We're Still Here. So Let's Party!
This was real, wasn't it?
You look up at Sans. His gaze is fixed on the t.v but his fingers are tracing idly over your hands. It sends electric sparks up your arms.
"they should really fire the guy who designed the death star," Sans murmurs, fingers dancing up your arm. "some one messed up big time if a single shot can bring it down."
"Ah, but who's fault is it really? The architect or the builders? Could have been an on-site mistake."
"Hmm." He sighs sleepily. You're honestly surprised he's managed to stay awake for the whole movie. It would be the first time you've seen him actually watch a movie to the end. Aside from the one at the museum.
"Don't fall asleep on me just yet," you laugh, giving him a little nudge. "We're almost to the end."
"don't wanna sleep yet." His hands stop their movements but remain touching your skin gently. "don't you to be gone when i wake up."
"Sans, we've been together" the word sends a thrill of joy through you "for three hours. I promise I'm not sick of you already." You give him a wide smile to let him know you're just teasing.
"'s not what i mean." His eyelids are half-shut. "it's kinda like i'm already dreaming. don't want it to be over."
You get that. As happy as you are, there's a part of you that can't believe it's actually happening. That such happiness couldn't be real. Not for you. You snuggle in closer to him. "This isn't a dream," you murmur, trying to convince yourself just as much as him. "You're here. I'm here."
"right now is what's real." There's a heaviness behind those words you don't understand. He says it the same way you say 'I'm allowed to be happy.' Like he doesn't quite believe it, but desperately wants to.
You finish the movie in relative silence. But you can hardly pay attention. You can feel Sans breathing next to you, his bones rising and falling slightly. He shouldn't even need to breathe, let alone be able to. Yet, his solidness, his aliveness, is right there. It's still a little hard to believe.
The credits finish and the two of you remain there on your beanbag, unwilling to move, unwilling to break this perfect comfortable silence.
"what time's it?" Sans finally mutters.
"Late."
"huh."
Another long silence stretches by. You're on the verge of nodding off yourself when—
"guess i outta go." He starts to slowly stir, and your hand grips his arm.
"You don't have to," you whisper. What are you saying?! "You can stay. If you want."
There's a brief flash of blue across his cheeks. "heh, you wanna jump my bones that badly?"
"No! Shut up." Heat rises in your face. "I just...you're having trouble believing this is real. I'm pretty sure this is just a really wonderful dream. So why not make it last as long as it can? Then, when we wake up, we'll both be here and then there'll be no denying it. Right?"
It wasn't that big a deal anyway, was it? You were technically a couple now. And you'd already fallen asleep with him before. This wasn't a big deal. Sure, it was the first actual night you two were 'together' but...you feel safe with him. And after the long couple of days you've had, you really don't want him to leave.
He's quiet for a minute. "heh," he finally whispers. He sets his head back down, meeting your gaze. His eye lights are shimmering slightly. "ya know, i like the way you think."
You chuckle. "Or maybe I'm just a big lazy bum and don't wanna get up. Like someone else I know."
"that's even better. we're two of a kind." You feel the bones of his hands grasp yours. The soothing sensation of his phalanges running over your skin soon sends you to sleep.
~~~~~
When you feel yourself slowly easing from sleep, you keep your eyes closed. You breathe deep. You can smell him next to you. It's a good smell. A wide smile is on your face as you slowly let your eyes open. He's still asleep, arm resting over your side. It's just like that morning that feels so long ago. But this time, you don't struggle to escape his embrace. You slowly brush your fingers over his skull. The open expression on his sleeping face makes you really want to kiss him. You hesitate and as gingerly as you can, press your lips against his cheek. The bone is solid and a little warm with a surprising amount of give. He isn't as squishy as a human would be of course. But given that he is able to make expressions and move his mouth and eye sockets, he couldn't be made of regular old bones. It's gotta be more of that magic bio-make up he talked about.
