Warnings – bullying, verbal and emotional attacks
You froze, your lunch held tightly in your hands. Your friends were looking at you with the same eyes you've seen them give others. Their judgmental stares and cat like grins caused your blood to run cold. You managed to make your feet take one step after another until you were at the usual table, standing by your usual seat. There was a bag where you usually sat, but the girl directly to your right slowly moved it.
"Wow, nice haircut." One girl said with a snakeish blink. Your hand instantly went to your hair, which you had trimmed yourself the night before. Your bangs had grown out, so you trimmed them enough to reach the tops of your eyes.
"T-thanks…" You said, sitting and picking up the plastic meal the school provided for you. Taking a bite, you focused on the usual non-taste.
"Did you do it yourself?" She asked, her sickly sweet tone the same as when she talked to those she hated. You had always listened to that voice when it was directed to someone else, and you knew what it mean.
"Um, yeah. Sans was busy and-"
"Oh you mean your monster pet?" She asked, her grin growing wider. You froze again, the fork halfway to your mouth. You felt your heart skip a beat in shock at the bluntness of her words. It took a lot of strength to gently place the fork back down and look her in the eye.
"He's my friend, not my pet. Monsters are people too." You had found your voice while on your adventure. You had fallen over the summer, so coming back to school you had a lot more confidence – and your friends didn't like that.
"Oh sure… I'm sure he's just a 'friend'." She did the finger quotes, and your face flushed.
"Get your mind out of the gutter," You practically growled. "Sans is my best friend. There's nothing more between us."
"You sure?" She asked, deceptively innocent. "Cuz… I saw you at the mall the other day and it seemed like you were much closer than that." There was a fire burning in her eyes and you wanted to shrink away from her gaze.
That past weekend you and Sans had gone to the mall as a friend date, to catch up since your school and his work had kept you busy. When you met up, it was like you had never been apart – bumping into each other, making jokes. At one point he scooped you up and carried you across the food court because you had been pretending to be too weak to walk.
"I'm sure." You snapped, trying to put as much force behind it as you could, but the look on her face told you she thought of you as a child acting out against an adult. You weren't going to take this from her. Picking up your tray and bag, you walked away. You threw your barely touched lunch out and left the cafeteria, your phone already in your hand.
'Sans it's happening again."
"Where is your group?" Your teacher asked. Usually you and your friends were a group in class, but they had decided to form a new group with one of the sporty boys who sat in the back on his phone. You looked up at your teacher, trying to keep a straight face.
"I guess they're working with someone else today." You said, your voice almost hollow. Your teacher glanced at your 'friends' with a slight frown but didn't say anything. She just nodded and went back to patrolling the classroom.
With a sigh, you went back to your packet, slowly feeling yourself drown under the sheer amount of work you had to do all by yourself. The sounds of the other groups talking ground against your head, causing your headache to worsen. Eventually you packed up your back and asked to go to the nurse. Your teacher took pity on you and wrote you a pass.
The nurse was reluctant to give you painkillers, but she was always reluctant to give out painkillers to students in general. You downed them easily and went to lay down, waiting for them to kick in and stop the pounding behind your eyes.
What seemed like two minutes later, the nurse called your name. You blearily opened your eyes and realized you had slept through the last two periods of the day. You gathered your things and thanked the nurse before walking out to the parking lot and heading towards your car. All drowsiness disappeared as soon as you approached your car.
Someone had keyed the side of it, carving slurs and curses into the already beat up paint. You tried choking back tears, but as you traced the words with a shaking finger, you couldn't keep the burning in your eyes from overflowing. You threw your phone in the back and sat in the driver's seat, sobbing and trying to put the key in the ignition but your hands were shaking too badly for you to get it in.
A knock came from your window, causing you to jump. Hastily wiping your face, you rolled down the window and saw your friends, all forcing their smiles from their faces. The main girl, the one from lunch, was obviously not trying as hard as the rest of them. Her own key was dangling from a perfectly manicures finger, and you could see flecks of familiar paint stuck to it.
"It's a shame what happened to your car!" She explained, faking a shocked expression. You didn't bother trying to respond. You knew if you opened your mouth, either Blooky or Undyne would come out, and you knew either reaction would make everything worse.
"Maybe you could get your sugar monster to buy you a new car," She continued, a bright smile showing off her perfectly straight teeth. "The big goat like one? I'm sure he's plenty rich."
"Asgore is not my 'sugar monster'," You ground out, your knuckles whitening against the steering wheel. "He and Toriel are trying to work out their relationship. Besides, he's not into humans like that, even humans as monstrous as you."
"Ex-CUSE ME?" She screeched, her face contorting into something more monstrous than anything you saw Underground. With a tight smile you jammed the key in the ignition and peeled away, forcing the girls to jump out of the way to avoid being run over.
"S-sans please pick up." You whimpered as your phone rang. He hadn't responded to anything you sent him so far, and you were in desperate need of your best friend. Just as it was about to go to voice mail, you heard a hurried greeting. You tried to say something, but all that came out was a sob. You heard him curse and hang up, and a second later he was sitting in your car next to you.
