Chapter 2....finally!
It was weeks since Grillby had met his perfect match, and with each passing day he grew sadder. He had finally met the one, after centuries of waiting, and he'd mucked it up by being too shy. Now you were lost to him again, in a world so large he had no chance of finding you. He'd gone back to the grocery store where he'd met you nearly every day, waiting outside in the spring rain with the hopes that you would pass by again. In a burst of inspiration he'd even gone to other stores nearby to ask if they had any clue on you. Well, he'd gotten Sans to ask, as he was still uncomfortable with talking to strangers.
Sans had been the perfect friend in the past months, going out of his way to help Grillby find his partner. When the barrier had broken Sans had found his soulmate in the former queen, Toriel. While exceedingly rare, it was not unheard of for a person to have more than one soulmate, or even for them to break a soulmate bond. It was well known that Toriel and Asgore had been soulmates before, but now she had a new match. Grillby felt bad for his old friend, and hoped the king would get a new soulmate too. The pain of losing the soulmate he'd barely even met stung Grillby to the Core, he could only imagine what his monarch felt.
Still, life moved on. The fire elemental had been alone for a long time, he was no stranger to it's pain. With the arrival of summer tourism in Ebbot flourished, and with it patronage to his bar grew. While still in what locals had coined ‘Monster Town’, his bar wasn't too far from the main strip that it didn't get the occasional human. Most were out-of-towners who hadn't seen monsters before and wanted a closer look, and some where students from the local college out on break and looking for a good time. Either way, it was good business.
Grillby almost didn't look up when the bell above the door signaled another patron, too lost in his own melancholic thoughts about soulmates, but his proper manners made him do it anyways. At first all he saw was another human playing with her phone, but then she looked up and Grillby felt his world shake. You were back. Looking at him with vague recognition, giving him a sweet smile as you walked up to the bar.
Your outfit suited your figure, a tight fitting light blue baby doll tee and some denim shorts. You had some high top sneakers on, and Grillby could feel his flames flicker as he noticed a few tattoos scattered along your lovely legs. It also looked like you'd gotten a haircut since he'd last seen, but maybe that was due to the beach curls in your hair, or the fact that it didn't have water weighing it down. You were radiant, sitting at his bar and smiling at him. Grillby found himself glad you couldn't see his eyes or read his expression, he was sure to be making a fool of himself.
“Hey there Rainman, fancy meeting you again!” You teased him, and Grillby felt his soul shudder in delight.
“Would it be possible for you to call me a cab? I’m late for work, my phone is dead, and I'm honestly a bit lost right now.” The rest of the world melted away as he focused on you, including Sans and his excitable look. One would have thought it was him meeting his match by the dopey smile on his face. Considering how he'd helped Grillby look when he lost you, it was well deserved.
The fire elemental sobered up at the thought of losing you again, as well as the slight confusion he saw in your eyes. He realized he had been silent the entire time, and panicked when your smile started to dim.
“Stars above, you're beautiful.” His voice was as smoky as always, this time rushed out in his attempt to stave off your leaving. Your smile was replaced with surprise and recognition, eyes going wide and staring at him. In a rush you dropped the phone you had been holding and opened your right hand, palm facing down. There, written in black font that reminded him of coal drawing, were the exact words he had just said. His own hand shook slightly as he held it out, showing his mark to you. It was almost amusing the way you looked back and forth between his hand, his face, and your own hand.
“Oh no.” It only took two words and Grillby was devastated. His flames shrunk, and he began to pull his hand back. Integration with the human world had been hard, and monsters were faced with a lot of hate and prejudice. Of course you wouldn't want to be with someone like him.
You were oblivious to his pain, reaching out and grabbing his retreating hand with your own. The contact made him shiver, even in his pain, and he couldn't help the delight he felt when fingers ghosted over the mark. It was a very intimate, a soul mark, and only the soulmate was supposed to touch it.
“Oh no. No no no no.” Your touch was feather light at first, but soon progressed to trying to smudge it off his hand. Grillby watched helplessly, negative emotions swirling about him.
“Those can't be my first words to you!” You cried out, finger dancing over your own mark. “I got such lovely words, and you get … me! It should have been something nice, or something sweet. Oh no, I've ruined everything.” Your words turned to mumbles,hands letting go of his and reaching up to pull at your hair. Grillby felt his soul soar as his hurt vanished. He took the initiative this time, reaching out and taking hold of your hands again.
“It’s perfect.” He told you, meeting your eyes with a smile. You seemed to search his face, trying to find if he was just sparing your feelings. Whatever you saw reassured you though, and you gave him a hesitant smile back.
“Hi.” Your voice was soft, nervous even, so Grillby gave the joined hands a squeeze.
“Hi.”
With that, the world around them came rushing back. The din from the bar filled their silence, but Grillby didn't mind. He was mildly annoyed when a customer waved him over, and he gave his newly reunited soulmate a pained look. You however smiled radiantly back at him, and he took it as your permission to do his work. It was a great effort to let go, but he managed it.
Once Grillby stepped away, and you took a breath to steady yourself, Sans took his chance. He knew, logically, that you hadn't meant to hurt Grillby, but was still a bit protective of his friend. He had felt the pain of having his soulmate reject him, when Toriel had been unsure of their matching. Thankfully that was in the past now.
