#fuabw

Undyne tapped her head.  "Hey!  What if Alphys uses her genius to build a robot he can tell all this shit to, and it doesn't record it? Sometimes people just have to practice being honest - train at it! -  before they can do it for real.  He could roleplay that he's talking to his brother.  Alphys could program in all our voices!" She jumped to her feet and set up some more spears to make things brighter.  

"HMMMM..." Papyrus sighed.  "I APPRECIATE THE SUGGESTION, UNDYNE.  IT IS ON THE LIST.  BUT HE WOULD SHOW UP ONE DAY AND HE WOULD SAY, 'my incredibly cool brother papyrus, i have had a breakthrough’ AND THEN HE WOULD SHOW ME HOW INSTEAD OF TALKING TO HIS ROBOT FRIEND HE SPENT HIS TIME REPROGRAMMING IT TO MAKE RUDE NOISES."  

Toriel laughed.  "I think he would reprogram it to just have your voice say how cool he is."  

"THAT IS EVEN WORSE!  IF I TELL HIM HOW COOL HE IS, IT SHOULD BE BECAUSE HE HAS EARNED IT!"

"Ok, so there's a fatal flaw in my plan, and it's Sans himself," Undyne said.  "But there HAS to be some way we can use cool robots to fix this."

"PERHAPS THE DARK LESSON WE WILL ALL HAVE TO LEARN FROM THIS IS THAT WE CANNOT USE COOL AND SEXY ROBOTS TO SOLVE ALL OUR PROBLEMS."  Papyrus frowned.

"I don't buy it!"  Undyne slammed her fist into a rock, breaking it.  "We just have to make it cooler!"

"And sexier, yes," Toriel said, laughing.  They weren't on the right track for a solution, but they had a better idea of the cause, so she found herself optimistic.  

What she wanted, she supposed, was for this to end up having been a warning to all of them.  If things were better later because they had figured something out here, then maybe they would one day be able to look back on the time they almost lost him and think "thank god it happened so we could fix it and make it better."  

Toriel had just been so sure he was dead.  She could not help being optimistic now.  He was still alive, so they would save him.  

--

"Um, so...d-don't take this the wrong way, please?"  Alphys tapped her pen against her chin.  "I g-get that you're, uh, fragile?"

"that's me."  Sans was over by his blueprints.  He sounded more tired than anything.

"No offense!  We all have bad days!  Weeks.  Um, months?"  She sighed and muttered under her breath.  "Dammit, Alphys, if you can't do this at this point, you're in the middle of having a bad life."  She spoke up again.  "Um!  You know what I mean."

"i'm a babybones and i'll break if you say the wrong thing," Sans said, deadpan.  "don't tell me my shirt's ugly or i'll turn to dust right here."  

"Oh...shut up.  I'm being nice.”  It was difficult to coddle someone who didn’t want to be.  She just had to suck it up and be honest.  “But, um, in the nicest way possible, you still really suck at engineering."  She gestured at some of his work. "If you built it just like this, it'd break immediately and fry at least one of the parts we have no way to replace."  She took her pen and slashed at the paper.  The nib was in, so she didn't leave a mark.  "Whoops, goodbye!  Hope you know how to rebuild a temporal stabilizer!  'cause it's fried and half the electrical system's been sent to last Thursday!  Whoops!"

"thanks. heh.  great job not hurting my feelings."

"Your shirt looks nice though.  Eheh."  

"can't go wrong with number one grandma."  Papyrus had brought along a sack of clothes for him.  He'd been badgered into putting on something clean.

Alphys wanted to help him, but she couldn't work with this.  It wouldn't help to build something that would just break, or immediately fail. It might improve his mood short term to just go along with his ideas, but long term it would be much more painful.  She knew what he was like after a project failed.  "We just have to start from square one!"  Alphys swept the blueprints off the table, and then balked.  "Oh, shoot, I didn't mean to do that.  I need it to reference."  She knelt down on the floor and started cleaning up.

"that was pretty cool, though."  Sans looked away for a second.  "uh, you really planning to help out, here.  i thought the plan was to humor me and then drag me back to the surface."

"That was one of the suggestions," Alphys admitted.  "B-but, even if we could?  Papyrus and I talked it over and we think finishing this thing might help more than taking you back.  You could end up down here again.  Uh.  Even if you don't want to, actually. Teleportation has an interesting fail condition, huh."

"it's pretty neat."

She stood back up.  

"look, you can say whatever you want about me, if you're helping out," Sans said.

"On one condition?  It's not even an, um, ultimatum or anything.  It just can't work otherwise."

"i guess you need to know what you're doing."  

"I just...have to know what I'm helping make," she agreed.  

"yeah." He sighed.  "didn't feel like talking about it with the crowd here."

"M-maybe your brother should know, but.."

"probably."

Alphys adjusted her glasses.  "B-but, just tell me for now.  Ok."

"k. uh."  He scrubbed his eyesockets with the flats of his hands. "so.  we're doing pretty good these days, right?"

"Uh, I haven't seen any indication of temporal anomalies myself, but, I guess I usually didn't."

"yeah. i meant broader, though.  with, heh, the broad.  and the rest of your life."  

"Oh!"  She laughed and stood up as straight as she could.  "Yeah!  We're happy?  I hate to say it since that's when everything likes to roll itself into a ball and toss itself in the trash, but...stuff's pretty ok right now!"  

"same here."  Before she could say anything else, he continued.  "i mean, obvious aside."  

"Other than that huge glaring thing!"  She shook her head, laughing. "No, I know exactly what you mean.  Nothing's wrong wrong."

"there's the usual life stuff, but, whatever."  Sans' eyesockets were dark, his voice dull.  She wanted to tell him he didn't have to tell her, but she said nothing.  "there's one bug up my ass i can't deal with."

"Some things c-can't be fixed, Sans."  He had always only told her the bare minimum, but like now, there were things she had to know to actually try and help him.  There were also the things she had just picked up from knowing him, and from guessing.  

