Papyrus has been trying to get Sans to join him in his cooking attempts for a long time now... but for whatever it was, Sans just couldn't get himself to give in. He'd tried the old lady's pie recipe once. Tried. Absolutely ruined it. But tried. That was about it though. Got a good laugh outta Sans and exaggerated exasperation outta Papyrus.. Sans couldn't... He couldn't commit to staying in the kitchen, though. He just couldn't...
... Cooking was a task you couldn't walk away from... Flee from...
Sans rotated the water sausages side to side across the grill, staring at it and the simmering air vacantly.
It was a mindless task...
Only a few customers walking by, greeting him, forcing him to smile, and then he went right back to grilling again... Though he kept glancing.. to the side... where they should be appearing.. any second... and weren't..
At first he'd been too angry and pent up to care, then there had been the relief as they didn't appear, and now... now he was forced to acknowledge how uncomfortably long they were taking.
It wasn't that he was entirely concerned, he wasn't, it was the promises he's made. What it all meant if something went wrong this time. But if something was going wrong- Alphys would call him wouldn't she? This time? Sans felt an urge to go back. To pick up the hunt for them, but then that same urge would fill him with anger. Bitterness. They'd caused this problem, it wasn't his to solve!
Sans sighed and stared at the hotdogs... turning off the grill and sitting down, resting his hand against his boney cheek... And finally... Finally... They appeared. Sans sat up, then leaned back against his chair.. crossing his legs as he stared them down as they came closer.. The red eyes avoided him. Refused to look at him as they approached. They stood at the corner of his station, still not looking at him, but at the wood between them. That separated them... Their red eyes are even darker, redder. Ringed from their lack of sleep, from their obvious crying...
"hey kid, wanna buy a hot dog?" As if nothing had happened at all between them.. They shook their head. "sure? it's only 30G."
They shook their head again, their arms crossed...
"I'm sorry.." They whispered. Sans froze. The two little words sat there out in the open between them, just there, between them, both of them tense... It's like The Human doesn't want to say anything more while at the same time there's everything to say.. and Sans himself... he isn't sure what to say either. He's never sure what to say. He settles on a long, resigned sigh...
"what's this really about, kid?"
Because that's what it boils down to, right? There's more to all of this than...
They glanced upwards, just for a moment, a single red eye daring to meet his through their bangs, but it is only for just a moment... they were looking down again, hugging themselves tighter...
Because what was this really about...?
"Everybody... forgets..." Sans tilted his head curiously. "That's what Frisk hated most about the RESETs. Everybody forgets and they didn't. So each time they went through.. If they got somebody to laugh one way, they would do it that way each time. They always fell for each of your pranks. All your jokes. No matter how down they felt, how useless everything seemed and they started to come to terms with the fact that they couldn't save everybody the way they wanted to.. Even when I was whispering in their ear to just end it.. They would always, always try to make each of you happy..."
There was a heavy silence...
"There isn't much left I can take from them..." They whispered... "And yet... I still am."
They finally leaned forward against his station, wanting so desperately to bury their face.
"I changed how I interacted with Papyrus after he killed me and I just... keep doing it. Even when I'm not trying to..."
"you're upset you can't reset and do it 'right'?" The way Frisk had?
They looked up at him, their eyes thinking it over but then they shrunk down again..
"No." They said honestly. "Because even if I did it 'right', it'll still never be real. It'll never be-"
Frisk.
.. There is another few moments of silence as Sans thought it over.. and he thinks... Sans thinks he finally, truly understood why him not pranking them at certain points upset them so much. He'd been so off... and it kinda makes sense from what he knew..
Everything twisted back to Frisk in one way or another.. And Frisk not being... here.. The true reason they were upset.
That grief...
Sans heard a small sniffle and he can tell that they don't dare move because if they did they would be crying again... Sans shifted his gaze away, trying to give them the smallest bit of privacy that he can.. but then his eyes catch something. Sans uncrossed his legs and leaned forward..
