NOTE: OH MY GOOD GOD! I am SO sorry it took so long! I'm finally done with exams WOOHOO! But even despite that I had a really hard time getting this chapter out, all that studying kind of drained my creativity o.O Either way, here is the next chapter FINALLY!

Oh and if anyone's forgotten, underlined speech is sign language :)

You take in a shaky breath as you look around the room. Running a hand through your hair you close your eyes, nearly jumping out of your seat when you feel a hand on your shoulder. Slowly you look at your soulmate standing beside you and flash him a small smile, which he promptly returns with one smug grin.

"You okay there?" Sans asks you, squeezing your shoulder slightly.

"Not really… I'm kind of nervous." You say quietly.

"That's gotta be the understatement of the year sweetheart." He smirks sheepishly when he certainly feels the flutter of your soul, the nickname never ceases to have that effect on you. You frown slightly.

"Don't call me that…" You hide your embarrassment with your hands. "Now's not the time. I'm freaking out."

"Heh, don't worry yourself over it, if someone as lazy as me managed to get a job I'm sure you can do it. 'Sides, Grillbz is a pretty chill guy despite his appearance."

"Yes, I'm positive you'll do great Star." The raspy voice sounds from behind you, causing you to get startled yet again. These monsters sure can creep up on someone. You turn around to face the man made of fire standing behind the counter.

"Grillby! I mean, Mr. Grillby. Or maybe is that too formal? Boss? Oh wait, you haven't hired me, you're not my boss yet. I don't even know if you will be. Oh gosh, I'm rambling, this is embarrassing. I-I'll shut up now…" You stare down at your hands.

You let out a short chuckle void of humour and filled with anxiousness. Both monsters smile at you reassuringly and you swallow the knot that's formed in your throat ever since you woke up this morning.

"Welp, I have to head out, take care of my girl here will ya?" Sans takes your hand between his skeletal fingers and strokes it gently.

"Of course. New job?" The small skeleton nods as he lets go of your hand to face the door. "Hot dog stand?"

"You know me so well." He laughs, starting his way out.

In the pit of your stomach you feel a pang of sorrow. You bite down on your bottom lip, realising that this is the first time in a while you're going to be away from Sans. You watch him disappear from view of the window to the outside and there's this sensation of something missing deep inside your soul. At the same time, however, you feel a sense of security, like he's not really gone.

You avert your gaze back to the fire elemental and twiddle with your thumbs nervously, not really knowing what to do.

"Calm down, you have nothing to worry about." Grillby tells you. You nod wordlessly. "As you know, I intend to open this weekend, everything is pretty much set up, but you're my only employee application."

Your teeth grip at your lip more forcefully before freeing it with a puff of air. "Guess that tips the scales in my favour, huh?" You say half-jokingly.

"I suppose it does." His fire crackles slightly and you wonder if you can see him smiling for a moment. It's somewhat comforting. You smile up at him. "It's not hard, you just have to take orders, give them to me, I'll prepare them and you take it back to the patrons. Simple enough right?"

You nod. It does sound simple. You're quite fast on your feet, that much is established. You just have to be careful not to drop anything. You can do that. You try to assure yourself of your abilities.

"Do you know how to infuse food and drink with magic?" The monster asks you. Your head tilts and you raise an eyebrow in curiosity.

"I don't think so." You say honestly.

Grillby motions for you to get behind the counter with him and you get off your seat and walk around to the back of the bar. He takes a couple of drinks from the shelves and puts them down next to you.

"I'm going to teach you how to mix some drinks for when I'm back in the kitchen." At this your interest peaks and you approach him further.

You watch as he pours the various liquids and mixes them together, effortlessly and as if it requires no skill whatsoever. All the while you're absolutely certain that it's not as easy as he makes it look.

When he's finished, you're left staring at a colourful cocktail sitting in a fancy glass. Grillby takes a bottle from under the counter and takes a few drops from it to add into the mix. There are a few poufs of magic and you gasp from the surprise.

"This is a special monster drink. Magic of course." He says pointing at the liquid he just added. "But it's not complete until you add your own twist into it. Oh and this one's virgin." The monster's voice rasps.

You blink a few times at him, confused and a bit flustered. "It's w-what?"

"Alcohol free, didn't know if you liked that."

"Oh…" You mentally kick yourself, you should've realised that. You've never had alcohol before, much less magic alcoholic drinks so that's probably a good idea.