“hey. i’m sans, sans the skeleton. nice to meet you.” He put out his hand in greeting, and was pleasantly surprised when you took it. Your grip was firm, but not uncomfortable, and a loud fart ripped through the air at the contact. There was a pregnant pause, silence in the bar save for the annoyed crackle of Grillbys flames, as everyone wait for your reaction.
You didn't disappoint anyone, throwing back your head and laughing joyfully at the prank. You had an infectious laugh, cute and yet dorky at the same time. Sans laughed along with you, as did other patrons of the bar, but Grillby was mesmerized. His flames sparked and danced as he took you in, enjoying the gift of your first laugh. There was a spark of jealousy that he hadn't been the one to cause it, but it was extinguished by the way your eyes sought him out, checking that he was still there.
He returned to you, sliding behind his bar and making the drink that had been ordered. Thankfully the bar patrons, all regulars from his original bar underground, recognized this as the first meeting between soulmates and left them alone. Dogaressa even picked up her drink from the bar, instead of waiting for Grillby to deliver it like normal.
“everyone loves the old whoopee cushion joke. nice to meetcha. grillby here has been talking about you non-stop.” Sans filled the silence of the bar, the other two too busy staring for simple things like conversation. You caught his words though, and shot a thankful look in his direction before returning to the fire elemental in front of you.
“Grillby.” Your voice was soft, tasting how his name felt on your tongue. Another full body shiver raced through Grillby, his flames popping in delight. When you said your name and he returned it, he watched as goosebumps raised on your arms and a blush crept up your cheeks. He'd heard plenty of names in his time, had even met others with the same name as yours, but suddenly it was new and wonderful again.
“Not to cut this short, because believe me I have been waiting for this for a long time and it's everything I ever hoped, but would you mind calling me a cab? I'm actually supposed to be at work right now, but I got hopelessly lost.” It seemed to Grillby that you had no qualms filling in his silence, even if you had to repeat yourself, rambling a bit with a smile on your face. Grillby didn't like the thought of you leaving, but none the less produces his phone for your use. You took it gratefully, almost as if he'd given you a great gift just by allowing you to use it.
A gift which was swiftly snatched away by Sans, the short skeleton calling a quick ‘i got this’ before walking to the door. Grillby sent out a flare of thankful magic to his best friend, enjoying the excuse to have more time in your presence. You blinked a bit at your now empty hand, before shrugging and turning back to the elemental in front of you.
“So this is your bar? As in you own it?” It warmed Grillbys core that you wanted to know more about him, and he nodded. His reward was another smile from you. "That's pretty amazing, owning your own business. You must have worked hard."
Grillby once again forgot to reply, lost in emotions your words had brought to life. Lobbying for equal rights, finding a place that would rent or sell to a monster, finding a place that would accept his gold so he could get human money. It had been a long and hard battle to get his bar up and running, and he'd kind of felt miffed that no one had noticed before you. It was like they expected the bar to be there no matter what, which he strove to provide but still. Some appreciation went a long way, and only Sans had ever really mentioned it. Before you.
Deciding that he couldn't spend more time staring at you like a lovesick loon, especially not when he had patrons to serve, Grillby quickly made a serving of fries and set it in front of you, as well as a glass of water on a napkin. His soul swelled again at the worried look he'd received from you when he went near the dangerous liquid, yet you seemed to trust him enough not to hurt himself. Barely ten minutes in your presence and he was smitten.
He helped the other customers while he attempted to tame himself, feeling your eyes on him as he worked. Between customers he would invariably park himself in front of you, listening to whatever conversation you were having with the recently returned Sans. Said skeleton was entertaining you where he couldn't, making you laugh while answering your questions. The conversation touched on everything about the Underground, with Grillby interjecting where he could. Every time the fire elemental spoke up his wing-monster would back off and would then pick it back up when the words ran out. And only one embarrassing story about Grillby had been told so far, so that was a win.
All good thing must come to an end though, and so his time with you was cut short. One of the monsters near the front windows called out when your taxi arrived. Like a popped bubble your smile seemed to dim. Grillby was frantically thinking of ways to bring it back when you pulled out a pen. In an elegant scrawl that looked so identical to the one on his hand, you wrote your name and phone number on your napkin. Like he had any chance of forgetting you.
"I've got to go now. Deb is probably really mad at me for being late. But, uh, call me? Or text me. Whatever you want. It doesn't matter. Oh my god I'm going to shut up now." You had been tugging a strand of hair as you spoke, making Grillby wonder how it would feel to run his hands through your hair. Or hold your hand. Or how your hair would look fanned out around your head on his black silk bed sheets. Those thoughts almost distracted him from your reddening face, but in your embarrassment you left before he could reply. Just like last time you left with the last word, like a force of nature leaving him stunned speechless. The only difference was this time you weren't lost to him.
The napkin sat innocently on the counter, the condensation ring from your glass still visible. With gentle hands Grillby picked it up, using his flame to dry the water without hurting the napkin. That was his plan at least, and it went well until a new monster sat in your recently vacated spot. The monster managed to knock over your water, spilling it towards the elemental. With a startled jump, Grillby dodged the water and somehow managed to ignite the napkin in his hands. The bar was dead silent, everyone staring between the new monster and the ashes falling from Grillbys hands.
"Why is this place always so dirty? And what's the wifi passw-" The new monster didn't get a chance to finish, thanks to a certain skeleton and his shortcuts. Grillby didn't notice, once again lost.