"The moment felt just right and everything was perfect so the handsome prince stood on one knee and asked his beautiful princess to marry him. The princess loved the prince very much so she said yes. Very soon they married and lived happily ever after. The end."
A little skeleton yawned sleepily rubbing his eye sockets in his little bed as a skeleton woman gently pet his still soft skull.
"And one day, my sweet Sans, you'll grow up be the handsomest prince of them all and you will find your own beautiful princess who will love you very much."
The skeleton baby turned around in his sheets to better face his lovely mama and smiled softly.
"And we'll have our own perfect moment, mama?"
"Yes, of course, you will, honey, but for now, how about a perfect nap for my little prince?"
She leaned down and softly kissed Sans's little forehead before leaving the room. Soon, his eyes slowly closed, but a small, cute smile still lingered. Just before the boy dozed off, he breathed out:
"My beautiful princess will only have the perfect moments. I promise."
"SANS! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! THAT WAS THE THIRD CUSTOM JEWELER WE'VE VISITED. DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU WANT!?"
"of course, i do, paps. an engagement ring."
Sans chuckled at his joke, but still felt his shoulders droop. To say that he was disappointed was an understatement.
Yes, he knew what he wanted but somehow no one else seemed to understand him. He had this image in his head of a perfect engagement ring for his queen – the only ring he wanted to propose with, absolutely no compromise, because his future wife deserved only the best. The problem was – he couldn't find it. In the last year, Sans had visited every single jewelry store twice, some of them three times, before he finally gave up to find it pre-made. About a month ago, he moved on to custom jewelers and really hoped that one of them could capture the image from his description and would be able to recreate it in reality. So far no one could and Sans didn't understand why.
"You know, with your pace, darling, Toriel will sooner marry someone else than you'll find the thing that doesn't exist" Mettaton's irritated voice brought Sans out of his thoughts, making him almost twice as annoyed as he was before.
"it exists, ton. i know it does. i remember seeing it, i just don't remember where and when. And Toriel loves me. She won't marry someone else, mettaton. would she?"
The famous robot rolled his eyes and looked down at the short skeleton he was helping look for a ring.
"I don't know, darling. I just know that I would have given up by now."
Sans tensed up, fear rising in his soul. He clearly realized that he did take an awful long to seal the deal. They had been together for six years and he didn't even count a couple of years before that when they didn't date but were still close as the lazy sentry guard and the lost ex-queen. As of now, most of their friends were already married; Mettaton, who tied the knot with Papyrus last year, was constantly bothering him about it, hinting that Toriel would not be against walking down the aisle with a short comedian in a near future.
For the love of everything, Sans himself wanted to marry her, wanted it badly… but he couldn't give her anything less than perfect. He couldn't propose with just any ring. It had to be that one he knew was destined for her, the one, image of which he had in his head since… well, he didn't even remember since when. Ever since he could remember himself. And right now he was on his quest to find it.
The skeleton lowered his face and whispered, trying to avoid the crowd of human's attention.
"is there anything i'm not aware of, you two?"
The robot kept silent, still facing the other way, strangely refusing to talk, making Sans worried. He couldn't discuss Toriel's private matters, so he couldn't say that he saw Tori's "Dream wedding" box in her closet full of ideas and crafts she was gathering for the last four years, he couldn't say that the woman already had her wedding dress designed and he definitely couldn't tell him that Frisk regularly confided in him about Toriel's doubts and worries, that she started to think that Sans didn't love her enough to marry, that she probably wasn't good enough for him, that, even though she loves him very much, she, probably, should set him free so he could find and be happy with someone he would love enough to commit to.
"guys…?"
A sound of his cellphone's ringtone broke their one-sided conversation to much of Mettaton's relief. On the other side was Alphys, asking Sans to come for a lunch with his father, Gaster, in 30 minutes.
Sans sighed. His relationship with his father wasn't the best, but it existed nevertheless. If anything, it was improving little by little. Invitations like this, other than work related, were very rare and not always pleasant but Sans accepted every one of them.
At most, the lunches were spent in a polite small talk manner, and filled with slight inquiring about the work and his home life. Nothing too personal was ever spoken of, and one subject was always avoided – the subject of a certain ex-queen. In spite of that, Sans still hoped that some day his father would accept his girlfriend, but for that to become a reality he had to keep in touch. Hesitantly, Sans agreed and hung up.
"mettaton, paps? i'm not leaving you alone unless you explain yourself." The skeleton returned his attention to his companions after ending the call.
The two tensed and shared a glance. The two knew that they were not supposed to spill Tori's secrets, but it was becoming ridiculous and just plainly annoying. Papyrus opened his mouth to respond with...
