#oof extras

THAT WOULD BE??? INCREDIBLE???? I'd be happy to sign it!! and good lordy WOOF that's a lot of pages

ALSO I am so sorry I haven't gotten to your other asks, I have seen them and formulated answers but life keeps getting the way. Once I get the grant proposal done I'm gonna have nice smooth sailing

30. "Here, let me carry you."

For Shorby of course! Or shoregrillster, OoF or Silks, whatever the bunny bites!

THANK YOU THAY 🥳 I was massively torn between doing OoF or Fell for this one but I wound up with the more fluffy OoF idea. The Fell one is quite a bit more on the hurt side, if anyone wants to request that one

"Here, let me carry you"

Grillby’s is usually busy. It’s a monster bar for cripes sake, of course people flock to it in massive numbers. Add that to the usual monsters who come for that feeling of home, Grillby rarely gets downtime. Even with that in mind, the last two weeks have been absolutely insane. Birthday parties for quite a number of monsters who gave him such teary-eyed pleas that he couldn’t say no, a surge of tourists who lied on the reservation and brought nearly triple the amount of people they said they were, as well as a cold front that drove in more people to his bar to seek the natural warmth his presence provides.

You haven’t seen him this tired in a while.

You’ve helped as much as you can, cleaning, waiting, even cooking at one point when he’d gone a frazzled green and on this night in particular you’d been the errand runner, grabbing supplies and such. You’d run to the nearest monster market so many times the last few hours alone they started having the things you needed all bagged up before you even got there.

It’s finally done, the bar closed for the night and most of the clean up is finished. You’d told Fuku and Skatie you’d finish up the mopping and sent them home. Poor gals both looked on the verge of collapse. When you emerge from the kitchen, mop in hand, you find Grillby with his head down on the table he’d been using to sort through tab receipts. A closer inspection reveals that he's actually fallen asleep. Geez, he must really be exhausted, poor guy.

As quietly as you can, you get to work, placing the chairs up on the tables and mopping the floor. It’s a mess tonight thanks to all the college kids that had decided to come by tonight, celebrating some sort of game win. Honestly, you’re not exactly sure what the sport had been; every time you asked, you’d get a ‘GO SEA DOGS!’ or other such crowing that prompted the crowd to hoot and holler so you quickly gave up.

It’s a true sign of how tired he is that Grillby doesn’t stir as you scurry about. You even hear him snoring once as you pass by, a strip of paper stuck to his face. He needs to shut the bar down for a few days, just to catch up on his sleep.

You stifle your own yawn as you finish up, tucking the mop and bucket back into their closet space and head back out to wake Grillby. He’s right where you left him, still out cold at the table. Gently, you reach out and touch his shoulder. “Hey hun? Grilllllby?”

He doesn’t move other than a very subtle annoyed flick of flame.

You pat him gently. “You can save those for tomorrow, let’s go up to bed.”

A low groan is your answer.

“Bed’s more comfy, I promise.”

He very slowly shifts his head, shoving his face into the pile of receipts. “Need to…finish,” he mumbles.

“They’re not going anywhere.” You tap out a pattern on his arm. “C’mon, you can’t even keep your eyes open.”

A plume of smoke rises from his head. He mutters something you can’t make out.

“My poor, overworked fire,” you simper, pressing a kiss to his cheek. Then, grinning, you shift your hands under his arms. “Here, let me carry you.”

He full on snorts at that. When you crane your head to indigently look at him, you see he’s finally got one eye opened to a thin slit. “You think you can manage that?”

“You think I can’t?” You hmph loudly. “Do you realize how strong one has to be to dance? To surf? Plus you’re like…seventy-five percent hot air. I could totally carry you.”

He simply makes a quiet, questioning hum at that, closing his eye.

Well that’s all the challenge you need. “Okay, sit up at least mister.”

He slowly, slowly does as you ask and you reach forward to peel an errant strip of paper off his face before you direct his arm around your neck and duck low enough to slip your own under his knees. You pause for a beat, two, shifting your feet just a smidge and lift and-

He’s not that heavy. He’s solid sure, but for a guy you’ve seen throw around massive sacks of flour like they’re absolutely nothing, he weighs closer to a scrawny teenager. You shift your grip and give him the widest, most pleased grin you’ve got. “There we go. Comfy?”

This seems to have finally woken him a bit, because his golden eyes are wide, blue curling over his face. “Q-quite,” he murmurs.

Satisfied, you turn and head towards the stairs, stepping around the tables. Ha! ‘Can you manage that’ please. Honestly the hardest part is just maneuvering with his size compared to yours. He’s got well over a foot on you so you have to be extra mindful of bumping into anything. Fortunately the stairs to second floor are quite wide, so all you have to focus on is each step.

Grillby stays quiet until you reach around a third of the way up. “You know, I think the last time I was carried to bed, I was a third this size,” he muses quietly.

“Is it as good as you remember?”

His colors swirl into a lovely peach and he leans his head to rest against the top of yours. “I could get used to it.”

“Y-yeah, any time you want.” Woof, okay now that you’re climbing the stairs, your arms are actually starting to feel his weight a little, which is only because of all the physical labor you've been doing the last few days. Totally. You huff a small breath.

You catch the faintest pop of snapping flame.

“Shut up!”

“I didn’t say anything,” he defends mildly.

Uh-huh. The surge of energy you get from that is enough to carry all the way up to the top of the stairs but you don't stop there. No, you go over to the bedroom, popping the door open with your hip and make it all the way to the bed before you set him down.

"There we go!" You preen proudly, straightening his bowtie. "Easy peasy."

His hands raise, tugging on your hips and pulling you in between his knees. "My strong, sturdy human," he murmurs in a deep, crackling voice that makes the most pleasant of shivers go up your spine. "I'm quite afraid that I'm quite wide awake now thanks to you. What should we do about that?"

After a moment of obvious humming, you tug on his bowtie. "Well…I suppose I'll just have to tire you out again, won't I?"

"I roll to seduce the fire elemental!"