You felt yourself wake up slowly, feeling the grogginess and restlessness that came along with it.

Sitting up from your bed cautiously, you feel yourself yawn loudly as you stretch your arms. That sleep had felt like it only lasted a half an hour, perhaps an hour at best. Although you felt a smidge bit more rested than you had when you first fallen asleep, you still were perpetually exhausted.

Trying to wake up, you shook your head vigorously to get rid of the remaining tiredness in your body. Like, sure, you were tired but it was damn near impossible to go to back to sleep.

It was then you realized what time it exactly was.

You had slept for exactly two hours.
Which made it a little past two in the morning.

Holy damn.

You threw off the quilt from your body and got off of your bed. You walked over to the window and opened it up slightly, the sounds of harsh rain sounding like arrows on a battlefield. The smell of the rain was wonderful, and the coolness of the cold weather felt nice on your body.

Events from earlier started resurfacing in your mind, but you tried your best to avoid them.

Besides, you felt just a tiny bit better than you had just a few hours ago. That alone likely made you feel more tolerable to yourself, more understanding and clear-minded about the earlier situation. (And not being depressed and feeling utterly hopeless was an added bonus.)

Sans likely just had a stressful day.

You had a weird day too.

So, it was good.

You were fine.

Not fine, but... Like. The situation wasn't as dire as your brain had made it to be? You didn't feel quite sure on how you felt, but taking a little break from it was much needed.

You looked to your desk and sadly noted you had drank all of your juice earlier that night.

You sighed. You quietly opened the door, careful not to make a creaking noise, to head into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

It was then, and only then, you noted sounds of soft talking from that exact place you were headed. Oddly, you felt yourself stop walking. You walked halfway back into your room, just out enough so you could hear and see what was going on.

Sans sat at the counter, his feet has puffy pink slippers adorned on them.

He was talking to someone on the phone, the sounds of the conversation were just barely audible from where you stood. Just barely enough so you could hear what he was saying, and how he was saying it.

"look, i'm not sure what to do," The skeleton's voice sounded tired, confused, maybe even a bit angry.

"this whole drama?" Sans inquired to the person on the phone, "you mean where my friend got freaking shot? is that menial monster drama to you?"

Sans sighed, "i know. it's affecting you too. i'm sorry."

"i'm just stressed," Sans doesn't even make a pun, a joke, anything to lighten up the tension, "some kid followed me after work today, saying he was gonna call the cops if i did anything monster-y. along with that, the police still haven't found _'s shooter."

"she just barely took off the bandages. hell of a scar, if you ask me," Sans mumbled, "she's been a trooper though, i probably would've walked off by now. seems like too much drama for someone so..."

"hey, that's my business," Sans finally cracks a smirk.

"no," He inhales deeply, "i just don't want things to get worse. it's already pretty shit from where we're at, it'd be a surprise that it could get any worse... but, y'know how that sort of thinking works."

Sans takes a moment, listening intently to the anonymous caller. He makes a few sounds of confirmation, then one of complete confusion - turning into anger, before beginning to reply again.

"what the hell?" He sounds infuriated, "those kids said that?"

"frisk can't handle that toriel's their mom?" You can feel his anger, despite being quite away from the small skeleton, "like what the hell? they said what to them?"

"you're really asking me that?"

"i'll kick their goddamn asses."

"...sorry."

"look, i'm stressed out to the bone," Sans chuckles, devoid of emotion, "i just don't know what to do about it anymore."

Sans makes a sound of discontent, listening to his phone.

"frisk and tori deserve more than that," Sans said, rubbing his hand on his skull, "has she talked about it to someone yet? it's bullying, she can't keep it quiet."

"okay. because you know tori," Sans laughed, "probably better than anyone else does. wasn't it, like, over two hundred years together?"

"okay, i'll stop bugging," Sans mumbled, his anger seemingly disappeared.

Was it truly disappeared?

Or...

Was Sans just good at hiding his emotions?

You bit your lip and began to dig your fingernails into the doorframe you held on to. If that was the case, then... Oh gosh, how awful of a friend just were you to the poor skeleton? He obviously needed someone tonight, not just some asshole free-loader that doesn't even act like she cared.

Although, you had kept your emotions hidden from Sans that night as well.

Shouldn't you two make some honesty agreement? Like, if the other person was sad or angry they had the right to tell the other person and ask for consolation? Honestly, that seemed like a smarter idea than this whole drama you two seemed to have going on right now.

(For god's sake, though, you were completely violating his privacy at this moment! Once you heard he was talking to someone, you should've just went back to your room - water or no!)

Sans wasn't okay, you kind of knew that. You never wanted to push too hard, especially with how stressed he's seemed to be for the last few weeks, but you find yourself wishing you had. Perhaps you could've helped him avoid the mental state he was in right now, perhaps even you could've prevented how awful this day had become.

Before you had knew it, you had spaced out at least a few minutes of time just thinking of how bad this situation had become and how stupid you were for not avoiding it.

"alright, i'll talk to you later."

Sans placed the phone gently on the counter, sighing deeply. He took a few seconds before he even really began to move.

You should just go back to your room now, if Sans found out you had been listening to him-

"bookworm?"

Well, shit.

That just ruined about all of your plans, and then some.

You knew you couldn't hide, so you slowly crawled out of your hiding place. You tried to force a cheeky smile on your face but found that you could barely even look at the ground. Oddly, a feeling of lightheadedness began to overwhelm some of your senses.

"I," You started, "I'm sorry."

You walked up to the kitchen, trying to keep a distance of shame between you and Sans. You leaned against the wall separating the kitchen and the living room, trying to push away the want of running right out the front door and never coming back.

He sighed, turning the chair slightly to face you.

"how long were you listening?"

Stretch the truth? "A few minutes," you half-lied, "I'm so sorry, Sans. I know that was a complete violation of your privacy and no matter what I can say can fix it. If you want me to leave right now, I'd understand it wholeheartedly."

Sans shook his head, "don't do that."

"i'm sorry i acted a bit rude earlier today," Sans said quietly, "i snapped at you, kind of, or at least acted distant. i... heard you slam the door, i kind of realized i messed up after that."

It was your turn to shake your head, "No, I'm okay. I'm fine. I always am. But are you okay, Sans?"

Sans looked straight at you, practically looking into your soul.

He chuckled.

"no."

"not at all."