Mentions of alcohol in here but no actual usage.

She made one last check through her luggage. Birth certificate, ID, plane tickets, high school diploma, social security card, the necessary items to get her through the first month or so. Her whole life, packed into just a few small bags, because she couldn't afford to pay for extra checked baggage.

The sun hadn't come up yet, but she could feel the shift into the beginnings of sunrise. She held her breath as she took one last look into the bedroom, her eyes falling upon the peaceful form of her sister. The soft sounds of her breathing could be heard in the silence the early morning brought.

Holly felt her throat close up.

'One year. One year, and she'll be in college and out of here,' Holly reminded herself, but it didn't keep her from feeling sick to her stomach.

"…I'm sorry," she breathed, and with terrible effort she tore her gaze away from Michelle's sleeping form. She slipped through the house and out the back door to meet her cab on the corner of their street, dragging a humble bag of belongings behind her.

Holly peeled her eyes open and immediately regretted it.

"Ugh…" Her body ached all over but she forced herself into an upright position. This was also a bad idea; moving so quickly made the room spin and nausea roiled through her belly. "Shit…"

She glanced around the room, squinting through one eye and rubbing the grime and makeup out of the other. It wasn't her own apartment or bed, though her phone and glasses sat on a small bookshelf doubling as a nightstand nearby. There was also a glass of water, a bottle of pills, and a piece of paper. Taking the time to rub the rest of the sleep and crust from her eyes, she clumsily put her glasses on and grabbed the paper to read whatever was on it.

'Dear Holly,

I have left for the day to take care of important things, and Dr. Alphys and Undyne have both gone to work. Sans is here with you, so please let him know if you need anything! Feel better soon, and please be sure to drink the water I left for you! The Undernet (this was crossed out) Internet says that humans need to re-hydrate after a night of drinking alcoholic beverages. I also took the liberty of doing your laundry for you! It is on Sans's dresser. I will be back this afternoon!

Your best friend,

The Great Papyrus

P.S. Please speak with Sans. He was very worried about you. Next time, please take better care of yourself!'

She felt her heart drop as she read the letter. She really did have too much to drink last night, hadn't she? Holly felt sheepish, like an irresponsible college student that needed babysitting. The feeling was forgotten briefly when another wave of nausea rippled through her. Her hands shook slightly like she had the flu when she reached for her phone and checked the time. 12:38pm.

"Fiiiine, fine I'll get up," she muttered to nobody in particular. Something in Papyrus's letter clicked in her brain and she froze, slowly looking down at herself. She was wearing a loose men's t-shirt that had some sort of molecular diagram on it and a pair of loose sweatpants that were rolled up (she was too short for them). She wasn't wearing a bra or… oh God, she didn't have underwear on at all.

She held in the screech that threatened to tear from her throat—first of all, her mouth felt like it was full of cotton, so screaming seemed like an un-fun thing to do, and second, she was pretty sure any loud noises at all would add to the throbbing headache she already had. Who had undressed her? Had anyone else seen? Oh God did she throw up on her other clothes or something?

"Noooo," she moaned, her voice coming out cracked and dry. She held her head in both hands, automatically finding the edge of the bed to sit. Standing and thinking weren't things she could manage simultaneously at the moment.

The faint static of Sans's magic was easy to miss in this state, so when he appeared from nowhere at her side, she jumped so badly that she fell off the bed.

"Owwww…" The fast movement had made the room spin viciously; she licked her lips and breathed slowly as another wave of nausea rolled through her body.

"Shit, Holl, you okay?" Sans's face was full of concern as he hovered over her, watching her face.

"Dandy," she rasped. Her eyes were trained on the popcorn ceiling. "This your room?" she asked, remembering vaguely that he'd offered his bed before they had a long night of drinking. He gave her an odd look.

"Uh, yeah... Here, gimme your hand." The skeleton reached his left hand out for her. Holly took it and felt herself be tugged into an upright position; if she had been more capable of paying attention, she would have noticed that Sans seemed to be able to heft her solid weight around with hardly any effort at all. In her miserable state, however, all she did was take in shaky breaths to make sure she didn't vomit. "You, uh. Doin' okay there?" His hand still held hers, the other one going to the small of her back as he got to her side.

