Chapter Text
You slump in your chair and groan exasperatedly.
Tonight was just not as productive as you thought it would be, even with the deadline so close, you couldn’t get over the mental block that stopped you from progressing on the piece any further. You run a hand through your hair for a moment, thinking about what to do.
You decide tonight was just a wash, so you clean up your workstation and put everything back into it's proper place. You grab your leather satchel and head out of your studio.
Your art studio wasn’t that far from your small apartment, only about two blocks away. It was far cheaper to rent out a small unit separately than to find a large apartment to accommodate all your art supplies, plus, it got you in the creative headspace more than if you were to work entirely at home (not to mention it got you out of the house too…).
It was early autumn in the city, so the walk back home was cool, but not freezing just yet, which you were eternally grateful for because you were just in your dirty painter's overalls and a thin t-shirt with a well-loved black zip-up hoodie on top. Saying that though… you were definitely starting to feel a bit cold, you take a note of where you are and you realise you’re pretty close to your favourite coffee shop and it was still open.
“Aw sweet” you say happily.
You walk towards the coffee shop, the bell above the door jingled as you opened it.
“Hello, welcome to the- Oh! It’s you! want your usual?” The monster barista greets you.
“Yeah thanks if you don’t mind” you walk up to the counter, getting your purse ready from your satchel.
It had been 9 years since the monsters came to the surface, you were a student at the time so you couldn’t find a lot of time to keep up with the events; especially since you lived quite far away from Ebbott. But you remember the looks on their faces when the news had shown you the first glimpses of the monsters; each and every one of them was smiling and looking to the sky, some of them were even crying. You can’t imagine how that must have felt after being underground for so long…
Skipping to the present day though, you had moved to one of the more ‘progressive’ cities for work, and had fallen in love with it. It was a real melting pot between different human cultures, as well as the monsters and it was great for your inspiration. You’ve lived here for about five years now, and you don’t see yourself moving away ever .
“You’re here a bit late…Got art block or somethin’?” The barista asks, handing you your latte.
“Mmhm, you got it. It’s probably because I got started a bit late today that’s all. Should be finished before the deadline though” You pay for your drink.
"Ah I see! Well I’m sure it’s gonna look awesome! Are you gonna post it online when it’s done?” They ask you, quite enthusiastically.
You smile, “Oh yeah totally, if I get some progress done tomorrow, then I’ll hopefully post an update then, but we’ll see” You turn to head out the shop.
“Can’t wait, have a good one!” They wave you goodbye as you leave.
“You as well! See you later!” You wave to them as well.
…
You get back to your apartment pretty soon after that, dropping your satchel by the door as you enter. You walk through your living room to get to your bedroom, tossing your empty cup in the bin as you do so.
‘I should really clean up in here…’ you think, but that was tomorrow’s problem.
Your bedroom was dark, but you knew your way around to avoid tripping on any dirty clothes on the floor. Speaking of which, you strip from your painter's clothes and toss them on a chair to the left of your room; you were more than likely going to wear the same things again tomorrow, potentially with a different shirt, so there was no need to add it to the ‘dirty’ pile that was by your door.
Now in just your underwear, you flop onto your large bed and wrap your blanket around you. You didn’t bother to take your hair down from it’s ponytail, you were going to tie it up again tomorrow anyways. But you settle in nonetheless, loving the softness of your blanket on your bare back and you slowly drift off…
… for all of 20 minutes
You get woken up by the loud noises of people in the apartment next to yours; it sounded like they were moving stuff around, and one of the people inside was talking very loudly.
“Da fuck?” You groan, annoyed that your comfortable slumber was disturbed so soon.
Your brain is blank for a minute, until a key detail your landlord had put into the unit chat last week, pops into your head.
They were the new tenants.
And they just so happened to be your new neighbours.
You groan again, you could make your introductions tomorrow, right now you just needed some sleep. They were probably just excited to move somewhere new (and cheap) and didn't know the walls were on the thinner side just yet. You could politely tell them about that tomorrow when you met them.
Thankfully though, the loud noises seemed to subside after a while and you drifted off again, This time with no more disruptions.
...
It was the next morning and you awoke groggily; your ponytail had shifted in your sleep to be on one side of your head, several of your pillows were on your floor and about half of your body was still under the blanket, despite having wrapped yourself up completely. Ah well, that was to be expected with the broken sleep you had.
You push yourself to the edge of the bed, your legs hanging off of it. You let out a long sigh and finally stand up to get ready.
