistakes, she never belonged.

And it was Sans, too... Her best friend back there. At least it was him, now. At least she'd given him the best she could while she could... She knew it wouldn't last forever. The moment she bought him, she knew it would come to this. She deserved it. She deserved much worse, but, maybe if Sans kills her, at least he'll achieve peace in his soul...

But... despite that... despite knowing that it will end with him killing her, knowing he hated her, and knowing how much she deserved that hate... it was so soon. She hoped they'll... stay together, just a little bit longer. She still hadn't shown him places, and hadn't bought him a new jacket... Haven't given him... the food... he'd like.......

Just a little bit longer would be...... so nice......... but at the end of the day , she deserved to die for every mistake she'd made.

Her body went limp.

Finally. Finally .

Sans felt fantastic . At last, he could do something he wanted to do - kill that damn human .

Her glistening eyes, so full of fear and pain. At his mercy.

He grit his teeth, smiling. Her neck was so soft - it would take nothing to squeeze it tighter...

It was a wonderful feeling - freedom. He was free to act, to show his true self, to express his rage-

Her body went limp.

He frowned for a second, thinking she lost consciousness (already? Did he overdo it this fast? Dammit...), but her eyes remained open. She was still crying, croaking noises escaping her throat in an effort to breathe, but all that resistance she put up - she let go.

No matter. It was all futile, anyway.

Something in her eyes gave him a pause. The fear gave way to something else, something he did not expect... acceptance.

And Sans felt... doubt . 

Just as he stared at her, her body shook, eyes closing. Not dead yet, just passed out.

Not for long.

It didn't matter that she didn't fight back. It didn't matter how she treated him. It didn't matter that she... she was...

His head hurt again. It wasn't just a headache, either - looking at the human, his owner, face filled with pain that he caused her - he was suddenly hit with a wave of sheer disgust .

But not towards her… towards himself.

He let go of her throat, letting the body slide down the wall, and gripped his skull, fingers clawing on the edges of his big injury.

His head was pounding with pain, wave after wave of self-hatred shaking his bones so hard the loudness of the rattling was making it worse. He was going to vomit...

After the pounding calmed down, he slowly opened his eyes, staring at the human laying near his feet. It was his only chance to kill her, get that stupid collar off and go find his family, bringing justice to the humans along the way...

Frisk was breathing rapidly, occasionally letting out whimpers, each and every one prickling his soul in a way he didn't like.

He couldn't leave unless she was dead. And he should have no qualms about killing her, either - she treated him more nicely, sure, but at the end of the day she was still a dirty human who'll stab him in the back the first chance she gets...

... especially after this. If he doesn't kill her, she will dust him herself.

Why was he hesitating?? 

Sans fell on his knees.

She was so happy this morning... just like when she was talking to children at her work. And her smile was the same as when she gave him a new shirt to wear that was just his size and had a little wavy pattern on the bottom... And her voice, so annoyingly pleasant as she went on and on about useless things that meant nothing.

So in contrast to the sound of her screaming in pain...

He had to do it. Anyone would do the same in his place... He had to get out. He couldn't just stay with her, forever, or until she gets tired of him... especially now...

Why, out of all times, now she had to make him think about Aliza? Was it because they were both too naïve for their own good, too kind, especially to somebody like him? It wasn't just that, it was almost like... he was missing something...

His head was hurting again.

He knelt to grab Frisk and lifted her to his eye level, looking over that human one last time. Skinny, small, pathetic...

Carefully, he laid her on her bed, pushing a pillow under her head. Who knows, maybe he'll find a way to get the stupid collar off before she wakes up...

Or he'll just kill the next human she pawns him off to. When that time comes, he will not hesitate.

Chapter Text

Frisk didn't remember calling an ambulance - she remembered her journey to open the front door, arguing with them - why was she arguing? They said something... something about Sans? And it made her angry, but she was too in-pain to be angry... Pain. She remembered so much pain .

By the time she regained consciousness and the ability to think clearly, she was laying in a hospital bed. Sans was in the room, too - awkwardly plastered over the guest chair in sleep mode.

That's right . Frisk blinked against the harsh light of the hospital lamp. They wouldn't let him come in otherwise.

She could recall trying to make excuses for her injuries - she said something about a microwave falling on her hand? But the microwave couldn't leave choking marks around her neck... 

Not to mention she didn't even own a microwave in the first place. Doctors didn't know that, but it was still a pretty lame excuse.

Right, the doctors realized Sans was the one who injured her and tried to call monster specialists, but she argued, insisting on bringing him with her. They would've taken Sans away, or straight up disposed of him on the spot for hurting his owner...

Frisk felt tears prickle the edges of her eyes. No, she can't do this now... She'll feel sad, and miserable, and betrayed later.

Her left arm felt itchy in a cast, and neck still felt pretty sore. Her doctor said considering her injuries there wasn't a need to stay at the hospital, though now she was analyzing the situation she'd rather stay for at least a day. Sans was put to sleep for 24 hours, making Frisk's heart anxiously skip a bit when she heard this. She kept up with all kinds of information on monsters available on the internet, and there were numerous cases of monsters dusting when owners engaged the 'sleep mode', especially for a period of time longer than 12 hours. She was contemplating turning it off for Sans, to just tell him to wait and maybe play the TV on a low volume and buy some earplugs for herself, but after what had just happened...

She'd wait for him to wake up, go home, have a talk, and...

... decide what to do next then.

Waiting in the hospital bed left her a lot of time to think. And stars, did she feel stupid . Allowing him to touch her... How long had he planned something like this? It certainly didn't feel like a spur of a moment opportunity, he probably waited for her to bring her guard down, be too tired or disoriented to think properly...

And he could talk, too. He clearly hadn't for a long time, but he could... And listen as well - he certainly heard her words and made it quite clear he didn't like her speaking.

From what she remembered, he hadn't mentioned anything about the Underground. Either he couldn't recall her, still hadn't recognized her, or it didn't matter to him as much as she thought it might - why, it was just another reason for him to resent and kill her.

Which he hadn't done.

That was the biggest elephant in the room - her, being alive, right now. Despite his open threats and demonstration of violence without even a glint of hesitance, the monster had left her alive. Moreover, he allowed her to call the ambulance and subdue him...

Essentially, he spared her. And Frisk... wasn't sure how she should feel about it.

She should be happy, right? She was still alive, and she might've done something right for him to spare her... or maybe it was the collar that stopped him from finishing the job.

It could've been pity… maybe he was playing a long game she wasn't aware of, and still needed her alive for some purpose.

Try as she might, Frisk could feel tears forming. She should be happy, whatever his reason was, but... no matter how much she understood him and his reasons, no matter how much she deserved it, on a level so deep Sans himself wasn't even fully aware, she still felt betrayed .

What was she supposed to do - bring him back home and act like nothing happened? Continue to insist he sit at the table so they could eat together, still bring him outside for walks, still talk to him and pretend that maybe, just maybe he'd grow to care?

Frisk shook her head, letting the tears fall. It shouldn't matter what he thinks of her - as long as she provides him as much comfort and safety as she can, she should be content. From this point on she'll just watch her tongue on what kind of commands she allows...

Sans woke up slowly - usually he was pretty fast to gather himself back and get on his feet so he could stay in place and be intimidating, but this time he took it slow. Frisk could see him flex bones of his fingers first, then slowly roll his shoulders and lift his skull up. Red light gathered in his left eye socket, forming into an orb she was far too familiar with. It fluttered for a few seconds, his gaze aimed at nothing, before he turned it to her.

Against her will, her body tensed. His stare held no emotions, but she could feel her throat getting drier.

They should talk, shouldn't they? There were so many things she wanted to tell him.

I don't blame you. It's okay. I'm not angry or mad.

Hesitantly, she opened her lips.

"I... " Her voice quivered. "I forbid you from touching me again."

She saw light on his collar blink before turning her head away from him. She... it was too much. Looking at him was too much for her right now.

She'll speak to him later. When they get home.

Coming back to her apartment didn't feel calming like she hoped it would. It was too small for them both. It always was, but it really felt like it now that Frisk wanted to be alone. Leaving Sans in the living room, she did her best to curl around in bed, staring at her phone and letting her brain turn to mush as she browsed everything that distracted her from what had happened.

She couldn't do this all day - she was hungry, and the dinner was in order. Having only one hand to operate with, Frisk wasn't exactly in a position to make anything exquisite - she opened her fridge and pulled out some frozen chicken nuggets.

Same brand which she fed Sans the first day she brought him home...

Her insides ached, but she didn't have the strength to cook anything else, and was way too hungry for plain bread. Doctor told her a proper diet was in order to make sure her hurt throat didn't get worse, but at the moment everything was worse, and she didn't care.

"Sa-" She was pulling the food out of the oven and was about to call Sans to join her at the table (he was poking out of the living room, watchful as always) when the words he spoke to her surfaced in her mind.

'stop saying my name .'

Chill ran down her back. She knew his name only because she knew him - in the files he was just given a serial number, so she was probably the only human to call him Sans outside the Underground. Obviously, he did not like that...

Frisk gulped, her gaze firmly at his shoes.

"Please take a seat at the table." She said, arranging his and her portions. When they both sat down, she nodded at his plate. "You can eat this."

Usually, when she said that, the skeleton's face would be immediately in the plate, consuming whatever she'd given him, but this time, to her surprise, he hesitated.

The expression on his face would always remain unchanged - hollow, just like the hole in his skull, and when he did make a new face, he just looked more mad or creepy. It wasn't what he was doing now - he was frowning at her.

"... What? It's just food." Frisk frowned back at him, taking a bite out of her nugget.

Sans didn't say anything, his attention turning back to consuming his dinner. As always he was done in the matter of seconds, but the look he'd given her afterwards was unusual as well. The best Frisk could interpret it was confusion.

"I... I am keeping you." She said, staring at her plate. "I don't want you to hurt me, but I won't bring you back to the adoption center because of what you did. It..." Was my mistake . "... will be okay."

She finished dinner in silence, clumsily washing dishes and tucking herself back into bed, almost falling asleep before shutting Sans off.

"Please lay on the couch." She called from her bed, not bothering to stand up. She did croak 'good night' before putting him in sleeping mode, and spent quite a bit of time staring at the control watch.

How much would things be different if monsters weren't turned into slaves? Would her and Sans's paths ever cross? Frisk imagined she'd try to reach out to him and her other friends, probably not right away, but eventually... she owed them an apology, at least. Would any of them forgive her?

She sighed, putting the watch on the bedside table and snuggling into her blanket. No good deliberating it right now... She could only hope one day people will recognize monster rights.

And one day, she'll apologize... at least to Sans.

---

Days passed as usual. Working with only one hand was inconvenient, but Frisk had to endure it for four more weeks, if she was lucky and her fingers healed properly. She still decided not to bring Sans to her work, but she did take him with her when she went to the hospital for the check-ups.

"I know you listen to me."

Something prompted her to speak her mind as they were walking back from the hospital visit. It would probably be better to talk at home about this, but Frisk has been putting it off for two weeks now, her will and strength evaporating as she chose to just curl on the couch on her bed and ignore everything for another day.

Sans didn't say anything - he expressed no sign that he was listening, but he stopped when she did right before a small crossroad. The traffic was so low here and there was no traffic light, but Frisk didn't move, staring at the leash in her right hand before following it up until her eyes met his.

"You talk, too. I won't force you, but at least... maybe you can nod yes or no when I ask you something?" A note of fragile hope slipped into her voice.

He didn't nod, nor did he shake his head. He didn't remain completely still - his eye sockets narrowed, as if he was baffled by her attempt to try and get something from him without a direct order she knew he'll deny.

"I don't want much from you... I just want to know why you didn't finish... this." She nodded at her bandaged arm. "Did you spare me on purpose?"

That prompted a new reaction - for the first time, at least since she could recall, Sans's eye turned away from her. Red orb slowly pulsed as his gaze lowered to her feet.

He made a low growling noise that reverberated in his chest, but didn't say anything.

Frisk halted for a second - she had long given up on getting any kind of response from him no matter the situation, so this was a first for her.

She just wasn't sure what to make of it.

"I- like I said, I have no intentions of selling you away, so we'll continue to live together. And I want you to feel comfortable... And you clearly aren't." 

'You wouldn't've attacked me then .' Was left unsaid, only a bitter giggle tumbled past her lips. His gaze returned to her eyes.

"I'd appreciate you telling me your opinion on things. A yes or no would be enough... just a nod, maybe." Frisk looked away, finally crossing the road. "If you remember how to write, I allow you to leave me notes on paper. I can give you your own notepad."

And she did - when they got home, she dug out an old notebook she never used and presented it to Sans with a pen.

He immediately broke the pen.

Frisk knew it wasn't on purpose - purposefully breaking things was forbidden by the default orders - but cleaning his finger bones from ink was a pain, especially since she knew he didn't like her touching him.

She gave him a pencil the next time. He broke that one too.

Frisk sighed.

"Can you at least tell me what you want for dinner?" She asked, feeling exasperated. "Chicken flavored instant noodles or omelette with tomatoes like I made last week?"

Sans's face didn't change apart from a slight narrow of his eye sockets, and just as Frisk prepared to turn away and let her frustration out by opening the fridge door with unnecessary force, the monster lifted his hand.

Frisk owlishly blinked at him as he lifted up two fingers.

Second option.

"... I-is that because it's funny watching me crack eggs with one hand?" Her frustration evaporated, replaced by the confusion and not a small amount of surprise.

Probably because he likes tomatoes... She thought more clearly as he lowered his hand and resumed his default position of a scary staring wardrobe.

He... he actually did it. He gave her an answer. He communicated back. Frisk knew she shouldn't feel this full of hope just because he preferred fluffy eggs over dry noodles, but, as she turned to cook the dinner, she could feel a gentle spark of hope in her soul.

Can... can they make this work?

Chapter Text

"I'm hooome." Frisk called out when she returned from work, struggling to open the door. Three more weeks before she could free her fingers - at the very least she was right-handed.

Lucky her.

Sans met her with his gaze, watching her struggle to take off her coat for a good minute. Winning that battle, Frisk slipped into the kitchen and opened the fridge. She started to stock up on more food since she got the monster living with her, but with one hand restricted at the present she hasn't been to the grocery store in a few days.

