Monday morning, nothing but clouds and snow. Sans sighs and tries to take up a more comfortable position. He's been sitting at this sentry post for a while now. "Hardly anyone comes by. The laziest person gets the easiest guard post? How shocking."Sans swats some of the snow off his shoulders and some that has been piling up in his hoodie. He enjoys how quiet it is. A skeleton can just sit and think. Sans's face drops. He looks at his knuckles. " What a life."

With the shift over Sans stands up and with a traditional sigh packs his condiments away and places his joke book back into his pocket for later use. Sans decides to head over to Grillby's , too afraid that the natural order itself might explode if he doesn' stands outside the bar. He moves his jaw side to side and looks around to see if anyone is coming. "Okay. Just go."

Sans quickly opens the door and heads to the front of the bar. The usual patrons greet him and Sans even says a couple of puns. He doesn't like the attention but knowing that he can make some folks laugh cheers him clumsily climbs up the stool and looks behind him to see if anyone might have seen his uneasy realignment. The door opens and before Sans could even look up a monster had already taken a seat at the bar not too far away from him.

The monster was a tall and wax-like looking thing. Its hands were bound in bandages like a boxer. It had a thick brown winter jacket on and track pants similar to Sans's. Its face was round and it had an inscrutable gaze. Suddenly its cat-like ears faced Sans, it turned its head to match, looking at sans. Its eyes were a burning yellow and were as large as marbles. Almost as if it is trying to hypnotize sans. "ah..yeah" Sans ineptly raises his ketchup bottle in the air and attempts to smile. He looks like someone getting mugged. If he wasn't so unsure of the monster's intentions he would be laughing. The monster looked perplexed. "I hope that wasn't some sort of insult where his from". The monster gets up and walks towards sans. "Oh fuck," sans says in a low voice to himself.

The monster takes a seat right next to sans. "Um.. hey" Sans couldn't have delivered that any worse. The monster opens its mouth and says "Hello, Sorry if I frightened you by approaching so suddenly. It's just that I'm new to Snowdin and you look like the friendly type" The monster had a soft and soothing voice. The type of voice one would hear on one of those learning channels. He said every word with a smile but his head and body stayed as still as a statue. He looked like a inhales and says "Friendly? Huh... Well, I do know the area well if you need directions" The monster clicks its neck. Sans was visibly uncomfortable. He was gripping his knees and tried to not make eye contact with the monster. Sans only ever really talked to Grillby at the bar, the other monsters would just keep to themselves. Most of them were in the royal guard or worked in the city. What could sans even talk about with the other monsters?"Are you alright? You seem lost in thought."

Sans hadn't realized it but he was staring blankly at his hands for some time now.

"Yea..yeah I'm fine. Sorry I was just, um. Yeah like you said lost in thought."

"Well. Just in case you were wondering, My name is Ferdinand."

"The names sans."

"Good to meet you sans. Would you mind if I buy you a drink?"

"Buddy, anyone can buy me a drink."

Sans was starting to relax. The familiar taste of his drink and the soft humming of the Jukebox were doing their thing. The seats perfectly suited Sanses figure. Round and soft, but prolonged sittings would cause the soft pillow to sink in revealing the hardwood and nails. Years of sitting on the stools have caused sans to become a real "Hardass".

"So Ferdinand, you said you were new to Snowdin. How is that?"

"Well maybe saying that I'm new to Snowdin is wrong."

"I'm new to this place. The town. The people."

"So you just curious to see what goes on here or are you here on business?"

The question causes the monster to face sans. He's a lot more intense now. Why? Was he annoyed with sans for asking questions or was it the nature of the question?

"Does it need to be one or the other?" He said it slowly. Saying each syllable to a tee.

He was towering over sans. To sans, he filled the entire bar. The monster was so still as if time had literally stopped so that sans could come up with a pleasing answer.

"Well no. Snowdin is just a place where most simply come for the site or to open up shop."

"Well." The monster licks its bottom lip. "I'm here for both then I suppose."

Sans forces a smile and nods his head.

A few minutes pass and both monsters have finished their drinks. Ferdinand does as promised and pays for everything. Sans gets up from his stool and makes his way to the door. He looks back to Grillby and nods his head. Ferdinand following behind sans doesn't say a word, doesn't look back or in front of him. He looks only at sans. Outside the two stand near a lamp post to see each other better. There is a long awkward silence until Ferdinand finally says something.

"Thanks for tonight sans". He smiles with a few teeth poking out, their sharp and scratch at his lips. Ferdinand winces at the pain and stops smiling. Sans gives a worrying look but immediately looks away as Ferdinand makes eye contact again.

"You still, however, owe me something."

"I do?"

"The Inn. I need to get to it and I believe you know where it is."