"here, kid, have a hotdog. on the house." He slipped the hotdog onto their head. All the noise from them ctt off. Not breathing- "well, on you at least."
They don't move. Sans picked up another one.
"not satisfied? okay. here, have fun."
"I have inventory space.." They said, their voice cracking even more despite trying so hard to keep it together..
"huh. well putting 'em on your head is obviously funnier." He said, as if it was the easiest decision ever while he added on a third.
"Stop."
"nah." As he went on to grab another-
"Please..." Sans' fingers hovered over the dog he'd been meaning to grab.. The Human lifted their head the tiniest bit, Sans able to see their expression.. miserable, broken.. as they looked at him. The red eyes truly pleading even as they fought back tears. "I have to pretend with everyone else, I don't want to with you.. Not anymore. I'm no.." They breathed out shakily, looking back down, away.. "I'm not Frisk..."
Sans' fingers coiled together tightly...
"okay, kid.." He said softly before he began to take the 'dogs one by one off of their head.. Then he was leaning forward, over the wooden edge beside them as he stared upwards at the stone ceiling. But despite what they'd both just said, they both pretended the kid wasn't fighting back another wave of tears... After another minute or so, the kid reluctantly lifted their sleeve to their eyes, wiping away whatever they had failed to stop. They breathed out heavily.
"I wanted to wait until we were farther along and closer to the end to tell you, but... that's really pointless.." They admitted. They were standing up, pretending, and Sans looked down at them even as he stayed leaning up against the front of his station..
"your plan?" Sans asked. They nodded but then... looked around anxiously.. "we could.. talk in hands?" They only frowned and looked down again as they shook their head.
"It doesn't even matter if he's listening or not.." They mumbled.. "Besides, I don't want Alphys knowing what we're talking about either."
Alphys?
"huh. so she does remember hands.." Sans mused. They shrugged.
"She's a bit out of practice at first but she remembers enough. Papyrus can understand, too. More actually. He just can't sign at first."
"o.. kay.. but why do you know hands?"
"Why do you?" They countered and Sans... Sans realized that was a super valid point. But even as he was about to conceded they lifted their hands, moving, a sign he didn't recognize but he instantly.. knew...
Their two hands formed in a familiar [F], as they both.. traced a heart over their chest.. where their Soul would rest..
Frisk...
But even so.. that didn't answer Sans' question of why they needed to know it... Or why Sans knew it to begin with..
"Anyways..." The Human said quickly as their hands fell, cutting the conversation off entirely as they hugged themself again..
"anyways.." Sans agreed..
"After we beat Flowey, he makes it his plan to.. basically he wants us to get the happy ending, as he calls it." They grimace, though, "So he can take it away."
"sounds like something an evil flower would do." Sans can see it instantly and he instantly added it to his list of things you didn't do if you didn't want and angry Human.
Don't. Bring up. The Flower.
Let them do the talking...
But he wasn't sure if the anger was directed at him or the memory of the murderous flower.. Sans decided that it was best to just avoid it regardless...
The anger didn't... exactly go away.. but they swallowed it and looked down again- Could they not keep his gaze for a minute when they didn't want to tear him to pieces? It was starting to... It was starting to concern... It was just a bit unsettling knowing how genuinely scared of him... of what he would do if he saw the real them reflected in those red eyes..
"Anyways..." They continued again.. "He sets it up so that Undyne asks them- us- me.. for help getting her and Alphys together." Sans couldn't help but chuckle. That pairing was a long time coming, so painfully obvious, but it was just.. who knew it would take a homicidal flower to make it happen- "You know how he is talking to Papyrus?" The Human began cautiously, knowing this was a sore subject on HIS list of things you didn't bring up if you didn't want an angry Sans.
"yeah." They flinched but continued anyways.
"Well, I need you to talk to him instead. To get him to get Undyne to ask me for help."
A simple solution, huh?
