Sans watched you take a few steps before your stride turned unsteady again. He snapped to your side as softly as he could, not caring to wait a second to cross normally to you.

It was a sign of your exhaustion that you didn't even notice his unnatural shift before you lifted a hand to his upper arm.

"buen trabajo, canary," he said honestly, looking down at you. Your face turned up to him as you leaned a little more heavily on him, slipping your arm to loop around his. The movement was so easy and natural. His soul pulsed in his core, and he fought down the blue blush that you always threatened to bring to his cheeks.

"Not bad for my first meeting with a super-powerful mob boss, huh," you said back, a breathy and incredulous chuckle following your words. Your gaze met his, and he could see the shock and vague disbelief behind your easy front.

"you're a natural," he responded with his own chuckle. He wasn't lying - Gaster had laid his void magic down thick at several points, much to Sans' annoyance. But you had held up surprisingly well; hell, most people would have collapsed at the first touch of the creeping darkness, but you simply stood your ground. Sans shook his head, impressed by your continued ability to adapt to the strange and dangerous.

You were staring at your free hand's wrist when he looked down at you again. It was raw and badly chafed, the skin broken and bruised at several points. Your other wrist wasn't any better - he had seen it up close while you were asleep in the car.

You had had a surprisingly peaceful nap - or, really, period of unconsciousness, nothing so casual as a nap. But you had simply slept in his arms, content and relaxed no doubt for the first time that night. You had curled closer to him when he tried to shift you to make sure your neck wouldn't get sore from the odd position… your hand had gripped the lapel of his jacket a little tighter, your knuckles brushing up against a rib and sending a shiver down his spine. Feeling Undyne's eye on him, he ignored her and tried distracting himself with checking your injuries. Your shoulder was badly bruised, and he had a feeling several spots on your head were the same way. Your ankle was in a bad way - it didn't seem broken, but it was cut and swollen… and your wrists, your wrists were so raw and red and they were the only thing you seemed to hold slightly tense while you slept, he had noticed. His free arm shifted, the one not supporting your head and back, and he gingerly lifted the hand you weren't holding onto him with.

His inspection was practiced. No broken bones here, either, thank the stars. His gloved fingers cradled your hand gently as he looked, but you made a small noise. Your eyes had screwed a little tighter shut behind the blindfold suddenly, by the way your cheeks had lifted, and then you were - estrellas del cielo, you had tucked your head tighter against him, slipping your face into the crook of his shoulder at his neck. Your breath puffed soft against his collar and the exposed bone.

He was shaken out of his thoughts by your free hand brushing against the lapel of his jacket.

"... It's honestly not that bad," you said. You were gazing into his eyes, and he realized that the lights had gone out in his eye sockets with the concerned flash to your otherwise light gaze. Flickering them back into focus, his grin twisted wryly. Your appearance was disheveled: your gown's sleeves torn, your hair pulled out of it's neat twisting styling from earlier, your cheeks dusted with a flush for some reason.

"i'm pretty sure that you don't feel too great, either," he replied with a brow bone raised. He rested his opposite hand on the hand you had looped around his arm.

You grinned guiltily back at him. "I suppose it would be a little silly to deny that," you admitted. "I'm… well, I'll at least say that I'm exhausted, in far more ways than one."

He snorted. "y' really have a way of phrasing things in a pretty way, canary," he said. Despite his wry words, his tone was amused and warm. He really liked the way your face got warmer in response to that kind of tone of his.

You looked away from him with an attempt at a chuckle, and he missed the feeling of your hand at his chest when you went to briefly brush your knuckles across your cheeks and lips. "So! Ah, will we be riding back with… I think Undyne referred to the driver earlier as River?" You cocked your head a little to the side as you switched subjects, and Sans caught the way your gaze focused distantly above you for a moment as you remembered the detail.

