Archived

❝ well, i do work the graveyard shift sometimes. ❞ somehow, he got stuck as a security guard. didn't bat an eye when all sorts of toys around the place started to move. this was, however, the first time any of them so much as approached. 

❝ the name's sans. sans the skeleton. so, uh, you live here? ❞ the phone started ringing, but the skeleton slammed the voice mail button within the second. 

he was far more interested in chatting up with his new acquaintance than with his boss. that guy was straight up paranoid. as were most humans. 

❝ sorry to intrude. consider me the new guy around. it’s a pleasure to meet ya. ❞

in his travels, sans had learnt a great many things about humans and their trigger-happy inclinations towards attacking certain creatures on sight. as misfortune would have it: a guy like sans ranked high on the priority list of a bullet’s sharp end. 

in this world’s case, a poison dart.

dodging it with a pirouette and a spin, sans knew it ill advised to aim his attacks towards humans from realms that were not his own-- but for some reason, that odd girl seemed pretty hellbent on “capturing” him. something about a rare pokemon and her boss being happy with it... whatever that meant.

❝ l-listen lady. ❞ his hood fell off in the act, revealing the skull in full. ❝ i dunno what’s this rare pokemon you speak of, but if you could just tell me where that arceus guy is, i’ll be out of your hair in a se-- ❞

looks like the boa had an attack on queue, it lunged on command without showing signs of restraint, forcing the skeleton to swerve into another dodge.

It wasn’t that Grillby seemed unkind! He hopes that isn’t how it sounded! The way Papyrus stiffens at this- sends a sharp pain from his break all the way up his spine. He winces. But manages to shake his head. ‘Oh no! Its not that you seemed unkind.’ Papyrus assures him, wiping away a new tear from his cheekbone. ‘You’ve always been more than accommodating towards my brother! 

‘I suppose I just never had chance to properly speak with you.’ 

‘I’m glad that I have now…I only wish the circumstances were different.’ Bowing his head he takes in a deep breath, squeezing Grillby’s hand again. The elementals heat is soothing. Grillby’s whole manner is, really. ‘God this hurts!’

.

spookyscientistskeleton​:

‘–Oh!’

His hand hovered awkwardly in the air, as if to stop him from moving further. His best intentions are too late to prevent just a little further jostling of the injured femur, and Grillby gives a wince of sympathy at the expression of pain on the skeleton’s face. Once he finally settled, he let out an exhale, shoulders sagging slightly with relief. 

‘I wish they were too,’ he said, his free hand coming to rest over Papyrus’s as well. It was probably best to just–keep him talking, for now. Keep him distracted, until Sans arrived. ‘I suppose you’ll have to come by the shop sometime with your brother. I know the menu isn’t really your preference, but my milkshake’s still the same recipe as it was when you were small. You seemed to like that quite well.’ 

as soon as the skeleton stirred awake to grillby’s glaring message on his phone, the text of which sans couldn’t afford to ignore, he’d already started making preparations. a broken bone was no nattering matter to be sneezed at-- it shared a tendency for dealing damage overtime, rather like karmic retribution did, but at a far slower pace.

upon teleporting, sans happened to turn up a few feet off the ground right behind papyrus. his landing was practised-- smooth, and despite his concerns, it would seem grillby had somehow managed to keep his brother distracted.

try not to panic.

so much for someone who looked ten seconds away from a stroke, etchings of worry carved to his features like the history of life itself.

❝ h-hey... ❞ the skeleton interrupted, planting a hand on his brother’s shoulder from behind before sidling up to him. ❝ you, uh, good? heard a noise outside... jus-- came to check. ❞ it was a lie. but he didn’t want to out grillby like that. ❝ you really took break a leg literally, huh?  ❞ as usual, sans tried to mask his crippling concern behind another pun. ❝ let’s, uh, get you patched up, yeah? oh, hey there, grillby. ❞ in his eyes there was the silent look of a father who was thankful for the heads up.

