By the time you knew it, another day had passed. Then a day turned into a week. Then a week turned into a month.
Nothing too eventful had happened, Undyne and you kept working at your bookstore. Weekends were still the same too, you spent it at home. Sometimes the group of monsters invited you over – which, admittedly, was so much better than doing menial chores around the house.
Papyrus had planned for your 'cooking' lesson that weekend, although you were quite sure that you would just watch him cook spaghetti. (Not that you minded, from what you've seen, cooking was Papyrus's element). Sans and you texted a lot too, but you didn't really meet outside of hanging out with the others.
You'd admit that you were a bit sad you didn't see Sans more often.
You were still curious about what Undyne and him had talked about that one day, but you decided that it might be better not to pry. After all, they did leave, it was most likely something personal.
Besides, the last thing you wanted to do was to make either of them uncomfortable. You weren't sure how any of the monsters truly thought of you as a friend; you didn't want to upset them by saying something stupid.
You looked out your window and took a deep breath. The night sky was faded by the bright city lights and the pollution in the air. It wasn't awful, but you much preferred the days you could see the stars. You wondered if Sans like the stars too... Well, of course he did, he wouldn't have bought an astronomy book elsewise.
It was late at night, but you didn't feel tired enough to try to sleep. You knew you had work tomorrow and you'd be exhausted, but yet... You didn't know why but you just didn't want to go to bed yet.
You were excited for tomorrow, perhaps? You had ordered a new haul of books which Undyne and Alphys helped you pick out. You even picked out a pasta cookbook for Papyrus, although you were just going to give it to him when you went over that weekend.
Papyrus and you talked a lot, which was really nice. After finding out where he worked, you visited that coffeeshop a lot more often. Papyrus was down-to-earth and just easy to talk to. If he didn't enjoy your company, you were almost positive that you would've known.
He kept saying he wanted to cook you 'friendship spaghetti' and that all of his friends and you would become great friends together if he did so. He even said he'd try to get his 'lazybones brother' to help you two cook.
You hoped his spaghetti would work. You really liked everyone.
Which was honestly so rare for you to say because before you met Undyne you had practically given up on humanity.
Well. You guessed you kind of had, Dad was really the only person you talked to on a somewhat regular basis.
Even though you weren't tired, that didn't keep you from being bored.
You thought about doing something outside of your apartment, but it was too late for anything to really be open. And, even though you didn't want to admit it, the city wasn't safe at night.
But then again, when do you really care about safety?
You threw the blankets off of you, they landed on the floor is a messy heap.
You were wearing clothes that could pass as being wearable in public, so you didn't change out of anything. You put on an old, worn-out pair of converse and a jacket, and out you went.
Being in the city this late always made you feel a bit nervous. It was better than any other time of day though, you weren't expected to make idle chit chat or smile at random people.
You weren't sure what made you want to go out this late. Then again, you weren't really sure of anything you ever did. Maybe it seemed like a good idea?
Oh well.
You didn't feel remotely tired, even though it was almost in the A.M. You walked around for a few blocks before coming across a CD store.
Honestly, you were surprised anything was open this late.
Walking in, the store was bigger than you originally expected. It seemed to have different genres on different shelves, and different types of instruments were strung along the walls.
Electric and acoustic guitars were in an array of different designs and colors. For some reason, you were drawn to an electric guitar that was black and had pastel ribbons doodled all over it. It was a little girly, sure, but you found yourself falling in love with the different designs on it.
You took a picture with your phone. If you ever learned to play guitar (although unlikely), you'd liked to get this one.
You walked across the store after you were finished admiring the guitars. Looking at clarinets, flutes, saxophones... Another instrument caught your eye, this time it was a trombone. You stifled a small laugh to yourself and sent a picture of it to Sans.
Why?
Who knows.
After you had looked at almost all of the instruments, you went ahead and looked at the different types of Cds they had. There was a lot of variety, that's for sure. They had instrumental and anxiety calming music in one section ranging to screamo and death metal in another.
You eventually found your favorite band in the sections. They had almost all of their albums, too! You wanted to buy almost all of them immediately, but you sadly didn't have enough money at that moment. You'd try to remember this store and come again later.
That didn't keep you from spoiling yourself a little bit. You grabbed your favorite album with glee.
You hummed one of their songs as you kept looking through the shelves. You didn't see anyone else, but you still kept to yourself.
You'd admit that you loved your city. It would be odd for you to be anywhere else but there. You guessed growing up somewhere made you feel somewhat attached.
It was subtle, but you noticed someone else was humming as well. You looked around you, confused. You were almost sure that someone might've been mocking you. Oh god, you hoped that your stupid humming was too off-key.
As you listened to the humming, you realized it was the same song you were just barely singing. And you felt like it was almost ten times better.