He was impressed, but unsurprised. Undyne had only mentioned them in a passing moment, but you recalled the detail of the driver and their name - it definitely wasn't for nothing that you were the watcheye for Del Alma, and that the boss himself had taken notice of you…

Sans hummed briefly, turning a little to face you more directly, his hands sliding into his pants' pockets. "si, that was River, one of our main drivers…" He regarded you carefully. You really were holding up surprisingly well, your ease of determination and that feisty spark in you holding you up even after being kidnapped, drugged, and having had so little rest before then facing the boss of a mob that you were now even more thoroughly entwined with. You had held up well, even in a fight rife with powerful magic-

An impish grin spread onto his face then, and you quirked a brow at him in that way that put a pleasant buzz to his soul. Nonchalantly, though still with that look on his face, he offered, "it'd take a while and you'd have to be blindfolded again if we went that route… how about a shortcut, instead?"

You tilted your head to the side for a moment again, studying him with a wry, knowing look, your arm still linked with his. A challenging grin pulled at your own lips at the mischief in his eyes, and a low chuckle rumbled out of his chest in gratification at your matching attitude.

He already knew your answer before you even spoke. "Alright, Sans, show me what you've got."

His grin turned absolutely wolfish. He slipped his hands out of his pockets and in a trailing flash he had them clasped behind you at your lower back, now chest-to-chest with you. He dipped his head down slightly to catch your bright and surprised eyes.

"un reto, lucerita?" he said. Your cheeks were flushed, but you still held your own grin. "how could i refuse the chance to bond a little with my… nueva socia?"

Barely had the words left his mouth before your eyes flashed with something keen and your lower lip slipped between your teeth, tugged, teased, and it took everything Sans had to not close that last little space between your mouth and his right then and there.

"... hold on tight, and don't let go," he whispered.

You lifted your arms and circled them behind his neck as he pulled you fully flush against him. He pressed a hand against the arch of your spine in the small of your back, and the other shifted to press between your shoulder blades.

He let himself be surrounded in the sense of your body pressed against his, flush and tight and warm, warmer than he had ever felt you in those brief moments before this. You held his gaze, your eyes lidding just a little, your lips now slightly parted, the smallest puff of your breath tickling his collarbone.

Just as he was edging on becoming too distracted to pull his magic together, he saw his chance as he realized every ounce of your attention was on him. He wanted to make this easier for you, so he took it.

With a sensation like gravity itself had strengthened so much as to make solid reality meaningless, he dropped into the void with you held tight in his arms.

It had been a rare circumstance when he had traveled with you earlier. The drain on his magic was heavy with another person, and if they didn't have the wherewithal to handle that kind of tear in reality's laws, things got messy when they landed. Danger had made it a necessity in that moment, the step into the eternity of nothing far easier than it usually was with another person, but he hadn't had the time to focus on it then.

Now though, in the everlasting split-second it took to traverse the space between space, he felt something - a bright, electric throb from your core that shone through your gaze, and he felt his own soul struck through in the most powerful of ways in response-

And then reality restructured itself as if it had simply momentarily lapsed in an embarrassing flash of oversight. You fell a little heavier in his hold, eyes unfocusing and mouth popping open a little wider in a soft 'o'. He held you even closer, adjusting his grip to help support you, his soul still pulsing hard at whatever had just happened in the void.

"Sans," you breathed, and all his attention snapped to you. A line of tension pulled at his bones despite himself, worried that it had been too much. But then your eyes refocused on him and the most brilliant of smiles spread across your face. "That… that, that was-" your voice faltered for a second, your eyes darting around, not yet seeing your surroundings. Then, with a radiant reverence, "you were amazing," you finished, your hands pulling at the back of his neck, pulling his face a little closer.

His cheekbones lit with blue.

He grinned then, relief and mischief warring on his face through his blush. "what, did that little shortcut have you falling for me, canary?"

You opened your mouth to retort, then your eyes flashed with realization. Your grasp behind him broke and suddenly laughter was pealing bright and frustrated and giddy from you and you slapped his chest gently with your hands, the length of your body still pressed to him.

"Sans-!" You managed, no true upset in your tone. He only grinned wider.

"y'know, i can pun all night if it means you'll keep calling my name like that," he said with a wicked smile and bright glint to his eyes. Your eyes widened even further, your cheeks coloring even more, your laughter cut off suddenly.