He murmurs slightly but doesn't wake up. At that moment, your stomach rumbles quietly. You ease out from Sans' grip. It's still fairly early, according to the clock. It's the day of the festival but it doesn't start until later in the afternoon. You've got some time before set up starts so you figure you might as well make some breakfast. You pad over to the fridge, bones popping as you go. You really need to stop sleeping on the bag. It was never as comfortable after a full night of lying on it. You pull out eggs and the last of your bacon. Hey, it was sort of a special occasion, right?
The bacon is sizzling, its sweet aroma filling the kitchen when Sans jerks awake. He sits bolt upright, looking around wildly. When his gaze falls on you, he visibly relaxes and flops back to the beanbag. His hand presses up against his face and he starts laughing.
"heheheh. looks like we're still here."
"Still here." You scrape the bacon and eggs onto the two plates you've set out. "Hope you're hungry, cause I sure am. And yes, ketchup on eggs is actually acceptable."
There's a quick flash of blue and Sans appears in the chair next to you. You jump slightly. "Really? Too lazy to even walk across the room?"
"you know it," he says with a wide grin. "do ya mind if paps comes over?"
Shoot! You completely forgot about him. "Of course! Pap is always welcome, you don't need to ask." Besides, there's plenty of food.
It barely takes a minute after Sans sends the text for Papyrus to all but karate kick your door down.
"YOUR HOME SMELLS DELIGHTFUL HUMAN! GOOD MORNING SANS!"
"mornin' bro," Sans greets his brother as he drowns his eggs in ketchup.
You sigh, deciding it'd be a waste of time to scold Sans on overdosing on ketchup and pull out a plate for Papyrus. He eagerly shovels in the food so fast you wonder if he's even tasting it.
"DID YOU ENJOY THE SUNSET LAST NIGHT HUMAN?"
Sans chokes on his eggs.
"Yeah, I did," you say, smiling at the memory. Wait. "Pap, how did you know about that?"
Papyrus gives you a grin to rival the Cheshire Cat's. "NYEH HEH HEH! THE GREAT PAPYRUS TAKES GREAT CARE IN OBSERVING HIS SURROUNDINGS AT ALL TIMES. BESIDES, I KNEW MY BROTHER WAS UP TO SOMETHING WHEN HE ASKED ME TO WATCH FRISK FOR THE NIGHT. IT WAS ABOUT TIME HE PROPERLY FINISHED YOUR DATE!"
So Papyrus had seen the two of you, all the way up on the roof. Your face goes red, but at least you're not alone. Sans is staring at his plate, skull lit up.
"not cool bro," he mumbles.
"OH COME ON SANS, YOU DID A TERRIBLE JOB OF HIDING YOUR OBVIOUS FEELINGS." Papyrus turns to you, eye sockets almost glinting. "DID YOU KNOW THAT NIGHT OF YOUR MUSEUM DATE-"
"aaaahh no!" Sans waves his hands at Papyrus frantically. "hey, the festival's today right? we'd better let ______ get ready for that."
"BUT BROTHER I'M NOT DONE WITH MY DELICIOUS BREAKFAST!"
"Yeah c'mon Sans. There's no rush," you say with a wide grin. "Pap, you take your time. Now, what were you saying about Sans?"
Sans groans loudly and blips out of sight. He's actually running away? Okay, now you have to know what happened! Papyrus sighs deeply. He doesn't seem surprised at Sans' disappearing act, so you guess that means he knows about it.
"I DO LOVE MY BROTHER VERY MUCH BUT HIS LAZINESS IS A REAL PROBLEM," Papyrus grumbles, tucking back into his plate. "HE WOULD RATHER RUN AWAY FROM HIS PROBLEMS THAN FACE THEM."
"I think he's just embarrassed Pap," you laugh, scooting your chair a little closer. "And speaking of, spill! What'd he do that has him so flustered?"
Papyrus grins to himself, obviously reliving the memory. "WELL, AFTER HE DROPPED YOU OFF AT HE WANDERED IN BACK HOME LIKE HE WAS SLEEPWALKING OR SOMETHING. WHEN I ASKED ABOUT YOUR DATE HE JUST SMILED AND SAID IT WAS GOOD. THEN HE STARTED STARING AT A PICTURE ON HIS PHONE."
