Title: With An Umbrella In Hand
Genre: Romance/Friendship
Rating: K
Pairing: Grilby/Reader (Pre-Romance honestly)
Warnings: Cuteness, becoming friends, gender-neutral reader,
Disclaimer: I don't own Undertale.
Summery: One day while out doing errands on your day off, a sudden heavy rainstorm. Lucky for you, you had your umbrella on hand and unfortunately for a certain fire elemental monster, he doesn't. Luckily your umbrella is big enough for two.
With An Umbrella In Hand
You knew it was going to rain, no matter what that dumb weatherman said, when your knee began to ache. Ever since you banged it up all those years ago when you were a kid, it would ache whenever it was about to rain. Friends liked to joke that was your super power; though you were sure it just had to do with something to do with the moisture in the air. Whatever the reason though, it saved you from getting a surprise shower as you brought your large but compact rainbow umbrella with you as you ran errands. You were so glad you did, as just as you were leaving your last stop of the day, the skies opened up and rain came down in heavy waves.
A sigh escapes you as you pull out your umbrella and as you open it and prepare to stay safe under the protection of your multicolored umbrella, you notice something across the street from you. It's a monster, one who was completely made of fire, and they had just walked out of a coffee shop but were forced to stop under the cover of the veranda of the building. They were holding a cup of coffee in one hand and looking up at the sky with what you assumed was absolute dread if the way their shoulders drooped was anyway to read their expression.
They must not be good with the rain you figured to yourself, nearly rolling your eyes a second later as, DUH, fire and water don't mix of course. So without even thinking it over, you looked both ways before crossing the street and making your way over to the monster.
You were the type of person who gave, gave, gave, and didn't hesitate to give someone the clothes on your back even if they were strangers, and even if hurt you in the long run. It was both a good and bad thing but no matter the end results, you'd always give and help anyone in need.
The monster noticed you almost immediately as you walked towards them and you gave a wide smile.
"Hi!" You chirped; your naturally perky and cheerful mood a clear contrast to the current weather. "You look like you could use some help so here."
Once under the same dry area as the monster, you held your umbrella out to him, you were pretty sure it was a guy at least, and waited for him to take it.
"Oh, why thank you." His voice was something new. It had a gentle and soft spoken sound to it and the sound of crackling fire filled the air as he spoke. "You're too kind."
Your cheeks became a bit warm along with your smile widening a bit more at the gratitude in the monster's voice. While you didn't do things like this for thanks, it was still nice to actually be thanked; you were a total people pleaser after all (another thing you weren't sure if that fit in the good or bad list of traits for you).
"Glad I could help." You say, because honestly you were. "Stay dry!"
You flip the hood of your jacket up and over your head and you're about to leave the cover and go into the rain when you're stopped by a sudden very warm hand holding your arm. The sudden warmness makes you jump and turn around quickly to look at the fire monster. You look at his hand on your arm in surprise and he pulls back and reeks of nervous energy.
"I'm sorry," He apologized, his voice crackling and snapping once again. "But you're going to get soaked in this weather. My restaurant is only a block from here; if you walk with me you can stay dry."
"O-Oh, oh, it's alright. My car isn't that far away, I can make it." You were beginning to feel oddly embarrassed at this monster's apparent worry for you.
"Please, I insist. Walk with me to my restaurant and you can leave immediately if you wish. It will be a quick walk, I promise."
You don't see any actual eyes on this monster as he's all flames, but you look at where his glasses are situated on his face and you feel as if he's looking at you imploringly and all you can do is give in.
"Okay," You let out a sigh. "Where is your restaurant?"
The flame monster straightens himself out a bit, making him even more taller then you, before stepping a bit closer and holding the umbrella higher in one hand and his coffee in the other. He waits until he's sure that you're situated firmly under the umbrella with him and the two of you set off under the torrent of rain. The flame elemental keeps his strides short, just so you can keep up and as he leads you down the block, neither of you say anything. You try your best to keep the space between you both but occasionally your arm brushes against his and you can feel his startling warmth through his clothes, causing you to blush and pull away enough that you're not so close but still under the umbrella. You're lucky that your umbrella is large enough to fit two.
After a bit of zoning out listening to the tap-tap-tap from the raindrops hitting the top of the umbrella, it takes you a moment to realize that you've just come to a stop in front of a bar. The sign reads 'Grillby's' and the name rings familiar in your mind as you remember a couple of your friends talking about having gone here at some point. You didn't remember exactly if they had liked the place or not; you tended to tune out whenever they talked about bar hopping as it wasn't really your thing. You just remembered that this was a monster run and operated bar that while it was open to anyone, monsters tended to flock to it more than humans.
The two of you stood in front of the door and you opened your mouth to say something when the umbrella tilted suddenly and accidently hits you on the head.
"Ow!" You reflexively cry out, even though it didn't hurt that much.
"I'm so sorry, are you alright?" The monster's whose name you've yet to learn looks at you with what you have to assume is a slightly panicked and worried look. He moves like he's going to reach out to you, but with both his hands holding something he hesitates.
"Here, let me." You take the umbrella from him and smile as you rub the spot on your head gently. "It's okay, really! I'm fine."
"I…Alright, if you're sure you're okay. I apologize again though for that carelessness." The monster slipped into an almost formal form of speech and you shrugged awkwardly. "I insist that you come in and dry off and that I make you something in thanks for your help."
"You really don't- s'okay, honestly! I-" You sigh deeply as you can just tell he's not going to take no for an answer. Feeling your cheeks burning from embarrassment of the lengths this stranger is going you simply keep your mouth shut and hold the umbrella up higher over him so the guy can unlock the front door.