"so.. instead of having a flower demon manipulate my brother, you want me to?"
The red eyes were looking straight at him for once and Sans could see from the surprise that they hadn't thought about it that way. Sans' anger dissipated. A bit.
"why don't you just talk to undyne yourself?" He reasoned. The red eyes blinked. They then frowned as their mouth opened in protest but nothing came out. "what does it matter who gets her to have you help as long as she does?" Their mouth shut and their shoulders slacked as they stared away from him.. . again..
"That's just.. How Frisk..."
"well, we need to do what frisk couldn't, right?" They turned back towards him with a sort of hurt expression- He took the opportunity while they were still meeting his gaze. "ever stop to think that you don't have to pretend with everyone else? that you could just be yourself? as long as that self isn't a murdering everyone, that is-" Their expression was even more pained, but shocked, their mouth opening again in protest- "i get that's not the point." Sans cut off.
Their mouth shut tight and Sans was just glad they were still looking at him- Probably because they were on the edge of being confrontational with him but he would take what he could-
"i get that the point was keeping things the same as they were for frisk, but.. you're right. frisk ain't here. you can't pretend forever... it'll never be real." He echoed back their words, each one cutting deep inside of them, and yet.. coiling.. Their breathing is shaky, the anger.. Sans can't help but give them a sympathetic expression. "can you really not accept that the others care about you?"
"Of course they do!" They cried. "They're... Monsters..."
Sans chuckled darkly a bit, and this time... he was the one to look away sadly towards the ground.
"and don't you think that maybe frisk would want you to do this by being yourself?" He asked softly. Their teeth were gritted together-
"What they wanted was to not Reset." They seethed.
"well it did." Sans threw. "can't change that. so don't ya think they'd want you to be happy?"
Despite-
"I'm the type of person who won't ever be happy!" Sans looked at them in the corner of his gaze...
"you're quoting me, aren't you?" The anger flashed again and they were leaning towards him, the anger surpassing their fear just like it always did.
"You can't even get it." They said dangerously. "You can't even be properly angry."
"i don't know, i was pretty-"
"No." They said, and then they were smiling.. Not that smile that they used during Fights that was soft but fake. It was the smile of his nightmares. Mean and twisted and the red eyes were piercing as they devoured his unease.
They wanted to hurt him.
"Do you want to know the worse thing about all of this?" They asked in that fake half whisper, as they still leered at him, dared him to say something else. Go ahead. Just another excuse to rip the both of them to shreds. "Do you wanna know what I took away?"
No, he had been wrong, Sans realized. They didn't want to hurt him. Not really. They just wanted him to hurt. Hurt like they were hurt. How they thought he should be hurting. How they thought he would be hurting.. if he could just only remember. They wanted it. Needed it... Because he was the only person in the Underground, in the entire world, that could even get close to understanding.
Because he could feel the grief even though he didn't understand. Couldn't understand. They wanted him to understand.
And all Sans could do was stay there tense as he prepared for the blow.
"You. Told Frisk. Everything."
Wrong. He could have never prepared for the blow. They had known exactly what they were doing. He couldn't even hide it from them-
Sans can't even fathom that. What they were saying. Not at all. To be that open with somebody... He had so many secrets. So much baggage that he hid even from... To tell somebody... even a bit of it... But to tell somebody all of it. Everything.. To be at a point he could do that.. To not live a constant lie at every single moment. Wanting to flee at any given moment.
To have that much... healing...
Sans' eye sockets were wide, the whites gone as he couldn't breathe..
Their cruel expression faltered.. just the slightest bit.. but then..
"And they did that much for everybody." They struck again.
He really can't breathe right..
"So don't you see, Sans?" They asked in a false sweetness. "You think you can tell me I can try to be happy?"
They laughed but then immediately, their taunting smile disappeared as they glared at him.
