Grillby sat at the table, closed sign up and Sans sent on an unnecessary errand that should keep him busy for a few hours. Grillby's sat waiting in quiet contemplation, a nervous flicker to his flames that he couldn't quite get under control. He was more than aware that the meeting he was setting up unbeknownst to his houseguest was a complete breach of trust and if he found out before the appropriate time, it could well tear down every inch of trust he'd built up and put back up every metaphorical wall he'd torn down. And that's before how damned risky this meeting was in the first place.

Shit, what was he actually doing right now?

He didn't have time to back out though, as the door burst open twenty minutes before he expected it to.
"IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS. I WAS TOLD YOU WISHED TO MEET?"
Somehow, he sounded exactly like Grillby expected him to. "Yes. Can you still understand me?" It hadn't been an issue for Sans but it was always best to check. It wasn't like he had a translator available for this meeting, and it was not going to be the easiest thing to do by any other means of communication.
"OF COURSE! IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME, BUT NOT THAT… I GUESS IT HAS BEEN THAT LONG, ACTUALLY. HMM." The tall skeleton sits as Grillby gestures to him to take a seat. "I MUST SAY, I WAS SURPRISED TO HEAR YOU WERE ASKING AFTER ME. ALTHOUGH I SHOULDN'T BE, I AM SURE YOU HAVE HEARD ALL ABOUT THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND ALL HIS AMAZING EXPLOITS."
"I've heard some things." He agrees noncommittally. It hadn't been hard to track him down, but it wasn't anything that would be considered 'amazing' as such, by normal standards. Grillby decides not to tell him that though. "We haven't got a lot of time for our meeting, I have another… visitor. I apologize, but I must get straight to the point."
"...OKAY…?" The skeleton's eye sockets narrow a bit, somewhat suspicious.
Grillby sighs, then chomps straight at the meat of why he'd wanted to speak to him. "Why haven't you been looking for your brother? And if you knew he was here, why haven't you come to see him?"
Surprise widens the small eye sockets. "WHAT? WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY 'LOOKING' AND 'HERE'? SANS HAS BEEN TRAVELLING NOW HE FEELS BETTER. AT FIRST I JUST THOUGHT HE WAS PLAYING HIDE AND GO SEEK OR SOMETHING, BUT IT TURNS OUT I HAD BEEN WRONG! I AM VERY PLEASED HE IS FINALLY GETTING TO BROADEN HIS HORIZONS, THOUGH! IT ALSO EXPLAINS WHY HE HASN'T CALLED AT ALL!"
Grillby's flames hiss and pop in frustration, and the act catches both of them off guard. Grillby takes a moment to temper himself. "Sorry, I'm not angry with you. Papyrus. Think about it. Do you really believe that?"
"...IT IS STRANGE THAT HE WOULDN'T SAY GOODBYE BEFORE HE LEFT. AND I HAVEN'T HAD ONE POSTCARD, BUT I THOUGHT THAT HE WAS JUST WAITING TO TELL ME HIS SUPER COOL ADVENTURES WHEN HE GOT HOME AS HE DIDN'T HAVE A PHONE."
"Who told you that he was travelling, or did you-"
"DAD DID A LITTLE WHILE AGO." Papyrus says almost quietly, cutting into the follow-on question. It looks like something might be clicking. "HE LIED."
"It sounds like it." He can almost see the cogs clicking into place inside the skeleton's skull.
"...WHAT ELSE HAS HE LIED ABOUT?"
...He knows Sans is going to kill him if Papyrus says that Grillby told him, but he answers after some hesitation anyway. "He was never sick in the first place, and he disliked it enough that he walked out while everyone was distracted. Sans… doesn't say much about his time 'away', but he's told me that much. He has been living here for roughly a year and a half." and some other things, but that's not his story to tell. The skeleton looks like his world is coming crashing down around him, and Grillby moves and puts a hand over Papyrus'. "I really am sorry I have to be the one to tell you these things, but it is time that someone tells you the truth."
"I … IS HE HAPPY?"
"I think so. I hope so."
"IS HE HERE?"
"Not at the moment. He doesn't know you are visiting today."
"WHY NOT?" Another click inside the skeleton's skull. "OH. THIS TALK IS A LITTLE BIT LIKE A PUZZLE AND I AM GREAT AT THEM - I AM PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER AS WE SPEAK! YOU DIDN'T TELL HIM IN CASE HE GETS SPOOKED AND LEAVES. DON'T WORRY, THINKING ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE TOLD ME, I THINK IT IS BEST IF I SAY NOTHING TO DAD ABOUT HIM BEING HERE. AND THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS A MASTER OF KEEPING SECRETS." Grillby really hopes so. "WELL, YOUR OTHER VISITOR MIGHT BE HERE SOON, AND THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAS TO GET BACK TO WORK ON THE PUZZLES IN HOTLANDS, I DECIDED THAT FOR THIS I WOULD ACTUALLY TAKE MY BREAK TODAY, SO I WILL BE OFF! BUT, IS IT… OKAY… IF I VISIT AGAIN SOMETIME. WHEN HE IS HERE?"
"Yes, but you need to give me some time to-"
"OKAY THEN! I WILL BE BACK SOON! GOODBYE GRILLBY, IT WAS NICE SEEING YOU AGAIN!" And he's off. Well, he certainly hasn't lost any energy. Now, the next problem. How on earth does he tell Sans about this?

