Chapter 1: Get It Together

Walking to the entrance of the establishment, Ebony stared up at the sign.

'Grillby's'?

In smaller letters underneath, it also stated, 'Bar and Restaurant.'

Honestly, 'Grillby's' was a weird name for a place, but the girl had definitely seen worse. She stepped up to one of its huge windows, cupping her hands and pressing them against the glass to form a mini-window of her own. Then she pushed her face up against her hands and squinted, peeking through the frosted glass and into the bar. A plethora of monsters sat at various tables, and a couple of them lined the counter. Behind that counter, a tall bartender was busying himself with dusting and tidying the bottles of liquor against the wall.

Well, they seemed friendly enough... As well as organized, from the looks of things.

It had been quite some time since the woman had set foot in a bar, let alone by herself, but times were fucked up and she sure did need a drink or two. Ebony walked into the building and the tiny bell above the door jangled, her skin tingling immediately as she drank in the warm atmosphere. Raucous laughter, a jumble of conversations meshing in with one another... Her heart began to pound.

Her eyes immediately caught the jukebox sitting in the right-hand corner of the bar, but she was surprised to find that nobody was playing anything from it. She considered putting something on, just for music's sake, but decided against it in the end.

Pushing her short brown hair behind her right ear, the girl steeled herself and finally strolled up to the counter, where the bartender stood with his back facing her. The man's height was a little overwhelming, almost intimidating compared to her stature - and what the crap, was he on fire? - but God help her if she wasn't going to have that drink of hers. Ebony hopped up onto one of the stools and sat patiently, one hand politely folded over the other out of habit. She couldn't disguise her brief look of disappointment when she looked down at her feet: They were dangling a good inch or two from the ground. She knew she wasn't exactly a midget, but it still made her feel pretty darned short.

"Good evening, madam. What can I get you today?"

Ebony jumped in her seat, her concentration abruptly broken, and stared up at the flaming bartender. He had spoken softly to the girl, using an index and middle finger to push the glasses back up onto his face. He waited patiently for an answer and placed his rag on the countertop as the young girl stumbled unceremoniously on her words.

"Ah! I-er... Something... strong? I mean, maybe something sweet. Or - I'm sorry; I'm normally not the one who orders drinks-" Pushing strands of hair out of her face, Ebony bit the inside of her cheek as she struggled to compose herself. She flushed lightly, feeling ashamed for not knowing what she actually wanted, and stared at one of the big bottles of booze on a shelf just past the man's right shoulder to avoid his gaze. He was unexpectedly all sorts of attractive, and hearing him speak those two sentences in an accent she couldn't quite put a finger on... It completely flustered her.

Chuckling, the bartender nodded once in understanding and reached under the counter to grab a clean shot glass. "How about I give you a little bit of both? You tell me whether you like it, and I'll give you more if you so desire."

Hearing the man's last phrase greatly embarrassed Ebony. She agreed in a tiny voice in response to the inquiry and held a hand over her mouth in a vain attempt to hide her face, if only a little. She suddenly couldn't help wondering what the guy must look like in bed, with nothing on... except for maybe that vest. She could already see lines of muscle through the sleeves of his white dress shirt. Damn, he was probably toned as all hell too.

God dammit; Ebony, *PLEASE* don't, she scolded herself harshly. Not right now. Don't you *dare* start up with that again.

The young girl had a horrible, indecent tendency to imagine what some strangers might look like during sex, and that crazy imagination of hers was kicking up again at the worst possible time. It was the hardest of her habits to break... Even with men who were obviously on fire, it seems.

Ebony carefully eyed the bartender as he poured the shot for her. Weird. There was something about him; something she liked in him already. Perhaps it was the air of maturity he held around himself? The glasses, even? Or maybe the girl was already getting drunk off the smell of cinnamon and musk that lingered in the air when he nodded toward her and walked off into the kitchen. She always loved the smell of cinnamon, so she tried to brush that off as her reason for being the way she was right now. She grabbed the glass of alcohol and downed it in one gulp, squeezing her eyes shut and forcing herself to take it like a man.

*Holy crap,* it was strong. But it was actually pretty delicious stuff. The taste of some sweet peach flavour that had been added in the shot remained on her tongue. Ebony's throat felt like it was melting, but in a pleasant manner; the alcohol had warmed her body immediately, and her eyes glazed over as she sighed happily. This was what she needed, and she felt it sufficient enough to keep her buzzed for a good period of time.

There was just so much on her mind. She had been stuck Underground for about two years now, and she needed to discover how to get out. Even though almost everyone was good to her, Ebony was still having a hard time adjusting herself to the sight of all the strange creatures she bumped into.

And while she was confined Underground, there was still the matter of her brother...

She wrapped both hands around the glass and sort of fazed out for a good minute or two, letting the liquor calm her nerves as her thoughts drifted off. She, however, didn't notice the short monster hopping up to the counter only two stools away from her.

"Heya Grillbz, I'll take a burger," said the voice as the bartender returned from the kitchen. Sounded like a regular customer. With a wordless nod of acknowledgement, the flaming man stepped back into the kitchen. The stranger spoke in a low voice, but did not sound harsh in any form. In fact, the voice was almost soothing, if not perhaps a bit goofy.

Did all the monsters here have great voices, or was it just her imagination? Turning to glimpse at the owner of said 'soothing' voice, Ebony couldn't contain the gasp of surprise that escaped her drunken lips as she found herself staring at a grinning skeleton who was casually drinking a bottle of ketchup beside her.

Casting a sideways glance at Ebony after hearing the gasp, the skeleton's grin grew a fraction. He set the ketchup back onto the countertop and sat up in his stool, turning to face the girl as he shot a wink her way. "What'sa matter? You got a bone to pick with me?"

Ebony was speechless; her mouth was ajar and she had one eyebrow raised, her cheeks still hot from the shot she had consumed. She wasn't that drunk yet, right? And did this thing just make a pun about bones... to her? She looked around and realized that, yes, he had meant to speak to her.

A/N:

Hello, friends and readers. This will be the first story I'm putting up myself, and I haven't done this "writing" thing in years. I used to write stories with my friends, but never put anything out there without them. Please be kind to me as I, y'know, stumble along over here!

- LostInnocenz