Chapter Text
“WAKE UP SANS!” Papyrus was shaking in what seemed like a futile attempt to wake him up. After a couple more shakes, Sans groaned groggily and sat up. His eyes were still half open, and he looked dazed. It doesn’t even look like he can reply to Papyrus’s nagging. “FINALLY! GET YOURSELF READY, YOU’RE GONNA BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!”
Sans only rubbed his eyes in response. He ignored Papyrus’s nagging and looked at the digital clock near his bed. His eyes widened realizing that his class is about to start in 10 minutes. He sprung up and dashed to his closet. “SANS.” He ignored Papyrus Calling out to him, he was quickly going through each hanger trying to find his lab coat. “SANS.” He searched through all the hangers and he found nothing. “SANS!”
This finally got Sans’s attention. “sorry bro, but I n—” Papyrus was standing there looking smug, as if he anticipated this. He looked around the room and saw that his clothes were laid out on the bed and his bag was on the floor. His body relaxes and lets out a chuckle. “thanks bro, you’re the coolest.”
“I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS AFTER ALL! NYEH HEH HEH!!!”
Papyrus promptly left the room since he also also had to attend school. Sans lazily changed, losing his sense of urgency. He should be rushing, the school he attends is a half an hour commute from where he is. Despite that he was moving as slowly as possible. After wearing one side of the backpack trap, as he opened his eyes his surroundings changed. In the blink of an eye, he’s already in the faculty room.
“Didn’t think you’d be showing up today.” Sans looked to see who said it. Seeing the light blue fur he immediately knew it was Nice Cream Guy. “So, what’s up, doc?”
Sans lets out a giggle with the looney tunes reference and referencing his PhD. “same old, same old.” He got himself comfortable on his desk.
“Didn’t know you can teleport though,” Nice Cream Guy said, “any other secrets we don’t know about?”
“welp, they’re secrets for a reason.” Both of them let out a lighthearted laugh then Nice Cream Guy went back to his desk.
“Sans,” a soft voice called out to him from his right, it was Toriel, “If you need any help please don’t hesitate to ask.” Toriel had a gentle smile on her. Everyone from students to teachers love and respect her because of her kindness and how compassionate she is. Toriel was actually the one that showed Sans the ropes when he first started teaching last year.
“sure thing, tori.”
“One more thing, Sans.” Sans looks at Toriel curiously. “If my daughter is causing trouble, make sure to tell me right away.”
Sans chuckled. “doubt they’ll be causing too much trouble if you're the mother.”
“You sure know how to flatter an old lady.” Toriel giggled then she went back to her desk.
Sans gaze lingered on Toriel as she left. would have been nice if she was my parent. She’s always been a reliable person to everyone. Not once has she hesitated in helping out another person, and she always treated everyone with kindness. Toriel’s gentleness wrapped around you like a warm blanket during winter. She’s been a great help to Sans ever since he started teaching last year. With a sigh, he brushes those thoughts to the side and he reaches into his bag and takes out his breakfast. He only had a couple of minutes left to finish this and get to class. He might just have to teleport again.
“yo.” The students looked wide eyed. Immediately, they scrambled to their seats lightly bumping one into another in their haste. A student that got bumped accidentally dropped the bag of cookies they were holding. Come to think of it, a lot of them were holding a bag of cookies. Sans couldn’t help but notice this after seeing one drop theirs. why does everyone have cookies? If it was only a couple students he wouldn’t care but it feels like everyone had them. He checks each of them starting at the back; he just wanted to see if they all had it. As his eyes made their way to the front row, it started to look like everyone had them. Well, except for one.
Chara, Chara was the only one who didn’t have any. It didn’t look like she minds though. Her bright red eyes didn’t show any sign of discontent, if anything, she had this wide smile on her. He shook his head. I should stop fixating on this. Sure it’s weird that everyone had the same cookies on their first day of class but it’s not a big deal.
“Alright, i’ll be your homeroom and math teacher. name’s sans, sans serif.” No one really reacted and everyone just seemed to look confused. Sans isn’t surprised though, his entrance was sudden. They’re all probably just wondering how he got in. Chara raises her hand. It wasn’t very hard to notice since her seat is directly in front of his desk. And Chara was pretty tall for a girl since she was over 6’. seriously, why is she in the front row? “yeah?”