He waves his hand over the drink and his flames sizzle. You see the drink change from what it was to a vivid orange, swimming in between the previous colours. He pushes the glass so that it's sitting right in front of you and nods his head towards it. You stare at the elemental before glancing at the drink and picking it up gingerly. You look at it for a few long seconds. You take it to your lips and tip the glass, taking a small, tentative sip.

Immediately there's a hot feeling that fills your mouth. It's not exactly burning, it's just a lovely heat that, when you finally swallow, spreads down to your stomach and from there to the tips of your toes and fingers, coming up your spine next. You feel it stirring in your chest and when you look at your reflection on the pristine counter, see your eyes glowing.

You lift your hand in front of your face and see tiny wisps of magic jumping from your fingers. You can't help the sound of amazement that leaves your lips. Grillby takes your hand and the wisps fizzle out at his touch. He hums in thought.

"Your magic is reactive." He mumbles. "How do you feel?" He asks.

"Good. Warm and fuzzy." He nods silently.

"That's the effect of the drink. Of my magic in particular. Those drops are meant to enhance it, I suppose it worked on yours too." You feel like he smiles at that. "There's only one other who's got the same reaction that I know of."

The corners of your lips twitch upwards. You know very well that he means Sans. Questions start forming in your head and you turn to the monster beside you.

"So does each monster's magic have a different effect on the drinks?" You inquire curiously.

"More or less. It depends on what you do with it. But in a way, my magic is, quite simply, fire. So it's only natural for it to be 'warm and fuzzy' as you put it."

You finish the drink, it's quite tasty as well as giving you a nice sense of warm comfort. He then takes the empty glass back and quickly makes a different one. This time, instead of just waving his hand over it, Grillby snaps his fingers and opens his hand to form a small blue flame. He pushes it into the new concoction and it swirls like an angry whirlpool, turning an icy blue that contrasts the warm red-orange flames of the bar's owner. Once again he pushes the drink over to you and you take another little sip.

This one burns slightly going down. Although not painfully. You'd heard that alcohol sometimes does that but considering this doesn't have any it couldn't possibly be that. The only logical explanation would be the magic he used. When you let out a breath a line of smoke comes out of your mouth and you furrow your brows in slight confusion. Grillby takes a tall unlit candle from somewhere behind him and places it in front of your face, telling you to blow. You stare at him for a few seconds completely flabbergasted before doing what he told you. As soon as the small breath leaves your lips a bright flame comes to life on the candle's wick and your eyes widen in surprise.

"Oh my goodness! That's amazing!" You exclaim with utter fascination. Grillby chuckles lightly and absorbs the burning flame with his hand, which is also quite impressive but you don't want to seem overly excited. "Would this work on humans? I mean, regular ones…"

"Never tried." He admits plainly. He asks if you'll want to finish this new drink and when you shake your head he takes it away.

In the course of the following hours he teaches you the basics of mixology and your quick learning is proving quite useful. You're no professional but you can hold your own, the usually most requested drinks you've got down and if you practice you can master them for sure. You're quite proud of yourself.

Grillby takes a moment to see if you're capable of infusing magic into them. That proves more difficult than just mixing the drinks.

"Focus your magic to your hand and then take it into the cup. It has to imbue into the molecules themselves." Grillby's calm voice sounds.

"Geez, when you say it like that you make it seem simple." You can't avoid the drip of sarcasm in your words and he chuckles. All you managed to do was break a glass.

You make a mental note to maybe try it again at the safety and privacy of your home (you'll honestly never get quite used to how good that sounds to you). You're quite enthralled by this new discovery and you wonder what effects your magic could possibly add to the drinks.

"Not all drinks need to be magic. If someone requests such a thing I'll do it." You agree with a sigh of relief. You feel a warm hand on your shoulder and you turn to face the fire elemental. "You'll do great."

It takes you a moment to register his words and their meaning. "So you're giving me the job?" He nods his head and a beaming smile graces your features. "Thank you so much! You won't regret this decision! Even though you didn't have much of a choice…" You giggle slightly and he joins you.

Your heart is pounding. The news of getting a job, a real job you'll actually get paid to do (albeit not much at first), are just so overwhelming. You feel accomplished and amazed. You feel… normal…

You help Grillby taking care of the mess you made gladly. You're certain no one's ever been this excited about washing dirty glasses and wiping counters but the simple fact that this will be your job… You can't find the words to describe how good you feel.