He doesn't get the chance to. Sans is mid-routine that night, lazy grin on his face and enjoying the atmosphere as people laugh and chatter between them. Grillby's going to talk to him after this, he'd already decided, but as usual his best laid plans turn to dust in the wind. Sans is in the middle of setting up a punchline, when Grillby hears him freeze. He follows the suddenly panicked eyelights to the door that's just opened, and doesn't hesitate to chase the skeleton down as he flees upstairs. Shit, shit, shit. He didn't realise that this was what Papyrus had meant by 'soon'. He reaches the bedroom door, but it's already locked and he can hear frantic banging and rustling.
"Sans! Open the door!"
"no time." and increased pace in the rustling, no doubt Sans frantically shoving essentials in a bag.
"Sans, please! I can-" he feels a building of magic behind the door. "Your father doesn't know he's here!"
Silence, and the magic drops. Was he too late?

Sans slowly unlocks the door, looking up at him furiously. He sees Grillby look away from the entirely dark and empty eye sockets. "see... that sounds like you know something about this."
"I was going to talk to you tonight after closing."
"well then, go and close. i'll wait."
Grillby doesn't hesitate. Sans hears the distant murmurs of complaints and a discussion - well, one side of it anyway and by the sounds of it Papyrus is being told to wait downstairs and isn't too happy about it but finally agrees to wait - then the fire elemental comes back upstairs slowly. Sans just stands there, hands in pockets with his bag hooked over his wrist, waiting as patiently as he can manage. The fire elemental shifts under the weight of his stare even though his pupils had come back in place. Good.

"I don't know where you want me to start."
"take your pick. sounds like i am gonna have a whole lotta bones to pick with you tonight."
"I know." Grillby sighs, and leans against the doorframe suddenly feeling very, very weary. "I didn't do this lightly, Sans."
"i thought that was the only way you could do things."
"Don't do that. Don't push me away with puns and word plays because you've already got it into your skull what I've done and what I haven't."
"it's not like you're telling me any different right now."
"Because you're so ready to up and go that you're not letting me actually talk."
Sans drops the bag he was holding at Grillby's feet and walks himself back into the room. "so? talk."
By the posture and the look in Grillby's eyes behind the glasses, he knows he's gone and messed up major time. But Sans waits for him to pull his act together and say what he needs to, still currently ready to walk out regardless. "I know you still miss him, Sans. You're getting better every day, but I know you still miss him and I don't know how healable that wound is. I've been picking up what information I can ever since the first night you spoke to me about him. I just wanted you to be happy... I knew that it was risky, but I had to do something. I just wanted to help you, and I knew you'd react like this the minute I mentioned it if I didn't speak to him first. And it's been a year and a half since you got here, in which time you've started pulling in crowds from as far as hotlands - if your father was coming, he would be here by now. I didn't just jump in and hope for the best, I've been trying to plan this for a while I just… thought I would have a little more time to tell you, I didn't expect Papyrus to show up tonight."