"SANS, YOU ARE BOONDOGGLING! YOU TWO HAVE BEEN DATING FOR SIC YEARS! BOTH OF YOU KNOW YOU ARE MEANT FOR EACH OTHER, AND WILL BE TOGETHER FOREVER; MOST OF YOUR FRIEND'S ARE MARRIED, AND YOU HAVE SPENT OVER A YEAR LOOKING FOR A RING?! WHO PUT THE IDEA THAT THE RING NEEDS TO BE PERFECT IN YOUR HEAD ANYWAY? IF IT WERE UP TO ME, I WOULD HAVE YOU IN AND OUT OF THE FIRST WITH THE FIRST RING YOU SAW AND HAVE YOU ASK THE QUESTION IN NO TIME! MAYBE THEN I WOULDN'T HAVE TO BE HERE WATCHING THIS MISERABLE DISPLAY!"
But Mettaton beat him to the punch, gravely pronouncing:
"Darling, we're just saying that you have to get your act together and propose before Toriel will start to think that you don't love her enough to marry and runs back to Asgore for comfort."
Sans flinched, a bit stunned by Mettaton's harsh words although he knew Toriel would never go back. Asgore was a nice guy, but Toriel refused to forgive him.
"Toriel knows I love her, Mettaton. I will make sure she knows it very well, but I refuse to give her anything except the perfect proposal. She deserves only the best, and just anything won't do. It must be perfect."
Mettaton huffed loudly and crossed his arms.
"Perfect… but don't be surprised when she perfectly leaves your perfect butt behind for her perfect ex-husband…"
"METTATON!"
"Ugh! Just forget it and go meet your father. Papy? Shall we go out for lunch?"
Papyrus smiled at Mettaton before patting Sans's head.
"I BELIEVE THAT YOU'L FIND THE RING YOU ARE LOOKING FOR, BROTHER! TELL FATHER I SAID HELLO!"
"thanks, paps. i will."
Sans waved to the couple as they walked off, texting Toriel that he'd be home later than expected. He let out one final sigh before heading to his father's house, a slight worry in his soul. Mettaton might be right in some things but it surely wasn't as bad as he made it sound.
The lunch started as usual – chilly but polite, small talk about the weather and a few questions concerning his health. Next, Sans expected, work related inquiries. To his astonishment, after a couple of minutes Gaster did something he thought he would never do.
"What are your plans concerning your girlfriend, Sans? Toriel isn't it? Are you planning to marry her any time soon?"
Sans almost choked on his salad and stared back in shock at his father who continued to eat his meal, looking completely normal.
"why are you asking, dad?" – was all he could muster at the moment.
Gaster didn't like the idea of Sans dating Toriel at first and even was straight enough to tell Sans that he wouldn't allow him to marry the exqueen. She wasn't appropriate for his social standing, but over the years the older skeleton started to warm up to the idea.
Toriel and Asgore had fixed their friendship, becoming civilized and could even have lunch together like a couple of friends. She was also vey funny and perfect for his son. She was undoubtedly talented and skilled in cooking, and she never interfered with Sans's responsibilities. On contrary, she always supported him, no matter what he was doing. When his son did take her out with him to some official arrangements, she always was a picture perfect girlfriend knowing when and what to say and to do. Being a queen was obviously part of her personality. She always looked perfect and appropriate. Flawless. Gaster had nothing bad to say against the woman. However, he had never acknowledged that to Sans, in case he'd change his mind later.
Gaster put his cutlery down quietly, and replied with a firm, low voice.
"I want you to marry her as soon as possible or at least to propose to seal the deal. Preferably by the end of a next week, a month at most."
For a moment, Sans thought that either his father had been abducted and experimented on by some alien race or he was on some ridiculous reality TV show at the moment. And because the younger skeleton knew from the experience that TV shows and Gaster didn't mix well, he decided that it must have been those aliens who caused this sudden change.
The young skeleton deliberated in his mind for a minute if he should reveal his ring problem to his so obviously abducted and re-engineered father or not. His thoughts were interrupted when Gaster continued.
"Well, I see that you are not objecting, so we might as well move forward with the plan."
That was getting interesting. Sans straightened up in his chair, curiously observing what his father will do. The man motioned something to Alphys, who had become his lab partner and kind of like a secretary, and she disappeared into the other room. A minute later she reappeared with a small, black case, which was placed on a small side table to Sans's right. Alphys opened it, making Sans almost fall out of his seat. Inside the case was a big, black jewelry holder that contained about ten gorgeous engagement rings, definitely not something anyone could buy off the street.
"I took a liberty of choosing a couple of necessary accessories for your proposal, which, I think, will suit Mrs. Toriel's personality very well but I left the final choice up to you since you know her the best…"
Sans looked stunned.
"dad…" – he tried to interrupt. However the older skeleton continued talking, taking out a small envelope from his inside pocket.
"Here are two tickets to Maldive's for the next week. The location should be romantic enough for proposal and your hotel is the best and the most private on the island. I know, that your girlfriend have the next week off and Alphys completely cleared your schedule so …"
Sans stood up.
"Gaster!"
His son's suddenly raised voice stunned Gaster enough to make him stop speaking and look at the confused comedian on the other end of the table.
"What is it, Sans?"
