Authors note: I am currently trying to save up money so I can attend Anime Midwest in July, so commissions for Sans Nights are Open! Name your price! Message me via tumblr (madlyinlov3onda) if you are interested, but please do not send any money until I say so (unless you mean it as a donation). Gentle reminder that I will end up posting these publicly and that am allowed to refuse service if I am uncomfortable with the prompt and/or payment.
This was a commission from the lovely sintax-err0r for some comforting after a nightmare. Enjoy!
Chapter Build: Reader is at least 18 years of age.
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You sighed as you reclined further into your lazy chair, legs hooked over the armrests, book in lap. The scent of orange tea filled the air beside you, despite it being mostly drunk by this point. It was a rather soothing touch however, making the mostly dark room more welcoming. It was probably pretty late at night at this point, but you had been rather invested in this book… You weren't entirely sure what the current time was. It was dark out, not even moonlight shone through the window, so that didn't help much. Thankfully you had a single lamp on beside you, lighting up the room and turning the white pages of the book to a dull orange. You should probably change the lightbulb some time, now that you thought about it, but in all honestly the color relaxed you.
You reached for the oversized mug resting on the table beside you, holding the warmth to your chest for a moment as your eyes trailed along the words of your book. You finished your latest paragraph, and downed the last of your tea, mulling the words over. This was a great book so far, you were nearly halfway done, but nothing was perfect and you did have some complaints. First of all, their chapters were always a consistent small size, and every single one seemed to end with a cliffhanger. While it was great for keeping you motivated in reading, it tended to make it more predictable than you would have liked.
The other… well, not exactly a flaw, you suppose. After all, a lot of writers did this since technically it was correct… was the use of "sans."
Sans. /sanz/
Preposition. Definition; without.
A year ago, you wouldn't have thought anything of the short word. A year ago, you wouldn't have been introduced to a particular punny short skeleton. Now every time you see the word you end up stumbling for a moment, needing to remember that before you met someone with it as a name, it was a just a word.
You held the mug upside down over your mouth a moment, trying to urge the last drop to fall onto your tongue. Who even names their son that? Were his parents obsessed with typefaces? It would explain why Papyrus also had a font for a name… though it didn't explain why they were able to write perfectly in their named font. The first time Sans wrote you a grocery list threw you for a loop. You thought he went through all of the effort of typing everything down and printing the short list out, but alas, his handwriting happened to be the most despised font on the planet. Who knew?
The drop finally fell, landing perfectly onto your tongue. It was a rather disappointing reward for all of the effort. You sighed, clapped the book shut, and threw your legs off of the armrests to sit up. You stretched and felt your back pop, seeming to be thankful to no longer be in the unhealthy position. If Sans was in the room when you did that he would have started blushing, the thought made you smile a bit. You weren't originally a huge joint popper, just the occasional back, shoulders, fingers, sometimes ankles… okay you were a little bit of a joint popper… but you never focused on it until you learned it flustered the small skeleton. Now you did it just to see him stumble and blush, more than simply for joint relief.
Unfortunately for your sick-minded pleasure center in your brain, Sans already went to bed hours ago. You would have joined him at the time, but this book just refuses to end. You placed it onto the table, seeing how far the bookmark rested compared to the rest of it. Maybe another night's worth… after a couple more chapters tonight, of course. You yawned. Oh, that wasn't good. You better fix that.
You got up and headed to your kitchen, refilling a small pot full of water and putting it on the stove. Grabbing a fresh bag for the tea, you dropped it into your empty mug, and drizzled in some honey. Sans was kind enough to get some from the local market last shopping run he did, saying that he knew what brand was the "good stuff" to get.
As you waited for the water to boil you heard muffled sounds coming from your bedroom. You bit your lip, concern bubbling up inside of you. Sans has been rather restless these past few nights, but always seemed to brush off questions or make a half-assed joke about it, and you shamefully were distracted by his stupid puns. You grabbed another mug and bag of herbs, putting in just a tiny bit of honey, the way he liked it. If he wasn't going to sleep well, there would be no point in him suffering through it alone.
The water finally started boiling, so you turned the knob till it clicked off, giving a moment for the bubbles to slow. Carefully grabbing the pot handle with one hand and keeping the mug stable with the other, you poured the hot water into one mug. Just about to the top, perfect. You grabbed Sans' mug and started doing the same. The sound of something breaking interrupted you.
"AAAAAAAHHH!" Sans' muffled scream startled you, making you panic and look towards your room. You immediately dropped the pot and mug, hissing and shoving water burned fingers into your mouth. The hot water already had overfilled the mug and made a good sized spill onto the counter and started to drip onto the floor.
"F-Fuck!" You whispered, grabbing the hand towel from the sink and throwing it onto the spilled area on the counter before running to your room. "Sans!?" You called out, giving a quick knock to the door before opening it, breath catching in your throat.
Harsh blue light outlined Sans sitting disheveled on the floor against the wall, the lamp shattered on the ground beside him. He had his hands pressed to the sides of his head, eyes wide but only one was glowing a fiery blue. Blue magic crackled around him, only magnifying the terror he looked like he was in.
"Sans! It's okay hun- you were just-" You started, quickly kneeling down in front of him and resting a hand on his bony knee. He stared on through you, magic eye shaking and muttering to himself.
"-not again not again please no no no no I cant do this again-" His voice was shaking, and you immediately knew what it was about.
"Sans." You urged, trying to get him to at least see you. "There has been no reset, Sans. You are above ground still, you are safe." You said calmly, but loudly, trying to get his attention. He blinked, fearful voice stopping in place. The crackling magic quieted just a bit. You rested a hand on his shoulder, gripping just enough that he felt that you were solid. "No resets. You are here, now, with me." You said again, seeing him slowly look up at you.