"ok." She wasn't sure he had heard her, or that he was listening at all. "when i got stuck down here, i started thinking about it, though, and i got an idea."  He took his hand out of his pocket to gesture at the broken machine.  

"me and grillbz, we've had some fun.  and papyrus got to do so much of the stuff he always wanted to.  i'm ok with that, if something happened.  bro'll be fine, no matter what, and i've talked about it with grillby and he sort of gets it.  just - i know this is dumb, so i don't need to hear it - but those kids of bro's are really bugging me.  like, i like 'em.  i want to see 'em do good for themselves. weird, right?"

"Sans..."

"heh. if something happened, though, i don't know.  they wouldn't get another shot at it, like the rest of us."

"I don't understand why they wouldn't."  

He told her, haltingly, why he had come down there in the first place. "so, sure, they'll still be around, physically, if stuff goes the right way again.  but these kids that are part of my family, the kids my brother raised - they'd just be gone.  worse than dead." He shrugged.  "kind of thing that keeps you up at night."

"G-god. What a horrible way to think about it!"  She didn't want to think about her own children, and how some small change could make it so one or all of them were never born.  What if that had already happened?  She felt sick to her stomach.

"yeah, yeah, it's a real pain," Sans said, dismissive.  "but, i came up with something."  He started sorting through some papers.  These looked older.  "i came up with this idea a while ago, but i gave up on it pretty quick since i would've needed to take apart this piece of garbage.  wouldn't do any good, anyway, not if i wanted to fix what was happening.  might be good for something else, though."

She didn't bother looking at his notes.  At at glance she could tell that it would take an hour to decipher his handwriting.  Instead, she looked over the blueprints.  

"can't stop things from starting over.  but maybe i can, uh...keep those two going when the rest of us move back."  

“Is that actually possible?"  

He shook his old notes.  The pages were yellowing, almost brittle. "yeah."

"Sans, would they even want to...to keep going, when everything else is...different?"  

"i mean, the other option is, uh, sort of like dying, but i guess i'd ask first."

"I hope so!  I don't know if I'd want that, even if...or maybe I would. I d-don't know.”  She rubbed under her glasses.  “Just them?"

"yeah. might be enough for a third person, but, eh.  alph, i dunno.  maybe this means i'm not a great guy, but i don't care that much about everyone else. we're all still going to be around, basically the same.  you and the dogs and everyone will have your kids again, eventually.  if i know those two aren't going to just be gone one day, well, i think i could sleep better at night."  He shrugged.  

She stared down at his plans.  "I don't really like this, Sans."

"it's up to you, if you help out.  i'm easy."

"Of course I'm helping."  She scoffed.  "I'm not letting someone do weird experiments with time in a basement with no one to point out when you're going overboard."  

He set the papers down.  "...thanks."

"And apparently I need keep you from electrocuting yourself."  She sighed.  

"i mean it.  thank you."  He looked up at her.  

Her head was buzzing with the hundreds of ways this could go wrong. "You're welcome, I guess.  I haven't done anything yet. So...uh, let's just get started!"

"got it."  

How was she going to explain this to Undyne?  

--

The air started to get cold and Alphys rubbed her arms.  The cold air made her sluggish and tired, but at least with a fire monster nearby, it wouldn't get too bad.  

Papyrus was waiting outside his house.  His smile brightened when he saw them, but he kept fidgeting like he was nervous.  

"So, what's up?"  Undyne asked.  "We're grabbing his tailbone and hauling him out of this pit, right?"

"UM. THAT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA, UNDYNE, BUT HE SAID HE WANTS TO FINISH SOMETHING BEFORE HE GOES."

Undyne groaned.  "Maybe you can distract him, and I'll grab him before he runs off again."

"I AM NOT SURE THAT IS THE BEST IDEA?"

--

While they were discussing their strategy, Toriel tapped Frisk on their shoulder.  "My child.  Are you well?"  They had seemed distracted since they had heard that Sans had been found.

Had they lost interest in their mission, already?  Sans was alive, but they still needed to bring him back to the surface.  

Frisk glanced around while the rest of them spoke.  Toriel repeated their name, and they suddenly noticed they were being addressed.  They said they were well.  Relieved.

Toriel nodded.  "I did not quite realize how much I feared I was going to lose a dear friend until I knew he was still with us."  She would tell Sans that he had scared her "down to (her) bones." That would surely give him a set up he could work with, even in his weakened state.  

Papyrus knocked loudly at the door to his old home's basement.  Alphys stood closest to him, nervously fiddling with hem of her sweater.

"He can't fix it," Alphys said.  "Maybe he's so, umm, turned around?  He thinks he can?"  She swore, quietly.

Frisk nodded at Toriel and put their hand on her arm, for a moment.  They were trying to comfort her.  

"Then you can do it, and we can all go home," Undyne said.  

"N-no. I really can't.  We, um - I still feel like a jerk for just saying it, but - we both worked on it for ages."  

Papyrus gave up on knocking and yelled, "SANS!  YOU HAVE VISITORS." He opened the door.

Toriel stepped forward and went down first with Papyrus.  Her primary purpose was to heal, so she could not let herself hang back.  

Sans' lab was entirely new to her.  It was fairly neat, despite a thin layer of dust on everything that hadn't been touched recently. A tarp was set on the floor and pieces of machinery were set out on it, in an organized fashion that surprised her.  

The skeletal remnants of an enormous broken machine towered over the space.  The energy that came off of the thing, even broken, left her uneasy.  Toriel could not place the kind of magic that powered it, except that something she sensed reminded her of Sans.

The monster himself was nowhere to be seen.  "Sans?" she called.  Had he run off again?

"hey, tori," Sans said, from behind her.  He was on the steps leading upstairs and out.  

Toriel huffed.  She fought the urge to scold him, and lost.  "You have no idea how worried we have been, you old bag of bones!"  

Papyrus was visibly relieved when his brother made his reappearance.  The rest of their little group had followed right after Toriel, so they were all staring at Sans from the bottom of the stairs.  

Sans' face was blank.

