What was going on? They hadn't came back in a long time.
You were sure it had been at least an hour. (Was it an hour?) You felt yourself wishing you knew what time they had left, but... At the very least, you were sure that it was taking longer than you had expected.
Although you knew better than to think of the worst, you found yourself panicking if they got hurt or if something bad had assured yourself that nothing problematic would happen, but on second thought...
Undyne had said that she wanted to get in a fight with Sans earlier too...
You took a deep breath and tried to calm yourself. You knew everything would be fine and you were just going to the worst case scenario like you always did. Still, nothing you did made you stop worrying.
Feeling childish, you decided that if they didn't come back in, say, ten minutes or so you'd go check up on them.
They're fine! They're fine. You know that. Just. Stop. Worrying.
The music playing was bittersweet sounding. It sounded like something you'd listen to late at night.
The lyrics were sad and the tempo was slow. It wasn't a good song to listen to, considering how you felt right now.
You shook your head and sighed. Although you knew it wasn't a great idea to keep it on, you didn't change it.
Besides, the music was quiet. If you focused on your work you wouldn't notice it anymore.
Suddenly, the bell rung.
You smiled widely, ecstatic that the monsters had came back.
Until they didn't.
It was a group of teenagers. They looked like they were seniors in high school or freshmen in college. They were talking loudly and stomped into the room.
You felt disheartened that Sans and Undyne weren't here, but you tried to give the customers a warm smile.
"H-Hello!" you said nervously, watching as the group piled in your store, "W-Welcome! Is there anything you're looking for?"
There was only about four kids, the batch consisting of three boys and a girl. They looked like troublemakers.
Considering your situation right now, the only thing you could do was instinctively gulped.
"Hey," the oldest one said to you, staring at you intensely, "We aren't looking for anything in particular."
"Hey," The girl huffed, "I wanted to come here for something!"
He rolled his eyes.
"So," she smiled fakely at you, "do you have any erotica?"
"E-erotica?" you felt your face flush, "I... I don't think so; no."
She frowned, "I thought this was a bookstore . Aren't you supposed to have books for everyone?"
"We might..." You felt embarrassed, "I can go look for some."
"Thanks, hun," she teased.
You went to go look for the inappropriate book she had asked for, feeling defeated. Mom and dad never really carried (or told you) that they had erotica. Out of everything, that girl had to have that.
You weren't even sure where to look. The romance section? It wasn't like you had an adults only shelf.
The teenagers sure as hell made themselves comfortable. You watched them with anxiousness as they yelled at each other and said things you, a twenty-three year old, didn't feel comfortable even thinking about.
You wiped your palms on your pants again.
You just wanted them out of your store – Damn. Why didn't you just carry something that simple?
But it wasn't that simple. Nothing ever was.
You took a deep breath and went to go walk back to the counter.
"I'm sorry," you said quietly as the girl eyed you suspiciously, "I don't think we have any. I can order a book or two if you'd like. You would have to come back in a week or two."
She glared daggers, "Ugh, dammit! I thought out of every goddamn place this old ass store would have what I wanted."
"I'm sorry," you all but whispered, "Like I said, I can order some. How old are you?"
She gaped at you.
"I need... I-I need to know how old you are," you sighed, "I'm not legally allowed to sell erotica to people under eighteen."
She turned to her friends and took a dramatic breath, "Why do people have to be such losers? Goddammit!"
Ah, yes. The future generation.
And you had found yourself wondering why you spent more time with monsters than people. At least they had the decency to be civilized.
Hell, you two were the same species and she was still being rude.
"I'm really, really sorry," You tried to comfort her (why?), "Can I help you find anything else?"
"Your number?" another one of the teenagers winked at you.
You tried to play it off awkwardly, "Don't you th-think I'm too old for you?"
"Yes," the girl interrupted her friend and turned back to glare at you, "I need you to be a good bookstore worker and get your boss."
"My boss?" you blinked.
And before you knew it, books went flying far and wide. A teenager was leaning on one of the bookshelves in the middle had apparently tipped it everywhere. These were some of your bestsellers nicely shelved – now on the ground that you hadn't cleaned in at least a month or two. It took you hours to shelf them in a way you were happy with too.
You stared at it, feeling helpless.
"Sorry," the bookshelf tipper said shyly to you.
Although you hated feeling this way, you felt tears start to well up in your eyes. You pinched your leg to try to get rid of the feeling. Your breathing was irregular and rapid.
Calm down, you told yourself, Just ask them to leave. It'll be okay.
But it wasn't and you didn't.
You stared at them. You tried to say something but you felt your throat close up. The cluster of teenagers stared at the mess awkwardly with you, but no one offered to clean it up.
Instead, you were greeted with screams once the yelling had passed.
"Jonathan !" The girl hissed loudly, "You're such an asshole! I can't believe you right now!"
The teen named Jonathan yelled right back at her. "I'm an asshole? These shelves are ancient! It was a matter of time before they fell over or broke! Besides, it was your idea we come to this stupid bookstore!"
Soon, the store filled up with their obnoxious screams and you felt yourself wishing you could just disappear and never come back ever.
"Sans? Are you even listening to me?"
"wait" The skeleton said as he promptly held up a finger, "do you hear that?"
The two monsters stood outside, not too far away from your store. Muffled screams were heard in the distance. They looked at each other for a moment, examining each other's faces.
"Sans."
"undyne."
Nothing more was needed, they both broke out into a run back to your bookstore.
The shouts got louder as they headed towards you.
Sans was frantic as he basically threw the door open, leaving a dent in the wall. The group of teenagers turned to look at the new guests but resumed their fighting.