"We should go to the store on Saturday." She said, throwing Sans a look over her shoulder. Predictably, he was right there in the kitchen behind her. "Tonight we can either have sandwiches, or..." They ate eggs in the morning, though she doubted that food variety meant much to Sans. But, aside from that... "Rice? Or noodles." She turned to the skeleton again. He lifted one finger. "Alright then."

All his feedback was still very brief (and mostly... well, only related to food), but Frisk was glad he seemed more comfortable around her.

She could've sworn a bit of tension melted away from his shoulders in comparison to when she had just bought him, though it came back when they went outside or she brushed past him. It could've been her wishful thinking, but Frisk couldn't help but feel a little glad.

"Seen anything interesting on TV today?" She jokingly asked him after dinner, pouring some cookies in the bowl to take with her and giving the rest of the box to him - she made herself comfortable on the couch as he devoured the dessert, cardboard box and all, and returned to stand in his favourite corner.

Frisk started clicking through channels, looking for something that would catch her interest. Landing on the news, she was about to click off when she saw it was monster-related. Usually she kept up with the monster situation via the internet, not relying on waiting for TV news, but right now she felt that since she caught it, it would be a waste not to watch it.

She threw a quick glance at Sans, who was preoccupied with watching the back of her head. Probably means he wouldn't mind her watching this...

After a bit of listening Frisk frowned at the screen. It was a report of a group of slave monsters dusting when a work accident occured. At least that was the cause the company that owned them claimed. Apparently, a monster-rights group, small as it was, was in the process of suing that company.

Report changed to an interview with the group representative - a teenage girl with pale skin, light hair and lavender eyes.

Frisk had seen this girl before - when the topic of monsters came up, she was the human you'd hear about the most.

Aliza.

Frisk had read a lot about her - she had parents that disowned her after she broke the barrier and refused to let go of her beliefs in the good in the monsters, and was currently, if not an official participant, a main face of the monster rights movement.

She retold the story of her journey through the Underground many times, and didn't shy away from the gruesome reality and details of what it was like down there. Despite that, she repeatedly insisted that monsters were good creatures, driven to the edge with their need to survive, and that they deserved better. A chance to recover, to live free in the sun. She was so earnest in her words, so kind in her expression... the way only a child was capable of.

Watching her on the screen, Frisk wondered if Sans had ever met her when she was down there. Aliza did mention having skeleton friends, and Sans and Papyrus were the only two skeletons Frisk personally met on her own journey, but she didn't know if there were any more of them in the Underground. If Sans did know her, he probably wouldn't tell her... She had a feeling he might even resist the order if she were to give him one, but she only intended to ask a question he'd most probably ignore.

She opened her mouth as she was turning her head, ready to ask the monster, but as her gaze landed on him her body froze.

For the first time since she brought him to her home, Sans's gaze wasn't on her. He was looking intently at the TV screen.

"You know her." Frisk's question formed into a definitive sentence that slipped past her lips before she could think. Skeleton's eye returned to her immediately, shrinking in surprise. Looks like she caught him off guard for once.

He didn't reply, but the scarlet iris slowly drifted back from her face to the screen, confirming what she thought.

As the screen flickered back to the newscaster, she could see Sans tense - it looked like he was about to take a step forward, to reach his hand out towards the TV, but he remained in place, his gaze sliding back, not to Frisk but to a floor beneath him.

He looked frustrated, angry - but, for the first time she could remember, not at her.

Frisk bit her lip. It really looked like he knew Aliza well... did he, perhaps, remember the promise he gave to Toriel, the one that made him protect her back on her own journey? Was it his kindness, or the kindness of his brother? She couldn't know for sure... but she couldn't bear seeing him so dejected.

"I know a few things about her." Frisk said rashly. His gaze was on her in an instant, the weight of his anger and tension suddenly falling on her shoulders, making her nervous all of the sudden. "Since she is the one who freed the monsters there's a lot of information about her on the internet. She's been taken under the wing of a couple of politicians, and her face represents the monster rights movement. The humans who believe that monsters should not be enslaved, and should be free." Sans frowned. Frisk couldn't quite read his expression, but then an idea popped into her mind, making her smile. 

"We can write to her." His eye sockets widened, red light expanding. "Online - I'm sure there's a few emails out there we can write to, and maybe some of them are bound to reach her. I can write to her about you and your life here- I'll write whatever you want me to write, if you tell me what you want to tell her... How does that sound?"

Sans furrowed his brows, and his usually impenetrable face was suddenly very easy to read - doubt, sadness and a dash of hope grazed his features.

At long last he gave Frisk a nod. She smiled.

"I'll get right to it!" She gave him a nod of her own, hurrying to grab her phone to start looking.

Was it wrong of her to be happy? Not for his misery, but because he finally put an ounce of trust into her...

To her disappointment she didn't find much - at first she thought she found Aliza's social media page, but it clearly wasn't run by her. As for contacting monster rights reunion in that regard, most websites kept referring to the official page of the whole monster-rights group, which did have a feedback email, but Frisk doubted it would reach her. Still, she was determined to write in every place and call every number with even the smallest chance of getting to Aliza.

"Since even if she sees it she most probably won't be the first and only one to do so, we better-'' Frisk bit her tongue. If she could talk to Aliza, she wanted to tell her that she doesn't treat Sans like a slave, but who knows who'll read her email... Paranoia gnawed on her soul.

Besides, it's... probably not what Sans would say about her as an owner. Her broken fingers and still sore throat could attest to that.

"...nevermind." She shook her head. "Can I write your name to her?" Sans nodded. "I'll tell her you are thinking about her, and that I'm keeping you up with the news. Okay?" Pause. Head tilt. "Uh... How about I just say you miss her?" Nod. "Okay. Can I... say that she shouldn't worry about you?" Frisk's heart skipped a bit as she hesitantly looked up at the skeleton again. 

His eye sockets narrowed for a second before he gave her another nod. 

She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and resumed typing.

"I'll ask her to write back if she got this message... and that's it I guess. Unless you have anything else to say?" Frisk tilted her head to get a better look at monster's face, just in time to see his body tense up. Without warning, he turned around and walked into her bedroom. To her surprise she heard him grab something, but before she could ponder what it could be he made his way back to her.

A notepad. The notepad she gave him when she asked if he wanted to communicate via writing.

"Oh. Oh!!" Getting the hint, she grabbed a handful of pencils she had. "I allow you to use these."

She could see that Sans was picking them up with the tips of his boney fingers as carefully as he could, but it was a struggle. He broke a couple, one slipped out of his gentle grip, but finally he managed to grab one just right.

His movements were quick and rough, each line a bold stroke. From this angle Frisk couldn't see what he was writing, and she didn't want to disturb him despite her curiosity and anticipation, but after a bit Sans examined his work and lowered his hands enough for her to see what he wrote on the page.

His handwriting looked like a bunch of scary sharp sticks, but Frisk had no problem reading the single word he wrote.

'Papyrus' .

Of course... How could she not think about this? Sans was obviously worried about his brother. Not like Frisk hadn't thought about him before - younger skeleton was a joy in her memories, and she didn't even want to imagine how he could have changed in his time of hunger in the Underground... he was not in the adoption center where Frisk bought Sans, so it meant they were separated, and who knows for how long.

Somewhere deep inside Frisk was afraid the younger skeleton didn't make it... but if Sans was worried about him now, it means that at least he'd lived through the Underground.

There was the problem - Frisk couldn't just ask Sans about Papyrus without giving away her past. Documents didn't even mention Sans's name, so of course there was nothing about familial relations aside for... the breeding section.

Sans grunted, snapping her from her trance. Right, she has to pretend she doesn't know what it is- she just hoped her facial expression and prolonged staring hadn't given away too much already.

"P-papyrus? What's that?" Lousy acting, but Frisk hoped he'd either be too dense to see through it or chock her stutter up to reacting to him even writing something in the first place. To be fair, Frisk was very impressed - he remembered the notepad she gave him and wanted to use it-

At the corner of her eye she noticed how dark the skeleton's face became when she mentioned his brother's name. He looked angry again, almost squishing the notepad, creasing the paper-

"I- I'll write 'P. S.: Sans is asking about a papyrus of some sort.' Will that do?" She could see him gritting his teeth, and, after a moment of deliberation, he nodded. Frisk suppressed a relieved sigh.

"Good. Now I'll send it to a few places where Aliza might see it, and wait for her response." She pulled up the list of relevant emails she saved and hit 'send to all'. "Done." She gave Sans a smile, feeling this satisfaction you get after finishing an assignment.

Skeleton gave her a jerky nod, his fingers still digging into the notepad pages. It didn't look like he was doing it on purpose - he looked too deep in thoughts, and his eyelight, even though directed on her as always, seemed to be staring in general space rather than straight at her.

"We should go to sleep now." It might've been petty, Frisk didn't like to use her watch as a watch , so she checked the time on her phone.

She went to the bathroom to brush her teeth, and when she turned around to the door she expected Sans to be standing there in his favorite activity of getting in her way, but, to her surprise, she saw him standing in the living room, crimson orb aimed at the TV.

Before starting to write that letter Frisk left the TV on the federal news channel, she realized. Nothing special was playing, but the skeleton had this look like... he was waiting for something.

Frisk frowned, unconsciously pulling up her phone. No new messages.

For now, she hoped their letter reaches Aliza.

Chapter Text

"Iiiiii might need your help at work today." Frisk called out to Sans, brushing her hair in a rush. She was always hectic in the mornings, and, with no ability to use her second hand, her hair was even more of a mess. "I have to move a lot of old books from the back to the front and then sort them out, but the moving part is... a bit of an issue." Around a week left before she could remove the cast - her fingers hurt like hell when she moved them or even tried to flex, so she hoped it'll get better.

"Would you help me, please?" 

She turned to face the skeleton, making her best puppy dog eyes and hoping her hair was making her look more charming and not completely incompetent. Sans narrowed his eye sockets in consideration, his eye jumping from her face to her cast for a brief second before he gave her a nod, albeit an unenthusiastic one.

A smile lit up her face. "Thank you!!" She ran to pick up her purse. "I'll treat you to something nice later!"

Sans let out a quiet growl at that. Lately, he's been way more... responsive. Open, even. Well, it was a growl here, a jerky nod there, but Frisk actually felt she was living with some one and not some thing .

Skeleton still followed her to any room she was in (including the bathroom. She still had to ask him to stay away from the bathroom), but stopped with his habit of blocking the doorways. She would catch his scarlet eyelight, that used to be pointed at her at all times, now occasionally sliding to the TV screen instead, especially if something related to monsters was playing.

Every morning he would stare at her phone until she checked her messages for response from Aliza. So far, nothing.

"Maybe I should make you some sort of mask so I can bring you to work with me regularly." Frisk muttered more to herself, putting on her clothes. What could she make it out of? Make holes in a paper bag and put that over his skull? That seems humiliating... Make holes in a white sheet, like he is a ghost? That doesn't sound better... Just some plain mask? Until Frisk buys him some proper coat with a hood, he's going to look threatening no matter what she chooses...

"Today's a short day." She told Sans when they entered the library. "Well, depending on how quick we finish with the sorting. Follow me, I'll point out the boxes..."

The monster complied without resistance - since she never ordered him to do any work before, a part of her was nervous he'd try going against orders... But it looked like he was really looking forward to his compensation later on.

And she knew exactly what she's going to do.

Frisk smiled to herself, raising her eyes from the book she was currently sorting to look at her monster. He set down another box, and she noticed how his eye lingered at the contents. Curious, she set the book down and approached him.

"Wait." She called Sans out as he turned to bring the next box. He froze in place, his collar lighting up as the order set in. Frisk suppressed a flinch.

She looked into the box he stared at, looking at the top books in it. One of these must've caught his attention. 'Man vs Mid-life Crisis'? Probably not, a mid-life crisis sounded like the farthest of Sans's problems... 

'Brainwashing Is a Sinch'? Could it relate to control collars for monsters, or perhaps he was trying to brainwash her? She certainly hoped not...

'He Played Me'? It seemed like a dramatic love story, so most likely not it. Unless... Frisk threw a brief look at Sans. No, it couldn't be it.

Unless ...

The last book was 'All About Space' and had a picture of a milky way on it. Frisk was prepared to brush it off before the memory hit her - Sans, in Waterfall, renting a telescope. They couldn't see the stars in the Underground, only gemstones in the rocky ceiling of the mountain... Did monsters retain much knowledge about space? Did they know that humans have traveled out there, landed on the Moon?

Did Sans actually like stars, and didn't just have that telescope for a cheap joke?

Frisk picked up the book, briefly looking at it, before turning back to Sans, walking in front of him.

"Do you want to read this?" She asked, showing it to him. He frowned at it before just staring at her face, displeased with being stopped. They stared at each other for a few more seconds before he shook his head.

"Oh." Frisk set the book down, before a thought hit her. "You... you can read, right?" He did write before, he wrote his brother's name, but what if it was the peak of what he could remember?..

He huffed, looking almost offended, and gave her a nod.

"Sorry, stupid question, you wrote a thing before, I should've known..." She muttered apologies, awkwardly waving her hands. "You sure? It's no problem if we take it. I- I can read it for you." She gave him a warm smile. She wanted to ask him if he'd like her reading books out loud for some time now, and this seemed like a perfect opportunity.

He didn't answer, his expression far away and thoughtful. His eye jumped from her to the book and then back, but he still seemed hesitant.

Frisk looked back at the book herself. It was the right one, right? He didn't actually stare at the mid-life crisis one, right?..

Sans still looked like he was contemplating it.

"You know what, I can just bring it home, and if you want to read it, or want me to read it, we can do it any time, alright?" She cocked her head. Skeleton's eye sockets narrowed a little but he gave her a small nod.

"Good!" Frisk couldn't suppress a giggle, running back to the counter and putting the book into her purse. If he liked space, there's so many movies she could show him - documentaries, sci-fi films... would he like something like Star Wars, or would he be more interested in The Martian? Movies aside, maybe she could look up when's there's gonna be a clear night sky outside and they'll have a chance to see the stars themselves - considering Frisk always shut him down around eleven pm, Sans might've only seen the stars in the time before he got sold... even if he did, he probably didn't have the time to appreciate them. They lived amongst not the tallest, but still quite high buildings, but she was determined to find a good spot they could go to to stargaze. She... she had never done it before, and now she almost looked forward to it.