"I feel like hot garbage," she complained, squinting up at him. Even though he was short compared to human men's standards, he still stood a good few inches taller than her—especially when she was hunched over in misery. "I need some of those Ibuprofen. Let me sit a few minutes 'til it kicks in." He helped her down immediately and sat with her, watching carefully as she reached for the bottle of pills. Holly tapped out three of them, feeling as though she really needed a high dosage. "Fuck, why do my knees hurt so much…"

"You, uh. Sorta bludgeoned 'em on the concrete," Sans answered, the corner of his grin tilting up at her grouchy swearing despite the concern in his eyes.

"I did?"

"Yeah. Do you… not remember that?"

She looked over at him, frowning. "No. Did I really get that drunk?"

He avoided her gaze. "…You should take those. You need water, too," he said. Holly couldn't help but notice the very obvious change in subject.

'Shit.'

She paid very careful attention to the task of grabbing the full glass, not trusting her hands to hold steady. She took a gulp of water after tossing the Ibuprofen back, feeling immediate relief as the water splashed around to wet her cotton-dry mouth. "I am so glad I don't have work today."

Sans snorted, but did not smile. His body language was tense, and though he didn't have muscles, Holly thought his shoulders seemed somewhat rigid.

"Sans…" she tried again, putting her glass carefully on the small bookshelf. "What happened?"

The skeleton took a deep breath and let it out before leveling her with a flat look. "You got drunk and really emotional, pretty much. Talked about a lot of things." He shifted, seeming uncomfortable. Holly felt ice slip into her stomach.

That could mean a lot of things. A whole lot of things that Holly was not okay with. With as much delicacy as she could muster in her hungover state, she asked the inevitable question. "…Talked about what kinds of things, Sans?"

He reached up to rub the spot where his cervical vertebrae and his skull met, grimacing. "Well, let's, uh. Talk about this over breakfast." The skeleton got up and hurriedly scooted out the door. If Holly hadn't been worried before, she sure as hell was now.

'Shit, shit, shit…'

She steeled herself both mentally and physically before getting to her feet (again). Her head was clearing a bit; she glanced around Sans's room, her curiosity winning over the pounding in her brain.

It was minimal; there was the bed, which was just a single-size with no headboard or anything, a couple of pillows and simple sheets. He had the small bookshelf that doubled as a nightstand, and a mismatching dresser on the other side of the room. A dirty clothes hamper sat neatly next to it, with several pairs of dirty socks littering the floor right at its base. There wasn't much lighting in the room, which Holly was honestly grateful for at the moment. There was just a floor lamp and a window with blackout curtains covering it so no light got in when they were shut. By that window was a humble desk—more of a flimsy table, really—with a closed laptop sitting on top of it. There were also stacks of scattered papers, dirty dishes, writing utensils, sticky notes, and various other odds and ends there. She noticed with some disgust that there was an empty bottle with dried, crusted ketchup at the edges.

Alphys and Undyne weren't kidding when they said that Sans was a slob.

Thankfully her nose was a bit too stuffy to take in what must have been the musty scent of stale laundry and dirty dishes. Holly always got a little sick with a cold after partying too much, or getting bad sleep. She'd read somewhere that drunken sleep disallowed for proper REM cycles, therefore not allowing the immune system to replenish overnight. She could believe it with how dreadfully tired she felt at the moment.

Holly made her way down the hall and into the dining room, where Sans was already sitting and checking his phone. He seemed perfectly fine, aside from faint circles beneath his eye sockets. She squinted at him suspiciously.

"Did you not get a hangover?" she asked. He glanced at her from over the top of his phone, grin widening.

"Nah, monsters burn off alcohol pretty quick and heal from its effects faster than humans. Undyne was probably the worst off 'sides you, seein' as she usually needs more water than me and Alph." He seemed amused when she scuffed over to the coffee pot to pour herself a mug he had set out for her. It was cold, but microwaved coffee was better than none.

"Important question," she said, tilting her head slightly towards him, but focusing on putting sugar in her coffee. "Who helped me change into different clothes last night, and why not just let me sleep in my clothes I was already wearing?"

Sans held up a finger. "First of all, that's two questions. Second, Undyne hefted ya around and helped ya change." Holly actually looked at him and blinked in surprise to see that his cheekbones were a light shade of blue. "Third, Alph spilled her drink on ya, and frankly, I didn't want my bed smellin' like a brewery."

