Chapter Text
Sans sat on a bench, enjoying the summer sun on those of his bones that were not covered by clothes. It was very warm, even maybe a bit too hot today, but he was still glad that Papyrus dragged him out of the house way to early.
Early for what? Well, apparently the author of one of his children's books was having a book signing, their very first one at that.
"BROTHER," he said, flailing his arms around, "DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS? NO ONE HAS EVER SEEN THE AUTHOR OF 'FLUFFY BUNNY GOES TO THE DENTIST', 'FLUFFY BUNNY GOES TO SLEEP', 'LION CALLS A MEETING',..." he continued naming stories for a minute, then took a deep breath, remembering what he was talking about. " SO, YOU SEE, I MUST GO TO THIS EVENT WHERE THEY REVEAL THEIR NAME AND FACE.....SO THAT THEY SEE THAT THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS SUPPORTING THEM, IT WILL BE A GREAT HONOR FOR THEM!"
"sure, Pap," he replied then, seeing right through his brother's bravado and smiling at his eagerness to meet the author. Besides, the signing was right here, in the same city they lived in so it wasn't like it demanded much of Sans. Not like he wouldn't do absolutely anything for his beloved brother even if it did. The last year was full of changes and Papyrus deserved to have more events that made him happy.
So now he was sitting in the park, the building where the event would take place - a bookstore with a small coffee shop in it - was right across the street. Papyrus, wearing his Cool Dude shirt, purple pants and red rain boots, was not too far away happily chatting with some other monsters and humans about the signing.
Sans did a bit of research the day before. Apparently, the author decided to do this as a gesture of good will towards monsters, a way to show that both monsters and humans read the same books and are more the same than can be thought at first glance.
Sans chucked quietly. Well, he's seen some humans in the past year - some of them really were nice. Others, however, were really asking for a bad time. Still, it's good to know that the person who wrote the book that Sans read to Papyrus almost every night for the past 7 years was a good guy. Or girl. Or, probably, a sweet old granny or a nice middle-aged teacher.
The stout skeleton looked around - there were more people scattered across the park than usual. Monster and human children playing and discussing stuff. Their parents, watching over the children cautiously. Some parents, however, started talking to eachother as they waited for the doors to the bookstore to open. That was nice to see, Sans thought and closed his eyes sleepily, knowing that his brother's booming voice would inform him the second it was time to move.
The chatter around him mixed into a humming background noise. People and monsters talking, children laughing and playing, groups of teens discussing their weird headcannons about children's books, his brother's excited voice. In that whirlpool of sounds, there was a voice that didn't quite catch Sans' attention enough to try to discern words, but was pleasant enough for him to concentrate on it, listening to it like he would to a distant but relaxing tune. It was a female voice, the tone was mostly calm with glimmers of excitement. The owner of the voice seemed like a kind person, Sans decided.
Slowly, bit by bit, the voice grew louder and then suddenly went silent.
"must have went away, " the skeleton thought, noting to himself that he was even a bit disappointed as people kept gathering and there was nothing to concentrate on now that the noise was getting worse.
"Excuse me, " he heard the voice again, this time right infront of him.
The skeleton opened his eyes and was met with a curious stare of the most beautiful e/c eyes he had ever seen in his life.
"ah, uh, " he wanted to slap himself across the skull. Now's not the time to act dumb. Not when the owner of those eyes, a human girl with h/c hair that shone in the sunlight and a smile that made his soul twitch strangely was waiting for an answer.
"uh, hey buddy," he shrugged a little and made a relaxed expression appear on his face. "anything i can't help ya with?"
The human's smile widened as she cocked her head to the side. One of her hands was holding a notepad while the other smoothed out the skirt of her long f/c-colored sunflower dress. Right, the weather must have been even hotter for humans than it was for him.
"Sorry to bother you, I'm just making a little survey and your brother said that you could answer a few questions."