Your eyes narrowed playfully then, despite the full blush still roaring across your cheeks. A little thrill went up Sans' spine as he recognized that clever look you got whenever you were about to go toe-to-toe with him, but this look was a little darker, a little heavier-

"It'll be a little hard to say your name if you leave me breathless," you said slowly, a grin building back on your face.

Now it was Sans' turn. His cheeks were already blue, he realized belatedly, but stars if the mental image that just flashed through his mind at your words didn't make him press you just a little closer still. Your breath hitched in one hell of a way as he brought his face a little closer to yours.

"... is that another challenge, picara descarada…?"

His gaze flickered to your lips, so close to his, and back to your now lidded gaze. You inhaled softly, shortly, as if to try to say something, a heated spark in your eye-

"Mis estrellas, our canary's okay- Grillby! Grillby, she's back-"

Sans' breath caught at the same moment yours did, and he could feel the tick of frustration and desire open in his gaze matching your own that mingled with surprise. The moment broke and you stepped back, shaky on your feet, and Sans let one hand fall away and tuck into his pocket. He kept the other on the small of your back though - you needed support still, after all.

The bright green fire elemental all but sprinted over to you, the door to the kitchen behind the bar swinging still. She nearly barrelled into but paused just in time, seeing your injuries.

"Fuku-"

"Oh to the dark with this, what did they get you into-" she turned to glance up at Sans, a rare scowl on her flickering features warring with the worry that hadn't left once she saw your injuries. "Sans! What the-"

Your hands fluttered a little, vigorous movement and an apparently remaining lightheadedness keeping you from moving too quickly. "Fuku! It's okay, I'm okay - Sans, Sans and the others rescued me," you explained to your bristling friend. She was usually so gentle and light-hearted, it spoke a lot to how much she cared for you. Sans simply gazed down at her and nodded. He understood her worry, even if a part of him had… bristled in turn. He had shoved it down before you or she could notice.

You continued speaking once Fuku's posture had relaxed a little. "I'm a bit bruised and exhausted, but I'll be fine, I promise. I'm so sorry to have made you worry."

Fuku choked out a disbelieving laugh at this. "You-!" she shook her head, her face flickering brightly and in distorted agitation. "Absurdas- please, please worry about yourself," she said with a crackle. Carefully then, but as big as she could, she reached forward and pressed into you in a hug. You returned it, a soft smile on your face despite the upset that crinkled the corners of your eyes, Sans noticed. He hadn't moved his hand, but it wasn't in the way, so he didn't make to move.

And then suddenly your name was uttered in a heavy, intense crackle like wood added to a blazing bonfire, and you were swept out of Sans gentle half-hold and carefully yet fully into the broad embrace of El Fuego del Alma's bartender.

"Grillby-!" you said softly, surprised and muffled against his chest. You returned his hug as fiercely as you could. Sans was surprised himself - he hadn't noticed Grillby approach, and he wondered if Grillby had simply come that quickly or if he had been that absorbed in watching your little movements. He eyed the fire elemental, his old friend and long, long-time bartender, but he couldn't help but relax at the joyful and relieved pulse of your soul as he asked you about your injuries and what had happened.

When had he started to so naturally pick up on its fluctuations...? Even if he wasn't looking for it, he could feel your soul when it pulsed in happiness or frustration or puzzlement nearby… and when he was next to you, against you - when you had pressed yourself even closer to him in the void, your heart stuttering in shock but more noticeably throbbing in something that threw Sans off. It wasn't fear, or even confusion, like he had expected-

"Thank you, Sans, for keeping your promise."

Grillby's warm hand clapping at Sans' shoulder snapped him out of his reverie. His eyes focused on the fire elemental, who still had one arm folded around you as you laughed softly at something Fuku had said. Even though Grillby's eyes weren't terribly noticeable most of the time, they were sharp on Sans now. Powerful gratitude was behind his gaze. Sans returned the look with a rare seriousness and nodded once. Grillby had spoken low while you were distracted, so you didn't catch the exchange.

You really had found a family here, Sans knew.

"Grillb'z, I'm burning up hun," you turned your face back up to the much taller monster with a huff and a grin. You weren't kidding - your face was flushed, almost as much as it had been earlier when Sans still held you in his arms.