Rest of the work day went by quite fast - there weren't a lot of boxes, so Sans mostly stood idly by while she sorted the books out. As soon as Frisk was done, she enthusiastically put her coat back on and almost skipped down the stairs leading to the library's door.

"Let's take a different route home today." She told Sans, who looked as deadpanned as he always did. "Like I said, I owe you a treat. I'm sure you'll like it."

If the monster was intrigued, he didn't show it, walking after her as she led him to a place she wanted to bring him to for quite a while now.

"Here we are!" Frisk enthusiastically said, stopping in front of a fast food joint. It wasn't that far from her workplace, though too far to come in for a lunch break, but she hasn't visited it often, preferring to come straight home and heat up frozen junk food herself.

Looking into the big windows of it now, Frisk frowned. There wasn't a 'no monsters allowed' sign anywhere, but she couldn't feed Sans here - God knows what will happen if people or somebody of authority catches her breaking one of the rules of monster ownership. So... take out it was.

"Stand here and wait, I won't be gone for long." Frisk nodded to the skeleton and headed inside. From her latest experience of asking Sans about his food preferences, she knew he preferred beef, so she decided to go with that for his burger, as well as a huge portion of fries. Sauce? Since it was a takeout anyway, she'll just give him the ketchup they had at home, all of it if he wanted.

Memory flashed in her mind about that time Sans bought her some fries and completely drenched them in ketchup...

I guess it's my time to pay him back . She smiled to herself.

Exiting the restaurant, she saw Sans preoccupied in bird watching - usually he watched people, but a couple of pigeons seemed to hop a bit too close for his comfort, so he was drilling them with his scarlet eye. 

"I'm back!" She drew his attention, carefully holding the paper bag with warm food in her hand. "Let's go back home."

Sans eyed the bag with a lingering glance but his expression did not change as they walked back to her place.

"Please wash your hands and sit at the table in the kitchen." Frisk told him as soon as they came home. She knew germs were probably not a big problem for Sans, at least because he was a skeleton, but she still liked to keep things tidy - his bones were still grey-ish and brown-ish in places, but she started thinking that there was an actual hope of washing those stains away.

After she wrestled out of her outside clothes and washed her hands (well, just one hand at the moment), she quickly turned the TV on for the background noise and walked right into the kitchen to see Sans sitting at the table at his favorite spot (he preferred to sit across the living room door). She plopped the paper bag on the table and pulled the ketchup from the fridge as well as a couple of plates from the cupboard.

"Use as much ketchup as you like for this." Frisk told the monster, finally pulling out the burgers she got them and gently setting fries on the open. "You can eat this."

She expected Sans to tear right into it, most probably chuck the entire burger in between his teeth without even unwrapping it (she should've probably done that before letting him eat it-), or bite into it so hard he'd make a big mess - it's how he ate all of the food so far, even though it's been more than a month since she brought him home and fed him for the first time.

But it wasn't what the skeleton was doing right now. He unwrapped the burger Frisk put in front of him, his sharp fingers tearing the wrapper in a way that seemed unintentional, and appeared to inspect it for a brief moment, his expression hard to understand.

Frisk paused before biting into her own burger, watching him with a bit of concern. Did he not like it? Did she stir some bad memories by any chance, and now he was caught in painful reminiscence?

She frowned, worried, but Sans finally picked it up and took the gentlest bite she had seen him take - considering his size, he still bit off half the burger, and froze, staring at the sauce oozing out of it.

Frisk still wasn't sure what to think. He did bite into it, and as she stared at him he continued to take gentle bites of it and pause, as if he was either chewing it inside his... skull... (magic?) or savoring the taste. There was also the possibility that he hated it and was just forcing it down his throat... Would he do that? Frisk didn't order him to eat it, just said he was allowed to, but maybe, after years of hunger, he'd eat anything he could even if it repulsed him?

Frisk shook her head, finally biting her own burger as the skeleton began nomming fries, unexpectedly grabbing only a couple of them every time he went for them instead of dropping them all into his jaw out right like he usually ate.

He didn't even touch the ketchup, which was one of his favorite things to tear into.

"You want some ketchup with that?" She asked him, nodding at the half-gone fries. Sans's skull snapped up at her, his eye sliding to the condiment she mentioned, as if he forgot it was there. With a swift motion he grabbed it and squeezed out the ketchup until the fries were completely flooded in it.

Just like I remember . Frisk thought, watching him gobbling up the rest of the fries fairly quickly.

"You should wash your hands again." He always got messy when he ate the ketchup, sometimes so much she could swear it was on purpose so she'd be forced to do more laundry (which was a questionable decision as it was, since he only had one set of clothes and obviously hated to be wrapped in nothing but a blanket), but this time he ate cleaner than she could remember, his phalanges covered in ketchup only because of how much of it he put on the fries.

Sans still looked a bit dazed, staring at the burger wrapper, and then, to Frisk's surprise, he nodded, before standing up and using the kitchen sink.

Did he... like it? Frisk still couldn't tell for sure. She threw all the wrappers back into the paper bag and dropped it in the trash before turning back to look at Sans, who went back to his favorite standing spot in the kitchen - in the middle right between two doorways.

He didn't look tense, on the contrary - he seemed to be pretty calm, his scarlet iris watching her but without any real malice behind it, almost like he was just doing it out of habit.

He seemed more than fine.

Okay ... "Do you want to watch TV, or maybe... I could read you that book I picked up at the library?" She looked at him hopefully, wondering if he'll answer.

He huffed, his eyelight slowly sliding to the side in the direction of the living room, eyebrows frowning a little in contemplation, before his gaze returned to her and he lifted his hand, showing two fingers.

Frisk's eyes widened in surprise. She didn't expect him to answer at all, especially with a second option. Unconsciously, her face melted into a smile.

Seeing her reaction Sans scowled, his hands making a motion like he wanted to hide them into pockets but couldn't. She could've sworn she saw a hint of a blush tinting his cheekbones as he fiercely looked away.

Frisk couldn't suppress a giggle as she watched him duck his head into his shoulders.

"Book it is! I hope you don't mind my reading voice..." She walked past him, retrieving 'All About Space' from her purse and plopping herself comfortably on the couch, as the skeleton stood in his favorite place behind it right beside the window.

The book was somewhat of a basic encyclopedia about space and all the scientific background of it. It was sciency enough to go into more technical details but not too complicated if you knew at least school level physics.

Not that Frisk was paying much attention if she was honest - she didn't anticipate how nervous she would be to actually finally read something out loud to Sans, and now all her attention was focused on reading words as clearly and consistently as she could, so the meaning of the words she was speaking didn't even register in her mind.

When it was time to turn the page she'd throw a quick glance at Sans to see if he was listening. She couldn't really tell - he was standing in his usual manner with his usual creepy smiley brick face, but he didn't appear to be more bored than usual... though he didn't look that invested either.

Frisk finished one of the sections and set the book down, desperate for a drink after non-stop reading. After pouring herself some water, she walked out of the kitchen and saw Sans staring at the direction of the book.

Frisk smiled.

I guess I should pour myself some more. She giggled under her breath, preparing for an evening of reading.

Chapter Text

For the first time since Frisk could remember in a long while, her life felt like it was going up.

It has been almost two months since she bought Sans, and, if she was honest, it was going better than she expected. It seemed like the skeleton had finally believed that she did not intend to use him as her slave and only wanted the best for him and, bit by miniscule bit, he started to open up.

Frisk liked to think she became better at reading his face and posture, though the fact that he started to emote more and be more animated in general could've played a role. Probably.  At least a tiny bit.

The skeleton didn't necessarily follow her into any room she went to anymore (including bathroom, finally ), especially when he was occupied with something. He started to actually watch TV more and, when Frisk gave him free rain over the remote controller, seemed to prefer to watch more domestic stuff. He always tuned in for a cooking show, making Frisk wonder if he was ogling the food or was genuinely curious and invested in the food preparation process (or both, she'd understand). Sans would also turn on comedy channels pretty often, though he expressed no laughter or even visible reaction to any of the jokes. She would always start to remember how he was back in the Underground when she was there, missing the short jokester.

She wondered if he missed that, too.

Despite any program that was playing, even if it was Frisk who had the remote, Sans would always change the channel to the evening news. At first she was very surprised, a couple of times a bit annoyed (she was really invested in this one romcom she's been watching for three years now...), but now she was more impressed than anything - she didn't have a clock in the living room, and on her days off they could sit in it from the very morning, but somehow Sans always knew when to change the channel right when news started playing. She wondered if it was some sort of an instinct, or if he had a very good internal clock. She hoped he wasn't so bored that he was counting time down to minutes in his head...

They would watch the news for the exact same reason Frisk would check her emails every morning - Aliza. There was still no answer from her, but the company she was apart of was going strong. Frisk would read to Sans out loud the articles about her and showed him the pictures from her Instagram whenever there was something new. The monster always looked softer when he saw her and more hollow when she would finish reading or the news would end with no new information regarding monsters, making Frisk's heart a bit heavier.

There wasn't much going on behind the scenes - new collars seemed to get more and more advanced, making sure monsters were 'more secure than ever', but one issue kept rising with no answers behind it.

Monster explosions.

There was an alarmingly rising amount of monsters who would, reportedly, get hotter and hotter in body temperature over time before exploding with an enormous force, reducing to dust. The only thing linking them all was the fact that all of them wore collars - the fact that the monster rights group used to advance their case against monster slavery. There were a lot of investigations into this phenomenon, and Frisk would be lying if she said she wasn't worried for Sans's safety.

The thought of removing his collar crossed her mind a couple of times after reading those articles. Not in public, of course, just when they were home... but it would be unbelievably stupid. Even more stupid than letting him touch her, which translated into him breaking her fingers.

That... still haunted her. How strong he was. How easily the bones of her fingers snapped, and the sharp pain that overwhelmed her senses. His expression, the way the blood red iris shook in his eye socket. The hatred he looked at her with. His voice, his growling baritone. The words he said.

She hasn't called him by his name since that day...

At least her fingers have finally healed. Well, healed enough for the cast to be removed. Bending them still felt stiff and somewhat painful, but it was good to have her hand back in somewhat working condition. When they last exited the hospital, Frisk caught Sans looking at it. He looked... unsure? Maybe regretful, if not guilty? It passed so fast she couldn't say for certain. It was probably just her wishful thinking, anyway.

Removing the collar was out of the question, but Frisk wondered more and more about not shutting him off for the night. The monster still had no intentions of sleeping, shaking his head no when she asked if he wanted to, but maybe she could just let him stay up... Get some ear plugs and let him watch TV or look out of the window and try to see the stars. Still, she was hesitant. Leaving him awake for more than 24 hours felt... dangerous. More for him than for her - she worried he'd push himself to the point of exhaustion. Those dark grooves under his eyes always reminded her of huge sleep bags, and in her memories back in the Underground Sans always loved to snooze...

She just hoped that when she asks him some day if he wants to sleep willingly he'll finally say yes.

But for now Frisk just had to watch both his eye sockets turn black and hollow as she pushed the sleep mode button. She still felt guilty doing that, and reading to him before sleep didn't help much.

She did enjoy the reading though. After getting over initial anxiety, she began to actually read along when she spoke words out loud, getting invested in the text instead of blindly speaking it. After finishing the 'All about space', Frisk picked up more space-themed books at the library. She asked Sans if he wanted to come with her to her work, granted sitting somewhere in the back so he wouldn't scare most visitors, and, to her surprise, the skeleton nodded, so she started to bring him along. She allowed him to very gently pick up any book he was interested in, but the monster seemed content with just wandering the isles of the archive, examining the covers and book spines. Sometimes he'd point one out to her, or she'd see one she thought he'd like and she would take them home and read in the evenings. Some books were... more technical and boring than the others, but she could cope with it when she saw the way Sans' face would change - it was subtle, but she could see his scarlet eyelight sparkle with wonder.

So far, all books were about space though. 

Frisk was fine with it, she loved the stars, and when it wasn't going into full long-terminology stuff it was an interesting read, but she missed reading for herself, too... She always loved gentle fairy tales, and enjoyed detective and fantasy stories a lot, but, after so much mind-nomming theory, she craved to read something like a light romance.

She happened to see one of those on one of her work days. The cover looked a bit ridiculous, the tagline was cheesy and the abs of the main love interest looked like you could use them as a chopping board for vegetables, but it didn't look very long and seemed okay-ish enough not to be super dumb, so Frisk took it with her.

On the weekend, when she saw Sans preoccupied with watching what sounded like a raunchy comedy movie, Frisk sat on top of her bed and started reading. It felt refreshing to read just for herself, enjoying something akin to a comfort food, and she got so invested she almost didn't notice Sans staring at her.

She lifted her eyes to look at the clock when she saw him - he was standing next to the door for what might've been some time already, looking at her in expectation.

She couldn't help but gasp (she should've been used to him approaching her by now, but could never quite believe just how silent he was), hugging the book to her chest and falling back on a pillow, and skeleton lifted his bone brow at that, his eye sliding from her face to the book cover and then back at her face again.

Is he... judging me? Frisk couldn't help but be embarrassed, her cheeks turning more red with every second.

"W-what, I just wanted to read something... light... for myself... nothing is wrong with that..." She averted her head, not being able to look at his face.

Sans let out a soft growl, but after a minute of her determinately avoiding eye contact he was yet to move.

Why aren't you leaving? Are you teasing me? Frisk cleared her throat, turning her head back to him in a more dramatic way than she intended. "Do you want anything?"

The skeleton nodded, his eye darting to the book and back to her again.

Frisk blinked at him. Did he want to look at the cover closer, so he can make fun of her some more? Or did he want her to explain why she was reading something like this?

"I- I missed reading romance, and this one seems not very convoluted but has just enough drama to be interesting-" she muttered under her breath, trying to decide if she should be shielding the book or hiding her face behind it.

Sans cocked his head at her before frowning and nodding at the book again.

"I don't quite understand what you want." She said bluntly.

He growled again, this time in annoyance, before turning around to her bedroom dresser and fetching a different book that was laying on the top of it - 'The Martian'. It was the one she started reading to him a couple of days ago. He pointed at it fiercely before setting it back down.

