Dinner with a Sinner
Dinner with the brothers went well. Or at least, the conversation did. For someone who apparently loves to cook, Papyrus wasn't very good at it. Sans had told you that Papyrus had been getting a lot better since they moved to the surface, and he seemed to be genuine. He also seemed extremely grateful. You had stomached the spaghetti, managing to clean your plate entirely. You never knew that you could mess up spaghetti, but apparently you could. You also didn't know that the sauce was supposed to sparkle. The skeletons had enjoyed your cookies, and only a few remained when you left their apartment. You had no idea how Sans was eating cookies and drinking ketchup at the same time, but you knew that it had to be hard to stomach. Oh, yeah. He doesn't have one of those...
By the time you got home, it was late. Papyrus had tried to insist on a sleepover, but you told him that you had work tomorrow. He was disappointed, and even his older brother seemed a little bummed. There was no way you were going to miss your first day, or even be anything but early. So when you had gotten home, you made sure that there would be nothing in your way the next morning. You did the dishes, put away the cookies that you hasn't taken to the brothers, and set your alarm extra early. You had gone over the mornings schedule so many times that you knew the exact minute you'd arrive. A bit excessive? Yeah, probably, but you wanted to make a good impression!
Thanks to your over the top planning, you left right on time that morning. Traffic wasn't as bad as you expected, either, so you made it to work ten minutes early. Your boss was ecstatic to see you, and he told you that for the first week or so, you would be doing more watching than teaching. You were fine with that. It made sense that you wouldn't jump right into teaching a class. Besides, you enjoyed seeing what kind of styles everyone was learning.
Everything was going just as planned. Well, until you went on break for lunch. You slipped your phone out of your pocket to see if there were any new notifications, and as soon as clicked the home screen, your phone buzzed. Perfect timing, you guessed. However, you didn't know the number that had texted you.
"hey"
For a second you thought about asking who they were, but you decided to send a simple "hey?" back
"have you heard about updog?"
You giggled to yourself. Really? Updog? You tried to think of who this could be, and you only could think of one suspect: Sans. Or maybe you just liked the idea of Sans asking someone for your number. You decided to humor them. "What is updog ?" You sent the text, glad you could at least make one person's day,
"nothing much, what's up with you?"
You rolled your eyes as your phone lit up again.
"i can't believe you fell for that, _____"
Sans. It was Sans. It had to be, right? You figured that if you used his name in the next text, you'd get an answer. Your fingers were fast, tapping against your screen in quick little motions. "Thanks, Sans, but at least it wasn't ahenfor" you sent the message, grinning at your screen.
"what is ahenfor?"
Not sure if he genuinely didn't know, or if he just was humoring you, you quickly sent a reply. At least you knew it was Sans now. "It's for laying eggs, duh"
His replies seemed to come faster as you sent puns back and forth. Most of them you had heard before, but you'd be lying if you said that you weren't planning on using some of them later. Eventually you had to tell him that you had work to do, and you were actually surprised when you saw his next message.
"alright, alright. what are you doing after? we could grab dinner."
Your heart did a flip in your chest, and you had to fight the goofy smile from your face. Was he asking you on a date? Play it cool, you told yourself. "Just us?" You knew the question was kind of dumb, but you didn't want to get your hopes up too much.
"yeah. papyrus is having a sleepover with frisk. still pretty bummed that you couldn't stay over last night."
"You or Papyrus?" Your hit send before you could really question it. Did this count as flirting?
"both"
You felt your stomach do a flip, and put your phone away. You'd text him after work.
___________
When you checked your phone again, there was a string of texts from Sans.
"sorry, was that weird?"
"if you don't want to have dinner, you can just say."
"right, you're at work."
"dinner would be cool though. so cool."
You felt bad for making him think that you were turning him down, and quickly sent him a text telling him that dinner would be great. You'd be home in about ten minutes, but you'd need to change first.
He just replied, "cool"
Your heart wasn't racing when you got home. You weren't excited. And you definitely didn't a have a huge, stupid grin on your face. God, you were such a dork.
"Okay, okay. What do you wear for a not date?" You asked yourself, looking in your small closet. At first, you tried to grab a band shirt, but decided against it. What did you have that was nice? Then you saw it- it wasn't much, but it was one of the few things you owned that didn't have stains on it from cooking. The shirt was a beautiful shade of red violet, and the bottom an intricate, laced design. You didn't wear it often, just because it was a gift from your mom. You took the shirt off of its hanger, and grabbed a pair of black leggings. You got dressed quickly, and then fixed your makeup before stepping out of your apartment.
Sans dodged your door, his hand still stretched out, about to knock. You looked at each other in shock, before you started giggling.
"Oh my god, I am so sorry." You bit your lip, trying not to laugh more.
He let out a chuckle of his own, " s'all good. you ready?" You couldn't help but look the skeleton over. He was wearing what he always wore; a blue coat and basketball shorts. It was kind of an odd choice, but you thought that his old converse matched the rest of his outfit better than the pink slippers he wore yesterday.
You nodded and followed him out of the building. "So, where are we going, exactly?" you asked him, kicking a rock with the tip of your boot.
"figured I'd take you to my favorite bar. It just opened up, but we had one just like it in the Underground." His face seemed to darken when he talked about the Underground, but you understood why. You wouldn't want to talk about something like that either.
"You're taking me to a bar? Geez Sans, you're not trying to get me drunk, are you?" you teased, grinning at him.
