He tried to move but he couldn't.
He felt the tight grip of those dirty hands on his shoulders.
He called for help.
But nobody came...
They memory replayed over and over inside his head just like a broken CD.
He looked to his side.
There stood Grillby, just staring with a grin that sent shivers down the spine of anyone who saw it.
"You let yourself get into this." The bartender whispered, an ice cold tone in his voice that felt...
...As sharp as a needle.
-•ღ•-
Sans gasped for air as his body quickly shot up, waking up him from the nightmare.
Tiny crystal like drops of sweat bathed his forehead.
The skeleton looked to his right, still breathing heavily as if he'd just ran marathon.
There lied Grillby peacefully, his eyes shut as in indication the bartender was probably sound asleep.
Sans lightly blushed and sighed with relief, leaning back his tired body on the bed frame.
"...Sans?" Grillby mumbled with concern, waking up and taking his glasses off the counter and causing Sans to slightly jump at the surprise.
"You okay?" He asked, clearly aware Sans was never the one to wake up early.
"yeah... i just nearly fell out the bed and jerked awake as a natural instinct." Sans answered.
"You're lying..." Grillby accused, squinting his eyes at Sans at how stupid that excuse sounded.
"grillbz. i'm fine, really." Sans reassured, holding his hands up to his sides as a way to prove his 'innocence'.
Grillby grabbed the smaller monster by the shirt and gently pulled him into a warm hug.
The room went silent, all the two could hear was each other's soon to be relaxed breathing.
Then out of nowhere, Grillby decided to say something that befuddled Sans on a large scale
"I'm sorry..." he apologized in a small, slightly quiverish voice, holding Sans closer with warm affection and what shocked Sans the most, guilt.
"what-why?" Sans let go of Grillby to look at him directly in the eye.
"I could have been there earlier to stop him but I wasn't... I feel like I failed to you as your friend." He admitted, avoiding eye contact with Sans by looking off to the side.
Sans scoffed.
"you were there for me, what are you talking about? and you did stop him before he caused any more damage. look, things like that can happen to anyone at any time or place. there's always gonna be people out there with the intention to hurt others, sadly. it's not something we have the power to change."
"But that's the point! It scares me to think that could have happened to you somewhere else and that I would not have been able to be there for you at the right time. Things could have been worse and i would have never forgiven myself-"
"grillbz, stop it. what happened already happened and we can't change that. plus, it's my own fault it even occurred in the first place. i acknowledged something felt wrong yet like a moth to a light, i flew right in into my own affliction. Whether you believe it or not, I can actually take care myself." Sans interrupted.
The two of them remained quiet.
"sorry I woke you up by the way." Sans apologized.
"It's fine. I was already kinda awake." Grillby smiled.
"you should sleep, you know. i can tell you only slept for like an hour or two." Sans recommended, realizing how sleep deprived Grillby really looked.
His flame was a little dull, and the vibrant golden hue he usually carried looked a little red orange.
It wasn't hard to determine how the man was feeling, his flame was usually the one to expose his every truth and lie.
" Eh, it's doesn't really matter. I have to go to work in like a little less than an hour; it's almost time to set the bar up and get everything ready."
Sans checked the time on his phone and showed it to Grillby, raising a brow.
"don't you think it's a bit too early? it's barely 4:38 in the morning."
"It's fine. However, you are the one that should be sleeping. You need rest." Grillby said as he stood up and began taking his stuff to leave.
"wait. i'll go with you." Sans quickly got on his feet as well.
Grillby hesitated a little but easily gave in to Sans' desires.
"I'll wait for you in the car while you get ready." He walked out the room.
-•ღ•-
Grillby got inside his car and placed his things on the backseat.
"hey i'm here" Sans greeted, appearing somehow from thin air.
"Eek! Sans! Don't do that!" Grillby screamed, covering his face and slightly blushing at the jumpscare.
"sorry. hehe."
"It's okay." Grillby chuckled nervously, turning on the engine of the car.
-•ღ•-
"How did you get ready so fast?" Grillby curiously asked on their way to the establishment.