Chara’s head tilted to the side. “How did you get in?”
“teleported.” After answering, it was followed by the class going “ohhh”, amazed hearing that. Everyone, from monsters to humans, is capable of using magic. However, some magic types are more common than others. The most common type of magic is elemental magic, along with its many variations so seeing someone that can teleport is like seeing a 7 footer for the first time. “Anything else?”
“Oh! Uh . . .” —Chara scrambled the inside of her bag and took out a small bag of cookies— “Would you like some?” Sans eyes widened seeing the gesture. It quickly turned into a soft chuckle once he realized why she didn’t have any. It’s because she was the one giving it to the class. heh, that’s real nice of ‘em.
“thanks bud.” He accepted the cookies.
Sans started doing the usual announcements for the start of the year. As he was doing the announcements, Chara was staring at him wide eyed. He’d be lying if he said this didn’t feel a little bit awkward. So he tried his best to avoid looking at the front row. But it’s very hard to do that when the person you’re trying to avoid is seated right in front of you. Chara with her glowing red eyes was staring right through him while she was resting her head on her hands. “hmmm . . .” her voice trailing off. It's obvious that she took an interest in him, more specifically in his magic.
It wasn’t that Chara was staring at him was the problem, he’s already used to that after a year of teaching. It was the intensity of her gaze. She already had unique eyes with how striking the red is. Adding the intensity of her fascination made it feel like she’s a tiger looking at her prey. she really doesn’t try to make it subtle.
“loosen up since it’s only the first day, none of us will be teaching.” well, at least i don’t think. “and if any of you ever have any concerns or need help with something throughout the year, you can meet me in the faculty room.” Sans wrapped everything up casually. He was still avoiding looking at Chara’s gaze, she hadn't let up the entire time. Frankly, it was kind of terrifying. Well, lucky for him, he’s only attending homeroom today.
Sans takes his final sip of coffee from his tumbler after writing up a lesson plan. It’s quiet in the faculty room. The only noise being from the air conditioner running. The assembly should be done by now so he’s expecting his colleagues to return. And right on cue, he heard the doors open.
“Sans?” It was a human colleague of his. They were acquainted but they weren’t exactly close. “So that’s where you are.” More people entered the room, weirdly enough Toriel isn’t here yet.
“yup, just made some lesson plans,” he replied.
“You make those? Thought someone like you wouldn’t need to.”
Sans eyes went all black and his body tenses. There was this heavy feeling on his chest the moment he heard what they said. It’s as if the world around him froze at that very moment. The words “someone like you” repeating over and over again like a broken record. But he quickly regained his composure, not showing any sign of discomfort. Instead, he just shrugged. “well—”
“Please refrain from making such comments,” Toriel exclaimed. “Even if it doesn’t bother Sans, it is still a rude comment to make.”
The human teacher immediately felt embarrassed and bowed down to Toriel apologizing to her and to Sans. Sans was a bit taken aback. It was a fair comment to make in his perspective. And it’s not like every teacher uses a lesson plan, so him, out of all people needing it would be odd in their perspective. Sure, maybe it was rude to single him out but he didn’t think that’d warrant reprimanding. Well, that’s why Toriel is so well liked, she treats everyone with respect and care. He lets out a soft chuckle as relief washes over him.
“And Sans,” As soon as Sans relaxes, Toriel calls out to him, making him uneasy again, “How many cups of coffee have you had today?” Toriel looked at her with disapproving eyes.
Sans looked away scratching his right temple, chuckling awkwardly. “uhh,” —he looked at his insulated tumbler on his desk— “one?”
Toriel followed Sans’s gaze. Seeing the tumbler, she lets out an annoyed sigh and walks up to his desk and grabs the tumbler. Sans tried to grab it before her but he was too late. “Sans, this better be filled with water.” Sans didn’t even bother to reply and just kept looking away. His smile shakier than usual. Toriel opens it and before she even sees it, the aroma of the coffee goes past her. Toriel gave sans a scolding glare. Half of the bottle still had coffee. It wasn’t like a small tumbler specifically made for coffee. It was a standard 1100 ml bottle. “I will be throwing this out.”