Grillby laughed, resting on his elbows against the bar. ‘Please. I can do better than that if I want to make you blush.’ One other thing about having had that deeply, profoundly unpleasant conversation and getting it out of the way. He could flirt with Sans a little too, without worrying that he would catch on, or conversely being frustrated when he didn’t. It did have a way of taking the pressure off, he had to admit.

Even so.

‘Hm. I’ll think about it,’ he replied, in a way that clearly implied he wouldn’t ask. ‘Though I may take you up on that next time I need to visit Fuku’s mother.’ Truth be told, he hadn’t felt much of a need to go out on the prowl, these past few years. Perhaps it might have helped, to divert his attention elsewhere. But when he tried… well, there weren’t many people he came across that made him laugh quite the way Sans did, that made him feel quite the same warmth in his core. 

And true, he didn’t really give them the chance. But… well, they’d only just gotten that whole mess out in the open, and he didn’t–think he was quite ready to let go, just yet.

Sans had been right, he suspected, to call him a masochist. 

‘Shame you didn’t stop by with it on,’ he mused idly, as he got down a bottle from the top shelf. The bar was empty, he didn’t particularly mind helping himself. ‘I kind of miss those days. I liked hearing you talk about whatever you were working on in the lab. Even if it had a tendency to go over my head. Care for a drink, by the way?’ 

a fair point. though the skeleton had to wonder how grillby would pull that one off... maybe if he decided to be hilarious in public, and even then, the skeleton was known for being quick to fire another shot and turn the tables before he reached the tipping point himself.

helping himself to a seat, bar empty due to the late hours, it was hard not to recall what alcohol had done to the two the last they’d stuffed their faces. but as the patron of mistakes, all of them biblical, if crimes against friendship wielded a knife, it would have already murdered what the two shared on the first night.

❝ sure. i’ll take what you’re havin’. ❞ whatever the swill it might have been.

wouldn’t be a first for him consuming something not meant for every monster.

shifting the light in his sockets out to the rattling window, sans could feel a storm beginning to brew in. no doubt due to some malfunction in the core running temperatures lower than usual. ever since gaster “fell” into his creation, the core would every so often present these moments of instability.

sans couldn’t help but wonder if it was a shift in the continuum. he’d quantified them all... timelines in which different beings would spawn, sometimes odd doors would appear and odder men too, wearing macabre smiles not meant to be seen.

❝ like that calcium bathbomb i made for pap when he was jus’ a baby? doc almost had my ribs when he found out i was “wasting” precious components on that stuff. but i knew i could just farm them all back after a trip to the dumpster. ❞

well, most of them at least.

Baby girl. Was she that obvious? She tried so hard to ignore the electric shock shooting through her gut, her fur standing on edge at the mere sound of his voice. A shaky breath escaped as she squirmed, as though trying to fight the way a tingle ran down her spine as he flicked and played with her throbbing peak — ugh, he was good, and they’d barely just begun. Or maybe she was just that weak. 

Her free hand drifted along his chest, feeling between every space in his rib cage, before she gave a yank, pulling him even closer. She wasn’t ready to beg. Not yet. She was known for being stubborn — and anyone who wanted to tame the bunny had to win the battle, first. Dainty digits clutched the fabric of his shirt, as though keeping herself anchored — she was used to having some type of fur or hair to cling to during the act. So many firsts within such a short span of time, and it was thrilling. 

“Hm. I’m f—- finnneee.” Ignoring the way her hips twitched, or the way her toes curled, she was, certainly. A half-hearted effort was made to pull her arm back, although his grip was firm, and she eventually succumbed, her head falling against his shoulder. Her evident love of a power struggle, of being put in her place, would be obvious — if her agonized breaths didn’t give it away, the slick, soaked heat between her thighs would. 

