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Snow crunches beneath your boots as you walk, lightly tightening the scarf around your neck to keep warm. Winter has finally arrived, and with it comes various clouds releasing snow into the world and covering everywhere you can look with blankets of white. As you shift the earmuffs on your head slightly, you can't help but smile as you think of where you're going. Well, maybe not the location, but..who you're going to see.
Lightly sliding over a puddle of ice (and nearly tripping, but if there are no witnesses that totally didn't just happen), you come to a stop right outside of the colorfully decorated home you'd grown so fondly familiar with. A tall muscular snowskeleton shaped like Papyrus is visible in the front yard, and beside it lies a small mound of snow with "sans" written on it in marker. Never gets old.
You spot the front door opening, picking up your speed as you travel through their yard a bit to make it onto the front porch. Almost immediately, you're greeted with the sound of an energetic voice you'd grown to know and love.
"And So I'll Be Out For A While To Go Shopping With Mettaton! He Insists He Knows A Very Good Spot To Find Decorations, So It'll Be Good For The House! This Year I Refuse To Let Kathy From Down The Street Best Me- With Her Over The Top Inflatables.." Papyrus balls a hand into a fist, a determined look crossing his face before he stands back up. Looks like he'd been putting on his boots to head out. Once he turns and notices you, he perks up with a grin.
"Ah, Welcome! You've Arrived Just On Time!" He cheerfully greets you, gently ushering you inside out of the cold so you can warm up a bit. "Here, Stand By The Fire A Moment. I'll Call My Brother Down." He wiggles his browbones, earning a light flush from you that crosses your cheeks.
"Ah..thanks, Paps." You smile sheepishly, holding your gloved hands out towards the fireplace to warm up. With some quick thumps of his boots against the stairs, you listen as Papyrus tells Sans of your arrival (quite enthusiastically). After a few moments, the taller brother heads right back down to grab his phone from the kitchen. He heads over to the front door to pull it open soon after, turning to you.
"Don't Have Too Much Fun Out There, Lovebirds." He grins smugly.
You feel your face burn, knitting your brows together. "Paps!" ..Well, you can't exactly deny it now. You and Sans have been in a relationship for a few months now, taking things slow and steady. It seems like it was forever ago when you'd befriended the skeleton once monsters had finally surfaced..
"Farewell, I Expect Details This Evening!" He waves goodbye, before closing the door behind himself. You huff in amusement, turning a bit when you hear a warm chuckle by the stairs. A small smile crosses your face when you see him, lowering your warmed hands to your sides.
There the familiar lazy skeleton stands, hands stuffed in the pockets of his favorite blue jacket. He smiles as he looks at the door where his brother had just left, before turning to you. A light blue flush crosses his cheekbones for a moment as he walks over to join your side.
"hey, i'm glad you could make it. i know the cold's a lot harder on humans than it is for us. since, y'know.." He taps his skull, emphasizing the fact he has bones rather than skin. "it's good to see you."
"I'm really glad to see you too, Sans. I've been wanting to spend time with you for a while, and..well.. this is a good opportunity to, right?" You smile, giving his shoulder a gentle nudge. He chuckles, giving you a nod in reply.
"yeah, we can spend some time outside. oh yeah, that reminds me- hold up." He walks into the kitchen for a moment. You tilt your head in reply, curious to see what he's doing. He heads back out shortly after, handing you a thermos. "made some hot chocolate for ya. it'll help keep you a little warmer while we're out."
"Oh, thanks Sans. I've been wanting some for a while..did you read my mind?" You narrow your eyes at him, smiling a bit. He chuckles in reply.
"what can i say? i know you pretty well." He grins.
"Fair enough, you have a knack for that." You smile, putting the thermos in your Inventory. "Okay, ready to head out?" You hold out a gloved hand for him, watching as his eyelights drift from your hand to your face.
"yeah, if you are." He holds out his own hand, and you retract yours for a moment. "..what? what's wrong?"
"Is there anything attached to your hand?" You deadpan, looking over him for any signs of mischievous intent. His grin stretches wide, and he shakes his head with a chuckle.
"you know me too well. though, this time, i don't actually have anything there. man, it would've been funny if i did, though.. maybe next time." He watches as you hold your hand back out, taking it gently with his own. Both of your faces seem to flush a bit at once, and you avert your eyes from each other a moment. You've been together for a while, yet some things still manage to get your hearts racing..
You both take a shortcut outside, before beginning to walk together through the snow-covered neighborhood. A few people decorating in their yards wave as you pass with friendly smiles, earning some waves back from the both of you. You look over some of the decoration choices in awe, glancing over various light displays.
"These guys really take the holidays seriously." You think aloud, continuing to glance around the both of you. Sans watches your admiring with a fond smile, before he remembers to reply.
"yeah, they've started to kick things up a notch. paps gets super motivated to be the "best in our neighborhood". has this whole rivalry going on with a few of the others. he gets so pumped over something as simple as stringing up some lights. pretty adamant about winning this year. we've already got plenty of lights, but he insists on getting more with mettaton.. i can already tell he's going to make something big that i'll definitely get tangled up in."
