Chapter 10: First of many

Once he arrived to the bar/restaurant, he spotted Nyx by the counter talking to Grillby. You bowed slightly at the fire elemental and took a piece of paper from the man, frowning slightly in concentration before smiling and folding the sheet to place it in your jacket pocket. He wondered what the conversation between you two had been about before shrugging and going over to greet you.

"Hey Nyx, sorry I'm late"

"Huh? Oh, no, you're just in time" you turned to smile at him.

You were about to sit on the bar stood when Sans' hand stopped you. "Let's sit at one of the tables"

You briefly, very briefly, wondered why he rather sit on a table instead of the bar, but simply shrugged and followed him to a nearby table. It was probably for the best, and you could get a little bit of privacy. You took a seat on a table with a view of the town and were slightly surprised to have Sans pulling your chair for you. You blushed a bit and sat down, letting him push it back in.

"Such a gentleman, thank you"

"No problem" he chuckled.

He took his seat in front of you and picked up the menu, you did the same. Seeing as he always at the bar, he was quick to decide what he wanted, fries and a bottle of ketchup, while you kept reading it. Everything looked good, but since it was still early to have anything like fries, you decided for a sandwich and a tall glass of orange juice. Sans called for Grillby to take your orders and gave him the menus back once he had wrote them down.

"So, if you don't mind me asking what were you talking about with Grillbz?"

"Well, you know how I sort of trashed this place a few weeks back?" he hesitantly nodded, clearly not wanting to hurt your feelings. "Well even after paying him for the damages, I still felt the need to do more than that to repay him" you smiled. "So I asked him for a job"

"And he gave you one? He's always been a very independent guy, prefers to do everything himself you know"

"Well, I figure that when he's dealing with a lot of monsters a time he's bound to need an extra pair of hands to do what he can't" you smiled confidently.

"And he agreed?"

"Yep, I start tomorrow. From 12 to 6" you giggled. "He would've given me a longer shift, but he said he didn't feel comfortable having a "young lady" working late hours around drunks"

Sans laughed at that, good ol' Grillby, always looking out for others, especially the females that frequented his bar. He's had his fair share of nasty patrons that thought that being drunk was an excuse to harass the girls that came in.

"Well for what is worth, I agree with him. I know better than anyone how the guys get around here, and I'd hate to be the guy who crosses the line with you" he suddenly got serious, eye glowing a dangerous blue, a foreign tune playing on the background. "Trust me; they'll have a bad time"

You suppressed a shiver at the darker tone of voice. Who'd have thought the always smiling skeleton could get so serious. It was kind of hot.

"Plus, Grillby will fry their asses if they try anything" he went back to his easy-going tone like the flip of a switch and it was interesting to say the least.

You chuckled. "Good to know there are people out there looking out for me"

"Of course" he winked at you and smirked. "I always look out for those important to me"

You felt your heart pound in your chest at his words. You were sure that his brother and other friends were included in that, but at the moment it felt like it was just for you; a promise to protect you even if you didn't really need it. But it was still good to know that someone had your back.

The food came with the owner of the bar and was placed in front of you.

"Enjoy" he simply said and walked back behind the bar to serve the other patrons.

"Thanks man" Sans said and grabbed the bottle of ketchup, squirting a good amount on his fries before taking a small sip.

"Sans, why do you like ketchup so much?"

"I-Honestly, I tried it by chance. You see, I got so drunk once, giving myself one hell of a hangover, so since that day I swore off the stuff and tried an alternative, turns out ketchup tastes way better than alcohol" he chuckled. "Though, I'm the only one that can get drunk from it, not sure why though"

"Weird"

"I know right" he took a handful of fries and dumped in his mouth. He chewed and swallowed before talking again. "I even ran some test on the stuff; still don't know why it affects me so much. So I try to "drink it responsibly". Although, I've had my share of hangovers from it when I have a really bad day"

You took a bite of your sandwich, it was very tasty. As you ate you thought about what Sans told you. Not the weird, but interesting fact that he can get drunk with ketchup of all things, but the fact that he had drunk himself silly when he had bad days. What had he gone through to have him drink that much?

"Do you mind telling about those times?"

"When I got drunk?" you nodded. He sat back and rubbed the back of his neck. "My memory's a little fuzzy, to be honest; but I do remember having horrible dreams that had me feeling jumpy all day" he chuckled humorlessly. "Pap was worried sick when I ended up attacking random shadows while at work, and I almost..." he took a deep breath, and you reached out to touch his outstretched hand to giving him some sort of comfort. "hurt him on one of those panic attacks. After work I ended up here and drank myself into a comma" he sighed before chuckling. "Had a headache for three days straight, from the hangover and the lack of sleep"

"Did you ever talk to Dr. Alphys about those dreams?"