Her voice was really nice, he thought to himself. There was no animosity, no fear that could often be heard from people who had to have conversations with him - a living, walking, talking magical skeleton. It carried a warmth people with kind souls tended to have and the excited notes that could be caught if listened carefully were cute too. Wait, cute? He must have sat in the sun too long. Didn't he have to give her an answer anyway?
"yeah, sure" he replied with a carefree tone.
"Thanks, " she nodded and they exchanged names. She asked if she could sit beside him so she wouldn't just stand over him awkwardly. He let out a chuckle he hoped didn't betray his sudden anxiousness and gestured to the free space on the bench with his hand. He noticed how her e/c eyes followed the motion of his bony appendage and proceeded to stick his hand back into his pocket as nonchalantly as possible.
"so you met my brother, huh?" the question left him before he could remind himself she was here to be the one to ask him stuff, not the other way around. She didn't seem to mind though, nodding once.
"I did, he's..."
Oh, here it comes. Calm and quiet humans such as herself often found Papyrus-
"...adorable," she smiled warmly as Sans curiously watched her for any signs of her being insincere, of her pretending to act nice to do her job. He found none.
"He's such a nice guy, so friendly and kind, " she continued, running a hand through her h/c hair."And a monster ambassador too, it's a honor to have him here, really."
"yeah, Papyrus is really cool, that's true."
Sans' mouth was pretty much always stuck in a permanent grin, the corners of his mouth however were flexible enough to change it into shapes that could convey his emotions. Right now, it was a lazy smile that was becoming more and more relaxed by the minute - talking about his brother was something he was used to and it calmed him down.
"so howsabout those questions, Y/n?" he used her name deliberately, tasting the sound of it in his mouth, looking at her to try and gauge by her expression if he pronounced it right. She seemed alright with it and it made Sans feel a tinge of pride for some reason.
"Oh, right, " she chuckled. Sans found the sound adorable. "One tends to forget about everything while talking about the Great Papyrus."
There was no sarcasm in that statement, just a lighthearted joke. Sans grinned and then he realized something. He hasn't made a pun yet. Like, not even one. Stuff just came out of his mouth and he wasn't even thinking about it when, normally, he would always be wary of what he said not to let on what was really going on in his soul.
He mentally waved away the dark thoughts and lifted a brow ridge, smiling a little wider at his new acquaintance.
"that I can agree to, my bro's real cool, nothing gets under his skin."
"Yeah, I can believe that, it's really a good trait to hav-..e.."
He saw the exact moment when realization hit her. She looked at him, obviously having a momentary internal debate on whether he used the phrase literally or not. His expression, however, seemed to clue her in almost instantly.
"Huh...hah," the corners of her mouth rose higher, her lips parted and, stars, if he thought that her giggles were cute, her laughter made him feel like his soul was wrapped in warmth. It wasn't loud, but it was sincere and he could see that by the end of it some tension left her.
"Sans, " she said, making his soul jump in his chest."Come on, I'm trying to be professional. Don't think you can escapula the survey by making puns."
The look on his face must have been amusing as the girl grinned widely, obviously proud of herself.
"heh, not bad, kid," he chuckled and winked at her. He noticed the briefest moment when her eyes fixed on his facebones curiously, but she returned her eyes to his just as quickly.
"Yeah, my mother's a doctor so I picked up a thing or two growing up. At least enough to think of a pun,"she shrugged, her smile still ghosting on her lips.
"that's cool, but, you know," he looked at Y/n with halflidded eyesockets, trying for a cool and confident look, "for us to be pals it's not demandible, i've got enough puns for two."
"Oh my god," she facepalmed, her giggles, however, betraying her appreciation of his puns."Stop if you don't want me tibia useless giggling puddle."
"aw, you thing i'm that humerus, buddy?" he cooed, chuckling, his eyes sparkling with delight while watching her shoulders tremble lightly as she hid her face in both her hands.
