Some kind of invisible force pulled Grillby towards the ties if they were in a department store for longer than five minutes. Sans would stop paying attention, and then they'd be there.
"so we didn't just come in this place to glare at cookware, i take it," Sans said. He didn't get the tie thing. Grillby had two of those fancy hangers in the closet, filled with literally identical bow-ties for work. He had a couple more filled up with other ones, for every other occasion, that he barely got the chance to wear.
"...shameful." Grillby shook his head and held up a plain black tie. Sans didn't see anything wrong with it, so he figured Grillby was remembering the store's low-quality knife selection.
Sans was drawn towards the few novelty ties.
"...it's...unfortunate...that you can't find pants like those ties. Or your shirts. You might own more than two pairs."
"hey i've got three. i just never wear the other ones."
"The ones you're wearing now are falling apart."
Sans looked down. They were a little frayed, and he couldn't put things in the left pocket because there was an enormous hole, but all of that just meant they were worn in and comfortable. "i saw some shorts with hand prints on the backside the other day. that the kind of thing you're talking about?"
Grillby set the black tie down and gave Sans a once-over. "...yes, fine. Before it's too late."
"i'll get right on that." Nah. But maybe he'd buy another pair of black shorts, before these were completely done. The things Sans did for love.
Sans held up a bow-tie with little hearts on it.
He couldn't say Grillby never did anything for him in the same vein, actually. Grillby had gone to the back of their closet and found some of the gifts Sans had gotten him over the last few years. T-shirts, joke ties, ugly cuff links. Sans hadn't realized how much he'd given him, until Grillby started regularly wearing them on their dates.
The best part was that Grillby was who he was, so barely anyone even commented. Sans got the occasional eye-roll and sarcastic compliment, but Grillby mostly left people confused and uneasy.
"hey." Sans turned to show him the heart tie. "this one's pretty, uh, romantic."
Grillby glanced over. "...it's perfect for you."
"nah. doesn't match anything i've got. it’s all yours." He brought it over and tossed it in their cart.
"...maybe...for Valentine's Day..." Grillby flickered with doubt.
"i can't think of an occasion that it wouldn't work for."
Mostly, people didn't comment. A couple weeks ago, they were at the bowling parlor and Grillby had on the collared flame shirt Sans got him for his birthday.
One of the other regulars had stared at him and just said, "Hey, nice shirt." There was some sarcasm in there that Sans didn’t appreciate. It was an amazing shirt, and it deserved to be appreciated.
Grillby had said: "...thank you....sans told me it...brings out my eyes."
They'd squinted at Grillby's face, searching for eyes, not sure if he was joking. That silence had stretched on for quite a while.
Sans watched Grillby pick through some more pretty silk nooses until the quiet ambiance of the store had him nodding off. He woke abruptly when he leaned against the cart and it started to roll away.
He caught himself in time. Grillby was hiding his laughter behind his hand.
"that's the look a guy wears when he was planning on letting his boyfriend hit the cold hard floor."
"...you were too far to reach in time."
"i see you. have a nice trip, sans. see you next fall."
Grillby thought that one was pretty funny.
Sans snorted. "we done here?"
"Unless you need anything?"
Well, they were here. "guess i do. you could say it won't be long until i'm short a pair of these." He gestured at his pants.
"......thank god. Let's go." Grillby headed off with the cart, determined.
ecoreibun replied to your post “Title: A Little Proposal Pairing: Sans/Grillby[[MOR] Grillby was a...”
SO CUTE AAAAAAAAHHHHHH
thank you!!
@screaminglizardlady said:
It’s tooo cute, good job!
@slendersummerseve said:
augh my chest is exploding with happiness. this is so cute 😀😀😀
You guys are all really nice <3 I’m sorry about the explosions??
@dunklezambie reblogged this from it-refused:
#aaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA#this is. such a good#hhhhhhhh#i know you read the tags im so sorry for screaming in them#akldsfjhdkslj#it's 3 am i cant do anything more
People screaming in the tags makes me so happy so you really don’t have to apologize for it omg
Thank you! I decided to make them human for this, for whatever reason.
