Soo... around New Year I was like... super sick. The kind of sick with a cold I hadn’t had since I was a child. I couldn’t do anything but laying around, sleep, and drink a TON of tea. Not fun.
So my brain was pretty much fried but I got my Grillby plush and the Sansby plush the most amazing friends in the world got for me for Christmas with me.
So my brain was like “Well we can’t read, can’t watch TV and can’t play any games because that would require concentration for more than 5min, let’s take some pics.”
Well, so I took some pics :D
The Sans plush is sitting down and Grillby plush is standing up. You see the size difference here.
More size difference. They make a cute pair, huh?
Forehead-touch!
Don’t ask me where the butterflies came from. But they do look cute huh?
And of course I started a new game because why not?
So I might have decided to do a Sansby household similar to the Plushyrune AU (Deltarune where everything is the same but Grillby and Sans are in love, Papyrus is like 12 and Grillby and Sans have plushies of each other and are cute)
So here you have then: All sitting on a couch with salad. They had a perfectly fine table in the back but noooo. XD Well I love them already.
Sans and Grillby do enjoy some chess games.
Sans and Papyrus like to sit on the couch together, talking about stuff.
A look into Papyrus’s room.
Grillby likes cooking and Sans likes watching food being made.
The sequel to “Grillby’s” and “‘Sans”, also found on AO3 (please check out the fanfiction link on my tumblr for the AO3 link)
Papyrus was NOT really happy when they moved. It wasn't as if he was really attached to their old place, it was just that he knew the routine there. He knew where he belonged there. Also it was the place he and Sans had lived for years and Papyrus didn't really like leaving everything behind.
He had known things would be different when Sans came home one day grinning brightly and mumbling fire puns while he made dinner. At first Sans hadn't told him anything about the why. Sans' room would suddenly be locked for hours at a time while Sans talked to somebody on the phone. Suddenly Sans took day-trips somewhere else and leave Papyrus to be on his own for a few hours after school (He was FINE. He was already 10 years old at that time!). Also Sans had started to do more stuff with Papyrus on days where he was at home and not at work. He had helped with his homework or played some of the games with him he knew Papyrus loved.
Papyrus had suspected that something had happened at work too, but as usual Sans did not talk about whatever was bothering him.
Papyrus met Grillby for the first time a few weeks later when Sans took him on a trip. They were going to some sort of fair, lots of exciting stuff to do there so Papyrus hadn't minded the strange and kinda silent fire elemental that greeted Sans like an old friend. It took him two hours to notice that they were holding hands the whole time they were walking over the fair-ground.
He was... alright. Papyrus was a bit weary of Grillby at first but seeing him and Sans together was kinda nice and they made each other smile a lot.
And then Papyrus had found the plushies. Or, well, saw Sans squeal and squeeze a familiar looking orange plush, bones nearly vibrating in joy and his magic reaching out with glee so strong that Papyrus could feel it all the way from the door.
His brother being in love was kinda a strange thought. Not bad but strange. Because things would change.
And change they did. They moved to the new town, they moved into Grillby's house and Sans went to work at Grillby's store.
And Papyrus? He went to the new school.
It wasn't bad. The town was nice and friendly, there were trees and a small lake and a lot of cool places to play. The school building itself was pretty new too, bright colors everywhere and it smelled like chalk and wood.
Headmaster Toriel was a tall goat woman and a tiny bit intimidating but she smiled when she greeted each new student and welcomed them into the school. She then gave them all a small tour and lead Papyrus to his classroom.
It was a small class. There were maybe ten other students there and all of them looked at him.
“O...oh. Uh... you must be Papyrus? Welcome in our class!” said the teacher, a yellow lizard monster. “Uh... My name is Alphys and I gonna be your teacher! So uh... how about you get up here and tell us a bit about yourself?”
Papyrus nodded and stepped up and next to the teacher's desk. He waved a bit and tried to show them his best the-great-Papyrus-smile.
“Hello! My name is Papyrus and my brother and I just moved here! He works for Mister Grillby now and is kinda lame but I try to be cooler than him!”
There were some mumbles at his words but all in all the other kids seemed to be alright with him. The Temmie even waved at him and pointed at the empty desk beside him. Grinning Papyrus sat down next to them and put down his backpack.
“Hoi, I am Temmie.” Temmie whispered to him as soon as Papyrus sat down. “Wanna be friends?”
“Sure!” cheered Papyrus, beaming brightly. Maybe this new town was alright after all.
Change wasn't always bad after all.
It was late when Papyrus sat up, his plush pet rock Rocky in his arms and leaning against the headboard of his bed. The rest of the house was dark and quiet, not even Sans' snoring disturbed the silence. A small ray of light came through the window, some light from a streetlamp shining through and illuminating Papyrus' room slightly, forming strange shadows from his furniture and toys.