You looked around again and found the culprit of the nice humming. It was another monster that was copying(?) you.
She was beautiful, in an odd way. She reminded you of an angler fish – yet a lot cuter, of course.
Her humming sounded wonderful. It was enchanting like a siren's melody. You found yourself almost hypnotized by it.
As soon as it started, she had realized you were listening and almost shut up immediately. You thought that she might've been shy, and even though you were as well, you hummed timidly in hopes that she would as well.
The monster watched you with increased curiosity as you hummed a childhood song. Her face grew a small smile.
You two hummed together for a moment, not talking but listening to each other's quaint sounds.
She seemed to slowly grow in confidence, and before you knew it, she took over the song. Her beautiful melodies filled up the entire store and even the employees looked happy to hear it.
The monster's song slowly went to a proper end and you quietly applauded her. She smiled widely at you. You thought she might've been just as shy as you are, so you didn't feel offended when she waved at you and walked away.
No words were needed, just small little hums.
You wished more of your daily interactions could've been like that.
You went up to the register and paid for your CD. The cashier whispered to you that they thought the monster's singing was good too, and they thanked you for helping her get out of her shell.
It was silly, but you felt a weird sense of pride as you walked out of the store.
The night's air was more cold than you had remembered it. You wondered how long you had lounged around in the music store for. Certainly longer than you had expected.
Although it was freezing and you were wishing that you had brought a thicker jacket, you weren't ready to go home yet. Dad probably would've lectured you about getting a cold or that you needed to be more safe.
Mom would've laughed at you and asked you to get her something from a certain store.
God. You missed her.
You knew thinking like that would've just lead to worsening thoughts, you shoved everything to the back of your mind as you kept walking forward.
Maybe you should get something to eat. It wasn't like you ate dinner that night anyways.
If anything looked good, you'd stop by there.
As you kept moving forward, you felt your phone buzz. Sans had messaged you back about your trombone picture you sent him.
The Sansmaster: how'd you know my favorite instrument was the trom-bone
_: I had a gut feeling.
You smiled, laughing softly to yourself.
Sans was a really nice friend, although you'd never tell him that. You had a reputation to keep up with him. Puns don't make themselves!
Well. They did, but that was besides the point.
You remembered that Sans and Papyrus shared a house, feeling stupid when you did so. Of course they shared a house! They were brothers, and it wasn't like Sans or Papyrus was going to let the other out of their sight anytime soon.
You actually thought it was really nice. Papyrus pretended to hate Sans's jokes and puns, but you always noticed a small smile on his face when Sans wasn't looking.
Frisk and Toriel, too, joined in all of your jokes. It one time got so much for poor Papyrus that he actually jumped out of Undyne's window.
You freaked out at first, naturally, especially considering how calm everyone seemed. Apparently that wasn't even the second time Papyrus had broken Undyne's window that way.
He came back after a few minutes, but refused to talk to any of you besides Undyne and Alphys for an hour. (Excluding Alphys once she made a silly pun about technology.)
Before you knew it, you smelt the faint aroma of greasy french fries and burgers. It was odd, honestly. You found yourself thinking, for the second time that night, why anything was open that late.
You were sure it was at least two in the morning, for goodness sake.
You walked up to the door and looked up at the sign of the restaurant. The letters were in flashing orange or yellow colors.
'GRILLBY'S.'
The name sounded oddly familiar before it hit you like a brick.
Sans had mentioned that name once, saying that it was something he missed back from the Underground. Was this a monster owned restaurant? You hadn't seen anything like that before. It was quite a bit sad, though, because monsters really deserved a lot more than they had been given up on the Surface.
Sometimes you wished humans were Underground. Maybe then your species could learn how to be civil.
You felt your tummy rumbling and decided that maybe you should see what's inside these doors. It was likely going to be better than the mediocre pizza joint that was across the street.
The door chimed softly as you opened it, and the first thing you noticed was that the restaurant was almost completely empty. It wasn't that surprising to you, of course, considering the time it was.
The second thing you figured out was how ungodly hot it was inside.
The only two people inside were at the bar area. The bartender(?) was hot. No, really, he was actually on fire. He was fire.
God, that was an awful pun and you knew it.
He had a pair of glasses on his... Face? He wore a nice, classy outfit with a silly little bowtie.
He was listening intensely to the person sitting at the bar, cleaning a glass cup with a rag.
You felt your heart drop to your stomach as your focus turned to the other monster.
"grillbz," a familiar voice said humorously, "you don't understand. she's one of the nicest people i've ever met."
" Sans ," the fire elemental groaned quietly, "I do understand. I don't understand why you've repeated this story five times, however. I get what you're saying."
Suddenly, you noticed his eyes to go from Sans to you.
You felt yourself sweat.
"Welcome," he said in a calm, collected tone.