His harsh blue eye softened, and eventually his two white pin lights came back, dull. He whispered your name, and you nodded. "Thank god." He threw his arms around you, pulling you close as he sobbed into your shoulder. You could feel his entire body shaking with every sob.
"Must have been one hell of a nightmare." You said, placing a hand against the back of his skull. He nodded, breath catching as he tried to breathe normally. "Everything is okay now, you don't have to worry." You cooed to the small skeleton, pressing the side of your face against his skull and rubbing with your fingertips.
"E-every… everything was back to the way… and- and I thought when I woke up… Everything was dark and so I thought-" He voice kept catching, so you gently shushed him, continuing your calming rubs.
The two of you stayed that way for a while, letting Sans calm down and stop his shaking. He took a few deep breaths, relaxing into you slightly with every one. Eventually he let go of you, looking still at unease.
"I was making tea for you, before you screamed. Do you want it? It will probably be cooled off by now." You looked over the small skeleton, still seeing wetness on his cheeks. He considered a moment before nodding quietly, biting his lip slighly.
"I could use that… thanks." He gave a tired smile. You smiled back, standing and offering a hand to help him up. He took it, and the two of you headed out of the room and to the kitchen, the small skeleton's hand still in yours.
"Did I scare you that bad?" Sans asked, seeing the pot sitting on the counter beside the overfilled mug and damp towel.
"You gave me a scare, but you didn't scare me, you numbskull. I was afraid something happened to you." You answer with a smile, giving his hand a little squeeze. Letting go of his hand, you quickly used the hand towel to clean up around his mug. The tea inside the mug was dark from the herbs already, but thankfully still warm. "Here," You offered him the tea, and he accepted it. You picked up your own and the two of you headed to the couch.
The two of you sat on the couch, attempting to relax after the scare. "I don't suppose you want to tell me about the nightmare?" You asked, sipping on your tea.
"It… well, to be honest, to most people it wouldn't even be a nightmare. I just woke up at my old station in Snowdin, and Papyrus yelled at me for sleeping on the job, just like… every reset." He swallowed, looking at the mug in his hands a moment before taking a drink and continuing. "I just started panicking. It's been so long and I had thought… I was terrified that I would have to go through all of that again, and again, and again…" He forced himself to breathe and slow down. He paused, taking another drink from the tea. It seemed to be helping a lot, that made you happy.
"Then I woke up, and everything was dark. I thought for sure that I was back in my old room. I couldn't bare the thought." His voice died into a whisper at the last part. "The worst part about these dreams is that they feel so real. I can't tell what's reality or figments of my imagination, or if I'm still trapped in another nightmare…" His eyes moved around the room as if searching for an example.
That wouldn't do.
You gently grabbed his hand, stopping him short. "This is real, right now."
"I know that, b-but my head, you know?" He gave a nervous laugh, looking away. "It just has the 'what if' thought that this is just another dream and-"
You cut him off with a kiss to the forehead. "I am real." You heard his breath catch when you said the words. "Let me prove it to you."
You sat up, quietly taking his mug and placing it next to yours on the table. "Have you ever dreamed of me?" You asked, curious.
"Uh… yes, actually. Heh. A couple times, I think." He answered, rubbing the back of his skull.
"Do your dreams have this?" You pulled the small skeleton close to you. He seemed confused, but you simply pressed his head to your chest. He paused a moment before startling slightly, and quickly relaxing into you.
"…No. I forgot you did that." You felt him smile against you, one of his hands resting on your side gently tapping to the beat of your heart. You loved it when he did that. You weren't even sure if he did it on purpose.
"I am real and here, with you, right now." You confirmed, rubbing his back. He relaxed even further into you, basically becoming a pile of bones under your touch. Of course, you wanted to make sure there was no doubts in his head. You smiled, running a couple fingers slowly up his spine, and felt him shiver.
"Vertebrae." You whispered to him, and he looked up at you, startled. "Scapula." You trailed your fingers along his shoulder blades, feeling him arch slightly to your touch. You smiled again, running your fingers down the back of his ribcage until brushing against the smallest ribs. "Floating ribs." You named them, quietly, feeling him shiver again as his hands grabbed your sides, stablizing him.
Your hands made their way up from under his shirt, brushing against his ribcage again. "False." Higher. "True." Your thumb rubbed against the bone in the middle of the ribs, making his breathing hitch. "Sternum." You enjoyed the look of wonder that was on his face as you did your magical touching. Not wanting to stop that look, you hooked your fingers around longer bones above the ribs. "Clavicle." You heard Sans slightly moan, as his eyes closed and head rolled back a little. You carefully adjusted your position, pushing him down on the couch comfortably before continuing.
"Cervical vertebrae." You leaned over him, thumb brushing against his neck bones before giving one of them a kiss. His body jerked a little, not expecting it. You gave another one a kiss, and another, trailing up. "Temporal bone." You guessed while giving the side of his head a kiss. You really didn't know the skull bones as well as everything else, but hey, he probably didn't either. "Parental." You kissed slightly higher, feeling Sans shift his body around from under you. "Frontal." Forehead. "Nasal." Right above his nose. "Maxilla." Right next to the nose hole.
"Mandable." You whispered the last one the quietest, before giving him a proper kiss. He immediately kissed back, seeming unable to get enough of you. His hands grabbed you, pulling you close as he could, but it didn't seem close enough.
"So," You started, breaking away from the kiss. That seemed to frustrate him for a moment. "Am I real?" You asked, a not-so-innocent smile sneaking its way onto your lips.
"Fuck yeah you are real." Sans half growled, pulling you close again and kissing you even deeper.