He just... could not sleep.
It wasn't new, he had days where sleep just eluded him but usually there was a REASON for it.
Today's reason was tall and purple and mean and slightly smaller and green and yellow and brown and... silent.
Papyrus had been watching Kris and Susie since his first day at school, both of them turning up later than him almost every day. Kris usually came with the sound of the bell while Susie came minutes after. She never came MUCH to late, just enough to make a point.
And Papyrus wanted to figure out how to help them. Both of them.
Susie was kinda easy to figure out. Papyrus had kids like her in his old class too. Kids without friends and guidance, who were mean because they didn't know how to be nice. So Susie came in late and was rude, stole and ate chalk and never did her homework and made creepy faces all the time.
She can do better, Papyrus was sure of it. She will make right choices, she just doesn't know it yet. She just need somebody to show her how and to give her a chance...
But Sans' words were echoing in Papyrus' head.
If they are not ready for a friend yet, they won't be your friend.”
But how was Papyrus to know if she was ready to be a friend? What if she didn't even know herself? How could he help her when she didn't even know that she needed help? It was a dilemma, the worst of all puzzles. Even puzzle-master Papyrus was kinda admitting defeat here.
“I really wanna help her.” he said to Rocky, hugging his beloved plush close. “I know I could help her be nice! I know she is good inside and wants to make the right choices. She just needs somebody to believe in her!”
Rocky sadly had no solution either.
Papyrus wondered if Grillby had some advice for that.
The other matter was Kris of course. Kris was a human and Papyrus had met humans before but there wasn't one in his class before.
Kris was mostly silent and kept to themself but they also seemed to have a witty humor and was a troublemaker. Papyrus disapproved heavily of some of their pranks and jokes. Some were kinda funny, like the ones Sans did. Others were just mean.
Everybody was friendly with Kris but nobody really seemed to be their friend. So they were different from Susie but also not quite in the know about how to be good.
“Susie and Kris could be friends.” Papyrus told Rocky. “I bet they would be really great! But... maybe Sans is right and they both don't WANT friends right now? How to get them to be ready then?”
Rocky, again, offered nothing but silence and a nice plushy texture to cuddle with.
“I need a plan.” Papyrus huffed.
He fell asleep just ten minutes later.
Sans seemed to like his work. Papyrus could tell because Sans NEVER talked about his work before. He was some kind of scientist before, that Papyrus knew, but he never ever told him anything. Now however? Sans shared stories from the day. He told him he met all kinds of people, Papyrus's teacher and headmaster and some of the parents of his new classmates. He talked about some pranks he pulled and some of the reactions he got. It was... strange.
“And then he just stared at me for maybe three minutes.” chuckled Sans. “It was the BEST, bro!”
Papyrus smiled, not necessary about the prank but because Sans was just so... happy while telling him his story.
“Grillby loved the new pics too by the way.”
“He did?” asked Papyrus.
“Sure. He likes my jokes.” Sans said proudly.
“He is just a dork like you.” mumbled Papyrus.
“Hey!”
Papyrus chuckled and ate another fork-full of spaghetti.
“Say, Papyrus, how is school going?” asked Sans. “Anything new on the mean-girl and strange-human front?”
“Hm? Oh!” said Papyrus. “Sadly nothing... Kris and Susie disappeared from class today for HOURS and Kris was kinda strange all day today...”
“Strange you say?”
“Well... they seemed to be confused about a lot of things. They looked at everything, talked to everybody multiple times and sometimes walked all over the place... and then they went with Susie to get chalk and didn't return...”
“Well they did at some point.” said Sans slowly. “I met them later at the store.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, pranked them too.”
“URGH.” huffed Papyrus. “Why did you prank them? They could have been my friend!”
“Sorry, bro.” chuckled Sans. “I couldn't resist.”
Papyrus huffed at that and grumpled quietly to himself. But he was a tiny bit glad that Kris seemed to be okay. He was a bit worried when they didn't return.
He hoped still that Kris and Susie would be ready to have friends soon.
The next day Kris wasn't at school. At least not at first. They appeared during the second lesson looking kinda bad. But they were nodding at Susie and smiling a tiny bit and Susie seemed to smile back a bit.
Papyrus was thrilled at that little gesture. Maybe they were friends now? That means they were ready to have friends! And who would be better suited to be their friend but him, the great Papyrus? So he approached them when their had their recess.
“KRIS! SUSIE! I noticed you seem to be friends now and I wanted to know if you want me to be your friend too?”
Kris and Susie shared a look. Papyrus was a bit nervous that he overdid it, that he was to fast, to bold in his approach but finally Susie chuckled a bit.
“You are just like Ralsei, you know?”
“Who is Ralsei? A friend of yours?”
Kris nodded and sat down. And then Susie and Kris told Papyrus the story of the dark world.