"Heh, Yeah no problem pal."

After the exchange Ferdinand makes his way towards the Inn. Sans watches as he walks away. He watches until Ferdinand is completely swallowed by the surrounding darkness.

All the tension in sans ceases to be. He lets out a sigh and stares at the ground. His feet are planted right in the snow. Huh. Sans looks up to see Ferdinand's tracks. He can barely see the imprint of his boots on the ground. The snow looks unmoved as if Ferdinand didn't weigh a thing. Maybe I'm just a heavy fuck. Sans teleports to his room and throws himself onto his mattress. For a second he thinks of Papyrus. Is he home? Or is he... Sans falls asleep. Thinking tires sans out. Everything tires sans out.

Sans wakes up early. He has a habit of waking up early no matter what the time was when he went to bed. Or at least that is what sans likes to think. In reality, he usually only wakes up because of the loud chirping of the birds outside or his nightmares. Sans gets up from his mattress and ponders on whether or not he should put on some new clean clothes. No one ever notices when he doesn't ...

Sans opens his closet. He has only one extra pair of clothes. Just a blue hoodie and black shorts.

Sans stares at the clothes, his eyes were beginning to twitch. He leans his head forward onto the jacket. The fur moves across his face. He nuzzles at it with his begins to shake. He grips the fur hard, but slowly crumbles onto his knees. Tears were trailing down his cheekbones. He couldn't catch his breath.

"I don... don't want to."
*sniff* "I just need to rest. I just need more time."

Sans's uneven breathing was making him lightheaded. His shaking was hurting his knees. He needed to calm down. Papyrus couldn't see him like this. He shouldn't have to see his older brother so vulnerable, so weak...
But it wasn't weakness. Not on its own, it wasn't. Not sharing his emotions and problems with Papyrus was the real just felt that Papyrus wouldn't be able to help him. That Papyrus would just worry about sans. More than usual. Sans wishes that he could tell him that he was fine. Hug Papyrus and go on with how things used to clenches his fists and bites down on his teeth."Just.. get up! Just get up you piece of shit!"He wipes the tears away with his stands up slowly. His hoodie feels heavy. His shirt feels like it's suffocating waits till the wheezing stops.

Downstairs was Papyrus. He was preparing breakfast for the two. Papyrus spends a lot of time with Undyne, not just for guard training but cooking as well. This meant that Papyrus made a lot of noise. Papyrus used the kitchen as if it were a battlefield. To Papyrus speed, efficiency and urgency were key. At first Sans found it all funny. It was like a show. A one skeleton performance. But now it just made Sans angry and stressed.

Sans came into the kitchen and gave a disappointing look towards Papyrus as he had only begun with breakfast. Sans grabbed the top of one of the chairs and dragged its legs on the ground making a long squeak as the wood rubbed against the floor.

Papyrus placed down his knife and turned his head. "Oh". Papyrus says with a hop. "Morning Sans."
All of Sanses anger and irritation melted away. Sans's eyes dropped to look at the table. "Morning Pap."
Papyrus looked at him for a second waiting to see if Sans wanted to say anything else. Papyrus turned back to the kitchen counter. Occasionally turning his head slightly to see if Sans was saying anything.

Sans watches Papyrus's cape as it moved back and forth.

Sans still remembers where he got the cape remembered the days when he was just a small kid. He must have been about six or seven at the time. Papyrus was so small back then. Too young to even speak, to walk. Sans carried papyrus around wherever they went. Papyrus would cry a lot. They never really got to rest. But Sans eventually heard of a place covered in snow. A place where only a few lived. It was open and only a small town and some isolated cottages were built there. It sounded better than the city. The hard pavements and noise made for a poor shelter

They traveled through the underground. Past the molten core. Past the quiet waters and into Snowdin. First things first was to find the town of Snowdin. Sans didn't really have a plan. He just wanted out of the city. He would handle whatever came about forty minutes Sans decided to take a break. Even back then he wasn't exactly known for his stamina. He picked out the closest tree to the path and sat on it with his back leaned against the snow-covered wood.

Papyrus was wrapped around with an old tablecloth that Sans stole from a restaurant. Papyrus looked comfortable and hadn't cried for a couple of hours now. Papyrus lifted up one of his arms to try and touch Sans. Sans notices the small arm reaching up to him. "Hey, Paps". Papyrus tried to grasp around Sans's chin. His hands were too small so instead, his fingertips just rubbed against Sans's made a face which made Papyrus giggle. Sans hardly ever saw his brother happy. The sight of his little brother's smile is something that Sans never forgot. This was the moment Sans realized that even though they experienced such hardships and abuse. Moments like this gave his life meaning. That his memories of happiness and hope would always shine in the darkness of the world. Allowing him to navigate and carry on.