If he had flesh to bite in his cheek, he would have then.

As it was, he chuckled. "you might wanna let the canary go, Grill' - you don't wanna draw her f'ire," he said.

Grillby stepped back from you with a roll of his eyes and a crackling groan, mimicked by Fuku. You nearly snorted.

"Did I say you were pushing it earlier? Looks like I need to redefine," you said dryly. Still, your lips perked up at the corner, and that pushed Sans' grin wider. Before he could start on another, though, you continued, "I really should get back to my apartment soon, though… I can feel my consciousness flickering."

A moment of silence.

Then Grillby snorted and Fuku broke into smooth laughter. Sans joined them, his grin wide and brow bones high, his laughter completely open.

"Now that was proper juego de palabras," Grillby said, crossing his arms and allowing his smile to kindle on his face. Fuku nodded, still trapped in giggles, and you shot her a wink.

"you're really making me burn through my joke material, doll," Sans said, slipping his hands into his pockets. You grinned back at him, but Grillby shook his head.

"Por el bien de las estrellas, have him take you home before this continues on," he shot to you. Grillby's smile still flickered on his face, though it was a dry one. The fondness still stood, though, and you laughed and nodded - your face a little flushed.

Well, he did intend on insisting he accompany you for your own sake, anyways. Now it was expected. Perfect.

… The way you looped your arm so naturally through his may have been more perfect, though.

"If that's okay," you said to him. You tilted your face as you nearly always did when genuinely considering something, and the soft edge to your expression - you really were making sure, and you seemed a little embarrassed, if he was reading the dusting of color on your cheeks right - it pulsed something warm and electric through his soul.

"wouldn't have it any other way," he replied easily with a wink. You smiled at him, a true, bright one, gratitude warming your face.

He watched as you turned and gripped Fuku in a careful one-armed hug, then slipped your hand into Grillby's afterwards with a squeeze. They walked you to the exit, pushing the need to rest, Grillby assuring you that he would personally toss you out if you attempted to come in and overexert yourself tomorrow. You responded with a laugh, but Sans noticed the twitch of your lips.

They left you and him to traverse the appropriate corridors arm-in-arm so they could finish cleaning and locking up now that your safety had been confirmed. Sans pushed open the door to the back alley, flaring his senses - but the area was empty, and he led you out.

You paused as the door slipped shut quietly, turning your face towards the sky above. Sans copied your movement.

The sky was dark, a handful of twinkling stars visible in the stretch of sky visible between the stone walls of the buildings framing the alley. The lights of the area obscured some of the truly brilliant patterns, though Sans had since gotten used to that aspect of working in the city.

"I miss seeing more of them," you said. Your voice was nearly a whisper, barely brushing the small space between you as you leaned against him. His gaze slipped to you, though he let his face still remain directed mostly upwards. Several moments passed, and he had nearly figured that you wouldn't share anything further when you spoke again. "... We didn't always live in the city. I spent most of my life here, yes - but up until I turned about the age you start schooling, we had lived in a more rural area a little ways around the mountain." If it was colder, the breath would have barely puffed away from your face. Sans held still, his face now turned towards you even as you continued looking distantly upwards. "Things weren't… complicated, not really, not yet. I would sit out on the porch most nights, staring upwards and tracing shapes in the twinkling lights. Everything seemed so… possible. Even when the actual constellations were pointed out to me, I remember - I remember nodding, and learning them, and still pointing out new patterns. I made up new constellations, new ways to pull love and light and understanding and strange, strange potential out of the same stars that have been there since the beginning of time itself, loving to lose myself in what was possible if you just looked at it right."

You fell silent. Something deep in Sans kept him from trying to see what your soul was showing then. He kept looking at you in the quiet alley, thoughts slipping through his mind.