They went to Papyrus's home together after school. The tale of the dark world was a fantastical one but Papyrus believed them. He believed that there were still friends left behind, a price of the dark and the son of the king, that had to be reached. He believed that there were still people in need of helping. And people in need of a friend.
So he told them that they should ask his brother. Sans was after all pretty smart and he was sure he could help! Susie seemed unsure but Kris did seem to have forgotten the prank Sans played on them and instead agreed on meeting Sans again.
So when Papyrus noticed Kris approaching Sans, he took Susie to show her his ultra-cool room to give his brother and Kris some time alone.
“And this is my ultra-cool racecar-bed.” Papyrus said, showing off his stuff.
Susie nodded slowly. She seemed a bit puzzled about some of his stuff but Papyrus supposed that not everybody had such an awesome room like him.
“Hey, what's that?” she asked and picked up a little plushy. Papyrus groaned when he recognized it.
“Urgh... it's a plush.” he huffed.
“It looks like you.”
“Well yeah... my brother makes them.” Papyrus admitted. “He made these for him and his boyfriend too and they are so... urgh about it. And now he made me one too so I stop complaining.”
“... your brother can do that? These... plushies?” asked Susie and Papyrus had a feeling she was more interested in them than she let on.”
“Uh... yeah?” Papyrus said slowly.
“... you think he could make one for me?”
Papyrus was really re-thinking his life-decisions. But Susie was looking at him with a strange expression and Papyrus knew now was the time to be a friend first.
“Uh... sure. We just have to ask him I guess.”
Susie looked pretty happy. Papyrus wondered what he had gotten himself into.
That day Papyrus had made two new friends. Papyrus usually didn't like change a lot and a lot of things changed and will change from now on too but somehow, just this time, Papyrus didn't mind the change at all.
Also on AO3 (for Link please click on the “Fanfiction” section on my blog)
Sans hadn't known when he had started making the plush but suddenly there was orange fabric in his hand and his mind just went “oh that looks like the exact shade of Grillby's flames” and suddenly a plush started to form in his hands.
The hobby itself was a bit embarrassing and it was even more embarrassing that Sans just started making one of his crush. But could anybody fault him? Grillby was nice and warm and he laughed at Sans' bad puns all the time! They couldn't see each other often but they kept in touch via phone and internet and Sans always felt so much more lighter and warmer after their talks, even with Grillby's warm body not next to him.
Sans looked at the half-finished plushy in his hands. The shape was more or less done already, but the little guy still needed some clothes so Sans got up to get some more fabric, thinking about what he should put Plushy-Grillby in.
Usually Grillby wore comfortable looking sweeter and pants, sometimes shirts too. Being a fire elemental he didn't do good with cold and gravitated to warm clothes more often than not. So little Plushy-Grillby will totally get some warm and comfy clothes.
Because Black is a nice color to contrast orange with Sans grabbed some of that as well as some white to break it up. The fabric Sans still had on hand was kinda fluffy feeling and warm to the touch. Perfect, the real Grillby would love this too! So Sans went to draw up some designs, something simple. A pair of pants, maybe a shirt?
While drawing a rather silly thought came to Sans' mind. Black and white sounded so formal. Like a suit. His next thought was how nice Grillby would look in a suit.
First he shook his head, because... yeah silly. But the thought stayed with him and after a few minutes of thinking, he just... had to do it. Just to see how it would look!
So Plushy-Grillby got a pair of black pants (that covered the “feet” too) as well as a tiny white shirt and a black jacket. A tiny bow-tie completed the look. Sans stared at the finished plushy in his hands and had to suppress a rather embarrassing sound that fought to get out of him.
But he couldn't help himself! Plushy-Grillby was just too cute! Sans hugged the plush to himself tightly, giving the soft fabric a little skeleton kiss right on the head.
He froze just as he registered what he had just done. He had it REALLY bad for the flame apparently.
Two days later he made a Sans plushy just because it felt weird kissing the plushy and not the real one (if he ever got the courage to actually kiss the real one...). So Plushy-Grillby got a Plushy-Sans.
“Kiss kiss” said Sans and let the plushies kiss while giggling a bit at how darn silly he was in the moment.
Papyrus, who was watching from the door, just concluded that love apparently made his brother act really really strange.
Also on AO3 (for Link please click on the “Fanfiction” section on my blog)
It had been a long day. Work had dragged on and with the month at it's end there was a lot of paperwork to do too. Owning his own business came with a lot of freedom but also with a lot of tasks that taxed Grillby's precious time even more.
Before, he hadn't minded but now was After and things were different.
But the point is, Grillby was exhausted and was home late. Papyrus was probably deep asleep with it being a school night and even Sans seemed to have gone to bed. The living room was dark, the kitchen empty and there was only the light of Papyrus' nightlight coming from under his room's door.