"Did you forget how to use a phone?"  Toriel continued.  She started to say something else, but stopped herself in time.  She took a deep breath.  

This was not the time.  Papyrus was speaking now and she listened without really hearing him.  She had come along for a reason, hadn't she?

Toriel went over to Sans.  He was still on the steps, so they were almost eye-to-eye socket.  She gave him a brief examination, checking his HP and his general status.  Sans looked physically uninjured and he had no easy-to-spot symptoms of the types of illnesses he caught when he health was poor.  

He was at full health at the moment, not that it meant terribly much when he was at a single point.  

"should've practiced my routine if i knew i'd have such a big audience today," Sans said.  

"You should've figured we'd be here eventually."  Undyne put her hands on her hips.  "We're here to drag your bony butt out of this stinkhole and back to the surface."  

"eh. thanks but no thanks."

"You need a warm meal and to sleep in your own bed," Toriel said.  

Grillby nodded.  He had been like a ghost since he heard Sans was all right. He hovered by the table that was covered in papers.  He hadn't looked away from Sans since he appeared.  

"sounds great."  Sans stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked back onto his heels.  "i won't be too much longer."

"Right! 'Cause you won't be any longer!  If the healer says you need to go home and eat, that's what's gonna happen," Undyne said.

Toriel recognized the risk.  The first thing they needed to do was keep Sans from disappearing to some new even more difficult to find hiding place.  

"That was not an order," she said.  "It is what would be best, but it sounds as if you are not interested in leaving."  

"heh. believe me, tori, i'd love to hit the road," Sans said, shrugging.  

It would be best for him to go home, but second best was just keeping him from running off again.  Toriel frowned.  Should she risk pressuring him into coming with him?  She had so little idea what was keeping him here.

"Uh...sorry for interrupting, but..."  Alphys knelt down next to the machine parts on the ground.  "Did you, um, get some idea how to fix this, Sans?"  

The pause before Sans answer kept stretching until Toriel wasn't sure if he was going to say anything at all.  Sans glanced at Papyrus before looking down.  "nah.  it's busted for good."

"Ok, good."  Alphys stood up and brushed grime off her legs.

"real great."  

"N-no, I mean, um.  It sucks!  It really does, but, Sans, if you were staying to fixed that, we might as well all move down here."  

"nah. it's as broke as a guy walking out of a bakery."  The pinpoints of light in his eye sockets suddenly clarified.  The light from them was sharp and piercing.  He was looking directly at Alphys.  

"So, uh, what's the project?" Alphys moved over to the papers by Grillby.  "N-no offense.  But if it's just you and something you're trying to build yourself, you'll spend half the time trying to remember basic engineering."  She adjusted her glasses.  "Sorry, Grillby, but the glare, uh..."

He stepped back.

"Thank you."  

"been a couple years since school.  not really current on my electrical engineering."  

Toriel snorted.  

Alphys didn't hear him.  "Oh my god!  This is going to break before you turn it on."  She grabbed a pencil and started making changes.  

Sans stepped back up the stairs.  Before Toriel called out to him, he walked out from behind the old broken machine.  He stood next to Alphys.  

"yeah but if you fix that, will it work?" he asked.  

Toriel was still keeping close track of his health.  His HP ticked up by less than a full point - not much, but enough for Toriel to notice.

"Sure?" Alphys glanced at him, and then looked back at the papers.  "You'll have to tell me what it's supposed to do, though, because all I can tell is that you forgot how to safely transmit energy and that this'll generate a small magic field."  She frowned.  "And I can still barely read your handwriting."  

"can't tell you.  but you're sure?  it'll work."  

"It will run, Sans," Alphys said, sighing.  "I just have no idea if it will do what you want it to."  

He paused, again.  Toriel had the impression he just did not want to discuss this in front of everyone.  

"If we are going to be here for the night," she said, "I believe it is time to make dinner.  Grillby, will you aid me? Undyne, I am going to want to have a clear space outside for all of us to sit."  

Undyne did not want to leave Alphys alone, but Alphys spoke quietly to her, and she agreed to help.  Frisk went with them as well, to Toriel's surprise.  

Frisk helped Undyne move a few rocks and then said they had to take care of some "human business."  

They left to, Toriel assumed, find a bush or a large enough rock for privacy.  A few minutes later, they sent Toriel a message saying they wanted to check something and would be back later.  They must have lied about their reason for leaving so that no one would insist on going with them.  Her messages asking about what they had to check were ignored.  

As ever, she had to accept that her child would do whatever they felt the need to do.  Toriel told herself not to worry.

Undyne stuck glowing spears in a circle around the space she had cleared. The snow melted down to the rock underneath around Grillby and the fire Toriel had built.  The temperature was tolerable, almost comfortable.  

After about half an hour, when the food was cooked and ready, Papyrus came upstairs.  He brought plates down to Alphys and Sans.  When he came back up, Undyne was ready with questions.

"How's the nerd squad doing down there?"

"THE GREAT PAPYRUS...HAS...NO IDEA!"  His frustration was clear. "SANS WANTS TO LIVE OUT HIS SCIENCE FICTION FANTASIES, APPARENTLY."

"Well, with Alphys helping him, they'll be done in no time," Undyne said.

"THAT WOULD BE A MIRACLE!"  He almost sounded bitter, but he took a deep unnecessary breath and shook it off.  "BUT MIRACLES HAPPEN EVERY DAY FOR PEOPLE WHO WORK HARD ENOUGH TO MAKE THEM REALITY."

"That's the spirit!"

"WHERE?" Papyrus turned back towards Waterfall.  "I THOUGHT THEY HAD ALL MOVED TO THE SURFACE."

Undyne laughed.  "You goober."  

Toriel was more than curious about what "science fiction" Sans and Alphys were engaged in.  She did not trust Alphys to exhibit the best judgment, especially while helping a friend.  Toriel would take her aside and speak with her alone.  She needed to be aware that they would find another way to help Sans if the machine he was building was dangerous or immoral.  

