“No, numbskull.” Red huffed. “Can’t a guy just do something nice and get his beau a bou-quet?”

Sans looked at the flowers warily. It’s not that Red didn’t usually do nice things or get him gifts. It was just that those gestures always had a deeper meaning attached, an emotional significance that might be obvious to Red but was a mystery to Sans.

“I’ll be-leaf you this time.” Sans said and pressed his nasal aperture into the blooms. The scent was feint, but sweet.

Red beamed. It was such an unguarded, happy expression that Sans couldn’t help blushing. His boyfriend was in a really great mood for some reason.

“What are you watchin’?” Red asked, finally noticing that the tv was on.

“Some soap opera finale that Papyrus talked me into watching. Why you want to do something else?” Sans asked, hopeful for a reason to turn it off.

“Nah, finish your show. We can have dinner after and then I got an important question for ya.”

“Alright, as long as it’s not ‘will you marry me?’. These robots have turned me off the idea for life.” Sans laughed.

He expected Red to join in, but he got up instead. The flowers were clutched tighter in his phalanges. Sans reached out to tug on Red’s sleeve. Since he had an office job, he had to wear button downs even though he preferred t-shirts.

“You just got home, babe. Park your buns and put your dogs up for a while.” Sans was hoping for some cuddling action.

“I gotta put these in some water before they wilt.” Red sounded a bit congested. He pulled his sleeve out of Sans grip. Before Sans could say anything Red headed into the kitchen off the living room.

That was weird.

One second, they’d been punning it up like usual and then Red shut down. Sometimes that happened after a long day at work. Except Red was acting less like he was tired and more like a punctured balloon, leaking his good mood like it was escaping helium.

Sans tried to shrug it off and get back into the show, but he couldn’t follow what was happening anymore. After five more minutes, he gave up and turned it off. He fidgeted on the couch unsure on if he should go check on Red.

They’d worked on this part of their relationship a lot. Sans wasn’t responsible for Red’s mood, he knew that. Red feeling down didn’t mean that he didn’t love Sans either. They’d come to accept that sometimes they’d need space to regulate their emotions and to avoid the urge to somehow ‘fix’ something that was unfixable.

Except Sans couldn’t help but feel like something was wrong.

Sans hadn’t heard Red go upstairs yet, so maybe they could at least have dinner together. He shuffled into the kitchen and saw two greasy brown paper bags on the counter. Red stood at the sink, the filling the vase for the flowers with water.

Sans soul swelled with love. Red was always providing for them. Maybe he’d just really wanted to take care of the bouquet.

“Grillby’s for dinner? You’re spoiling me.” Sans wrapped around Red from behind. They were the same height so it was easy to nuzzle at Red’s exposed spine. Red shuddered.

“What did I do to deserve you?” Sans murmured affectionately.

Instead of relaxing into Sans’ arms, Red rested his weight on the sink. Even though he’d turned off the faucet, there was a steady dripping sound. Red droplets flecked onto the blue roses, leaving purple smudges on their petals.

“Red?” Sans said in a small voice. Red didn’t reply because he was silently crying.

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

Red shook with the effort of keeping his sobs quiet. He wiped the tears away with his sleeve, staining the fabric. Sans could count on one hand the number of times he’d seen Red cry. In Underfell it had been dangerous to show weakness, so Red channeled his sadness into anger. It had taken him a long time to be vulnerable enough to cry around Sans.

“It’s nothin.” Red said in a shaky voice. “Just being stupid. Of course-“ He gritted his teeth together to choke back the tears.

“You’re not stupid. Never ever, Red.” Sans tried to comfort him. He was still confused about what had started all this.

“Things are good, right? What’s the point in messin’ up a good thing by changing it.” It sounded like Red was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to persuade Sans.

Sans held onto Red tighter. He didn’t know what to do, but he wouldn’t give up on trying to help. Red taught him that it was okay to want to things, to cherish the people he loved despite the fear that they could be taken away someday.

Sans would never let go of Red.

“Yeah, Red. We’re good. I love you and nothing is ever going to change that.” Sans affirmed.

Red shook harder as if the words were bullet patterns landing directly on his soul.

“I know that, I do. I just-“ Red trailed off again. “It was a stupid question. When we talked about it before – you said maybe after we settle into our place. I just got an idea in my head. Of course, it’s too soon.”

“Too soon for what?” Sans asked, desperately. As soon as he said it though, it all clicked together in his skull like one of Papyrus’ puzzles.

“That was your question,” Sans said in awe, “will you marry me?”

Red nodded his skull so hard that it bumped up against the bridge of Sans’ nasal aperture. It hurt. Sans groaned and let go to cover his aching face. That made Red turn around to look at him with wide watery eyes.

