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The door slid open, and as slippers slapped against hardwood flooring, Grillby looked up from the glass he was cleaning. He didn't even have to look to know who it was; only one customer would wear slippers into a place like this. Even then, he looked up; he couldn't help but notice that his customer looked exhausted somehow.
As Sans hopped up to sit on a barstool, he almost seemed relieved. He rested his arms on the bar. "Heya, Grillbz."
"...Hello." Being what some would call the "strong, silent type", it was rare to hear Grillby speak much at all.
Sans tried to bite back his exhaustion as he spoke. "I'll take a bacon cheese-burg, some of those garlic fries, and some root beer; no ice."
Grillby gave a slightly nonplussed glance at Sans' demeanor, but then, he seemed to remember something. Sans had come in like this from time to time, even back underground; even as he continued to joke now and then, he just seemed tired on those days. Given that he was one of Grillby's most loyal customers both then and now, it was inevitable that Grillby would notice these things.
So, with a nod and an "All right", Grillby went off to get Sans' order going.
"Thanks." With a deep sigh, Sans turned his attention to the bar itself, tracing the patterns on the wood grain with his phalanges and just thinking about everything. That morning, he had just woken up from yet another of his strange dreams. Those dreams in which he was back in Snowdin on sentry duty, before he knew the name and look of the lady behind the door, before he knew who Frisk was...
Thankfully, it had just been a dream this time. This time. Not only was it a recurring dream of his, but he also had reason to believe that, on a few occasions, he wasn't dreaming. Tiny fragments in his mind of other realities that felt too real... somehow it felt like he and Frisk had eaten dinner at the MTT Resort more than once, or that he'd stacked 'dogs on their head more times than what he remembered. There was even at least one reality where he hadn't seen Frisk at all after that final meeting in that castle hallway, and had to resort to leaving a message on their phone. He knew it didn't happen now, but it sure felt like something more than just a mere dream.
When Grillby brought him the root beer, Sans thanked him again and gave it a little sip. He'd taken up drinking root beer instead of ketchup because, as Grillby told him, other customers could see him drinking it and would question the restaurant's sanitation; even if Grillby saved some bottles especially for him, the less-regular customers would have no way of knowing that. He could get away with it in Snowdin because everyone knew each other so well, and they all knew he wasn't drinking out of the same bottles everyone else used.
Sans could hear the door sliding open again, and he thought he could perceive a familiar smell. The smell of... butterscotch, maybe?
The presence occupied the seat next to him, and Grillby nodded in greeting.
"Hello!"
That voice... Sans blinked. Toriel was here? He didn't take her for being the kind of person who ate at these kinds of restaurants, with unhealthy food... then again, it's always the ones you least expect.
After she placed her order (a club sandwich, some plain fries, and a fruit smoothie) and Grillby went off to get it ready, Toriel grinned at Sans and knocked on the bar twice. "Knock-knock."
"Who's there?"
"Hatch."
"Hatch who?"
"Gesundheit!"
"Heh..." Even in his worst moods, Sans couldn't resist a good knock-knock joke. He glanced up at her. "Didn't know you liked coming here."
"I have only been here a few times, actually." The first time, it had mainly been out of curiosity; yes, the food was undoubtedly less healthy than home cooking, but if Sans liked it, she'd decided that she should at least give it a try. She liked it enough to decide that she would visit every now and then - but only occasionally.
Sans crossed his ankles. "It's a great place, isn't it? Got a friendly atmosphere. Grillby knows all the regulars by name." He looked up. "Too bad my bro doesn't like this place; if he did, I could bring him here, and he could meet some cool people."
"Oh! That reminds me." Toriel's expression shifted to one of concern. "I spoke with your brother, and he told me you have not been feeling well recently. Would you like to talk about it?"
For a moment, Sans was silent. He really needed to get something off his chest... but this something was so crazy that the chances of her believing it were next to nothing. "Well... y'know. We all have those days where we just don't wanna get out of bed." And yet... Sans took a deep breath, and looked Toriel in the eye. "But... there's something else."
"Something else?"
