Holly stared at the new monster, gripping the spear Undyne had given her. A skeleton, shorter than Papyrus, grinned down at her, eye sockets impossibly dark save for two points of light. It took Holly a moment to realize that the lights were his version of pupils, trained on her every movement. She could see up through his jaw bone; it was hollow underneath.
"Heh, easy. Didn't mean to leave ya rattled," he said, holding his hands up. His cheek(bone)s pushed his eye sockets up with amusement.
"Uh, s-sorry..." she stammered, lowering Undyne's conjured weapon.
He shrugged and eased down to sit next to her, resting his elbows on his knees and his face on his palm. Holly noticed that his mouth didn't move when he spoke. Did he not need to? Papyrus did-his face was incredibly animated. Then again, skeletons had no tongues to speak with, so... 'Magic, probably. As usual...'
Her eyes cast over his form, taking him in. He seemed to be very... comfortable. 'It is his house, I guess,' she thought, noting the comfortable hoodie, basketball shorts, and slippers.
A beat passed where she remembered something Alphys had mentioned earlier, and her tension eased somewhat.
"Oh, y-you're… Sans, right?" she asked. His eyes flicked from watching Papyrus to her face, the bone under his eye sockets scrunching with amusement.
"Yup, that's me. My bro tell you?" he asked. His grin never moved—it was mildly unsettling.
"Oh, u-um, no he didn't, but Alphys mentioned that someone called 'Sans' was Papyrus's brother." She glanced back to watch the sparring, seeing that Papyrus was accepting Undyne's hand after being knocked down.
"Nice. She and Undyne mentioned you, too. The new human. Forgot your name though," he told her. In comparison to Papyrus, Holly noticed his tone was much quieter. Sans also mumbled where Papyrus would enunciate all of his words.
"I-I'm Holly. Good to meet you guys," she returned. She began to hold her hand out for a polite handshake, but realized he was extending the left. She fumbled and swapped hands.
Huh, a lefty. Holly was just about to mention that her sister was left-handed, too, when—
Pffffffpphhhllllbbbt.
Holly's thought was interrupted as Sans quickly and firmly pressed his hand to hers, compressing something squishy between them. A loud, obnoxious fart sound filled the space between them, leaving off with a pitiful little squeak as the last of the air escaped. Sans's grin widened to an impossible size, eye sockets crinkling with mischief.
Holly blinked, struck dumb for once. And then she snorted. A surprised laugh forced its way up her throat and exploded.
"Oh my God!" she cackled. If anyone had walked in, they might've compared her laughter to a mad scientist's. She feebly hit Sans's shoulder as the laughter got her to a point where she wheezed. "Ohhhh my God, you, you really… did that…" she gasped, clutching her stomach. Sans started laughing along with her, his deep chuckles coming in waves.
"SANS!" Papyrus yelled from the other side of the yard. Holly sighed in a mix of relief and happiness after her laughter stopped. "ARE YOU TORTURING OUR GUEST WITH YOUR TERRIBLE JOKES? YOU'D BETTER NOT BE!"
"No, no, Papyrus!" Holly answered before Sans could say anything. "It's fine, you guys keep sparring!"
The tall skeleton's bottom jaw jutted forward, eye sockets narrowed suspiciously at Sans. Holly was strongly reminded of when Michelle would give her the same look after a bad joke, though her sister would probably also have run over to slap her, too. Papyrus straightened and sighed deeply after a moment of pinching the bridge of his… nasal bone.
"Well, if you say so, human! Undyne, shall we—"
"HA, GOTCHA OFF GUARD, SKELE-DORK!" Undyne screeched before launching herself onto Papyrus and tackling him to the ground. Holly giggled, still giddy from laughing so much. Papyrus and Undyne weren't even sparring anymore—just horseplaying. Holly looked over at Sans, haven already taken a great liking to him.
"I haven't laughed like that since…" Her eyes dropped infinitesimally. 'Since the last time I saw Michelle in person.' "It's been awhile, ha."
Sans's grin never left his face, but it seemed to soften in response. "Heh heh, well, you're a good audience, that's for sure. Didn't think anyone laughed that hard at my jokes, 'cept Tori. Friend of mine."
"Yeah?" Holly asked, perking at the mention of other monsters she could meet. Despite Undyne being offended by the curiosity, she really couldn't help wanting to know more about the monster race. But then she remembered—Tori, Toriel. "Oh, I think Undyne and Alphys talked about her. Toriel, Frisk's adoptive mom, right?"
