Alphys had been correct in her hypothesis. As soon as the recess bell had rung, Sans had bolted to the teacher's desk yet again, asking for 'clarification' on his math worksheet. Of course, being a teacher, Mrs. Drake had been more than willing to help him out. It wasn't until after class were Alphys and Undyne able to set their operation into motion.

Sans sighed, sliding his notebook into his bag as slowly as possible. The metal rings which binded the notes together caught slightly on the zipper, causing him to have to tug at it. Well, at least that bought more time. Alphys and Undyne had been eyeing him all day, and he knew he had an interrogation in store for him. 'shoot...here they come...' He looked anxiously to the teacher's desk, but Mrs. Drake had already left for the teacher's lounge. That empty chair symbolized his inability to escape what he knew was inevitable.

"Hey, Sans!" Undyne boomed, "Come over here!"

Sans felt himself flinch as the moment he had been dreading descended swiftly upon him. 'how can i play this off? chances are, alphys has already relayed her suspicions to undyne...' He silently cursed his luck as he made his way over to his doom. 'there's no way they're gonna let me off the hook now... especially not after avoiding them all day...' He sighed, and came to a halt in front of his blue-scaled friend, placing his hands inside his pockets to keep from fidgeting. He met her eyes hesitantly, plastering on the biggest smile he could muster. "heya undyne, what's up?"

The fish monster beamed. "Oh, nothing much, skele-bone, just waiting for Al to finish packing up." She gestured to her right, where Alphys was still gathering a mountain of papers into her bag. Undyne sighed, resting a hand on her hip lazily. She mentally reminded herself of what Alphys had said during lunch: "Please be subtle, Undyne, if we come on too strong, he'll just be more on guard." "So, how'ya been, skell?"

"oh, uh, fine, thanks," Sans lied. He hated lying. He hated the way the words felt as they rolled off his tongue and hung in the air, mocking him. 'gosh i dont want to be here...'

Undyne smiled. "Good ta hear. To be honest, I've been a little stressed myself, what with all this new curriculum. Have you been stressed at all?"

Sans shook his head. "um, no, not really..."

"Heh, that's good." Undyne flashed her white teeth in a good-natured grin before looking to Alphys. "Oh, here she comes. C'mon Al! We can't wait all day!"

"S-Sorry!" Alphys stammered, hurrying over to the two. "I couldn't find my punctuation worksheet. I could've sworn I left it in my desk..."

"i'll help you find it tomorrow, alphys." Sans offered.

"R-Really? That'd be great, Sans!"

"y-yeah, no problem, i'm sure its around here somewhere. you know, its good to have a binder for times like these, my dad always said its important to..." Sans continued on his tangent, hoping to ward the subject away from the inevitable investigation from the two girls. This tangent was maintained for the entirety of the walk, all the way to the bus stop. This was a good mission accomplished on Sans's part. Neither Alphys nor Undyne were able to get a word in edgewise, although they tried.

"That's really interesting." Undyne huffed, "But you know, Sans, I'd like to-"

"if you think that's interesting wait until i tell you about..."

This was the recurring pattern the conversation took until the three had made their way to the street, where the florescent yellow school bus waited, its engine purring eagerly to get back onto the road. Sans skidded to a halt and turned to face his friends. He had managed to keep that huge grin fixed firmly on his face the entire walk, and his cheeks stung from the effort. It was a relief to know that this 'chat' was over. "oh? we're here already? wow time sure does fly by! well guys, i had a great time with you today oh well ill see you tomorrow bye!" He quickly turned on his heel and began to race-walk away, alone. Only, to his surprise, he wasn't alone at all. There was Alphys on his right, her white dress billowing softly behind her in the brisk breeze. There was Undyne to his left, her blue scales shining in the bright afternoon sun. Sans blinked in surprise. They certainly weren't illusions. "um... hey guys... the bus stop is back there."

"We know," Alphys hummed, "we're walking you home today!"

