Chapter Text
You didn't often venture into the monster part of town. It wasn't that you disliked monsters or where vehemently against them like some high and mighty politicians on the news, you just weren't used to turning around and seeing someone that wasn't human walking down the street and you were afraid you would make an ass of yourself by staring too long or saying something insensitive. It was more yourself being a problem then the monsters. You don't like to wander that far from home anyway, so it's never been a problem before. You see monsters as you take walks around your block all the time, but you hold you breath and try to stare a hole in the ground just to keep yourself from doing something stupid or staring. You can't seem to just give a passing glance or not care, middle ground is not your forte. You know you'll get over it eventually the more you are around them and the longer they're on the surface. You thought all that talk of the monsters living underground were just folk tales and are horrified that an entire group of living beings were forced underground because of stupid human fear.
You are taking one of your walks around neighborhood when your stomach begins to growl and you realize that due to your often drifting mind, you've walked farther then usual out of your comfort zone. As you look around you huff at this fact as your stomach growls. You look at your phone and it confirms your suspicion that it's actually dinner time. Great. Your going to have to walk all the way back home before you can even think about food. You grumble internally as your stomach grumbles along. Your shove your phone back into your pocket and you survey your surroundings more closely. There are a few homes, a convince store, and some place called “Grillby's”. Is that a restaurant? You don't even think twice before you cross the street and make your way through the door. You breath in so fast you almost choke as you see the bar is full of monsters. A few of them turn to look at you and you sheepishly realize you pretty much slammed the door open in your haste to get food. You think about walking right back out the door, but your hunger drives you on. Your face burns as you quietly let the door shut behind you, bury your face in your wind breaker, and sit at an open seat at the bar. You just stare at the edge of the bar for a while, trying to reduce the embarrassment burning in your face.
A voice breaks you from your mind spinning itself up. “Would you like to order?” It sounds vaguely male, but what strikes you about it has a slight echo like someone speaking in a big room while also being hiss filled, like a some type of lisp. You look up to feel a different kind of warmth flood your face as a monster with a head made of fire cleans a glass in front of you. He's wearing a nice vest, shirt, and some dark glasses. Does he even have eyes? You're transfixed by his shimmering vestige for a few moments before you realize he asked you a question.
“U-uh yes I, um, what d-do you have?” The flaming man shrugs a shoulder behind him at the various array of bottles of alcohol behind him.
“Not much you can have I'm afraid. We don't get many humans as patrons.” There is no malice or resentment in his voice, just a cool monotone.
You hunch your shoulders and look down at the bar again. “O-oh, sorry...” You should have left when you first burst in the door.
You hear the clinking of glasses and look up to see the flaming man reorganizing the glasses behind the bar. He speaks to you once again. “Don't apologize for being who you are.” The shimmering figure is still seemingly absentmindedly organizing behind the bar, leaving you to wonder if he actually said anything at all. He turns back to you as he wipes down the bar. “I would get you a drink of water, but I never touch the stuff.”
You can't help but give a small snort as you cover your smiling mouth. It's hard to read his flickering face, but you hear some particularly harmonious crackling that you assume is laughter. “I have burgers or fries if you want food.” You nod your head vigorously as you suddenly remember how hungry you were.
More crackling comes from the well dressed flame as he walks into the back room and back out with a burger and some fries in about 10 seconds. Wow, that was really fast. He sets them down in front of you. You go to grab a fry and promptly burn your fingers. You hiss slightly and stick your fingers in your mouth. Well, at least its fresh. “To hot?” The man crackles. You nod slightly at you take your fingers out of your mouth and try to get another fry, utterly shocked that its still hot after letting it be for only five seconds. “Hm, I thought it was average temperature.” You snort again as you put another fry in your mouth. It burns your tongue, but it tastes nice and salty so you don't care. You then pick up the burger and start to munch on that. You look around at the myriad of characters around the bar. Some skeletons, some dogs, and some ones that you don't even know what to call. The dogs look adorable and you want to pet them, but you're almost sure that would be rude.
The flaming man has moved on to talk to some other patrons around the bar. You catch some snippets of the conversation a nearby horse man is having with him and he seems to call the flaming man 'Grillby'. Ah, so he's not just the bartender, he's the owner of the place. Good for him. You have respect for small business owners. Starting and running an entire business from scratch is quite a feat. You absentmindedly finish your burger as you're transfixed by the flame of the one called Grillby. The soothing flicker of him seems almost hypnotic as you begin to zone out while staring directly at the bartender. This place is nice and warm. Almost like home, even though you're new and surrounded by strangers. Your feel almost at ease. You're broken from this warm feeling as Grillby turns toward you and waves slightly. You realize you've been staring at him for a good few minutes and look down at your fries as your face heats up. He walks over to you and puts his arm on the bar to lean slightly towards you. “Do you need something?”
You fumble over yourself as you try and call out to your fries to save you from this conversation. “U-u-m n-no I don't I, uh, sorry I got distracted by your face.” Oh. My. God. That was the worst possible way to phrase that ever. You face heats up both from your embarrassment and from Grillby's proximity. There is a beat of silence as you stare into the glasses of the bartender before his shoulders begin to shake slightly as the crackling erupts from him with new vigor. You crack a small smile and laugh awkwardly as he leans back. He reaches his hand forward and you tense slightly before you realize he's just grabbing your empty plates. He buses them just as quickly as he brought them out to you. You feel for what pocket your wallet's in as you stand up from your seat. “How much do I owe you?”
Grillby waves his hand at you as he grabs another glass to clean off the back wall. “On the house. Haven't laughed that much in a while.” Something in your chest flutters at the fact that you improved his day.
You walk to the door and turn back slightly be fore leaving. “Thanks.” You wave goodbye to the monster named Grillby and he waves back.
You hear a soft crackle as you walk away. “Come back anytime.”