Day 24

"The Blue Harbor Festival will soon be upon us my brethren, and that means we have a lot of sorting and stuff to do in the game shop my co-brethren. It may be a long time before we see each other again after the festival, but hold strong my friends. Hold strong! For we shall never truly be apart, no matter the distance. Our hearts will always beat as one! Toast it up, my peeps," Joseph declared in a strong voice, as he and the rest of the group toasted with soda cans as they were walking together.

"That was great Joseph," Karol said, as she kissed his cheek.

"Yeah, if you're going on a quest to save the princess in another castle," Hare said, as everyone laughed.
"That's a perfect way to put it actually," Rini said.

"Hey, hey. Cut me some slack! The Blue Harbor Festival lasts two days and the last day it ends at twelve o'clock at night. We're probably not waking up until Friday morning," Joseph said.

"That's true. Actually, they closed a little later than usual last year," Curtain said, as she finished drinking her soda.

"It was still fun though. That's when I slept over your house that time," Marisol said, and she crushed her empty can of soda with her bare hand.

"Oh yeah, your room was being remodeled," Curtain said, as she crushed her can of soda on the side of her head.

"Curtain, why-are you okay?" Frisk asked, looking at her head.

"I'm fine Frisk. What's up?" Curtain asked.

"The can didn't hurt you?" Frisk asked.

"No. I wouldn't have done that if it did," Curtain replied, not sure why she was worried.

"Well, mortals are more delicate than we are, so I wanted to make sure you were okay," Frisk said, as Sans was listening in while drinking the last bit of his soda.

"Well I'm sure that's true to an extent, but I can take a few hits and still be fine. Right Marisol?" Curtain said, as she turned to her friend.

"Oh yeah. We've got into some great fights. Lasted hours in combat," Marisol said, while turning towards Curtain.

"What? You two fought before?" Frisk asked, as the group stood in front of a restaurant.

"Oh yeah. Those two are like, equals in kickboxing, karate, parkor, all of that. At this point, which was since a few years ago, the only fair fight is if they fought each other," Karol said.

"Yes. They've grown quite strong, and last a long time too," Rini said.

"Oh, but you're great too Rini. You got skills and brains to win over your opponents," Marisol said, as Rini flushed in embarrassment.

"You've all been in fights?" Sans asked.

"Yeah. Not like a street brawl or rough-housing, but we all went to classes in boxing and all that for about... five years, and then we chose our own thing to further study in," Joseph said.

"Interesting," Sans said, and then they all started walking into the restaurant.

Curtain and Sans were last, as Curtain turned to him while holding open the door. Sans held his soda can and it instantly set on fire into ashes. Curtain was surprised by that, as he walked to the door and placed his hand on it.

"No wonder you're so resistant to me. You're used to fighting... so am I, as you know," Sans said, with narrowed eyes and a smirk.

Curtain turned towards Sans with narrowed eyes and a smile as she said, "Oh, I know that. That's what makes this fun, Sans. I have a challenge~"

Curtain rubbed her thumb softly across Sans' cheekbone, and then she turned and walked inside. Sans' cheekbones lit up in a blue blush with widened eyes as he followed behind her, and Curtain held a smile on her face.

The group sat together at a rectangular table, as Sans concealed his blush, although he had a hard time looking away from Curtain since she sat across from him. While everyone was busy talking, Curtain looked towards Sans and noticed a light blue hue on his face when he looked back at her. She kept a straight face at first, and then she smiled and winked at him, as his blush grew a little more vivid. Curtain looked back towards her friends, as Marisol was looking at her with an arched eyebrow and open mouth.

"What?" Curtain asked.

"What are you doing?" Marisol asked.

"Nothing. Just having fun," Curtain simply replied.

"We've established that he's 'dead serious' before, and now you're tempting him to basically kidnap you!" Marisol whispered under gritted teeth.

"I know he is, but he wouldn't do that. I know he won't," Curtain whispered.

"Oh? You know he wants your soul right? And that he's a reaper with the power to kill people by touching them right? Why do you insist on playing with fire?!" Marisol continued to whisper.

"..." Curtain didn't respond, as she looked down with a nervous gaze to trace the table cloth design with her finger.

Marisol recognized that gesture, as her gritted teeth relaxed into surprise.

"Curtain... no. No you don't. You lo..." Marisol whispered a little louder.

