You pick up the yellow folder Sans had given you the day before and begin scouring through its contents. The first thing you retrieve is Faust’s semester-long report card: D & B in Math, A & A in English, C & B in Spanish, B & B in Physical Education, and so on. You smile at the sight of the Math grades and then at the Spanish ones, grateful you had people like Sans and Solana around to aid in the education of your son.
The next thing you take out is a neatly folded paper. Intrigued, you unfold it and flatten out its few wrinkles with your hand. Your eyes widen when seeing it’s a drawing of five people: Jessie, their new lover, Sans, Faust, and yourself. Below the drawing is an eight sentence paragraph with the title ‘Family’ above it.
Family
It is very weird and confusing, but I like it. I have a (mother/father) named (Y/N), a (mom/dad) named Jessie, and a stepparent named Lucy. Lucy lives with Jessie at (hometown). There is also a tutor named Sans. (Mother/Father) likes to spend time with him, and I do too! He is nice and funny. He is different from (Y/N), but they are still good friends. My real mom and dad could not take care of me, but I am happy with my new family.
A few tears are running down your face by the time you finish reading. Hastily, you wipe them away and breathe in, swallowing the tension stuck on the very center of your throat. There’s a little 20/20 scribbled at the bottom, along with the sketch of a smiling goat woman resembling Toriel. You figure English is given by her and wonder briefly over how she managed being both a principal and an English teacher at once.
Snapping back to the present, you gasp and quickly wipe away the paper when noticing a few drops had fallen on it, being careful so as to not damage either the drawing or the words written above it. A sudden thought of sharing the drawing -- or at least, part of it -- crosses your mind.
Grinning, you pull out your phone and snap a picture of the doodle Faust had made of Sans. You make sure not to include your ex, their lover, or yourself for that matter, wanting to deflect unwanted assumptions and to not make him feel uncomfortable with them.
Good afternoon. :-))
>> Attachment: 1 image <<
I thought I’d share this with you.
You see some dots already moving next to his profile picture, the sight making your heart race in spite of how silly it was.
s’that me?
who’s the artist?
Faust drew it for English class!
Isn’t it cute?
very.
the kid’s got some talent.
really knows howta capture my eye sockets.
And your smile, too.
It’s just as goofy as I remember it being.
wow.
first cute, and now goofy?
didn’t know you thought that way about me, (y/n).
You feel heat rise over your ears at that last string of replies. A tad flustered, you gulp away your nervousness and shuffle a bit on your seat before typing up a response.
What can I say?
I’m a (woman/man) full of surprises.
wanna meet up somewhere tonight?
i’d like to see ya outside of work, even if you’re not around the school anymore and all.
That’s real sweet of you considering what I just called you.
Where to?
does the park near the gas station at 7 sound good?
it’s the one near your street, close to where we met up yesterday for the documents.
Sounds good!
See you at 7, then.
Your mind is a puddle by the time you send that last text. You hear one side of you yelling that you shouldn’t be getting this close to Sans, though the other yells back just as loud, calling you silly for worrying so much about something so simple as meeting him at the park. Fleeting crush or not, you didn’t want to screw up your friendship with him -- and even more now, knowing he’d taken up the courage yesterday just to say he feared he wasn't showing he cared for his friendship with you.
★
Sans is already there by the time you arrive at the park. It’s still a bit clear out with summer just a couple of weeks away, so there's a few people walking by and idly chatting to themselves. You can tell it's Wednesday by how little parents and children you see around.
“Hey,” Sans greets, his voice sounding just a few feet away from where you stood. You turn to see him and notice his attire is different from his work uniform and his casual wear composed of a blue jacket and some basketball shorts. To differ, he now wore a simple, plain grey t-shirt along with some baggy jeans -- a look you never expected him to enjoy wearing. “What’s up?”
“Wow. You look. . . different,” you comment, a smile on your face. It takes all your willpower not to let your eyes linger on the change for too long. “In a nice way, I mean.”
You can catch a glimpse of surprise flicker on the light of his eye sockets, though he masks it just as quickly with a snicker. “Thanks. You clean up nice, too.” He stops, though speaks up again before you have the chance to come up with a remark to his comment. “I mean it -- It’s nice to see you outta your uniform every now and then. Makes it feel like I’m seeing another version of you besides the overly anxious parent, and the baker who forgets when they have flour in their hair.”
“Can’t go a day without prodding me like this, huh?”
Though your words are meant to be taken lightly, you catch a hint of the same, foreign emotion you had seen yesterday when having him drift away from the conversation. You wonder over what Sans’s co-worker said for him to worry this much over something so trivial.
“It’s become a tradition, I’ll say.”
He closes off the distance by taking a few steps forward and taking his hands out of his front pockets. A welcoming visage shows on his skull when he makes a hand motion for you to join him.
“Wanna go to the mini-mart over there? I wanna talk with you about stuff.”
You nod and walk side by side with Sans, sparing a subtle look at him every once in a while until you’re at the front of the gas station, steps away from entering the mini-mart. Cold gusts of wind begin to settle the hot and humid temperature down to a comfortable degree as the noisy background of the city exchanges for peace and tranquility. It turns a bit darker by the time you enter, though the large, neon orange sign with the letters ‘Open 24/7’ assures you there’s no need to rush on your outing.