"that first night we came out of the mountain… the sun was setting," he said, his voice so low and soft that you managed to shift your gaze from the sky above. Your eyes were a little red around the edges. "my brother… Pap, he took off running, excited to see the city, to discover what all the other humans were like, and, well - bring more energy to the world, with how he is," he nearly broke your gaze, his voice a little rough with fondness. "i caught up with him after letting him explore the forest a little - and we ended up in this clearing part way down the mountain…"

Sans felt his eyes unfocus slightly, the memory pulling him in even as your presence at his side kept him talking. "... we had this area in the underground. waterfall. it... a lot of it, a lot of it was covered in these luminescent stones, stones that sparkled and shone and let you move around, but more importantly - in the distance, en las alturas, they twinkled. to many of us, they looked like stars, what we imagined they must be like - what some older monsters said they reminded them of." A puff of air, a soft cousin of a chuckle, slipped out of him. For a moment, he let himself look upward again. "i always wondered why those monsters looked so sad and distant when they said that. like some sort of cruel joke had… well, i figured it was being so aware of what we had lost by being trapped. that moment in the clearing, though, after the sun had set and i caught up with Papyrus, and we both turned our skulls up at the same time…"

His gaze dropped to yours. You hadn't moved, not an inch. He held his arm a little closer to himself, pulling you in closer with it. "i realized then that the look wasn't just bitter memories. no, no, it was a disbelief, almost - because those crystals… beautiful as they were, they were nothing at all compared to las estrellas, el cosmos, el todo… i didn't move, not for ages, and neither did Pap. with everything that we could see, for the very first time… i couldn't look away. we were far enough away from the city that the lights - which weren't as bright, even then - they barely bled over, and we could even see the lining of the galaxy itself."

He didn't look away from your eyes. His soul pulsed painfully in his chest, but he ignored it. Your eyes, your gaze, he held that, though it may have been you holding him.

He didn't know how to continue.

He felt like somehow, somehow, you might have understood what he was saying anyways.

He felt the urge to shiver then as a cool breeze swept through the alleyway. You did shiver, so he pulled you closer - and, realizing you couldn't get much closer as you were, he slipped his arm out of your hold and around your shoulders.

Your soft, quick inhale as he pulled you in warmed his soul.

"... let's get you home, estrellita."

You seemed to have lost your words for the moment, Sans noticed, and settled for nodding in response.

You smiled a small, thoughtful smile up at him. That thoughtfulness looked almost wistful in your eyes. Sans realized that he hadn't ever caught you speechless before, not like this.

He began walking, slowly and with your ankle in mind. Absently, he stroked your shoulder with his thumb. Your hand slipped upwards and gently grasped his fingers - he faltered for a moment, but you squeezed them just slightly even if you wouldn't look him quite in the eye.

He grinned.

Sans strolled unhurriedly through the streets together with you. A comfortable silence had fallen between you. The city was a rare sort of hushed quiet, caught in a beautifully eerie window of time so late in the night that it was early in the morning. Amongst his ease in holding you close, Sans had a sharp eye out for the shadows and odd noises and absence thereof in the streets. Luck finally seemed to be on his side with you, though, and he found himself only slowed to a stop by the eventual tug of your hand a number of blocks away from del Alma.

You had stopped in front of a largely nondescript building - plain brick six stories high with only a bit of flair at a few sculpted stone windowsills. Your eyes were trained on the stoop of the half-rise stairs, a small, disappointed twist to your expression.

Sans felt a similar flair of feeling at the sight of your destination.

"... Well, this is me," you said, almost noncommittally. Your face lifted to him at last, and even though the exhaustion had clearly caught up with you, there was some kind of sparkle to your eye that he had a feeling he could follow for a long, long time…

"let me bring you up to your floor," Sans said lightly. You huffed a laugh and butted him tiredly with your hip.

"None of that, you've already got me floored with how considerate you've been so far," you replied, your mouth twisting mischievously.

Sans grinned down at you. "what, you don't think i can rise to the gentlemanly occasion?" he remarked, and before you could question his emphasis, he shifted and in a smooth motion had you firmly held in his arms bridal-style and was stepping up the stoop stairs smoothly. He shot you a wink, his grin only growing wider at your wide eyes and deep blush.

