Another night passes. Papyrus has been busy running with Undyne all morning – despite his long limbs and usual tirelessness, he can have a hard time keeping up with her. What makes it easier today, just like the day before, is the fact that Undyne is wearing her full suit of armor.
"UNDYNE, DO YOU REALLY THINK GOING TO HOTLAND IS A GOOD IDEA?"
There's clear worry in Papyrus' tone as he paces after Undyne. With all of her armor, the heat would probably melt her. She seems dead set on it, though.
"I've looked through the entire Waterfall twice! The human is not here, so they must've slipped past me! I have to go help my troops. It's my responsibility..."
She halts and turns to face Papyrus. She looks uncertain now and for whatever reason, a pang of guilt strikes through Papyrus' chest. He doesn't place that that uncertain expression is more like mistrust until a bit later.
"Papyrus... If you knew where the human was, you would tell me, right?"
Silence falls between them. Papyrus hates lying, especially when he's confronted like this. He knows he's risking everything important to him if he confesses. And yet, his determination is crumbling.
"UM, UNDYNE, I..."
Disappointment spreads all over her face. And yet, it doesn't seem like she's that surprised. As well as disappointed, she almost seems relieved. Papyrus doesn't know what to think of it.
.
Alphys has been between doing work, posting on her UnderNet account and reading manga since she woke up. She once again uses the elevator to get out of the True Lab, the door automatically closing after her as she reaches the 'surface'.
She feels much calmer here, but she can't put away the haunting thoughts of the creatures below. She fidgets as he makes her way to her computer and forcefully distracts herself by checking if anyone's posted something new.
It's then that she hears the door to her laboratory shuffle open and someone parades inside. Alphys startles slightly.
"[DARLING! WHAT IS THIS, CHECKING ON MY PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE PERHAPS? I MEAN, WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU SPEND YOUR TIME ON!]"
The robot rolls inside on its single wheel and greets Alphys in an expressive manner. She calms down slightly, the worry sinking back into the pit of her stomach, where it's slightly less bothersome.
"O-oh, M-mettaton. D-do you need a-adjustments to your b-body or...?"
Alphys naturally expects this to be a maintenance visit. After all, that's the only reason Mettaton seems to find time for to come see her at all.
However, the robot rests his arms against his sides and looks disappointed.
"[COME ON NOW, ALPHYS! CERTAINLY YOU REMEMBER OFFERING MY SHOW SOME QUALITY ENTERTAINMENT, NO? WHEN IS THE HUMAN GOING TO GET HERE?]"
Alphys' eyes widen when she recalls the puzzles and sets they'd gotten ready specifically for that event. She's been too busy thinking about other things to remember what she and Mettaton had been planning.
"T-t-that's right, s-sorry, Mettaton..."
Alphys quickly gets up from her seat and goes to turn on the live video feed for the human's location. It was shut down to save power earlier. Mettaton settles next to her, waiting for the news.
"I-it looks l-like they're s-still in Snowdin."
"[WHAT? HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?! DON'T THEY REALIZE THEY'RE COMPLETELY RUINING THE TIMING FOR MY BIG SPECIAL!]"
The yellow lizard fidgets as usual. Of course that's all Mettaton is thinking about. But she's still happy he even agreed to help, so there's no reason to complain.
"I'm s-s-sorry, there m-must be s-something that's k-keeping them t-there."
Alphys had caught a small part of a private conversation by accident, but she, for the most part, just pretends she hadn't heard it. Even if she's curious.
Mettaton seems quite agitated.
"[WELL WE CAN'T HAVE THAT, NOW CAN WE? WE BETTER GIVE THEM A REASON TO KEEP GOING! I WON'T HAVE MY FANS DISAPPOINTED BECAUSE OF A VAGUE "SOMETHING"!]"
"W-wait, I d-don't think th-that's a good–!"
Before Alphys can finish her sentence, Mettaton is already rushing out the door, screaming at his camera crew.
"M-m-mettaton, w-w-wait!"
Alphys shouts after him and rushes over, hoping to stop whatever is threatening to unfold.
.
It's early in the afternoon that Sans wakes up. Even Papyrus would think it's unusually late for him to get up, and it is. But that's only because he spent most of the night working on his research.
Speaking of his research, he's fallen asleep against his desk in the True Lab. The papers are scattered across the table and the floor. He yawns as he sits up and goes to pick up the fallen papers.
It's dark in the room except for the dimmed table lamp beside him. The door into the room is closed and it's entirely quiet. Even Endogeny is nowhere in sight, despite having taken a liking to Sans.