"I don't deserve to be happy." They snapped. "I took everything away and there is no chance of me ever getting it back. Because. I'm. Not. Frisk. I can't do that. I can never do that. All I do is destroy! Nobody would have ever even died if it wasn't for me." They were smiling maliciously again as they tilted their head. "If Frisk was too good, then I'm the absolute worst."
And Sans...
But Sans...
They were watching him so expectantly, so desperately... wanting, needing, his anger. His hatred.. Needing.. All of this baiting.. And it is so unsettling.. being able to understand it.. There's a sick feeling in his not-stomach as he put his hands uncomfortably in his pockets, and it hits him. Quite literally. As his knuckles his the locket. The torn picture that flashes in his mind and that message from another Sans..
They're watching him so expectantly... desperately... Wanting that anger.. But Sans...
His shoulders relaxed and he looked them dead in the eyes.
"even the worst person can change."
It was instantaneous. As soon as the words had been spoken Sans knew that the phrase meant something much more than even he had realized. Not just to him. There wasn't a trace of anger in their expression, only horror. Their mouth opened in shock. Sans expected the anger to return, multiplied by ten (thousand) in about another two seconds, but... it didn't. Instead it is that broken laugh. It's softer than usual, maybe on the edge of even being genuine, as a hand lifted to their forehead and they brushed their bangs gently.
"Not everybody can be a good person." They said weakly as the laugh died but lingered in their voice.. "Because even if they try, they still just mess everything up.."
Their hand fell and they were still smiling strangely, but at least it wasn't the cruel one from before. It was too rueful and a distant look to their eyes.
"I can only pretend to be something good." They said. "Even if Frisk wasn't gone.. I'd still just be a fraud if I tried to do anything. Like Alphys." Their smile was gone, replaced by a serious dark expression. "You're right. It did change because of me. Because we're both too similar... She's just better than I am. She actually faces her mistakes.. I just hide or..." There was a dark pause. "Do something cowardly."
The killing...
"you're being... awfully open." Sans noted, his voice catching for a second.
He knew part of it was that they truly wanted him to hate them, because they truly felt like they deserved to be hated. That they only really knew how to handle him when he hated them. He'd seen it in their eyes. Their expressions. But even with that truth, they also seemed... to truly want... There was something more than just wanting to hurt him and themself in telling him all of this.
They just turn away, arms still crossed so tightly and he doesn't think they're going to say anything as they took a step away.. But then comes the hesitation, a half step that lingers...
"It's just... talking to you was always.."
"kid?"
They collapsed even tighter..
"Frisk.. told you everything, too..."
They began to walk way again, quicker this time, and Sans sat down in his seat, watching them disappear...
He should go after them... but just for a moment...
Frisk...
Sans pulled out the locket and traced his finger over the engraving...
"Best Friends Forever,"
The thoughts have caught up to him, the ones that had first arisen standing there in his workshop, standing next to the Machine.. The ones he had been able to avoid with the looming danger of the Flower overshadowing him.. Now he can no longer avoid them..
Frisk...
Sans' finger stopped moving over the engraving..
Frisk had helped everyone...
But Sans had to wonder... How much did that apply to this kid? It clearly had not been enough.. or perhaps.. had the pain of losing it just been too much? After all, the loss was devastatingly heavy on Sans and he couldn't even remember it...
Sans was grieving, but that kid was completely unraveling..
... Frisk had been the only one to even know they were there... weren't they?
No. No. They had told him. When Sans had just been too angry to actually listen. Papyrus. Papyrus had known they were there. That Sans had known they were there but that Papyrus had known them... But with that emphasis. With how they were acting about everyone caring about them now... He'd been the only one, hadn't he? Frisk and Papyrus...
For years... Years... watching through Frisk's eyes.
And the thought...
"Frisk should have just Erased me..."
Years behind their best friend's eyes... believing that they shouldn't even be there.
And Sans had agreed with them.
Just yesterday, he had agreed with them. And even... That message from another Sans.. When he had written that why did Sans now feel as if.. the worst person changing.. why did he now feel as if he hadn't included this kid in that idea?
