Turtle Side Note: I did it! I finally updated! ... I am so slow... guess that's why I picked a turtle to be my name.

After she left, Sans turned to Grillby to find his friend staring at him as if he wanted something. Sans rose a brow at him, "what?"

Grillby shrugged, looking away, not realizing he was staring in the first place.

Sans took a step towards him and nudged him, "come'on g, spill it."

Grillby shook his head.

Sans rolled his eye-lights, "just tell me."

Grillby didn't have anything to say, he didn't even know why he was staring in the first place. He didn't know what had gotten into him lately. There was something bothering him, but he couldn't figure it out. The only times he'd start acting up was when he was at work on Sans' shift. But why would that cause anything. It just... didn't make sense.

His thoughts were broken by a small fist gently bumping into his arm. Sans was standing there, still wearing the same teasing grin, "what is it? hm?"

Grillby had to think of something, his eyes landing on the phone. Ah-ha.

"Well," Grillby began, "I suppose there might be a certain brother you haven't kept in touch with in awhile, no?" Grillby smiled at his save.

Sans looked at him blankly, seeming to be processing what he just said. His eye-lights shrunk a little, under the realization, simply saying, "shit."

The skeleton quickly scurried back to the counter, taking the phone off mute, but leaving it on speaker. "heya, paps, are you still good?"

No response.

Sans furrowed his brow-bones, speaking a little louder, "yo, paps! you there?"

He waited a few more moments.

No response.

He gulped. "papyr--!!??"

He was quickly scooped into the air, a victorious 'Nyeh heh heh' ringing through the diner.

The being quickly flipped Sans to face him, showing themselves to be none other than the great Papyrus.

"HELLO, BROTHER! DID I SURPRISE YOU?" Papyrus asked cheerfully, not noticing the split second of panic on his brother's face, before it quickly changed to his normal expression.

Sans laughed, covering up the fact that his soul had just doubled in speed less than ten seconds ago, "yup. ya got me, bro! nice surprise." He gave his brother his usually lazy grin, "you could even say-"

"SANS, I SWEAR TO ASGORE--"

"-i was chilled to the bone." Sans cut off his brother, finishing his pun.

Papyrus stood emotionless, before dramatically shooting his hands in the air, dropping Sans in the process, "OH. MY.-- SAAAANS!!!!"

Sans looked up at his brother from the ground shrugging, "what?"

Papyrus put his hand on his hips, "CAN YOU NOT SEE ME FOR FIVE MINUTES WITHOUT SAYING A RIDICULOUS PUN!?"

"apparently not." Sans answered straight-forward, standing up and dusting himself off.

Papyrus rolled his eyes at his older brother. In all honestly, he actually loved puns. Maybe he loved them even more than his brother did. But him 'not liking' puns had been a joke between them since Papyrus could remember, so he just kept it up.

Sans looked up at him, raising a brow, "how'd ya even get in here without ringing the bell?"

Papyrus put a hand up to his chest triumphantly, "WELL, YOU SEE, BROTHER, I DEVISED A WAY TO MUTE THE BELL..." he paused, blinking before leaning down to his brother whispering as best as he could, "AND BY THAT, I MEAN I PUT A PIECE OF PAPER IN IT..."

Sans chuckled, looking at his brother in a mixture of amusement and admiration, "shoulda thought you'd come up with such a cool plan to sneak up on me."

"NYEH HEH HEH! OF COURSE YOU SHOULD HAVE, SANS! I AM GREAT AFTER ALL! BUT NOW I MUST ASK...," Papyrus said in his triumphant voice, standing back up to his full height, "WHERE IS THE TINY HUMAN? WE MUST GO HOME SO I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS," he rolled his 'r', just as always, "CAN GET THEM THEIR SPAGHETTI SNACK!"

Sans pointed to the back room doors, "the kid's back there with fuku."

"NYEH HEH HEH!," Papyrus exclaimed, "I SHALL GO GET THEM! THANK YOU, BROTHER!" Papyrus then made a dash towards the doors.

Sans shook his head laughing, "i wish i had that kind of energy."

Grillby smiled as well. Then he thought of Fuku, not wanting her to be cooped up in the diner until late into the night. "Sans."

"what's up?" Sans asked almost like it was a reflex.