He... he wanted her to read for him, now? Frisk couldn't help but pout. She was allowed to read something for herse-

And suddenly, it hit her. "You... you want me to read this out loud?" Her fingers knocked on the book cover.

He nodded, staring at her with expectations.

Frisk... wasn't sure how she felt about that.

He is totally making fun of me . "I don't think you'll like it much-"

This time it was Sans who made a pouting face, crossing his arms and looking at her with more and more intensity.

Fine . "Fine. I warned you.” Frisk flipped pages back to the beginning and started reading out loud.

As she went on the skeleton, judging by his expression, didn't appreciate the silly drama and love triangles, though every time she tried to offer him to pass or grab one of the books she chose for him he'd just growl at her to continue.

She could've sworn she'd seen him eyeing the romance section at her work the next day... it made her wonder if she managed to spark interest in him for the genre or if he wanted to find a proper romance and wave it in her face...

As the days started getting colder Frisk decided to, at last, buy Sans a new jacket - she didn't quite save up for it like she planned (in fact, having to feed another person of a size such as Sans was depleting her funds more than she expected), but every time a gust of wind would blow into her face all she could think about was Sans walking behind her in a plain shirt... 

Yes, he was a skeleton and (probably) couldn't feel the cold, at least not as much as she could, but she could see he wasn't comfortable with his arm bones in the open.

She wanted to buy him a jacket anyways, so did it matter when she did that? She'll spend these money eventually, might as well do it sooner than later.

Taking Sans jacket shopping was... an experience. She had to find a shop that allowed monsters in it, had big enough clothes for him, wasn't too expensive, and was approved by Sans himself.

She didn't think the last one was going to be a problem - it was Sans, a skeleton man who wore shorts and slippers back in the Underground - but reality proved to be more complicated.

Monster didn't seem too thrilled to go shopping, and was more preoccupied with watching and simultaneously creeping the hell out of clothing shop clerks... at least at first.

"Let's go to the changing room." Frisk nodded to the skeleton from behind a handful of big coats in her arms. They didn't necessarily have to do that, given that Sans could've just put any of them on right there, but she wanted privacy so they could talk more openly.

When they were in the changing room (it was so narrow Sans could barely turn, so Frisk didn't even bother trying to cram in alongside him and just stood outside the curtain) she handed him a first option - a dark blue hoodie with skull and crossbones print on the back. It was a bit silly, but... it was Sans. Frisk hoped he would appreciate silly.

"Please put it on. Gently." Frisk gave Sans a smile as he huffed at her order, accepting the offered clothing item. He gave it a brief glance and started to put it on.

Backwards.

"Nonono, you did it wrong." She urgently told him as his skull popped out of the collar. Before she could say anything Sans threw her a look she couldn't quite understand and put the hood on. Over his face.

"You-" Did he really?... "You did it on purpose. Veeeery funny." Frisk shook her head in disbelief. The skeleton didn't move, but she heard something- something resembling a... chuckle? "Okay, Mr funny guy, do you like it or are we trying different clothes?"

Sans shook his head, making the hood drop and revealing his smile, more mischievous and self satisfied than anything else.

They tried all kinds of clothes - from the skeleton's reaction Frisk could tell that he seemingly preferred winter jackets (the ones she picked were too small, but Sans clawed into them like a lifeline and she could've sworn he almost resisted her order of letting them go) and would not settle on anything that didn't have a hood.

After a trip to other stores one jacket caught Frisk's attention. It seemed big enough, had a hood with fur adorning it, quite a few pockets (she knew he didn't have much use for pockets, but he liked to hide his hands, so maybe it would bring him some measure of comfort) and was blue. It wasn't a hue she remembered Sans' old coat being - this one was much darker and more on the faded side rather than bright blue that was stark against the snow, but it still stirred her memories of sneaking off outside the skelebrother's house in Snowdin wearing that blue jacket, warm, heavy, and smelling of grease...

"Do you like this one?" Frisk asked her monster, her eyes still on the jacket. Skeleton made a sound in his throat, making her turn to him and see how he, too, stared at that jacket with some sort of familiarity.

Sans nodded, and the second they were out of the store he was wrapped up in his new clothing item.

"You know, I wanted to wash it first. It's just from the shop and all." Frisk nodded at him when they got home. Sans scowled at her statement, hands in pockets and resolute look of 'try and take it from me'. She smiled. "Fine, fine. But you better take good care of it! Any stains, from food to dirt, and I'm taking it for a wash!"

She said it in a more of a joking way, but after that the skeleton started eating way less messily, which was... great.

Things were finally great. It was... refreshing, if Frisk was honest. There were still a lot of things to figure out, but for now she allowed herself a breather.

Whatever was coming next, she could tackle it. She could almost feel something inside of her rekindle - she was determined .

Chapter Text

"Looks like we have to wait for a while." Frisk mumbled into the collar of her coat.

She and Sans were making their way home from her work when the cloudy grey sky broke down with the rain. Frisk in her usual morning haste forgot to grab her umbrella and planned to just quickly run home if it came to it, but she didn't expect her monster to react in the way that he did. When raindrops had only started falling, her attention was caught by the gruffs of annoyance Sans started letting out. He seemed to flinch every time a raindrop landed on him - especially when they flew right into the hole in his skull. She watched as he pulled the hood of his jacket over it, but he still looked extremely uncomfortable, tension in his body only growing as the rain picked up speed.

"Do you want to wait it out instead?" Frisk asked hurriedly, and before he could growl any kind of an answer she was already pulling him by his sleeve under the nearest cover.

That's how they ended up under the rooftop edge of a building, wind blasting in Frisk's ears (she knew she should've worn a hat, but it still seemed too early in the season for hats...) while they waited for the rain to stop.

"Are you okay?" She looked up at the skeleton, seeing an edge of a scowl peeking from behind the fur of his hood. He didn't answer, but his stiff frame seemed to relax a little. After a minute or so he took the hood off - his face wasn't happy, but he wasn't looking at her, instead staring at the wall of rain in front of them. His hand reflectively clawed at the edges of the hole in his skill.

Frisk frowned. She contemplated leaving Sans here, running home and getting the umbrella, but decided against it.

They could wait for the rain to stop. Standing under a small roof. Awkwardly.

Before the young woman could completely freeze to the bone the rain stopped and they finally got home. She had plans to cook dinner, but after that walk home she wanted nothing more than curl up in a blanket and stay warm. On days like these she missed leftovers - living alone on some days she had the luxury of heating up the food she hadn't finished, but with Sans around there was no leftovers to be had. Quite the opposite - he ate stuff she usually threw out, like apple cores, as well as some food packaging. On a couple of occasions Frisk wondered if he liked the cardboard more than some of her cooking...

"Do you mind simple dinner?" She called out to Sans after changing her clothes to something more fluffy and warm. The skeleton looked at her with a judgmental eye. "Hey, don't look at me like that. Nothing is wrong with a slow day." I'm sure old, lazy you would've approved . "If you don't want instant noodles you can eat the vegetables. Just please clean them first, I don't want you eating the dirt. Not good for you."

Sans huffed, his eye lingering on her in contemplation, and pointed at the noodles.

"Alright then." She shot him an apologetic smile (he was probably looking forward to the salad she said she'd make with those vegetables... or he might've been too lazy to clean them) and put the water to boil.

After the dinner Frisk cozied up on the bed, giving Sans reigns over the TV in the living room, which, apparently, didn't have anything interesting for him because he came into her bedroom and stared intently at the book they were currently reading.

She suppressed a sigh. Frisk loved reading to him - she felt it brought them closer with each page she turned, but she didn't feel up for it at the moment - after so much wind blowing in her ears she had a headache and had trouble following stuff on her phone, so trying to read out loud didn't sound too good at the moment.

She still felt guilty though. "Sorry, Sans, I don't think I can read to you today..." His face didn't change, but his shoulders dropped down a little, which made her heart drop a lot. "You can read it yourself, I allow it."

She did ask the skeleton once if he would prefer to read the book himself instead of listening to her mumble in a terrible voice, but he just frowned at her before shaking his head. She decided it was for the best - those were library books and his handling of things was still not ideal (he would get zapped every time if he broke all those pencils, bent her forks and left those dents on the furniture intentionally , which meant he was really struggling with controlling his strength), and just because she worked at said library didn't mean she had a pass if the book got damaged.

Sans's gaze lingered on her before sliding to the book at her bedside table. He briefly turned his head back to the living room, probably considering going back and giving the TV another chance, but with a decided oomph the skeleton hesitantly reached his hand for the book.

Frisky quickly jumped on her legs to help him, opening where they left off (for someone who loved books Frisk felt shameful for using an old candy wrapper as a bookmark... she considered getting a proper one, eyeing some that she hoped Sans would like as well) and gently setting the book in one of his huge hands.

She watched him for a while - he seemed hesitant to turn the page, lingering on one for a long time before trying to carefully catch it with his finger. He seemed to be gentle enough, so after watching him for a while to be certain he didn't have any trouble, Frisk allowed herself to relax in her bed again.

She almost dozed off without putting Sans in sleep mode, and when she rose to check on him and do just that, she found him in his favorite spot in the living room.

"Made a lot of progress?" Woman asked him sleepily. She didn't sneak up on him, but he seemed surprised regardless, his shoulders more squared in a hunch than usual. Sans lowered his hands so she could take the book, and according to the page numbers he had only went through about seven of them. Frisk frowned - seems like the whole page turning thing was more of a problem for him than she thought, but she would've been lying if she said that the fact that he was trying his best to be careful didn't warm her heart even a little.

"You didn't tear anything, right?" She gave him a sleepy smile, putting a bookmark in a new place. If she wasn't too distracted she might've noticed him nervously avoiding eye contact. "Please go lay on the couch. I promise I'll read tomorrow."

Frisk didn't expect to feel 100% after she had a night of sleep, but she did think she'd feel less tired. 

At least it's Friday . She tried to motivate herself after breakfast cereal, digging out a scarf and a hat from her closet and pulling on her coat.

To her surprise, as they were exiting Sans maneuvered in front of her, blocking the exit.

"What are you doing?" Frisk frowned at him in confusion, but the skeleton looked at her like she was the one confusing him and pointed down. She looked at his legs. And then at her legs.

Oh. She was still in her slippers. Silly...

Frisk slid her legs into proper shoes and turned back to the door. Sans was still blocking it, looking at her disapprovingly.

"Sorry, I'm just sleepy. Thank you for pointing this out." She gave him a smile, and after a brief pause he quite reluctantly shifted out of her way.

I should buy some coffee for days like this . Frisk thought, trying to focus on the books she's been sorting, but everything around seemed to be against her - eyes would not focus on written words, the fatigue that built up during the last few work days weighed on her shoulders, the library was too warm...

It didn't feel right. Frisk shook her head, rubbing her eyes before resting her fingers against her forehead.

The library wasn't warm - she was hot.

"Bathroom." She muttered under her breath, hoping that a splash of water against her face would help her feel less feverish. It kind of worked - her head was spinning a little, but she was sure she could handle working the rest of the day.

Exiting the bathroom, she bumped into someone.

"Sorry..." She blinked rapidly and lifted her head. "Oh, Sans." Her monster was staring at her with a questioning face. Could he feel her temperature? "I think I got a little fever. Don't worry, I'm feeling fine. Gotta go back to the reception." She tried to side-step him but misjudged the distance, fumbling on her legs and clinging to his jacket as she tried to stabilize herself.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm fine..." Frisk mumbled, trying to proceed again only for her path to be blocked by a skeleton arm.  She frowned. "Sans, what are you doing?" The young woman missed how his eye sockets narrowed at the sound of his name as she tried to move his hand away. She really wasn't in a mood for his games, especially now that her head was feeling heavier and heavier. "Please-"

Before she could finish her sentence Sans moved his arm. Not expecting that, Frisk tripped, clawing at it for balance. Her legs felt like jelly.

"I'm... I..." The world spun as she felt warmer and her eyelids heavier and heavier-

I'm not fine. Was Frisk's last thought before she passed out.

A headache was splitting her head in two.

I guess I got winded harder than I thought. Frisk slowly blinked her eyes open. Her shoulders bristled - she wasn't in the library anymore. She was in a hospital bed.

How long was I out? She slowly rose into more of a sitting position, taking in the room before her gaze fell on her monster.

"Sa-" She bit her lip. Her memories were a little bit foggy, but she cursed under her breath - she called him Sans, didn't she? The skeleton was awake, standing a little to the side of the window the way he stood in her living room when she just brought him home - brisk and unmoving. His eye was on her, eyelight expanding when their gazes met.

They stared at each other for a moment before the door opened and a nurse came in.

"Ah, you're awake! How are you feeling, Miss?"

"My head is still spinning..."

"No wonder - with a fever like yours..." The nurse said, grabbing a digital thermometer.

"Yeah, I, uh, might've gotten under the rain yesterday."

"I see, I see..."

"How long was I out?" Frisk looked around the room again in search of any kind of clock but didn't find one. She thought about looking at her phone, but it wasn't on the desk - in fact, she couldn't spot her purse or her coat anywhere.

"Oh, the monster carried you in about two hours ago. Is it yours? It hasn't left or said anything..." The nurse threw a cautious glance at him, but the skeleton didn't move his eyelight from Frisk.

"Yes, he is mine. He- he carried me??" Her eyes widened.

"Yes. You were bundled in that blue coat. At first the security thought the monster had hurt you, but when it was clear that you passed out due to a high fever we let it in. Did you order it to carry you here?"

"I-" Frisk still felt bewildered. "Yes, I did. I felt worse and worse and thought I may not make it here." She lied. She might've had a blurry memory, but she was 100% sure she had not ordered Sans anything.

Which meant he carried her here. In the hospital. By his own volition.

Frisk looked at him again, her mouth slightly open as gears were turning in her head, trying to process this information. He- he carried her to the hospital - the same hospital she visited with him when her fingers were broken. She must've fallen on him - otherwise he would not be able to touch her. 

What a drastic change from the last time they wound up here.

