Disclaimer: I do not own Undertale.

Iterations

Comfort in Routine

They were more careful now. When she went to work, she always went with Sans through his shortcut. She avoided Waterfall altogether. Both of them carried food in their pockets now. Having Undyne as an enemy was no laughing matter. Frisk was sure that if this was a game, Undyne would be the protagonist with all of her unwavering determination. The fact that she was Papyrus' hero did not help matters. On more than one occasion, she entered the front door only to hear the warrior's loud voice as she gave Papyrus his cooking lesson. She would be yanked backwards and find herself in a new place entirely, the hood of her jacket clenched within Sans' fist.

He had impeccable timing.

She just wished he would not leave her in the random places he spirited her away to.

He realized that the notion of innumerable things had become a recurring thing in his life. Countless jokes to make, countless bottles of ketchup to drink, countless resets to live. And now, countless distractions in the form of a little slip of a girl. She always found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. He would be at one of his jobs when a tingle up his spine would warn him that she was, once again, stepping right into a situation of mortal peril. He would step into a shortcut, lean out just enough to grab her, and step through another shortcut that took them as far away from the rampaging Royal Guard leader as possible. He would nod in greeting and immediately step back to return to whatever he was doing.

The first time he had left her in a place that was unfamiliar to her, it had been an accident. The rent was due and, with the remodeling he had needed to do to the living room after Papyrus had jumped through the wall, he was more than just a bit short. Admittedly, it was partially his own fault for doing the bare minimum to get by. He generally worked on commission and, honestly, he preferred making exactly what he needed before ditching. Papyrus did not call him lazy for no reason. Either way, he could not afford to leave work for long. So he had taken her to a place where Undyne could not possibly reach her in the duration of his shift.

It was not until he had returned home after work that he realized that Frisk probably had no idea how to get back. But before he could even think of going back for her, the front door had swung open. She had miraculously found her own way back. Which made little sense because he had left her on an island in Hotland's sea of lava. Apparently, she had flirted with a passing Tsunderplane until it lowered itself enough for her to grab hold.

Her scowl and rant at him leaving her behind had been incredibly amusing.

So naturally, he left her in non-lethal, challenging situations every single time now.

She did not seem to pick up on the fact that he was doing it on purpose. She would chastise him on leaving her in such awkward situations. He would say 'my bad' and go on to ask her how she had gotten back. She would recount the stories as he requested, no matter how embarrassing. They were always hilarious. And he was frequently impressed with her resourcefulness. No wonder Papyrus had so much fun creating puzzles with her.

This was his favorite run so far, added work notwithstanding.

Night time was for serious conversations. For finding ways to progress passed this loop that always forced them back to the beginning. At this point it was mostly busy work. Deciding which events needed to happen and those that they should avoid. And endlessly comparing notes.

"How were things out here when I stayed with Toriel?"

"which time? how long did you stay with her?"

"I mean, the loop where I didn't leave the Ruins at all."

"...from what i can remember, you always leave the ruins."

It took time to fill in all the memories he was missing. It took even longer to find anything that might be relevant with all the information they had to sift through.

They both needed to de-stress after their long conversations. They would flop onto the couch, side by side. Sans would levitate a couple of bottles of ketchup from the kitchen into his hands. He would hand Frisk one of them every time. Stubborn girl that she is, she would take it, facing his implied challenge head-on. She only choked down a single gulp from the bottle each time before handing it over, but it always inspired an odd mix of amusement and pride in Sans. Determination, indeed.

A/N: Just a little snippet on how life is going for our duo now. Mostly filler and transition.

Thanks for reading.

Until next time friendlies,

Dfsemina