Rating: G
Therewere two coffee shops between Sans’ place and his job, but the bakedgoods at the one a little further off his path won him over. He’dstop there before work, as they were closing, and again in themorning after a long night napping in front of security screens. He’d grab a muffin for Tori before he left and stop at her place onthe way home.
“Hey,it’s Sans!” The woman behind the register, Fuku, waved him over. “Aren’t you kind of late? You must be working too hard.” She laughed.
“yougot me. hey, grillbz.”
Grillbynodded at him from behind the counter.
“yeah,just my usual.” He yawned and went to go pick out adinner/breakfast from the cake selection. The place was dead, buteven getting there late it was still early for most of the workingpopulation. If he was still there in half an hour, the doors wouldopen and the desperately uncaffeinated would pour in.
Sanswent to grab his drink, but since the place was so empty, he leanedagainst the counter. "hey. i got one for you.“
Grillbydidn’t stop working, but he tipped his head. He was listening.
"whatdo you call sad coffee?”
Hethought maybe Grillby knew this one, because he was already shakinghis head.
“depresso.”
Grillbylooked down at the machine he was carefully cleaning.
“okso this lady says to her husband, ‘honey, this coffee tastes likedirt,’ and he says 'that’s no surprise. it was ground just thismorning.’”
Thatgot a smile out of him. That was always kind of a highlight. Therewas a note on the cup in Sans’ hand that said “Caution: ContentsMay Be Hot” that could just as easily be on Grillby’s nametag.
Grillbywasn’t a talker, so Sans wasn’t entirely sure what Grillby thought ofhim. He laughed at some of Sans’ jokes, so that was good enough forhim.
–
Themorning crowd was gone, but Tori was away on vacation so there was noreason to hurry out before she left for work. Papyrus would alreadybe up and out – Sans working nights meant they lived in the samehouse but they barely saw each other.
Sansmostly kept himself right on the edge of being fired. It was almostan art; doing just enough work to make it not worth his employer’stime to train someone new, but not enough to ever really be out ofhot water. One day he’d tip over that edge and he’d need a new job,but after yet another long night he was sort of looking forward toit.
Hegot up to order another drink.
“Theusual?” Fuku looked like she was bracing herself for a joke.
“nah,let me think.” He was the only one ordering, so he took aminute to consider his options. "hey, tell grillbz to make whathe thinks i’ll like.“
Papsearned enough to keep the house and them both fed if Sans lost hisjob again, but he’d have to stop blowing money on coffee and snacksif he was unemployed. It was a shame they didn’t let you open a tabat this place.
Grillbyheard the order, since he was two feet away. He appeared to considerit, and then just grabbed a can of whipped topping and set it on thecounter.
"ok,wow,” Sans said.
Fukuwas laughing.
“atleast squirt it into a cup first.” He shrugged. "ohwell.“ Sans reached to take the can but Grillby took it awaybefore he could grab it. He’d lost the chance to just empty the caninto his mouth.
Grillbyheld up his index finger and then gestured for Sans to go back to hisseat. Sans shrugged. Didn’t take much convincing to get him to sitdown.
Grillbybrought his drink over and set it in front of him.
"hey,thanks. uh. how much is this running me, buddy?”
Heshook his head.
“He’snot charging you for an experiment!” Fuku called over.
“oh. thanks. you can experiment on me whenever, then, if it means i getfree drinks.”
Grillbystood by, waiting to see how he reacted.
“uh,should i be putting on a show here?”
Henodded.
Sanssnorted and took a sip.
Grillbycrossed his arms over his chest and waited.
“uh. it’s not too bad. it’s kind of heavy on…” he coughed. "uh,everything.“
Hewent to take the cup, but Sans grabbed onto it.
"imean, i’m still drinking all of it.” Caffeine was caffeine. Hepulled it closer, defensively.