They had killed Papyrus, after all...
But they had also genuinely grew to love Papyrus... Even as they continued to hate themself.
Sans didn't think he ever understood that before. All of this.. was new. Unexplored and new.
Just like the feelings the kid was...
They had wanted this support, had asked for it, but now that they had it.. They weren't prepared for it. They don't deserve-... They can't accept that they deserve it. They just... really cannot accept it.
Can Sans?
He doesn't... He's not... sure.
It was a means to an end. To get everyone up to the surface. He wouldn't take that away from everyone else.. It had been a means to an end because they had been honest telling Papyrus they couldn't do this without him and had lied to Sans when they said that they could. It was a means to an end because Papyrus really would be upset if they were gone and maybe-
And this kid... There's just so much... Too much.. A whole lotta baggage there they weren't prepared to let anyone help them unpack.
... oh...
That was the answer, Sans realized. The answer to how much Frisk had been able to help. Frisk would have tried. Would have so desperately wanted to help... to give them the healing they would need.. But you just can't do that. Not with someone who thinks they shouldn't even be there. Who thinks it would just hurt you even more if you tried to help..
It feels... all too familiar..
Somebody wanting to help someone else that they love but that person refusing to let them. Hiding away...
... Papyrus isn't an idiot.. Sans didn't think Papyrus was an idiot. Sans knew... that Papyrus knew... he was lying. Hiding. That Sans wasn't telling him what was wrong. That Sans was holding onto this baggage, refusing to unpack.. Because what was the point? If it all just RESET again? If the weight of knowing would just hurt Papyrus further? And then they'd just have to do it again... Or what if... it stayed...? He didn't have to do it again? Somehow that is even... that might even be harder? It was just better to keep it all packed in... It was just enough that Papyrus cared.
And maybe on the surface, when everyone was safe and happy, the fact that Frisk and Papyrus cared had been enough..
But now everybody wasn't on the surface safe and happy, and Frisk... was gone.
So it came back to the question... was Sans... could he truly do this? Accept-
Man, he really wasn't the skeleton for this job, though! This was a Papyrus job! But they'd asked Sans. For all that they were genuinely scared of him, they'd asked him! Because he was the only one who could really know what, who, they were. What was at stake but also what they had done. The only one who really, truly, could hold them accountable...
Sans closed his eyes and tilted his head back, letting the thoughts fade away again. It's too much to think about. Handle. And he's got too many bad habits of his own he can't just deal with right away. He'll think about it later. Help them get people up to the surface and then deal with it. Later.
But...
Sans stood up and shoved the locket back into his pocket, his hand hitting the torn picture once again.. With everybody there. Smiling.
They'd told Papyrus they couldn't do this without him and they had been honest, they had told Sans that they could do it by themself, with their anger and their spite, and they had been lying... And Sans thinks... with the way they are now, loosing touch to their determination like this.. They really are going to need the entire Underground's support to even get them to the end. That support they were refusing to accept. That support Sans was tentative to...
Sans shook his head.
Think about it later.
Later.
For now...
When Sans finds them again they're wearing an apron they hadn't been before while waving goodbye to two members of the Royal Guard.. One of whom was shirtless? Sans wasn't going to ask.
The Human seemed to appreciate it.
They don't look directly at him, even as they angle their body towards them, acknowledging at the very least he was there again..
"You're just in time." They said and Sans could tell they were trying to sound okay, to sound casual, but it wasn't working.
"for what?"
"More Mettaton."
"hmm.. do you actually want me to be there?" Sans asked skeptically. They had said they didn't want him playing along anymore? He honestly wasn't sure what they wanted from him... But they just nod.
"Yes." Speaking almost firmly, even, but then they paused, looking down at their phone.. "Or I guess not... Unless your phone also has a bomb defuser."
"uh-"
Everything was a bomb.