“Sansy, did I hurt ya?” All of his attention was suddenly on Sans.

Sans started laughing as Red tried to pull his metacarpals away to get a good look at the damage. Blue tears of pain and joy rimmed his sockets. He held Red’s hands so that he could rest their foreheads together.

“It was an accident, but I kind of deserve it for being such a bonehead.”

He squeezed their phalanges together and took a deep breath.

“Ask me.” Sans pleaded.

“But I ruined the mood. I cried on your flowers – I mighta just broke your nose bone!” Red protested.

They were pressed so close that their tears were mixed into a purple mess on their cheekbones. Sans had never been happier. His grin was so wide his jaw might crack.

“Then you better hurry up and ask me so we can take a closer look at it.”

Red let out a wet laugh. Then he took a deep breath. He pulled back just enough so that their eyelights could meet.

“Sans Undertale, will you make me the happiest monster in the world by marrying this sad sack of bones?”

Sans pressed their teeth together in a tender kiss. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

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Red glowered at Sans over the top of his cat eye shaped glasses. His counterpart from Underfell wore a library lanyard and, instead of his old ratty hoodie, an oversized black cardigan layered over a metal band t-shirt. It must have been a year since they last ran into each other. 

Red looked totally different from how Sans remembered him, but was somehow even more ‘Red’ than before. The bags under his sockets were less deep. His posture was truly casual rather than an act to hide hair-trigger tension. 

He looked good.

“You don’t gotta sound so surprised about it,” Red grumbled. The glint of his gold tooth still remained the same. “What’s this shi-, stuff you put on my desk? I’m gonna have to clean it now.”

Sans winced. He hadn’t spent much time with Red, but Papyrus and Edge hung out regularly. Based on Edge’s complaints, Sans knew that the other skeleton hated tidying just as much as Sans did. 

He couldn’t help but be curious though. It seemed so unlikely that Red of all monsters would want to work at a library. The atmosphere was too stuffy for a guy like him.

“Sorry, I just didn’t take you to be into shushing people, Mr. Metalhead.” Sans joked.

“Eh, libraries can get pretty rowdy and free information is metal as f-” Red stopped and sighed. Apparently Red cared about swearing now, at least at work.

“That still don’t explain why you dumped this pile of ash on my desk.”

Sans grinned nervously and rubbed the back of his skull. He hoped that Red’s new look also came with a less volatile temper. He was prepared to be scolded by a librarian, not get pelted by bone attacks.

“Papyrus tried a new recipe from this book. I guess you could say it was a flaming success. So I’ve come to pay our dues.” Sans didn’t even think about the puns as he said them. He spent so much of his time writing joke books that he was basically fluent in them.

Red snorted and rolled his eyelights, but the corners of his jaw twitched reluctantly. Something about the way his bright red eyelights shined behind the lenses of his glasses made Sans blush. Why was it always the glasses wearing nerds that made his soul pulse?

Heh. You could say he really had a type. 

A form was pushed across the desk at him. Sans glanced down at it and then back up at Red. The librarian waved a pen in his face.

“Sign and date at the bottom.”

“Is it my confession? Are you booking me for my crimes?” Sans asked.

“No, bonehead. It’s a fine forgiveness waiver.” Red explained.

“Wow, I had no idea you felt that way about me.” Sans winked, while Red looked confused. “Am I really so fine that I need paperwork for it?”

It was a really stupid joke, but Sans was delighted when Red sputtered in denial. A glow of red magic dusted his cheekbones. Sans leaned on the desk and quickly filled out the form before Red could change his mind.

Red yanked the form back as soon as Sans lifted up the pen and started typing on his keyboard. His glasses hid his expression. A few moments later a receipt was thrown in Sans’ grinning face.

“Don’t let it happen again. Can I help you with anything else?”

The question at the end was obviously a customer service reflex, but Sans couldn’t let a perfect opening like that go.

“Yeah,” Sans replied. He took a piece of scrap paper out of the little basket beside the computer and scribbled his number on it. He held it out to Red.

“This is my call number. Can you look me up sometime?” Sans blushed a little deeper, but he had to shoot his shot.

“Since I’m at work this is technically sexual harassment," Red said. Sans smile fell, but before he could apologize Red grabbed the paper out of his unresisting phalanges.

 “You’re lucky you’re cute, but I’m gonna pun-ish you for it later.” Red grinned wolfishly while Sans stammered, skull whirling. “Now get outta the way, you’re holding up the line.”

Sans looked behind him. A long line of people and monsters had formed while they were talking. They were all varying stages of annoyed at how long it was taking. Sans shrugged unrepentantly.

“Can’t blame a guy for checking out a hot librarian.”

Red guffawed as Sans left.

Sans couldn’t wait to hear that laugh again soon.

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