Jesus, what next?
"Oh hey Ruby, how's it going?" I asked.
Sliding my rent into the slot. Ruby was my landlord's granddaughter. She's been working here for as long as I can remember. Doing the paperwork, showing people apartments, the whole nine yards. Last I knew, she was trying to take over her Grandpa's place as landlord.
Ruby sighed and turned to me. "Oh hey." She looked tired. No amount of her immaculate eyeliner and gorgeous eyeshadow could cover the exhaustion that rimmed her eyes.
One of her hands was playing with a few loose strands of her long black hair. Usually tied up into a braid. She was still speaking.
"-and grandad's in the hospital now cus of his heart again." I caught the tail end of her speech.
"Oh no! That's terrible." I hated how unsympathetic I felt.
She shrugged.
"He's not a favorite of the tenants here. I know. But, he's still family."
I stammered to try and fix things.
"No, no. I um. He's always been like family, letting me stay here despite the issues I've had. It really is terrible he's in the hospital again. I'm sure others feel the same. Is he going to be okay?"
"Yeah, they're saying it was stress related. And that he should take things easy, he went straight to work last time he got out. They don't want him doing that again. So, I took over."
"Congrats on the promotion?" The way I said it sounded more like a question than a statement.
"It's not permanent yet. I'm hoping I can get him to retire after he gets out next week. Sign things over to me."
"That'd be great!" I beam. She smiled softly in return.
"Doesn't your store open at 5?" She asked in a not do subtle 'why are you here at 8 am."
I smile at the question. "Yeah, my new employee is opening for me. I'm actually about to head in down for my shift."
"Oh. Hey, grab me a coffee of yours would ya? I'm going to be here all day."
I laugh at her question and nod. "Of course I can do that. It won't get here till after we close, but.." I shrugged.
"Thank God, you gotta tell me what you put in there some day. It's like the Gods Nectar or something."
I couldn't help but laugh harder at the idea.
"Nahh." I wave her off. And head out the door. "See you later!"
"See ya! Don't forget my coffee!!"
"I won't!" I shout back with a grin.
The door latching behind me.
—----
Sans fucked up. There were 30 minutes until you came in. And he's already fucked everything up.
"she's totally going to fire me." He mumbled, gathering every single towel he could find to soak up the mess.
Ten minutes ago, there was a large order of drinks from someone he knew underground. Burger pants.
While making it, he manages to knock over the container of coffee he was using. Then, trying to save it; he knocked over the two next to it.
He's been on his knees trying to wipe up every last drop of evidence. While helping a few customers that have been dropping in for the morning rush. To grab a coffee before work or before their classes.
"Heyo." You called out, the bell ringing and signifying your arrival.
Sans cringed on the floor, pausing in his attempt to clean the sopping mess.
"Sans?" You called when he didn't answer. He leaned back and decided to take this loss with as much dignity as he could.
"yo." He popped his head over the counter. You smiled at him in a way that caused his chest to clench and guilt to rise.
"Whatcha doing down there?" You asked, flipping the counter to enter his area of disappointment.
"um." He looked back at the mountain of paper towels and rags he was using. Avoiding all eye contact.
"Whoa, what happened?" You stepped into his space and knelt down, picking up his offending wet clumps.
"i- uh…" he gestured in defeat. "sorry." He mumbled out.
You snickered next to him and he couldn't help but look at you finally.
"I see you made a mess." Your smile didn't even waver as you acknowledged his mistake.
He nodded, the foreign feeling he's found himself obsessed with came rocketing forward. It's been happening more and more when you're around. And he can't get enough of it. The lightweight feeling of happiness mixed with something else.
"yea, my bad." He watched your eyes glance over him, as if looking for something. Then to the offending urns that were usually filled with the coffee that sat cold on the floor.
"Are you okay?" Your head tilted, scanning him again. He nodded, his throat closing up tightly at your simple actions of caring.
“yuh." He croaked.
You smiled with relief and Sans wanted more.
"you're here early..?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm meeting with the graphic designer today."
"it's wednesday already?"
You nodded.
"Time passes by when you're having fun." Your grin was strained, and Sans questioned why.
But instead of voicing his concern, he watched as you disappeared into the back
And reappeared a few moments later with bags of coffee to replace the ones he spilt.
