The Smell of Old Books (Sans/Reader)

Coworker?

Running a bookstore was easy; dealing with customers was not.

You've run this store for years all by yourself. A small but well-known bookstore that was hidden in the more vintage part of town. Other stores around you consisted of passed down family restaurants and used clothing boutiques.

Being in this well-worn building felt way more like a home to you than your miniscule apartment down on main street did.

Your parents gave you the keys to the store years ago and told you to make it your own. The books, the shelves, everything. The regular customers... They even told you that it would be okay if you decided to sell it. Mom was dying then and dad couldn't handle coming back to somewhere your mother couldn't really come back to.

This place was a home to you. Despite all the times you've moved around town, this place was the only constant. No matter how many friends you had left or family members died... This old bookstore wasn't leaving you anytime soon.

However, as much as you'd love this store, the customers were another thing. You didn't mind a few; the regulars were some of your most favorite people. Some groups of teenagers started coming down here a few months ago – crowding up your already cozy store and filling it with screams and shouts. You were lucky if one of them bought a pen or something.

It didn't help you were bad with people already. You had a hard time saying no to pushy sales clerks or telemarketers. You had a hard time telling people no! It wasn't easy to shout at customers to leave, even after they'd been loitering for hours. You just couldn't do it. No matter how much you really wished you could.

But at least you'd admit it. You were awkward and somewhat plain. It wasn't hard to find something more interesting than you. Even if it was a dumb little gel pen...

You took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, thankful for the lack of people today. It was a Monday – which meant a slow day for you. A slow day meant you could get caught up on reading.

There wasn't anyone else running the store besides you. You were the owner, the clerks, the attendants (do bookstores have attendants?) and literally everything else involved. It got lonely sometimes, being by yourself for most of the day, but you'd prefer it to being swarmed with people who didn't truly like you.

The air around you smelt like dust and old books. Most people wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as you did but the smells always brought a smile to your face. You praticically grew up in this store! You couldn't help it, even if some of the memories were a bit sad.

You grabbed a classic, well-loved book from your pile by the register. You couldn't bring yourself to read the newer books from the shelves – even though your parents did it constantly. Those were meant for the customers, not for your own pleasure! Once in a while, you ended up stealing a book or two. Well, not steal... You put the money in the cashier. (It made no sense to you why you did this. All the money in the cashier was techinically yours.)

You eventually became so immersed in your book's world that you hardly knew that a customer had walked in... And two hours had passed.

You barely recognized the sound of the bell chiming until a hand slammed onto the marble counter. Instinctively, you jumped up.

"'Ey, punk! You've been reading on the job?"

The voice was a gruff sounding voice, but it was clearly feminine. You looked up and found a dark blue, scaly-esque monster with long, red hair tucked into a ponytail. Her eye were a pretty yellow color that reminded you of a cat, whilst the other one was covered up by an almost brand new looking eyepatch.

You had almost forgot. Monsters were real. They had climbed up from Mt. Ebott almost a year ago after the barrier had been broken.
It wasn't as if you didn't like them; of course not! You actually found most of them to be nicer than your own species. They just didn't tend to come around your area often, so it was rare to see one. It was actually rare to see anyone at this time of the day... Which was around nine in the morning.

"I," you stuttered out, "Um, hello... I-Is there anything you need?"
"Hey there!" the woman gave you a huge smile, her voice echoing throughout the small space, "What's up, nerd?"

You felt nervous, but this was how it was when anyone came and talked to you - customer, monster, or not, "I... How can I help you today?"
"Well," her voice sounded a bit timid, despite the intimidating front she gave you at first, "I was actually, um, lookin' for a job..."
"A job?" you felt confusion, "I'm sorry, but we're... I'm not really looking for employees at the moment."

And it was true. You weren't. You hardly had enough money to pay for your own crappy little apartment. It wasn't like you could really pay for another person entirely.

Dissapointment fell on her face and you began to feel awful, "...Well, my girlfriend had told me that she came here one day and only saw you workin' here. I guess she must've thought that you were short or something..."
"I, um," you took a deep breath, "I can see if I can figure something out. Do you... Do you wanna try, like, an interview I guess?"

Against all your better judgement; you had asked her. You could hardly turn anyone down. Dad even said that would be your ultimate downfall, although that was in a joking manner. You guessed it wasn't a joke anymore.

Her face lit up, though, and you could hardly feel regret for what you said, "Really? Dude, thanks!"
"Would you like to do it... right now?" You stammered out nervously, "Well, like! There's no rush, you can come in later whenever you're ready for it?"

"Nah!" she jumped up and sat down right on the counter, making herself comfortable. She gave me a shit eating grin.

Despite the circumstances and your unwarranted anxiety, you laughed a bit. Most people wouldn't have the type of guts to do something so... Unique? The word seem to fit the monster, yet you didn't even know her name. You decided that you liked her.

"'M name's Undyne, punk!" Undyne pointed at herself, smirking. Well, you guessed that fixed one thing now, "I came from the Underground and I used to live in Waterfall! Um... You'd probably wouldn't know what that is but it was super cool!"

Undyne's eye sparkled with determination and you felt like giving her the job now, if only to make her smile. The word unique really did fit with her.

"Hi, Undyne," you said weakly, "My name's _. It's nice to meet you."

You held your hand out and Undyne shook it enthusiastically.

"_, huh? Cool name," she let go of your hand and put hers it atop of the counter, "I guess you need to know a few more things about me, right? Alphys told me that I should say some things like prior job experience – blah, blah..."

The name she had said sounded familiar and while Undyne spoke of how she used to fight for the Underground's royal guard, the name finally clicked with you.

"Alphys?" you interrupted her accidentaly and she gave you a quizzical look.
"...Yeah? That's my girlfriend, why?" She raised an eyebrow at you.

You laughed a tiny bit, "She's... She's been coming down her for a little while, I think. She's really small, right?"
"That's my babe!" Undyne seemed elated you knew about Alphys, "Such a cute little thing, isn't she?..."
"She almost wiped out my entire science section," your voice slowly becoming more confident as you spoke, the intial nervousment almost washed away, "I had to order at least a few dozen more books so I begin to replace what she's bought."

Alphys was one of the nicer regulars you had. You loved when she came down and spoke with you for a few minutes after buying her books. You and her clicked well, if only for the fact you both seemed to be a bit socially awkward.

Undyne hollered out laughing, "Damn! That's sounds like my nerd!"
"She's a sweetheart," you smiled, "Anyways... I just need to ask you a few questions and then we can figure out everything from there if that's okay."

You sounded so in control, and you felt a somewhat weird satisfaction that you could get your voice not to waver in front of a stranger.

"Anything!" she clenched her fist in a heroic way, "I will answer any and all your questions with ease, human!"
You stifled another laugh, slowly finding yourself to like this passionate monster, "A-alright!"