Sans stopped in his tracks, soul frozen in sudden horror. "w...walk...me...home...?"

"You better believe it!" Undyne cheered, pumping her fist into the air.

The skeleton felt a cold sweat begin to appear on his brow. This was far from good. "heheh! real funny guys! c'mon, you live so far away! don't want to be late, or your folks might get worried about ya! you, uh, had 'bus'-t be getting back to the stop, you don't want to miss your ride!"

"That's the great part!" Undyne laughed, "We managed to convince the River Woman to give us a ride after we walked you home!"

Sans could feel his pulse begin to quicken. His mind flashed to where, not two blocks ahead, Astigmatism was no doubt lurking in the shadows of the alley. No, they couldn't walk home with him. Absolutely not.

"heh, okay guys, joke's over. you got me! now c'mon, i'll walk ya back to the bus stop. if we hurry we can still catch it!"

"No joke!" Alphys smiled, "we're walking with you and that's that!"
"Yeah!" said Undyne, chucking the trembling skeleton's arm affectionately, "And we ain't taking "no" for an answer!"

Sans's mind worked frantically, desperately trying to come up with alternate routes around the alley that he may not have thought of before. However, the fact remained that there weren't any. He couldn't think of any while he was level-headed, much less while the icy tendrils of fear were coiling around his soul.

"...you'll have to take it." Sans whispered.

Undyne cocked her head, her fiery hair falling to one side of her shoulder. "What was that, Sans? I didn't hear."

The skeleton looked up to meet her face. "you'll have to take "no" for an answer, because that's the o-only answer i'm gonna give." he stated, voice quivering slightly.

The fish monster smirked. "What makes you think we're gonna do that?"

Sans was getting more agitated with every passing second. "n-no guys. y-you can't come with me. i w-won't a-allow it."

"Sans..." Alphys said softly, "...you know why we're here, you're smart. We're concerned about you. Please, we just want to know what's wrong."

Sans bowed his head. The alley flashed in his mind, hovering over his consciousness like a looming gray fog. What should he do? If he told the truth, they would come with him, no doubt about it. Then what? Astigmatism would hurt them as well... But, if he continued to stay quiet, they might be hurt emotionally, and maybe even think that he didn't like them. But, that couldn't be farther from the truth... He hadn't even known them a week, and yet the thought of either of them getting injured, emotionally or physically, was more than he could ever hope to bear. It felt as if they had been friends for an eternity. Logically, he knew that this attachment was foolish. It was impossible to care so deeply for people after knowing them for only a short period of time. And yet...his soul knew what it knew, and felt what it felt, and threw logic to the wind. In this situation, there were only two options. Confess or don't. Either way, he was the one responsible for hurting them.

"...you...y-you will not come with me." His shoulders began to shake. Suddenly his eye-sockets began to sting with tears. He cursed himself as he felt them slide down his cheekbones and make contact with the still, frozen air. There was no way out. No way to keep them safe. He kept his gaze down, tears falling onto the snowy pavement silently. Suddenly and without warning, he felt himself pulled into a warm, tight embrace.

He looked up to see Alphys, with tears in her eyes.

"Sans..." she whispered, "please...tell us what's wrong."

He felt a webbed hand on his shoulder. "Please, Sans," Undyne said, softly, "We want to help you."

Looking into both of their eyes, Sans felt himself shrink under their gaze. Their eyes, they were so caring, so firm, so relentless, so... determined. Why did they care for him so much? Here he was. He had lied to both of them, had avoided them, and yet here they were, with a warm look in their eyes he could never fully describe. What had he done to deserve them? Nothing. How could he face their eyes now? There was but one way that perhaps, just perhaps, he might begin to repay them. The truth,and the truth alone.

'i...i'm sorry..." he whispered, "i'm so sorry..."

A/N:

What do you call a skeleton who cuts down trees for a living?

A Lumbar-Jack!