It was an odd feeling. It wasn't quite tension or nervousness, but without those, you had no idea what to call it. Both skeleton brothers had sent you almost completely unintelligible texts, eventually settling on talking to you separately after talking to each other. It was alright, you told yourself. Whatever solved things best.

Which left you waiting for them to figure out whatever was going on between them before settling things with you. Before even telling you when they could make time to meet with you.

It was fine. It had turned into a rather complicated situation, after all. You put your phone in your pocket and headed out the door, grabbing your bag on the way. Classes were starting up again, and you'd rather start the semester on a high note.

The walk to school was longer than you remembered it being. Perhaps it had very little to do with the distance, and much more to do with the oppressive mood hanging over you though. After all, neither of the buildings had moved at all.

Your phone flew to your hand when it dinged, hopeful. It was dashed as the message turned out to be from Jamie, a well-wish for your new year at school. How had he known it was supposed to start today? You sent back a quick thank you message before entering the building.

You didn't have any classes with Fuku this semester. What a letdown.

Halfway through your last class of the day, your phone buzzed, you having turned off the ringer respectfully. It took everything you had not to check it again in the middle of the lesson. Especially since your professor just looked like she might break it if you pulled it out.

Nothing stopped you once that hour was up though. It was Papyrus, thankfully. He wanted to meet you at Muffet's for lunch again, his treat.

It felt like a much friendlier invitation than the first time.

Muffet had chosen an awesome location, you had to admit. Getting a coffee and sweets shop so close to college students and keeping the prices manageable definitely brought her a loyal customer base. You walked in without hesitation this time.

Papyrus had already grabbed a table and was sipping on a jug of honey as if he'd been waiting awhile. Which was possible, considering he'd texted you in the middle of class. You ordered a couple of treats from the counter before joining him.

"i'm sorry." He stated as soon as you sat down. "this whole mess is my fault."

This was news to you. "How do you figure? I thought it was mine."

Papyrus snorted, actually snorted, in disbelief. "nah, that's 'cause you always try to blame yourself for everything." Well. Who knew Papyrus actually knew things about you? "sans heard the tail end of our conversation and was worried about trying to date someone who wasn't friends with me." Papyrus explained suddenly. "so essentially the whole problem stems from me, not you."

"Or the both of us. That's a fair assumption too." You countered. Papyrus studied you for a few seconds before nodding.

"we'll share the blame then. he wanted time to think, and asked you to leave because it would be rude to not give you an answer immediately. he's just never dealt with this stuff before, so he said it wrong." Papyrus continued.

"Papyrus." You interrupted. He stopped talking at your stern tone. "This is something I need to talk to Sans about. You and I have an entirely different problem. I get that you're looking out for him, but he needs to do that himself. Our problem is the friends-not-friends thing. Let's focus on that."

Papyrus leaned back in his seat, taking another sip from the jar. "right. friends. with you." He said.

"Don't make it sound so terrible." You joked, finally reaching into the bag for a spider donut. "I don't think I'm that bad a friend to have. And it isn't like you have to be friends with me."

"i'm pretty sure i have to be friends with my brother's girlfriend." He retorted.

"Not unless you want to. And I'm not his girlfriend. Maybe not yet, maybe not at all. We can be on amicable terms without being friends, if that's what you prefer Papyrus. Even if we decide to be friends, it isn't going to happen as soon as we decide it anyways." You took a bite of the treat.

The rich flavor took over your mouth. It wasn't too sugary, which was odd for a donut, but it definitely made you want to eat more. The magic food dissolved at the back of your mouth as you swallowed, converting into energy like all magical food did. Wow.

"i don't really know if i want to be friends with you. i mean, i was a little offended that you didn't see me as one, but if i look at it logically it makes sense." He paused, unsure. "i'm more than a small bit of a jerk to you."

"I can deal with you being a jerk, so long as you do it in a friendly way. We can also just wait and see what happens. If we become friends, great. If not, well, that's fine too." You set the second spider donut in front of him as you finished off your own.

"i like you, as a person. you're not bad. i just…"

"Can't trust humans or mages?" You finished for him. At his surprised expression, you explained, "I get that a lot. We, actually," you corrected, "since it's a common problem with mages. It's fine. I'm used to it. You can't really have a relationship, even a platonic one without trust, though. Hopefully we can build some."

He was silent for a moment before standing, eagerly grabbing his spider donut off the table. "we'll see how it goes then. glad we had this talk."

You waved goodbye before dropping your head into your hands. This was stressful. You needed a mocha.

Grillby raised a fiery eyebrow when you walked in with another of Muffet's wonderful chai tea lattes. You'd spent more than you were willing to admit trying out her drinks menu, unwilling to let her give you free refills. You didn't want special treatment just because you were Fuku's best friend.

It was such a stark contrast from Grillby, who still made you pay full price if you wanted a meal from the bar. You were used to that.

You moved quickly to the back, quickly tying your hair back after setting your drink down. You prided yourself in your ability to completely change outfits in less than a minute, and you took full advantage of that ability now.

Quickly finishing off your drink, and burning your tongue a little in the process, you tossed the empty cup into the trash before heading back out into the main bar to work your shift. "Rough day?" Grillby asked when you reemerged.