The present. The basket ball. That dog that was always annoying Papyrus. The kid...
Everything.
Sans could only watch from the sidelines with a smile and occasionally laugh to himself as the kid worked away at the bombs. Alphys was on the phone with them, playing along with The Human just like they had asked. She seemed too nervous and flustered, but the kid appeared to be listening.. Sans can see that they're actually still frustrated, though.
"CURSES! IT SEEMS I'VE BEEN FOILED AGAIN!" Mettaton cried dramatically. "CURSE YOU, HUMAN! CURSE YOU, DR. ALPHYS, FOR HELPING SO MUCH!" Sans started to walk into view. "BUT I DON'T CURSE MY EIGHT WONDERFUL VIEWERS FOR TURNING IN!" Sans stood next to the kid as they half glared at the robot. "UNTIL NEXT TIME, DARLING!" Mettaton disappeared, and Alphy's voice came up from the phone in their hands.
"W-Well, that w-worked out?" She asked. The Human forced a smile and nodded.
"How did you guys get the dog to participate?" Alphys was stuttering on the other end.
"I.. I d-don't... actually know?" She stated, her voice pitching. "Th-That wasn't... I d-didn't plan that?"
Guess there were some mysteries not meant to be solved.
"A-Are you... r-really o-okay with this?" Alphys asked, not convinced at all. The kid seemed to think a moment. Planning their words carefully.
"I was upset at first..." They admitted.
"O-Oh!" Alphys cried, but Sans knew that the kid had not been upset about what Alphys was assuming.
"But I also meant what I said. I want to keep going with Mettaton. And you too." They added. "I know you're both having fun, and..." Sans was watching them in the corner of his eye, feeling something build up inside of them. "I was using you too."
"W-What?" Alphys started.
"I was using you as a distraction..." Whatever they've been thinking about, trying to avoid thinking about, it was all boiling up to the surface now- Truth- "I was pretending I could do this. Going out and having things work like they were supposed to-" How Frisk had always done it- "It let me lie to myself that maybe there was a way to do this without-" Unpacking- "I know what I have to do once I reach Asgore's castle it I want the surface, and I..."
They shook their head.. still unable to face it. To let themselves think it...
Just like Sans.
"Y-You're n-not alone..." Alphys managed after too long a silence.
The red eyes closed, a sort of grimace in their expression.
Because still... they cannot accept it.
But Sans thinks that... he can.
It was a means to an end. To get people up to the surface. A means to an end because Papyrus would still be upset if something happened to them, and maybe.. maybe Sans had to say he wouldn't be entirely indifferent about it either...
... Sans wouldn't be entirely indifferent about it...
Cuz Undyne was right. They were just rough around the edges. Maybe a lot rough around the edges. But Sans doesn't think... He doesn't think he hates them anymore. Not like he did. He doesn't.. fully care. He just doesn't yet, but that yet... he can't say that it isn't there. It's...
It's terrifying..
That one little word..
Impossible word, it can't be there and yet-! He doesn't actually hate them. They'd killed everyone! He's killed them! Just yesterday in a time that hadn't happened anymore! And yet-!
He thinks... a small part of him is starting to root..
The kid was finishing up their talk with Alphys, hanging up with her reassurances that they just cannot accept and putting the phone away. They stood there together in silence for a moment, the red eyes staring out vacantly across the walkway... Then the red eyes were closing again, tightly. Thinking ahead to the things they are truly trying not to think about.
"I just can't do this."
"..." Sans reached into his pocket, the warm metal of the locket brushed his fingers and he hesitated... before pulling out the torn bits of picture. They glanced his way as he held it for them to see. He sees the recognition in their face. The flood of guilt. But that's actually not what Sans is going for... The reminder of what they've lost several times now- Instead- "when i got this picture out of my workshop, it had a note on it. that saying. the worst person can change."
He paused...
"but it was there with a second picture. an identical picture. how could it have changed? if we just found ourselves right back where we started again?"