Grillby was another worry.  His typical silence made him as difficult to read as his husband.  The health of everyone in the group was her priority, she decided.

She leaned towards him.  "We should begin planning for when we take him home."  Toriel kept her voice quiet.  

He started when she spoke.  After a minute, he nodded.  His fire died down to a soft red glow.

"He will need to see his doctor as soon as possible."

"The guy Alphys sees is pretty nice," Undyne said.  Toriel had meant to keep the conversation between herself and Grillby, and she had not meant that kind of doctor, but it was not a terrible suggestion.

"I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO CONVINCE HIM TO GO FOR...YEARS!  AT THIS POINT." Papyrus squinted at the contents of the plate Grillby handed to him. "HE DOES NOT LISTEN.  EVEN TO HIS FAVORITE BROTHER!"

Grillby shook his head.  "......he saw someone, for a while.  He didn't think it would work out, and he...didn't want to disappoint you, Papyrus."  He spoke carefully.

Poor Papyrus.  He was dumbstruck.  Yet another thing he had not been told. Toriel needed to cook something he liked for him, as a comfort.  

Toriel had known about Sans' three month stint and had not been surprised when he stopped going.  

"man, all these hangouts with the doc and i'm still the same height," Sans said to her, once.

"You may be as shrunk as it is possible to be," Toriel had said.

"yeah. maybe there's something better to do on my wednesdays."  

She had made an attempt to change his mind, she remembered.

"all that's getting shrunk here is the contents of my wallet, tori." He had never seen himself getting anything useful out of it.

"......he couldn't be honest with them," Grillby said, interrupting her thoughts like he had heard them and was correcting her.  

The fire Toriel had built crackled loud in the center of the circle of glowing blue spears Undyne kept active around them.  Grillby looked cold, compared to it.  

He continued to speak, almost agonizingly slow.  "There are.......things about the world that he learned when he was a scientist that he...feels obligated to keep from people."  

"We are all adults," Toriel said, prim.  "The world is not cotton candy and sugared snails, and it never has been."  

She did appreciate that urge, though, to keep bad truths away from people who could be hurt by them.  She had found that it often just caused more pain in the long run.  There had been a child whose pain she bitterly recognized now, after years of teaching children from all different walks of life.  If she had allowed herself to see that pain, back then, and to let that child know that she saw it - could she have changed things?  Could she have protected them?  Those were questions for late at night, when she was alone.

"...yes." His glasses pointed at her.  "...but what he learned is...central to his difficulties.  He felt he had to be dishonest, even with them, so it was never going to help."  

"He seems to have at least been somewhat honest with you," Toriel said, gently.

"...yes."

"And you are also not going to share what he said with us."

"......no, I'm not."

Sans would not have spoken with someone who would just blurt it all out to everyone.

"...it's more important that he be the one to say it, than that you know," Grillby said.  

Toriel nodded.  "But of course you are too close to help him in the way that a healer might.  As am I, honestly."  She remembered her angry reaction when she saw him again.  She sighed.  "And as are you, Papyrus."

"APPARENTLY I WILL ALWAYS BE THE LAST TO KNOW, ANYWAY," Papyrus said.

Grillby looked back down.  "You will always be his little brother."

"OF COURSE I UNDERSTAND!"  

Toriel was not so much surprised that Papyrus was angry as she was that he was expressing it so honestly.  He and Sans were two sides of the same coin.  She was positive that if Sans were there, he would be acting completely different.    After all, Sans was his big brother, and someone had to take care of him.

"Hey, if it cheers you up, Papyrus, I don't understand shit about any of this.  No one told me anything, either."  She patted him on the shoulder with a force that looked painful.  

Papyrus sighed.  "IT DOES.  THANK YOU."

because like...it would’ve been easy, actually?  maybe sometime grillby makes them all dinner and he’s a little sad they don’t get to do that more often, and sans was like ‘why not.”  

obviously they aren’t doing it because grillby finishes work so late, and they all get up at different hours, so there isn’t really any time for a family breakfast or whatever

but since grillby thinks it’d be nice they try to figure out how to arrange it and well sans’ sleep schedule is “yes” and he usually tries to be around to mooch off grillby’s dinner when he gets home from work anyway?  and papyrus avoids sleep (i guess his sleep schedule is “no”) and he’s often up doing all the loud cleaning he can get in before grillby gets back and needs to go to bed.  so it’d be easy for them to have a 4 AM family dinner thing,  

sometimes sans tricks papyrus into sleeping for real because he needs it and papyrus misses the dinner and he’s a little sad about it (sans and grillby sneak out to dinner at a late night diner so they don’t wake papyrus up) but grillby will usually make his favorite meal the next night to make up for it 

It would jump back to the wedding.  Braise actually gets Grillby a physical gift, and Grillby’s like “I thought you acting as a go-between was your gift” and Braise tells Grillby that he changed his mind and now Grillby owes him something.  

Basically, Braise had a talk with their little sister, and contacted her school, and now she has time off to figure her shit out.  But she needs something to do while she’s doing that, and Braise wants her to work in Grillby’s bar for like a year.  Grillby isn’t sure about that, and Braise talks about how she’s interested in learning how to mix drinks and Grillby’s like “Well, she can take a class.  I’m not hiring an amateur for that but she can bus tables if she wants.”  

Sans’ guess about what’s going on is that Braise wants someone to keep an eye on both Grillby and his little sister but neither of them really want to live near him (braise would prefer to live in the city, himself, but he can’t just move their increasingly blind mother out of familiar surroundings).  Like, the background arcs for this story would be 1. Sans’ increasing involvement in Grillby’s family to the point where he feels like a member of it and is invested in their wellbeing, and 2. Braise obliviously taking over as the head of the family as Searily’s health makes this role difficult for her.  

