Sorry for the delay, yesterday ended up being not fun.

(36)

The group left shortly after that and Gaster and Grillby sat in the bar in silence. An uncomfortable air settled in between them. Apparently the run in with their old group had been just as unsettling an experience for him too.

"How was Hannah?" Grillby offered.

"Fine," Gaster said quietly. He had finished fixing the stove part and was looking it over one last time. His expression was hard to read. "What did Jani want?" he asked.

The bell above the door then rang to admit Serena before he could answer.

"I'll tell you later," Grillby told him.

"I'm sorry! I know I'm super late," the water monster announced. "I had to proctor a tournament and those things don't really have an end time… What did I miss?"

"Nothing really," Grillby told her, and he did his best to ignore the questioning glance Gaster gave him. He knew she would see through the lie anyway. He'd tell her later too.

Serena sat down at the bar next to Gaster and held out her hand to him. "You must be the best friend I've heard so much about. I'm Serena."

A hand appeared to shake the water monster's without Gaster looking up from his work. Serena blinked at this. "Umm… okay."

Grillby rolled his eyes. "Gas, really?"

The skeleton jumped as he realized what he was doing. "Oh, sorry!" He reached out with his own hand that time to take Serena's. "Hi, I'm Gaster. Nice to meet you."

"What'cha working on Gaster?"

The skeleton glanced down at the device like it was suddenly meaningless to him. That meant he was probably done. "Power supply," he told her. "For an electric oven. One of the older ones. They had the tendency to fail a lot. I changed some components out so hopefully that won't happen from now on."

"Really? How so?" Serena asked.

Gaster looked up at Grillby who just shrugged then gestured at Serena.

He thought a moment. "Do you know how rust works?" Gaster asked her.

"I know how it happens and how to prevent it," she told him.

He nodded. "That's a good start. Well, when metals such as copper or iron, he former of which is what most wires are made from, are exposed to an electric current that process happens faster. The resulting compound isn't conductive, so if you don't insulate the metal in the wires from the air, eventually it'll stop working. The problem is that's hard to do, at least perfectly. Even well-insulated copper will degrade eventually. The alternative is to use metals that won't rust but are still good conductors. So I swapped out what I could. That's the simple version anyway."

That time Serena looked up at Grillby. "I told you," the fire monster said.

Gaster glanced between the two of them. "I feel like I'm being made fun of."

"Serena just wanted an example of you at work."

"Oh," he said, embarrassed.

"I was just curious," Serena explained, "sorry if I was bugging you."

He shrugged. "No, it's fine. I was done. Plus you're better than someone else at least."

"Hey!" Grillby cut in, catching the hint. "I learned not to bug you while you were working when we were like seven."

"You and I have very different definitions of 'bugging me,'" the skeleton countered.

"I think it's past your bed time, Mr. Snooty," Grillby jested.

At his joke, Gaster shot bolt upright and turned to the clock in the corner. "Crap, it is late. I gotta go."

"Already?" Grillby questioned. "Serena just got here."

"I know, I'm sorry, I just… there's something I need to do tomorrow."

Grillby sighed. "Lab?"

"Lab," Gaster echoed halfheartedly.

Grillby nodded in understanding and watched his friend depart.

"Should we do something about this?" She asked, gesturing to the component Gaster left behind.

"Eh, the owner will have to get to that tomorrow, 'cause I ain't about to try putting that oven back together myself," Grillby told her.

"Probably for the best," She agreed. "So what's got you all soured up?" she asked now that they were alone.

Grillby finished wiping down the bar before answering. "You want to come back to the castle with me?" he offered.

It wasn't enough to make Serena ignore the fact that he was dodging the question. "Why?"

"Have you ever had the chance to explore around that place? It's quite something. And I think it's only right I bring you to where I've been living at some point. So, what do you say?"

"Are you going to tell me what's on your mind when we get there?" Serena asked, not letting Grillby get off the hook.

"Don't I always?" She rolled her eyes at that.

.

The castle gates were always open. No guards were ever posted at them. Though, according to Gaster, the queen had told him there were some nasty magical surprises in place for anyone trying to get in who wasn't meant to be there, which, according to the king, was a pretty empty list anyway. Grillby didn't like thinking about it much though. It was a reminder that what he long thought to be the end of his problems was only the beginning.

"So, are we going straight to your room, or…?" Serena joked in a tone that Grillby had learned meant she was half-okay with that idea.

He smiled. "No, I figured I'd bring you to one of my other favorite places first.

"Knowing you, that statement scares me slightly," Serena teased him.

"Oh, you are far worse than me missy." Grillby shot back.

She shoved him back and he grabbed her in a bear hug.

The two made their way up to the top of the castle wall, giggling the whole way up. Grillby, having picked up the water monster at some point along the way, set her down as she took in the cityscape. "Best view in the Underground," Grillby said.

"It's certainly something," Serena agreed breathlessly.

"I've been able to come up here and look at this almost every night since I got caught." Grillby explained. "It really puts some perspective in you. I used to hate it, honestly. It just reminded me of my failure. But then I realized that failure was probably the best thing that ever happened to me."

Serena turned looking down at the fire monster who was leaning over the stone next to her.

"I hate myself sometimes, you know?" Grillby went on. "I hate myself because of how wrong I was before all of this. I hate myself because I wasn't able to change anything, and I still haven't. And now I know that changing things isn't as easy as convincing the king and queen that something is wrong. They were well aware of the problem before I ever started causing trouble, and they've been trying harder than I – or anyone else for that matter – to solve it."

"What are you getting at?" There was more than a little concern in the water monster's voice.

"That's just it!" Grillby said, throwing his arms up. "I don't know! I've been so confused lately. I've fallen in love with this life, but I can't help but feel guilty about that, like I've let other monsters down; like I've let myself down. Can I really just keep going like this? Will I even be allowed to? What will I do if I lose all of it?" He placed his head in his hands. "I don't think I can go back to the way things were before now. Not anymore."

In their time together, Serena had never seen Grillby so vulnerable. She wasn't sure what to do for a moment. Then she did what just felt right. She leaned in, turned his head towards hers and pressed her lips to his, taking in his warmth. When she pulled away, she said, "This life is yours. You will never lose it, and you will never lose me."

She wrapped her arms around him and the two stood at the top of the wall looking at the glittering crystals above them for a long time before finally turning in for the night.

Serena couldn't help but feel her words weren't enough to convince him.