Sans turned around and the lights in his eyes seemed to widen, "_-_?"
You laughed really awkwardly, absolutely unsure of what to do or say, "Uh, h-hello!" You waved shyly.
The fire elemental seemed to raise an eyebrow (an eyeflame? What is with all of these different monsters' eyebrows?), "I take it you know her."
Sans smiled brightly at you, but he seemed a little nervous, "hey kiddo."
You walked over to the two, your legs feeling like jello, "I-I, um. I was walking around and I remembered you had talked to me about this place once, and I-"
Sans chuckled, "what are you doing up so late?"
"Couldn't sleep..." you admitted shyly.
"well here, come sit down," Sans patted the seat next to him timidly, "this is grillby. he owns the restaurant here and the one we used to have in Snowdin."
You sat down on the seat and opened your mouth to say something.
Pfffftttttt...
The noise echoed throughout the room.
Your face immediately turned red.
"you wanna watch out for that," It was easy to tell that Sans was trying to fight laughing, "some weirdos put whoopee cushions on the seats."
You frowned, "I can't believe you did that!"
Sans finally let himself laugh, "did what?"
"Don't play innocent!"
"i told you, some weirdos did it. i'm not weird."
"You're very weird."
Grillby looked at you, looking almost apologetic for the skeleton's behavior, "Ma'am... I believe it's _, correct?"
You smiled shyly and nodded.
"Is there anything I can get you?" Grillby handed you a menu.
You looked over it, "I'd just like an order of fries and some water, if that's okay."
Grillby nodded and walked away to the kitchen(?), leaving you and Sans alone for a moment.
"it's crazy to see you here," Sans said after a moment.
You looked at the array of different alcohols Grillby had behind the counter, "I hope you don't feel like I'm creepy... I remember you talking about this place, so it was a little surprising to see it here. Even more surprising to see you here."
"grillbz's just been able to have this place open for a week or two," Sans seemed happy, "i've been coming here almost everyday since."
"Do you work here?"
"nah," Sans chuckled, "it's too hot."
You shook your head and laughed, "Only you would say that."
"is it hot in here or is just you?" Sans said, trying to tease you.
"I would say it's you, but..." You trailed off for dramatic effect, "You're all skin and bones... Minus the skin."
Sans chuckled again, this time with more humor added to it, "you think you're real humorous, don't you?"
You nodded, "I'd try to say another pun, but I'm honestly so bad at coming up with them."
Sans looked at you for a moment before bursting out laughing, "kiddo, you're gonna kill me one of these days."
You looked at him in shock, "That's the last thing I'd ever want, Sans! I hope you're kidding..."
He seemed surprised by your reaction, "i am. 'm sorry if i had said anything sensitive."
You shook your head, "It's okay. Don't worry about it." You smiled as if to reassure the small skeleton.
Grillby came back with your fries and two bottles of ketchup. You were sure that one of them was for Sans.
And sure as the sky is blue, Sans immediately grabbed it and chugged. Sans still tried to shock you, but you had weirdly gotten use to the sight.
Sans put the bottle back down with a happy sigh.
You stifled a laugh as you picked at your fries haphazardly.
Sans and you talked for what seemed like hours, almost. You hoped it hadn't been that long, considering that you needed to get to the bookstore in five hours last time you checked. But it was nice. You found yourself wondering why you didn't ask Sans to hang out with you more often.
"I think Papyrus is going to teach me how to cook," you smiled, finishing your last fry.
"paps is?" Sans raised an eyebone, "good luck."
"He's a really good cook actually," you laughed, "He works at a coffee shop nearby my apartment, and he makes some of the best coffee I've ever had. I'm sure his spaghetti must be amazing, taking in consideration of how good of a barista he is."
Sans smiled, "my brother's pretty cool, huh?"
"The coolest."
Sans chuckled again, "does that mean you're going to see where we live? maybe you are a real creeper."
You frowned teasingly, "Sans, you wound me... Papyrus said he'd make you cook with us and I've actually been really looking forward to that! He said that his friendship spaghetti would make us all close friends, so don't disappoint me, okay?"
Sans smiled widely at you, a complete shit-eating grin, "i thought we already were close friends, texting-buddy."
You couldn't help it. You smiled wider than you had in a long time, "You bonehead, freaking Sansy..."
Sans didn't reply to your silly nicknames, choosing to just smile wider at you, a small blue hue covering his cheeks.
Eventually you saw the light of dawn reach the windows of Grillby's. You felt like an idiot, especially since you hadn't gotten an hour of sleep for over twenty-four hours. However, you didn't waste any of that time. You spent it happily with Grillby and Sans, feeling an odd sense of welcome you didn't feel anywhere else besides with monsters.
And when Sans offered to walk you home, well, it wasn't like you could refuse to that.