"Mhmm. She lives in another district, near a school where she teaches. Elementary school." He leaned back on his hands, turning his skull to give her a sidelong look. "So, made friends with Alphys and Undyne, huh?"
"Haaa… yeah. Though it, uh, didn't start off so well," Holly admitted. "Undyne got mad when I mentioned that I'd always wanted to meet a monster." She rubbed the sleeve of her sweater between her fingers. "She thought I was just being friendly out of pity, or because I wanted to look good."
The side of Sans's face wrinkled, though still the grin persisted. "Yeesh, yeah, that'd do it. Humans are a nosy bunch, but eh, curiosity isn't always so bad." His voice lowered slightly and he glanced towards Undyne before metting Holly's gaze again. "Undyne and Alphys have gotten the worst of it out of all of us, I think." His grin tightened at the corners. "Apparently same-sex is a big deal to you guys. Along with the whole monster thing."
Holly cringed. "Oh, ew," She inhaled slowly, then exhaled through her nose. "It's too bad monsters came up from the mountain to discover that people are a bunch of jerks. Even to each other," she said, now completely sobered up from her laughing fit. She did find herself wondering, though-were monsters more tolerant of literally everything? They were known to be really tolerant of beliefs, race, gender... all the things that humans loved to discriminate against. She frowned, feeling uncomfortable and guilty that her race were giving monsters all such a difficult time when really, they could learn so much from them.
Sans waved a skeletal hand dismissively. "Nah. To be fair it's like, a fifty-fifty split. Half of ya are willin' to go out of your way to be welcoming, the other half, not so much. There's really awful people, but ya got the opposite, too."
Holly nodded slowly. "Well, that's… a good point. I guess the bad half is just louder about it," she said, laughing without humor.
"Mm," he rumbled. Papyrus and Undyne were back to sparring, though Holly could see that the two of them were slower now. They were getting worn out. Sans gave a heavy sigh. "I need to get somethin' straight real quick," Sans said, and Holly turned to look at him. The color drained from her face.
His grin stretched from one cheekbone to the other, both eye sockets focused on her. They were devoid of the little pinpricks of light, showing only that impossible darkness.
"Undyne might like ya fine, and that's good. But I don't know you. So I'm tellin' you once—be good to my brother." The timbre of his voice rattled through her bones-it was like he spoke the last sentence along with another person, layered with malicious intent. He chuckled humorlessly, pupils reappearing. "He's a cool guy, so it won't be too hard," Sans finished, voice back to being carefree.
Well. Sans was definitely a protective older brother.
Now Holly was wondering exactly how strong monsters could be. She clutched Undyne's spear out of reflex, then looked down at it. They could summon weapons out of nowhere and use magic, and though she hadn't seen any of Sans's magic, she was sure it was probably similar to Papyrus's. Ice slipped through her veins as she surveyed the damage caused by the bones tearing through the yard. Holly looked over at Sans again, who was watching the sparring as if he hadn't just made her heart thud uncomfortably in her chest. She was suddenly reminded of the constant fear she once felt, before she had come to live here.
She wasn't certain if she liked Sans as much anymore.
He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his hoodie pocket and a lighter appeared in the other hand. Confused as to why a skeleton, of all people, would smoke, she watched him light it, the cigarette tucked between two fingers. His shoulders hunched forward as he took a drag, face lifting as he blew smoke into the air. It escaped from several places, including from between his teeth, his nasal cavity, and his eye sockets. She even saw a bit slip from where his throat would be. The sight of billowing smoke pouring from a skeleton was both fascinating and disconcerting, though a part of her couldn't help but to feel that the familiar routine was so… human. There was a stifling silence between them as the cigarette burned, the skeleton's eyes never glancing back in Holly's direction after the conversation had come to an abrupt end.
A shout brought her attention back to the sparring monsters, who had finished their session together, Papyrus walked towards the back door. Undyne clapped a hand on Papyrus's shoulder, cackling when he rubbed at a fresh dent in his armor. The taller skeleton's face lit up when he caught Holly in his sights.
"Hi again, human! I hope you enjoyed watching us train! Now, you must be famished, so come inside and we'll have the spaghetti I made especially for this occasion!" He ushered Holly into the house, Undyne closely following. Sans stayed outside, hands tucked into his hoodie pockets. Holly felt her back prickle, knowing without seeing that he was watching her carefully.