So he tore it.
"but that train of thought... the fact that a version of me could have that train of thought! and how i'm feeling right now... i think... maybe it is true." Sans dared to look directly into the fearful red eyes. "cuz you see i don't think i wrote this just about you, eer, them..."
There was the softest hint of.. understanding in their eyes.. a slight lift of the head.
"you said i told frisk everything, right, well that means you got to hear it too. you know the mess i'm in, kid. all the stuff i can't even tell papyrus. i'm just as bad of a hopeless fraud as you are.."
But even so...
"even so, you said it youself." Even if indirectly. "i changed..."
He accepted help, even from the most unlikely source..
The red eyes were filling with a new set of tears..
"But that didn't happen in a day..." They whispered, on the very edge of despair..
And Sans had to give it to them... that was fair. It hadn't.
"of course not.." Sans agreed. "but we're not asking for you to do all that in a day. we're just asking for you to accept it's possible."
But he can see the hesitation on their face. Because even if it's possible-
"and maybe you don't deserve it." Sans cut in through their thoughts. "but mercy has never really been about deserving."
They flinch, their whole body jerking away from him like he's burned them with just a single word. There's... horror on their face-
That's.. the expression of someone whose never been shown Mercy before. No, no, that's not right. It's the expression of someone he's never shown Mercy to before. Not really. Not truly. Sans shoved his hands and the torn picture back into his pockets and gave them an awkward smile. He can tell they still don't know how to think. What to think... Sans isn't entirely sure either.
"this is.. new to me, too." Sans admitted. Hoping that would freak them out less... But they still don't understand. And yeah, he got that. He is the Judge after all. He was the one who was supposed to hold them accountable..
"ya gonna try and shove me again?" There was another moment before they shook their head.
Huh. They were keeping this together rather well despite the horrified and shocked expression... He lowered his hand off of their shoulder and took a step past them.
"come on." He encouraged, tilting his head in the direction of the elevators. They walked beside him with their head down, but for once he didn't think it was out of fear of him seeing their eyes. They were just that confused.
They entered silently into the elevator and they rested against the wall as he pressed the buttons for them. Their hands moved... awkwardly... and it takes Sans a minute to realize... they are thinking about something to say. To sign.
He's literally stunned them into silence. In both word and Hands...
But then finally, as they stood there, the elevator long having reached its destination.. They finally manage it.
"Can you... leave me alone for now?" They whisper. Sans barely makes it out but he does, and as he does he just stares at them..
They don't really risk dying.. if they really pay attention to what they're doing.. But their HP isn't working like normal. He's seen them lose health when he was sure they should be invulnerable. He's not..
"i'm not sure about that... we're about to run into muffet after all.."
There was a shadow of a mischievous smile on their face as they pulled something from their inventory.
The Spider Donut-
"I've been saving it since the Ruins." They admitted, entirely pleased that their investment was about to finally pay off. Sans let out a small chuckle.
"guess that webs up my excuse, doesn't it?" He still eyed them again in concern. "but are you really sure that it's a good idea for you to be alone?" Their lips pressed together, their smile gone as they put the donut away. The elevator stopped moving and the doors opened. The kid didn't move. Sans sighed. "okay, tell you what? let's meet up at mtt and get some lunch? sound good?" The kid lifted their head enough so he could see their eyes past their bangs. He could see they were uneasy. They looked down at their feet.
"I'd rather go to Grillby's." They admitted softly. Sans snorted.
"yeah, me too... the chairs are a lot comfier."
"The atmosphere's warmer too..." They whispered. His smile widened, but maybe they hadn't noticed what they'd done... Nah. He was sure they had. It was encouraging anyways.
"so that settles it. we meet up at mtt and short cut it to grillby's. sound good?" They nodded. He waited another moment, hesitant to actually leave. He sighed again. "hang in there, kid. okay?"
He left them to themself hoping it wasn't the worse possible mistake.