Sans tries to stop her. “wait, wait! we don’t have to do that. not like i do this all the time.”
“Sans,” Sans immediately freezes after hearing her tone, “Just because you are young does not mean you can treat your body this way. This is very unhealthy even if you do not do this frequently. It is fine to drink coffee, but please do it in moderation.”
Sans slumps his head down in defeat. He knew she was right, he already drinks a cup of coffee everyday. But drinking a whole tumbler of it is too much and he knows it. Knowing that he can’t go against Toriel, he watched Toriel with his tumbler on her hand leave the faculty room getting ready to throw his precious coffee away.
Sans said his goodbyes to his coworkers and left school premises. Normally, after Sans is out of school premises he’d teleport home. But they’ve been running out of groceries so he needed to do some shopping. There was a supermarket near the school. It was only about a 15 minute walk.
“could teleport . . . nah, don’t wanna spook the passersby”
He entered the supermarket grabbing the usual stuff you’d need. The usuals like bread, vegetables, meat, and of course pasta for Papyrus. The only thing left he needs is to buy some snacks for himself. He takes another scan of what he put in his cart.
eggs,
check.
milk,
check.
fruits,
check.
meat,
che— “Ow!”
“sorry!” Sans immediately backs up his cart and checks to see who he hit. The person he hit was wearing a school uniform and they were about a head taller than Sans. They had short light brown hair and had these striking red eyes— wait, is that Chara?
“Mr. Sans?”
It is. “oh, chara, sorry ‘bout that. should have been more aware of my surroundings.” Chara had a handbasket on her that had flour, yeast, baking powder, and other baking essentials you’d need.
“It’s no biggie! It was an accident anyway,” she said. “Hmm . . . since you’re already here with me, why don’t we shop together!”
He laughed nervously. “nah, it’s fine. i’m about done anyway.”
“Oh! Me too! Then let’s checkout together.” Chara smiled brightly. Her enthusiasm was making it hard for Sans to refuse. But he really wasn’t up for it, and plus, he still had some snacks to buy.
“heh, thanks” —he takes a step back, looking away from her— “but don’t think it’s appropriate for a teacher and a student to be seen together in public.”
“Oh, Relax! we’re only checking out, and, plus, I wanna talk to you.”
Chara didn’t let up. She didn’t have any bad intentions, that much was obvious. She was pushy though and truthfully he had a hard time dealing with that. Sans sighed. welp, guess i’ll get snacks another time. “fine . . .”
“Yay!” Chara moves to Sans’s side and they start walking to the checkout counter. “You didn’t say much about yourself in your introduction.”
“well, i’m just here to teach,” he shrugged.
“That’s boring!” —she pouted— “Why don't you tell me about yourself?”
“like what?”
“Uh, hmm . . .” She froze for a second and looked away to presumably think. She looks back at Sans with a grin. “What did you study in college?”
“math and physics, did a dual degree.” Sans sees the snack aisle to his left with all the snacks that he planned on getting. next time . . . i’ll get it next time
Chara’s eyes lit up hearing brimming with curiosity. “Oh! That must have been tough. You must be super smart to be able to do that!”
He chuckled meekly. “guess i am.”
“Then how old would that make you?”
Sans pauses for a moment, needing to think up of an age. “twenty . . . five. nuff bout me, what’s your deal? curious about teleportation?”
Chara put a finger on her chin looking up. “Well, there’s that” —She looks back at Sans with a wide smile— “And that you seemed like a nice person, so I wanted to get to know you!”
Sans eyes widening hearing her response. He thought she was only curious about his magic, but she’s just a real extravert. He chuckled remembering the cookies she gave him. heh, knew it, no way that toriel’s kid would be bad. “your cookies tasted great by the way, thanks.”
This made Chara even more giddy and asked Sans about the cookie and how it was, what she could improve, and so on. Sans couldn’t help but admire the passion she had for it. The original plan was to checkout immediately, but instead they end up talking for half an hour near the snack aisle.