—---
Sans thought you might have been anxious meeting with the stranger for the designs of your cafe's cards. But that came and went easily. Yet the stressed mood you seemed to be in didn't lessen in the slightest.
He was about to approach the subject when you spoke.
"What time do you come in tomorrow?"
"uh, 11 am. why?"
He heard you curse under your breath, then your hands started to play with the items on the counter in front of you absentmindedly.
"Um…" you started, then your fingers started to drum an offbeat rhythm. You seemed to focus on that.
"do you need me to come in sooner?"
"I-.." you let out a breath then shook your head. "No, it's fine."
He nodded as if he understood. But, he really didn't.
After a moment of silence with no follow up you chimed in again.
"What if we were closed all day tomorrow and I took a lil trip down the mountain and didn't come home?"
Sans shrugged, surprised by the question then responded.
"why?"
You looked away, your answer coming in quietly. ".. Just dont want to be here."
"still have to come in on Friday though. right?"
"Fuck.. Yeah." You nodded, your shoulders slumped in defeat. Then you followed with. "You mind staying with me all day tomorrow, for no other reason than because you enjoy my company?"
Shocked at the question, Sans could only nod in response.
"i dunno about enjoy. that's, a stretch… but i guess i could come in." he joked. It did its trick and your stress seemed to ease some.
You scoffed in relief then cast your gaze away from him and out the window, as if in anticipation for something.
"hey.." he gained your attention with a simple word. The weight of your attention on him felt overwhelming. At the last second he changed his question. "d'ja hear bout all the monsters movin' ta town?"
He watched you shake your head, surprised. He was mesmerized the way your eyes widened and the flush on your cheeks complementing the color of your eyes. Captivated, he almost missed what you asked.
"Where have they been moving to?"
It was Sans' turn to look away. The intensity of the way you would look at him caused his chest to swell and his thoughts to falter.
"the government had given us some temporary houses. but, it's not really doin much when incorporatin' us into human society." He tried to grin but it didn't stick.
"Is it going to hold all of you, till the places in town start leasing again?"
Sans shrugged then shook his head, "honestly. nah. barely holds us now. Paps 'nd I are holed up in Alphys and Undyne place."
"How's it going on moving out?"
He lifted his hand and made a so-so motion with it.
"haven't gotten any calls back."
"Damn."
He watched your shoulders tense, an unspoken way of letting him know of your displeasure. He hated that he had caused that
"no biggie. 'm sure our luck will change."
"Yeah... Prolly."
Whatever you were going to say next was interrupted by the bell ringing and a customer entering.
"Hey."
"Hi, welcome in." Your smile slid into place so easily. Sans never would have guessed what their previous conversation was about.
"You don't have any lunch food do you?" He watched you shake your head.
"Unfortunately, no. We've only got coffee and breakfast treats."
"Damn. Kingsley down the street just got shut down."
Both sans and yourself couldn't help the way your head snapped to attention at the news.
"What happened?" You asked.
"Dunno, I've heard it's because of a bad review. "
"Wow. That place has been running for as long as I can remember."
"Yeah, don't know what they're going to be doing with the place next."
"Is the building for sale?"
"I don't know, I didn't look. I'm sure you could find out."
Sans watches as gears began to click into place in your head as you nodded.
"Excuse me for a moment." You said, escaping into the back. Sans took over as order taker. The man just wanted something small to tide him over for the rest of work.
"Thanks, and uh. Good uh. Good luck."
Sans nodded slowly parting with a 'thank you' of his own. Weird.
The store fell silent, he couldn't help but stalk into the back to find you for answers.
He found you pacing back and forth, texting something out on your phone. After his entrance your head shot up and met his gaze. He knew this mode. This was boss mode.
He was obsessed with this mode.
His bones vibrated with a strange energy when you got into this mode.
The sharp glint in your eyes as you typed something out, the way your face looked so much superior. The change in your gait, your shoulders squared, your back straight.
Your phone buzzed in your hands and you answered.
"Hey, yeah." A voice from the other side spoke, but he couldn’t hear what they said.
"No, you read right. I've been doing some-" the voice interrupted.
"Don't interrupt me," oh fuck, your voice has a unique tone of authority and it definitely pleases him to hear it.
He could stand here and listen to the way you spoke in boss mode all day. It made his knees weak.
Well, weaker.
He doesn't know why but it made him want to drop to his knees right then and there. It's like some otherworldly force wanted him to scrape his knees begging for something.