Talking to a nurse felt distant - Frisk only passed out because she pushed herself so hard while getting sick, and after her fever broke she was free to go with a list of medicine to buy and a few curious gazes from staff at the front door who might've been there when Sans had brought her in. She felt guilty for asking him to borrow his jacket - she didn't order it, but Sans complied nonetheless, though he didn't seem happy. Still, that was another thing that shook her.

"Thank you so much." Frisk said, putting the jacket on and nuzzling into the fur. "We need to get back to the library first, my stuff's there. I'll give it back to you then." They started walking. Luckily, the library was fairly close to the hospital. "Thank you so, so much. I..." She didn't know what she could say. That she was amazed he did this? That she didn't expect him to care for her? That she couldn't believe that he had her in his grasp and chose to help her??

Her eyes fell on her watch. He had his hands on her - he would have probably broken it like it was nothing... though that applied to, well, all of her.

He wrapped her in his jacket, too.

She felt her cheeks getting hot, but not from the fever this time.

"Do you want anything? I- I'd really like to thank you properly." She stopped to look up at him. He did as well - he looked thoughtful, his scarlet eye lingering on her face with such intensity she got an urge to hide her face inside the coat fur, but eventually he lifted his hand and pointed at something.

Puzzled, Frisk turned her head in the direction he pointed at. It was just another street.

"You want to walk there?" She still couldn't quite understand. Sans frowned, before making a gesture with his hands as if he was holding something. "Oh, a burger! You want a burger?" He must've been pointing in the direction of the fast food joint.

Sans gave her a nod, and Frisk felt a smile blossom on her face. "Deal. Burgers, fries... but I'll order a delivery, alright? I still don't feel that well... But you can pick what you want when we order." Skeleton nodded again, seemingly satisfied with her proposition, and they resumed walking.

After dealing with her co-workers and walking back home, Frisk felt exhaustion set in yet again, but she was determined to honor her end of the deal. She showed Sans the fast food menu on her phone, promptly finding out the sensor screen did not pick up on his bone fingers, so she just asked what food he'd prefer.

The answer was everything. Well, almost everything. He shook head no to the fish one.

"You said yes to the hawaiian, but no to salmon? I don't get you, man." Frisk gave him a playful look, switching off the burger tab. "Fries?" Nod . "Fries." She added said item to the cart, skipping other tabs right to the check out. She was sure Sans wouldn't say no to the deserts either, but even though she was truly grateful, her wallet was crying tears already. One of every burger was enough.

She cozied into the bed, politely ordering Sans to wake her up if she dozed off by the time delivery came. She did fall asleep, and, for some reason, the monster chose to wake her up by throwing a book right on her face and scaring the hell out of her. At least it was an open book - he must've been reading when the doorbell rang, but Frisk was still not amused.

"Next time just pull on my blanket or something." She grumbled while putting on slippers, catching the way Sans's smile seemed to widen for a second in the corner of her eye. She blinked and it was gone, his eye drilling the front door as the doorbell kept ringing.

Delivery person seemed surprised it was just her in her quiet apartment at the door and not some crazy party, but he didn't question anything as he handed her the order. It smelled fantastic , reminding Frisk of her own hunger, but this was for Sans, so, even though she was tempted to steal herself a fry, she decided to make herself a sandwich.

"Here you go, all yours, you can eat this." Finished with the unpacking, she turned to the clearly impatient skeleton and gave him an encouraging smile. Instantly, Sans was all over the food - he didn't eat the wrappers or cardboard box packages, but he wasn't as patient as with the first burger she bought for him either - he tore it away with much less care, biting into the food and smearing the sauce all over his face.

As Frisk made herself a sandwich the monster seemed to slow down, accepting a napkin she offered him as he began to eat more carefully. He was biting down the triple bacon special as he noticed her cutting herself a slice of cheese.

He grunted, catching her attention. "What is it?" She asked, looking over at him. "If you want another napkin, you can grab them over there." He shook his skull, his eye jumping from the sandwich in her hand to the table, still full of fast food. "Hm? I just decided to make myself something to eat, too." Frisk smiled, but he only frowned. Then, a weird look passed across his face - it was so quick she missed it, but the next moment Sans looked over the remaining burgers, picking one and placing it in front of Frisk.

She blinked at him in disbelief, looking down at it. "That's..." She froze, before a giggle erupted from her lips. "A hawaiian burger. How generous of you, but I'll pass." She shook her head, still snorting, as Sans, with a smile of his own, returned to eating.

This whole day felt like a fever dream. Frisk noted to herself, crawling back into bed. Does Sans really care about me? That's... It might've been a fever rising again, but the thought made her feel warm inside.

She felt dumb, but a part of her was glad she got sick. She dozed off, dreaming of a tropical beach and fishing with Sans, only for him to sneer at his catch and dump it back into a deep blue sea.

Chapter Text

The first thing Frisk realized in the morning was that she never shut Sans off the previous night.

She bolted up from her bed, a fear shooting through her heart that something had happened to her monster, or he found a way to defy the collar and was long gone... Only to find him sitting on the couch in the living room, hunched over a book and scarlet iris buried in the pages. It flew up and focused on her when she came to stay in the doorway, her expression something between surprise and relief.

"Are you alright?" Frisk asked, catching her breath. Her sudden rush, as well as her sickness, were catching up to her, making her feel dizzy. Sans lifted his bone brow at her question and nodded. "G-good! I, uh, not so much..." She giggled awkwardly and turned around, making her way back into the bedroom and accidentally stepping on one of the cardboard boxes from yesterday's delivery. The kitchen was a mess... but she'll deal with it later.

Well, that was something. Frisk felt she shouldn't've been as surprised, considering what he did for her yesterday, but still... he was still here.

Sans was still here.

Before going back to nap, she checked her phone for any emails. No messages from Aliza.

Frisk's sick leave was a week long, from which a maximum of three days she spent actually feeling sick. They boiled down to her cozying on the couch with Sans standing behind it as she took this opportunity to show him the Star Wars saga. He seemed invested, as she could see from the way his body relaxed and he started to lean against the back of the couch, resting his hands and skull on top of it as his eye was glued to the screen. He still refused to sit beside Frisk when she offered, but she didn't take it close to heart, still happy he was enjoying the movies.

When she felt better she started reading to him again - she noticed that on his own the skeleton didn't get quite far (slow reader?) , and still struggled with turning the pages - a lot of them got creases and a couple had little holes she imagined were made by his sharp fingers (his expression remained blank when she stared at him, but she could see little beads of sweat forming on the side of his skull), but she liked reading for him and he seemed to like it too.

The monster didn't even seem to mind a couple soft commands she asked him of - to toss the burger wrappers into the trash bin, or to make TV a little less loud when she was taking a nap. There was no contempt in his gaze, no rebellion in the way he held himself.

He looked... peaceful.

When she felt healthy they resumed their walks, Frisk sporting more warm clothes and grabbing an umbrella. They did end up using it once - due to their size difference Sans had to hold it, and she had to stand extremely close so her legs wouldn't soak much. She carefully threaded her arm around the one he was holding an umbrella with, closely watching his reaction. She could see his shoulders tense under his jacket, his wide iris lingering on her, but when asked if it was okay he gave a jerky nod, discreetly tipping the umbrella to her side a bit more.

After winning the battle against a sickness and feeling like she made legitimate progress with Sans, Frisk felt rejuvenated when she came back to her work. She felt excited again, thinking about her plans for when her shift ended. They could take a longer route home - Sans didn't seem to be a fan of urban areas, the hustle and bustle of streets making him alert at all times. He seemed more content when they were around nature, sitting on the park bench or strolling near flowerbeds. They could take a route past the lake - it was a little out of the way (well, a lot out of the way considering it was a bit of a loop), but it was an open space with a few trees near the water and cute ducks. He wouldn't eat the ducks, would he? Probably not. Still, she probably shouldn't suggest that they feed them-

"Lookin' pretty pumped up there, Frisky."

Ugh.

"Hi, Brad." She set the papers she was going through on the table and gave him the best 'get out of here' smile.

At the corner of her eye she could see Sans turn to look at her, probably surprised to hear such contempt in her voice towards a visitor. The skeleton was helping her sort some of the donated books, lurking in-between shelves behind her counter, but instead of diving more in the back like he did whenever new people came in, he remained in place, facing the books but focusing his attention on Frisk and Brad.

"Heard you got really sick, so decided to check on ya. You okay?" Her ex-boyfriend gave her a look over, lingering on parts that didn't have relevance to any sickness she could've had.

Frisk bit her lip, briefly wondering which of her co-workers told him that.

"I'm fine, thank you." She said in a dismissive tone. "Interested in a book?" For someone who likes to come and bother me at my job this much you could've at least got a library card.

Brad shook his head. "Nah, just checking on my girl, that's all. Ariana said she heard you got pummeled by your own monster." His gaze slipped from her to something over her shoulder. "Is that it?"

She tensed, looking back at Sans. He seemed more stiff as well, though his face was obscured by the shelf and she couldn't see his expression.

" He's my monster, but he didn't pummel me or anything." Frisk's head snapped back as she decided to go back to work in hope Brad would leave and not question her about Sans.

He didn't leave.

"A skeleton, huh? He's pretty big." He walked along the counter to get a better angle of Sans. "Is that one of those skeletons you would tell me about?"

"No." Frisk winced. "If you don't have any business here, get out, Brad. You are disturbing our work."

"Woah, chill. The hell did I even say?" He stubbornly crossed arms over his chest. "Didn't even comment on that skull-hole, or big scary red lamp. For someone who always described monsters to be all cute and cuddly you got yourself a real freakshow."

"Do not call him that!" Frisk gritted her teeth. "I told you to get out."

"Listen, I understand. You wanted to 'liberate' at least one of them, and probably just got the cheapest one. Yunno, if you come back I can buy you a better one, no sweat-"

"Stop! I don't want to hear anything from you!" Frisk almost shouted, her nails digging into the wooden counter. A shadow loomed over her a second later, and when she lifted her head she could see Sans standing behind her, his red iris drilling into her ex-boyfriend.

That made him take a step back.

"Chill, chill, I'm leaving! Jeez, no need to be so standoffish, I just wanted to check on you, 's all. Tell you to take care and be careful." Brad walked backwards towards the exit, his eyes on her. "Cya later honey. Don't be so angry, it doesn't suit your pretty face."

Before Frisk could find something to throw at him, Brad was out of the door. She let out a sigh, shaking her head.

"Thank you for that." She took the papers she threw on the table beforehand, gently sorting through them. "Brad's my ex-boyfriend. Known him since high school, we even lived together and all... He's always been like this though." Sad chuckle . "He likes to come in and cause trouble sometimes, don't mind him."

Finishing with the papers, Frisk turned and bumped right into Sans.

"Oh, sorry." She gave him an apologetic smile. She didn't think he'd still be there, but that seemed to make his head snap from the door down at her, his scarlet iris lingering on her face before he abruptly turned away and hurriedly disappeared behind a shelf.

I hope what Brad said didn't hurt his feelings. Frisk frowned.

Entering a school after a mental hospital, it figures that she would be treated like an outcast. Everybody made fun of her believing in monsters...

Everybody except Brad.

He didn't treat her like she was insane, and he listened to the pieces and bits she'd tell him about Underground. Frisk knew he was probably humoring her - he clearly found those stories amusing, but he never made fun of her, and he was willing to listen, and that was enough for her.

He became her first friend - occasionally he was a bit of a douchebag, and he liked to copy her homework and steal bites of food from her lunch... but he was funny, he paid attention to her and didn't act like she was crazy.

And then he wanted to date her. Frisk didn't quite like him this way, but she couldn't deny that Brad was attractive with his dark eyes, light hair and broad shoulders, and they had good times together. She... she didn't want to reject him. She feared the things would become awkward between them, and he wouldn't like to see her anymore or they would stop talking altogether... So she agreed to go out with him.

And things were fine... at least that's what Frisk chose to believe.

She wasn't blind - she noticed how he gradually began from 'borrowing' her homework to flat out make her do it for them both, she saw how amongst his friends he'd treat her like a silly girl with 'a quirky personality', she noticed how he behaved around other women, and how late he'd come sometimes when they started to live together after graduation, leaving her to do all the chores while he was outside getting his shirt smelling of female perfume...

But Frisk chose to brush it all aside. She laughed at her own expense when they were around friends, because without him they wouldn't be talking with her. She accepted his rich gifts, because without him she wouldn't have the funds to live before she could find a job. She made peace with feeling like she was a woman on the side, because she was, but without him... she didn't have anyone else in the world.

But Frisk got tired. The more time went by the more Brad disregarded her and her feelings, and Frisk had enough. The fear of loneliness got outweighed by the longing for her dignity. When she was leaving Brad almost laughed it off as a joke (he loved to laugh at her concerns, telling her she was cute with her silly thoughts, despite her being absolutely serious), but when he realized she wasn't kidding it turned into a full blown argument.

He tried to stop her, telling her the things she already knew - that she needed him and was nothing without him... but at that point Frisk would rather be nothing than a woman on the side, trapped in an unhappy relationship.

And, surprisingly, Frisk didn't feel as miserable as she thought she would. She thought after 6 years of dating she'd hardly know how to function without him, but instead she just felt... free.

And she thought that was it with Brad. After 'humiliating' him like that she never expected to hear from him again, but after a year or so he all but crawled on his knees to her when she was at work, showering her in big bouquets of flowers and boxes of chocolates and pleas to come back to him.

Apparently, it was hard to find a pretty woman who would cook and clean and politely smile at the jokes and have patience to deal with a douchebag like him. Huh.

Frisk only shook her head. Her dating life was an empty void of nothingness, but the prospects of going back to Brad were not appealing in the slightest. And yet he tried again and again, gracing her at work with his visits once in a while to entice her back. She even started entertaining the thought of changing her job just so she wouldn't have to see his face...

And now, after the Barrier was broken, Frisk wanted to see him even less. The stories he laughed at were real, and as much as she wanted to yell 'I told you so!', he-

Frisk could feel her insides freeze.

The things he said. He said she talked about monsters in front of Sans-

She started panicking, trying to remember the conversation they just had word-by-word. He said she talked to him about skeletons - did Sans catch that? What did he think about it? It didn't sound very suspicious, but back in the Underground Sans was always insightful of these things - nothing would get past him, from a stolen cookie to a talking flower.