“Mmm… don’t make me beg,” a pathetic whimper against the cartilage of his neck, before another kiss pressed against the corner of his mouth. Claws on her free paw scraped along the bone of his ribcage once more, now daring to go under the fabric of his shirt. It was unfortunate, he’d chosen a bunny who loved a competition.

despite lola’s best attempts to hide it, her body played right into his hands like putty, arching where it needed to arch, swaying where it needed to sway. the scent of her arousal, though subtle, so quick to reach him and, for a moment, all sans could think about was the dot of moisture beginning to kiss the pad of his girl’s panties.

though lola might not have been his girl officially, she was his girl for the night.

shifting stances a bit as to position the bunny straddled on a femur, each of her thighs flanking around it, the skeleton applied pressure to the small of her back enough to coax her pelvis into lowering. that is, until he could feel the soft press of a cushion of her still covered privates touch his leg.

don’t make me beg.

she begged sweetly in no way his wildest musings could have possibly conjured.

❝ you already are. ❞

but i want more.

sans decided.

feeling her demand chase rivulets of liquid lust through every bone in his body, ecstasy pooled the thickest just south of where his loins were. but sans wasn’t about to give her time to compute what was happening— to piece two and two and realise the beads of water clinging to his bones were not from the shower he’d just taken, but from sweat beginning to build.

❝ do it again. ❞ his voice burned low and stuffy as if the ceiling suddenly sat too close and the room had built itself too narrow around them. he lifted his head enough to touch his grin to that little sniffer, beginning to coax her hips into a pattern of movement up and down the length of his leg, rubbing that growing spill of moisture kissing her undergarment wet along his femur.

do it again. he whispered once more.

‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒ Usually their neighbour didn’t get this bad; some screaming and maybe a fist fight at worst when he wasn’t paid his proper dues, sure, but a knife? If Yu-nae could see what Sans was seeing, they would have cut any hesitation and called the police right then and there. 

     Instead, the human simply grimaced, then shrugged, their neighbour was tough, but had been nice to them, going out of his way to bring them stuff to help with their anxiety and even helped them board up their apartment’s windows, despite his comments on their paranoia. He had told them before to not worry about him unless they heard gunshots, so that, unfortunately, is what Yu-nae would do.

      “No, it’s fine. He’s always got some kind of racket going on at his place,” they said. It was also no offense to Sans, but they still didn’t know him well enough to want to sleep over at his house.

     After a few shouts, there was suddenly a ‘get out!’ screeched from behind the door… and after a very long, worrying pause, the man in the suit and tie exited the apartment. Yu-nae took this as a good sign, and looked over to the skeleton with a nod.

     “Well, thank you for walking me home,” they told him.

why was he wrought with worry over a human? one that had damn near yelled at him first encounter, no less. no... he wasn’t concerned about yu-nae, but about any potential monsters rubbing shoulders with a maniac like that.

though part of him, which the skeleton tried his best to snuff out like a candle, did wish yu had taken him up on that offer.

this place wasn’t safe.

❝ right. ❞ turning on his axis, sans made for the alleyway yu-nae must have known to be a dead end. were they to follow, however, and be so kind as to warn him of such, he’d be long gone-- nowhere near nor far from left to right.

in the blink of an eye, the skeleton had already teleported to the building’s rooftop, giving him high ground advantage to keep an eyesocket on suit and tie, whom he was certain to be part of the mob. what family? sans couldn’t tell. all he did know was that every other area of the city had been sectioned in parts and that different yakuza families owned the lands. there was no legal paper that stated as much... no warrants or certificates either, but the secret handshake of acknowledgement that the place was better off protected under the mob’s control.

His soul breaks. Never has he ever seen Sans like this. Sans raised Papyrus. Always taught him to not give up. To keep his head high. Was always there for Papyrus when he was afraid, hurt or sick. To see Sans so broken…

He wants to help his brother. 

Tiptoeing closer- each step gentle as if treading on eggshells. 

Falling to his knees- Papyrus throws his arms around Sans bringing him into a tight embrace. ‘Sans…Sans please come out of your room. I don’t know what’s troubling you, but, I want to help…if I can.’ 

‘Please brother.’

