Toriel sat quietly on her couch, flipping through her old scrapbooks from back when Asriel was still alive with them. Seeing him, along with their adopted human child, brought tears to her eyes rapidly. She missed the way things were with her children, but at the same time, she was grateful to Frisk for freeing them from the underground. But still, she wished there was some way to have kept her loved ones with her through the whole way… And lately, she's noticed another thing that's been bothering her. While she is trying to forgive Asgore, it's hard on her. He could have freed them long ago, yet he chose to wait in the underground. But as she made slow strides to forgive him, she noticed a sudden absence in her life. Before, she never felt it, since she was still bitter over his actions. But now, as she's moving on, she's realizing that there was a growing loneliness when she thought back on her relationship with her past husband. Parts of her wished to find someone to fill that void- not Asgore, of course, but someone else. But she still felt that there wasn't much hope left for her in the department of romance.

Still, while she never considered herself to be one 'sought after', there was at least people who made her happy. One in particular, in the romantic aspect. Sans. He made her laugh, smile, and feel all warm and happy inside. But she knew there was no hope for them to be together romantically, of course. She would just have to be happy with holding it inside, and keeping it her little secret. And that was fine with her, she didn't mind having a secret if it meant she could always be friends with those she loved. And even if she couldn't say anything out loud, having a crush was still fun, since it made her feel all happy inside.

But lately, she was starting to get worried.

The last few times Sans has come over to hang out, or when they went out as a group, he's been acting strange. He avoids eye contact, tries not to sit too close to her, and sometimes he wouldn't even answer some of her texts! She was really worried that someone either figured out her feelings and told him, or he figured it out himself and was grossed out by it. Rightfully so, since she's so much different than him. She was tall, somewhat shy, and was just… Well, Toriel. She'd been worried about her lack of appeal long before she was even married to Asgore, let alone after everything that's happened. What if someone told him?! Who figured it out?!

She sighed, shaking off her worries as best as she could. There was no point in getting over-anxious about this, since their group was going out to a new human restaurant this afternoon. Still, she hoped it would all go well…

Toriel smiled at the waitress as she handed out everyones food. Frisk had introduced them to this fancy human restaurant, and they had such nice looking food. The whole crew was there, with Papyrus, Sans, Undyne, Alphys, Frisk and Toriel. Mettaton wanted to come, but his rising fame among humans was taking up most of his time. Undyne, Alphys and Sans were sitting on one side of the table, with Papyrus, Frisk and Toriel sitting at the opposite.

And just as Toriel had worried, Sans was avoiding any eye contact with her. He was sitting right across from her, and yet he has not made any contact whatsoever. Sighing, she smiled back at Frisk, who was sitting next to her. She realized there was no need to get too upset that Sans was 'avoiding' her, as long as Frisk was happy. But it still confused her. Was she really obvious about her crush, so someone could figure it out? It had been a long time she's since had a crush, after all, maybe she wasn't as subtle as she thought.

Papyrus and Undyne were carrying on a conversation at the other side of the table, very loudly. Frisk was eating her buttermilk pancakes (even though it was dinnertime) quietly, enjoying watching her friends. Alphys was most likely updating her status on any of her many social media sites. And all that Sans was doing was leaning back and reading the label on the ketchup bottle.

She started to get worried that her presence was bothering him. If he knew her feelings, and was so uncomfortable about it that he couldn't even speak… Well, that's just awful! The biggest thing about a crush is wanting them to be happy! This was having the very opposite reaction, evidently…

Frisk noticed her worried, and reached over to hold her large, white hand. Suddenly, almost all of Toriel's concerns vanished. If someone as sweet as Frisk loved her, than that was all she needed.

Evidently it wasn't just Frisk who noticed their awkward situation, and Papyrus huffed from across the table.

"C'mon, Sans! Don't be rude!" Papyrus instructed, pointing to his brother. Clearly his silence was reaching them, too.

Sans stayed quiet, but leaned back further in a lazy 'I guess you're right' mannerism.

"Do you like your pancakes?" Toriel asked Frisk, glancing at their already half-scarfed plate. Frisk nodded rapidly, with an even bigger smile.