Grillby picked up his phone from the counter while talking, "I was wondering if Papyrus and Frisk could walk Fuku home. I don't want her to be here so late."

"i'm sure they will. your house is on the way to our house, so it shouldn' be a problem at all." Sans said with a shrug.

"Thank you." Grillby returned, heading to the back room to tell Fuku to pack up as well.

Before he left, Sans quickly returned, "no problem, g," before watching his friend walk through the door.

As soon as the fire monster was out of sight, Sans felt his whole body sag, his smile dropping as he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. God he was tired. Just...tired.

He rubbed his eye-sockets, being more tender on the injured one, trying to keep himself awake. All he wanted to do anymore was sleep, but that in itself was a challenge with the constant night-terrors waking him up combined with the insomnia.

He looked over at their unfinished lunch, which only Grillby had even began eating. He didn't even want to eat anymore. He knew he had to eat. He needed the magic. But he just couldn't get himself to do anything anymore, not if it was something for himself.

He walked behind the bar, grabbing some tin foil before walking back to the front and wrapping up his food. maybe later i'll eat. He thought to himself.

Maybe later.

He squeezed the tinfoil in his hands disgusted with himself. That's all he ever told himself, maybe later. Later never came. He just kept putting everything off, scared to face it all.

He frustratedly put his wrapped food to the side, pushing his hands into his temples. He didn't know what to do anymore. He wanted to just let it all out, but that wouldn't be fair to everyone he needed to support. He didn't need them to worry. He couldn't let them worry. He cared too much about them. Frisk, Papyrus. They both deserved so much better. But he just... couldn't do it.

He felt his teeth tremble, immediately clenching his jaw to stop it. He couldn't let himself break. Not here, not now, not ever.

He just had to ignore it. Let it go away for a little while. The less you think, the less it'll hurt.

He put on his plastic smile, just as Papyrus, Frisk, Grillby, and Fuku walked out the back door. Well, Papyrus sprinted out, with Frisk twirling in circles behind him and Fuku and her father walking out like normally functioning people.

Frisk stumbled out of their spin, clutching their bag with their painting close to their chest.

Sans smiled.

They seemed to be proud of themself.

Frisk quickly regained their balance from their twirling, turning to Sans, smiling at the skeleton cheerfully. Giving him an eccentric wave goodbye, before heading out the door, shouting to Papyrus before exiting, "Race you home!" They quickly dashed out the door.

Papyrus went running after them, freezing in the doorway, turning to his older sibling, "DON'T FORGET TONIGHT IS STORY NIGHT! SEE YOU LATER, BROTHER!" He then quickly ran out, jumping up to grab the piece of paper stuck in the bell, then began calling out to Frisk.

Sans shook his head laughing a little, turning to the fire family to see Fuku bouncing out of a hug with her father, and dashing towards the door, "No one's going to win a race to MY house!" Her flames brightened for a second before dashing out the door so fast that it became stuck open.

Sans blinked, still not understanding how that personality came from living with someone as quiet as Grillby. He shrugged it off, walking to the cupboard behind the bar to grab the specials menu for the afternoon shift.

Grillby in turn made his way to the door, closing it again, smiling towards the direction his joy went running off to. He was glad she was how she was, he knew first-hand it was harder to get along with people if you weren't very assertive. It was one of the many reasons he was grateful for the friends he had in his life.

Grillby turned, sending a smile towards Sans on that thought.

The skeleton must have caught him in the corner of his eye, his arm reaching half-way across a booth to prop up a menu as he turned to Grillby, his typical grin widening in return, despite him having no idea why the fire elemental was even smiling at him in the first place.

Grillby rose a brow at his friend, surprised to see him putting up the menus when today usually wouldn't have been his turn to do it.

Sans seemed to read the monster's mind, casually saying, "what? can a guy not get ahead of the job for once?"

Grillby laughed softly,shaking his head in response, walking up to his friend. "Would you like me to help, it's supposed to be my turn anyway?" He held out his hand for the skeleton to place the menus in.

Sans blinked at his hand, before shrugging, "sure, g." Then he continued to just place one menu in his friend's hand, walking off to the next booth in the process, not saying another word.

Grillby sent him a look, even though Sans wasn't facing him. He silently walked towards him as Sans stopped at another table, before he reached out his arm and hit his friend on the top of the skull with the menu as he walked passed.