"I never said I did, cause I don't," Curtain whispered, as she stopped tracing the table cloth.

Meanwhile:

"Sans! What are you doing?!" Frisk whisper-yelled.

"I'm not doing anything!" Sans whispered back.

"Why is she winking at you?! Did you use a love potion or something?!" Frisk whisper-asked.

"No! I didn't do anything, she's willingly... willingly flirting with me?!" Sans whisper-yelled as his cheekbones turned a darker shade of blue.

"But why? What did you do?" Frisk whisper-asked.

"Nothing. I just said that since she's a fighter that explains why she's stubborn, and she told me that I'm a challenge. That's all," Sans whispered-replied, as he rubbed his face to calm his blush.

Frisk thought about what he told her, and she realized that Sans didn't seem to understand the depth of what Curtain said: For Curtain to call Sans a challenge, that meant that her growing feelings for Sans were making it harder for her to resist loving him. Frisk definitely had to tell Toriel about this.

As they were all sitting together, Curtain stopped flirting with Sans and kept her composure since Marisol helped her realize what she was doing.

After a while, Curtain noticed that the group was getting smaller. Karol had asked Marisol to help her with something, Joseph and Hare left to the bathroom, and Rini asked Frisk if she wanted to see the chefs cooking on another side of the restaurant and she said yes. Sans and Curtain stood alone, and the waiter brought them one plate of food, which they didn't order.

"Um, we didn't order anything yet," Curtain said to the waiter.

"Ah, but this was ordered for you two," the waiter said, as he started to walk away.

The food was spaghetti and heart-shaped meatballs on a red, heart-shaped plate, which the two noticed. They looked from the plate to each other, and then the waiter returned and said,

"I almost forgot to mention, enjoy the Meal of Lovers."

As the waiter walked away, Curtain and Sans looked back at the plate and then each other again. Sans smiled with a blush on his face, as Curtain blushed with gritted teeth.

"You set this up..." Curtain said, with narrowed eyes.

"Nah, it wasn't me," Sans said, shaking his head.

"Then why did everyone leave, and what is this?!" Curtain said, gesturing to the plate with both hands.

"Curtain, I've never been here before. I didn't know this place existed or had a 'Meal of Lovers'... but... I might know who does," Sans said, scratching the back of his skull.

"Who?" Curtain asked, as Sans looked at her and pointed to a certain seat.

Curtain remembered who sat there, and she face-palmed and said,

"Darn it, Karol."

"Hey, it's not so bad. I mean, I'm sure she's paying for the food, and she's only looking out for your best interest~" Sans said, with a wink as he pointed to himself.

Curtain looked at him with a straight-face and annoyance in her eyes. She took her fork and started twirling the spaghetti.

"I'm only eating now because I'm hungry. But they are sooo going to Hear it from ME," Curtain said, and Sans just shrugged and started eating the food with her.

Outside, Karol stood with Marisol as she was talking to her mother on Marisol's cell phone. She hung up and gave her her phone, but she stopped Marisol from entering the restaurant. She was explaining the plan she made with the others to set up Curtain and Sans, which alarmed Marisol.

"WHAT?! Do you even realize what you're DOING?!" Marisol yelled with worry as she was going to run inside, but Karol grabbed her arm.

"NOOOOO! Let them BEEEEE! It's destinyyyy!" Karol whined.

"Then I'm rewriting it!" Marisol yelled, trying to get to the door while almost dragging Karol.

"What's going on?" Joseph asked, as he, Hare, Rini, and Frisk stepped outside.

"You guys set up Curtain to date Sans?! You don't even know him that well!" Marisol protested, as she stopped moving so that Karol would let go of her arm.

"Well, Curtain seems to know him well, and even Frisk knows him too. He's not bad, right Frisk?" Joseph asked as he looked at Frisk and she nodded.

"But still!" Marisol said, frustrated that she couldn't tell them about Sans because Curtain asked her not to.

Suddenly, the door of the restaurant quickly opened to reveal Curtain and Sans stepping out, with Curtain's face stern and eyebrows furrowed. She had her hands on her hips, with half-lidded eyes, as the others were nervous besides Frisk and Marisol, which gave her an indication of who set her up. She signed at first, and then she raised her voice and said,

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

Everyone was pretty startled, as Marisol placed her hand on Frisk's shoulder to lead her next to Sans and out of Curtain's range.

