Sans wasn't quite sure what to make of their neighbor. At first, he didn't like them, avoiding Paps, how low could you get? Asking the other neighbors about them gave him really nothing since they had really only talked to them once. A shut-in who rarely leaves the house. Except on Fridays, it seems, after having spotted them coming home with bags.
He didn't understand why Papyrus would bother trying to befriend their neighbor. It was clear that they wanted nothing to do with them. He wouldn't have even tried, Papyrus though, he was determined. Sans knew he wasn't the only one to try to change his mind. Papyrus was just that certain he could befriend them if he just tried hard enough. So that's what he did, Friendship Spaghetti and the whole nine yards. Sans had expected it to get ignored.
So it was a surprise when he saw the cookies on the table the next day. Paps had said it came from the neighbors, whose name it seemed was Alexi. Paps seemed so happy as he explained that they had waved back today. He had been right about them just being shy.
Maybe he had been wrong, but after a while, all they did was wave back. His brother's friendship with their neighbor grew stagnant.
Then the door incident happened and he was once again back to not liking the neighbor. He would have confronted them right away but Paps got sick. So his free time was taken up with caring for him.
Papyrus was the better cook out of the two of them. Sure he could cook a mean hotdog or hotcat, but when it came to recipes and actual ingredients. Well, that kinda stuff just goes over his head. So he was surprised, on day three of Papyrus being sick, to see homemade soup in the fridge. He became even more surprised when he heard it was from their hot and cold neighbor.
So Sans decided, he needed to talk to them. Figure out what the deal was with their neighbor. Why they were playing this game of hot and cold with his brother.
Which is why he, on a Friday afternoon, was watching their house. Since that was when they actually left for the day it seems. Waiting. They had already left for the day, to do who knows what, so he just had to wait until they came back.
He waited for about an hour before he saw their car pull up. They seemed happy enough, good time as any for a chat. He shortcuts down in front of them making them jump back startled.
"Hey kiddo, we need to talk. Think we can go somewhere to chat?" If he had paid even a little bit of attention to their body language or the shaking in their voice as they said sure, maybe things would have turned out better. He grabbed their arm and shortcut the both of them to Grillby's.
He expected the human to be startled at their arrival, nervous at a new place. That had been his goal, after all, to put the human off guard so they could chat.
That wasn't what happened.
Once they arrived, he had let go of their arm and turned to greet them. Except Alexi had slammed themself back into the bar. They tripped over a stool and unsuccessfully grabbed at the bar, knocking over a few things in the process
He could see their hands shaking, their eyes darting back and forth around the bar. There was fear in their eyes and their breath started to come out harsher. They had pushed themselves closer to the bar, wedging themselves between the chairs.
There were only regulars at the bar, too early for the night rush. Grillby was the first to react and hurried around the bar as Sans and the rest backed away from Alexi. The regulars wanted to give them some air, and Sans was in a panic.
What had he done?
When Grillby got down next to them Sans could see them mumbling something as they dug their fingernails into their neck. He winced a bit, knowing that must hurt but he doubted it was on purpose. Grillby placed his hand gently on their arm, and that seemed to have set off something as Alexi started to tear up. Still, they mumbled but now he could faintly hear what they were saying.
"I'm sorry." Over and over and over. It just made Sans feel worse. Ling had rushed past Sans with some water, in hopes that it would calm the panicking human.
Grillby looked over at Sans, this was the angriest he had ever seen him. He didn't need Ling to translate that look, it practically screamed 'What have you done Sans'
The others were looking at him now. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. He took another step back and then he was back in his room.
He just wanted to talk to them.
He just wanted to talk to them.