"what is going on here? i don't understand you, dad. you disliked the idea of tori and i from the day you found out about it, and, as i clearly remember, you forbade me to even think about marrying her. now you are basically forcing me to propose? not that i protest but… what happened? you never do anything without a personal interest of some kind."
The scientist sighed irritably not taking his sight away from Sans.
"Do you want to marry Ms. Toriel or not?"
Sans crossed his arms on his chest staring back at the man who raised him, his eyes burning.
"of course i do, g, but i don't want you forcing me to do it and, unless you explain yourself, i won't do anything you just said."
Gaster sighed, stood up and walked away from the table to the window. Looking into the distance, his facial features changed just for a second revealing for a quick glimpse a tired and aging man, however, the mirage was gone as soon as it appeared and the man was again his old, business-like and calculating person. His posture showed signs of an extreme concentration and thinking before he turned around and spoke.
"It came to my attention that Toriel and Asgore have fixed their friendship, and theya re steadily growing closer. Seeing as I have no one to put a cap on my experiments after Asgore resigned as a king, I can do what ever I want. Since he is no longer heart broken, he will take back his throne, but I can break it again by tearing Toriel away and giving her back to you."
A highly disappointed and irritated voice interrupted Gaster's monologue: "so you decided to marry me off to her to insure asgore doesn't put a stop to your experiments?"
The older skeleton looked stunned for just a split moment but regained his posture almost immediately and continued:
"Well, you can put it that way, if you want. She proved to be very goid at mending the broken," Gaster paused and scanned his son. "Ms. Toriel must stop fixing Asgore amd return to you, breaking him once more. You will do as I say and remain loyal to the family, will you not, Sans?"
The skeleton snapped out of his trance. He hardly listened to the last half of his father's speech as his sight locked on one particular ring in a row of others for quite some time ago. That was it! The ring he had in his mind, the perfect ring for his queen. Not too huge but still a decent size tear-clear diamond that was incrusted into a rose gold band that consisted of a couple of plaited, elegant bands with a rows of smaller diamonds set in. The main rock was nested in a frame that reminded him of flower petals. To describe it better would be to say that it looked like a small, elegant rose with a diamond center and sparkling smaller stars all around it. Very soft and feminine, very unique, very Toriel, his perfect ring. He finally found it.
A sudden, sharp sound of his name forced Sans's attention away and back to a scowling skeleton in front of him.
"Sans, I hope you understand situation, and will follow through with your part."
Oh! Sans did understand everything, even though, he barely heard most of his father's explanation. He, actually, didn't need to hear everything to know one thing – Gaster controlled his life for the most part since he was born and now he also wanted to expand his borders to include Toriel, because if he didn't she could be a threat to his business very soon.
Anger rose up inside of Sans. He loved Toriel too much to allow that. He wanted to marry her. Dammit, he was already in a process of making that a reality for over a year but he didn't want it to be just another business deal, some kind of scheme of his father to advance and protect his business. He didn't want her to be controlled by Gaster, and he would do everything in his power to keep her safe.
His voice was firm and confident, accompanied by a blue flare in his eye socket.
"i won't allow you, father! i love toriel, and i won't allow you to tie her up and control her life just as you do with mine. she will continue to be friend with whoever she wants. asgore deserves to move on, and i won't be the one to hold him back from reclaiming his throne. and neither will you. and i won't be following your proposal plans."
Sans stood up sharply and put on his slippers, getting ready to leave the room. However, before he stepped away from the table, he leaned down and took the ring, his perfect ring, from the case.
"i hope you won't object if i'll take that. thank you for the lunch, father. paps says hello. have a nice day."
Sans turned away and walked out of the room leaving one stunned skeleton and one shocked lizard behind.
Sighing heavily, Gaster walked back to the table, reaching for the case. He turned it around to see which ring Sans took. A small smile graced his usually so strict and cold face. He chuckled to himself.
"You are not so different from me, son. Choosing the same ring I chose for your mother so many years ago… Guess, good taste runs in the family after all. Let's hope that this girlfriend of yours has a good sense of what will be best for her too and is responsible and mature enough to act accordingly… like your mother did, Sans."
He closed the case and told Alphys to have the robots take everything away, returning back to his seat to finish off his meal. However, just before his lab partner stepped out he called her again.
"By the way, Alphys, do not cancel those tickets. And do keep Sans's schedule clear for the next week."
The scientist nodded shakily and left the room. Gaster smirked.
He could see it all so clearly now - in a too big room of a huge lab, one little skeleton's eyes were closing down while his mother was reading him a book he liked before his sleep. Sans remembered everything now – his mother's image was so crispy bright now - her warmth and love, her gentleness and her kindness. She was beautiful. He always remembered her in his heart but he did forget some details. However, as soon as he laid his eyes on that ring it all came back. He now most vividly remembered a gold sparkling flower on his mama's finger – he was always fascinated by it, he often caught himself admiring how it shined in the lights and one day, he wished, he could give his beautiful princess something just as beautiful as his mother's ring.
This ring was now his to give. The only thing remained – to find a perfect moment to give it to his queen.