"Oh no, the one where I'm making a weird face?"
"IT IS NOT A WEIRD FACE!" Papyrus protests over your groan. "YOU WERE HAPPY AND IT MADE MY BROTHER VERY HAPPY TOO. I COULDN'T EVEN GET HIM TO READ ME A BEDTIME STORY. HE JUST WANTED TO LOOK AT THE PICTURE OF YOU TWO. THEN JUST AS I WAS ABOUT TO SLEEP, SANS CAME AND ASKED ME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS ABOUT DATING ADVICE!"
You almost choke on your eggs just like Sans did. "He asked you about dating?" You try to keep the surprise out of your voice. You don't want to sound rude but Papyrus, as great as he is, didn't exactly seem like the type who went on dates. Romantic ones anyway.
"OF COURSE!" Papyrus strikes a pose in his seat, knocking over his now thankfully empty plate. You manage to snag it before it hits the floor. "GOOD CATCH HUMAN. ANYWAY, I BEING THE GREAT BROTHER THAT I AM TOLD HIM ALL THAT I KNOW. I EVEN LET HIM BORROW THE DATING MANUAL I GOT FROM THE LIBRARY. AND I CAN SEE THAT HE MUST HAVE FOLLOWED THE INSTRUCTIONS PERFECTLY! HE EVEN GOT YOU A GIFT!" He points to the galaxy necklace still around your neck. "FOR ONCE HE ACTUALLY FOLLOWED THROUGH! I AM SO PROUD OF HIM!"
A dating manual huh? You'd like to get your hands on it. "Well, he did do a fantastic job Papyrus," you say softly, your heart warming for the obvious love the brothers shared. "So I guess I have you to thank for getting Sans to act huh?"
"DO NOT SELL YOURSELF SHORT HUMAN." Papyrus pats you on the head. "YOU ARE NEARLY AS GREAT AS ME. EVEN IF I HADN'T HELPED MY BROTHER, I'M SURE YOU WOULD HAVE MOTIVATED HIM SOON ENOUGH." You smile at him.
"I'd like to think so Pap."
Papyrus soon finishes and now you actually do have to get ready to head out. Papyrus cleans his plate and heads back home, promising to bring Frisk and Toriel to the festival. You see him out and start cleaning up. You put some music on, glancing around carefully to make sure Sans hasn't popped back in before letting yourself go and dance as you shower and pick out your clothes. For the first part of setting up and running the festival, you've got a black tee shirt that has the station's logo and a list of all the sponsors participating. Nothing fancy, but since it was close to Halloween, Tod had highly encouraged dressing up a little. You've got a devil horn headband and a red jacket that you plan on changing into after your shift is officially over. You're painting dark circles under your eyes with face paint when you hear a soft noise at the bathroom door. You glance over in the mirror, seeing Sans leaning against the frame.
"Hey, you," you say as you try not to move your face. "Dating manual huh?"
"heh. um yeah. believe it or not, paps knows more about this kind of stuff than i do." Sans scuffs his slippered feet against the ground. He curiously watches as you finish applying your face paint. "you're pretty good at that."
"I used to take theater classes in college." You apply one last coat of drying powder to keep it in place and don your horns. You pose for him, hands on your hips. "Ta-da!"
"nice," he says with a large grin. he nods towards your still bare feet. "your toes might get a little cold."
"Oh haha."
He follows you out to the living room. You slip your boots on and grab your bag. "Do you remember where the university park is?"
He nods.
Acting on an impulse, you lean over and give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "See you there then. Don't forget to lock the door!" You leave him standing there in a slight daze and escape to your car. You're grinning like a complete moron the entire drive over. The festival is taking place at the park near the university, a few blocks down from the station. When you pull up, there's already a flurry of activity going on. Booths are partially set up, cars are coming and going with various wares and food and right smack dab in the center, there's a bunch of firemen setting up the pit for the bonfire. It wasn't that big. After all, there would be a lot of children running around but it was big enough that it would require some of the firemen to stay on watch the whole time and make sure it didn't get too big. When this had been discussed earlier in the planning process, Tod had assured you that in the eight years they had been doing the festival, there had been no major incidents with the bonfire. Other than a few blackened s'mores and lost hot dogs that is.