"BROTHER, DON'T BE UPSET WITH HIM. HE DIDN'T KNOW I WAS COMING TONIGHT. I HAD TO SEE YOU." The third voice cuts in, somewhat quietly. Grillby hadn't even heard him come up the stairs. He closes the distance between them in a few long strides and grabs Sans into a tight hug, lifting him off his feet. "I MISSED YOU, TOO."

Grillby watches as Sans hangs loosely in his arms, before reaching up and grabbing onto the other skeleton tightly himself. Grillby backs out of the area, taking himself to the lounge to allow them the space they need.
"pap, I-"
"YOU DON'T NEED TO SAY ANYTHING, SANS." He puts him down on the floor much more gently than he had picked him up. "I NEED TO, THOUGH. I AM SORRY I DIDN'T KNOW."
"s'ok. dad's good at keeping his secrets." Sans gives a small shrug. "i wanted to find you so badly, but…"
"I... UNDERSTAND. AND! I ALREADY FORGIVE YOU. THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS NOTHING BUT UNDERSTANDING."
Sans gives a chuckle, which is more like an exhaling of all the mixed emotions he has going on right now. "you really are the best."
"I KNOW. YOU HAVE ALWAYS TOLD ME SO! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH"
"so... grillby… caught you up on everything?"
"HE TOLD ME ENOUGH TO PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER."
"that means you know why i can't go back with you, right?" It hurts him to say. Papyrus sits down heavily on the bed.
"I DO... SANS, I HAVE SOME CONFLICTING EMOTIONS ABOUT GOING HOME." Sans sits down, leaving about a foot of space between them. "NOT BECAUSE I WANT TO TELL HIM ABOUT YOU BEING HERE, I SAID TO GRILLBY THAT I WOULDN'T SO I WON'T..."
"so?" He gently prompts Papyrus.
"NYEEEH... I DON'T KNOW IF I WANT TO, HONESTLY. I JUST FOUND OUT THAT OUR DAD HAS LIED FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER AND IT MAKES ME WONDER WHY? I AM SURE HE DIDN'T MEAN ANY HARM BY IT AND THAT HE HAD HIS REASONS! BUT… IF I DONT GO BACK TONIGHT, HE WILL WONDER WHERE I AM. IF I DON'T GO BACK AT ALL, HE WILL POSSIBLY FIND YOU. BUT IT'S NOT JUST THAT! I... WANT TO STAY WITH YOU ANYWAY." Papyrus gives him a smile, and despite himself, Sans smiles back, albeit briefly. He sighs.
"...do you think he would? grillby, who i know is listening out there and shouldn't think that this gets him off the hook-" The fire elemental chuckles in the lounge, because it's not like one of them is quiet and he might have been listening harder than he needed to to hear the more oftly spoken of the two "-may have had a point when he said about it being a year and a half. look, why don't you go back tonight and think about what you want to do. tonight's been a lot for you."
"WHAT WILL YOU DO?"
"i'm going to get some sleep. i'm feeling downright bone-tired."
"NYEH HEH HEH, I DIDN'T THINK I WOULD MISS YOUR TERRIBLE JOKES. AND... I WAS RIGHT!" But, they're both laughing. Papyrus stands, and they say their goodbyes for the evening. Sans uses his magic to drop his bag on the end of the bed from the floor, and to slam the door shut before Grillby had any chance of making his way back in. He was still upset with him, so he wasn't going to let the fire elemental see the grin on his face or the skip in his soul. Or the horde of g he started counting meticulously, everything he'd saved after the trombone.

He'd finally made up his mind on what he was spending it on. What he wanted. Some space, despite where that was going to be. Also, there was some pleasure in the thought of taking something that used to be his father's and making it his.