‘I am very worried about you.’

i’m fine.

the words wouldn’t come out. how pathetic... he couldn’t even bring himself to tell a lie in a state of shock. though sans didn’t have a stomach, the sensation of bile rising from the hollow of his body still plagued him when the mirage of his brother felt so real.

real enough for him to believe another full reset had taken place.

but where was the human? did they take pity, reset, and decided to spend their days in the ruins with the old lady? would they finally leave the monsters alone? for some reason the skeleton couldn’t place, he’d have trouble-- plenty of it, ever trusting that kid again.

even if they proved to be merciful.

❝ hey... pap. ❞ he had to be strong. for papyrus’s sake... he didn’t like to see his brother suffering because he couldn’t get his shit together. poor thing must have been so confused. there was no way he could possibly understand what it was like. to retain all memories from a world brought to its knees. to the dust from which would never rise a phoenix.

hugging his brother back nearly brought him to tears, but somehow, the skeleton managed to stay strong. even in this moment of weakness... it was as if the flame which had extinguished within him relearned how to shine.

 ❝ how long... ❞ he chanced, hoping not to throw his brother off-kilter with the question. ❝ how long has it been since...? ❞

since the last he’d come out of that room.

the days bled into weeks, and sans had lost track of time. so caught up in his own waking nightmares he’d barely had a wink of sleep. it wasn’t easy. hanging on to sanity when everything else around him spun into a swirling dance of madness. when papyrus’s voice wasn’t his own, but a distorted version of what sans remembered it to be.

He hesitates, leaning his head against Sans’s shoulder. He’s realizing now that he doesn’t think he’s ever had Sans up in his apartment before. It feels intimate, in a way that still feels new for their friendship.

If they can call it that, still. Despite the whole conversation about it down in the bar, Grillby still doesn’t quite know what to call it and he’s too tired to care.

Grillby considers his words, because he doesn’t want another flare up of emotion to lead him to say things he isn’t ready to say, like down at the bar. He traces a finger idly along one of Sans’s ribs under the sheets. ‘I’m not going to tell you never to lie to me,’ he continues. ‘It’s not really fair to you. And—given our track record, I don’t think I could keep that one myself. But when it comes to this… just don’t ever say anything to me that you don’t mean. And in exchange, I’ll try not to tell you I’m fine with things if I’m not.’

He’s hesitant, to touch his hand under the blankets. Like he’s almost not sure if it’s a bridge too far, too close to the kind of affection that is something this isn’t and will never be. But he swallows those thoughts and does it anyway. ‘Is that fair enough for you?’

unspeakable horrors lay in wait of those who chose to learn the truth-- thankfully, the elemental demanded no such thing of him. indeed, it would have been unfair, particularly to a guy shrouded in mystery who oft played it off as banter.

for their sanity not to hinge on a omen... and, partly, for his own as well.

the hours were late and the apartment quiet, save for the vinyl in the distance and the crackling of flames. even in the absence of skin, the elemental still managed to chase goosebones all across the skeleton’s rib cage with that touch. soulheart flaring brighter now-- a monalisa overdrive sort of incandescent blue to be found in the neon streets of a rainy town.

❝ i wonder if you’ll be able to pull that one off. ❞ sans wasn’t about to hold the elemental at barrel’s end were he not. ❝ not say fine when, well, ‘s not really fine, i mean. ❞ 

sometimes the term was quick like a bullet to leave grillby, other times slow. always wintered for a being so full of flames.

reflex-reaction had him connecting their hands by his fingertips when sans realised his best friend, now companion, failed to do so. phalanxes weaved through the dense fire without burning. if the doc had done one thing right, it was to pay special attention to the skeleton’s elemental resistance.

❝ i hear ya, spitfire. ❞ was the ultimatum even though sans knew he’d catch grillby lying about it whether he promised not to or otherwise, bringing up his best friend’s hand to his mouth for the press of a kiss at its back. ❝ as fair as the king’s fur. ❞

huh... peculiar. though it’s hardly the first time he's received odd spam-mail.

mail box outside was brimming with them and he couldn’t be bothered to set them apart from the actual important stuff-- such as in those puntastic issues he’d subscribed to just the other month.

❝ ...alright. ❞