He immediately stopped that thought process in his tracks. He tried to tune back in but the way the subject moved he couldn't follow along.
The random eye contact didn't help.
"No, you don't understand." Your eyes held his gaze. And no, he didn't understand. But, God did he want to.
It flickered away and he almost mourned the loss.
You turned your back to him and that was the trigger, he had to leave. If he didn’t, well. He doesn’t know. But he didn’t want to find out.
Sans made a 180 turn and tried to find something to do. His bones felt really hot and he wasn’t sure why, but he needed a cold shower.
The rest of his shift felt off, he kept thinking about your authority. How badly he wanted to hear your commands. It startled him how frequently he’s been getting caught up in it.
you came back up front and his eyes flickered to your confident walk. You leaned against the counter and hadn’t looked up from your phone, fiercely texting someone on the other side.
Each second he’s allowed to exist in the same space as you, he grows more and more obsessed with chasing the light feeling you make him feel.
Eventually, his attention is distracted by a text message from Grillby. Causing Sans to wonder even further just what exactly that phone call was about. Besides wrecking his poor soul beyond repair with your voice.
grillbz: may have found a solution to my restaurant. I will keep you updated.
bones: im stoked
——-
Sans came in at 10:30 am. He wasn’t sure why, it might have just been because of your energy yesterday but for some reason he felt it was necessary. And when he entered, your back was to the door. He called your name and you jumped like a foot into the air.
Not normal behavior.
“hey, you good?” He asked, obviously concerned.
You didn’t hear him at first. Letting out a distracted ‘hm?’ Then, “oh yeah, for sure.”
He didn’t believe that for a second, but he was certain you wouldn’t give him a straight answer if he asked.
He kept himself busy until the moment he clocked in. Watching you carefully in case you broke.
He caught a vibe of fragility from you today. Strange considering how strong and self-sufficient he saw you. It made him want to hold you and destroy anything that might try to harm you.
Which is a strange feeling usually dedicated to very few people in his life, so of course it caught him off guard.
It was.. difficult, working and watching you at the same time. It felt like everytime he looked away, something happened.
And your hands were shaking so terribly.
Did something happen?
"hey, boss." Sans finally confronted you when a plate of muffins went crashing to the floor.
"Shit, sorry Sans." Why were you apologizing?
"boss. c’mere." He had to pull you aside from the mess you were shakily cleaning up.
Your eyes glistened, almost extra watery today. Something was eating at you, something you didn't want to share with the class.
"what's going on? are you doin alright? cus, it's starting to seem like something happened."
You took a shaky breath, glanced at your mess on the floor then back to Sans' unwavering gaze.
"Alright, I'm.. a little jumpy." Sans nodded, that bit was obvious, he waited patiently for more.
"..." It took a few minutes before 'more' came.
"An Ex of mine is coming by. He's looking for stuff I don't have. And I don't want that confrontation."
Understanding dawned. He didn't quite understand the level of which the fear was based on. But, you didn't really seem like a confronting person.
Not when it comes to yourself.
A mental flashback to the time where you stood up for him at Kingsley's; may it rest in peace.
But, all the times a customer has spit in your face and you smiled through it. Wishing them a nice day.
" 's that why ya wanted me here?" You nodded. The way you looked down and cave inwards at the confession thoroughly wrecked him.
"aight, i'll be here. all day if i have to."
You smiled at that and when your eyes locked, Sans felt he could take on the sun.
Turned out, it wasn't going to take all day.
If you had to ask Sans, minutes before the arrival of your ex. What his thoughts about the situation were.
They were very minimal. He's never really had an ex. Certainly not one he feared.
And when it came to you, he could never imagine anyone instilling such fear into someone like you.
Before today, such fear from you didn't exist to him. You were strong, you were independent, you were unwavering in all things. Like a monument of strength.
This fear crumbled that image.
You were still a person capable of weakness. And to put you on a pedestal like that, was setting himself up for a terrible fate.
His thoughts about the ex were even less.
He assumed some guy would come in, ask for his things. You would say; sorry, I don't have them. And he'd leave. Bingo bango.
no.
The minute before he walked in, you were laughing. Sans had finally gotten your mind off of the cause for your hand tremors. His chest thrummed in delight at the flush of color in your cheeks.
