This, you would admit, was probably your fault.
You should have taken Papyrus's advice and gone home earlier. But the deadline for the articles was today, you couldn't stop. So you kept writing, and before you knew it, you were kicked out of Starbucks because they were closing and now you were lost.
You wouldn't say you have horrible sense of direction, but somehow the dark turned you around and you had no idea where you were. You thought you knew your neighborhood pretty well, until you found a catholic school you never even knew that existed and that's when you really got confused.
You contemplated on calling G, but he would just tease you for hours. And god, you were too tired for that. You could prove that skeleton wrong and get yourself home (he never said you couldn't, so you weren't proving anything to him, just yourself).
Buuut now you were having second thoughts on calling G because you were pretty sure someone has been following you the past few minutes. Well, you were actually certain. You had done a little twirl and dance at one point, if only to look behind you, and yes, there was someone following you.
Wonderful!
Lost, no where near an establishment, pride broken, and a stalker following you late at night. Things could not get worse than this.
It started to rain.
What was this, mockery? You laughed at yourself as you pulled your backpack closer to you, huddling your arms together for warmth (it wasn't working). You walked a little faster, taking a random turn across the street and to the right, hoping to somehow magically find somewhere familiar so you could get this creeper to bug off.
When you noticed it was fruitless and you were too deep in this jungle, you pulled out your phone and called.
No one picked up. Seriously, what the fuck? WHy? Why?
You didn't want to spend another minute with this guy watching you. So, taking a deep breath and a brash decision, you started to run.
You almost fell multiple times as you ran, since your shoes didn't have the best grip ever and the sidewalks seemed to be extra slippery from all the rain. You didn't bother to look if they were still following you or not, you just hoped they weren't and kept dashing. Pretty soon, after lots of cut corners and jaywalking, you found a local building, lights still on. You didn't bother reading the sign before you bolted inside.
The warmth caught you tenfold. It took the breath out of you from how hot it suddenly was. You dropped your bag and practically threw your soaked sweater off of you, leaving you in your yellow tee-shirt. After getting your breathing in order and stuffing your sweater in your bag, you looked at your surroundings.
It looks like you ran into a bar of some sort. Not a horrible trashed and dangerous one, this one seemed family-friendly actually. There was a fire-man behind the counter, wiping a glass and seemingly staring at you, along with a few others. You shrugged it off and headed to the bar where the elemental was, dropping your backpack on one of the stools.
Gosh golly, this guy was warm. Which... made sense. Some would relate him to a campfire, but you wouldn't. You never liked campfires. If you were seated just a little off, you'd be freezing and the fire's warmth would never touch you. If you were seated a little in, you would be sweating like a pig and surrounded by smoke. But this man, he was just the perfect temperature, and kept the whole building the same. You wondered if he could control that sort of thing? Would it be rude to ask? Probably.
"I.. sorry for asking, but could you tell me where I am? I'm completely lost." You got right to the point, sitting on a stool. The man didn't have any eyes, but you got the feeling he was surprised. You awkwardly laughed. "Uh, I have bad directions at night. I kinda just... ended up here."
It was quiet and you realized the man didn't have a mouth. Were you just incredibly insensitive just now? Oh shit you didn't mean to-
"..5th and Green. Grillbys."
You gasped loudly, not even hiding how amazed you were. He talked. How..? You.. What. That was completely awesome. His voice was soft and almost muted by the crackling of his flames, but you caught it somehow. It was almost melodic.
"Thank you!" You took out your phone, and tried to turn it on. Dead. Of course it died. Your excitement immediately died down. "God dammit, now G is really going to lecture me."
The fire elemental perked up when you mentioned G, and set the glass he was cleaning down on the counter. "You know Sans- Ah, G? The skeleton?" You caught the slip up but stayed silent about it.
You were just as surprised as he was. "Oh, yeah. I actually live with him. You know him?"
"He never pays his tab."
"Oh my god, what." You laughed unexpectedly. That didn't sound like the G you knew. Then again, you didn't really know him at all. Maybe you could ask the living ball of fire? "Are you close friends?"
He shrugged. "Of a sort." You guessed that was fair. "What's your name?"
You told him and he nodded, giving his back in return. Grillby, huh? G must tease him endlessly if Grillby knew the skeleton just by the mention of him. You had learned recently that your roomie was more than familiar with jokes. Especially the pun kind.
"Well, I shouldn't uh... keep soliciting. I should get back home, uh, somehow..." You seemed hesitant to go out the door. Grillby placed a gloved hand on your shoulder, a concerned aura around him. You smiled halfheartedly. "There was this guy following me, actually... kinda why I ran in here. I just... man I'm in a mess aren't I? Dead phone, stalker, and I have no idea how to get home. I'll make it, though." You were about to get out of your seat, but the hand on your shoulder kept you in place.
Grillby seemed to be in thought before he rounded the counter. "We're closing. Time to go home," He announced, in a slightly louder voice than he was using with you. It was still moderately quiet but everyone had heard and started to disperse. Grillby looked back at you before grabbing his coat. "I can walk you. I know how to get there."
His offer worried you. "Are you sure? I have no idea if this means anything, but I'm pretty sure fire and rain don't mix.." Grillby shook his head, coat on and handing you your bag. "You don't have to worry about me, Grills. I'm fine."