You sit down at one of the booths with your new boss in front of you. Sans said he'd come by at the end of the day so you could both go home. You chatter about meaningless things for a few minutes before the topic falls onto your soulmate.

"How did you meet Sans?" You ask.

"He just showed up at Snowdin with Papyrus one day. Wasn't much for talking at first but he'd come by often. Eventually he just started making jokes about fire." You laugh at that, brushing some hair out of your face.

"That sounds like him." The fire elemental hums in agreement. "It's kind of sad isn't it?" You don't exactly know who you're saying this to. "He's such a complex character but he puts up a front for everyone else to see. To anyone else he's just the lazy skeleton who makes bad jokes… Does anyone really know him?" You bite down on your bottom lip, unsure if you're saying things you shouldn't.

"I don't think so. Do you?" Grillby asks. You shake your head after a long moment pondering.

"I might know more than some strangely enough. But there's a lot more to find out. That's okay though. We've got a lifetime ahead of us to really know each other." You smile gently.

"And what about you? Is there more to you than you let on?"

You look up at the monster's face, staring into his eyes, or glasses rather, your mouth slightly agape. You divert your gaze elsewhere shortly, feeling somewhat embarrassed. "There's nothing about me that's worthy of mention much less to hide… What you see is what you get I suppose…"

"I disagree."

You start playing with your fingers. "How so?"

"I think you don't realise your own potential. Sans sees it too." You're about to protest when the bell signifying someone's entrance rings through the room.

A small child in a striped shirt walks in with a pair of glasses that are far too big on their face and a tiny notepad in their hands. Behind them a familiar blue jacket catches your eye and you smile as you see Sans walking in right after them.

"The ambassador is here to make sure this place is up to standards before the grand opening." The small skeleton says, his voice low and commanding. But the twinkling in his pupils and the widespread grin on his face is enough to let you know how much he's actually enjoying this.

Frisk nods fervently and steps further into the room looking around and scribbling notes, all the while adjusting the glasses that are falling down their nose every other minute. You stifle a laugh and try to put on the most serious expression you can muster, standing up as a sign of respect to the tiny ambassador. When Frisk arrives at the booth you and Grillby had been sitting they stare you up and down, make a little approving noise and scratch the paper once again with their pen.

Your poker face nearly crumbles when they walk past you and you spy the words 'pretty lady' with a large check in front of them written down on their several notes. It strikes you that despite their many responsibilities they're still a young child. It warms your heart to see them play like this. You hear the crackling of fire next to you and you know that Grillby is chuckling at the scene. You keep doing your very best to keep a straight face.

Frisk finally finishes inspecting the establishment and with Sans' aid sits down on one of the stools by the bar, setting the notepad on the counter. They start signing.

Everything seems to be perfect. They sign slower than what you're sure they're used to, and you mouth them a thank you to which they flash a bright smile. But there's a clear violation of section 1 of opening a Grillby's on the surface.

You raise an eyebrow at the child.

"Is that so? And what would that be?" The fire elemental asks Frisk.

"Welp, the ambassador's entitled to a serving of fries when they visit. I don't see any fries." Sans shrugs nonchalantly putting his hands in his jacket pockets and the child's smirk couldn't be more proud.

"But of course. I'll get to that right away."

You clear your throat in an attempt to stop yourself from laughing at the scene when Grillby excuses himself to the back. Just for the heck of it and to go along with Frisk's whole act, you get down on one knee and bow your head forwards, your right hand over your heart.

"It is a great honour to be in the presence of the wonderful ambassador to all of monsterkind." You hear them get down from their seat and their footsteps sound as they walk over to you.

You feel a few pats on your head. It takes all of the determination in your soul not to break down then and there. You take a peek at Frisk and see them sign.

Rise. You obviously do as you're told. Frisk's stern expression is delightfully strange on their round and young face. And now get back down and give me a hug! That is an order!

They extend out their arms and you wrap your own around them for a tight embrace, their expression twisting into a beaming grin. As Sans watches you interact with Frisk he can't help but notice that twinkle in your eye coupled with the tug on his soul. You ruffle the child's hair before approaching him. Your soulmate grins and pulls you into a hug as well revelling in the feeling of your soul close to his once again.

Your heartrate quickens ever so slightly. You didn't realise how much you actually missed him, however silly that may sound. It was only an afternoon. But as you feel his phalanges on your cheek to tilt your face so that he can give you a light peck on the lips, you're certain that he feels the same. It's a tender gesture, short lived but filled with emotion.