Sans' and his shared bedroom was dark as well, the only indication Grillby got for his partner being there was a small lump on the bed.
His orange flames painted sharp shadows around the room when Grillby stepped in, slowly undressing as he made his way to the bed.
It became slightly brighter in the room the more clothes Grillby put away. His shirt went first, then his socks and his pants. The body of a monster was the extension of their soul. Grillby's body was flame and light, dust and magic.
The room became more visible. Photos on the wall and on the night-tables. Their closets, one of them slightly open. Some small knickknacks Grillby had collected over the years and some others Sans had added to them. A plant Grillby had gotten as a moving-in-present from his neighbors years ago.
And of course Sans, sockets closed and sleeping peacefully, a soft blue glow emitting from his bones, indicating his sleep and rest with the magic spilling over slightly. There was something orange and black and white grabbed in his arms and Grillby had to smile. It was the plushy of himself Sans had made a long time before. Grillby's own Sans-plushy was sitting lonely on Grillby's side of the bed.
He picked the plush up, hugging it while looking at the real-life Sans. For a moment Grillby just watched him, marveling in the beauty of his beloved partner.
He had done this before, coming home late, so he had practice in sliding into the bed without disturbing Sans. He snuggled up against him, sliding down so the blanket covered most of him, making it more dark again in the room, letting the details, photos, knickknacks, even the plushies that were now snuggled between them disappear into the shadows.
He layed his head on Sans's sternum, snuggling close and letting his own magic intervine with Sans', feeling tired/relaxed/trust/love nudge gently against his own magic.
Monster didn't have blood or a heart to pump it through anything. But Grillby could listen to Sans' magic, could sense the flow of what made Sans Sans through bones and the invisible in-between. And a rush of affection ran its course through Grillby's system in turn.
Sans stirred a bit, mumbling and snuggling into the heat that was Grillby and Grillby let him, hugging this person that was so important to him closer to himself.
Despite not even having one, Grillby loved Sans with all of his heart.
Also on AO3 (for Link please click on the “Fanfiction” section on my blog)
When Sans met Grillby he was still living in a shitty little dorm room together with Papyrus. To be honest, it was one of the nicer rooms, thanks to people taking pity in him and understanding that he needed room to raise Papyrus in.
Grillby was in town for some family business and they met in a little cafe a friend of Grillby owned and that Sans came to very often. Looking back it could be that Muffet had set them up but Sans supposed they will never know.
The result was them becoming fast friends and Grillby telling Sans all about his plans of taking over the grocery store in a little town he was living in. He was just... so excited, telling Sans of his dreams and imaginations about the place, about the joy that the job will bring him. It was honestly kinda cute seeing him like that, flames flickering with excitement and glowing with joy.
Sans might have fallen in love at that moment for real.
When Grillby left to follow his dreams, Sans still had a year of university left so he stayed where he was. They stayed in touch of course, via phone and internet and many, many video calls that lasted deep into the night at times.
There wasn't much Sans could see of Grillby's living quarters in these, sadly. It looked like he had a white wall behind him in the calls, sometimes the back part of a couch or a window was visible but it was by far not enough to know how Grillby's surroundings were looking like.
So when Sans and Papyrus moved in with him, Sans had no idea what to expect.
Grillby was pretty orderly and organized so Sans had some half-formed ideas of a very orderly house where everything has it's place. But Grillby was also a huge dork sometimes so... Sans really had no clue what he was getting himself into.
So when he parked his car and looked up the house in front of him, he checked his phone again if he was indeed at the right place.
The house itself was not that different looking from the other houses, mostly made of wood with a brown roof, more rustic sounding than everything. Somehow Sans thought that it would look better with snow on it...
Grillby opened the door for him and smiled, taking him and Papyrus inside.
The inside looked rustic too, mostly wooden furniture and soft brown and earth tones being everywhere. The kitchen looked rather modern and the living room was nice and warm looking.
Papyrus seemed to be happy with the state of the house.
When Nighttime came Sans brought Papyrus to bed in his new room (they would set up his race-car-bed in the next day, for now the normal guest room bed would do) and after that made his way to Grillby's room...
And entering it he almost fell again out of it from laughter.
Inside the room was kinda a mess with clothes and books and other stuff thrown around. There was an open suitcase half-packed there as well as Grillby who looked like he was hasty trying to fix the mess.
He was now looking at Sans rather peeved.
“... would you please stop laughing?” he asked, face flushing slightly blue with embarrassment.
“Aww Grills.” Sans chuckled. “What happened?” he asked as he came inside, closing the door.
“... I ran out of time to clean up the bedroom before you came...” mumbled Grillby. “... this is very embarrassing...”
“It's not that bad.” chuckled Sans, sitting on the bed. “Papyrus once said my room usually looks like a trash tornado went through it.”