"You don't have to worry about me, either." He (somehow?) smiled at you, and took out an umbrella from behind the counter. Okay, now you just felt stupid. He laughed, the cackling sound somehow making you feel warmer than before. He took out another umbrella, he explained it was for emergencies, and you two exited the building with everyone else. You were going to ask about the lights, but right as he left the bar everything went dark. Oh. Magic, you assumed.
The both of you waited for everyone to take their leave so Grillby could lock up shop before you headed for your house. It was warm and quiet while you walked, but not in an awkward way. It was almost relaxing. It felt nice to have someone by your side.
The two of you didn't say anything, none willing to break the comforting silence. There was one point where you accidentally flicked water on him and you two had stopped for a few minutes. You apologizing like crazy and Grillby trying to tell you it was fine was most of those minutes.
Before you knew it, you were at your door. Grillby was laughing at a story you had told him about you and your siblings, and you hadn't noticed you two even stopped. He had to lightly shove you forward for you to see the door in front of you.
"Oh," You laughed. "We're here. I didn't notice."
"So I saw." Grillby joked and you rolled your eyes, smiling. You closed your umbrella, wrapping the string around it.
"Thank you, Grillby. I'm 100% sure if you didn't help I would have been abducted or something. Thank you."
"Not a problem," You noticed he was constantly reassuring you. Did he not like attention or are you overthinking it?
Quickly, you lean over and give your new friend a hug. Now, you had no idea if he was a germaphobe or if you were even friends, but... okay, you just really wanted to hug him. It was like a fucking moth to a flame. Literally. You just wanted to be more warm, ok? Your body almost begged to be closer to him for the feeling.
You stayed like that for a few seconds. Your heart thumped in your chest at the comfort that radiated off of him, but you were able to pull back. You smiled at him and opened the door, umbrella in your other hand still. "I'll be keeping this. I'll return it to you tomorrow. Again, thank you so much."
Grillby shook his head and you knew he was smiling at you as he waved. You waved back, and closed the door. You wondered how such a horrible night could have such a good turn of events.
You took a deep sigh and placed the umbrella by the door, took off your shoes and shrugged off your backpack. You had no idea what time it was, but you were going to make yourself a steaming cup of tea. You yearned to be warm again.
Quickly, while the water was boiling, you changed your clothes to something more comfortable and less wet. You searched the whole room for your untouched Christmas pajamas, the best of them all. This would warm you up for sure.
When you put them on, you realized you hadn't worn a set of PJ's in years. You laughed at yourself in the mirror and exited the room, heading back to the kitchen.
Where G was.
"Oh, hey, G." You greeted, seeing he was blocking your way in the kitchen. You noticed his frown. "G?"
"do you have any idea what time it is?"
"Actually, no." You replied sheepishly, tugging at your sleeves. "How late is it?"
"it's almost one in the morning." G told you, crossing his arms. You widened your eyes.
"He has his shop opened that late?" You blurted out, getting your roommates attention.
"he?"
"Oh, uh, well, it's a long story. So basically I was kicked out of Starbucks and then I got lost and then someone started to stalk me," G opened his mouth but you kept talking "and then I tried calling you but you wouldn't pick up so then I ran and then I saw a place so I ran into it and then I found out it was a bar, and then I met a guy named Grillby and then my phone died and then I told him I was being stalked, and then he offered to walk me home, so he walked me home and it was really nice, and now I'm here. Can I please go in the kitchen? I want my tea."
You stood patiently as you watched G slowly process everything you told him. His mouth twitched and he kept silent, so you decided you weren't as patient as you thought you were and pushed past him. The kettle started to scream right as you did, making you rush to take it off the burner and get your tea box and cup out.
"...that's a whole lot of 'and thens'." G snorted as you poured your water. You pouted.
"Yeah, well there was a lot to tell."
"so... are you okay?"
"What do you mean?" The question caught you off guard. You looked back at him and he shrugged.
"well you were stalked tonight. also can you make me some? chai, please." You rolled your eyes and got another cup out of the cupboard.
"Like I said, Grillby walked me home, so I'm fine. Thanks for the worry, though. Now I know that you somewhat care about me." You said sarcastically and gave him his drink, which he took with no caution. You learned that he couldn't really feel temperature if it wasn't directly. You guess that made sense. G smirked at you.
You were silent for a second, staring at your drink in thought. You wondered...
"what's up, sweetheart?" G sipped on his drink, raising a brow at you and you frowned.
"I have a request, but I don't know if it will offend you or not." You replied honestly, setting the untouched cup of leaf-water down. The skeleton shrugged, setting his drink down as well.
"not much can offend me, hon. what'dya want?"
"Alright, well, I was wondering if I could," You took a breath, and looked to the floor. "If I could, maybe?" The words weren't coming out. Ugh, it wasn't that hard. What if it was personal, though? "Or rather, I was curious about," You tried to restart, but the words wouldn't fall off your tongue. You sighed, raking your fingers through your hair.
It took a moment before you decided you weren't that close to G yet. You took your cup back and walked over to your room. "Never mind. I don't know what I wanted to ask, I think." You lied easily, and closed the door to your room. Turning on the lamp on your night stand, you ditched your drink once again and threw the covers over you.
You wanted to know who Sans was.