Still, you're glad that the booth for the station is a little ways away from where the fire will be. You're quickly drawn into the frenzy of setting up, running here and there until you're actually sweating a little in the brisk fall air. You help out with Muffet's stand when you can. The whole thing looks fantastic! The spiders working the booth chitter excitedly the whole time, offering you samples every few minutes. Before you know it, everything is done and ready to go and the first of the party-goers start to show up. You finally get a moment to sit down. Abby and Tod are in the booth with you at the moment. Tod is talking into the microphone, once again welcoming everyone. Abby nudges you as you sip from your water bottle.
"Hey, your skeleman is coming tonight right?" She's got full skeleton make-up on and large bone earrings dangle almost to her shoulder. She looks good, and you grin as you imagine Papyrus' reaction when he sees her.
"Yeah, him and a bunch of other monsters are coming—what?"
She's grinning delightedly at you. "You didn't deny that he's your skeleman!"
Oh. "W-well, I guess, we kinda got together? Officially just last night?"
Abby squeals and hugs you tightly.
"Ah! Watch your make up!"
"Oh right, sorry." She swipes her thumb against the side of your face. "All better. Man, that's fantastic!"
You can't help but smile. "Thanks Abby. I'm actually really happy about this."
"As you should be! When is he coming?"
"Um, I'm not sure actually," you say, scratching the back of your head. "The brothers are bringing Frisk so I think they should be coming soon?" You'd never actually talked about what time they would show up. Oh well. As long as they came, right?
Tod stretches. "I need food stat," he groans loudly. You jump to your feet.
"I'll go get you something if you want," you offer, but he shakes his head.
He turns the mic slightly towards you, grinning. "Why don't you take over for a few minutes?"
Your heart leaps up your chest. "Really?"
Tod stands and all but pushes you into the chair. "You've got this kid. When this song ends, just make a general announcement about the bonfire and hit the next song when you're done. I'll be back in a few minutes."
He leaves the stand and you glance at Abby, nervous butterflies in your stomach. She gives you a thumbs up. You take a deep breath. You could do this. You had seen and heard Tod do stuff like this all the time. The current song ends and you press a button on the mic.
"Hey everyone, thanks for coming out to the 9th annual E.B.B.T fall festival! There's lots to see, and lots to do! Don't forget to stick around for the lighting of the bonfire, happening right here at dusk!"
Your voice echoing throughout the park gives you a thrill of excitement running through your chest. There, that wasn't hard at all! You tap the switch to get the music rolling again. It takes you a second to register the clapping happening in front of you.
"I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT!" Papyrus stands in front of you, wearing a pair of rabbit ears on his skull. He bounds forward and shakes your hand proudly. "I KNEW YOU COULD MAKE IT ON THE SHOW!"
"T-thanks P-Pap," you stutter out, barely able to speak from the force of his handshake. "It's not really the show, but thanks! Nice ears."
"THANK YOU! FRISK PICKED THEM OUT."
Frisk peers around Papyrus, grinning widely at you. Their nose is painted black with little whiskers drawn on their cheeks. A pair of mouse ears pokes out from their mess of hair. They wave at you.
"FRISK SAID YOU CAN'T GO TO A HALLOWEEN FESTIVAL WITHOUT COSTUMES. I CAN SEE THAT YOU DRESSED UP AS WELL!"
"I sure did Pap," you laugh, tapping your horns. Then your eyes fall on Sans and you snort loudly, throwing your hand up over your mouth. He's wearing a grumpy cat shirt that simply says 'no' and a cheap pair of cat ears on his skull. He lifts one hand and winks at you, mouthing 'meow'. Oh you have got to get a picture of this! You pull your phone out, only to have it snatched by Abby. She pushes you out of the booth towards the trio.
"Everyone smile!" She calls, clearly trying to hold back her squeals of joy at finally meeting your monster neighbors.