Now that two of their little siblings are living in the same place, Fryen travels down (undoubtedly with a kid or two in tow.  Fryen’s family is HUGE) to visit for a few days and the three of them take the opportunity to hang out (and drink together, tbh).  They take the opportunity to talk about Braise behind his back.  (Barb, the youngest, probably texts him and tells him.  like, sends him a picture of them three of them and captions it like “here we are laughing at you.”  like, in a friendly way.  braise probably sends back a picture of him and searily like “here we are talking about what shits you guys are”).  

Sans really meets Fryen on this visit (and starts to think of them vaguely like family) and his impression is that they care a lot but are under a lot of stress because their enormous family is constantly pulling them in different directions.  But they try very hard to be kind and gentle and out of all Grillby’s family, Fryen is the one who has always treated Sans like he’s supposed to be there.  There was no wariness -- they were like “oh, sans seems good for him” and that was that.  

Over the year Barb works for Grillby, she actually has a lot of meals at his house and spends a lot of time with Sans and Papyrus and (because of Papyrus) their greater friend group.  Papyrus wants her to feel welcome!!!  Sans is mildly interested in her chemistry studies, and she eventually admits that she still really loves the sciences, but she felt socially isolated at the human school she was attending but felt like she would be disappointing all her relatives who were excited about her going there if she admitted to that.  This is something Grillby finds deeply relatable, and they talk it out and decide that there are no monster schools where she can study chemistry to the degree she wants to, she should transfer to a school in a place with a very high monster population where there will be more than a couple other monsters there studying other things.  Once the decision’s made, Braise tells her that if anyone in the family tries to make anything of it, he’ll tell them they can share their opinion at the bottom of a lake somewhere.  

Grillby and Sans travel up to spend Gyftmas with Grillby’s family, after Barb has settled back into school.  Sans spends a lot of time feeling kind of like shit about not being around Papyrus and Toriel and Frisk for the holiday, even though they’ve already decided they’ll have a fake Gyftmas together once he gets back.  

Spending an extended period of time around Searily makes it clear that she isn’t sick or anything, but she is genuinely old, with all that entails.  Grillby is moody thinking about this, and Sans is moody because he misses his friends and his usual routine, and they have a big fight Gyftmas morning and spend most of the day pretending they aren’t fighting around Grillby’s relatives.  Right before dinner Sans kind of pulls Grillby aside and they hash it out and feel a lot better and  then Grillby has a couple too many drinks at dinner and is very affectionate with Sans for the rest of the night.  It’s gross.  Searily is reassured, though, because the way that they aren’t usually physically affectionate with each other in public makes her worry that there are marital issues.

They go home and have a nice fake Gyftmas with everyone.  

The next part of the story would take place after Grillby’s parent reappears out of nowhere.  I like the resolution of The Bright Side, where it’s okay that Grillby doesn’t really want to reconnect with them after they left, but I had planned a whole story arc there.  

Basically, Braise wants them in his life, so Kindling starts showing up at family stuff.  Grillby has expressed that this is fine with him, even though it really isn’t, because Braise should get to reconnect with Kindling if he wants to and Grillby doesn’t want to get in the way of that.  

Sans’ investment in what he’s increasingly acting is like a new section of his own family makes him genuinely curious what Kindling is like and why they left and why they showed up again when they did.  His was originally just curious if they were showing up to hurt Grillby in some way (by asking for money or being like ‘i’m dying you have to forgive me’) but now he really wants to know.

When he gets to know them, he starts to find out that Kindling is uncomfortably like himself.  Searily was hurt by the end of their marriage, but threw herself into caring for her children to take her mind off of it.  Kindling left to clear their head, but couldn’t take their mind off of how much they had failed their wife and their children.  They eventually convinced themself that everyone was better off without them, and their family would get over them leaving faster if they cut off contact.  They were depressed and isolated and when they started thinking rationally again, they were so ashamed of just disappearing like they did, they continued to stay away.  

When they reached the surface, it represented like a new stage of their life, like it did for a lot of monsters.  It took a while to convince themself to do it, and when they decided to do it, it took a while to find them, but they decided it was time to try and at least apologize.  Braise’s immediate reaction almost convinces them to give up, but Braise just keeps...coming back.  Braise gets what he’s feeling off his chest and then is like “hey it’s late and i’m tired let’s order a pizza” and eventually there’s less yelling and they’re able to build a relationship.  Braise goes back to calling them whatever the gender neutral equivalent for “mom” or “dad” is with monsters.  (i found a few i liked but hadn’t picked one)

Nothing changes with their relationship with Grillby, though, and once Sans figures out what’s actually going on, he’s able to translate Grillby’s behavior for them.  He tells them what Grillby needs is genuine reassurance that they won’t just disappear again.  There’s no quick fix.  Braise will yell and scream and then consider it resolved and invite them over to his kid’s birthday party.  Grillby will be nice and polite and wear a suit to their funeral and never really think of them like family again.  

Sans tells them to tell Grillby that they want to try and start over and then to immediately ask Grillby if he minds if they move to the city.  If Grillby says he does mind, then don’t move, but if he says “sure” or “move wherever you want” then to go ahead and actually do it.  Sans’ logic is that what Grillby needs is an actual physical gesture that shows that Kindling actually doesn’t plan on giving up and disappearing.  Words are great and all but Grillby needs people to actually be there more than he needs talk about it.  (Sans knows by this point that part of why Grillby was so willing to date him was because he saw Sans as someone who was always going to be in his life)

Grillby becomes friends very slowly with them.

The story was going to end years down the line with Searily’s health getting worse and Grillby traveling to spend time with her.  Sans was going to be there.  At the end, all her kids were going to be there, and her first wife (Fryen’s other mom), and Kindling, and the friend who helped her have Barb when she realized she was getting to end of being able to have kids and she still wanted them, and her three elderly SOs all tearful about their ancient gf dying

--

Alphys tiptoed up the stairs.  She could hear her friends talking and occasionally laughing right outside.  

They had been prepared to spend some time clearing out the cave and looking for Sans, so they had food and supplies for a couple weeks. 

Still, they hadn't wanted to spend that much time down there.  

"...um."  Sans' basement door let her out right by the front of the house. She stood by the door and cleared her throat.  