"So then Papyrus comes back in just to tell me I couldn't handle making friends with Frisk, and then of course I had to take up the challenge," Undyne continued, jabbing her fork for emphasis. "At first I was just trying to do fun crap with the kid, y'know, like drinking tea and cooking lessons. But, well—long story short, we burned down the house—"
"Oh my God, Undyne, you didn't!" Holly was back to being cheerful after Sans's implied threat, and the monsters were telling stories about how they all met Frisk and befriended them. A plate of spaghetti sat in front of her, barely touched—the stuff was truly awful, though she had made the excuse of not being hungry so as to save Papyrus's feelings. Sans''s spaghetti had mysteriously disappeared, but Holly didn't remember seeing him eat any of it. Instead he was squirting ketchup into his mouth (on his teeth?) with a red, plastic bottle, like the ones Holly had seen in restaurants.
"Yeah we did! I had to stay over at Papyrus's house," Undyne laughed. ""But yeah, the house was burned down and I was starting to think… maybe me and Frisk just weren't gonna get along at all. So of course I challenged 'em to a fight!" She pounded the table emphatically with her fist. "We didn't have any music or anything 'cause my CD player was on fire, but we started dancing anyway. Frisk did their frilly frou-frou dance routine while I did my awesome fighting thing, and at first I thought we weren't gonna get anywhere when suddenly, bam!" She pounded the table again, this time flinging a butter knife by accident. It fell onto the floor. ""I realized! The kid was a wimp, but a wimp with a really big heart." A fond smile, filled with pointed teeth, graced Undyne's features. "Reminded me of Asgore, really. We've been good friends after that."
"Wow," Holly commented. "Frisk must be a really brave kid to keep trying to be your friend. I can't say I wouldn't have run away," she laughed.
"Well, they did run away a lot at first!" Papyrus interjected. Holly saw Undyne stiffen. "Because Undyne was tracking them down, and—"
"A-and that doesn't matter now because me and the kid are friends!" Undyne interrupted, her smile strained. The niggling feeling of doubt came back from when Undyne had lied in the car, and Holly wondered what she was trying to hide. Something to do with attacking Frisk? It was certainly something Holly would have to look into at a later time. She was tempted to ask Papyrus, who seemed unable to keep secrets, but part of her wanted to hear it from Undyne herself.
Unnoticed by anyone, Sans watched Holly's reaction closely.
Papyrus looked surprised at the interruption, but smiled wide. "Of course! Though Frisk is besties with The Great Papyrus, of course," he stated proudly, putting a hand on his chest. Holly noticed that Papyrus did that a lot—it was sort of narcissistic, but in a harmless, funny kind of way.
"WHAT?! Nuh-uh, she's my bestie! She likes anime way more than puzzles, dude," Undyne insisted, both hands gripping the edge of the table.
"Nyeh! Your silly cartoons are nothing compared to the challenge and clashing of wits my puzzles give. In fact—" His thought was never finished, because suddenly Undyne had launched herself across the table to tackle Papyrus, one of her arms weaving under his armpit, her palm on the back of his skull. He went down with a startled 'NYOOOF!'
"ANIME IS BETTER THAN PUZZLES! FRISK LIKES ME MOOOORE!" she screeched, a manic grin taking over her face. Papyrus was flailing and arguing, Undyne was giving him noogies, and Holly had scooted far away to the other side of the table.
"Heh heh, they're a riot," came San's voice. Holly couldn't help but to jump a bit, forgetting he was even sitting there because he'd been so quiet. Holly remembered his earlier (implied) threat, her palms sweating. She wondered why he would be so… well, rude, but when she thought about it for a moment, it began to make sense.
Sans was being protective, like she would've done in his shoes when it came to Michelle. It had to be hard, being a minority and very different from the humans they were surrounded by… she couldn't really blame Sans for setting the rules down ahead of time.
It didn't mean she wasn't still unnerved by him, though.
"I'm gonna go watch T.V.," Sans muttered, pushing away from the table.
The two tall monsters were still hollering and carrying on—Papyrus's foot shot out and knocked over an empty plate onto the floor. Holly pushed herself away from the table. Sans ducked when a fork came flying in his direction, but never stopped walking. He turned into the hallway.
Deciding that she would take advantage of the moment to talk alone with Sans, she called out to him. "W-wait for me!" When she went to follow him, however, he had already disappeared somewhere. Her brows drew together in confusion, but she found him a few seconds later as she made her way into the living room.