Then the bell rang and everything slowed down. Your eyes snapped to the door. The room grew heavy and cold. You shoved Sans to his knees and under the counter. A place he certainly didn't entirely enjoy.
However, different pull in his chest liked the position.
Someone spoke.
"Muffin." God, Sans was kind of in love with the way his voice sounded. Till he saw your hands trembling next to his head. Then the voice was grating his eardrums like cheddar.
"Don't. Call me that." Your voice was filled with venom. Sans couldn't help but look up, the angle was weird and another time he certainly would have taken his time enjoying this feeling. Right now though? You were terrified.
But, you stood strong.
"My things. I kind of need them sweets." These nicknames the guy felt entitled to kindof pissed Sans off.
"I.. um.. I got rid of it all. I don't.. I don't have it anymore."
There was silence.
"You're joking right?"
More silence, the room felt darker. Sans was tempted to pull you down and kick this guy out himself. But when he moved to do so, your hand was placed atop his skull. Halting his movement. He glanced at your face and a sternness kept him in place.
"Look at me, Muffin."
You let out a breath and steadied your hands, Sans followed your dominant hand as it glided with ease to a holster he's never really noticed before.
Huh.
Oh, shit that's a gun.
You clicked open the strap keeping it in place then felt the weight in your palm.
He could see the tremors in your arms now. If you pull that gun, it's not going to be a straight shot.
Sans hand softly caressed the hand holding the gun. First on the outside, then slowly moving to your pulse. He looked up at you, the intent of getting you to put it back was in his mind. But, when your eyes met, Sans couldn't help but feel your strength and resolve.
And right then all he wanted to do was hold your hand. Place it to his face, send waves of serenity to you.
"I don't have it anymore. Any of it. It's all gone."
A loud thump on the other side of the counter told Sans the guy must have kicked it. Then another and another.
A crack as something broke.
"You're fucking joking. I thought you cared about me Muffin. I thought you loved me enough to do one thing for me."
Your hand tightened around the gun and Sans slid his further into your palm, loosening it.
"I loved you, I still do sweets. But, you just turned into a, a-uh a bitch." Your jaw clenched.
"You can't even say anything cus you know I'm right. God you're so selfish. It's ridiculous. I should have never thought to rely on you for one simple thing."
"I'm sorry, but-"
"You're sorry?" He scoffed. You jumped at the sound. Then a clatter of something across the room meant he must have thrown something.
"You need to leave before I call the police."
The ex laughed, as if the threat amused him.
"So they can take me away like last time? They can't hold me. No matter how much bullshit you try to pin on me. I still got out. Now, where. Did you put. My. Stuff." He sounded startlingly close, he must be leaning on the counter.
"I sold it. It's probably at a thrift store at the bottom of the mountain by now." You calmly replied. "Now leave, before I get the authority involved."
The bell rang as someone entered, it sounded like he was going to say more but ended up just switching to a scoff.
"Fuck you, cupcake."
And the bell rang again as he finally left.
—----
My hands shook, I could hardly see how many tears had built up. Sans' hand was still in my palm. It felt nice, grounding, and calm. Like it was meant to be there.
I nearly collapsed to the floor, the gun clicked back into place and my fingers thread through sans'. I didn't want to let go of that feeling yet.
But I looked up to see the visitor and it was the perfect person to have come in.
"Tammy," my voice was breathless as I dropped Sans' hand, a part of me disappointed at that action but I was too focused on throwing open the counter and collapsing into my best and only friends arms.
She cradled me close, whispering things like "you poor baby." And "I'm so sorry sweetheart." And "it's okay now, you're okay now."
Sans must have stood up in that time it took to pull away from her. Because she went:
"Uh…" and when I looked behind me, a bashful Sans just stood behind the counter wringing his hands.
"Oh, this is Sans, my employee."
"Hi."
Sans waved. He hadn't taken his eyes off of me though.
"And Sans, this is my best friend Tammy."
"yo."
A beat of silence before Tammy patted my back and pushed me towards the counter again.
The way Sans dropped his arms kind of felt like he also wanted a hug.
Would that be weird? Hugging him.. I certainly wanted a hug from him for feelings unknown.
Instead and fidgeted next to him, probably closer into his bubble than I should have. But, there was just something about his presence that made me feel safe.
And Tammy demanded an explanation for what just happened. Of which I was shakily happy to give.
He still watched me, the entire time.