"I was going to, but decided against it at the last minute and just kept them to myself, until now that is" he smiled.

"Do you still get those dreams?"

"Once in a while; but not as often since the door to the human world has been opened" He smiled relived.

"That must've been quite the story"

"It is, maybe I'll tell you some time" he used his free hand to eat more fries.

"I'll hold you on to that" you took another bite of your sandwich, not letting go of his hand. It felt good, and you didn't really need both hands to eat half a sandwich.

Once you were done eating, he ordered another glass of juice for you and another bottle of ketchup.

"I'll pay for it" he said.

"But-"

"Let me, besides, he's been dying for me pay him for some of the stuff I've consumed here" he smirked at the fire elemental that was glaring at him.

You giggled and let him have his way, this time, next time it was on you for real.

When the drinks arrived, you relaxed some in your seat, your clasped hands lying on the table between you. His cold hands against your warms ones felt just right, like two pieces of a puzzle.

"Ok, so I know you might not like to talk about this, but I'm curious, about your time in the lab. Just know that you don't have to tell me if you don't want to"

"You're really into nerdy stuff weren't you?" you asked and he nodded. "Well, I don't see why not? Sure it wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't all bad. At least the bit with Dr. Elektra weren't" you took a deep breath. "Well, when I was young, I was in a horrible accident. My real parents had died, but I didn't know that until later, and I was nothing more than fleshy mess that should've died, but for some reason refused to. I was taken to a hospital where they took care of most of my wounds before the doc came along and took me to her lab where they retorted me through some very questionable methods" you looked up at him and he looked intrigued, if a little mesmerize. He was such a nerd. "I took me a year of intense physical treatment before I was able to walk, talk and generally move on my own again, but throughout the whole process she was there with me. Helping me talk, picking me up when I fell, keeping me well fed and generally treating me like a person and not just another patient" you smiled down at the table. "At first I had been very grateful to the scientists, especially Elektra, for returning me to normal, or as normal as I could get. I had foolishly thought that I would've been able to return home, but after they had told me about my parents, Elektra convinced me to stay in the lab under the pretence that they wanted to monitor the way my body reacted to the new limbs and body" you frowned. "It had obviously been a lie, and for a moment I had thought that Elektra had betrayed me. She hadn't but she was reluctantly dragged into it" you felt a squeeze on your hand and looked up into his eyes. He had a look of understanding, as though he knew what it was like to be betrayed by someone he thought he knew. It was heart wrenching.

"You don't have to tell me more if you don't want to"

"N-no, I-I want to" you took another breath and went back to the tale. "After that, it was test after test, after test; everyday testing my new found strength and durability; all the while Elektra treated my wounds and reassured me that one day we would escape. My powers began growing and they tried to contain them, but they proved to be too much for them so they opted for making me exhaust them until I would be too tired to use them. This worked for a whole of two weeks before the events that led me here today occurred"

He was quiet for a while before he stood and stood beside you. He wrapped his arms around you and pressed your face to his chest. You hadn't notice until now that tears were running down your cheeks and having him comforting you like that only made them fall harder. It felt good to tell someone about your past. Like a weight had been lifted off your shoulder. He rubbed your back and hair soothingly, rocking you back and forth until you calmed down and pulled back slightly, looking up at him. He was such a caring skeleton, and he always treated you sweetly.

"Sans"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for saving me" you leaned up and kissed his mouth, rendering him speechless and a blushing mess.

You pulled back after a while, a red blush covering your ears, cheeks and neck, curse your pale complexion. You couldn't believe you had done that. You kissed him. You actually kissed him. OMG!

She kissed me, she actually kissed me, Sans thought feeling elated and like jumping off the walls in joy. His soul was doing summersaults in his chest and his non-existent belly was full of butterflies. If he was dreaming he didn't want to ever wake up.

Misinterpreting his silence for something else, you started panicking. What if he didn't like you back? What if you just ruined the best damn thing that's ever happened to you?

"Nyx?" the raising panic was starting to worry Sans and he didn't like that regretful/sad look in your eyes.

"S-Sans, I, uh, I'm so-" he pressed a finger to your lips, silencing you.

"I like you too, Nyx" he said with a shy smile and a blush.

You seemed to deflate as the panic started to slowly escape your body. Thank god for that.

You threw your arms around his midsection, pressing to the soft fabric of the worn shirt. You felt safe and loved.

"I like you too" you finally said and leaned up again to kiss him.

This wasn't exactly how neither of you wanted to confess, but it was great nonetheless.