The group went quiet.  Alphys noticed that Frisk wasn't with them.  She must have caught them when they were off doing necessary human things.  

"Do you have news for us, Doctor?"  Toriel rarely called her by her title.  She must be in her good graces, for once.

"...yes, b-but..."  There were way too many people looking at her. It made it hard to put her words in order.  "I was thinking...w-we should..."  She looked down for a second, and when she looked back up, she deliberately kept her eyes on Undyne.  

Undyne grinned and gave her a double thumbs up.  She mouthed, "You're doing great!"  

"Maybe we should stick around for a little while?  Well, or I should.  This thing isn't getting built in a couple hours."

"What is it?"  Undyne asked.

Alphys had a feeling Sans was eavesdropping.  "It's...complicated.  But I think once it's done, Sans will be able to go home, and he can take me.  If you want to, you guys can go back."  

"I AM STAYING."  Papyrus looked a little creepy lit up by the big bonfire and Undyne's spears.  

"I figured."  She sighed.

"I would still prefer to keep a close eye on his health," Toriel said.  "And Frisk is...off doing something that I am sure is of great importance.  I will not leave without them."

"They left?"

"Do you have any idea how long we're talking?" Undyne asked.

Alphys shook her head.  "A week?  That's my best guess, until we really get started."  

Papyrus stood up and brushed the dirt off his legs.  "SINCE YOU ARE UP HERE, AND HE MAKES POOR DECISIONS WHEN HE IS ALONE, I WILL GO KEEP AN EYE ON HIM."

"Like, we should keep watch?"  Undyne asked.  She nodded her approval.  "That makes sense. Anyway, there's no way I'm leaving yet!"

Alphys' smile felt a tiny bit wobbly.  "You don't h-have to.  But...I'm glad."  That left...  

Grillby was sitting very close to the fire.  She started to ask him, but he just stared at her, and she decided not to bother.  

"Well, if we are spending more than one night, I am not interested in sleeping on mud and rocks," Toriel said.  "Not when there is a town full of beds."

"I call dibs on Papyrus' racecar bed!" Undyne called.

Papyrus stopped walking.  "THE INSIDE OF THE HOUSE...NO ONE HAS VACCUUMED IN THERE IN...."  He shuddered.  "YOU CAN HAVE IT!"  

"Maybe the Inn?" Toriel suggested.  "There should be enough beds."

"It'd be cool to stay in my own place again, if it hadn't burned to the ground," Undyne said.  

"Y-yeah, the Inn is probably good for tonight," Alphys said.  She had packed up and taken her bed with her when she left the Underground.  Once she made a bed big enough for her and Undyne, she'd used the parts of the old box for other projects.  

Everyone got up and they went together to see how intact that part of town was.  The Inn was dirty inside, but seemed in better shape than a number of other buildings.  

Grillby left them for a few minutes to peek into his old bar.  The roof over there was in terrible shape and the main window was shattered.  

"Ok, here's the plan," Undyne said.  "You, Alphys, your job is to take care of Sans.  You, Papyrus, Toriel, and his husband are on that team.  My job is to take care of you and Papyrus.  Everybody's getting a full 8 hours sleep every night, got it?  And you're eating healthy!  We brought food, so we don't have to loot chips out of vending machines until we're sick!"

"I will help with this," Toriel said, amused.  "And I will also be in charge of Frisk."

"Yeah. Someone has to track that little brat down.  Did they think we really needed someone else to worry about right now?  If I didn't know they could take care of themselves, I'd be freaking out!"

"If they are not back soon, I will walk down to the Ruins.  I suspect they went down that way."  

Grillby didn't make any noise when he came into the Inn, but the space brightened and the room quickly turned a comfortable temperature.

"So, we all know what our jobs are?"  Undyne asked.  "You!"   She pointed at Grillby.  

He looked alarmed, like he usually did when Undyne addressed him directly.

"You're on team 'take care of Sans!'  Got it?"  

He nodded.  

"Right now we are all on team 'make sure we can actually sleep here,'" Toriel said, gently.

"Ok, but, uh, I need to get back," Alphys said.

Toriel nodded.  "Then, the rest of us."

"If you aren't back in three hours to sleep, it's my job to go down there and drag you to bed!"  Undyne warned.  

"I think it's P-papyrus you should worry about, there," Alphys said.

"Yeah." She sighed.  "No shit.  But just because it's going to suck doesn't mean I'm going to let him get off easy!"  

Grillby started walking to the rooms.

"Oh, Grillby, dear, look over the floor before you step on it," Toriel said, going after him.  "We don't know how stable things are."

For the moment, Alphys and Undyne were alone.  

"Hey." Undyne came over.  "I was serious about taking care of you being my job.  You ok?"

"Y-yeah.  I’m ok, Undyne."

"This thing you're building it...isn't dangerous right?  You weren't sending us off because of that?"

"Me?" She laughed.  "Neither of us are that brave!  Sans isn't in his basement building like, a, uh death machine.  My big worry is that it won't work."  

Well, that wasn’t entirely true.  If she thought about it, she could also worry that  they would accidentally somehow destroy the normal progression of time, or that they'd all be teleported into the future when they were old.  She didn't really like messing with time, and she knew that science could go wrong in ways they couldn't predict.  

But, logically, the most likely bad thing to happen would be that it wouldn't work, and then Sans wouldn't have that idea to give him hope.  

"Keep us updated."

"When I'm not so jumbled, I'll...explain more about it?  Okay?  I don't want to keep things a secret, and Sans knows he'll have to tell Papyrus eventually."

"Okay."   Undyne looked her over, considering, and then grasped her shoulders. "Go do your science, babe!  And tell me about it tomorrow. Don't hold off forever."

"You're so good to me, Undyne."

"Yup!"  She grinned.  "Just giving back what I've gotten!"  She kissed Alphys, brief but sweet.  "You have two hours and forty minutes before I show up to drag you by your sweet little tail to bed.  Got it?"

Alphys laughed.  "I got it, Undyne."