"meh, I have my own little tricks." Sans simply answered, staring at Grillby before turning to face the window.
"Mhm..." Grillby mumbled skeptically, still facing forward as he drove with precaution.
-•ღ•-
"We're here." Grillby announced as he parked the car in front of his bar.
Once done, Grillby got out of the car and rushed over to the entrance door and unlocked it.
Sans got out of the car soon after and closed its door before following right behind.
Grillby guided Sans into a room at back of the bar that took them to a staircase leading up to a second floor.
"where are we going?" Sans asked as the two monsters headed up the stairs.
He certainly had not a clue Grillby lived right above his establishment.
Talk about overly protective owner of an establishment.
"My apartment." Grillby answered.
Ah geez, I'm going to his house, Sans' thoughts repeated, causing him to slightly blush.
Grillby took out a key out of his back pocket, and opened the door.
"Come on in" He welcomed.
Sans wowed as he took a few steps in.
Grillby's apartment was very organized and clean.
"nice place, g." Sans complimented.
"Thanks" Grillby thanked, taking Sans stuff and placing them neatly on his kitchen counter.
"Take a seat. Want some breakfast?"
"sounds good to me."
Sans took a seat on the couch and waited while Grillby prepared the food.
After a few long minutes, Grillby came into the living room with two plates, one in each hand, and placed them in a small coffee table located not far from the front of the couch.
"Breakfast is ready. Hope you like it." Grillby grinned brightly.
"how do you make waffles seem so perfect?" Sans asked with amazement, taking a bite out of it.
"hmm" he hummed.
"exquisite. not only do they look great, they taste great." he complimented once swallowing his food.
Grillby giggled.
"Thanks"
After eating their breakfast, the two needed to start getting ready since it was 5:33 already; 1 hour and 27 minutes before the bar opened.
Grillby stood up and took both of the plates with him to the sink.
"i can wash them if you don't mind" Sans halted Grillby before turning on the faucet.
"Sans, it's alright. I'm careful-I'll be fine. I work in the kitchen, this is easy stuff." He assured.
Sans moaned softly with hesitance.
"Really, I'll be fine. I appreciate your worrying about me."
Both of them blushed a little.
"Hey are you sure you want to work on your day off?" Grillby changed the topic.
Sans took another bite off of his waffle and nodded.
"why not?"
Grillby shrugged and pushed up his glasses with his elbow as he continued to wash the dishes.
"I don't know, I just don't want you overworking yourself." He tried to explain.
"as if you didn't already." Sans called out, swallowing the last piece of his waffle and heading to the kitchen to leave his plate there.
Grillby didn't say anything, he just remained washing the dishes.
It was true though, Sans has 3 days off while Grillby gave himself 0 days.
"Anyway, you can go dress up. The restroom is at the end of the hall to your left." Grillby took the plate off of the counter and began to wash it.
Sans grabbed his clothes from the counter and quickly headed to the restroom.
-•ღ•-
A few minutes later...
Sans grunted.
"ugh! stupid bowtie!" He whispered with annoyance under his breath.
There was a knock on the door.
Sans held held the bowtie in place with his left hand and opened the door with his other hand.
"sup" Sans greeted, resuming back to trying to get his bowtie to look nice.
Grillby looked at Sans with curiosity as he entered the restroom to look at himself on the mirror and fix any wrinkles on his shirt or bowtie.
Sans remained struggling and grumbling at his failed attempts.
Grillby laughed and turned Sans around to face him.
He leaned in closer, and fixed his bowtie within a few seconds.
Sans wore a stunned expression that became into a shy smile, a light blue spreading across his face.
"thanks" he thanked, placing his hands behind his back.
Grillby blushed a tiny bit and stood up.
"No problem. Shall we go?" He asked.
Sans nodded.
"yeah"
The two monsters walked downstairs to the bar and began the preparations, for the expected customers would be arriving just within less than an hour.
-•ღ•-
Edit of November 4, 2018:
Today I plan on updating a lot of this book for sure. Hope you enjoyed the chapter newcomers/re-readers!
Edit of January 1, 2020:
I just added some extra dialogue