For a moment you're lost in the light of his pupils until the sound of something being set on the counter makes you jump slightly. You step away, slightly embarrassed that this still happens to you. The small skeleton chuckles and sits down, pulling you up onto his lap. You feel a blush crawl up to your cheeks as you feel both Grillby's and Frisk's prying eyes on you. Sans rests his chin on your shoulder and the ambassador sits next to you in front of the fries that were just brought in.

They take one greasy fry into their mouth and smile contentedly, giving their thumbs up of approval to Grillby, who nods in response. Sans sneaks one arm underneath yours and steals one. Frisk gasps in shock and frowns deeply. You giggle and snip one from the plate as they're glaring daggers at your soulmate. This causes them to let out an undignified noise as you hold it between your teeth teasingly.

"Now, come on, don't mock the kiddo, that's not right." Sans tells you.

Before you can say anything in response, he bites the end of the yellow potato stick and snips it right out of your mouth. Your eyes widen in surprise.

Frisk starts signing furiously when Sans takes another fry from them.

You're both banned from the embassy!

"You mean Tori's house?" The skeleton underneath you clarifies. "Welp, guess we'll have to put off those plans we had of playing with Frisk more often, huh?"

You nod, putting on a sad expression for emphasis. "And so close to their birthday too…"

The child takes in a sharp breath and starts waving their hands about. I take it back! I take it back! They quickly sign. You both laugh and the fire elemental behind the counter shakes his head but the crackling of his flames makes it evident that he's amused as well.

The bell from the door rings once again and the tall white furred goat monster walks in with a gentle smile on her face. Toriel comes in and hugs her child. You step off of Sans' lap to greet her with a warm embrace too.

"My child, you shouldn't be eating such unhealthy foods…" She scolds, but the corners of her mouth are pulled up.

The look on Frisk's face when she also steals a fry is so priceless you can't help the snort that creeps out of you. They shoot you an icy glare and you cower behind Toriel playfully.

"Please your majesty, save me from this threatening tiny human." Frisk hisses at you and you let out a fake yelp to which they seem proud of themselves.

The motherly monster giggles at the whole exchange and turns to Sans, who's still sitting at the counter, looking on with a tired expression. "Thank you for picking Frisk up from school."

"Snow problem." He replies.

"It's not even snowing…" You point out with an eyebrow raised.

He shrugs, his lazy grin ever present. "Always worked back in Snowdin."

"You're not there anymore." You say, placing your arms around his ribs.

"Thank god for that. Was tired of always being chilled to the bone. Heh." He wiggles his brow bones at you and you lightly smack his shoulder, rolling your eyes. "We should get going."

"Wait, I have to help Grillby clean up!"

"It's fine, I'll take care of it." The bar owner assures you.

"And we'll be taking our leave as well."

"Oh um… okay then…" You all say your goodbyes and your new boss tells you to be there tomorrow to set things up for the 'grand opening'.

And so as you're leaving Sans asks you if you'd like to take a shortcut home. You tell him that you'd like to walk instead. It's not exactly far and you'd like to take the time to get some fresh air and tell him about your day and how great it was. You can't hold in how amazing it all feels. To finally have a life of your own, a family, a home, a job… It all seems so surreal… If anyone had told you this would be your life just a few months ago, you'd have never believed it. You'd have called them cruel for giving you hope of something you could never possibly have.

And here you were. With just that.

You're just about done telling Sans about how you basically breathed fire when in your distractedness, you bump into someone walking your way. You quickly turn to apologise and you sort of freeze up slightly when you see the man's face. He takes a moment staring at the both of you before grunting and continuing along, frowning. You assume he's one of those people who don't exactly fancy the idea of monsters on the surface. You can't quite put your finger on it though, but his face was so familiar…

"Hey, you alright?" Sans asks you, a hint of concern showing in his tone.

"Y-yeah… I just…" You shake your head, he's probably just got one of those faces. "Never mind. Anyways, as I was saying…"

You take his hand in yours and keep talking about the day's events excitedly. The strange encounter quickly slips into the back of your minds, especially when you're feeling so joyful. The small skeleton just smiles, taking in your happiness.

NOTE: So there you guys have it. Not one of my strongest I'd say :/

A bit more lighthearted as well, wanted to give reader a somewhat nice worry free day, sort of haha

I've got some plans for what's to come and I hope you enjoyed this despite everything, feel free to leave any feedback, it's always welcome :) Thank you for reading