Either way, she couldn't let Brad open his mouth around Sans - he'd spill the beans about her and being Underground or being right about monsters before they were unleashed which she would only know if she was Underground, and he'll undeniably ruin the little peace Frisk had with the skeleton monster. She didn't need another reason to avoid Brad, but now it was as big of a reason as you'd have to avoid a building on fire.

Work had dragged on for what felt like forever afterwards - seeing Brad always spiraled her mind into the memories of the past. After getting home, she didn't have much energy to muster to make dinner, and decided to settle for instant noodles. Sans wasn't a huge fan of them - he preferred chomping down on a raw block of them rather than let them soften in water, but Frisk didn't like him doing that, so they haven't eaten them for a while. This time, instead of dumping the whole thing into his mouth, Sans was trying to use a fork. To Frisk's pleasant surprise he was doing a great job - the bent fork got even more bend-y, but he didn't make much of a mess before giving up and shoving everything into his mouth anyway. 

The sight made her chuckle and brought a smile to her face, which peaked Sans's attention. He quietly growled, looking to the side with what seemed to be embarrassment.

Frisk's smile widened.

"Did you pick a new book to read?" She asked. He had finished the last one they were reading in the library - she was kind of interested how it ended, but he read the rest himself. Maybe she could take a peek some time at her job?

Sans shook his skull and got up, walking to the stash of books they brought for future reading and started to look over them.

By the time she cleaned the table the skeleton had made his pick, holding out a rather thick book out to her.

"Alright-y." Frisk took it. It will be a long read, but it seemed to be an adventure-type story, so she was quite excited to give it a go. "Bedroom or living room?" They usually read in the living room - she occupied the couch and he stood in his favorite place by the window or layed his hands and skull on the back of the couch, keeping an eye on the book, TV or her. However when Frisk was sick, and before that when she was just tired she'd crawl comfortably into her bed, and Sans either just stood by the doorway or sat on the chair she dragged from the kitchen.

He looked a bit awkward like that, and lately just started to sit on the floor by her bed instead. She said he was welcome to sit on and maybe even lay down on the bed if he wanted, but was only given an unimpressed stare.

One time they sat and read in the kitchen, when Frisk was cooking and had to keep an eye out on her soup. It was cozy, but it seemed that the skeleton paid more attention to the soup than the book, so she decided it wasn't a great option for a place.

Sans thought about her question for a bit before nodding to the direction of the living room. She cozied on the couch and changed TV channel to the news one, lowering its volume, while the skeleton busied himself by fishing out a bookmark for her.

After looking at the TV screen for a second Frisk took a quick look at her phone, checking for new messages. No response from Aliza.

Sighing, she put the phone away and opened the book. She had fun giving characters funny voices - something Sans didn't appreciate, but looked amused regardless, but quickly dropped it in a favor of reading the story somewhat normal so the skeleton wouldn't pry the book from her hands. The story caught Frisk's interest, so she read longer than usual, her voice getting raspy.

"Ok, enough for today." She cleared her throat, set the book on the coffee table and rose from the lying position she sank to over time. Stretching, she turned to Sans. "You like it so far?"

Skeleton shrugged, his relaxed posture fading as he took a step back. Frisk only hummed at that and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"Gosh, it's late!" She realized there and hurried to the bathroom to brush her teeth. After splashing water in her face she could feel the tiredness seep into her bones. Yup, definitely time for bed.

"Hey, could you please-" 

The words tumbled out of her mouth. She was leaving the bathroom, about to do what she did every time before bed - ask Sans to lay on the couch, wish him good night, put him into sleep mode, swallow her guilt and uncertainty and gently pull covers over him. However, she saw him already laying on the couch. He didn't take the blanket, but he did drape it over his legs. It looks like he was eyeing the TV before she called out to him, and he sat up to look at her over the back of the couch.

It took a few seconds for Frisk to blink herself out of her stupor ( he never even sat down without an order, and now he- ), but when she did, she rounded the couch, turning the TV off.

"Goodnight." She never knew if she should smile or not - she didn't want to wish him to sleep with a neutral expression, but to smile when she was literally knocking the lights out of him seemed... wrong. Sans used to shoot her dirty looks before she shut him off - she could see his hate towards her, accusations of being a human who treated him like a slave he was turned into...

He looked peaceful, right now. He didn't close his eyesockets, but he wasn't watching her either - after she bid him good night he huffed, his eye drifted to look at the ceiling.

His body still tensed when she hit the shut off button.

"Sans..." Frisk whispered, knowing he couldn't hear her. Carefully, she arranged the blanket over him.

Her eyes fell on the book they were reading and she hesitated.

The skeleton seemed perfectly fine that one time she didn't put him in sleep mode. The thought of letting him roam the apartment while she was asleep still felt a little scary (fingers on her left hand itched, the long one still had troubles bending...), but maybe, just maybe, if she ordered him not to enter the bedroom while she's sleeping...

Maybe she could let him stay up for a few nights? Just one or maybe two per week - she didn't want him going without rest for a long time, but the whole 'sleep mode' thing didn't look like a rest at all. It looked uncomfortable, it looked painful, it looked like she was badgering him with a bat right on his skull every evening and Frisk hated it. She had a feeling Sans hated it as well, but every time she asked if he wanted to sleep he still stubbornly shook his skull.

Maybe she could ask him again. And if he says no, then... she'll consider letting him stay up for a night or a couple.

Chapter Text

"Do you want a pie today?" Frisk asked Sans, putting away library cards. The skeleton peered at her from behind a shelf, his bone brows lifted in question. "What?" He pointed at her. "Do I want a pie?" He shook his skull 'no'. "Do you not like pies?" No. "Uhhh..." They didn't play the charades game often, mostly because Sans didn't have patience with her when she didn't understand him on the fly (to be fair, considering he didn't speak and had permanent smiling face, she thought she did a pretty good job deciphering him), but he must've really wanted her to understand this time.

"Oh, you asking if I'll be the one making the pie?" Frisk perked up. The monster nodded, finally dropping his hand and staring at her expectantly. "No?" His shoulders fell a little. "There's this bakery I want to stop by, and I promise everything in there is really good! Way better than anything I bake." She dismissively chuckled and turned away, missing how he narrowed his eyesockets at her.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I haven't baked any pies in ages. Frisk mused. Pies weren't really her department - she preferred to make simple bread or something small but cute like cookies or cupcakes. Well, she'll think about it later - she always got in a mood to bake after staring at the bunch of pretty baked goods.

Finishing work, Frisk nodded into the direction different from their home path. "Over there." She didn't really have to do that - she hadn't put a leash on Sans after the first couple of outings with him, and he didn't tend to wander off, usually following right behind her while keeping his eyes (just an eyelight?...) on the surroundings, but Frisk liked talking to him. "My friend works in that bakery, and I haven't talked to her in a while, so I hope she's in today." 'Friend' was a bit stretched sentiment - Ariana was one of her classmates back in school, and only talked to Frisk when Brad brought her around his friend group. She did warm to Frisk over time, looking past the rumors and 'reputation' that surrounded her, but she still wouldn't call them actual friends. They still talked after graduation, albeit occasionally, and after Brad mentioned her name Frisk thought it would be nice to see her again. It has been a while since they met last time, a couple of weeks before she got Sans, but she wasn't surprised Ariana knew about him or the hand incident - she was always good at acquiring gossip.

Or she just happened to see Frisk on the street back when she had a cast and connected the dots. Maybe.

It was quite a long walk - Sans spotted a hot dog booth, and when Frisk asked him of he wanted one he gave a simple nod, though he'd never stared at her more intensely as he did then and there. She considered teasing him for a bit, but felt guilty even at that thought - she didn't want to tease him with food even in a friendly manner.

Frisk hoped no passing human would complain to her over feeding her monster as she held out the hotdog to Sans. Skeleton carefully took it in his hand and seemed to study it for a minute, frowning his eyesockets, but when he took a bite he looked content.

"Do you want mine, too?" Frisk wiped her mouth with the back of her hand after taking a bite herself. "Meat's too roasted for me."

Skeleton made a growly hmm sound which she took as yes as she passed him her own hotdog. He studied it as well, poking it with his finger (he poked the place where she bit it - he wasn't about to complain about germs, was he?..) before just eating the whole thing at once.

"What do you think?" Frisk cocked her head at him, smiling. He made a thoughtful expression before shaking his hand in a so-so gesture. "Yeah, agreed. We'll buy something better next time." There was one good hotdog place she knew, but it was inside the amusement park. The thought of seeing Sans on a ride made Frisk chuckle, earning her a puzzled look from the skeleton.

They didn't have the funds to go to the amusement park, but the thought still amused her. Maybe that's how I reveal to him that I met him before. Let him have fun with the attractions and then break the news by balancing 30 hotdogs on my head. I'll have plenty of time to escape when he gets angry and starts eating them all...

That thought didn't amuse her as much.

To her relief, the bakery allowed the entry of monsters, so she nodded to Sans to come in. After a small issue (the wind chimes above the door spilled over Sans's skull hole when he bumped into them on the way in, making him hiss and grab his skull. He seemed fine after Frisk helped him to duck from under them, but she imagined having something clink right inside your head would leave you with a headache) she told Sans he could take a look at what pie he wanted from the display as she looked for Ariana. To her relief, she spotted her behind the counter, speaking to a client. As soon as they paid for their baked goods, Frisk stepped forward, waving her hand.

"Friiiiisk!" Ariana happily exclaimed. "Where have you been, girl? You're not on a diet, are you?"

"Haha, no, no. I've just been busy."

"I see, I see. Busy... with a monster?"

Frisk threw a quick glance at Sans - he was totally staring at them and not the pies.

"Yeah, you, uh, know it..." She lamely answered.

"Yup! Heard from Bree that she saw you in the hospital - are you okay??"

"Ah." Bree was another worker in the bakery - Frisk hadn't exactly been a regular, but Ariana introduced her to Bree, and, considering they were working together, probably told her all about Frisk. They talked a couple of times too, sharing their mutual love for baking. "I'm fine, don't worry. I just had a little accident, nothing major."

"Really?" Ariana narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

"Really." She smiled as convincingly as she could. Not very much, but she hoped it was enough to drop the topic.

"Hm. Well, tell me about it." She nodded in the direction of Sans. "You must've spent a fortune! Though, looking again, it's pretty banged up... Still. Is it worth the money?"

Frisk blinked. "Well, he is a great monster. Doesn't pull any stunts or anything," Not anymore . "and... he does work well."

"Ooh?" Ariana perked up. "What kind of work?"

"Uh. Whatever I tell him to do?.." Frisk wasn't sure what her friend was getting at.

She looked unimpressed. "Really? Frisky, haven't you been hustling it to anywhere?"

"Not really?" She mumbled, still unsure of why they were talking about this.

"Girl, if you rent it out to other people I bet you could make back your money in no time."

" Him . I know that I can, but it isn't safe and I do not want to do it." Frisk almost slapped her hands against the counter in irritation. She'd seen the ads - you rent out your monster to work for a day or a few for some company or just a person, who'd usually make them overwork at the extreme degree and treat them like garbage. She did not want to make Sans do some dirty job, and she absolutely did not want anyone to have control over him.

Ariana lifted her brows. "Hm, I suppose. Should've expected you to be protective of your monster." Then, another smile graced her face. "Buuuut, you can try breeding, right?"

Frisk's eyes widened. " What? "

"That's really in now. You couple monsters up, breed them and get new slaves! Well, eventually. If you really got a male monster you can just rent him off to do the job and cash in money then and there!"

Ariana talked so nonchalant about it, but Frisk felt disgust eat her from the inside.

Forcing monsters to have children against their will, and raise said children as slaves from their first breath...

"Though you do have a skeleton. Does he even have a proper equi-"

"That sounds… awful ." Frisk managed to croak out, her hands turning into shaky fists. Her friend only sighed.

"I figured you'd be one of those people. Shouldn't be surprised." Ariana shook her head. "But Frisky, this thing is probably burning a giant hole in your wallet. You have legit way to earn some of it back, and-"

"No." Fury made her blood feel heated. "Don't you see how wrong this is?? Forcing someone to do- no, all of this! The slavery, the-"

"Frisky, Frisky, calm down. Those things- they're not intelligent, are they? Even if they were, not anymore. They're like dogs, and people breed them all the time. Not to mention they're walking bombs - I don't spare much sympathy for something that can explode on you any second. You know one exploded on Rosa's dad's work - almost took off his arm!"

Frisk sighed in exasperation before turning around and marched right back to Sans. Reasoning with Ariana was futile - she knew if she opens her mouth she'll either get bombarded with propaganda the companies and government behind the enslavement of the companies pushed on people, or steered into a completely another conversation and have her words completely disregarded. Frisk was too angry for talking right now anyway - she didn't want to say something wrong while she was heated - whether she'd hurt Ariana or slip up and insinuate that she's been in the Underground before to Sans. Emotions bubbled inside of her and she just wanted to get back home to hide in her bed, calm down, swallow them up and pretend the world wasn't as sick of a place as it was in reality.

Skeleton was right where she left him - when she turned, his eyelight quickly jumped from her back to the display of baked goods. She didn't know how good his hearing was and whether it improved or worsened after the years of hunger (he didn't even have ears to begin with...), but she had a feeling he heard their whole conversation, if his increasingly tense shoulders were anything to go by.

"Let's buy a pie and go home." She told him, her voice coming out cold as she tried to cramp her feelings down. "Which one you want?"

Sans frowned at her, his eyes lingering on her tightly knit eyebrows and pursed lips, and shook his skull.

"What?" The surprise overtook Frisk's bad mood for a moment. "Don't you want any of these?"

He growled and shook his head again.

"O-okay." Unsure of what to make of that, she shot Ariana one last look before heading to the exit. She didn't look sorry or angry - she looked back at Frisk like it was her who was acting stupid. Same look when she brought up monster stories back in the school, when she left her office job to be a librarian, when she broke up with Brad...

They left in a hurry, Frisk marching right home, not even turning to make sure Sans was following her. With every step her anger dissipated into frustration, which turned into sadness, and by the time she made it home she felt emotionally exhausted. When she finally fumbled with the lock, she fell face-first onto the couch, grabbed the nearest pillow and screamed into it.