Whipping his skull towards the taller monster, Sans sent him a playful smile, stifling a laugh before going back to setting up the rest of the menus.

Grillby propped the single menu on a higher table, before heading over to the bar area. He looked over to where they were eating, seeing Sans' food in a tin foil wrapping. Grillby furrowed his brows at it, before sighing, letting it go. It wasn't the first time he had done this, and Grillby knew his friend was going through a rough patch and tended to not eat as much when he did.

A few minutes had passed before the restaurant was back in working order for the afternoon crowd. Surprisingly, they still had a good thirty minutes to converse. They spent the time talking about nonsense. Well, it was mostly Sans talking, Grillby just happily listening to whatever Sans was saying.

A few minutes before their time was up, the bell to the front door rang.

The two turned to the door in sync, finding an older woman standing in the door.

Both of them smiled in dumbfounded surprise at who it was.

"Jane?" Grillby asked in somewhat shock, before walking around the counter.

The tall bear monster snapped, pointing a finger accusingly at Grillby, "Hey! What did I tell you, honey?" She said sternly. "I ain't no Jane to you. I believe Mama is the word you be lookin' for, honey."

Sans hopped into the conversation, "i thought you were still on your leave?"

Jane, the tall bear woman, who just stood a few inches below Grillby's height, had been on a leave for she was having a child... again. Her family was already made up of four children and her husband, this one being the fifth. She would usually help with the cooking in the restaurant, rarely coming out from the back room.

She crossed her gray, furred, arms across her chest, giving the skeleton a waggish smile, "Ha! You see, honey, there ain't no leave that mama won't find a way to get out of quick. Mama and the baby are as fit as fiddles and I couldn't stand another day going by with doing nothing. So I'm back early."

Grillby appeared like he was about to say something, just to get shushed by the bear.

"Now, honey, before I hear one darn peep out of you, I want you to know that I don't want no money until the calendar say I was supposed to be back. Got it?" She said, looking at Grillby, her playful green eyes meeting his with only pure confidence.

Grillby looked at her shocked, "But, Jane--"

"That's Mama to you!" She quickly interrupted, "And no butts, thighs, or breasts about it, honey! I don't want none of your money, until I was suppose to get it. Got it?"

The elemental sighed. She certainly was quite the character. "If... that is what you want..."

Jane laughed, "Course it is what I want, honey. Mama knows best." Her eyes then flicked down to Sans, immediately landing on his bruised eye, "What in the bees nest happened to you!?" She said, looking at his eye, a bit of concern slipping into her confident, booming, voice.

Sans couldn't even process the sentence before she went on again.

"It looks like someone sucker-punched the stinger right out of your wasp!" She said as she looked at him closer. She then gasped, grabbing his arm. "And what is this, you're all skin and bones, honey!"

Sans laughed, winking, "i mean, i am a sk--"

She quickly cut him off, "Why don't Mama make you some nice fresh toast with ketchup?" She then began strutting towards the kitchen.

The skeleton blinked, unsure of what was happening, "wha- no, i'm fine, ma--"

Jane walked back, grabbing his hand, "Too bad, honey, Mama is going to fix you right up whether you like it or not."

Sans glanced up at the clock on the wall, "but the shift--"

"Don't you worry none about the shift, honey. Lil' G-man can handle a few humans." She said confidently, still dragging Sans along. "Ain't that right, honey." She said, sending a sharp smile towards Grillby.

Grillby nodded, laughing a little on the look on Sans' face. He didn't seem mad, but he didn't seem overjoyed either. The skeleton looked almost like he was begging for Grillby to make an excuse, sending him a half-humored glare when Grillby nodded.

Grillby laughed a little more at that expression, the feeling from earlier coming back once again, and he also, once again ignored it.

Sans would be lying if he said he didn't love Mama. Anyone would be lying if they said they didn't love Mama to bits. Even the people who hated her still loved her. But that didn't stop him from sighing as she continued to drag him along, even if it was all in good intention.

After a while, Sans was left staring at his toast. Mama was talking off his ear about things that he was only half listening too, even though he appeared to be fully engaged in the conversation.

He picked up his toast, looking over the odd condiment that dressed it. He took a bit, one continuous thought still buzzing around his skull.

They were worth it.