She left the warmth of the Inn.  Right outside, the ground was covered in snow everywhere other than where Grillby had walked.  She followed in his footsteps back to Sans and Papyrus' house, just to keep her toes from freezing.  

--

Sans could tell one of Grillby's silences from another easier than he could tell ketchup from mustard.  He considered himself a connoisseur.  

They sat together in the backseat of Angel's aging minivan, pop music pumped in through the speakers.    They were at Angel's mercy, song-wise.  The family rule was that the driver always got full control of the music.  Sans had done his best and feigned a headache to keep the volume down.  

Grillby faced the window.  Sans compared his silence to one of the less friendly condiments.  Mayo, left out in the sun.

"i dunno 'bout you, grillbz, but long drives like this always tire me out." Eh?  Sans nudged Grillby in his side.

Grillby turned to look at him for a minute, and then went back to the window.  

Sans wasn't giving up.  There was no good reason for Grillby to be in such a bad mood. "clean bill of health, sure, but the other bill left me feeling pretty dirty."  

Angel started to burble along with the music.  No one in Sans' family appreciated a good joke anymore.

"hey." Sans leaned against Grillby's arm.  "hey grillbz.  when you were out of the room, i asked the doc what was wrong with me, and they said i'm not eating properly.  then they took the cucumber outta my eyesocket."  

Grillby gently rested his forehead on the glass.  The silence started to feel a little different.    

"The drive isn't that long," Grillby said.  "But you're making it feel that way."  

Sans snorted.  "at least then you get to cherish every second of my great jokes, right?"

Grillby was quiet, but now there was the sense he was about to say something.  He put his hand on Sans' leg.

Sans waited him out.

"I know I'm being...silly.  Everything was fine."  

"we can throw a funeral when we get back.  for that last inch."  

"I don't think you throw funerals."  

"maybe you just have to throw it so hard you hit something."  

It was just how things went.  Fire monsters got shorter faster than average as they aged.  Sans remembered Grillby's mother on that last visit.  She just hadn't had enough energy to make as much fire.  Something like that.

They called it "dying down."  Sans sure wasn't going to call it that ever. Grillby had a lot of years left.  

At first it had seemed like Grillby was taking it really well, but now Sans got it. He had it all figured out.  That sunny attitude had changed the second the doc had told Grillby his new max height, and it was shorter than Sans was.  Grillby would have to chug flammable liquids 'til he was sick to look down on Sans again.  

"poor grillby."

"You're annoyed with me."

"nah.  can't help how you feel."

"Yes.  True. For the both of us."  

"ok.  i guess it'd get on my nerves a bit if i had any."

Grillby sighed.  He patted Sans' leg.  "Sorry."

"you didn't care when it was anyone else."  

"I don't...really care.  And it isn't just you.  My mother was taller at my age, you know."  

Sans hadn't walked around measuring his in-laws, so he'd had no idea.  "everyone knows that."  What did that mean, though?  Something felt tight in Sans' ribcage.  "uh.  they got any idea why that's the case?"  Sans didn't like where his head was taking him.

"Why?" Grillby still got to look down at him since Sans was slouching as he leaned against him.  "Oh!"  He grabbed for Sans' hand and pulled it up against his chest.  "Sans, it's fine.  I'm fine. There is a reason, but it's not...anything bad, like you're thinking."  

Sans lifted his head.  Thick, heavily enchanted glasses told him Grillby was trying to meet Sans' eyesockets.  

Small cues.  Grillby was blank of facial features, but Sans could read him easier than a newspaper.  

"you don't want me to worry about it, you'd better tell me the reason."  He shrugged.  

"I would have - I just - no, of course you wouldn't know.  You're a skeleton."

"who's a what now?"  

Grillby set Sans' hand back down and patted it.  "It's because of my illness.  The bad one."  

Sans hadn't needed the clarification.  "ok."

"Our shapes are...malleable, but...still consistent.  Stable."

"i guess?"

"It's like a...net around us.  A force field?  Barrier?  Never mind.  Even when I'm sick or weak, I would stay or at least return to how I always am. That...barrier collapsed when I was ill.  There was nothing to...maintain me.  When monsters who haven't had that happen get older, they have that...thing holding them together until there isn't enough fire in them left to maintain themselves.  Like with my mother."  He looked back out the window.  "I, however...get to enjoy being short younger, like my uncle."  The uncle who'd survived falling in a pool of water.  

"guess that's the reward you get for working and surviving, despite everything, huh."

"Like you and your poor back."

"man, everyone tells us to keep going no matter what.  but getting old sucks."

"Oh well." Grillby turned back to him.  His temperature rose a few degrees.  "I have to stick around.  Maybe someday you will...find a new joke to tell me."

"now i can't though, man.  you've gotta outlive me."

"Morbid." He laughed, a huff of hot air.

Sans fell quiet. Yeah, Grillby was right.  Time to change the subject.  "ok. yeah.  uh.  kids these days and their music, amiright?"  

"It's.........catchy."

"yeah, i like it."

Angel changed the station.

"hey.  not cool."

"They've been given too much power."

"jokes on 'em. i like this song too."  

Angel bubbled something.  Sans couldn't guess very well what they said without watching their face while they spoke, but he was sure it was an insult.  

"don't say that about yourself.  you're a good kid," Sans said.

Angel gave up and turned up the volume.

"my fake headache.  ow."

".......have mercy on...your uncle."

The steady noise from the speakers informed them well enough what Angel thought about mercy.  

--

Sans called out for Papyrus when they got home.  His brother's car wasn't parked in the driveway, but sometimes Papyrus would spontaneously decide to run back home from work.  

No one answered. Angel had more errands to run, so Sans and Grillby had the house to themselves.  

"How did your back take the drive?" Grillby asked.

"eh.  could be worse."  

Grillby left for a minute and returned with Sans' heating pad.  He set it on the couch.

"next time you go out there, might just take you myself."  Sans sighed.  There was also the option to let Grillby go to the elemental specialist by himself, but Sans didn't plan on taking it.

