Going to Grillby's for the first time was interesting to say the least. The fusion was extremely hesitant, since Sans knew all to well that the bartender always knew what was on his mind... Somehow. And anybody, monster an human alike, learning of Saris' internal panic was the last thing they needed.
But Sans' ketchup craving was getting out of hand, driving the fusion near mad, and neither Toriel nor Papyrus had any ketchup at their house, saying that it would probably 'be bad for the human's health to drink straight ketchup.' What'd they know?
So they decided to throw caution to the wind and head over to the short skeleton's favourite spot. Besides his bed.
The fusion had decided that they wanted to be extra cautious. They wanted desperately to avoid being found out, so they could just go to Grillby's and relax, get away from
the stress. Maybe, just maybe, they could get away with being Sans if they kept their hood up and on tight, and used only their skeletal hand.
That'd be a good idea.
After all, no one would question the skeleton coming in and having some ketchup, and monsters who knew about the fusion were few and far between. They weren't exactly comfortable with announcing to the world 'Hey! We're the first known human-monster fusion, and we have no idea how to unfuse!'
Walking into the familiar building, they felt almost suffocated by their fluffy hood combined with the sheer heat of the building, and began coughing before they had even taken a seat. If they didn't have the attention of the bar patrons before, they certainly did now. This was a bad idea. What were they thinking? They were about to turn around and walk out, give up, beg Toriel to buy them some ketchup, when a mildly familiar voice rang out through the bar.
"H-heeey ev'rybodyy~ Ol' Sansy's here! C'meeere! Wh're've ya beenn?" one of Grillby's usuals slurred, hiccups accenting every other word. They were clearly drunk out of their wits, and Saris mentally cursed them. Internally, Sans felt like punching someone while Frisk wanted nothing more than to curl into a ball and go home. The human didn't want this! They were both dying of embarrassment, causing the fusion's cheeks to light up a deep, glowing purple.
"I've... Uh..." Distress was evident in their eye sockets as the white lights shrunk down to pinpricks and darted around frantically. There was no getting out of this now. Face a brilliant purple, they stood behind the two stools usually occupied by Sans and Frisk, unsure of which to sit in.
Half of them, literally, wanted to sit in one stool, while the other half wanted to sit on the one next to it. Saris knew they couldn't spend too long deciding, and they already felt the eyes of the other patrons boring holes into the back of their head, so they decided on sitting in Sans' seat.
Grillby eyed them suspiciously, a miraculous feat considering his lack of eyes, and ultimately, a face, before sending a bottle of ketchup towards them.
"thanks, grillbz," sans muttered through the fusion, hoping the bartender wouldn't catch the drastic change in voice. It was a dumb hope, but still a hope of theirs nonetheless.
Moving on, the skeletal hand reached out for the bottle of ketchup, unceremoniously popping of the lid. Just as the hand brought the bottle up to their mouth, the humanoid hand grabbed the bottle and placed it swiftly back onto the bar.
Sans wanted that damn ketchup more than anything, and he wasn't about to give in to the kid, even if they were sharing a body. He was determined.
Frisk, however, had no interest in drinking the condiment. They didn't even like ketchup that much! And they certainly didn't want it being shoved down their throat.
Meanwhile, the skeletal hand was balled into a fist, while the humanoid one was pushing the ketchup away. Great. This must have looked really weird. Eventually, the boney hand managed to reach out and grab the ketchup, and Saris quickly chugged it down.
Frisk was appalled. It was disgusting! Sans had made them drink straight ketchup! Disgusting! But then... Why did it actually taste good? Oh gods. The fusion had Sans' taste for ketchup. Saris' face scrunched up for a moment, before the human hand began to angrily smack the skeletal hand.
The flame monster, seeing everything that had just happened, carefully set down the glass he had started cleaning, and stared at them for a moment. Sans' panic made sweat bead down the fusion's face as they tried to avoid the literally flaming gaze. A soft crackle, which Sans, and thus the fusion, recognized as a sigh, came from the bartender as he simply signed, 'What did you do?'
The fusion simply groaned, placing their head down on the bar with a soft thud, accompanied by a quiet, "What didn't I do?"
'Sans-'
"Isn't here. Sort of. It's... Ugh... Never mind, Grillbz. Just uh," they awkwardly stuttered, trying to get out of the situation. Fast.
"put it on my tab, okay?"
And with that, the fusion started to walk out.
That was, until a white dog ran across the bar, causing them to lose their footing and fall back, their hood falling down in the process.
The once-vibrant bar was quickly blanketed in a shocked silence. All eyes were on the fusion, and they felt the stares of the patrons burning into them as they lay on the floor.
Frisk couldn't hide their embarrassment, and it certainly showed with the fusion's glowing cheeks. Oh gods, did they just want to run away, crawl into a hole... Be forgotten...! Their feelings were only amplified when Sans' fear swept through the fusion like a tidal wave.