He walks in, after finally getting the door open and you follow after you quickly close the umbrella and leave it sitting against the wall on the outside so you wouldn't drip water over the floor.
The monster walks into the bar with a grace and familiarity of him doing it a thousand times, which, since he apparently owns the place, is probably a good guess. He walks behind the bar and beckons you forward. Stuffing your hands in your pockets, you make your way across the dining floor filled with empty tables and sit at a stool at the bar.
"What can I get you to drink?" He asks, all very professional like.
You feel your lips turn up on one side of your face in a small smirk.
"Eh, anything warm will do. Probably for the best if it's not alcoholic though; I still have to get home alright and I'd rather not chance it. Plus, it's like, not even happy hour yet."
"Very responsible." The fire elemental nods and you think you can hear amusement tinting his words and it brings your smirk into a full out grin. "I'll be right back."
He walks through a door to a back room where you can hear noises of him moving around and moving things and in the meantime, you look around the bar. It seems like a normal bar setting; tables and chairs and booths all around. There were a few newer looking TVs mounted on the walls and even a small and older looking arcade game in the corner along with a jukebox in different corner. The most interesting thing that caught your eye though, was the pictures on the wall behind the bar. Leaning forward a bit, you could just make out the pictures.
One picture was of said fire monster standing in front of another bar with the same name, and he was surrounded by many other monsters, several of which were dogs, and you could tell it was snowing.
Another picture was of a skeleton in a blue jacket caught in surprise of having their picture taken as they were in the middle of drinking from a ketchup bottle.
There was a picture of that same skeleton with a blue jacket but this time with a much taller skeleton who was grinning widely with their arm over the blue jacket skeleton and in between them sat a small human child with messy brown hair grinning happily.
You realized that many of the photos taken were ones that seemed to be taken at a bar and most were of the two skeletons and the small child. There were more pics that included the skeletons and small child, including one where a fish lady seemed to be suplexing the taller skeleton while a yellow almost dinosaur looking monster watched.
There were many more pictures and they all made you smile as you just knew there had to be a story behind every one of them and made you realize that these monsters and human kid must be very important to the fire element if he has so many pictures of them on the wall.
Just then the back door opened again and the monster came back with a mug of hot chocolate with whip cream towering on top and set it down in front of you.
"I figured on a rainy day like this, something warm and sugary would be good."
You took the mug in your hands and sighed as the heat warmed your hands before smiling at him in gratitude.
"Thank you, this is perfect."
As you took a small sip to test the drink, you thought you saw the flames in the fire elemental's face burn brighter into a blueish-white but it was hard to tell as he had turned suddenly and began using a rag to wipe down some glasses. After a bit of comfortable silence between you two, you were suddenly hit with a realization.
"Oh!" You sat up straighter and the monster turned to see what was wrong. "I just realized, I never introduced myself!" You gave your name to him and held out your hand to shake.
"My name is Grillby, it's a pleasure to meet you." He shook your hand firmly and his touch sent shivers down your spines and his heat ran up your arm. It was different, but you found yourself liking it, embarrassingly enough. You let go though, and smile again at him.
"So you run a bar huh? What's that like?"
For the next two hours the two of you just jump from one conversation to another from Grillby's job, his patrons, his past to your own job, your hobbies, to things you found that the two of you had in common. Eventually he came from around the bar and sat next on the stool next to you as it was more comfortable then standing. You talked until your mug was long empty and the storm had ended. Soon an alarm went off on Grillby's watch and he seemed surprised at something.
"What's wrong?" You asked.
"It's gotten very late; I have to prep the bar for when we open in an hour."
You leaned over and looked at his watch, gasping when you realized the time.
"Oh, man, I can't believe how late it is!" You got up from your stool and Grillby followed suit. "Thank you for the hot chocolate and the talk; I really enjoyed talking to you!" You smiled and the flames in Grillby's face shifted a bit to make you think he was smiling as well.
"I enjoyed it as well…You're more than welcome to come by anytime; even it's not business hours if you just want to talk."
You felt your face heating up and you hated that you were so easily excited by things like people wanting to spend time with you.
"Y-yeah! I'd really like that. I'll take you up on that sometime soon! Have a good night." In your embarrassment, you hurried out the door quickly so you wouldn't say anything too embarrassing in your excitement.
As you got to your car and sat behind the wheel, you put your face in your hands and could feel the burning in your cheeks. You hope Grillby didn't think you were rude for running out like that. Slowly, you managed to calm yourself down and put your key in the ignition and turn on your car. You sigh at the thought of the traffic you were going to encounter but your mood was too high to be brought down by the daily struggles.
The thought of seeing your new friend again filled you with DETERMINATION.
XxXxXxXx
Grillby sighed and stretched as he took a step outside his bar and proceeded to lock up for the night. It was two am and he was tired but in a good way after a long day's work. He was looking forward to heading home and taking a nice, long sleep before the next day's work began again. Double checking that he had locked the doors, Grillby paused when something bright and colorful caught his eye.
Sitting propped up against the wall was the same multicolored that had been used much earlier that day to protect him from the rain. Walking over to it and picking it up, Grillby found himself holding it gently in his hands. If you forgot this here, it meant that you had to come back sometime right? Grillby let out a happy hum at the thought of another friend to fill his bar and continued on his way, a slight skip to his step as he made his way home with your umbrella closed up in hand.
Tomorrow was another day.
Fin
Inumaru12: God, I finally finished it after working on it for a while and it's not even that long. I just can't seem to get myself to focus or write at all and it kills me. Feel free to follow me on tumblr, my tumblr name is Inumaru12 as well, as you can ask questions or whatever you want!
I'll prob make a second part to this eventually, if I can get my freaking muse to work and actually help me write. Wish me luck, lmao. Thanks again for reading!