"Sans," Undyne huffed, "_ isn't here today. I made her take the week off."

"do you know if she's mad at me?" Sans said quietly, not really wanting the fish monster to hear his words.
Undyne made a sound of surprise, "I don't think she is. It's not my job to tell you how she thinks, y'know? Try talking to her."

"but i have-"

"Then wait until she messages you back, bonehead. Didn't you know that girls hate when boys seem desperate?"

"..."

Undyne sighed, "I don't think I've ever seen you so upset about anything. What the hell happened?"

"i messed up," Sans said, "i did something really bad."

"Oh my GOD," The slap of Undyne hitting her forehead could be heard, "I'm not _ and your relationship counselor. You two need to talk to each other at one point. I can try to help your cause, but I'm not going to be able to fix it. You know that, right?"

"uh-huh."

"If you messed up that badly, _ wouldn't want to talk about you to literally anyone," Undyne said bluntly, "But she's the one who told me she screwed up somehow. SO MAYBE. Instead of talking to me, you should be talking to her."

"she thinks she screwed up?"

Shuffling sounds could be heard in the background, "You know her. Always thinks everything is her fault."

"I have to go, Sans, I'm watching the bookstore for the week. Just try to talk to her, she's having a bad time with this whole situation - just like you. Talk to you later."

"thanks, undyne. see ya."

Sans hung up the phone and prevented himself from throwing it at the wall. Undyne was real helpful, yeah, just telling him stuff he already knew.

God, he had really messed up this time.

Sans was typically easy-going and relaxed when it came to most things. He dealt with Papyrus on a daily basis (which wasn't bad, of course not. just exhausting) for heaven's sake. His job wasn't some run of the mill hot dog stand anymore, he worked with Alphys on human sciences. Like that wasn't some job you could stand around and have idle chit chat with co-workers.

He was as he was. It made him Sans. And, honestly, it was one of the few things he liked about himself.

Except for now.

All that relaxed nature went away almost instantaneously when he was around you.

His soul felt like it was running a goddamn marathon. (Were human souls different? What color was your soul?) Sometimes he even felt like he was going to vomit out of anxiousness around you. You weren't like most of the other humans he had met - you were caring and thoughtful and you genuinely cared about people whether they were human or monster.

It was a damn good change.

He remembered when he had first met you, when you dropped that stupid ketchup bottle. Sans realized you were trying to help him at first but he wasn't quite sure if your intentions were malicious or not. He'd heard horror stories about humans doing kind things for monsters to only throw that same thing back into their faces.

When you dropped that bottle, he didn't really know what to say.

So, like Sans's typical nature, he got ready to say a stupid pun about it.

The look on your face was in sheer terror and you looked ready to cry. You apologized profusely, something humans really never did when they were in the company of monsters.

Sans realized you were probably a good egg after that day.

He laughed bitterly when thinking about all of that. Although you were genuinely kind-natured, it would make sense if you weren't interested in... Well, a skeleton for god's sake. You had so much potential and probably were a heartbreaker to a lot of people unknowingly. (For Sans).

You said you liked him, but Sans wasn't so sure. He had said stupid stuff when he was drunk, he wouldn't blame you if you did the same.

Sans felt his cheeks heat up and he buried his face into his pillow, sighing loudly.

He got to kiss you though, that was pretty awesome.

For hell's sake, he felt like he was just a little baby bones again. You made him feel like an anxious little kid. He stumbled on his words around you, something he had even made a point to not do anymore. Sans felt sweaty and anxious in your presence, but never in a bad way. Never, never in a bad way.

And here he went, messing up your relationship to the point where you did even want to talk to him again.

Good job, Sans, you've fucked it all up again.

Honestly, all Sans wanted to do that day was sit on his bed and feel like garbage. He had done it enough times in Snowdin; what was the difference doing it here?

Sans's door swung open before he had time to answer the question, "SANS, YOU LAZY BONES, IT IS TIME TO GET OUT AND DO SOMETHING!"

The answer: Papyrus was the difference.

"hey, paps," Sans sat up, stretching his bones, "what's up?"
"DON'T TELL ME WHAT IS UP," Papyrus crossed his arms together, "DON'T YOU HAVE WORK TODAY?"

Sans shook his head, "nah, bro. i had today off."

"THEN WHY AREN'T YOU DOING SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE? MAYBE YOU COULD START WITH THIS PILE OF DIRTY SOCKS RIGHT THERE," Papyrus hinted towards his dirty sock collection.

"yeah, maybe," Sans lied, "do you have work today?"