She snorted and helped herself to some of the bread that was on the counter, popping it into the toaster. "Like it would've made much of a difference in there anyways," she muttered. Sans narrowed his eyes at her.

"What was that?"

"Hm? I didn't say anything," she said innocently, grabbing the butter from the refrigerator. "Where're the butter knives?"

He squinted at her for another moment before jerking his head to the left. "Third drawer away from the stove."

They fell into a brief silence as she made herself the simple breakfast (brunch), but she could feel his eyes watching her. Rather than feeling accusatory, she thought his gaze was more… attentive. It was odd, but it mostly made Holly wonder how bad she got last night for him to be so concerned.

She made her way to the table with her toast and coffee, flopping a little too quickly into the seat across from Sans. She winced when her knees creaked in protest.

"Okay, Sans. Lay it on me," she sighed in a resigned sort of way. "Last I remember, we were on the back porch. Talking about…" she furrowed her brow. It made her head throb. "Stars? I think?"

Sans watched her and nodded slowly. "Well, that gives me an idea of where you started blackin' out, then." He took a sip of his coffee, finding his mug interesting. "You asked me a lotta questions about… my life," he told her, the corner of his grin quirking upwards. Holly glanced at him, sensing that he had just avoided giving any details. She didn't press it. "I said I didn't wanna get into it and then you, uh… apologized. A lot."

"I started crying, right?" Holly filled in drily. He looked startled, but she shook her head derisively. "I've only ever been this drunk one other time and I just apologized a lot while crying." She cringed. "You guys had to babysit me for the whole night, huh?"

Sans shrugged unhappily. "Yeah. I sorta took that part over though. You, uh… that wasn't all you talked about," he hedged. Holly felt her blood freeze in her veins. "I didn't think you'd… want more than one person to hear the stuff you were sayin'." He frowned at her, though his eyes weren't quite focused. The skeleton opened his mouth to start talking again when Holly interrupted in a small, fragile voice.

"Don't." Her hands were trembling. "Sans. If… whatever you heard. If it was about…" her throat closed up and choked off her words. She cleared her throat and tried again, feeling her eyes burn. "If it was about my… mother. Can you just... please not talk about it?" Holly raised her eyes to catch his stilled gaze, confirming her suspicions. She nodded and took a moment to regain her composure. "That's a part of my life I wasn't really ready to share," she admitted. Her hands rubbed against the edges of her coffee mug.

He let out a long, tired sigh. "Yeah, okay. That's what I figured." Imposing silence grew between them. After a long moment, Sans tapped his skeletal fingers on the table. "Y'know… if you, uh. Wanna talk about stuff, though…" he trailed off.

Holly shook her head, but gave him a kind, sad smile. "I appreciate that very much, Sans. But it's… not something I really. Talk about." She fidgeted. "I… hope you don't think less of me," she finished softly, stubbornly refusing to look him in the eye now.

"What? Why would ya think that?" he asked, sounding genuinely confused.

Her dry lips peeled apart in surprise. She licked them. "…Because I don't talk to her anymore?" she asked. He snorted.

"If anyone understands how shitty people can be, it's me," he said darkly, making her blink at him curiously. Holly knew very well how hard it was to speak about such things, though, so she decided not to pry.

"Well, um. Thank you," she said, and this time she gave him a tired but genuine look. She supposed she should have known he wouldn't be like Toriel on this matter; the larger boss monster was far more vehement about parental bonds for obvious reasons. Sans inclined his head.

"Sure thing, Holl. But, uhhh…" He gave her a once-over, the bone across the bridge of his nose wrinkling. "You need a shower," he observed. She sputtered incoherently, turning a bright shade of red.

"Excuuuuuse me?" she said in half-mocking offense. "I smell like a bed of roses," she insisted, lifting her arm to sniff herself and blanching. "Oooh, okay, yeah. You're right."

He laughed, and she grinned at him, feeling the tension break. "Paps washed your clothes. I think Undyne's got shampoo in there, knock yourself out."

The hot water from her long (but not rudely long) shower helped her sore muscles immensely. She was drying her hair with the fresh towel Papyrus had thoughtfully put out for her when she heard said skeleton's voice from somewhere down the hallway. He must've returned home in the time she'd been showering.