"The horrors of having to do a ton of decorating..ooooh.." You hold up your free hand as if you were going to scare someone, earning another chuckle from the skeleton.
"look at you, being humerus." A giggle from you makes his grin stretch before he continues. "though, that's not the whole reason. i mean literally tangled up. like, getting stuck in lights and dangling until he can get me down. happens a lot."
"I can see it now.. maybe I could help you guys with additional decorating? I could prevent something like that from happening." You offer, earning a hum of contemplation from Sans.
"could be pretty fun with you around. i'm all for it." He winks, earning a light blush from you as you nudge his shoulder. The two of you focus again on the path ahead, making your way along the sidewalk and heading down a specific path. It's peacefully quiet for a moment, the two you enjoy the comfortable silence as snow lightly falls from the sky to add onto the various white blankets of snow on the ground.
"..it reminds me a lot of snowdin." You turn to look at him. "y'know, the place we lived in underground? down there it was always snowy. always cold. only times it really changed were for holidays, and even then..snow still stuck. climate was pretty weird down there." He looks up at the sky. The sun had started to set, making the sky a mix of various different colors where the clouds weren't covering it. Your eyes grow soft as you look over him.
"..Do you..miss it?" You ask, continuing to move along with him.
"well..sometimes i do. but that's how i imagine anyone with fond memories would be about a place where they grew up. though, at the same time.. i'm..really glad to be out of there. and up here, where there's..infinite possibilities. we're not just confined under the mountain anymore. all thanks to a little human kid who somehow managed to change everything.. it's wild, how things like that can happen." He's quiet for a moment. "..i think.."
He turns to you.
"i prefer being up here. it feels right to be. to be with you here, on the surface. ..maybe i was always meant to meet you. ..i wouldn't want things any other way, to tell you the truth.." You feel your breath hitch when his smile grows warm, causing you to feel warm inside. Your face quickly flushes before you turn away, earning another chuckle from him. Grasping at the thermos with your free hand to pull it from your Inventory, you hold it up to take a sip. You could just blame it on the cold, but..he probably knows the real reason..
As the sky grows darker, the area begins to glow more and more as you pass areas where lights had been strung up along a path. You glance behind yourself at the contrasting prints in the snow, smiling a bit before turning back. You move your hand away from his for a moment, before wrapping your arms around his that's next to you as you walk. One normally would consider skeletons to be cold, seeing as their bones typically are. But thanks to some additional magic on Sans' part, you'd found his body to be quite warm most of the time..
"i, uh..i heard about this from some people i passed on the way back from the library. sorry, librarby-" You snicker, before urging him to go on. "they said it'd be pretty nice to look at, and since we're a bit early it won't be too crowded. figured you might like it."
"I can't wait to see." You smile kindly at him, following his lead through a lights-covered archway. As the sun finally sets and the moon begins to rise, the area grows much darker than it had been a few moments prior. You glance around in confusion, before various lights finally begin to glow.
Eyes widening in awe, you look around the space. Various different displays cover the area, glowing with all sorts of different colors. You smile wide as you look over each of them, pointing out unique shapes to your datemate. Sans nods and looks when you point, cracking a few jokes about some of them.
"Aren't they beautiful? This is amazing!" You ask, looking at the tall tree made exclusively out of the lights. Sure, Sans could admit it's a beautiful and well crafted display. But in truth, he couldn't care less about that right now. A fond smile crosses his face, a light blue blush from his magic crossing his cheekbones as he admires your expressions. In a space filled with color..all he can seem to want to look at is you.
"..yeah.. beautiful."
You glance over once you hear the almost dreamy tone in his voice, feeling your face begin to burn when you realize what he means. Letting go of his arm, you turn to face him directly. He raises a browbone at you, before holding out his arms and pulling you a little closer to him.
"..Sans..we've..we've been together a while, and.. I was kinda..sorta..wondering if we could maybe?.." His smile shifts to one of reassurance as you struggle to find the right way to ask, before he lifts up a hand to press it against your cheek to get you to stop talking. Surely enough, it works.
"..i think this is a good spot for it..don't you?" He grins, and you can feel your heart rate pick up. Taking a breath, you quickly nod in response. "well, then what are we waiting for?"
Doing your best to calm your nerves, you lean forwards a bit and lean your forehead against his own. ..You'd been wanting to do this for a while, but..well..you weren't too sure when the right time to would be. Or..if Sans would even want to. But right now? ..Right now feels..right.
"..Being with you..has made me the happiest I've ever been, Sans. ..I want to stay with you forever."
"..well..you're stuck with me now that i've gotten attached, so..i don't think you have to worry about being too far from me."
You both share a soft laugh, before you lean forwards a bit more to press your lips against his teeth. The various colors around you all seem to just..blur together, the sounds of your surroundings growing muffled. You find yourself wrapping your arms around his neck to pull him a bit closer, him sharing the sentiment by keeping his arms around your waist. Snow gently continues to fall from the sky, decorating your clothes with bits of white.
A part of you wishes you could stop time, to be trapped in a moment like this forever. ..Even if things don't quite work like that..you can't say you'd ever forget today. It'll live on in your memory.. forever.