“... really?”
“Yeah.” chuckled Sans. “So I don't mind... but really is it usually like this?”
Grillby nodded a bit blushing still. “I usually... don't have much time outside of work... or people coming over.”
“Well, it's okay.” chuckled Sans. “Just get ready to get sticky notes from Papyrus if it gets to bad downstairs.”
Grillby chuckled at that.
“But Papyrus will probably understand too.” Sans said winking. “After all, this is a fire-place so it's bound to be a bit chaotic.”
Grillby blinked at the pun and laughed heavily at it, flames crackling and glowing again. Sans only grinned widely.
A continuation of “Grillby’s” (found here) This might turn into something more. We’ll see :D
AO3 link
Sans's life tended to do not do straight lines but twists and turns. No matter what plans he might have had in the past, things tend to get derailed and off the charts.
That didn't mean it was bad.
Befriending Grillby and falling in love with him was such a twist in his path but one he could never see as something different than wonderful. Still, like any other twist in his life, with one change came another and another and suddenly Sans was carrying boxes with his and Papyrus' belongings into a car and drove all the way towards his new way of life.
“What is the new town like?” asked Papyrus, not for the first time during their drive, turning towards Sans and looking at him with his big black eyes. “Is there a school?”
“Of course there is one, little bro.” chuckled Sans and caught Papyrus in the last second before he could chance the radio station. “Why wouldn't there be?”
“I don't know.” said Papyrus, huffing a bit as his ploy was foiled and leaning back to pout a bit. “Larry said that small towns weren't like cities and that they don't have school or movie theaters or any cool stuff and that they are super boring.”
“Oh, yeah?” asked Sans, glancing to Papyrus. “He said that?”
“Yeah... also he said that only boring and uncool people live there... But I don't wanna be uncool!”
“Hey, hey...” said Sans, frowning a bit more. “Who said that only uncool people live in small towns? Grillby lives there!”
“Mister Grillby is nice but he is not cool.”
“Well... I give you that he is a pretty hot guy huh?” asked Sans, winking.
“Urgh, Sans!”
Sans chuckled slight. “But really, bro. Don't you think Grillby is cool?”
“He is dating you.” said Papyrus flatly.
“Wait, am I not cool?”
“You squeel and hug that Grillby plushy whenever you two were on the phone. There is nothing that can make THAT cool. Ever.” said Papyrus even more flatly and Sans kinda wanted to laugh, protest and sink through the floor of his car in embarrassment.
“You what?”
“Ups...” mumbled Papyrus and grinned as he used the small distraction to change the radio station for good. Sans let him keep the change for now. After all, he had earned that.
They stayed silent for a while until Sans had himself back under control enough to continue their conversation.
“But uh... to come back to the topic on hand.” he begun. “The town totally has a school and many other fun places. It's just smaller and not crowed and people know each other better there. And I bet there is a lot of fun things to do. Grillby said a lot of kids live there and are happy.”
Papyrus huffed again. Sans leaned a bit closer to him.
“And uh... I bet you can get to be the coolest guy there. I mean you are the coolest brother already. You'll be the coolest of everybody there.”
Finally Papyrus looked at him again, a shimmer of hope in his eyes and Sans could almost feel Papyrus' hopes bloom in his magic. “Really?”
“Sure.” Sans said, petting Papyrus' skull with one hand. “You'll be the absolute coolest dude ever. I know it.”
Finally Papyrus laughed a bit, striking a pose as good as he could being strapped into the seat. “Of course! If they really are uncool, then I, the great and cool Papyrus, will teach all of them to be cool and then we can all be popular and cool together! Nyehehehehe!”
Sans chuckled. “Sure, bro.” he said. “I bet if anybody can do it, you'll be it.”
The drive to their new home was pretty cheerful from there on out.
Sans' live has been twists and turns at every opportunity so far. It was a twist that he get to know Grillby, it was a turn when they fell in love. It was a twist when Grillby called him about an important family matter he had to attend to but nobody to mind the shop, it was a turn when Sans told him he would do it.
It was a twist when Sans decided to move to Grillby's home, it was a turn that it was absolutely nothing like he thought it would be.
Grillby owned the local grocery store of the little town, a little building with the name “Grillby's” on a sign on top of it. Sans thought it looked like a bar or something to be honest. The interior was small and the selection of goods was limited but Grillby's magic and care was infused into all parts of it and that made it all the more special.
Sans was honestly floored when Grillby explained to him what minding the store would be like for him for the next week, simple tasks like restocking and selling people items and complex ones like minding the books, ordering supplies and making sure everything was in order.
“... you got all of that...?” Grillby finally asked, flames flickering softly in the rather dark store and Sans could only think how beautiful Grillby looked. It took him a second to register the question.
“Uh... sure. I think.”