Grillby kissed Sans on the cheek.  "Such a......handsome taxi service."

Sans snorted.  He hated when people depended on him, still, but he kept volunteering anyway.  "service with a smile.  that's me."  

Grillby left to pour them drinks and Sans settled on the couch.  

He still didn't think the height thing should be such a big deal, especially since it wasn't sudden.  Grillby had been getting shorter for a couple years now.  But, it was what it was.  And maybe Sans mostly saw the whole thing as an advantage.  No more neck strain looking up all the time. No more being thankful skeletons couldn't suffocate whenever Grillby just had to be the little spoon.  Maybe Sans sort of liked it.  

How could he get across that it wasn't all bad?  

He had an idea, but it meant sacrificing a principle.  Those he figured were like promises he made to himself.  Who needed 'em, really?  Anyway, everyone already knew he was bad at them.

Grillby walked back in carrying their glasses.  "What's on?"

"eh, nothing good."  He deliberately flipped past a show he knew Grillby loved once Grillby had settled in next to him.  

Grillby snatched the remote away and other than some mild protests, Sans let him have it. He didn't mind the show, but he just wished he hadn't already watched every episode so he could get more out of it.  He did still get a kick out of watching Grillby's face whenever there was an explosion.

Sans finished his drink and waited for the episode to end before saying anything.  

"you know, it isn't all bad."  Sans set his glass on the table and kept his eyes on the screen.

"I thought you liked this show."

"i mean.  uh. the other thing."

"Angel's music?"  He flipped to a new station.  "They're still young."

Grillby was messing with him.  "other thing."

"Your back feels better?"

"grillbz, i'm dying here."

"...so, dying isn't all bad?"

"i'm an old man and i'm going to be dead before you guess right."

"Your need to...avoid just saying what you mean....is all bad."  

"yeah you'd love if if i was just 'hey grillbz remember how you're short now.'"

"Yes, because then we'd be done with this.  Why isn't it all bad, Sans?" He sighed and set his own glass down.

"like i'm the one stretching it out.  ok.  what was i saying."

"...you were saying we should watch more television."

"that sure sounds like me, but that wasn't it."  He shook his head.  "ok." He hoisted himself up off the couch.  The heating pad had helped a little.  Grillby had been mortally insulted when Sans first started using it regularly, but he'd adjusted.  

He went over to Papyrus' stereo and pressed play.  He had no idea what was going to come on, and breathed a sigh of relief when it was music and not one of Mettaton's motivational speeches.   "all right."

Grillby stared at him.  

"all right, get up."  Sans waved towards himself.

He stayed seated. "Did someone get married?"

"what."

"We never do this unless it's a wedding."

"yeah we got married.  twice.  c'mon."  He shifted, awkward, and put his hands in his pockets.

Grillby finally stood up, and Sans relaxed.  "Is this our third wedding?  I didn't call a caterer."  Grillby came over and put his hands on Sans' shoulders.  

"you remember why i never liked doing this."

"You're lazy." He looked down and tugged Sans' hands out of his pockets and took them in his.  

"yeah.  plus the height thing.  so."  He shrugged.

"That was an excuse for being lazy."

"sure, but you should take advantage of me not having it anymore."  

"......true." Grillby looked him in the eyes and tipped his head to the side. "Honestly, do you even know how to dance?"  He moved Sans' hands to his hip and his shoulder.  

"nope." They always just shuffled around wherever Grillby dragged them.  

It used to make him uncomfortable when Grillby would touch him in public.  He still wasn't the world's biggest fan of PDA, but after everything they had been through, Grillby sometimes wanted little physical reassurances that he was still there - that they both were - and that didn't always happen in private.  Sans had gotten used to Grillby's arm around him, or on his leg, or a kiss on his forehead when people were around.  Something Sans was the one who needed reassurance, but Grillby was nice and pretended he needed it.  

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, letting Grillby drag him around to music since the guy liked it so much.  The guy had signed up for salsa classes years ago and when he came back irritated because he'd had to partner up with people he didn't like, Sans had told him to invite Papyrus with him. Sure, Papyrus and Grillby had a great time and really bonded as family, and that kind of dancing was still well out of Sans' comfort zone, but if the music was slow and his back wasn't messing with him, why not?

Grillby started directing him around the living room.  Unlike usual, he gave instructions instead of wordlessly pulling Sans around.  Was he trying to teach him?  Adorable.  

There was some frustration in Grillby's voice.  "......I thought you at least knew right from left."

"oh, huh.  you mean mine or yours?"

"Your left."  

"your left. got it."  

Grillby sighed so loud the room got hot.  

"yeah.  i'm so good at romance, i'd be sighing, too."  

He dropped his hands to Sans' hip bones, and then to the back of his sweatpants.  "Hm."

"whatever you keep looking for back there, i hope someday you find it."  

"You're right." Grillby was ignoring him.

"throw a parade.  'bout what?"

He put his hand back on Sans' hip.  "It isn't all bad.  Remember?  That was the point of all of this.  To show me that."

"oh, yeah. glad someone was keeping track."

Grillby leaned in close.  His glasses weren't even a millimeter away from Sans' eyesockets.  They stood still while Grillby kissed him.

When he was done, he barely moved away.  "At least it's convenient."

Sans nodded. "that's what's important."

The song stopped and Grillby stepped back.  They were still touching, but Grillby needed some distance to give him a once over.  

"we good now?"

"We weren't?"

"no idea."

"We're fine."

The next song came on and Grillby's posture stiffened.  Sans recognized a predatory glint in his, well, his regular glint.  

"Follow my lead," he said.

"eh, c'mon."

"Sans, loosen up."  

"if a skeleton loosens up too much, he just ends up a pile of bones on the floor." This was the kind of thing that happened when he abandoned his principles.  All those salsa classes must have warped Grillby.  

"On the count of four."

"ok.  but if you try to dip me, you're going to see a grown man cry.  it won't be pretty."

"Of course I won't.  Even though you're always pretty."

Sans snickered. "nice line."