Once he's piled up all the research papers, he goes for the door. He notices it's not locked and sighs, this time making sure it is as he exits.
He uses one of the other doors for his magic, entering his house through it. To anyone inside, it looks like he's simply coming out of his room, the blue flames under the door disappearing as he does. They come back when the door closes after him.
"papyrus?"
Sans calls casually as he heads down the stairs. It's a slim chance his brother is home, but there's no harm in checking.
Someone emerges from the kitchen when he reaches the bottom of the steps, but it's not Papyrus.
"oh, hey kid. what're you doing here?"
The door is probably left unlocked by Papyrus so the human can come and go as they wish. Sans doesn't mind, since his own room is always locked.
"I'm hiding. Kind of."
They shrug, seemingly honest. They've averted their gaze to the floor.
"that so? well, like pap already said, you've picked the right place."
Sans winks, amused as he passes the human to go into the kitchen. He opens the fridge, unaware why he expected anything but ingredients for spaghetti. He closes it again.
"i'm going to grillby's. wanna come?"
It seems like a nice opportunity to chat more with the human, so why not? There's still a lot of things left unclear between them.
"Yes, please. Ah... Um... Actually, I was going to ask. I don't have any gold left..."
The human becomes awkward in the middle of their sentence. Sans finds himself still amused by their nervous behaviour.
"i'll foot the bill this once. i don't think papyrus would forgive me if i left you unfed."
For some reason, "this once" doesn't sound so absolute.
"come on. i know a shortcut."
Sans shrugs and nudges his skull toward the door. He earns a giggle from the human. They seem to know what's up.
.
Once they've gone through Sans' house door and emerge at Grillby's, he turns to smirk at the human.
"fast shortcut, huh?"
The human shrugs in response, clearly in on the joke. Sans turns to the rest of the patrons.
"hey, everyone."
Many of the others greet him in a familiar manner as he's leading the human toward the counter. Eventually they both get seated, Sans first.
"here, get comfy."
By the time the human sits on the bench, a whoopee cushion starts going off. Through the whole duration of it, the human looks to be either on the verge of tears or laughter. Maybe both.
He's done this gag before, hasn't he?
"whoops, watch where you sit down. sometimes weirdos put whoopee cushions on the seats."
Sans is sure he looks pretty pleased with himself, even if some of the joy is sucked out by being aware of the kid's time traveling abilities.
There's a short pause. They both can sense something wrong in the atmosphere, the human clearly even sharper than Sans. He takes a subtle peek behind him to see some of the monsters inside seem kind of... Wary.
"anyway, let's order."
Both of them soon decide on a burger. While waiting for their order, Sans takes out a comb from his pocket and pretends to brush his non-existent hair. The human seems, as usual, somewhat amused by him.
"i don't know how i haven't asked this yet, but... what do you think of my brother?"
Sans puts away his comb as he asks this. The human turns to face the counter for a little bit. Their expression is kind of vacant, as if they're waiting to get to the good parts. He quickly realizes he's slipped back into their "routine", even if he was unaware this is a part of it.
"He's cool."
The human eventually responds and it's kind of obvious they know that is the right answer. Sans can't know if the sentiment is sincere, but he hopes so.
"of course he's cool. you'd be cool too if you..."
He stops himself and averts his eyes for a second or so. He rethinks what he's going to say entirely.
"...we should really talk about the stuff we started on yesterday, right?"
The human looks up, suddenly filled with more life again. They're out of the routine. Sans feels more at ease because of that.
"let me ask you something first. what were you hiding from when i ran into you?"
They think about it for a moment, then rest their arms against the counter as they speak.
"Everyone here seems nervous around me. I think it's because they know what's going to happen to me if I keep going forward, but me staying here causes them to lie and pretend..."
They've lowered their voice enough so only Sans can really pick up what they're saying. He nods at that.
"i mean, what didya expect? monsters aren't natural killers, even if your soul could give them freedom."
At least temporarily, Sans adds in his mind. The human looks a little saddened by his words.
"I've never just decided to stay in Snowdin before. There was nothing more for me here to find until I ran into..."
They pause to look around the room, checking if anyone's listening.
"Until I ran into those things."
The human finishes in a softer tone.
A moment later Grillby returns with their burgers and sets the plates in front of them.
"here comes the grub. want some ketchup?"
As Sans is offering the glass bottle, loud noises from outside the bar interrupt them.
[A/N] Thanks for the nice review, Starlight! I appreciate it.