"Uh, how did you…?" Sans glanced at her from over his shoulder. He was already kicked back, an arm slung across the back of the couch. Holly's bewildered expression only intensified. "You were… way over there? And now you're…?"
Sans shrugged. "Took a shortcut," he remarked, going back to watching the screen. He was flipping through channels, pausing on things he probably found interesting. He stopped and put the controller down when he saw Neil DeGrasse Tyson showed up on-screen, talking about black holes.
Holly's bottom lip pushed out at his non-answer, but she didn't say anything. "Can I sit with you?" she asked. Sans raised a brow at her, but shrugged and turned back to the television.
"If you want."
She settled down next to him, feeling his eyes watch her from his peripheral vision. She didn't want to leave the space around herself and Sans this way—she really liked Papyrus, and when Sans hadn't been threatening, he had been fun to talk to, as well. Holly straightened, determined to make nice.
"So, older brother, right?" Holly said, though it wasn't really a question.
Sans hummed an affirmative. "How'd ya guess?" It wasn't really a question, either.
Holly smiled down at her hands, which were clasped over her lap. "Undyne told me. And… I have a little sister," she answered. "So I would have figured it out even if Undyne hadn't said anything." Sans turned a tiny bit more in her direction to give her an appraising look.
"Ah. Then, you know," he said, turning back to his show. It was a special, featuring several astrophysicists. Right now, Steven Hawking was speaking, though about what, Holly wasn't sure.
"Mhmm. She's my favorite person in the world. Papyrus… he's yours, huh?"
The corner of Sans's permanent grin lifted slightly. "Yeah. Always been together, y'know?"
The warm feeling Holly got when speaking about Michelle sank down in her stomach like a stone. Papyrus and Sans lived together, enjoying each other's company all the time. Holly used to have that, but ever since that day she had left that house… 'I'm such a coward for leaving her.'
"How much younger?"
Holly's eyes lit up. "She's six years younger. We're really close, though, even though nowadays we live… far away from each other," she said, the last part ending in a sigh. "I miss her a lot, but we talk on the phone and on Skype and everything." She wondered briefly if Sans knew what Skype was, and was about to explain it, but stopped herself. They'd been above ground for a few years now, so of course they'd know about things like Skype. It'd probably be rude to assume they didn't.
"Hm, 's too bad. Me and Paps have lived together since, uh… always. We get along fine. Except when he can't accept how great my humor is." He closed one eye and looked at Holly in a skeleton wink. She gave a genuine smile back, hoping that it meant he was warming back up to her.
"So you two lived underground together, too, right? Papyrus mentioned that you lived somewhere that was always snowy, but… I don't think I quite understand how that works," she mused. Sans lifted a brow (bone). "I mean, if you were underground… how did you get precipitation?"
Sans chuckled again, deep and rumbling. Holly was starting to like the sound—it was comforting, despite earlier. "Magic," he said unhelpfully, waggling his fingers in her face. She gave him an exasperated look. "Heh heh, dunno how to explain it to ya. I mean, we're made of magic, the underground was sealed by magic, lots of stuff worked by magic… it's not like this stuff that you can explain easily," he said, gesturing towards the television. Bill Nye had made a special appearance now and was talking about things Holly did not remember being on the kid's shows she used to watch.
"Pff, easy, sure," she agreed sarcastically, though her tone was teasing. Sans shrugged.
"I like this kinda stuff. It's interestin'. Anyways, I guess… Snowdin was one of a bunch of places underground that had a permanent season. The Ruins were always in autumn, Snowdin was winter, Waterfall was spring, Hotland was summer…" he ticked off the areas in on his fingers. "There was a spell placed on all of 'em to perpetuate a sort of… fake weather system. We just recycled the water underground for weather. Kinda like how the atmosphere up here does it naturally. Monsters just kept it to one season per area. Made it easier for people to figure out where they wanted to live."
"…Huh. That would be nice to do up here," Holly commented. "Controlling weather and seasons, I mean. Would make for a perfect seasons for certain farms and things like that."
Sans shook his head. "Nah, we can't do it on that big a scale. Underground was kinda small, y'know."
Holly frowned. "Oh… I see. That sucks."
Sans snorted, but didn't say much else. They watched the program together in silence.
A/N: I realize that this update was very quick, but please don't expect them to always be this fast! I was just a little extra inspired this time. Also, my Frisk is female! I hope that does not bother anyone :)