After a while, he begins to hear footsteps actual footsteps. He opens his eyes, but more to indicate that he's awake than to actually see anything.

"Good morning Sansy. How did you sleep~?"

"h….h-h-hey b...b-b-b-boss…" Is all he manages to get out through his trembling that's intelligible.

"Are you going to be a good boy?"

"y-y-y-yes b-b-b-boss…" It's so cold everything is so cold he can't stop shivering...

He hears the footsteps reach the tree he is tied to, then starts getting dragged back to the house. Sans's legs shake as he struggles to keep them under him. He falls a lot, stammering out nervous apologies every time he does so.

"Hurry up Sans!" Chara complains. "It is taking us longer than it should to get back home."

"i-i kn-know i-i'm s-sorry i d-don't m-mean t-to k-keep f-falling i j...i j-just c-can't f-feel m-my legs o-or...a-anything e-else i-i'm s-sorry…"

"If you were sorry you would move faster."

Sans swallows, focusing all his energy into moving at a steadier pace. He manages to keep up long enough to get back to the house before he collapses again, "s-sorry i-i'm sorry.."

Chara unties him and picks him up by the back of his collar, choking him, and throws him inside the house. Sans hits the floor and stays there, bracing himself up on one elbow and feeling around in front of him to try and get an idea of where he is. He figures out he's close to the couch when he hits his head on the side of

Chara giggles and plops onto the couch, getting under a blanket they had stored there.

"..c..c-can i h-have m-my s-scarf b-back, p-please…?"

"I thought it was your brother's?"

"i-it is…"

"And you lay claim to it so easy. Must be a pretty cool scarf." They laugh. "Maybe this is why you let your brother die."

Sans sniffs and shakes his head, "n-no…i'm..i'm j-just a c-coward…"

"A coward wouldn't wait until after everyone is dead to kill the murderer. Just saying."Chara mocks.

"i-i kn-know.."

Chara lays back, relaxing. They admittedly didn't get much sleep that night. Nightmares are a bitch like that.

"...p-please c-can i h-have it b-back, b-boss…"

"I suppose." They say idly as they toss it in his direction.

Sans grabs it and wraps it around his neck, leaning back against the sofa side and holding it to his face, shaking calming slightly, "th-thank you…" He's still missing his jacket as well, but Papyrus's scarf is far more important to him.

Chara curls into the couch with the intent to sleep, but their want to rest is interrupted by hunger pains. They groan, sitting up. "You hungry?"

"yeah..haven't really had a full meal in several days."

Chara gets up, softly rubbing his head as they walk around him, and walking into the kitchen to start with dinner.

Without really thinking about it, Sans leans a bit into the gentle touch, feeling a bit dazed for a moment by the uncommon lack of pain in physical contact. When it leaves, his senses mostly returns and he feels his gut twist in disgust at himself. In spite of that, however, he gets up and follows at Chara's heels.

"Does soup sound good?" They asked. Usually they just cooked what they wanted but tonight they couldn't settle on one particular thing.

Really good, to be honest. "y-yeah...uh..i th-think there's some cans in the cabinet above the fridge.."

Chara nods, grabbing a few cans and emptying them into a pot. They turn on the stove, and begin warming up the soup.

"It'll be about 12 minutes."

Sans stands awkwardly in the kitchen archway, giving a nod and squinting his eyes up as he tries to listen to what Chara is doing.

After about twelve minutes, Chara checks the temperature of the soup, then turns off the burner.

"Meet me at the table." They are oddly calm as they pour the soup into bowls and grab a couple spoons.

Giving a nod, Sans feels his way towards the table, finding his seat and plopping down. He just hopes that Chara hasn't poisoned his food this time. He really just wants to eat a real meal…

"..i can...i don't..have to eat from the...the floor..?"

"You have been good." Chara says, setting the table. They begin to eat as they idly watch Sans's eye, looking for any trace of a spark. Sans continues sitting there, unable to reach for his serving as he can't tell that it's there. He instead stares ahead blankly, hands fidgeting in his lap.

"Sans, eat. Your food is right in front of you." They say, annoyed, more at themselves for continually forgetting that they had in fact blinded Sans, then at Sans's lack of response.

Sans lifts his head, unsteadily reaching out his hand until his fingers tap against the side of the bowl. "..oh." He keeps his blind gaze down, feeling ashamed and frustrated by his new handicap. "...th-thanks.."

"Yeah." Chara replies tiredly, finishing their bowl. They got up and put their bowl in the sink, before sitting down on the couch.

"Once you finish your food you may go to your room."

"...al..al-already?" There's disappointment in his tone, in spite of his efforts to hide it.

"Would you rather clean? I mean, you can get it done now instead of later, but I won't stop you from wasting what precious time you have to rest."

"i j-just wanted to-.." Sans stops himself. What, wanted to spend more time with Chara? His torturer? The silence in his room is hard to deal with, and the more unoccupied his thoughts are, the more depressing they become. Even if Chara does constantly torment him, at least they keep him on his toes too much for him to start wishing too hard for Papyrus.