The first time he had done it, you almost swerved off the road into oncoming traffic. Now you barely batted an eye at the sudden appearance of the skeleton. You even asked once how he always knew when you were driving and when you were in your room and such, and he responded with a sheepish grin that he teleported directly to wherever your soul was.
"What's wrong?" He asked right off the bat. You kept your eyes trained on the road, your knuckles white as snow against the steering wheel. You took the turn towards your house and gathered your thoughts.
"My friends decided to turn against me." You said, your voice surprisingly calm. The shaking in your hands had stopped a little, but the ache in your chest was almost suffocating.
"Those bitches?" He asked, scowling and watching you from the corner of his eye. "Aren't they always picking on people?"
"Yeah, but it was never me." You sighed. You knew they weren't good people, but they were your only human friends. They were mean, and rude and drove one girl to drop out of school two years ago.
"Maybe this is a good thing. Gives you an out from some awful people." He leaned back and rested his heels on the dashboard.
"Maybe…" You repeated, less convinced. He turned his head towards you and frowned.
"Look, you can't let them get to you. You're an amazing person. You single handedly saved all of monster kind. You went out of your way to make sure we all got our happy ending. A couple of mean humans are nothing compared to you."
"Thanks Sans. I've missed you." You said, your chest a little lighter. You saw him wince a little and sigh.
"I've missed you too kid. I wish I could get more time off but this job is what gets me out of bed most days. Papyrus offered to pay for the bills and stuff, but he doesn't realize just how expensive it is to live on the surface. He's paying for food and junk, but he doesn't realize we have to pay for lighting and water and heat…. Being an adult is hard." He chuckled deeply, and you laughed along with him. Sans' laugh was one of the only things that could make you smile, no matter how bad of a day you were having.
"What am I going to do? I can't go back to sitting alone every day," Your eyes started stinging again. You always got teary when you thought back to how alone you used to be in school. "I can't be all alone anymore…"
You let the tears silently stream down your face as you pulled into your driveway. Putting the car into park, you wiped your face as the pain in your chest grew.
"You're never alone," Sans said, is hand running through your hair in a calming manner. "You have all of us, no matter what time of day."
"It's just so hard…" You cried, turning and burying your face in his shoulder. The car seats dug into your side, but you just let yourself cry.
"I know Kiddo, but you're never alone." He rubbed your back until you calmed down.
"Thanks Sans," You sniffled smiling and sitting up. You grabbed your bag and turned to him. "Wanna come in for some coffee?"
"I think I can spend some more time with my best friend." He grinned and opened the car door.
"Oh sorry, looks like the seat is taken." The girl grinned. You had automatically gone to your usual seat, only to find it filled with all of their bags. You tried to keep the emotions off your face, but something must have shown through because her grin grew.
You had been avoiding them for days, bringing your own lunch and eating in the library. Today, however, you slept in and didn't have the time to make anything. They had been doing little things the past few days that have made you want to scream, but you resisted.
They took your paper and hid it when the teacher told you to pass the assignment down the line. They tried to slip marijuana into your purse, but thankfully you found it and flushed it before anyone found out. The worst thing they did, in your opinion, was spread a rumor that you were having 'relations' with the various monsters you spent your time with.
You turned on your heel without saying anything and sat at a table across the cafeteria, the one no one sat at because it was too close to the trashcans.
You were sitting in class, silently working on a lab by yourself. Your teacher tried asking if you'd want to work with another group, but you didn't want those girls – you decided to stop calling them your friends – to feel the satisfaction of you giving up. Just as you were about to set up the lab, the teacher got a call. She asked if you could take your bag and go down to the counselor. You felt your insides tighten up as you heard snickering behind you.
The walk to the counselor's office was the longest walk you've ever had to make. You knocked and he instantly opened the door. He asked you to sit with a serious expression and you knew this was no routine class planning meeting.
"I've heard some pretty serious things going around the halls," He said, leaning forward in his chair and resting his elbows on his knees. You felt all the blood leave your face as you stared at your hands. Taking a deep breath, you thought about what to say.
"Which one are you talking about?" You asked, trying to sound as mature and collected as possible. "I know there have been a few going around."
"I have to ask you, and I need you to answer me honestly. Are you having relations with monsters?" He asked. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration. You sat back, and despite knowing it was coming you felt your stomach drop to your toes.
"I swear I've never done anything with them, not like that. They're my friends, and that's all they are to me." You told him. You made a point to make eye contact, so he knew you weren't lying. You conveniently left out the date with Papyrus and the flirting with Toriel.
"Do you know what may have started these rumors?" He asked after jotting something down on a notebook. You hesitated, not sure if you were willing to sell those girls out despite everything they've done to you. He heard your hesitation and looked up at you. He gave you a warm smile to convince you to speak up. You said the names of the girls without looking at him.
