It was a Friday evening. There was a nice breeze in the air, the sun was reluctant to sink below the horizon, and the world felt gentle. Serene, even. Sean was on the verge of throwing his laptop out the window.

Sans was content to watch, amused, as he once again lost an intense staring contest with the buffering circle.

"You'll get 'em next time, champ."

Turning around slowly, Sean levelled him with a glare that could whither entire rainforests.

"Aw, c'mon sport, turn that frown upsi-" He was cut short by something hitting him directly in the face. Sans gasped when he saw the offending object. "Hey, that's our only throw pillow! What have we said about using our words?"

Sean's eyes burned with righteous fire. "I will not hesitate to shove our only throw pillow up your ass." He was not patient when it came to technology.

"Woah, is this a bad time? I can always call back later…"

It seemed the call had gone through just after Sean turned away. Udaya's pixelated face lit up the screen, and Sean was quick to spin back around. Sans held their only throw pillow defensively against his chest, just in case.

"No! Don't end the call, don't touch anything. Don't even change the brightness."

"Shit man, whatever you say. What'd you do to get him all worked up, shortstop?" Udaya's expression turned wolfish. "Unless I tuned in to a kink negotiation. I don't want to hear about that, but I always did have Grillby pegged as a dominatrix."

Alice's window popped up just then, averting the long-winded rant Sean was undoubtedly about to start in on. He didn't dare say anything at the moment, but Sans figured he should send his gratitude to her later over text. Unlike Alice and Udaya, he didn't have the option of volume control.

"Hey guys!" Blissfully unaware of the conversation she had stumbled into, Alice was grinning brightly. "It's so g-good to see you! I can't believe I've already had a week of c-classes. You start Monday, right Sans?"

Just like that, everything was calm. Sean had given up on his tirade and got up from the floor to sit next to Sans, who wisely decided to take a raincheck on seeking retribution for the pillow assault. Udaya was now focused solely on Alice. It was probably for the best.

"Any assholes I have to beat up?"

"Nope! I-I've actually made quite a few friends already."

Udaya positively beamed, her wide smile far more genuine than the piranha-esque form it usually took. "Can't say I'm surprised. You're pretty awesome."

"Heh, well, it doesn't hurt that people are impressed when I tell them my girlfriend's in the Minneapolis police academy, and that she punched one of the other recruits for being racist on the first day."

It wasn't often that Alice spoke without stuttering, or that Udaya blushed up to the tips of her ears. There did seem to be a very strong correlation between these phenomena, however, considering how often they co-occurred.

"Eh, Minneapolis police force, big whoop. My boyfriend's in the CIA." Sans snickered, pleased with himself. He'd been saving that one for weeks.

Sean rolled his eyes. "I'm sure everyone will be beyond impressed when they find out what 'CIA' stands for."

"They will!" There was a second, more exaggerated eye-roll. Sans looked offended. "Shut up, you don't know anything. You're in the Culinary Institute of America, that's impressive."

Two successive whooshing noises announced the arrivals of Nico and Matteo to the video chat. They were greeted warmly by Alice and enthusiastically by Udaya, and ignored by Sean and Sans, who were much too busy bickering to pay attention to anything else.

"I'm just saying it's a big deal. You shouldn't sell yourself short."

"You wanted me to go to the 'Way Cool Cooking School!'"

"It's called the 'Way Cool Cooking School,' Sean, you could've at least applied. And don't change the subject, we're talking about your refusal to acknowledge how amazing you are."

"My refusal? That's rich coming from the guy who can't admit he's a genius."

"That's because I'm not!"

"Boys, boys, please," Matteo admonished. "Just kiss already, all the flirting is giving me a headache."

Sans looked at the screen in surprise. "Oh, hey Matteo, hey Nico. How long have you been here?"

"Long enough," muttered Nico.

