After an embarrassing three or so minutes, Sans finally started to calm down. He slowly pulled away from Papyrus, wiping his face off and avoiding eye contact.

"... Sorry, bro." he mumbled, awkwardly shuffling around Papyrus and trying not to rush himself as he went up the stairs.

"Sans, are you sure you're alright?" Papyrus called after him.

"Yeah… Yeah I'm good." He said so quietly that he couldn't even hear himself.

He quickly opened his door, rushed into his room, and closed it behind him. He let himself cringe.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

He fumbled across the room and plopped onto his bed, bringing the covers up over his head. Why did he let himself go like that? Papyrus was the emotional brother who needed comforting, not him. Why did he just dump it all on him like that?! He didn't deserve it.

His self-guilting session was interrupted by a knock at his door.

"Sans, can I come in?" Came Papyrus's timid voice. God, he wasn't supposed to sound like that. He was supposed to be screaming about the Royal Guard and Puzzles. He was supposed to be mad at him for telling a joke or for being lazy.

The door opened anyway. Sans looked from under his blankets to see that Papyrus had brought him a glass of water. He didn't complain about how dirty his room was. That was a first. He walked through the ocean of dirty laundry and food wrappers like it wasn't even there. He placed the water on his nightstand before awkwardly placing his hands behind his back. Sans peeked the top of his head out from under his blankets.

"Do... You need anything?" He asked softly. Jesus. What had gotten into him?

"... No."

"Well, please tell me if you do. I will be listening."

Papyrus started to make his way back to the door when Sans stopped him.

"Wait."

Papyrus turned around, raising his brow expectantly at him.

"... Stay with me… Please..."

Papyrus smiled warmly, walking back and sitting at the foot of his bed.

"Of course."

Sans blinked open his eyes drowsily. When had he fallen asleep? Well, this wasn't the first time he had fallen asleep like that. He might actually have narcolepsy, now that he thought about it. He looked down at the foot of his bed, finding Papyrus knocked out cold. Thank God, he finally got some rest. He had been starting to worry that he might actually get sick if he didn't sleep soon.

Sans instinctively looked at the clock. It was about the time he would normally head out to sentry duty. He rolled back over. He did feel better after sleeping… But he still deserved a break, right? He was just starting to let his eyes droop back shut, when he suddenly shot up in bed.

Shit. He was gonna be late.

Tossed his blanket aside, scrambling out of bed and throwing his slippers on.

"... Sans... What are you doing…?" Came the sleepy voice of his brother. Sans froze and turned around slowly. Papyrus was rubbing his eye sockets and yawning as he sat up.

"Uhh… I have sentry duties… Remember?"

"Are you sure you're feeling well enough?" He asked, genuine concern in his voice. God, what did he do to deserve Papyrus?

"Yep. Feelin' chipper!" He said, giving him an overly enthusiastic thumbs up.

"... Alright." Papyrus yawned. "If you're sure."

"I'll be back soon." Sans said quickly, rushing out his bedroom door.

He closed his eyes and there was a pop. When he opened them again, he was right in front of the door to the ruins.

He raised his hand to the door excitedly, before he paused for a half a second.

Why'd he stop? He furrowed his brow, trying to figure out why he suddenly couldn't make himself knock on the door, when it hit him.

He was nervous.

Why was he nervous? He wouldn't even be looking at her face. But he began to worry anyway. What if she didn't laugh? What if she wasn't even there?

He sighed and made himself tap lightly on the door. He had nothing to lose, right?

"Knock knock." He said apprehensively.

"Oh! Who's there?!" Came her voice excitedly. He felt all his tension leave him at the sound of her voice.

"Atch."

"Atch who?"

"Bless you."

Her laughter swelled through the air, bringing a dorky grin to his face. This was exactly what he needed after what had happened earlier.

"Wh-what kind of sword does a skeleton use to fight with?" she choked through her laughter.

He froze. Was she seriously just about to make a skeleton joke. Was she actually about to do this.

"What kind?" He asked, trying to keep his voice calm.

"Shoulder blades!"

"You don't seem to be as… Something seems off. Are you okay?"

Sans turned from his position of leaning back on the door so that he was facing it. What?! He felt happier than he had been in a while while he was joking with her. Did she know something?

"Uh… Why'da say that?" He asked nervously.

"I have… An intuition for these things." She explained.

"I… Today was just… Weird." He wasn't lying. It had been really weird that day.

"Oh. I see. Well I would completely understand if you wanted to go home and-"

"No!" He exclaimed, immediately slamming his hands over his mouth. Why… Did he say that?!

"Uh… I mean…" He laughed nervously. "I'm… I'm having a good time! I'll be fine."

"Well, if you're sure." She said apprehensively. "I don't want you to feel like you're forced to be here."

"Nah, I'll be okay. Don't worry about me." Sans dismissed.

What was up with people caring so much about him lately?

The next day, Sans found himself back in the lab at the usual time. When he walked into the room with the machine, he found Gaster in his natural state of writing stuff down.

"Sup, boss?" Sans asked, knocking on the door frame.

"Ah! Sans. There you are." Gaster said as he turned around. "I'm glad you came today."

"What? You thought I wouldn't?" Sans said casually as he approached him. Gaster's face turned somber, making Sans feel kind of uncomfortable.

It was weird whenever Gaster showed that he cared. His default personality was the mysterious, serious scientist who was so enraptured in his work that he might as well have it as his relationship status on UnderNet. Gaster treated Sans as a respected apprentice more than his creation most of the time. But every once in a while, Gaster showed a soft side. He really did care about Sans and Papyrus, and when he expressed it, Sans was once again reminded that Gaster was his father. For some reason, it made him shiver.

"Sans… I understand if you don't want to operate the machine anymore." Gaster reassured. "But I need to know if you can still test the machine with me."

"What? Oh, yeah, I can still test with you. I just… I just can't turn it on." Sans explained.

"Excellent." Gaster said, touching his fingertips together. "I trust your judgement. Will you test with me now, then?"

"Sure, why not." Sans shrugged. "What're we testing today?" Gaster pulled a bucket of snails out from under the table.

"We're testing organic, living material today." Gaster said, picking up a snail from the top. "Based on our previous tests, there should be no problem with the machine. We just need to make sure something that is alive can survive the journey."

Sans stared at the snail. It's antennas moved around slowly. He knew that their previous tests proved that inanimate objects could pass through without being damaged at all, but he still couldn't see how it was possible that anything could survive the monstrosity that stood before him.

"Well, let's give it a shot, I guess."