"They were my friends. When we came back from summer break they didn't like how confident I had become and turned against me. They've been isolating me in class, making excuses to not work with me in class and so I can't sit with them. A few days ago they keyed my car and wrote slurs. They've been trying to get me in trouble and to fail my classes. They made up this awful rumor because nothing they've been doing can get to me and they knew my friends were the only thing that would rile me up and I don't know what I did to deserve this." You broke into tears. He handed you a box of tissues, but didn't say anything until you calmed down.
"Why haven't you told anyone they were doing this?" He asked. He didn't sound angry or condescending in the slightest, which was surprisingly comforting to you.
"I didn't know if you'd believe me…" You muttered.
"Why wouldn't I have believed you?"
"You didn't believe the other girl two years ago. She was bullied by them until she dropped out." You couldn't help the guilt from seeping into your voice. It was partially your fault because you never stepped in to stop it.
"I know who you're talking about," he said, sounding equally as guilty. "She came in once, but refused to tell anyone what happened. We tried to help her, but she refused to talk. If she had spoken out, maybe we could have helped her."
"What are you going to do?" You asked, almost worried for the girls. He wrote something else down before rolling his chair over to the computer and bringing up a blank email.
"I'll need to talk to some of the advisors, but I think I have an idea. We'll make sure those girls don't do this to anyone else."
"Thank you." You said quietly, gathering your bag and standing. The bell was about to ring anyway, so you made your way out to the parking lot to wait for Sans. Since your car got keyed, he made a point to drive you every morning and pick you up every afternoon.
He drove up on his motorcycle – a purchase he was adamant about despite Papyrus' disapproval. He had a helmet on, but you knew he was only wearing it so he could give it to you when he picked you up. Monsters could heal much faster than humans in the case of a motor accident. You walked over to him as he pulled the helmet off.
"Hey Kiddo, how was school?" He asked, handing you the helmet and taking your bag so he could strap it down.
"Awful. The counselor called me down about some awful rumors going around." You shook your head and held the helmet like a child in your arms. Sans looked at you with suspicious eyes.
"What sort of rumor?" He asked, flicking down the kickstand and dismounted the cycle. You stayed silent, but with a single strong look you told him.
"They said I was… having relations with you and everyone…" You winced as you said it, and then winced again at the positively murderous look on his face.
"I'm going to kill them-" He growled when a shrill voice broke through his words.
"Oh look! This must be the pet." The girl said with a sickly sweet grin. Her lackeys were behind her, looking less sure of themselves.
"The… what?" Sans said, an almost maniacal grin on his face.
"You know… the pet." Her grin widened, and you could see Sans' blue fire forming in his left eyes. You knew she was about to have a bad time, and as much as you could have loved that, you couldn't have Sans fight anyone. Monsters were still barely accepted into society, and if he attacked a human they would never be accepted.
"Sans, stop." You put a hand on his arm, and you could feel him shaking under your fingers.
"Aw look, the pet is taking orders." She laughed, but no one else laughed with her. Sans' shaking got worse as the fire started licking his brow bone.
"Come on kid. One hit. Just one hit." His voice was gravely and deep, a sure sign he was about to lose control.
"No. No fighting Sans. Remember how I got everyone out? Without fighting." You said quickly, hoping to diffuse the situation. Already there was a crowd forming around you, and you didn't need any more rumors about you going around.
Finally after a few tense moments Sans takes a step back, his fire slowly going out. He took a deep breath and turned to you.
"Come on kid, let's get out of here. If I wanted to be around trash I'd go to the dump with the doc," He turned his back towards the girls and took a step towards the cycle. In the blink of an eye, he was nose to skull with the leader of the girl gang, his left eye glowing dangerously and his right eye as dark as his grin. "And if you ever bother my friend again I'll make sure you regret it."
In a second blink of an eye, he was back at the cycle, gesturing for you to get on the bike too. You put on the helmet and climbed on behind him, ignoring the shaking gasps coming from the frightened girls. As he zipped away from the school, you hoped you did the right thing by stopping him.
"Um, I know we've never really talked before, but I thought it was really brave of you to stand up against her like that. I don't know if I would have told the monster to stop." A shy girl had approached you during your lunch in the library, and you could see she was shaking.
"That monster's name is Sans," You said, not unkindly. "And I just didn't want him to get in trouble."
"Well… he scared her really badly, and she hasn't tried anything since then and I really wanted to say thank you because she's been harassing me for weeks and now I think she might have finally stopped." The girl said, taking a seat across from you.
"I'm glad. I don't want anyone else going through what I did."
"Would it be alright if I sat with you? I don't have anyone to eat lunch with…" she trailed off and you felt a tug in your chest. She was just like you.
"Of course," You said with a welcoming smile. "I always welcome new friends."
"F-friends?" Her whole face lit up, and you instantly knew you had said the right thing.
"Yeah, friends." You stuck your hand out over the table and formally introduced yourself. She did the same, and you realized that maybe having your 'friends' turn against you was one of the best things that could have happened.
A little different take on the hurt/comfort. In this one it's more Sans gives you a chance to find your own confidence.
I'd like to thank everyone for all of your support and love. Honestly without you I don't know what would have become of me. I don't really have much to say this time, but I'm already working on the next chapter.
Until next time!
Starlight
