Playing With Fire
The two brothers got back up and went over to Grillby's side. Met looked slightly confused, but quickly covered it up by putting on a small smile at his boss. Tok, on the other hand, was glaring at Grillby. She was never good at hiding her emotions, and her emotions for this ball of fire were set into hatred.
"Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, darlings, but my friend and I must go and get ready for the next show. Perhaps you would like to watch?" Mettaton said, placing a hand on his hip.
"No, I really must be going." Grillby said and went to leave but Muffet stopped him.
"Really, we insist. It's the least I can offer after that little burst-out in the office." Muffet said.
"Hmm," Grillby thought about this, "fine. Pap, Sans, find us a table near the stage. I'll get drinks."
"Yes sir!" The skele-bros said and went off to the table area.
Met and Tok went back inside their dressing room, Tok being half-dragged by the taller robot.
"What wonderful company you have." Grillby said as he and Muffet made their way to the bar.
"They're quite lovely, but Tok, I admit, lets her emotions get the best of her."
"And what emotions would that be?" Grillby's interest had peaked, but he didn't show it.
"She doesn't really like fire elementals." Muffet explained, Grillby motioned her to keep going. "When she was first made, years ago, she had a tendency to 'play with fire' as they say. And got in too much trouble and her eye ended up being burned out. Alphys offered to fix it for her, but Tok is a stubborn one, she says it's a reminder to not get too close to anyone."
"A bit dramatic, but what do I know? I can never be burned."
"Hmm, true. Blook! Four pints, I feel like unwinding a bit." The ghost bartender quickly got what his boss had ordered and the spider and elemental carried the drinks to where Sans and Papyrus were sitting. "Truth be told," Muffet went on with her story, "Tok never really stopped playing with fire. But now she does it mostly to mess with the blokes here."
"Interesting, what will they be singing tonight?" Grillby asked.
"Some song about the devil. I just know that Tok's wearing her favorite dress tonight." Muffet answered, with a smug smile.
Before Grillby could ask what that was, the lights dimmed and a soft voice was heard from the stage.
"I keep on… dancing with the, devil." Slowly music began to fill the void, as most patrons had silenced at the voice. "I keep on dancing with the devil. I sold my soul, there ain't no turning back. I keep on dancing with the devil." The curtains pulled back to reveal Tok in a shiny gold dress. Though it was more of a one-piece with tassels at the end of it. She was also wearing white flats, thigh-high leggings, and gloves. The music suddenly picked up and Tok began walking around the stage as she sung.
"You and I made a deal
I was young and shit got real,
Beaten through hell and back,
Oh, oh, oh,
Your love is made of dirty gold,
But I'm the one who's so much more
So go ahead and take my hand." She extended her hand out to the audience, but her eyes were locked on to Grillby. Her dance moves begun to have more movement, her hips shaking and her arms snaking around her body and the air in a type of belly-dancer move. She was holding no microphone, which led Grillby to believe there was one built into her.
"I keep on dancing with the devil.
I keep on dancing with the devil.
I sold my soul to death and glow
There ain't no turning back,
I keep on dancing with the devil!" As she kept on singing Grillby found himself following each of her moves. She seemed to float across the stage, it was utterly entrancing. He looked around and found that almost every other guy in the place was caught in the same trance.
Suddenly the music stopped and Grillby's head snapped back to the stage where Tok was on her knees and singing, "He's got my mind, he's got my soul, mama he won't let me go!" She sprung back up and continued the song with slightly more vigor. The song ended just a bit later and Tok took a bow. Wolf whistles and cheers erupted from the crowd, and Grillby found himself clapping along as well. The other bot took Tok's place and went on with another song, but Grillby was still a bit taken back by the previous performance. Muffet had left to get more pints, Papyrus was now watching Mettaton slink around the stage, and Sans was sipping his drink while watching the door. Sans suddenly tensed and he slipped his bony hand under his jacket, Grillby turned to face the door and saw a retired cob. Even though she was retired, Nia was quite the fighter. Grillby was about to get out of his seat and take his leave, he and cops didn't exactly get along, but he saw that Tok, now wearing a white, disheveled button-up instead of that dress, had walked over to Nia and gave a quick hug. With her back turned Grillby noticed two things; she had a wind-up key and she had a pretty nice arse. He tried to ignore that second thought and got Muffet's attention. The spider walked over, with a pint in each of her six hands, and sat down next to the elemental.
"What is it Grillbz?" Muffet asked, sipping her third drink that night.
"Why's Tok talking to that cop?" He asked, pushing the cup away. He could drink, but he could take in so much liquid.
"Oh, she and Nia are old friends. I'm not really sure how long they've been friends or when they actually became friends, but Nia comes in once a week to get a drink and catch up." Muffet had put down her drink, half empty by the end of her little explanation. Tok and Nia had sat down at the bar and were now each downing shots in what was most likely a competition.
"Can Tok get drunk?" The question was kind of out of context, but Grillby was honestly curious.
"Not from drinking. And I guess it's not technically being drunk, but if she's not wound up enough then she slows down and basically becomes drunk. It's quite funny to watch." Muffet chuckled into her cup, apparent she was beginning to get tipsy herself.
Grillby glanced back over to the two girls and saw Tok catch Nia from falling off the stool, both were laughing hysterically. He looked back at the table and saw Papyrus chatting with Mettaton as he sat on the edge of the stage, his performance being over now, and Sans making quick glances at those two and the front door. Papyrus' face was flushed, as was Sans but not as much, and Grillby knew what type of drunks the skele-bros were so he decided it was time to go before Papyrus did something stupid or Sans burst out blubbering about something insane.
"Okay, well Muffet thanks for the hospitality but we must be going now." Grillby grabbed the arms of his two skeleton nephews and dragged them towards the door.
"Oh, okay. Bye-bye! Huehuehue!" Muffet laughed after them, three hands
gripping the table.
"Awww, I wasn't done talking to Mettaton yet!" Papyrus whined, but Grillby ignored it. Sans was silent. Grillby was almost to the door when a smash of glass turned his attention to the bar where Nia was giving him a wide-eyed stare. He silently cursed that he was stupid, but before Nia could call him out Tok grabbed her chin and gave her a quick kiss. Grillby was nothing less then shocked at this, but after the kiss Tok waved at him to get out. He didn't think twice at that and kicked open the door into the cold evening air.
Papyrus and Sans were leaning against the brick wall of the pub while Grillby tried to flag a cab. Sans had begun to smoke a blunt, he offered one to Grillby. At first the mob boss denied the offer, then thought about what had happened in there and accepted. After trying for ten minutes to get a cab, the group just decided to walk off their drunken stupor. Besides, the Grill or Bees was just a mile away and the apartments complex where the skele-bros lived was just a few blocks away from that. Papyrus was talking about what he learned about Mettaton, Sans was silent only making sound to mummer something to Pap, and Grillby was looking at the flame at the end of his cigarette whenever he wasn't inhaling from it. His gaze went from there to his flaming hand.
He chuckled to himself and mumbled, "Heh, playing with fire fits her pretty well." And he took a long inhale and breathed out the smoke above his head and watch it vanish in the cool air.