Sans nodded before looking down. "You see... I've been having these weird dreams that just won't stop." He looked back up. "Dreams in which we're all back underground. You and I still only know each other through the door, Papyrus is still desperate to join the Royal Guard and make friends, Alphys and Undyne aren't even dating, MTT is still a rectangle... no one's even heard of Frisk. And the thing about these dreams is, not only do I keep having them..." His arms returned to the bar. "...but sometimes, they feel way too real to be just dreams."
Grillby brought Toriel's smoothie over, and she smiled at him in silent thanks before looking back at Sans as he continued.
"It's like, sometimes it feels like all the stuff we've done on the surface... our new friends, new jobs, all those times we got together for birthdays and holidays... one day, we could wake up, and it might as well have never happened. We're all underground again, and everything's gone back to zero. Like someone pressed reset." He sighed. "I know what I'm saying probably sounds like a bunch of baloney; I'm not surprised if it does."
"Actually..."
"Huh?"
The look on Toriel's face settled into one of contemplation. "I think I might have experienced something similar when Frisk fell underground."
Sans sat up, the look on his face silently asking her to tell him more.
"Somehow, it felt like I already knew them. Even though I had never seen them before, I still managed to correctly guess that they preferred cinnamon over butterscotch. Whenever a human traveled through the Ruins, it felt like I was meeting an old friend again; Frisk was no exception." She paused to sip her drink. "Perhaps this might have something to do with your dreams."
"Really?" Sans' expression was that of a man whose mind had just been blown. What were the odds?
Toriel nodded. "If this truly is not a coincidence, then I understand why you would be worried. You wish to feel secure that everything will remain as it is, do you not? It's certainly not an unreasonable desire. However..."
"Yeah?" Grabbing his mug and taking a sip, Sans kept listening.
With a gentle smile, Toriel kept talking. "We have been on the surface for over two years at this point. If whatever force is causing this wanted to reset time again, they probably would have already done so."
"Good point." Sans set his mug back down with a sigh. "And yet... sometimes I can't help but be afraid that they'll just get bored one day and do it." He leaned in closer, as well as he could while sitting on a barstool. "And not only that, but... things might go differently next time. What if Frisk forgets that they were able to get through the Underground without gaining any LOVE? What if they...?" He trembled a little; Toriel didn't need him to finish the sentence to know what he was implying.
Toriel frowned. "Unfortunately, I fear that we may have no way of knowing what will happen." Her expression softened a bit. "That being said, I believe all we can do at this point is try to enjoy this timeline to the fullest. It might reset, it might not, but if we have no control over it, then worrying about it will prevent us from enjoying our lives. And if you would like someone to talk to, I will be there to the best of my ability." Her eyes seemed to twinkle. "There are so many people who care about you. Papyrus and Frisk and Undyne and Alphys... we all would like to help you."
Despite himself, Sans couldn't help cracking a smile. "Heh... out of all the friends I could've asked for, you really are the greatest of all time." He winked. "You know what you get if you abbreviate that, right?"
For a moment, Toriel was silent as she did the math in her head. Once she'd figured it out, a smile crossed her face and she giggled. "Oh, Sans, you are such a humerus person!"
Sans shrugged. "What can I say? I love to make rib-tickling jokes."
After some more giggling, Toriel seemed to get an idea. "Sans, would you like to take a photograph of us right here? I have heard that these are called 'selfies', because we would be taking a photograph of ourselves."
"Sure." Sans took out his phone, and once he and Toriel got into a good position, he snapped the picture. Before long, he uploaded it to UnderNet with the caption "you never know who you could meet up with at grillby's". Almost immediately, "CoolSkeleton95" left a reply telling him that grease is bad for him, only for "StrongFish91" to profess her love for greasy food, causing him to post another reply where he (apparently) changed his mind about grease. Frisk also left a reply, consisting of a smiley face.
It wasn't long before Grillby brought them their food; as they talked with each other in between bites, Sans felt the exhaustion in his soul drifting away a little. Even if the timeline never reset again, he would most likely still have days in which his deepest fears caught up with him.
And yet, knowing that he had a lot of wonderful friends who could help him through the worst of it all... it made him feel better ever so slightly.