–
Duringthe big rushes, they would ask for names and write them on the cup. When Sans first started going, he spelled his for them and they nevermisspelled it. After he started telling Grillby and the rest of thestaff jokes, for some reason they all suddenly forgot how to spellfour letters. At first it was just “Snas” or “San,”but it got more impressive as time went on. He had to stand by theorders squinting at the names, trying to parse out if he was supposedto be “Samuel” or “Santa.” No one had a bigwhite beard in the room, so he decided he got to be Santa that day.
Sometimes,when it was Grillby writing the names, Sans would find a few words onthe bottom of the cup when he was done. "Nice shirt" wasthe first one he noticed, on a day off when he was out of uniform. He had on a t-shirt with abs on them, and he was glad to know it wasappreciated.
Helooked up and Grillby was watching him, so he winked.
–
Somedays, it was a race to get caffeine into his system before he noddedoff. He woke up during the morning rush. Tori would have alreadyleft for work, so there was no reason not to just spend the rest ofthe morning drinking obscene amounts of coffee until Papyrus camelooking for him at lunchtime and dragged him out.
Whenhe sat back down like he was clearly planning on hanging around,Grillby took his break and came over and sat with him.
“oh,hey, pal.” Sans yawned. "let’s see if i can stay awakelong enough to come up with something good for you.“
Hecould read concern in Grillby’s expression, and Sans realized Grillbythought of him as a friend.
"nobig, just the daily grindgetting to me,” Sans said, chuckling. "what’s up? youlook like you have a latteon your mind.“
Grillbyshook his head, trying tolook disgusted but amusementplaying at his lips. That was the exact reaction Sans had been goingfor.
–
Sansalmost tossed the cup into the garbage without checking, first, buthe spotted a flash of black markeron the bottom and saved it in time. He turned the cup over.
Aphone number. Sans was shocked fully awake.
Underthe numbers: "If you want to contact me, please text.”
Sansgot out his phone and plugged inthe numbers. When he lookedover, Grillby was busy and not paying attention to him. Maybepretending not to.
Whenhe got to work, he sent a quick message to make sure he had put thenumber in right.
*heyis it just me or is there something brewing here
Headded a winking emoji.
*Iwonder who this is. Hello, Sans.
*okjust a quick question do you have unlimited texting
Sansfigured if Grillby didn’t regret giving him his number in 24 hours,that would mean Sans had gotten rusty. He looked up bad jokes andcoffee-themed pickup lines and sent them along until Grillby attacheda selfie of himself flicking off the camera, stone-faced.
*i’llcherish that picture for the rest of my life
*Sendone back.
Sansdrew a smile on his bag of potato chips and snapped a picture of it.
A/N: I just kind of stuck it in this series but you don’t have to read it to get what’s going on.
Sans’ alarm went offbright and early in the morning. The noise varied, from day to day,but this morning it was just a series of hilarious sound effects. Grillby pulled his pillow over his head, which was as ineffective asever since he had more the idea of ears than actual ones he couldcover.
He had gotten to bedearly at around four in the morning. It was seven thirty. When Sansdidn’t immediately switch his alarm off, Grillby had to carefullyrestrain himself from melting Sans’ phone into the side table.
The bed shifted andthe phone stopped making loud, obnoxious noises. Sans went stillagain.
God. Sans hadbetter not have hit the snooze button. Grillby would just startfalling back to sleep, and, BAM, there would be that slide-whistle ormaybe the sound of a heavy liquid splattering against something hard.
Grillby moved hispillow and sat up. Sans had his eyes closed, and he was snoringgently.
“Sans,” hesaid, stern. No response.
He frowned. Sansdidn’t bother wearing blankets when he slept over, and his t-shirtwas riding up so some of his ribs were exposed. Grillby poked one. “Sans,” he repeated.
Sans mumbled,“couple more minutes.”
“Not whenyou’re here. I don’t get to sleep for the rest of the day.”