* * *
It’s been a week since that interaction with Chara. Nothing much changed between them other than the Chara initiating small talk whenever she could. But it’s not like they can be buddy-buddy, after all they’re still teacher and student. It’d be weird if they were any closer than that.
Sans walked in the dining room. Papyrus was in there pouring a cup of coffee. Sans tilts his head quizzically, Papyrus doesn’t drink coffee. Hell, he hates coffee since he thinks it unnecessary.
“morning bro.”
“OH! SANS!” Papyrus' face lit up seeing his brother, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”
Sans’ eyes widened. He never really paid attention to his birthday that much so he often forgets it. “o-oh, uh, thanks.”
“AND SINCE YOU’RE THE ESTEEMED BIRTHDAY BOY, I MADE YOU SOME BAGELS!” Papyrus presents the bagel and coffee on the table with a wide smile. Sans can’t help but feel thankful for Papyrus.
He chuckled. “thanks bro, you’re the best.” He sits down and takes a closer look at the bagels. It clearly wasn’t perfect, but it didn’t look inedible. And what kind of brother would he be if he didn’t eat his little brother's hard work? There wasn’t a chance in hell that he wasn’t gonna eat this.
Sans stretched his back the moment he got on his chair. He’s been teaching nonstop; his students kept asking him about the lesson. That’s to be expected since most people have trouble with math. It might be a good thing though, it shows that they’re comfortable confiding in him. But he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t getting tired from it. He slumped over his desk getting ready to take a nap but that was interrupted when he could feel someone approaching him. He felt a gentle poke to his shoulder, confirming his suspicion.
“Sans?” Sans sits straight and sees Toriel leaning over with a gentle smile. “Happy birthday!”
Sans’ chuckles are noticeably a bit embarrassed. “heh . . . thanks.” He saw in Toriel's right hand a cake that had this warm, muted brown color. Sans isn’t very well versed in cakes so he couldn’t tell what flavor it is.
“Here you go Sans, Chara helped me make this,” Toriel gently hands over the cake to Sans, “The flavor mocha, it is a chocolatey coffee flavor so I have a feeling you like it.”
Sans couldn’t help but giggle after hearing that last comment. He likes coffee, sure, but it’s not that bad. He likes other profiles, not just the bitterness of coffee. Sans couldn’t help but have a heartfelt look at the cake, it’s far too sweet of a gesture to not do so. “really though . . . you didn’t have to but thank you.”
“Hey guys! Why don’t we sing him a happy birthday,” Nice Cream Guy chimed in.
Sans flinched. “wait, you don’t really have t—” But they already began singing and clapping. Now he really doesn’t have a choice but to accept it. It does feel a bit embarrassing though but he knows they’re just good people. And it’s not like this is the first time they’ve done this to a colleague. It’s such a warm environment here, there’s really nothing he can complain about. The faculty door creaks, curious, he takes a peek. But no one was there, weird. No one else seemed to notice, but it’s probably not a big deal. It’s not like a student would enter the room without knocking first so he just shrugged it off.
After the little birthday celebration they had in the faculty room, he left to go to just wander around aimlessly. He didn’t have anything to do so might as well. “Boo!” He feels hands grab on his shoulders. Sans jolted; his left eye flashing a blue and yellow glow. That voice, it was Chara.
“geez, bud. no reason for you to do that.” He chuckled. It’s weird though, Sans should have felt her presence. It wasn’t like that time at the supermarket where he was distracted or anything. So Sans should have noticed.
Chara giggled. “Happy Birthday!”
“Oh,” he was caught a bit off guard, but thankful regardless, “thanks. Your mom told ya?”
Chara snickered then gave him a mischievous smile. Sans would be lying that he didn’t feel a bit uneasy, and it didn’t help that Chara was a head taller than him. Chara leans over to where Sans’s ear would be. “I didn’t expect that you’d only be nineteen.”
Sans backed off immediately. His smile became shaky and his pupils contracted. Chara was still leaned over, eyes widened after seeing his reaction. This quickly changes as she tilts her head and smiles while blinking. If she had any doubts before, those were quickly washed away from Sans’ reaction. He laughs nervously. “h-how do you know?”