Pyromantic

Deep and Whispered Thoughts

After the tea tantrum, you both went back out to the bar area, gaining a few "knowing" glances from your friends, which, while you just scoffed at them, focusing on your tea, made Grillby blush slightly, quickly rushing to retrieve an order from a customer across the room. Sans noticed his blush, even though nobody else did.

Upon entering in the conversation, you found out that Sans and Vunde were bringing Ez up to speed on the plans for Sunday. You had nearly forgotten! Excitement flooded through you, thinking of how much fun it was going to be, and being able to meet the great Papyrus! You grinned as you sipped at your tea.

Ezra seemed to be just as excited, giving you a wide grin and bright eyes. Though, after a moment, they slipped away to a more worried expression. She turned towards the other two.

"Hey, did [y/n] tell you how we ended up bumping into each other earlier?" She asked in a serious tone. The other two, now also looking concerned, shook their heads, but shifted a quick glance towards you.

'Fuckkkk, I just can't catch a break, can I?' you thought as you sipped at your tea, eyes wandering around the room.

As they talked about earlier, your ears burning red as they went on, you somehow found yourself watching Grillby. You idly tracked him going across the bar, flames swaying as he took long, elegant strides. You took note of the fact that the drinks on the tray didn't sway at all, even though he was moving fairly quick. You thought to yourself that you couldn't do that without extreme concentration, and wondered just how long he had been doing this.

He had immense skill, far more than some of the owners of some other joints you had worked at in the past, and they had been in the business nearly their whole lives. Come to think of it, you didn't even know how old Grillby was.

You knew from some common knowledge that the monsters, being constructed of magic, did not age in the same way humans did, and as such, could live not only a very long time, but also not actually look as though they had aged. 'Like vampires...?' you briefly thought, but chuckled, waving the thought away. 'Don't be silly now, [y/n],'

While deep in thought, you had somehow leaned across the bar, elbows propped up, cup of tea in both hands, brought up to your lips, but you not drinking. You had your eyes fixed on Grillby still, face relaxed, but in heavy concentration at the same time. Absentmindedly, you began to tap the side of the cup with your finger nails, a mismatched tune that couldn't be placed.

You had completely forgotten about the conversation being had about you just two feet to your right. Questions, theories, and other thoughts had taken up your mind, making you zone out of the rest of the bar. In that moment, it was just you and Grillby, who appeared in that moment to you a sort of mystery; one that you didn't quite have all the pieces to or know the order of yet.

And you loved a good mystery.

You were so lost in thought that you didn't notice when your friends tried to get your attention, but, you did notice when your hood suddenly came up and blocked your sight.

"Hey!" You called out, flipping your hood back and fixing your hair that was now mussed up. You turned towards the trio, just in time to see Sans' orbital go from glowing blue to shadow. "What do you want, skele-pun?" You asked, annoyed at being pulled away from your thoughts so rudely.

"Well," Vunde answered, "We wanted to know what those guys wanted," She gestured to Ezra. "Ez told us about what happened,"

"I think they just wanted to pick a fight," You replied, glancing back at where Grillby had been. He was gone now; probably back in the kitchen. "I can handle a few jerks looking for an easy target," You cooly leaned against the bar, "Besides, we were in Ez's shop; she could have caught on camera the greatness of me beating their asses; You wouldn't have to imagine the look on their faces," You chuckled, taking a sip from your tea.

"Who are you fighting?" came Grillby's voice, suddenly behind you, making you choke on your tea in surprise.You had a bit of a coughing fit afterwards, to which Ezra reached over the bar to pat your back in aid.

"'member those scoundrels from last night?" Grillby nodded. "turns out they followed [y/n] earlier today, and tried to get into a fight, but ez stopped it," Even though Sans sounded as laidback as usual, there was something more serious lying in his words.

Grillby was silent. The rest of your party was as well, a heavy feeling settling in the air. Your coughing fit had stopped, but you were still bent over the counter, gripping the tea cup hard enough to turn your knuckles white.

You had prepared yourself for this, slightly, in the back of your mind. Based on how he had reacted last night, you didn't think Grillby would react well to the news that they had come at you, alone. You didn't want to cause him, Sans, or even Vunde any more worry, that was your main goal, even knowing it would risk your own safety. You were actually pretty scared of the thought of what might have happened had you not found Ezra's shop, if they had ended up cornering you, all alone down some alley....

However, you would take risking your own safety over the safety of your friends any time. Plus, add what could happen if Grillby or Sans decided to step in, the already strained monster-human relations would practically become non-existent. All because of you. You couldn't do that to them, or anyone.

You braced yourself for their anger, for them to somehow make it your own fault that they had saw you, followed you, tried to hurt you...

But it never came.

Instead, you felt a gentle hand on your back. You looked up to see it's owner, Grillby, looking down at you. He was showing his features, he seemed to be doing that a lot around you lately, and gave you a look of worry.

"Hey, I'm okay, nothing happened," He looked more frightened than you felt, so you tried to reassure him.

"It's not okay," He said softly, nearly a whisper. "I promised; I should've known they might try something outside of the bar. What if they did do something? What if..."

He trailed off, closing his eyes and taking a couple deep breaths. You two didn't notice, but the others did, that you had gotten closer to each other, just a few inches between you.

The others watched with bated breath as the scene before them unfolded. The silent gesture Grillby had made by placing his hand on your shoulder, your failed attempt to reassure him, and his whispered words they could not hear that had made you lean in, closer and closer...

"Hey, Grillbz! Can I get another drink?!"

You both jumped away from each other, flush faced and awkward. You pulled your hood up to cover your face; Grillby sent his mask of flames back up, hastily grabbing a bottle and a glass, working his way across the room to the patron that had called for him.

Vunde and Ezra groaned, slumping in their seats, their heads in their hands, heavily disappointed. Sans' smile dropped for a moment, bonebrows scrunching in frustration, but then he smiled once more, wider even.

'guess this leaves more opportunities for me...' he thought to himself, amused.