“mnyeah, okay. just a sec.”
A second passed. Poking hadn’t worked, so Grillby tried kissing him awake.
That worked. Sans opened his eyes like a tiny skeletal sleeping beauty. "yourbreath smells like someone’s burning garbage,“ he said.
"If you letyour alarm go off again, I’m not letting you back in here after youdrop off Frisk,” Grillby said.
“nothin’ wrongwith trash,” Sans mumbled, still not really awake. He reachedout and patted around for his phone and squinted in the bright lightas he shut it off. "hey. mornin’ grillbz.“
"No.” Grillby settled back down and pulled his pillow over his face. Whenhe looked, again, Sans was gone.
He woke up when hisown alarm went off, at ten, and Sans was back in the bed next to him. He hadn’t even heard him return. "…good morning, Sans,“he said.
Sans grunted, inacknowledgment. His shirt was riding up again, so Grillby tugged itback down and gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead.
"can reallylearn to cherish warm garbage smell,” Sans said. "turnsout.“
"If you cameback here for breakfast, I’m not bringing it to you in bed.” Grillby got up and started getting ready. He ran his hand down overthe day’s shirt, smoothing out any wrinkles.
When he was donegetting dressed, he checked to make sure his bow-tie was straight inthe mirror, and then turned back to see if Sans had nodded off again. He was awake and watching Grillby.
“nice,” hesaid. He yawned, and stretched, until his spine made a loud poppingnoise.
Grillby got out asmall container of mints and tossed three into his mouth, and thenwent into the kitchen and started frying enough eggs for two people. Sans shuffled in, after a while, and got Grillby’s coffee maker outof where Grillby stored it. He only had one for guests, but Sanspulled it out every time he slept over, so he was considering justleaving it out.
Sans read messageson his phone and Grillby mentally went over his schedule while theyate breakfast. The coffee started to work its magic on Sans, and heread aloud Papyrus’ responses to the strange pun-filled trollmessages his brother kept getting on his blog.
“isn’t mybrother the greatest?” he asked.
“Yes. Does hehave any idea?”
“yeah. bro’sgot a lot of ideas.”
Grillby knew hewasn’t going to get Sans to admit to anything. "That’s true.“
Sans finished offhis eggs and Grillby got up and finished getting ready. He alwaystook too much time on the mornings when Sans was around. He seemedto drag everything into a slower pace.
"You don’t haveto rush,” Grillby said. "You know how to lock a door.“ The main risk leaving Sans alone in his apartment was that he wouldswitch the sugar and the salt, but that was a risk having Sans in hisapartment at all.
"you headedout?” Sans shoved his phone in his pocket and got up. He metGrillby over by the door, and pointed to his cheek.
Grillby laughed andleaned down, kissing him goodbye exactly where he pointed.
“yeah, i’m adelight,” Sans said, “but maybe i shouldn’t sleep over wheni have to get the kid to school. you look beat.”
Grillby genuinelywished that he had enough room in his apartment that he could askSans to sleep over on a permanent basis. He wasn’t sure how to saythat without starting much too serious a conversation much too earlyin the day.
“uh.”
"No, it’sfine,” Grillby said, finally.
“you looked atme like i kicked your mom for a sec.”
“I like whenyou sleep over.” It was inadequate.
Sans shook his head. “all right, grillbz.” He tapped the other side of hisface. "another one for the road.“
"As many as youlike.”
“don’t haveenough hours in the day for that.”
When Grillby pulledaway, Sans looked at his face and chuckled.
“What?”
“guess that wasa good line.” He drew a circle in the air around his face. “you’re blue.”
“I am not.”
“ok.” Hewinked. "if you were, i’d say that line blue you away.“
Grillby covered hisface with his hands. "I have to go.”
“ok, babe. seeyou later.”
He always startedlater than he meant to when Sans stayed over. Oneof his employees was already setting up the tables, and Grillbyhurried past them before they could ask about his face.