"You-! Sans, you little cheater!" You accused - but you broke it with a laugh and he opened the door with a spark of his magic. "... 6th floor," you grumbled good-naturedly. "You still want to escort me like this up that many flights?" Your voice was wry and disbelieving, but he grinned at you and simply began to climb the stairs.

He liked the way you squeaked softly and clung closer to him as he made his way up the questionably open-air style staircase.

He hummed softly as he moved, then turned to you with an air and tone of thoughtfulness and a wicked tilt to his grin. "dunno 'bout that cheating accusation… but i'd like to think i'm certainly large enough where it counts."

You sucked in a breath, and he swore he could nearly feel your skin heat even through his gloves and jacket. Your fingers twitched at their place clasped behind his neck, and it was all he could do to keep climbing.

Finally, a little breathily and too casually, "I mean, you've definitely got a sturdy, uh… frame," you managed.

He bit back a snort and met your eyes for a moment as he turned the corner of the stairwell. "well thank you for that," he said and rolled his eyes, though his snicker gave his teasing away.

You stuck your tongue out at him as he finally reached the top of the stairwell. "Don't be rude," you shot back, still flushed in some kind of embarrassment but with that beautiful spark he adored. You gestured to a door a couple apartments down and he moved towards it.

"ain't rude to tease someone who's just that fun to tease," he said, meeting your eye as he lowered you to your feet. He let his senses flare out - but no, thankfully your apartment and the area seemed clear of threats. You steadied yourself with your hands on his chest, and he let a hand linger at your hip.

"Well it's not fair when you're a lot harder to tease back," you retorted, your face flush and gaze bright. For a moment you turned, avoiding his gaze but letting his hand remain as you bent and slipped a hand down to pull up your dress - his breath caught - but then it was back in place, and you had a key in your hand. You inserted it into the lock and turned the key. You leaned back towards him, your hand resting against his chest. Your face was twisted in that sharp look you'd give him when you knew he was up to something, the same softness and amusement that was always behind it there now.

He chuckled. "you'd be surprised when it comes to you, dulzura," he said, letting his voice dip low. He really liked the way you had to stop the shiver that crawled up your back.

"... rude," you simply said again. Your gaze had narrowed, and- joder the heat that was in your expression shook him for a second, and he felt your hands grip the lapel of his suit jacket even as he couldn't tear his eyes from your face.

Suddenly you pulled downwards, and in surprise he let himself lean the way you pulled and found himself all but forehead-to-forehead with you. Your gaze flickered to his teeth and he felt his magic pulse-

"Thank you, Sans," you murmured. You tilted your face and pressed your lips to his cheekbone. You lingered for just a moment, and he was so shocked he couldn't move; he just felt as your hands went wonderfully slack at his chest and your eyes fluttered shut and you leaned in, just a little-

Then you pulled back and opened your posture to put one hand hesitantly on the doorknob. Your gaze went down to the floor, then to your hand on the knob, then back up to him. He wondered if that look in your eye belied even just a fraction of how dazed and light he felt, still standing leaned over, hand at your hip.

You stepped back. "... Goodnight," you said, a little fast, and suddenly he felt himself catch up and he quickly shifted the hand he had at your hip to your closer hand and grasped it in his gloved one, being careful with your wrist. He tugged you gently to a stop before you could turn around.

He caught your gaze fully, and there was a vague roar of emotions in him that he ignored for the moment in favor of your attention on him. He raised your hand to his lips and kept your eye despite the blue flush he knew was across his face. "descansa," he said. His voice came out a low, rough mess, but he pressed his mouth to your hand and let his magic slip and allow him to gently kiss your knuckles. His soul resonated with the movement, and his chest felt wonderfully tight at the look on your face.

A moment passed and he let your hand slip loose. Absently, still looking at him, you opened the door, and Sans got a glimpse of a small but cozy apartment behind you before you managed to step back into it.

His hands slipped into his pockets as he held your gaze. Your hand still lingered on the doorknob.

Finally, he grinned, the expression still lazy even if he couldn't fight the influence of the heat that had passed between you. He stepped backwards, shot you a cocky wink, and fell smoothly into a shortcut.

He swore he heard your surprised and exasperated laugh chase him as he twisted through the void.