Despite his supposed irritation, Nico was happy. Senior year had been stressful for everyone, but the pressure to decide what to do after graduation had weighed especially heavy on him. He'd spent months agonizing over his future, applying to more colleges than anyone else in their little group even though he wasn't sure he wanted to go. It had surprised everyone when, instead of taking up an internship at a radio station or at least staying in-state, he elected to study both music and broadcast journalism in California.

Nico would never admit it to his cousin, but knowing Matteo would only be living a few hours away helped alleviate his worries immensely.

"Sorry about that," Sean chuckled (Sans had a sneaking suspicion that he was only sorry he hadn't gotten the last word). "How's it going out West?"

"Los Angeles is simply wonderful, you all have no idea. It's exactly where I need to be. I'm literally dying for the semester to begin."

Nico huffed. "You are truly a monarch of drama, Matteo."

"Oh please, you're just grumpy because your dorm doesn't have air conditioning."

"It's Cali-fucking-fornia! Air conditioning should be mandated by the state!"

As the only two people who were physically together, Sans and Sean were able to share a smug look-who was bickering now?-with ease. It looked romantic. Udaya stared pointedly at Alice's icon on her screen, hoping to partake in the look sharing. She was not successful.

"I've n-never heard you use tmesis, Nico!" Alice, who had the face of an angel and the tongue of an anxiety-ridden undercover sailor, was glowing with pride. "I c-can't wait to see what another week of breathing in the California air d-does for the inclusion of expletives in your vernacular."

"Yeah, yeah, we get it, you're smart." Matteo was well-versed in the art of derisive flattery.

"I think it's hot," purred Udaya.

Sans glanced at his boyfriend, suddenly inspired. "Hey, did you know that electric flux density is directly related to electric field strength with the material's permittivity acting as the constant of proportionality?"

He received a deadpan stare for his efforts. "I'm not kissing you again until you wash your mouth out with soap."

And so it went. The six of them bantered back and forth, uninhibited by half a country's worth of separation. Udaya was thrilled to describe in detail the most recent of her Punch All Racists exploits, Alice stepping in to translate when her girlfriend sacrificed intelligible verbal communication in favor of acting things out and making sound effects.

"I was barely even reprimanded! Gerson told me I wasn't allowed to hit people that aren't breaking the law and then recommended some easy dinner recipes that don't include beef."

"Since when are you a devout Hindu?" In all the time he'd known her, Sean hadn't once seen Udaya pass up an opportunity for sausage pizza.

"Since my immediate supervisor didn't put my ass on the fryer."

"Fair enough."

They talked well into the night, hours rolling by unnoticed. It was different, not eating lunch together five days a week and hanging out after school, but it was enough.

Apart from Sean, Sans hadn't told any of them much about what happened. The authorities (it was a convenient term to lump everyone under) had decided not to make the whole fiasco known to the general public, and he liked telling himself that was why he kept so tight-lipped.

It wasn't that he didn't trust his friends. Sans knew they'd never be anything other than understanding and supportive, he had no misgivings about that, but it was just…

Easier. Talking about it with Papyrus, Tori, and Sean was enough to send him through the wringer, and he had no desire whatsoever to add more people to that list. Besides, Arthur said he didn't have to tell anybody else if he didn't want to, not right now, and therapists know best. So they say.

They knew something had happened, what with Tori taking him and Papyrus in and Sans having acquired some Issues, capital I and all, but that was about it. His friends didn't press, even when he missed school. Even when he had to duck out of class or lunch or the middle of a conversation because he was too overwhelmed to be anything but alone. Sans did his best to convey how thankful he was for that.

"Hey dipshit, are you listening to me?"

"No. Was I supposed to be listening?"

"Jesus Christ. Grillby, how do you put up with this guy?"

He figured they got the message.

Do I study physics? Yes. Did I have to look up the equations for electric flux? Yes.

You might think I'm posting this super early, but that is in fact only very early considering I posted the first chapter on ao3 a few days ago and forgot to post here lol.