Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Okay, okay, I got another one."

"Oh, and what- haha, sorry, I almost spit out my meal. Excuse me," Toriel smiled as she heard the skeleton snicker, trying to hide it with his sweater covered arm. She made sure to cover her mouth with a napkin as she finished chewing. "Alright, I'm ready."

"Heh," Sans was already trying to not fall over. Toriel was pretty sure if he had guts, they would have been busted already from all the laughing. "How do- do you fix a broken tuba?"

"Hmmm. I'm not so sure. How do you fix a broken tuba?"

"With a tuba glue!"

...

"Oh my!" Toriel wheezed as her fists hit the table, trying to contain her snorts. "Tuba glue! Hahaha, that's wonderful! Bravo Sans, bravo!" She clapped proudly, the skeleton closing his eyes and taking a humorous bow.

"Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week. On the couch, or the kitchen," With a final slurp of his soup, Sans plopped the empty bowl back on the table, seemingly looking contempt as his eyes closed with ease. He made a little humming sound of approval.

"I'm glad you liked my soup, I added a few new ingredients. I'm proud to say I happily picked most of them from my garden."

"Including the snail?"

"Including the snails, deary." Toriel watched as Sans smiled brightened, looking at the recipe she wrote down earlier for him on a piece of paper. “I...could show you how to make some broth if you'd like sometime."

Sans’ eyes widened before his he smiled cheekily.

"I‘d feel... SOUP-er douper honored, heh."

Toriel lips pursed her lips in a fine line before her eyebrows arched. She tried to catch the chuckle but it escaped her throat, soon raising the volume into howls of laughter. 

"Really funny, huh?" Sans raised his head high. "Don't wanna brag, but I thought of it on a whim."

Toriel’s fits of laughter died down as she sighed softly.  Yes, the joke was funny, but the noodles underneath Sans’ nose socket were the culprit behind her undignified chortling. It looked like he had a long thin mustache!

 While picking up the two empty bowls, she grabbed a nearby napkin and gently started wiping the wet mess on his face.

The instant pout and confused expression reminded her so much of Asriel. He would complain that he was a big kid, and that it was embarrassing that his mom would wipe his face instead of letting him do it himself.

Chara, her other child, would tease him right then and there. Toriel would proceed to wipe both sets of messy cheeks, their protested giggles melting her heart.

Oh, she just loved her children so much-

"Uh, Tori?"

She froze. Oh no, shes spacing out again.  "Oh goodness! Sorry, you just had- uhh. Your face was quite messy, and I couldn't stand-"

"Nah, it's ok. I appreciate it, actually." Sans coughed awkwardly, and Toriel felt bad since he looking away now.

Great, I've embarrassed him!

"No, I'm sorry. You're already an adult and I just...I can't excuse messy cheeks. A force of habit."

San's shrugged, smiling as if nothing happened. "It's cool Tori. Honest. Wouldn't wanna be walking around with a noodle mustache. I remember when Pap would -" his grin strained before he shook his head, chuckling. "Say, I'm gonna hit the hay because I think it's passed my nap time. Do you mind if I crash on the couch?"

Toriel laughed. "First of all, you've been living here for months! And second, you brought the couch from your house! How could I say no?"

"Cause now it's on your property. It's only common courtesy if I ask."

"Alright, young man. As a former banned queen, you have my permission to stain your couch more and sleep there." She pretended to wave a magical wand. "Boom! You have my approval deary."

Sans grinned. "Thank you Tori. Night." And with that, he yawned as he got off the chair and sleepily waddled to the couch.

After Toriel cleaned up and washed some dishes, she took a glance a bit later and saw Sans really did pass out on his couch. Small bottles of ketchup littered the area, some French fries, and some science books laid on the floor about space. Huh.

She set the fire in her chimney and pulled the fallen blanket to cover his shoulders. His face began to shift into a softer expression.

She opened her mouth to say goodnight, but stopped herself. It’s not like he would hear her, anyways.

***

The sound of screams and pleads had Toriel fumble out of her bed like a crazy person. There’s never a commotion where she lives, so to say she was mortified was an understatement. 

Picking up her lamp and fitting into some slippers, she quickly exited her house and tried searching for the source of the now vanished yells. Her robe blew in the wind as she tried to navigate through the dark. 

What if it was another human child? That weird flower that she always had to scare off? Has any of the smaller monsters gotten hurt? 

She couldn’t bear the thought. 

Her ears perked at a quiet rustling noise near the flower garden. 

"Is- is someone there? Hello?" She called out. Stepping quietly, she quickly encountered a water puddle with somebody face flat in it. “Oh my goodness!"

The blue sweater and blanket were a dead giveaway, but more so the bony curled phalanges were also an indicator he must have ran out too quickly to forget his slippers. Sans was currently facing away, his teeth clacking as he was completely dripping wet. 

"Sans- what- what are you doing out here? Were you the one…oh. Oh dear.” 

The sudden look on his face was enough to make Toriel pause. Not only was he wet from the puddle, but his cheeks were completely dampened from…tears. His slight eyebrows were furrowed and he looked frightened. 