And he'd finally saved enough.

He pays the deposit and the first months' rent, leaving himself enough for food just about. Sans figured that he could continue the comedy act at Grillby's until he gets himself on his feet with an actual job. He gets a couch as the old owners say that it was old enough they don't care for taking it and he manages to stretch budget enough that he can get a mattress and sheets, blanket, and a chest of drawers. He knows from old conversations with Alphys that waterfall is a pretty good place to find odd bits that are useful, and the library is here so he's not got to worry too much about a TV or anything like that immediately. No, getting himself set up wasn't really the issue.

The 'issue' (but not really) is that a couple of days after getting himself into the house, Papyrus had come around with armfuls of things - directly to the new house, too, and Sans has to wonder how he'd found out so fast. Not that Sans was unhappy about this, actually he'd just pointed at the other empty bedroom without hesitation, it was just... he hadn't even got a job to pay for one of him, let alone two of them. And while Papyrus claimed to 'work' on the puzzles in hotlands, it hadn't taken much time looking in on him from the shadows to peg that what he'd actually meant was he showed up and 'improved' (his words, not the poor actual workers) the puzzles, and left. At first he just keeps an ear out and turned up to do odd jobs for people that happened to mention having something that needed doing in his earshot and as long as he charged a fair price he tended to get the job. It helped that he was well practiced at being charismatic as hell when he felt like it. Turns out flattery will actually get you pretty much everywhere.

...Which was how he'd managed to get himself in this sticky situation. He sighed as he shook webs off of his slipper, completely clueless as to what could be wanted of him all the way out in this part of the caverns. Especially as he'd just been left a note on his bed and no clues about anything other than someone wanting to talk with him. It had been in a common font, although the handwriting had been a touch fancy - the sort of thing you might expect on a flyer - so he hadn't thought about it long.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, dearie~" a voice that was as sweet as pastry but edged with playful danger drifted out to him. He recognised the voice from a fair while ago.
"muffet?" Now he's confused. Well, more so.
"Ooh, the dancing spider man~! Well this is a surprise!"
The memory brings a laugh to him. "he he, i'm surprised you remember that."
"Ahuhuhuhu but of course I do! I wouldn't forget such a good customer, even just the voice. How did it go, dearie~?"
"amazingly." he grins.
"Great!" she claps her hands together with a grin. "Which leads us onto business!"
"uhh... I can't-"
"Oh dear me no~" she chuckles. "You're here for a super special once in a lifetime opportunity, dearie~! You see, we've been running a bake sale to raise money to get the spiders out of the ruins, because business there is not so good and I need to reunite the clans! But... snowdin is too cold. I lose more spiders than I bake with! and then... they say that there's someone there who can who can sell you what you need before you need it. and I thought to myself, i just absolutely must have him~! Ahuhuhu!"
She grins at him, and Sans has to suppress a shudder. Is she going to hire him or eat him? possibly both. He puts on his charming business smile as the thought occurs to him, and plays somewhat dumb. "so, what do you need?"
"It's not what I need, dearie! it's what the customers need, silly! Ahuhuhuhu, they just don't know they need it yet~"
"and that's where I come in."
"You'll be paid, of course! And you're already a satisfied customer, so you could just tell people that~! easy peasy! Ahuhuhu, i'll even let you play with my pet~"

Yeah. Too easy. but ... beggars can't be choosers. "...just the money will be fine." They settle a price in the middle of what they both thought was a fair price, and Muffet is pleased that he's almost as hard of a bargain driver as she was. All things considered, the job actually turns out pretty well. Muffet might work him hard for the money he earns, but she always pays fairly and on time. it's enough to cover rent and food with some luxuries with the comedy gig on the side. He finds her pet pretty cute as well, although it might be scary as fuck on first glance. Working for her had been more pleasant than he expected, even though there was always a little part of him that was certain she was going to eat him one of these days.

It's almost a shame when things decide they need shaking up, but he tells Muffet he'll come by at some point and repay the favour.