"...Sans..." the voice broke them through their internal panic. They glanced around the bar, looking to see who had called out to them. Half of them? A fraction of them? Their conscious? Being a fusion was confusing... Heh... Confusion. They made a mental note to tell that to Papyrus and Toriel later.
They looked up and met the gaze of the fiery bartender. Their eye sockets immediately widened, and their white pupils all but disappeared. Sans rarely heard the bartender speak, while Frisk had heard him speak once, when they had gone into Grillby's underground location one more time after the barrier broke.
The bartender, however, remained undisturbed, standing tall and straight. He simply gesturing for the fusion to come forward, and after some internal debating, they gingerly stepped forward.
Grillby nodded a quick thanks, then lead Saris to a room off of the bar marker "employees only". Since coming to the surface, Grillby had to make some changes to the layout of his bar. It, for example, 'couldn't just have a "fire exit"', and apparently 'should have a real prep room'.
The fusion wished that they could just teleport out of there, forgetting all of it. But... Their magic was still unstable.
'Fusion?' was all he signed, but it was enough to make them freeze and feel their heart stop. Which Sans hated. Organs were weird. And gross . And squishy. Probably. Their body was so needy. His body? This was confusing.
"Well, yeah. But that's not the issue here, Grillbz. I... We... They," the fusion never be sure as to what to refer to Frisk and Sans as, "can't unfuse. At all."
A wave of shame washed over the fusion, seeming to suffocate them. Gods, this was just great, they thought, as they felt the flame monster simply nodded, before patting the fusion on the back. It felt warm and they liked it.
"I just... I don't know what to do, Grillbz. Paps isn't... He... He needs Sans but it's not like he's exactly here right now and Toriel a-and Asgore, they need Frisk and-"
"You'll be fine," he whispered, "just... Stay determined..."
They were taken aback by this, and stared up at Grillby with wide eye sockets. Had he really said that? Stay determined... Asgore's words rang through their head.
'You are the future of humans and monsters! Chara, stay determined!'
Saris needed to get out. They nodded a quick goodbye to Grillby, who gave them a bottle of ketchup to go, and quickly ran out of the bar. A couple of the patrons called out to Sans, but the fusion ignored them and ran back to Papyrus' house.
Sighing, they plopped down on the couch, the same uncomfortable green one from their home back in Snowdin, and stared at the blank television.
"TINY HUMAN-MONSTER YOU ARE HOME! WHERE WERE YOU?" Saris loved Papyrus, but they really didn't need this now.
"I was at Grillb-"
"SANS OH MY GOD YOU DRAGGED THE HUMAN OVER TO THAT DISGUSTING GREASE TRAP?"
The fusion shrugged. They never thought of it as disgusting. Sans didn't. Frisk didn't. What was so wrong with Grillby's?
"Sorry, Paps. I haven't been there in a while and I finally mustard up the courage to go in and ketchup with everyone," the fusion chuckled, a large grin stretching across their face.
"OH OKA- OH MY GOD THAT WAS A PUN WASN'T IT?"
"I relish the fact that you're able to recognize my puns, Pap."
"NYEHHHH NO! THIS IS TERRIBLE. YOU CAN STAY WITH HER MAJESTY THIS WEEK IF YOU ARE GOING TO PLAGUE MY LIFE WITH THESE TERRIBLE PUNS!" Papyrus rambled, glaring at the fusion the entire time.
"Alrighty, Paps, whatever you say. I'm bone tired, so I'm gonna hit the hay," they yawned, before quickly giving Papyrus a lazy salute and walking up to Sans' room. Before they entered, however, they turned around and yelled down the stairs, "And she's not the Queen anymore, Paps! That's a royal mistake!"
Once they turned back around, they quickly locked the door, and did a running jump onto the now-made bed, quickly burrowing under the sheets. Frisk insisted on making it ever day, to Sans' dismay.
Almost immediately, they fell asleep, Papyrus' agonized wails in response to the pun ringing through the house.
A/N-
so! sorry for the delay on this chapter! I've decided that my upload schedule will be nothing, because school gets in the way of a lot of plans. but! I've also decided that i'm going to upload in a system like this-
i have a chapter written, edited, etc. before i upload it, i have the next chapter fully written. that way, i always have a fully finished chapter!
also, story stuff, you probably noticed, but the fusion' name has been changed to Saris, a name my friend gave me. i only chose it cuz it sounds cool so ye. and, the story is mainly going to be a bunch of short stories about the fusion's life like this one, and as it stands now, it's not going to be extremely plot heavy. so i will take suggestions for little stories in here about the fusion, if that makes sense.
finally, thank you all so so much for all the support! it means the world to me that you guys like this so much! thank you all so so so much!