"nah, grillbz just makes really great fries. burgers too." Sans nodded to himself, rounding the corner with you close behind. You walked a few blocks in silence before he spoke up again. "you know, i only asked you out so i could get a few more of those cookies."
When you looked over at him, you saw that he had that shit eating grin plastered onto his face. You sighed, rolling your eyes as you spoke, "Oh, really? Guess I should just head back then." You turned jokingly, beginning to walk away before you felt his phalanges around your wrist. Sans stopped you dead in your tracks. His bones were surprisingly warm.
"it was a joke-" he started, before hearing you laugh.
"No, no, I know. It's okay. " you smiled back at him, but he didn't let go. "Really, Sans, I'm not leaving." You pulled your hand away from him, turning back to walk with him.
When you pulled your hand away, Sans' smile twitched, but you didn't really notice. After another block, he turned to you, nodding to a large neon sign. The big, orange letters read NEW GRILLBY'S. It sounded very... Original. Sans walked by the bouncer, and the two of you walked through the doors.
You jumped when the string of voices yelled out your friend's name, several of the monsters cheering. He made a small wave before making his way forward to the bar. You looked over the room; it was fairly roomy, with both tables and booths. The place was very warm and cozy, and you even saw a jukebox in the corner. New Grillby's was filled with monsters, but you thought that you spied a few humans among the crowd. A few monsters stared at you, but it didn't last long. You followed Sans, and sat next to him at the bar. You studied the bar, and all of the glasses and bottles behind it. It took you a while to notice the source of all of the heat. In front of you, there was a monster in a sleek, fitting outfit. He was dressed in a button-up, long-sleeved, white shirt with a black vest over top of it. Oh, and he was made of fire. The bartender nodded to Sans, and then seemed to eye you. You're not sure how you knew, since you couldn't see any eyes behind the glasses he somehow wore on his face.
Sans nodded back, and then to you. "grillby, this is ______. ______, this is grillby. if you ask me, he's pretty hot." The skeleton wiggled his nonexistent eyebrows at you, and you couldn't help but grin.
"Yeah, he's pretty smokin'" you looked up to the man of fire to see him blushing. Or at least, you thought it was blushing. His face had turned blue where his cheeks would have been, and the flames at the top of his head grew.
Your friend laughed, low and deep. "i'll have the usual."
Grillby nodded, and then looked at you, tilting his head to the side. You assumed he was asking you what you wanted. "Well, Sans was singing praises for your burgers and fries, so I think I'll go for that." His flames seemed to raise again, and he quickly exited through a door behind the bar.
You spun on your bar stool, facing Sans. He was already looking at you, and you felt your cheeks turn pink. "Can I ask a question?"
"you just did, kid." His grin only grew, and by now you knew not to question it.
Ignoring him, you continued, "Did you actually fall for ahenfor?"
He spun on his stool to see you better. "did you fall for updog?"
"Not really. I went to 8th grade."
Sans seemed a bit hurt, or maybe it was surprised. "yeah, i hadn't heard it before. can i ask you a question?"
You grinned, repeating his words, "You just did."
The skeleton rolled his eyes at you, watching Grillby as he sat down your plates. "what's with all the patriotism around lately? and all of those firework things?"
"Oh, duh, of course, you don't know. It's Independence Day stuff, to like, celebrate when we got our independence from Great Britain. And a lot of people shoot off fireworks, which are these little rockets filled with chemicals that shoot into the sky and then show pretty colors." You laughed awkwardly, knowing that your description wasn't very good.
"so, it's a holiday?" Sans asked, tilting his skull to the side while he poured ketchup on top of his fries.
"Yeah, basically. Usually I'd shoot off my own fireworks, but seeing as we're in the city," you drifted off, making a face when you saw that his plate was now mostly ketchup. "Well, I hear that the city puts on a really good show."
The skeleton nodded, picking up one of his fries and eating it. "i heard that people have parties."
You nodded again, picking up a fry of your own, but dipping it into his plate, your face smug. He shot you a glare, but his features quickly softened. He was made of bones. Seriously, how did that work?
"Mhm. We should watch them together. It'd be fun." You began eating your fries, occasionally stealing ketchup from Sans' plate.
"not sure we could really see it from the apartment." Your new friend glanced over at you, watching as you licked your lips. This was definitely the best meal you had had in a while.
"We could go to the park. That's usually where they shoot them off anyways. I remember there being this huge hill, we could have a picnic and everything. I bet Paps would love it." You were too focused on your burger to notice his smile droop.
"sounds nice. as long as you bring those cookies."
You swallowed your last bite, then grinning at him. "Only if you give me more sugar." Sans' smile grew, and your face quickly turned red. "I-I didn't mean-"
"all you have to do is ask, _____." Sans practically purred. Your only reaction was to laugh. A lot. You buried your face in your hands, but he could see your smile between your fingers.
Eventually, you calmed down. Sans teased you every once and a while, but the rest of the night went smoothly. You managed not to die of embarrassment. You had agreed on getting together at the end of the week for the 4th of July.
On the walk home, you noticed that Sans was walking closer than before. Neither of you said much, but you both were looking at the sky. Sans seems enraptured, his eyes glossed over. You, however, weren't nearly as excited. The sky was so much different here. There weren't as many stars. But when you looked over at him, your breath caught in your throat. He looked really, truly happy. You bumped his hip with your own to get his attention, and quietly hoped that you could somehow compare to sky.