After the pillow became too heated from her breathing, she lifted her head, still feeling just as frustrated. She caught a shade of blue in the corner of her eye - Sans was standing over her, his scarlet eye pulsating in a slow beat.

His face was so neutral, so simple - he didn't look angry, nor troubled. He didn't look happy either, despite his smile, but there was something sincere in the shape of his eyes, something calm and thoughtful. He wasn't a dog, or any other kind of pet - he was a person, and he didn't deserve-

Before Frisk knew it, a stifled sob erupted from her throat. She tried to stop herself, but the more her thoughts spiraled, the harder it was to hold it in. She opened her mouth in a vain attempt to assure the skeleton that everything was fine, but the only thing to come out was a high-pitched whine, followed by the tears gushing out of her eyes.

Because it was not fine.

"T-this is ter-rible..." Frisk hiccupped. "How c-can they do this?.. This is worse than... than..." She tried to hide her face in her hands. "H-horrible... I don't... don't understand... How can they subject someone to this?!"

Wiping her face, she took a peak at Sans. His body looked strained, his large hands balled into fists and fangs bared - he wasn't looking at her though, instead staring at the floor.

Frisk felt another sob coming through. She couldn't even imagine how he felt - she was a human, but for him it was a reality he and all his friends and family were subjected too, powerless to stop it.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered. Blood-red eye flew to her face. "I'm sorry you had to hear that and I'm sorry that that's... that's what's happening..." She whimpered.

The thought of Sans being forced to do that - force him to father children he'll never see and who will be raised to be mindlessly obedient... it made Frisk's heart hurt.

Before she could think her arms went around him, face buried in his shirt, staining it with her tears and snot. The monster froze as she grabbed a handful of his jacket and she all but wallowed into his ribs.

"I will never make you do that!" Frisk screamed into his chest. "I will never let you go! How can they- I will never let anybody use you like this!!"

She clinged harder as her tears subdued, her whails turning into quieter sobs and whimpers. Suddenly, she felt something - a hand, she realized - on her spine, very slowly and gently encompassing her back. Another hand came up over it, fingers softly brushing the tips of her hair.

"i know."

Frisk inhaled sharply at the sound of a deep, raspy voice coming from above her head. It sent goosebumps down her skin, ceasing her tears and stirring thoughts in her mind.

Realizing that she basically threw herself at Sans, she pulled back, falling butt-first on the couch.

"I'm so sorry!" She gasped. "I didn't even think- I'm sorry for touching you, and-" God, my snot is all over his shirt! "Let me wash your shirt!" Woman sniffed, feeling embarrassed beyond belief.

Skeleton didn't look angry though - he waved off her apology and stuck both hands into the jacket pockets, taking a step back and turning his skull away.

"No, really, I'm so sorry..." She mumbled, looking at Sans and at her hands and then back. Did he really embrace her back? And spoke to her? It didn't feel real, more like she imagined it, but... "I think I better go grab some tissues."

Clearing her nose and washing her face helped Frisk calm down and start thinking rationally. Taking a peek outside the bathroom, she spotted Sans still near the couch, hands in pockets and head amongst jacket fur. He looked just as awkward as the first time he walked into her apartment, but at least he didn't look as angry…

"I'm sorry about..." She bit her lip. "Pretty much everything today. I owe you something, something nice. Anything you want to eat today in particular?"

Skeleton perked up and nodded before walking towards the kitchen. There he pointed at the oven.

"Baked chicken?" He shook his head. "A pastry?" Nod . "Oh. A pie?" Nod . "I did promise you a pie..." She figured after what happened at the bakery, he wouldn't be in a mood for one of those. "Alright. But it's gonna be an apple pie, okay? Because we don't have much else..." Sans seemed content with it, so she mustered a small smile for him.

Thankfully, pie dough didn't need much time for preparation, and she popped the pie into the oven rather quickly.

Not in a mood for TV or anything in particular, Frisk just sat near the kitchen table, fiddling her fingers together as she sorted her thoughts through. The second turned out to be more of a challenge when Sans also sat down across of her.

'i know.' Skeleton's words rang in her mind, making her heart flutter. She didn't imagine it, did she? He had spoken to her... not the first time, but last time she heard his voice he was actively trying to suffocate her...

Frisk kept throwing quick glances at her monster, hoping he wouldn't notice. She'd say he looked relaxed, at least as relaxed as she'd ever seen him - leaning onto the chair's back, hands in pockets and eyesockets slightly lidded as his one red iris looked at nothing in particular.

He trusted her enough to relax around her. Would he talk to her, one day? Would she ever get to hear him laugh at a joke again?

Would he... would he trust her if she tells him about her past?

Frisk bit her lip. Did it matter? She didn't treat him differently than she'd treat any other monster - true, she'd only bought him because she knew him back when she was a kid, but other than that... She knew a few things that he liked (or, well, used to like) and how he was before the hunger and slavery changed him... but every monster changed like that. And she, herself, changed as well.

The spark that Frisk felt as a child, her adventurous spirit and boundless determination were drained a long time ago. By the doctors, by the therapists, by her peers and teachers in school, by the weight of her life's failures and by injustices in the world... She was a different person now than she was in the Underground. Older. Wiser. Broken.

But the past months... Living with Sans, sharing her thoughts, her cooking, her job, her favorite books, her life with him... she could feel the spark reigniting.

Even if her past didn't matter to her, it would certainly matter to him, she thought sourly. She was supposed to be the final soul to break the Barrier - she could've given it up and set the monsters free then and there, but instead she took all their hope. Her memories were still blurry - if she tried to recall her confrontation with the king, all she remembered was... a nightmare. The worst nightmare she has had as a child.

Of course her past will matter to Sans. She knew that one day she'll have to break it to him, tell him everything, because he deserved the truth, but... with each day, it felt more difficult for Frisk.

Maybe after Aliza receives her message. Sans will have options, and if he chooses to leave her... she'd let him go.

Pulling out her phone, Frisk checked the mail box. No new messages. She had sent more emails to all kinds of accounts where she hoped she could reach Aliza, but so far she got nothing.

Looking over her messages, she decided she might as well apologize to Ariana. Frisk felt bad for storming off like she did... besides, Ariana was just trying to help... she said some wrong things, but her intentions seemed good. Frisk hoped she wouldn't start ignoring her...

Finishing with the message, Frisk pulled out the freshly baked pie. Pies always made her think of Toriel, and she felt ashamed she was never good at making them. They always turned out to be too soggy or just plain bland.

"Mind if I take a slice?" She asked Sans. He shook his head, and she cut out a piece for herself and pushed the remains towards the skeleton. "You can eat this!" She smiled at him and occupied herself by drowning her slice in sugar powder.

Instead of eating right away, Sans made a hmm noise, driving her attention.

"What is it?" Did I do something wrong? Frisk blinked at him in confusion. Skeleton stood up and pointed at the fridge. Still confused, she opened it.

He pointed at the fridge door.

"Oh." Are you serious?.. "You want ketchup." She couldn't help but snort as he enthusiastically nodded. "Okay, okay, fine. You can use this ketchup."

Next time I should just make pizza. Something even more plain than Margarita - just smear dough with tomato sauce . Frisk giggled to herself.

She watched as Sans proceeded to empty the whole ketchup bottle on her poor pie, drowning the apples in tomato blood. Skeleton noticed her watching and glared challengingly at her.

"Nothing, nothing. I'm not judging." Frisk said, her voice laced with amusement. "Maybe. Just a little."

His smirk sharpened at her statement, growing mischievous. Before she knew it, Sans held the ketchup bottle over her pie slice, the remains threatening to spill out.

"Nonono!" She quickly shielded her piece with her hands. "Mister, if you dare to ruin my slice I'll take yours!"

Sans chuckled and took his retreat, chomping first on the now empty plastic ketchup bottle, and then at the pie.

Frisk smiled warmly, eating her own slice. This pie hasn't turned out that bad after all.

Chapter Text

The better Frisk's life with Sans became, the more doubts she had.

The difference between when she first bought the skeleton and now was staggering. He no longer behaved like a scary Halloween decoration - he moved around the apartment no matter where Frisk was, he had some resemblances of hobbies (apart for watching TV and reading he liked to observe people, spending a lot of time in front of the window or sneakily peeking at them from in-between the shelves when they were in the library), and he no longer acted like a puppet.

Frisk was never afraid of him, but she no longer feared him. She knew he listened when she talked, and she could see that he didn't mind her talking. She saw him be curious, whether it was an interesting book or a documentary that caught his attention, she saw him concerned when the news about Aliza's hardships played, she saw him angry when the same news slandered monsters, she saw him be mischievous when he scared an unfortunate human on purpose, she saw him be happy when she cooked for him something he could bury in ketchup or when they swinged by the fast food joint, she even saw him smiling a true, real smile, and heard his laugh, albeit just a few chuckles.

Sans was opening up. He was becoming closer to the skeleton Frisk used to know, her old friend, and drifted farther away from a monster that pinned her against the kitchen wall in an unfinished attempt to kill her.

Frisk knew she shouldn't feel so safe around him, but she did. Since that incident they've touched numerous times - for god's sake, one of those was when she was sick and unconscious. But Sans hadn't taken advantage of any of them - he chose to help her, and even comforted her. She was certain he wouldn't hurt her, not anymore.

And, after a lot of doubts, she'd made a decision.

"I have something special for you today." Frisk said, feeling a bit nervous.

Sans's eye snapped to her as he rose to the sitting position on the couch. It was time for bed, and for a couple of weeks now he had willingly laid down, prepared for her to put him in the sleep mode. His eyesockets were full of so much trust every night she always felt like instead of pressing the shut off button she was stabbing a needle into her heart...

"We have to go outside. I hope we can get on the roof, but I don't know if it will be open or not..." Frisk awkwardly giggled as she put on her coat and fumbled with her scarf. "I hope it is. Oh! Grab the yellow blanket, please."

She could see surprise and intrigue in his eyesockets as he rose from the couch, hoisting the blanket she pointed at in his arms.

Frisk closed the door after they exited and headed to the upper floor, Sans trailing behind her. Sadly, she found the door leading out to the roof of her apartment building closed with a lock.

"Damn it." Young woman pouted, half-heartedly tugging at it. Next time I should ask the building administration for a key. "I guess the outside will do."

She turned around, facing Sans. His eye scanned her face before he huffed, taking a step towards the door. Frisk blinked at him in confusion, but before she could open her mouth the skeleton hoisted the blanket into one hand, grabbing the lock with another. Next second his body tensed as the collar made unpleasant noise and the jolt of electricity shook his body.

"Sans!!" Frisk gasped as he bent over, leaning on the wall for support. "Are you okay?" Skeleton nodded, making a dismissive noise, and when he caught his breath he lifted his skull, giving her a smile. She was still shocked what caused that, and why. "What was that about??"

Monster held his hand in front of her, his smile a tad more smug than usual. He was holding a lock, as well as the whole door handle.

"Oh." Frisk blinked and slowly turned to the door, gently pushing it. It opened. She turned back to the skeleton. "That..." She couldn't help but giggle. "Yeah, if someone asks, we don't know what happened to this door." Sans nodded, dropping the handle then and there. But Frisk's smile faded as she turned to look at him with a serious face. "Still. You shouldn't- I mean, it's not a good idea to break property. It's not an order, but if you want to do something - please just tell me, don't... don't hurt yourself." Her hand hovered over his, but she hastily withdrew it once she noticed. "Please." 

Frisk couldn't quite read the expression in his face, but he gave her a short nod. That wouldn't do for now, she decided. "Well..." She turned to the opening, while harsh wind poured in from the outside. "The door is miraculously open! Such luck! I think we might as well go out."

Sans rolled his eye at her theatrics, but his smile looked genuine as they stepped out onto the roof. The apartment complex was only about four floors tall, and neighboring buildings rationed from being around the same height to taller, but Frisk spotted a good spot and motioned Sans to it.

"Give me the blanket, please." Skeleton handed it over as Frisk set it below (the roof-ground wasn't the cleanest, she'll have to wash it really hard afterwards...), and after she sprawled it in a square she sat down, patting a place next to her. "Shall we?"

Sans looked quite amused at her attics, and, to her relief (she wasn't pushing it, was she? She felt a bit stupid, and the longer he stood the more stupid she felt-) the skeleton sat down a couple of inches away from her.

"I've been monitoring the weathercast lately and today is supposed to be one of those days when the stars should be most visible." Frisk said, looking up at the sky. "So..." She let herself fall back, sprawling on the blanket. "Let's see if it's true."

She could feel Sans's gaze on her, and after a few seconds the skeleton laid down as well, looking up with her. The stars were visible, but not by much - she could barely see a few of them doting the sky.

"I can kinda see them." Frisk spoke up again, pointing at the sky. "Being in the city, artificial light makes it difficult to properly see the stars... Maybe one day we could camp out somewhere not as heavily built in." She could hear Sans rumble in agreement.

"We really should visit a planetarium." It wasn't a very cold night, but she still had to bury her hands into her coat so she wouldn't freeze too much. "There's one a couple of hours away, if we can get on a bus. I've been there once, we had an excursion there back in school. I was excited, thought I'd find out more about constellations or other planets, but the show we got was about the moon." She spotted the moon in the sky and pointed at it. "At least you can see it well. But yeah, I think you'd like it. Just need to find a way to sneak you in." Sigh . "I can pretend to be blind and say that you are my support?" He made a sound like he blew air out of the nose he didn't have. "Hmmm... If i give you a scarf and some mask maybe they'll mistake you for a human?" He chuckled. "Hey, don't laugh! If you have reservations about my ideas I'd love to listen to yours!" She said, smiling despite her try to sound offended.

Time seemed to stay still as they laid together under the night sky, peacefully watching it and having an occasional 'conversation' ("Look, a bright star! Oh nevermind, it's moving....", "Last time I stopped to watch the stars was... forever ago...", "So, about that 'pretending I'm blind' plan... I can squint eyes really hard and still see-"), but far too quickly the cold has seeped into Frisk's bones, and when her arms started to shake she decided that was enough.

"It's quite late, we really should be heading back." She said, sitting up. Sans lingered for a short moment before doing the same, his face somber.