"Kind of. Better than it could have been."

An odd expression crossed his face. "Boy trouble?" he questioned. You could feel the blush spreading to the tips of your ears as you threw a menu in his face. He laughed it off good-naturedly, surprising the only patron in the bar. To be honest, it surprised you a bit too. Grillby was usually all-business at work.

When the smile crossed your face, he went back to normal. Ah. So, he was trying to cheer you up?

You shook your head, amused, as you moved to prep the tables. The smile didn't fade.

It was a busy night, for a weekday. Several people spent a good amount of the night chugging the alcohol. You were a pretty girl; you knew this fact. It definitely helped you hone your drunk-dodging skills. Most of the sober patrons were always good about it, but the drunker ones could start getting a little handsy.

Even the monsters, which struck you as a bit odd. You vaguely thought that if they were going to get handsy with anyone, it would be Fuku, not you. Then again, Grillby might kill someone if they dared touch his daughter.

Still, it was nothing new. It wasn't necessarily that you could sense where they were reaching or anything, or that your magic warned you. Neither of those were true, but your body still moved out of the way of any too-grabby hands with little input from you.

A shiver ran through the air as the door swung open and closed, the feeling only slightly preempted by the ring of the bell above the door. You cursed the summer uniform you were stuck wearing as you turned to greet the new customers.

Thankfully, the swarm faded by about an hour to closing, so the three of you could get everything cleaned up on schedule. You had just taken out the trash when the bell on the door dinged again. Confused, you headed back through the kitchen to the main bar. There were only a few minutes left until closing. Who would come now?

A flash of grey caught your attention as you peeked out: Sans's armor.

What was Sans doing here at almost four in the morning? Usually it was to walk you home, but Fuku had worked with you today, so that couldn't be it. Did he want to talk?

Honestly, that option made the most sense.

The anxiety over what he might say faded quickly. He wouldn't come here at four in the morning if he didn't care at all, so that meant with little doubt, no matter what happened you were still friends.

You stepped out, crossing the distance with easy strides. Sans turned at your approach, interrupting his surprisingly muted conversation with Grillby. "Hey you. You're in late." You greeted.

Sans studied you for a few seconds before he responded. "IT'S THE BEST TIME TO SEE YOU." And there was your blush again. Could it manage to stay away for one serious conversation?

Apparently not.

Grillby tapped on Sans's shoulder, and he turned. The fire elemental studied him for a moment. After uttering a simple, "You may," he turned back to his work. The ever-present grin on Sans's face grew to massive proportions.

What did you miss?

When Sans had walked in, Grillby hadn't been quite sure what to do. He'd been teasing you earlier when he asked about boy trouble, but that didn't produce the correct response: it had been true. There was only one person you were actually showing a romantic interest in, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who it was.

He wasn't sure how to feel, knowing that troubles with Sans had caused you to be so…melancholy. It was an odd state for you, one he hadn't seen in nearly two years.

Back then, you never smiled. When you had first applied for the position, he hadn't been sure if you were at all a good fit, but as his only applicant in months he hadn't had a choice. You had been guarded, not allowing anyone close at all. Never showing what you felt, except through your Soul, which you couldn't control.

You did your job well, cutting down on the shared workload between himself and Fuku considerably. You were always pleasant, even chatting with his customers amicably, so he hadn't ever seen a reason to replace you. Even if you were in a perpetual state of gloom.

Somewhere along the line, that had changed. The first few times that smirk crossed your face, he hadn't cared at all. You were an employee, nothing more. But as you proved to be a friend to Fuku, and that smirk turned into a smile, he found himself caring far more than he'd ever expected.

When you had revealed your magic by healing Fuku during those anti-monster riots, a different sort of feeling settled in. Combined with your generally unhappy state, it didn't take long to occur to him what it meant that you had never used your magic around them. You weren't using it at all.

He knew how human mages worked. One has to know their enemy, after all.

But he found himself worried. You'd become important to both him and Fuku, and he didn't want to lose you in such a way. He did the only thing he could by keeping you close.

You improved, so much he didn't dare believe it. But your smile never faded again. You kept smiling even in the worst of situations. Almost as if nothing the world threw at you could compare to what you had gained.

Your mood when you walked in was so much like those early days, panic gripped him. It was a terrifying thought that anything, especially Sans, could bring you back to any semblance of that state. Still, you had smiled easily, quelling his panic.

It didn't change his bias when the skeleton in question had entered through the door. Even Grillby's surprise at being asked if Sans could date you didn't cover it completely.

He hadn't been able to come up with a response, so he'd simply glared. "I KNOW I MESSED UP. I UPSET HER. AND I NEED TO MAKE THAT RIGHT FIRST. I'M ASKING FOR AFTER THAT."

"Why ask me?" Grillby demanded, still sour.

Sans had seemed surprised at the question. "YOU'RE PRETTY MUCH HER DAD, AREN'T YOU?"

You had reentered from the back before Grillby could answer. Your Soul practically lit up the room at seeing him, a fact Grillby couldn't ignore. Sans couldn't either, apparently, as he turned to you.

With a sigh, Grillby resigned himself. It made you happy, like Muffet did for Fuku. How could he argue with that?