"Stop," she asked, taking a deep breath and looking up at him. He looked at her, thinking if she was beginning to get mad at him for making her job difficult - after all, all he had to do was answer some questions, not distract her.
"Stop now, I don't want to be sternum with you."
Now it was his turn to laugh, his worries gone just like that.
"alright," he huffed out another laugh and looked at her warmly."alright, waht'cha want to know?"
There was a moment of silence as she looked to her notepad, then back to him. She then looked away, then, again, back to him. He was about to ask what's wrong when she spoke:
"Why did the chicken cross the playground?"
This girl.
He felt his grin widen and his eyes glow warmly as he curiously leaned towards her - just a little, an inch, to show her she caught his full attention.
"Why?"
"To get to the other slide.....Please kill me," she hid her face in her hands again and proceeded to shake her head as Sans gripped his nonexistent stomach in laughter - the joke was good, her behaviour was even better.
"You know what," she said with a defeated yet satisfied sigh."Forget about about all the other questions in the survey, I have only one for you."
"shoot, buddy," he answered when his laughter quieted down.
"Why did you read those books," she nodded her head in the direction of the bookshop,"to your brother?"
"oh, uh, well," he shrugged, having almost completely forgotten that they were here for the signing."you see, there weren't many children's books in the Underground, so what you found was what you got, basically."
Y/n nodded, understanding flashing in her eyes with a glint of something else that looked like very well hidden disappointment. Sans, of all people, knew what that looked like. So he continued, thinking that maybe the answer was not detailed enough for her.
"But, you know, Pap has different books, but those are his favorite when he wants a bedtime story or when he's feeling down. From my perspective, I guess I'm happy we got 'em, there are some good lessons in there that I'm glad my bro took to heart. The writer obviously doesn't treat readers as idiots even if the books are intended for kids and the characters are not the same cardboard cutouts you see in almost every book for children. The one or two drawings per chapter is a nice touch too, nice pastel colors and all...ah, i'm not really an expert tho," he reached back to scratch the back of his skull, failing to remember when his gaze drifted from the girl's face to her hands.
Realizing that, he looked back at her face to see that she was beaming. Her e/c eyes sparkled and there was a light blush on her cheeks, though maybe it was from being in the heat for too long.
"Thank you," she said in a voice that was laced with much more appreciation than he was prepared to hear for his lacking answer.
"no problem, bud, " he nodded, shoving his hand in his pocket again.
"Well, " Y/n looked to the bookstore, some of her anxiousness returning, "I should get going."
Sans did and didn't want to see her go. Her being gone would return his emotions to normal, but, at the same time, her being gone would return his emotions to normal.
She stood up and, turning to him, gave him a smile - a small, yet sincere one.
"It's obvious you love your brother very much, it's a pleasure to have you both here."
She then extended her hand and the warm fuzzy feeling Sans got from her words was quicky replaced by nervousness.
In the past year he learned how unnerving his hands were to humans. He as a whole was unnerving to them, but handshakes were a custom so it was the only part of him that actually came in contact with people. To think that his whole life he greeted new pals with handshakes and now it had suddenly become kind of a big deal for him to shake someone's hand. It wasn't like he let evey interaction or handshake get to him, not at all, most of the time he was still chill, not worrying too much about it, but right now it felt like his soul fell to his nonexistent stomach and was pulsing there nervously.
"uh, yeah," he breathed out, trying to sound as laid-back as possible. "glad to have met you, pal, good to know someone here can patella a joke."
He took her delicate hand in his bony one and felt like a boulder fell from his shoulders when she squeezed his hand and shook it slightly without any sign of disgust, instead letting a giggle escape her lips.
"See you around, Sans," she said, letting go of his hand and walking off towards the bookstore.
He leaned back on the bench, closing his eyesockets, but almost immediately lazily opening one of them again to watch her cross the street and walk into the building.
Not even ten minutes later, the sign on the bookstore's door was turned to show the four letters that got people moving in a hurry:
OPEN