Her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. She’s pretty sure she’s never seen him cry. “Sans…”

"I'm umm- I'm sorry. I woke you up from your sleep. Haha, don't worry, I'm just- trying to..umm.." He was gasping quietly, seemingly trying to pick himself up. “I was just trying to…wake up.” 

Toriel raised a brow. "Wake up? There’s no reason to come out here and dampen yourself. You’re going to get sick out here with dirty puddle water. You could have just washed your face in the sink.” 

The young skeleton stayed quiet.

“You had a nightmare.” 

He sat up, suddenly wrapping his arms around his knees. “So? It’s not a big deal.”

Based on his quick reaction, she must have hit a sore spot. 

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone gets nightmares once in a while. The important thing is that they aren’t real.” She explained softly.

Sans let out a choked whine. “I don’t wanna talk about this.” 

"Sans. You could have easily gotten hurt or sick coming out here during the night. I know you can handle yourself but you don't know what's out here like I do. We don’t want this to happen anymore, right?” 

All she got was a mumbled “yeah” 

At this rate, they will be back and forth all night, with the worry that Sans will get sick.  She cleared her throat and took a gentle exhale.

“How about we come inside and I can make some hot chocolate? If you don't want to talk about it it's alright, I just need to make sure you stay out here and don't get sick. Okay?" She stuck out her hand for Sans to hopefully take. 

Sans looked up briefly, seemingly to hesitate on Toriel’s offer before grabbing her extended hand. With that, he let her take the lead back to the house.

Taking a careful glance, she could see that Sans had his face hanging low, wiping his eye sockets as his cheeks turned a warm shade of blue. Toriel would be lying if she said this and the constant sniffling wasn’t hurting her heart. 

Once they were inside, she immediately sent him to get changed into warm clean clothes. In the meantime, she brought over clean pillows and blankets as she prepared some hot chocolate and a piece of butterscotch pie. 

By the time Sans came back, the pie was cooled off and the hot chocolate was now semi warm, sitting on the coffee table near the couch. 

He climbed onto his couch, shifting awkwardly as he felt a pair of worried eyes watching him. His face was no longer wet, but the pain in his eyebrows tell told all. If Toriel wasn’t great at reading people, she might have fallen for the weak smile he had plastered on his face. 

"You really know how to set a guy up, don't you Tori?"

From her small knitting couch, Toriel let out a questioning hum.

"I mean," Sans gestured to everything…new and clean. "New blankets, pillows, warm pie and chocolate. It's like you’re trying to play good cop on me. Heh." He reached out for his fork and began to dig into the pie. "It's working, almost."

"Sans, I already said you don't have to tell me anything. If you just want to sit here and enjoy your pie, I'm okay with that."

Widening eye sockets and a small shoulder jump, Sans simply nodded and went back to eating his pie. The two of them relaxed in silence, the gentle hum of the TV and the fire crackling kept it from being awkward. 

Toriel did as promised, and did not ask any questions. 

Instead, she pulled out her knitting gear and continued working on a beanie she started a couple months ago. She made sure to use her secret peripheral vision to check on Sans, who was now watching TV. His eyes were starting to get a little bit droopy. 

A nagging part of her wanted to break that promise and ask, not because she was nosy, but she remembered days when her own children would start screaming and crying at night. Whether there would be humans under Asriel’s bed or bad memories Chara had from surface, those were hardly discussed. “Mommy, I’m fine.” They would try brushing it off, their tears dripping down their small chubby cheeks. “Can we not talk about it, please?” 

To build trust and keep her kids happy, she listened. But by doing so, there were longer nights of sobbing and screaming. A few times they ran to her and Asgore’s room and would bawl their little eyes out.

It was too late when Toriel realized she should have done something about it. 

But what could she have done? Would talking it out work? Was there a special therapist that could help in Chara’s case? They had access to the finest therapists…it could have worked right? Why was Asriel having nightmares so frequently? Did she not show them enough comfort and love during the day? 

If she acted earlier, anything…would that have prevented…?

Shaking out of her trance, she realized that it was almost morning. Her beanie was almost complete, and her legs were starting to get numb. Looking up, she saw that the TV was still on but its audience was almost fast asleep. 

Toriel sighed softly at Sans relaxed expression. She knew she promised not to ask, but she never said anything about asking tomorrow. If Sans wasn’t feeling safe and had awful lingering memories where he used to live, he shouldn’t keep everything bottled up inside. 

Tidying up the living room one more time, she figured she would at least help make sure Sans actually gets some sleep. She felt his eyes slowly track her as she neared him, now lifting his head to place on a fresh pillow. The blanket fell to the ground, which gave Toriel a chance to properly tuck him in. 

"Mmh?" 

"Shhh, it's alright.  This should help you sleep better." She tucked his foot under the blanket and reached it up to his shoulders.

She thought for a moment before quietly adding. "If there's anything you need, Sans, don't hesitate to come to my room door. It's always open..and I'll always answer for you." 

Wide eyes stared back at her, blinking slowly as he buried himself into the blanket. Guiltily enough, Toriel resisted the urge just to kiss his forehead and reassure him the rest of the night. He still looked exhausted, a bit shaken up, and a bit scared.

She wasn't sure why all the children she's taken it always looked like this at night. 

Maybe she just worries too much.