She put on her outfit from yesterday, grateful that she'd chosen to wear simple jeans and a leopard-print t-shirt instead of a complicated costume. She tried not to think too hard about Papyrus washing her bra and panties.

"Oh, Holly!" he exclaimed when she finally emerged, feeling much improved from when she woke up. "I see you've rested up. Are you feeling better?"

Holly tugged at a lock of her hair sheepishly. "Um. Yeah, I am," she said shyly. "Thank you for helping to take care of me," she told him sincerely. He gave her a kind smile.

"You are quite welcome. Though," he began, and she winced at his admonishing tone. "I did tell you to be responsible last night, and you went overboard anyway!" One hand was on his hip, the other pointing at Holly. "If you did not know your own limits, you should have slowed down. And you should have been drinking more water during the night!" He looked away from her for a moment to fix Sans with his stern glare. "And you should have watched our friend more closely and stopped her from having too much! This is why I do not like drinking, it impairs your ability to think clearly." But the shorter skeleton wasn't paying full attention. "Sans! Are you listening?" Papyrus groused, but Sans pointed.

"Uh, bro. You might wanna…"

Papyrus looked back over at Holly, the irritation still plain in his face, but the look slid right off his features when he caught her expression. Her eyes were wide and shining, lips trembling miserably.

"Human? What is wrong?" Papyrus asked, immediately striding over to her. She sniffled and tilted her head down so her wet hair covered her face. She shook her head. "Holly?" The tall skeleton looked frantically to Sans for help, but he shrugged helplessly.

"I'm sorry," she said in a tiny voice. "I didn't mean to worry you." She sensed his unease at her side.

"It is all right. We all just want to make sure you don't make yourself sick," Papyrus told her in a gentle voice. He petted the top of her head before pulling her into his long-limbed embrace. He looked over at Sans and jerked his head meaningfully. The shorter skeleton hesitated, shrugged, and then joined in on her other side.

"Hey. It's a human sandwich," he joked, keeping his touch much lighter than his brother.

Holly huffed out a laugh. "Saaaaaans," she groaned. Secretly, she liked the affection from the both of them; it made her feel safe, secure. Loved. Without thinking much about it, she leaned back into Sans's bony shoulder, sighing contentedly. That was one thing about the skeleton brothers: both of them felt warm, alive. It was strange, seeing as they were both literally just bones, but… it was comforting. Papyrus had a certain scent to him she recognized, like marinara sauce and what she swore was sometimes a hint of dog. It was familiar and made her happy.

Sans, though… she didn't often have the opportunity to get physically close to him, so his scent was always surprising in a nice way. He smelled like salt—the seasoned kind you put on French fries—tomatoes and vinegar, and something dark, like the musk of overturned leaf piles in Autumn.

She must have lingered there just a touch too long for comfort, because he was backing away and steadying her shoulders so she didn't fall. He cleared his throat. "Uh, little dizzy still, huh?" His face had that light dusting of blue across the cheekbones like she'd seen at the kitchen table. Holly blinked slowly, her brain having to work at half-time today. Her eyes widened when she realized that she'd gotten too cuddly and she sputtered.

"Oh, uh. Sorry," she apologized, twisting a lock of wet hair between her fingers. She felt Papyrus's eyes on her; he was unusually quiet, just watching the two of them. "I need to, uh. Get back to my apartment at some point," Holly said, changing the subject, but Papyrus was having none of it.

"Oh no you don't! You need to recover, and as much as I hate to encourage Sans's bad habits, you should relax today. Stay here, I will make you something to eat!" He gave the top of her head another affectionate little pat. "If you end up spending the night again, you can simply wear another of Sans's outfits." He bustled off, leaving Holly red in the face. She glanced at the shorter skeleton again, who was muttering something and walking away in a hurry. His face was still blue, and suddenly she knew why he'd been odd about Undyne helping her get changed last night.

She'd spent the night in Sans's clothes?

A/N: Thanks goes out to Akinai_Sere and CadetSparkleWolf for being my betas.

Please check out Akinai_Sere's Undertale fic, "Faded", only on Ao3! She's just started, but I've known her for quite a while and she is an excellent writer. I highly recommend following her story ^^