You weren't entirely sure what woke you, but you were relatively certain you would rather have stayed asleep. You hurt. It felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to you.

It was your own fault. You knew better. Healing monsters took so much though. Undyne hadn't needed much help once her Soul was fixed. She'd needed magic. Humans didn't need nearly so much magic to heal. If it had been a human in the same situation, it would have been easy. Almost nothing in comparison.

But it was the first time Alphys had asked you for help. You couldn't just refuse. Especially not something with such dire consequences. Nor did you even want to refuse; Undyne was your friend too.

A wave of discomfort washed through you. Even knowing it wouldn't make you feel any better, you tensed, holding your breath as you waited for it to pass.

Gentle hands shook you. "YOU HAVE TO BREATHE, _" A familiar voice reminded you insistently.

Your eyes shot open to a view of your boyfriend leaning over you. His eye sockets widened at seeing you awake, hesitating only for an instant before pulling you into a tight embrace. "Good morning." You managed to tell him, returning the hug.

It was a few minutes before he pulled away. You sat up as he did, looking around. You were in your room. It made sense. There wasn't much anyone else could do for you.

Sans seemed to hesitate before speaking. "THEY SEEMED SO SURE YOU WOULDN'T WAKE UP TODAY." He informed you carefully. "EVEN FUKU SAID YOU PROBABLY WOULDN'T UNTIL YOUR MAGIC WAS BACK UP."

Ah. Yeah. That was probably correct. You had no idea why you were awake. You lifted a hand to inspect it, glowing as you checked it. Your magic was still severely low, but not so much that it worried you to check it. You weren't drawing off what was keeping you alive for this.

Sans grabbed your hand suddenly, cutting off your concentration easily. That was fine. You got what you needed: confirmation that your magic was working properly. "PLEASE DON'T." He requested, voice shaky. His gaze dropped from yours to inspect your comforter. "IT'S TERRIFYING," he admitted.

"Sans?" you prompted when he didn't continue.

"TOO MUCH MAGIC WILL KILL YOU. TOO LITTLE MAGIC, AND YOU'LL DIE. IT'S TERRIFYING." He repeated. "THERE'S NOTHING I COULD EVEN DO WHEN YOU USED TOO MUCH. I WASN'T EVEN THERE. THAT'S EVEN WORSE. I'M NEVER THERE WHEN YOU NEED ME."

"Hey." You said to get his attention. He slowly raised his skull to view you. "I'm sorry for scaring you. I have a pretty good idea of what my limits are. I just…couldn't abide by them this time. You certainly aren't at fault, Sans. I know you guys take turns coming to get me. There's nothing wrong with not coming when it isn't your night. You guys don't even have to do it in the first place."

It took him a moment to reply. "I AM SOMEWHERE BETWEEN THANKING YOU, STANDING IN AWE OF YOU, AND SCOLDING YOU. I DON'T KNOW WHICH TO DO FIRST." He told you honestly.

You smiled. "If Grillby has taught me anything, it's always start with the scolding."

"YOU SCARED US!" He began immediately, taking your advice. You startled at the sudden volume. "YOU SCARED ME. YOU HAD OTHER PEOPLE WITH MAGIC RIGHT THERE. WHY DIDN'T YOU ASK FOR HELP?"

Ah. "I…can't." Sans's eye-lights were fixed on you as you fought to find the words to explain. "Human mages can't just share the way you monsters can. They have to be compatible or their magics will attack each other. While my magic is compatible enough for everyone else, since it's geared for healing, it isn't quite so accepting. Not even my siblings can share with me."

He contemplated this information for a few seconds. "CHARA CAN."

"Of course. Since we bonded, magically, Chara is a part of me. And I'm a part of them. Our magic doesn't even recognize there's a difference anymore." You confirmed before pausing. "Chara did, didn't they." Sans nodded.

"IT'S SORT OF HARD TO SCOLD YOU WHEN YOU HAVE SUCH GOOD REASONS FOR DOING THINGS." He complained, earning a chuckle from you. His tone shifted suddenly as he raised his free hand to your face. You leaned into the touch without even thinking about it. Sans was comfortable. "YOU'RE AMAZING. YOU KNOW THAT, RIGHT?"

Your face heated up as he stared at you adoringly. The lights in his eye sockets had transformed from little balls into heart shapes. Or, perhaps it was more accurate to call them Soul shapes? You weren't sure. You lowered you gaze, stuttering in embarrassment.