Sans turned to look for you, finding you behind the counter, pale as a ghost, and holding your face in your hands. You were uncontrollably shaking.
A strange feeling welled up inside him and he found himself simultaneously worried about you but also extremely pissed off at the people who made you feel like this.
You were a nervous, timid human. He hadn't seen or met anyone quite like you before, but not in a bad way. He enjoyed spending the time he had with you and getting to know you. He knew you were shy and anxious, that was easy to tell, and he felt proud of himself knowing that he was able to get you out of your shell.
But this was different. You weren't shy, you weren't even reacting at all. You stood there maniacally quivering behind the counter. Sans started to wonder if you were crying because, if you were , he would-
Sans opened his mouth to say something, but Undyne quickly beat him to it.
"HEY PUNKS," Undyne sounded pissed.
They shut up and turned to look at her.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?"
They didn't say anything, they stared at both of the monsters with equal parts curiosity and fear.
"SOMEONE ANSWER ME!" Undyne clenched her fist, staring down at the human punks. Sans felt himself worry that she would start manifesting spears. If she did, then they would have something to really worry about.
"LOOK," a girl said, looking smug and ill-mannered, "We aren't looking for trouble, especially from some monsters . I wanted a book and she didn't have it, okay?"
"_?" Sans said, staring at you intensely, "you ok?"
You didn't reply, making the short skeleton's anger rise up tenfold.
"kids," He said, his eyes going dark, "i'd suggest you leave."
" ."
Undyne manifested a spear and held it at them, "Leave. Now."
It was easy to tell that they had scared the kids out of their wits, as they all almost simultaneously ran out of the store trembling with fear. Hopefully never to be seen again.
"_," Undyne looked at you worriedly, closing the door behind her, "What the hell happened?"
Sans looked around the room and noticed that they had tipped over a bookshelf. Books were scattered all across the store but the shelf itself was unscathed.
"_?"
They both watched with alarm as you dropped to the floor.
"_?!"
Undyne almost immediately went to your side, hugging you intensely. Sans walked up feeling awkward and feeling disturbed by the sudden outbreak which just happened, but he wanted to be there for you nonetheless.
"I... I'm okay," You whispered as Undyne let you go, "Thanks for making them go..."
"kiddo," Sans took a big breath of relief, "you scared me."
You smiled at him weakly, "I'm really bad at telling people to go..."
"You're telling me!" Undyne hit you on the shoulder, not hard enough to hurt, "Damn it... Humans are awful sometimes. What happened?"
You nodded your head, "That girl wanted, uh... E-erotica, I guess," your cheeks turning a shade of red, "I don't... I-I don't carry it here. She wasn't very happy with that and then her friend tipped over t-the bookshelf."
Sans watched as you wiped your hands on your pants, wondering why you did that so often.
"how old was she?" Sans frowned.
"I'm not sure... When I asked for her age she just ignored me..." you sighed.
Sans turned to look at the trashed store and shook his head, "guess they really trashed the place, huh..."
You sighed again, "It's not a big deal."
Undyne gaped at you, unable to ponder what you just said, "How are you such a punk? This place is as messy as Sans's room."
Sans raised an eyebone, "you've been in my room?"
Undyne stared at him, unamused, "No, and I wouldn't want to either. Papyrus says you've never vacuumed in there before too."
Sans smiled, "i have. it's a vacuum to an entire world in there."
"SANS!"
"aw, undyne," Sans chuckled, "i'm not even squidding."
"Papyrus," Undyne shook her head, standing up, "That poor skeleton has to live with you, dammit."
No one was expecting it, but your voice chimed in, "Sans. I don't think she likes it. I think you're krilling it out here."
Sans was surprised at first, but his smile widened significantly, "don't be so koi, undyne."
"I hate you two!" Undyne stomped her foot.
You slowly stood back up and took a deep breath. Sans hated to admit it, but he was really glad you seemed to be feeling better.
Seeing you that upset...
It was awful.
"Undyne," you smiled, your laugh sounding sweet, "The atmosphere is so trench here."
Undyne glared at Sans, staring him down, "This is all your fault, Sans!"
"what can i say?" Sans said smugly, "this is dolphinitely all my fault."
You chuckled softly, but it was easy to tell something was bothering you. You stared at your trashed store and sighed deeply. It was going to be a pain to start cleaning it up.
"You guys can go ahead and eat lunch if you'd like," you had a fake smile plastered on your face, "I think it's about that time... I, um, I'm gonna clean up here real quick."
Undyne gawked at you, "_. This place is trashed. Let's hurry and clean this up first, okay?"
You stared at her, "I-I couldn't ask either of you to do that."
"I'm your employee, you nerd," Undyne laughed, "You pay me to do this shit. Let's hurry and get it over with so we can eat lunch and GOSSIP LIKE NORMAL YOUNG LADIES."
You smiled widely, "Undyne, I-"
"AND SANS WILL HELP," Undyne turned to stare at him expectantly, "RIGHT, SANS?"
Sans gulped.
He smiled and nodded shyly, "just trout me here, i'm the worst at cleaning."
You laughed again, not noticing Sans's ever-growing smile, "You've been to my house before. I think I may win at that contest."
Undyne groaned dramatically, "Punks! Shut up!"
She went to go lift up the bookshelf back into its original place with ease.
You exchanged a look with Sans, both of you smiling wide.
maybe not all humans are awful, Sans thought as he looked at you happily, a few bad eggs don't make the whole carton spoiled.
(a/n: i think there is too many things falling down in this fic...
but hey!
this the first chapter me and my lovely beta have worked on together! i personally think it sounds a lot better than some of my other chapters do! i hope you've enjoyed and please leave a comment down below. ❤️)