“... if there are questions... or problems... you can call me.”
“Na, Grills.” Sans said softly. “You got enough to worry about with your family. Let me worry about the store for a week.”
“... are you sure... you are up to it?” asked Grillby again. “You don't have to do it...”
“I want to.” said Sans. “I did something like that before. This is just up-scaled and a few extras. Don't worry, okay?”
Grillby still looked at him as if he was this close to cancelling his plans so Sans took out his ultimative attack. His magic reached out and grapped the small Sans-plush he had given to Grillby years ago and which looked well-loved by now. Grillby watched curiously as Sans let the small plush fly close to Grillby, dipping the small skull made of fabric agaist Grillby's cheek in a “kiss” of sorts. Grillby in turn flushed a beautiful shade of blue.
“Kiss kiss.” said Sans chuckling which in turn made Grillby laugh a bit too. Sans took out his own Grillby plush and showed it Grillby before setting it down beside the register. “See? You are helping me.”
Grillby laughed out-lout at this and the topic was not brought up again until the moment Grillby was about to leave.
“Mister Grillby?” asked Papyrus the evening before Grillby had to leave. “Why do you have to leave?”
“There is an important family emergency.” said Grillby, voice soft as he shoved some more rice on Sans' plate. Sans in the meantime tried to cover most of his plate in ketchup. “That is why I have to leave so quickly after you two got here...”
“But what kind of emergency?” asked Papyrus again and Sans felt himself cringe a bit. Grillby was a very private person and Papyrus... well Papyrus was still a baby bones. Okay, he was almost thirteenth now but still, he was a kid and he asked questions. A lot.
“Why do you want to know?” asked Grillby still softly and Papyrus huffed at the apparent none-answer to his questions.
“Well you just go away... I wanna know! Can I help? Is the emergency bad?”
Grillby blinked and chuckled and Sans felt himself relax a bit. Of course Papyrus would try and help and of course Grillby would see the same in Sans' brother like Sans did.
“I am afraid there is not much you can do, Papyrus.” Grillby said softly, sitting down to look Papyrus into the eyes. “... it's my mother. She is sick right now.”
“Oh no!” gasped Papyrus. “Is she gonna be okay?” Sans wanted to ask the same. He had talked to her a few times, on the phone or the like. She was a nice lady.
“She will.” Grillby said and Sans felt himself relaxing a bit. “It's not that bad. But we flames tend to heal better and faster when we are with our family.”
“Really?” asked Papyrus. “Why?”
“It's our magic.” explained Grillby and held out his hand, palm side up. A small blueish flame sparked and flickered in his hand, almost separated from the orange ones that made up his body. “Our bodies are more magic than dust. All elementals are like that.” he explained. “and our family shares magic. We flames share our magic and heat to make each other feel better.”
“Ooooooohhhh...” said Papyrus, looking like he was thinking hard. “Do you think she would like a bone attack? Like... me and Sans sometimes spar with them so it's like sharing bones?”
Sans blinked at that. Grillby did too.
“Like, you and Sans and... and me are family right? So your mom is family too so I wanna share something so she can feel better!”
Sans felt a bit faint with the apparent cuteness. Grillby just nodded slowly and chuckled a bit.
“I... think she would very much appreciate it.” he said finally. Papyrus beamed at him brighter than the flame in Grillby's hand.
Grillby left the next day with a very light suitcase. But the things that had to come with him were two bone-attacks, his Sans-plush and a very adorable self-made get-well-wishing card.
“So, it's just you and me now, huh?” said Sans to his Grillby plush as he sat down in the shop for his first day of “work”.
It was 7 o'clock in the morning. Sans had stocked up as Grillby had told him, had turned on the lights and had flipped the sign to “open”. So far nobody has come to the shop. All in all it was kinda boring.
Sans eyed the stack of newspapers that was laying beside him. They were a bit old. Grillby apparently got one every day but never really red them so they were stacking up at the register. Sans looked over the top-most one.
It was breaking news. A few weeks ago. A fire in a very upscale laboratory in a big city not far from here. Some humans and monster apparently were trying to mix magic with science in a way that shouldn't be messed with. Luckily nobody seemed to be seriously hurt by the fire but it seems whatever the big project was, it's on ice now.
Sans turned away from the newspapers. He didn't want to read anymore about that.
Instead he took out his sewing kit and some spare fabric.
Sewing always was a little bit of an odd hobby for him. As a small baby bones he already learned how to sew simple things and helped fixing Papyrus' clothes early on too. Papyrus after all always was an energetic soul, so no matter what his clothes suffered from it. Also the clothes produced by humans usually didn't fit well on skeletons so he also learned how to make them fit better.