He'd apparently moved on to standing in awe of you.

You heard your door open with a bang. You twisted so you could see the stairs as Fuku appeared at the top of them, almost tripping as she rounded the railing to view you and Sans. "You're already up." She stated quietly, disbelieving.

You blinked. "Either that, or this is a very lucid dream." You allowed. You supposed it was technically possible.

Fuku was across the room faster than you could blink, ramming into you with a hug and knocking you over. "Don't you ever do that again, you cretin!" She ordered, choking.

"Only if you promise nobody is going to get hurt again." You rebutted.

Fuku sobbed, not bothering to answer you. She knew it was something neither of you could promise.

You brought up your free arm to wrap around her, as the other was still captured by Sans. You could feel the warmth seeping through your pajamas, and it was doing its best to lull you back to sleep. You tried to fight against the lethargy; you still wanted to talk to Sans and Fuku after all.

It was a losing battle, however. You didn't think, despite the draining, that it was possible to be more comfortable than this. Cuddling your best friend with the extra comfort of having your boyfriend hold your hand? Nah. There wasn't anything better.

"I'm gonna stay in bed today, kay?" You managed to mumble as your eyes shut again. If either of them answered you, you didn't hear it. You were already asleep again.

The next time you woke, you weren't so confused as to why. Several parts of your body were demanding immediate attention, including your stomach and your bladder. You rolled so you could position yourself to get up, and ended up rolling into someone.

You opened your eyes through the crustiness caked onto them to find Sans snoozing half-on the bed, other half on the floor. His hand was only a few centimeters away from your own. He must have fallen asleep holding your hand too.

The mental image made you smile.

Knowing he would worry if he woke up and you were gone, you gently shook him. Very gently, mostly because your body wasn't supplying the strength required for anything rougher yet. "Hey you."

His eye sockets popped open quickly enough, rising to view you before the lights had even formed all the way. "YOU'RE UP AGAIN." He observed.

"Yeah. I have to get all the way up this time." You said, stretching as you pushed yourself up to a sitting position. You felt much better than you had the first time, leading you to believe it had been several long hours since then.

You had no doubt it was his own sleepiness that caused him to groan in complaint. He was so cute. You moved more quickly than you'd thought you could in that moment, pressing a quick kiss to his cheekbone and tugging him the rest of the way onto the bed.

You paused as you were pulling the blanket over him, his dark blue skull hammering it home what you'd just done. You hadn't even realized it. Sure, it hadn't exactly been a make-out session, but your boyfriend also didn't have lips, so…

It was still the first time you'd kissed someone with non-platonic intentions. It was a very gradual thing, the way your blood creeped up to flush your cheeks, as you replayed the instant in your mind on repeat. You were certain from the sheer heat all the way up to your ears that your current blush was much deeper than it usually was.

Your bladder reminded you why you were getting up in the first place, forcing you to your feet quickly.

You finally paused to think while you were washing your hands.

What should you expect for intimacy from this relationship? You were going into it with the viewpoint of just the human side, and that wasn't fair. Then again, it wasn't like you could just google it the way that Sans could. He clearly knew what a kiss was despite not having any lips, so it couldn't be unheard of for monsters. Was sex a thing then?

You really needed to have that conversation with Undyne.

Grillby smirked as he heard you thunder down the stairs. Even if you were still tired, you were definitely fine. Not that it would stop him from force feeding you healthy food.

You Soul was in an embarrassed turmoil, but it was very much like Fuku had been as she and Muffet got closer, so he wasn't worried. Well, that wasn't quite right. You worried him like nobody else on the planet could, save Fuku. Just for different reasons.

You emerged into the kitchen with a thoughtful expression, sitting at the table to eat your fruit seemingly without even noticing it was there.

"Thanks Dad." You told him just as absently.

About the same time the feeling of pride swept through him, understanding dawned in your expression. Your head whipped up so you could view him, suddenly almost fearful.

"I'm sorr-." You began, shrinking in on yourself a bit. Grillby interrupted you.

"You're welcome." You hesitated, not quite ready to relax quite yet. "You can call me that. I'm happy to be that for you." Grillby assured you.

It seemed to take a few seconds to register what he'd said, and still a few more for you to understand it. Once that happened, he could see the demeanor change from worried to disbelieving.

Then you smiled bigger than he thought he'd ever seen. And that was saying something, as your smiles weren't exactly small.