"I ACTUALLY DO! MY BOSS REALLY LIKES HAVING ME THERE!" Papyrus seemed elated, "SHE'S THINKING ABOUT HIRING ME FULL-TIME!"

Sans was happy for his brother, "really? that's awesome, paps."

"THANK YOU, MY DEAR BROTHER!" Papyrus said, "I LIKE MY JOB TOO! I GET TO SEE THE TALL HUMAN ONCE IN AWHILE AS WELL!"

"tall human?"

Papyrus rolled his eyes dramatically, "_, YOU BONEHEAD!"

Sans chuckled softly, "paps, you just-"

"I KNOW AND I HATE YOU FOR IT!" Papyrus threw his hands up in the air and walked away in anger(?).

Sans smiled softly and got up from his bed, catching up to Papyrus.

Papyrus was already in the living room, grabbing his keys and other miscellaneous things.

"have a good day at work, paps," Sans said, lying down on the couch, "see you later?"
"GET OUT OF THE HOUSE, SANS," Papyrus smiled at his brother, "THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL SEE YOU LATER THOUGH!"

Papyrus waved at Sans and practically ran out of the house, forgetting to close the door behind him. Sans sighed and moved his hand to the side, magically slamming the door closed.

Papyrus would've yelled at him for it.

Sans sighed loudly, a bit ungrateful that Papyrus was gone. At the very least, he was being a distraction to Sans's awful thoughts.

The small skeleton sighed and trucked back up to his room, trying not to use his teleportation powers unless the situation called for it. This obviously wasn't the right situation. Although, it was quite tempting...

Sans threw his blankets back on and curled up into a ball. He was acting like a little kid today but he couldn't be bothered to really care. He could've asked Papyrus to make him something for lunch before he left, but he didn't! So, at least, he was winning grown up points with himself.

He noticed his phone light was blinking and his breathing hitched.

He stared at the light for a moment, trying to collect himself. Sans likely stared at the phone for a good minute before realizing what he was doing.

The phone was cold in his hand and he held it loosely in front of him.

It dropped onto his ribs.

Thank god he was wearing a shirt today, it would've been a mess if his phone got caught in his ribs again. That was an experience he didn't want to live through ever. Again.

He grabbed it again and turned it on, hating that anxious feeling he got whenever something involved you. Because holy shit, why couldn't he just act calm?

Alphys: hey u coming 2 work?

Sans groaned.

He didn't mind Alphys, not in the least. She was fun to work with. He just... He just wanted a text from you. He always wanted to talk to you. This time in particular because, hell, he really messed up. He messed up big.

Sans: no, i took the day off. i'll see you on sunday?

Alphys: today's going to b boring then. gerson's sick. :c

Sans: you'll live.

Alphys: see you sunday sans. have a good weekend!

Sans: yeah, you too.

Sans knew he sounded kind of like a dick, and with Alphys being Alphys he'd have to apologize to her later for being rude, but he couldn't find himself caring.

He sighed and turned his phone screen back off.

Maybe he was just a fool. A fool for thinking that a beautiful, adorable human would fall for a skeleton-

The phone buzzed in his hand again.

Bookworm: Are you free tomorrow?

Sans froze.

Sans: yeah, yeah! oh god, i'm just so happy you messaged me back.

Bookworm: Do you want to hang out?

Sans: i would love to.

Bookworm: I don't really know where you like to go to, so, um. Maybe we can meet at that diner we went to?

Sans: that sounds great. what time, i'm free all day.

Bookworm: Alright, maybe noon or something... I don't really know.

Sans: that's fine, that's great actually. i hope they'll have enough ketchup for me.

Bookworm: I don't think anyone or anything could satisfy your addiction.

Sans laughed in pure relief.

Sans: so tomorrow?

Bookworm: Tomorrow.

Bookworm: I'm already excited haha. I've missed texting you.

Bookworm: See you tomorrow!

Sans: see you later then.

Bookworm: See you later, Sansy!

Oh god, oh god, oh dear god.

You weren't mad at him, you weren't mad at him! Sans felt relief fill his every bone as he took a deep, shaky breath. You both were going to hang out tomorrow and everything would be okay again. It didn't matter if you didn't really like Sans, that wasn't the point. The point was that you'd both be friends still and that's all that really mattered to him.

Oh sweet fucking everything.

Sans laughed to himself, likely sounding insane to anyone that didn't know was going on. (Sounding insane to anyone who did actually know what was going on). He just felt so relieved. It was odd; a human made him feel more things than he had in a long, long time. He was so grateful towards you, he didn't even know why.

Sans felt himself turn back into a little baby bones. And honestly, he couldn't be bothered to care.