"So Saaaa-" A pang of panic shot through Frisk - she got so distracted she forgot. "-ars, stars! What did you think about stars?" She giggled nervously. She had called him by his name today and he didn't seem to mind - although it was when she was panicking and he was in pain, so he might've missed it altogether.

Skeleton didn't answer, giving her a long look as she was nervously folding the blanket they laid on.

"sans."

Frisk froze, before her head snapped to look at the monster. However, he was no longer looking at her, his gaze back at the sky as he tucked his hands into his jacket pockets. When he did meet her gaze, he brought one outside, holding it out to her.

Like a handshake.

She held her breath, her eyes sliding between his face and the outstretched hand before tentatively holding out hers. She hesitated for a second before gently placing it along his big fingers, bone feeling surprisingly warm in the chill air.

"Frisk." She smiled at him, lightly shaking their hands. He huffed out a laugh, his eyesockets half-lidded and smile amused.

Frisk was relieved to return to the warmth of their little apartment - her bones ached after enduring the cold for so long, and she was looking forward to cozying up in her bed. Deciding she was too sleepy to brush her teeth, she threw the blanket into the laundry. Back in the living room, she saw that Sans was ready to call it a night as well - laying on the couch again, hands interlocked and gaze aimed into the space as he looked like he was lamenting something.

The sight of him gave Frisk a pause. "Sans?" He sat up and turned to look at her as she softly called out his name. "Do you... want to sleep?"

His brows flew up as if she asked him a trick question, but after a brief second the skeleton shook his head no.

Frisk has been expecting this. "I thought... A couple nights of the week, maybe... You can go without the sleeping mode." His sockets, as well as his iris, expanded as she spoke. "I don't want you to be awake for a long-long period of time because I'm afraid it's bad for you- well, your health- but I suppose if you don't want to sleep yourself, you can stay up sometimes..." Young woman shyly gazed at the monster, wondering about his reaction.

For a few moments he just held her gaze in challenge, as if he was ready to hear it was all a joke, but after he realized it wasn't, his eyelight expanded, fluttering in his socket.

"But I do have a couple of rules!" She added, and tried to sound not very strict. "While I'm asleep you can move around the apartment, but until I come out of the bedroom in the morning - no leaving the apartment, no turning the water on, if you turn the TV on no making the sound louder than fifteen, and no entering the bedroom. I allow you to knock on it in case something happens. Does that sound okay?"

Sans nodded and stood up. At first she thought he was approaching her, but he stopped in front of the window, looking up at the night sky again.

"Alright. I'll leave you the book we're reading on the table in case you want to continue it yourself, and a couple of other books just in case." Frisk did just that - she kept the book stack that accumulated from all the books they took from the library for future reading in the bedroom, and didn't want to lock Sans out from them. They were piled up in the corner since the bookshelf she had wasn’t that big and was already occupied to the full, so she grabbed a few from the top, as well as the one they were halfway through, and carried them to the living room, dropping them on the coffee table.

"There." Sans turned to her and she gave him a smile. "You can turn on the light if need be, I allow it. If something comes up, tell me later. For now... good night, Sans."

He gave her a nod and watched her walk to the bedroom door before turning back to the window, glancing at the somewhat visible stars.

Next morning Frisk woke up anxious, excited and with very sore muscles.

If we ever sneak out to the roof again I'm bundling up. She thought, putting some home clothes on before she pushed the door open.

She spotted Sans immediately - the door frame was slightly obscuring her view, but she could see him on the couch, bent over the book he held in his palm. His skull snapped to her the moment the door squeaked open.

"Good morning." Frisk said, walking over. He left the lights in the living room on, as well as the TV, which was playing on a very low volume, at least too low for her to hear it if she wasn't standing right in front of it. The book he was holding wasn't the one they were reading together - it was one about engineering (she was a bit relieved - she didn't know much about the subject, and those they read before were the ones that bored her the most). He nodded at her greeting, sitting up more straight.

"How was the night? Good?" Skeleton nodded. "You feeling okay without sleep?" Nod . "You sure?" Squint. Nod. "Okay, okay. Eggs or cereal for breakfast?" He hummed and lifted one finger. "Okay. Break the yolks and smother in ketchup?" Nod. She smirked. "Gotcha."

She fried the eggs, humming a tune and checking the messages on her phone. Nothing from Aliza. Ariana was texting like their last conversation didn't happen, which both relieved and irritated Frisk. Well, she'll deal with it later. For now, she could peacefully enjoy her breakfast with Sans.

She proceeded to plate the eggs, drowning his portion in ketchup (she didn't see the appeal, but she had to admit it was quite a satisfying feeling), and went to the doorway to call him over. Something made her stop.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary - after she left to make breakfast, skeleton went back to reading. The book was in his palm, and he held it quite close to his face - he always did, and Frisk assumed it was because of his increased size letters on the page were too small to properly see from afar. 

But right now she could see him squinting. He did that before as well, but she dismissed it as his reaction to the contents of the book. But he was reading 'Automotive Engineering Fundamentals' - was he bemused at the technology of cars?

Could he... have a sight problem?

At some point Sans noticed her standing there in the doorway and staring at him, and raised a bone brow at her.

"Sans..." Frisk bit her lip, unsure how she wanted to ask this. "Do you... um... is your vision okay?" His face didn't waver, but she could see his shoulders tense.

Monster shook his head yes.

"A hundred percent?" Nod . Frisk frowned. Was she overthinking this? "Hang on." She turned to her bedroom and fetched a notepad and a pen. Walking back up to a still quite stiff skeleton, she drew number five on the page and turned it to him. "What number is this?"

Sans blinked, before staring at her in displeasure.

"C'mon. What is it?" She nudged him. He let out an annoyed huff before lifting up five fingers.

"Right." She wrote a six and backed up a couple of paces before showing it to him. "This one?"

Sans was starting to look really frustrated, but complied and held up his hands Six fingers.

"Alright. Last one, I promise." She took a couple steps back again, writing down a three and turning the notepad to him. "What is it?"

Frisk could see sweat on the side of his skull as the skeleton leaned a little bit closer. She drew all the numbers quite big and wasn't that far from him - if his claim was the truth, he shouldn't have any problems. But at this point the monster was quite obviously struggling - he held himself back from squinting his eye sockets, but hesitated before lifting up his fingers.

Eight.

"Sans..." Frisk's shoulders dropped as she took a step forward, placing the notepad on the coffee table. He flinched. "Your eyesight is... not the best, is it?" He turned his skull away from her, ducking his head in to hide amongst the coat fur.

It all made sense now. For some reason Frisk was under the assumption that his eyesight was better than human's - after mutation, he was much stronger, and his hearing was obviously way more sensitive, as well as his sense of environment. But now she felt stupid for thinking his sight would be improved. He had one eyelight which was the colour she knew wasn't natural for him, scars running over the eyesockets... and, for stars sake, he had a giant hole in his skull! No wonder something like that would take a toll on his vision.

It made sense now, how he always squinted at TV when monster-related news were playing, or why he was reading so slowly by himself - he probably had a hard time making out the words, even harder than she initially thought.

"We need to get you glasses." She said assuredly. First they needed a prescription - Frisk knew that regular doctors would refuse treating a monster, and hoped they handled issues like this at the monster calibration center. She could make up a lie - say that she needed him to see well in her line of work. But Sans didn't speak - how will they test him?..

Even after they manage to get the prescription, new glasses will cost her a pretty penny. She really had to start cutting her expenses - she had to survive half a month before the next payday and her savings were wearing thin. She could've cut the amount of money she spent on food - buy cheap stuff and cut the ketchup amount, but...

Sans looked so happy when he ate. Smiled when she cooked for him something new, or when he got to drench the whole plate in ketchup. She... she couldn't take that away from him.

She'll save the money - Frisk wasn't a stranger to living economically. She'll skip breakfasts, live on instant noodles for a while, cut her hair more to use less shampoo...

Sans didn't seem enthusiastic. He ate his breakfast in one go - something he hasn't done in a while, now that Frisk thought about it - and retreated into the living room, out of her sight. When she emerged from the kitchen the skeleton was sitting on the couch again, his skull turned to the TV but covered by the hood he put up.

"We have to go to the monster recalibration station, I hope they could test your eyesight there." She told him as she fumbled to put her outside clothing on. Monster's head snapped to her, a low growl rumbling from inside his chest giving Frisk a pause. "I won't let them do anything to hurt you."

She slipped her legs into boots and opened the front door, turning her head to look at Sans. He made no move to stand up, still sitting on the couch. Frisk frowned, approaching the skeleton and turning the TV off before sitting next to him.

"They won't hurt you, I promise." She spoke as softly as she could. From her position she could only see a glimpse of his sharp scowl peeking from under the shadow of the hood. "Just a check up. No matter what they will not take you away from me." Her hands flexed into fists. Her words made him turn his skull to her, empty eyesocket facing her golden eyes, a familiar spark of determination giving the skeleton a pause.

After a while he grunted and finally stood up, walking over to the door. Frisk blinked before hurriedly following him, and soon they were walking to the place where she bought him.

The monster calibration station was right near the adoption center. When Frisk entered she only saw one person inside - a young girl, currently occupied with her phone. She lifted her head when they entered, reluctantly placing it down.

"Hello." Frisk decided to speak first, as fast and concrete as she could. Nor she nor Sans wanted to be in this place longer than necessary, so the faster it was all over with the better. "I want to have my monster's eyesight checked. He needs to see so he can perform the work I need, so I'd like to get a prescription to get him glasses, please."

Receptionist girl blinked at her, her eyes flickering at Sans and then back. "Okay." She stood up, motioning for them to follow. "Follow me, please."

They walked down a corridor before taking a sharp left into a small darkish room with a medical chair and all sorts of equipment that made Frisk feel uncomfortable. Looking at Sans he looked as tense as ever, his eye pulsing rapidly as it was laser focused at the receptionist.

The faster we get there the better.

"You need to concede to me the control of your monster, Miss." Girl turned to Frisk.

"What?.."

"You need to order your monster to follow my orders like he follows yours." She explained, making a knot in Frisk's stomach tighten.

"Excuse me-" Her eye flew up to Sans - he stiffened, scowl sharp on his face and roar threatening to burst out from his chest. "I- I cannot do that."

"You don't have to worry, Miss, I will not order it to do anything that's-"

" No ." Frisk said adamantly. "I will not concede. If you want to order him to do something, I can relay it myself."

Worker gave her an exasperated look. Frisk's eye twitched - she didn't want to be a Karen, but Sans was more important to her than anything, and hell if she'd let anyone control him.

"As you wish, Miss." Girl motioned at the medical chair, grabbing a pointer stick and unrolling a board of letters for eyesight check. "Guide your monster into the chair and order it to speak a letter I point at."

"Sit in the chair." Frisk bit back a 'please', throwing Sans an apologetic look. He slid on the chair, looking as comfortable as someone looked when they were getting their teeth pulled out. "We have a little issue - he cannot speak."

Worker shot her a look.

"He's a skeleton, and his jaw is shut." Frisk nodded at Sans. He was still scowling, his teeth grinding into each other. "Is there any not-letter ways to test his sight? Numbers, or directions - something he can show with his fingers?"

Girl sighed, pulling out a different board with numbers.

"Will this work?"

"Yes!" Frisk almost let out a relieved sigh.

It felt like the test took forever - Sans was a very soar participant, but didn't resist any orders.

"Here." Doctor scribbled down the conclusion and handed it over to Frisk. "He seems to see outside of his right eye, despite the lack of..." She frowned. "An 'eyeball'. Still, it's much worse than his left."

Frisk nodded, staring at the prescription. Like she thought, he was extremely nearsighted. She never knew if he did see out of his empty socket, and hearing the confirmation made her feel more at ease.

Still, there were a couple of other problems.

"How do..." Frisk fumbled with a glasses's frame in her hands. "They won't fall from your face, will they?" She looked at Sans in search for an answer, but his face wasn't bringing her much hope. He carefully took the lensless frame and put it on. The second he let go, the glasses slid down his nose ridge, handless on the side falling. Skeleton caught the pair before it fell off completely, holding it out back to discouraged Frisk.

At least this frame is big enough for his skull . She thought, looking if it bent in any way. Most glasses ended up being too small, but this one seemed just right - it still didn't sit put on Sans's face, but the sides didn't bend or were too big to instantly fall down. They required square lenses - Frisk would prefer rounder ones, but when she asked Sans which ones he wanted he signaled those.

"Would scotch tape work?" Frisk sighed, but Sans roared quietly in confirmation, surprising her. "Huh. Well, I think we won't find better..." Or cheaper . "So let's take these ones."

The finished pair came in three days later. Deathly afraid of breaking the costly lenses right away, Frisk was the one to put the glasses on Sans, taping the handles to the sides of his skull as his face was distractingly close to hers.

"How is it?" She took a step back when she was certain the glasses wouldn't fall off, letting the skeleton lift his head. He blinked a few times, looking around at first before grabbing a nearest book. As he opened it she could hear him inhale sharply. His gaze returned to Frisk, eyesockets wide and his iris so big it almost filled in the whole socket.

"Is it good?" Nod. "They won't fall down, will they?" Shake. "What do you think, you can put on and take them off without breaking them? Sans hesitated, his eyesockets frowning in thought before he gave an unsure nod.

"Aaalright." Frisk extended her arm, holding a roll of scotch tape in front of him. "I allow you to use these glasses, and this tape, too. If old one doesn't hold up, use this. I think your teeth are sharp enough to cut it?.." Sans took the tape roll, looking it over before slowly opening his jaw. "Just don't eat it!" He froze, closing mouth back and looking at her in pouty fashion.

"Heh. Glasses suit you, by the way." Frisk smiled, and Sans tensed at her words before turning his back to her, grabbing the book he held before and fleeing the bedroom in an unusual hurry.

She smiled, watched him bury his face in a book from afar, flipping the pages much faster than he used to (seemingly even faster than she did), before pulling out her phone. Smile slipped from her face as she checked the mail.

No messages from Aliza.

Closing the mailbox, Frisk opened a bank app, checking her balance. Her heart sank.

A couple of weeks before payday. She mused, closing it and looking around her room, spared of any valuable items.

Seeing Sans... see was worth pawning out the rest of her belongings, if needs be. She had no regrets.