Looking back down at his bowl, Sans picks it up and sips the broth, shutting his eyes. He really was pathetic...

"Wanted to what? Finish your sentence" Chara orders, curiosity a constant nag in their brain.

Well. He's learned several times that trying to disobey a command only leads to pain. "...h-hang out a b-bit..?"

Chara was silent for a bit, gazing at Sans dubiously, before nodding, then remembering Sans was blind. "We will be watching more of those CD's, but if you insist, go ahead."

The skeleton rests his head on his hand, elbow on the table as he rubs his temple, "you wouldn't w-wanna just...talk, or...go to Grillby's...tell jokes…" His eyes shut as he falls back into his normal pattern, "like….like friends, with….y'know, good food...some bad laughs…" His voice shakes a bit.

Chara glares. They stand up, and grab Sans by the collar. "You idiot, what makes you think we are friends!? What makes you think I am as moldable as my host!? Huh!?"

Sans doesn't even tremble. He keeps his head down, a broken grin on his face. "yeah...that's ridiculous, right?" He heaves out a breathless laugh, squeezing his eyes shut, "a person like you...won't ever be happy...with me...no matter what i do, right?

Chara paused at the unexpected reaction. Why wasn't he afraid? He seemed more... heartbroken? Chara throws him to the ground. "I suggest you stop trying to manipulate me Sansy, you are treading dangerous waters, and I am half tempted to tear that scarf from your throat!"

He swallows, shifting himself up to his knees and keeping his head bowed. Yeah. That's what he got for asking for a little companionship. Figures. "...sorry."

"What are you doing?" Chara's confusion only growing. It irks them so as Sans is showing very little signs of fear.

Sans gives a weak chuckle, putting his face in his hands, "i'm... lonely , kid…"

Chara is stunned for a moment, then they smile and sit on the couch, patting the cushion next to them. "Well, why didn't you say so? Come on up here."

Reasonably wary, Sans gets to his feet and shuffles forward until he can feel the sofa pillows under his fingertips. He slowly sits down, body completely relaxed in spite of his underlying fear. Chara is probably just going to hurt him. But he's just so goddamn pathetic, he'll jump at any chance to get some form of comfort. It serves him right, if his trust is used against him.

Chara grabs his collar, and gently pulls his head onto their lap, stroking his skull. "Pets need affection every so often, that's what Toriel would always say~. Are you not grateful that I know how to properly care for my pets?"

He should feel humiliated. He should feel angry. Indignant. Upset that his worth as a person is being chipped away.

Instead Sans gives a shaky sigh, closing his eyes and shamefully enjoying the kind, soothing touch, "s-sure a-am, b-boss.." He whispers.

Chara smiles gently. "I'm glad" They say softly, a feeling of surprise erupting from half their brain. Why so surprised, I'm just caring for my pet is all .

The one part of Sans's mind that wasn't yet so swamped with loneliness and depression tried to reason with him. The moment he let his guard down, Chara would just lash out. The kid was just waiting for him to get comfortable so that when their next strike came, it'd be worse. There was nothing smart about what he was doing.

'...heh. when have i ever done anything smart…?' Sans shyly curls in closer against Chara, his breathing slowly evening out…

Chara found themselves look fondly as the skeleton fell asleep on their lap. They found themselves being lulled as Sans's sleeping breaths caused their breathing to deepen. They soon found themselves leaning over, and resting their head on his hip, and falling asleep soon after.

Sans starts shaking in the middle of the night, fingers digging into Papyrus's scarf as his eyes shut tightly. He curls up tightly his breathing quickening. "hff..hff..n-no...no no...please…"

Chara is awoken by Sans's pleas. They sit up quickly, and looking around, instinctively looking for danger. Seeing none, they realise he is having a bad dream. "Sans, wake up!"

"Ch-Chara n-no p-please i d-didn't mean t-to….i...no, ple- nngh!" Sans tenses up, sweating profusely and crying, "i-i'm s-sorry i-i'm s-sorry…! "

"Shhhh, shhhh. You are alright, you are safe, I am not angry" Chara says gently, stroking his skull to calm him down.

"Repeat what I just said, You are alright, you are safe, I am not angry"

Sans is still tense, still breathing hard, "i-i'm a-alright...i-i'm safe..y-you...you're not...angry.." He whispers.

"Thats a good boy. You just had a bad dream. Repeat it one more time for me?" They said it less like a command, and more of a gentle prompting. They continued to stroke his skull gently.

Sans's trembling slowly dissipates, "i'm alright….i'm safe...you're not angry.."

"There you go Sansy, don't you feel much better?"

"i'm safe.." Sans murmurs again, head lolling back so it fully rests on Chara's lap.

"There you go, you have my permission to go back to sleep if you wish"

Sans is already softly snoring. He'd never been awake in the first place. He gives a sigh, shifting and hiding his face against Chara's stomach.

Chara strokes his skull for a few moments more, then lies on his hip once more, and goes back to sleep. Sans doesn't have dreams about Papyrus. Just vague, dark but comforting visions of someone stroking his head and whispering to him.