"Aww Curtain. We were only trying to help you," Karol said, trying to sooth her friend's rage.

"Yes. Please do not be upset. We just want you to be happy," Rini said.

"And not kill us right now," Hare said, in his usual nonchalant expression.

"... I should be the one who decides who I date. Instead of being back stabbed by my best friends!" Curtain said, clearly still upset.

Her words made her friends feel bad, which was obvious on their expressions. Sans saw this and he felt sorry for them. He also realized that he may have played a part in starting this ever since his conversation with Karol and Joseph when they gave him a lift to the Game store. Sans set his hand on Curtain's shoulder as she looked towards him with an arched eyebrow.

"Curtain, don't be upset with them. They care about you. They had no ill-intentions of arranging this. Especially since they don't know," Sans said, although his last sentence was low enough for no one else to hear.

Curtain took his words in consideration. She realized that she was being a little too hard on her friends. After all, they all look out for each other, and they only wanted to help her. They are also unaware of the deal between her and Sans, so Curtain decided to cut them a break. She softly signed and relaxed her posture and expression, as Sans removed his hand from her shoulder.

"Alright, alright. I forgive you jerks. Hugs. Now," Curtain said, as she reached towards her friends and they smiled and came towards her to give hugs.

As they did so, Frisk looked at Sans and she noticed that he held a smile on his face as he watched Curtain making peace with her friends. She saw that his smile was genuine, but then his smile slowly faded into a slight frown. As Frisk walked over to him, Sans thought,

'They're good people. All of them... and, I was going to break them apart, like if it was nothing... like if all the years they've spent together were nothing...?'

He felt a tug on his sleeve, as he looked down at Frisk.

"What's the matter Sans?" Frisk asked.

"N-Noth... I'm just glad Curtain isn't mad at her friends. I know how she can be when she gets mad," Sans said, with a snicker, and Frisk nodded, not realizing that he was hiding his true thoughts from her.

Later:

Everyone went their separate ways to their homes, as Curtain, Frisk, and Sans stood in front of Marisol's house. Curtain and Marisol were exchanging phone numbers with Frisk since she showed them her new phone. As they were doing this, Sans received a phone call as he stood out of ear-shot from the girls. After hanging up, Sans joined the girls.

"Hey Curtain. I need to talk to ya. I was going to tell you tomorrow, but that would be too late now," Sans said, as Curtain walked closer to him.

"Oh no, who died?" Curtain asked.

"Wha-no one died! Really Curtain. I'm not reaping ALL day," Sans said with a pout, and Curtain giggled.

"Sorry, I had to. What is it, really?" Curtain asked with a smile, showing that she was listening.

"Okay. So, I got a reservation for two on the cruise boat this Friday, but I got a call from them saying that they had room for two tomorrow from a canceled reservation. They called me because I asked them for the earliest reservations they had before... so... do you want to go with me tomorrow? It'll be from four to nine o'clock, so you'll have time to get ready in the morning," Sans said, as he rubbed the back of his head.

Curtain looked at him in surprise, as Marisol and Frisk were also quite shocked.

"Yes, of course! I always wanted to go on that cruise ship! But that must have cost a lot," Curtain said.

"Eh, it was reasonable. Besides, I have cash to spare. I live in a castle for a reason," Sans said, with a wink.

Then Sans turned to Marisol and Frisk and said, "I still have the two reservations for Friday if you two want to take them. I already paid for them, so you can take'em."

"Really? I'd love to go!" Frisk said, excited.

Marisol was shocked by this generous offer, especially since they didn't see eye to eye.

"You would really offer me that? I mean of course I will take it, but we've never really seen eye to eye-socket so..." Marisol said, as she trailed off a bit.

"I know. That's why I wanted to make it up to you. Your Curtain's closest friend and you've known her longer than me, so I respect that," Sans said, which made Marisol respect him.

"Oh. Thanks dude," Marisol said with a nod, and Sans nodded back.

After leaving Marisol at her house, the three went to Curtain's house. As Curtain went into her house, Sans and Frisk were about to enter a portal to Cosmos.

Hey guys. So, I haven't been feeling good lately. I need to take time to rest for a while, so my updates may be delayed.

Oh! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter. :D

See ya later peeps.