The plushies kinda were some test at first. The first one he made was a birthday present for Papyrus. It really was just a more-or-less round lumb of grey fluff, but Papyrus had loved that thing, calling it his “Pet rock” and Sans was kinda really happy when he spotted “Rocky” in the moving box labeled “important Papyrus stuff” with red crayon.
He got better over time of course. But Grillby was the first one he gave one of his plushies outside of his family. The little Sans plush was intended as a joke at first. So you can always have a little me with you. But Grillby was so HAPPY about it and had sent Sans a ton of pictures of himself hugging the little plush or doing cute stuff like nuzzling the soft fabric or sitting with the plush on his couch or having the plush tugged into his bed.
It was so darn adorable, Sans just couldn't tell Grillby it was supposed to be a joke. After some consideration he had send Grillby a picture of his own Grillby plush sitting on his bed and the rest was history.
The plush he was making now was a special one too. He didn't had much white fabric anymore but there was still enough for what he had in mind.
“Oh that is a really cute plushy.” said a voice right beside Sans suddenly and he was started quite badly by it, yelping and almost falling from his chair.
“Oh my gosh I didn't wanna scare you! A...are you alright? Did... did you hurt yourself? Oh no... Oh no oh no what do I do...?” continued the voice and Sans sat up panting a bit.
“I am okay, I am okay!” he quickly said. “Just startled. uh...?” He finally looked up and had absolutely no idea who he had in front of him.
The monster nervously playing with their hands was a yellow lizard monster. She was barely taller than Sans and wore a small pair of glasses.
“Uh... uhm... I am Alphys.” the lizard said. “Uh... sorry... I uh... wait, where is Grillby?” she asked.
“Out of town for a week.” Sans said. “I am Sans.”
“And I am Alphys.” said Alphys. There were a few seconds of awkward silence. “Uh... I already said that huh?”
Sans chuckled. “Yeah but that way it sicks better.”
“Uh... good.” Alphys said. “So... Grillby's is out of town?”
“Saily.” said Sans. “Uh... you need anything?”
“Oh! Yeah, of course...” Alphys mumbled and put her groceries on the counter and Sans rung her up. Milk, an apple, some candy and some packages of ramen noodles. Sans very much did not judge her, he ate worse during his university time.
“So... uh... do you work for Grillby?” asked Alphys. “I never saw you before.”
“Moved in with my little bro just a few days ago.” Sans explained. “So uh... you probably didn't saw me.”
“You got a little brother?” asked Alphys.
“Yeah. Papyrus.” Sans said smiling. “He is twelve right now.”
“Oh! Then I'll probably see him in school soon!” Alphys cheered. “I am a teacher there.”
“Nice.” said Sans, smiling a bit. “Papyrus was worried there wouldn't be a school here.”
“Of course there is!” said Alphys. “It's the best! But so... you are here for the whole week?”
“Yep.” said Sans. “Just until Grillby is back.”
“I hope he is okay...” mumbled Alphys. “Grillby's has been here for years with Grillby in it, it's kinda strange to see somebody else... uh... not that you are bad! Just... uh...”
Sans chuckled. “It's strange seeing this bonehead when you are used to the hot guy huh?” he teased and watched with amazement when bright yellow spread over Alphy's cheeks in a dark flush.
“Don't. Say. Anything.” she said, half squealing and half trying and failing to be intimidating.
Sans just chuckled and told Alphys the sum of her purchase. Money exchanged hands and farewells were spoken. As Alphys left Sans thought about how Alphys seemed oddly familiar to him.
Only hours later Sans took some black and orange tape and changed the sign from Grillby to 'Sans. Over the morning EVERYBODY had asked him what happened to Grillby and who he was and Sans decided that the sign at this point was just false advertising. 'Sans told the people exactly what they would find inside.
And because he could never let an opportunity pass, he made a ton of pictures of baffled regulars and other townfolks. Grillby seemed to like his pictures a lot after all.
The Papyrus-plush slowly took form.
The next day Sans met Toriel.
“So you are Sans huh?” he asked as she came to him, basked full with baking stuff and chocolate.
“Yep.” agreed Sans, grinning a bit. “And you?”
“Oh, I am sorry. My name is Toriel.”
“Toriel, huh?” mumbled Sans, the name seeming strangely familiar. “So... baking up a storm?”
“Oh, just a little bit.” she chuckled. “I got a kid at home that would live only on cake and chocolate if they could... and my son will return from college at the end of the week.”
“Well sounds like you need a lot of those then.” said Sans with a chuckle.
Toriel hummed and her gaze fell onto the sewing stuff and the half-finished Papyrus-plush.
“Are you sewing?” she asked. “That looks pretty good.”
“Hmmm...” made Sans and nodded before grinning a bit. “Hey know know why the skeleton made himself some plushies?”
“No?”
“Because he was a bit bonely.”