"They would be better with some sauce on it!" Undyne laughed, suddenly grabbing the hot sauce- reaching all the way across the table, nearly knocking down everyone's drink- and opening it. Frisk yanked the pancaked out of the way and covered it with a napkin. Toriel couldn't help but giggle loudly at how cute Frisk was, along with how entertaining Undyne was. When she heard Undyne was the head of the Royal Guard, she figured that Undyne would be a strict, uptight person. But every time she's seen Undyne it's been more and more entertaining.

"Speaking of sauce!" Papyrus interrupted, "Can you please pass the ketchup?"

He was so polite when they were in a group.

Out of reaction to his request, Toriel reached over to take the ketchup. She had forgotten Sans was holding on to the bottom of it still. He suddenly yanked his hands away and shoved them far into his pockets, somehow sinking even lower in his chair.

But for his own sake, Toriel decided not to act on it. Maybe if she just treated him like normal, he would forget about everything and go back to being her friend, too!

Toriel gave Papyrus the ketchup, smiling as he thanked her. Even though it was hard to smile when your crush was avoiding you, she was still able to do her best.

And it wasn't just her who saw his jumpy motions, either. As she was handing Papyrus the ketchup, she noticed Alphys leaning over to whisper something in Sans' ear. He seemed highly affected by it, because he sat up straight and glared at her for a moment, then relaxed again.

The rest of their dinner was similar. Papyrus and Undyne kept them all entertained by their own goofball-y-ness, and Toriel was delighted at how much Frisk was enjoying their food. Their waitress came and handed them the bill, and they started to pile out of the restaurant.

"Did you like your food, Frisk?" Toriel asked as they all walked out. Frisk nodded again, happily. But as Toriel was facing Frisk, she wasn't watching where she was going. Without realizing it, she bumped right into Sans, who had slowed down to let Papyrus run up in front.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She apologized quickly, instinctively brushing off his shoulders, even though he didn't fall or anything. It was just a motherly instinct, and by the time she realized what she was doing, she knew she couldn't just suddenly react. She didn't want to make him feel awkward at all, so she tried to just act as normally as she could, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He nodded, shoving his hands further into his pockets.

"Are you sure?" Toriel asked, now allowing her concern to be voiced, at least.

"Mhm…" He nodded again, staring down at the ground and walking again.

Frisk must have noticed Toriels worried and melancholy expression, since they ran forward and grabbed Sans' hand, pulling him down to them. They whispered something into Sans' ear, and he just stood still afterwards, staring down at Frisk. Frisk's expression was clearly telling Sans they were serious about whatever they had said, and he sighed.

"Later, I will." He sighed, walking away.

Toriel sighed, and went home herself. There wasn't much else she could do. If he was really that disgusted by her feelings, she'd have to address it. First, she'd have to figure out how to say it, though. But she knew that for his sake, she'd push down her feelings.

She'll talk to him about it tomorrow, after some sleep…

Toriel took a deep, strengthening breath. She was standing at the front door of the skeleton brother's house. She knew Papyrus was out at the moment, because he and Frisk were going to the grocery store together. So that meant that Sans was home alone, with no excuse or interruption.

Raising her soft hand, she knocked on the door.

"Coming!"

She took another deep breath, shut her eyes tight, then relaxed as best as she could, steeling herself for the worst.

"Oh, T-Toriel!" Sans blinked, opening the door, "I thought Papyrus was just home early, hah.."

"Sans, may.. May I speak with you?" She asked quietly.

"Alrighty then." He nodded, allowing her in, but it was clear his calm, nonchalant attitude was more of an act than reality.

"Sans." She began when they sat down on the couch, "I need to speak to you about, um… your 'feelings', I suppose."

"My feelings?!" He asked, already visibly bothered. Toriel expected as much, since he probably didn't really want to address her crush on him if it bothered him so much.

"Yes… I know why you've been acting so distant lately." She explained, slowly and clearly, holding back emotions from her voice as much as possible.

"Y-You do…?" He mumbled, lowering himself into his jacket, avoiding eye contact again.

