Shaking woke me up. I startled, sitting up suddenly. When I did I felt Sans slide off of me onto the couch. "Oh, sorry bud-" I twitched when I realized Gaster was there. "Gaster?"

"Thank goodness you're awake. Grillby, what happened? Are you both alright?" He moved to his son who was groggily waking up. "Are you hurt?"

I blinked several times, noticed Sans's shirt was ripped- Oh! The fight! My own jacket was so ripped up and singed and my pants were still soaked with snow. "Oh crap…" I muttered under my breath. "Uh… we ran into a little trouble," I said honestly.

"Trouble? What sort of trouble?" Gaster sat his son up and began checking him over for any scrapes. "Why are you both- Why are only you hurt?" He suddenly looked my way, somehow knowing my health without having checked my soul. Guess my flames were running a little low.

"Um… well-"

"What happened." Gaster stood, crossing his arms.

I sighed. "Sans wanted to see my magic so I took him out to the edge of Snowdin where it was safer to show off and… Some kids that were looking for trouble kinda started some."

"Started some? As in tried to fight you?"

A flinch and I replied, "It was some kids that pick on Sans at school and some older kids from my school. They started it and I couldn't let them hurt Sans."

Gaster's eyes widened. "You protected him?"

"Of course."

He hummed and asked, "What happened to Sans's shirt?"

"One of them got too close," Sans said. He sounded so tired still. His eyes were dark. Blue still lit up his face. "Grillbz showed 'em who's boss an' they ran off. Simple 's that."

His father didn't say anything at first, then turned to me asking, "How hurt are you?"

"I'm okay, Gaster, Sir." I pulled my soul forth to my palm. "A little under half, but I'll be fine."

"No no, that won't due. Let me get you something to heal you up." Before I could answer, the taller skeleton turned away and left the room. He quickly came back with what looked like a protein bar. "Here. Eat." He moved some things on the coffee table and took a seat. "Grillby, while I appreciate you protecting my son the way you did, I'd rather not see my college's son injured." Once I'd finished eating and Gaster made sure my health was back to a safer level, he continued. "Now, you said some of the monsters that fought you were kids that picked on my son at school?" He eyeballed Sans.

"If I remember right, it was the same kids I saw him fighting with when I first met him. But they never fought us today. They stood back like they just came to watch."

"I see." Gaster put a finger to his mouth, covering it. "And the others? You knew them you said?"

I grimaced. "Not really. Just some kids from my grade that like to pick fights with anyone that looks at them funny."

A loud sigh. "What is with monsters nowadays?"

I couldn't help but agree. Just getting attacked like that today? Especially when they were threatening to dust me? How I wanted to tell him that Sans had saved my life earlier… but I couldn't without giving away Sans's secret.

Before we could continue talking, Papyrus appeared at the top of the stairs, rushing down. "You're awake!" he squeaked excitedly. "Sans, you need to change your shirt! It's all broken!" Then he looked at me. "...I thought you knew to wear things that don't burn!"

I laughed. "Sorry, guess I'm just flame retarded."

Sans snickered. "That was bad."

"Sorry, used all my best fire puns earlier."

"Guess you only have yourself to FLAME." We both started laughing way too hard while Papyrus angrilly stomped on the ground. Seeing that we were beginning to relax again, Gaster let me borrow a shirt and I stayed to hang out with the boys. We didn't do much other than watch some TV shows and play a few games inside. After all the fighting from earlier Sans and I didn't feel like doing much physically. Actually I didn't think Sans would want to do anything anyway. He had been so tired, he went to bed early so I spent some more time with Pap.

I left pretty late that night. Papyrus hadn't wanted me to go so I promised I'd visit the next day. I just hoped I wasn't too sore tomorrow.

Luckily I slept like a baby. I woke up the next day feeling recharged. Nothing hurt anymore. I felt great.

Doing my usual morning routine, I made sure my dad didn't need any help with the bar and made my way over to the skeleton's house after getting some breakfast. This time I was able to knock on the door before someone answered. It was Gaster. "Hey, Gaster." I was smiling but stopped when I saw he wasn't.

"Good morning, Grillby." He stepped aside. "Please, come in." The door shut behind me. "I'm glad you stopped by like Papyrus had asked. Turns out I need you to watch him. My apologies if you had plans."

"It's fine. I love watching the boys. Where is Pap?"

"Not boys, just boy. Sans is sick."

My soul jumped. "Sick?"

"Yes. I need to take him to see a doctor. I've got a college that can check on him but I need someone to watch Papyrus." Gaster talked as if things were alright, but something about the way he held himself didn't feel good.

"What's wrong with him? A stomach buuuuug…." He didn't have a stomach. He was a skeleton. What could they even get sick with? "Do you know what's wrong?"

"I've got my theories but…" Gaster blinked, looking to me and studying. "You said you took him out to show him your magic." I was about to say that I hadn't attacked him or anything, but Gaster asked, "Did he attempt to show you any of his?"

That caught me off guard. "H-His magic?"

"He did." Gaster definitely knew what he was looking for in my face. "What did he show you? What sort of attacks did he attempt? Blue magic or standard? Was he able to form a weapon of sorts?"

All these questions and I didn't know what to say.

"I can tell you know more than you're letting on. The minute I said he was sick you showed a worry that wasn't just... worried for him. You appear to worry on a level beyond a friend. No… not the right words." He thumbed over the words in his head.

"Like it's life or death?" I asked and he pointed a finger at me.

"Exactly-" He paused. "Would your father be able to watch Papyrus? I'd like to talk to you at length about this."

I could feel Sans's trust in me fading away, but I was worried for him. Something as small as being sick could hurt him in his still fragile state. I hoped my talk with him about 'what I do is for your own good' would be enough to go back on. "Let me call him."