You feel Sans slide up next to you, his arm gently wrapping around your side and in that moment, you swear you've never been happier. Abby takes the picture and then you introduce her to the skelebros and Frisk. As expected, Papyrus is fascinated with skeleton make-up and showers her with compliments. Sans lets out an audible snort when she proudly shows everyone a picture of her standing next to a cat monster who quite honestly looks fed up with the world.
"didn't see that coming," he mutters to you. "burgerpants with a human. what a world."
You nudge him, holding back a laugh. At that moment, Tod returns and it's another round of introductions. Tod, while not bouncing with joy like Abby is more than polite and thanks the group for coming out. You notice him make the connection between you and Sans and you have to swallow down a blush at his knowing smile. After a while, Papyrus and Frisk wander away into the steadily growing crowd, yelling about candy apples. Sans lingers for a bit by the stand.
"Where's Toriel?" you ask him as you set out more flyers.
"with asgore, i think." Sans shrugs. "there's quite a few monsters that have turned up and they're sticking pretty close to the king. toriel's doing her mom thing of making everyone comfortable."
You had seen quite a few monsters coming and going. Perhaps it was the Halloween spirit, but humans seemed to be more accepting of them than you would have expected. In fact, you had seen a lot of human and monster children chasing each other around, waving streamers. There was still a distance and a few cautious looks, but there had been no incidents thus far. It seemed that Muffet's stand was doing extremely well too. People were flooding her stand by the dozens, eager to purchase the spider-themed goods. And with good reason. You could still taste the pumpkin muffin one of Muffet's helpers had dropped off for you.
"The king himself came out? That's wild." You crane your neck to look over the crowd, hoping to get a glimpse. Sans laughs loudly.
"don't worry, he'll stop by soon enough," he says in a suddenly dry voice. "but for now, i think you have some other company."
"Oooh just look at those two nerds!"
You know that voice. Undyne smashes her way through the crowd, on a warpath straight to your booth. She's followed by two monsters. The first one, clinging pretty closely to her, is a small yellow dinosaur-like creature with a pair of large glasses perched on her snout. "U-Undyne, don't move so f-fast."
"Oh, sorry love." Undyne immediately slows down, giving the dinosaur a quick smooch. The small monster immediately goes red as Undyne turns to you and Sans. "So, did you two get your whole thing-" she gestures to you two "sorted out? Didn't chicken out did you _____?"
Sans leans against the stand, giving her a lazy smile. "i guess you could say we're in skele-tune with each other."
The yellow monster squeals quietly as Undyne pumps her fist in the air. You start to wonder if you can just sink into the ground out of sight.
"S-sorry, I never introduced m-myself." The stuttering monster holds out a clawed hand. "I'm Alphys."
Oh, so this was Alphys! You take her offered hand, leaning over the booth. "It's so nice to finally meet you!"
"You as well." She gives you a toothy smile. "Undyne t-talks about you all the time."
You groan. "About how I'm a weakling who gets sick in the rain?"
Alphy's eyes dart up to Undyne, who starts laughing loudly. "N-no! Well, I mean y-yes but she says nice stuff t-too."
"I'm just teasing," you snicker. Sans gives you a proud look.
You suddenly hear Abby gasp loudly. "Oh no way! Is that....?"
You follow her gaze to the second monster that had been trailing after Unydne and Alphys. They were turned away slightly, talking to a group of young teens.
"And that, my darlings, is why you never agree to dance with a vulkin."
You notice with some surprise the monster is signing autographs, and the kids are whispering excitedly to each other. They scamper off, and the monster turns to you with great flourish. Sans groans quietly next to you.
"Mettaton!" Abby squeals, just as you recognize the humanoid figure.
It's the robot you've heard so much about on t.v. You never would have expected to see him here! He's even prettier in person than he is on the screen, and good heavens, he's got legs for days. You can't help but gape at him as he looks over the two of you in the booth.
"Hmm." His voice rings in a metallic way, oddly pleasant and yet somehow slightly annoying at the same time. He steps a bit closer, which makes Abby clutch at your sleeve. "Tell me darlings. Which one of you is the one who's managed to steal the non-existent heart of this sorry bag of bones?"