Chapter Text
“Susie! Susie, wake up!” Fluffy paws pushed insistently at Susie's side. Underneath soft blankets she curled up, unwilling to let the day start.
“Nuh uh,” Susie grunted. She reached blindly in the direction of Ralsei's voice, and when her hand made contact with fuzzy fur she grabbed and mashed his face into a pillow.
“Susie!” He squawked indignantly and flailed to get free. “This is important! There's someone approaching the closet!”
Now that caught her attention. She bolted upright, heart hammering. “It's not Kris?”
“No!!! It's–”
“Shit. Shit shit shit,” Susie chanted as she stumbled out of bed and bolted from her room, taking the castle steps two at a time.
This was going to look bad, but it was better than someone accidentally stumbling into the Dark World, right? She could talk her way out of this, right?! Oh, god, what if it was Alphys? What if it was Toriel?! Please let it be anyone but Toriel!
With a huge leap, she lunged into the light, letting it carry her up. She slammed the closet door open just as the handle started to twist.
On the other side of the door was Sans. His startled expression and frozen-stiff posture might have been funny under ordinary circumstances. He was always so deadpan, so it wasn't something she got to see every day. As it was, though, Susie just felt her stomach drop.
They looked at each other in the resounding silence. Distantly, Susie listened as birds chirped merrily outside. The sun was up, but only barely. It was Sans who broke eye contact first, the lights in his sockets darting away as he rummaged through the paper takeout bag in his hand. “mornin’,” he greeted her calmly. “nice day out.”
“...Morning,” Susie managed to try and sound at least a little normal.
He held something out to her. It was wrapped in slightly greasy paper and smelled delicious. She accepted it, feeling strangely nervous.
“Um. Whats…?”
“breakfast sandwich. egg, cheddar, sausage.”
Susie's stomach grumbled audibly. She flushed. “Okay, but why are you here??”
Sans shrugged, holding up the bag, which clearly still held several sandwiches. “leaving tori some breakfast. i thought this was the teacher’s lounge and that there might be a mini fridge in there.” After a beat he added, disarmingly casual, “what about you? bit early for class.”
“UH. I'm. Just. Here early. For class.” Susie smoothly deflected. He'd never suspect a thing.
“ok. cool. sure.” He was studying her carefully. This time she was the one to look away, busying herself with unwrapping the sandwich. “...anything you wanna talk about?”
“Nope,” Susie said quickly.
“right. see ya later, kiddo.”
Susie didn't go to work that evening. The idea of being questioned was just…too much. She just didn't want things to change. Why did this always have to happen?
This time, not only was Susie awoken by fluffy Ralsei hands, but also an annoying drumming sound. “Uuuuugh.” She tried to cover her head with the pillow, but Ralsei snatched it away and swatted her grasping hand with it.
“Susie! Susie, Sans is back again! He's knocking on the storage closet door!”
“Are you serious?!” She kicked off Kris' covers, swearing as she got tangled in them.
“My Land!” she heard Queen shout nonsensically from upstairs as she stormed out into the hallway. The knocking took on an especially irritating and inconsistent rhythm as she threw herself into the Light World once more. This time, despite kicking the door open with considerable force, Sans didn't look surprised in the slightest. He held out a wrapped sandwich.
“mornin’. today it's maple bacon.”
All annoyance was immediately forgiven. “Aw sweet! Thanks!”
“no prob.”
They stood in silence, just as they had the day prior. Susie made a face and began to slowly slide back into the closet.
“my little brother went on a trip,” Sans said suddenly.
Susie paused, then cracked the door back open.
“‘s just me in the house. probably gonna be that way for quite awhile. it freaks me out a bit, to be honest. don't like the quiet.”
She opened it even further to give him a sharp toothed grin. “Aw, what, afraid your big dumb house is haunted or something?”
“yeah i heard there's spooky skeletons in it. too scary.”
A bark of laughter escaped her before she could stop it. “...Man. Is this your way of trying to get me to stay at your place?”
Sans shrugged. “you'd be doin' me a solid.”
Susie felt the weight of the key and the cellphone in her pocket, and she ducked her head. “I–Listen, I appreciate it, but you've done so much for me already. I really don't wanna be a burden…”
“like i said, bein' alone isn't my cup of tea. it's no skin off my back, having you there. now, if you don't want to, that's another thing entirely. don't think i'm trying to bug you into doing something that you don't wanna do.” Just like when he'd gotten her the phone, he was now determinedly avoiding her gaze. “it could just be a sometimes thing, y’know. just, whenever you feel like it.”
Dammit, he thought she was a poor little homeless kid sleeping alone in a closet. This was so embarrassing. For a single wild moment, she thought about telling Sans everything. About the Dark World, about the absentee Knight, about the apparently on-hold prophecy. She thought about grabbing him and punting his boney ass right into the closet, showing him everything so that there would be no room for doubt.
Instead, she asked, “got any Blood Crushers movies at your place?”
“no. too scary.”
“Hahahaha you weenie baby. We're marathoning the whole series tonight.”
“...all of them? even the one where they go to space?”
“Hell yeah, that's the best one!”
“can we skip the one where they cross over with ice-e?”
“What?! That's a thing?!?”
“ah, crud.”
“WE'RE WATCHING THAT ONE FIRST!”
“that sucked.”
“No it was awesome!!!! Why do you hate cinema?! Where's your freaking joy?!” Susie lobbed a popcorn at him, enjoying the way it bounced off his skull. “It was so badass when Ice-e showed up and said his signature catchphrase and crushed the mad scientist into blood!!!”
“lame. he just showed up at the end with no setup and stole all the attention from the protagonist.”
“Who CARES!! it was BADASS!”
“hehe, just teasing. it was pretty fun, actually.”
“Hah!” Susie pumped a fist in the air at her victory. She was getting good at this debate stuff. Next time Berdly mouthed off about something, she'd win for sure! She sagged back against the couch, which was shockingly comfortable despite how worn out and ugly it was. The green didn't match the rest of the home at all…
Sans carefully tugged the popcorn bowl away from her before it could tip over in her loosening grasp. As her eyes began to drift shut, she felt a soft blanket settling over her.
“g’night, suze. thanks for being here.”
“Night, weeniebones. Try not to have too many nightmares,” she tried to say. She wasn't sure how clear her mumbled words were, but based on the chuckle he heard enough.