Toriel blinked at him before starting to laugh out loud. She needed a few seconds before she had herself under control again. She looked at Sans, mostly serious again before speaking.
“Bonely, huh?” she said softly. “How about a friend then?”
Sans looked at her, feeling curious to where she was going.
“You can't go around with no body.” Toriel told him.
Sans blinked. Did she... had she...?
“You got to work on your social skulls if you wanna have friends.” she continued. She was looking at him. It finally clicked with Sans.
He started laughing out loud. He doubled over. He had to hold his stomach even thou he didn't even had one!
“You... you are the greatest!” Sans laughed out. He tried very hard to pull himself together. “H..hey, let's play a game.”
“A game?”
“Knock knock.” said Sans and Toriel's face lit up.
“Who is there?”
“Dishes.”
“Dishes who?”
“Dishes a very bad joke.”
Toriel beaked. Sans beamed brighter than the sun outside.
That evening Sans send Grillby a picture of himself and Toriel. They had exchanged numbers too. She really was a great lady, full of witty jokes and a sharp mind and Sans couldn't wait having her at the shop again.
He was a bit concerned when Grillby told him that there was some kind of history with Toriel but he didn't payed it to much of a mind. Toriel was just the lady that told bad jokes and puns to him and he wasn't really that interested in the past, be it hers or his own.
The base for his Papyrus plush was finally finished. Now he only needed some clothes for it.
“I miss Mister Grillby.” mumbled Papyrus in the evening.
“Yeah me too.” said Sans softly. They were eating dinner alone together. Before moving to this town that was the usual case. There was only Sans and Papyrus for a very long time after all and still, it only took a few days to make it feel like there was something big missing with only the two of them in the kitchen.
“When will he be back?” asked Papyrus while slowly moving his food a bit around on his plate.
“Just two or three more days.” reminded Sans him. He tried to sound more cheerful than he felt. He probably failed with that. “But we talked earlier on the phone and he told me to tell you hi.”
Papyrus giggled a bit “Tell him hi back?”
“I will.” chuckled Sans. “How are you otherwise? Have fun at school?”
“Yeah...” mumbled Papyrus. “It's a small school but most people are very nice! But there are some older people that are a bit scary...”
“Scary?” asked Sans, turning back to Papyrus.
“Uh... not bad!” said Papyrus quickly. “Just uh... probably in need of a real friend! I only ever saw them all alone and nobody talks to them...”
“Uhu?” made Sans.
“Yeah uh... they are a bit older than me and they made a lot of mistakes... but I still think they want to be good and will make right choices soon!”
Sans chuckled softly. “If you say so bro... just uh... be careful? Like uh... don't spread yourself to thin there bro. There are lots of people to be cool with.”
“I guess you are right.” mumbled Papyrus. “It's just... I bet they it would only take one good friend...”
“But only if they are ready for a friend.” said Sans. “I think they know that already. But if they are not ready for a friend yet, they won't be your friend.”
Payprus seemed deep in thought about that. He finally nodded slowly. “I will think about that, brother.” he finally said and took a bite from his food.
Sans smiled a bit.
He met Kris when it was time to close up the shop. He had heard about them from Toriel already of course but also some other regulars told him of the single human living in town. Kris was... kinda strange all things considered.
When they were looking at him their face brightened up and they came running to them, greeting Sans as if he was an old friend. Sans was greatly confused by this. They were asking him about Grillby's too of course but also about Alphys and Toriel as if not only they were friends but he was being friends with these two for a long time or at least deeply involved in their plans!
All in all the whole exchange freaked Sans out. Especially because something DID rattle around his skull when they were talking about this stuff.
Other people that came to his shop mentioned Kris acting strange that day too.
Sans didn't like it one bit.
He wrote Grillby in the evening and with his nerves calmed, he made a call to some very old acquaintances.
The call didn't really help him much but he felt like he was closer to remembering something had forgotten he had forgotten.
He cuddled his Grillby plush tightly that night. He really really missed Grillby.
The next day Papyrus came over, together with Kris and some purple lizard monster.
“Sans!” he cried. “Sans I made some friends and we gonna play together!”
Sans looked at the monster (name was Susie, she said) and Kris and felt something cold running down his back.
He suggested them to play with his brother and now they did. Sans had no idea how to handle the whole situation. Kris looked at him with curious eyes.
When Papyrus showed Susie around the room they stepped to Sans and he looked them over again. They seemed different from yesterday.
“I need your help...” they whispered to Sans. “Please...”
Well, Sans' life was about to get even more twists and turns.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Sans has a pretty clear mission now, right? Just get 2 souls without any body or any clue how to do it through the nothingness of the void from a sub-dimension into their dimension before said sub-dimension crumbles away without breaking anything vital of the space-time-continuum. Easy right?
Oh and he should probably buy some milk.
Guess who had some inspiration to finally continue this? :D