"Yes," She began, nodding, "I didn't realize at first that it was such a big ordeal, but you've been acting so, well, so different lately!"

"Ah, s-sorry…" He mumbled, even quieter.

"Yes, but that's why I wanted to talk to you! I wanted to tell you I can forget all of this, if we can just go back to being friends. Please?"

It took him a moment before he reacted. Slowly, he nodded, closing his eyes.

"Yeah, sure thing, T.." He agreed.

But something was wrong.

Toriel noticed that he was starting to form the slightest tears at the edges of his eyes.

"I'm sorry!" She started quickly. She didn't realize she had bothered him this much! "I never meant for my feelings to get that far, I promise!"

"Wh..What?"

"If I had known that this would have bothered you, I promise I wouldn't have done anything! I would have just gotten rid of them by myself! I thought… Well, I thought it might help you see me like normal again if I told you myself… That way we can just start over as friends.."

"Wait, T…" Sans mumbled, sitting up straight finally, "Hang on, I think we're talking about different stuff here."

"We are?" She echoed, "What do you mean?"

"What are you talking about?" He asked, pointing to her.

"About how my feelings made you uncomfortable! What else would I be talking about?" She asked, getting louder in her confusion.

But he didn't answer, just blinked in silence. It was clear by his expression that he was re-comprehending everything, and thinking.

"Sans, I'm confused…" Toriel whispered, putting her hands in her lap.

"I, uh…" He started, leaning back and starting to slide back into his jacket yet again, "Yeah, we're thinking some pretty different stuff here…"

"What did you think I was referring to?" She asked, almost laughing at her own confusion. What was he seeing that she was missing?

"Toriel, I thought you were talking about… M-My feelings, and stuff."

"Well, I was." She nodded, "That mine make you uncomfortable. That's why I was saying I'll take it back and we can start over."

"No, no, I mean… Well, how do you feel?" He asked, emphasizing 'you' to clarify.

"I had started to grow r-romantic feelings towards you. Didn't you know? That was why you were avoiding me, was it not?"

"It's kinda the opposite actually…" Sans mumbled, his facing somehow blushing.

"The opposite?"

"Y'know how you thought I was avoiding you because you… liked.. me?" He started.

"Yes." Toriel nodded.

"I, uh… I actually was doing that because I… y'know…. Liked you, I guess.. I thought you wouldn't like me if I said anything about it." He shrugged, looking as far away from her as possible.

Now it was Toriel's turn to take time to comprehend.

Wait… So he didn't know that she liked him at all. So that means he wasn't avoiding her because he thought she was weird for her feelings. He was 'avoiding' her because he liked her, and didn't want to act on it. The exact same reasons Toriel herself was acting different. So in reality… They both felt the exact same?

"So… You've had a crush on.. on me?" She asked quietly, still figuring this out.

"I'm more surprised about the other way around, t'be honest.." He huffed, still looking far, far away.

"Why? Of course I would like you!-"

Sans visibly reacted, curling his toes in his slippers and hiding further into his jacket.

"-You always make me laugh and smile, why wouldn't I!"

He shrugged, sliding himself further into the couch.

"Why did you like me? Or I guess 'do', if you still do."

He shrugged again, wiggling his feet, staring away.

"You're pretty sweet, I guess." He shrugged, but his voice was getting higher-pitched with each word. It was clear he was trying to stop his growing smile, as well as blush.

"So does this mean I was blindly wrong this whole time?" She asked, laughing quietly at herself. Years of no romance really took a toll on someone's observation skills, she supposed.

He laughed quietly a little himself, which just made Toriel smile even more.

So this whole time… He liked her, too….

"Sans, may I give you a hug?" She asked, wringing her hands in her lap.

By this point, his growing smile was unstoppable, and he nodded. Even though he didn't say anything, he leaned closer to Toriel.

She smiled, and leaned over and engulfed him in her wide arms. Even the top of his skull was warming up, and he leaned even closer as his way of hugging back. Toriel rested her head above his, hugging him even closer.

For once, she suppose she didn't mind being wrong.