You make your way to the bathroom and fix your hair; opting for a nicer look by pinning your hair back with a giant claw-clip you had and leaving some face-framing strands down as well. If you were meeting new people today, it would probably help to make them think you weren't an absolute mess (which you often were) so you actually put some thought into your appearance today. You put on a minimal amount of mascara and decided that this was enough for some strangers. You finish up in the bathroom and go back into your messy bedroom to get dressed.
Instead of wearing the dirty clothes you had on yesterday, you chose a nice green cold-shoulder sweater, blue jeans and brown boots. You finished the look with a brown belt and a thin fashion scarf that didn't actually provide any extra warmth, but it sure looked cute! Overall, it was a far nicer outfit that you would wear ordinarily (especially since you were working today) but first impressions were everything! You could let them see the true, lazy, messy version of yourself after they'd settled in for a while.
In fact, you probably wouldn't see a whole lot of your new neighbours; you worked uncertain hours most of the time and often late into the night. Although it was certainly a lot more routine now because of your second job.
Because while you were a full-time artist, the gaps between jobs were always uncertain. So to ensure you could, y'know live, You had a part-time being a lecturer for the local college. You mostly worked Tuesdays and Thursdays there, so you still had a lot of time to work on your art career. It wasn't bad actually. You always made sure you had some money left over from bills to be able to save up for a treat every now and again, so life at the moment was pretty chill.
But anyways, you get ready to leave your apartment. You grab your satchel from the front door and made sure you had everything you need inside of it; purse, sketchbook, pencil case, travel paints, fine-liners, hand sanitizer and some granola bars. That looked like everything, but you felt as though you needed something else in your bag... You take a quick glance around your apartment and quickly realise what else you needed, Your lunch!
You set your bag down on one of your barstools and open your fridge; there wasn't a whole lot in there that you could have for lunch, so you grab what's available; an almost empty packet of ham slices, half a block of cheese and some caramelised onion chutney. You place them all on the kitchen counter and get to work making two sandwiches. Once they're made, you cut them diagonally and wrap them in tin foil then place them at the very top of your bag. Now you were ready for the day.
You grab your phone and keys and make your way out of the apartment, locking it behind you before you went over to the unit next to you.
This was is, you were about to meet your new neighbours. You straighten out your outfit before knocking on the door twice.
A moment passes as you wait, and you feel just a little bit excited to see who your new neighbours are.
You hear a key turn in front of you, the door opening halfway. You look ahead, expecting to be face-to-face with this mystery neighbour; but seeing no-one there, you look down. But to your surprise, your neighbour is a lot shorter than you were expecting and also a lot less human.
"Oh! Uh, hey welcome to the unit. I'm your neighbour" You gesture your thumb towards your apartment's direction.
"oh, hey i'm sans" He smiles, lazily copying your reaction which made you slightly embarrassed.
Turns out, your new neighbour is a skeleton! You didn't think you'd ever met a skeleton monster before and now one was living right next door to you! You'd obviously met and interacted with monsters before, but something about him being a skeleton was morbidly intriguing, (although as you thought that, you wondered if it was a little bit racist? Probably best to ignore that initial thought then).
You take a second to introduce yourself as well and hold out your hand for him to shake.
Sans looks at your hand for a moment, seemingly debating whether or not he should shake your hand, but must ultimately decide to because a moment later, he does so.
As soon as you shake his hand, you're met with a sudden noise.
PPPPPRRRRRRRRT!
Did... did he have a whoopee cushion in his hand?
You pull your hand back slowly to reveal that, yes, he did in fact have a whoopee cushion taped to the inside of his hand. You look at it, then back to Sans' face, he was still smiling exactly how he was before, but something about his eyes (or...eye-lights as they appeared to be, which was pretty cool in your opinion) made you guess he was waiting for your reaction. You look back down at the whoopee cushion, and laugh.
You laugh for a while. Completely caught off guard by it, you've erupted into a fit of laughter.
Sans seems delighted by this, and has even started chuckling at your display.
"big fan of whoopee cushions eh?"
You try and calm yourself down so you can respond, "Oh man! I haven't seen one of these since I was in middle school!"
"what can i say? i'm a sucker for the classics" he shrugs.
You smile, "Where were you even hiding that damn thing?!"
"magic" Sans says plainly.
It's a bit of a shitty answer, but you don't really see a need to pry further. You sort of just want to keep talking to him for a while.
"So is it just you living here?" You ask
"yep, although my younger brother will probably be here so often it won't feel like it"
"Oh! How come you live apart then?"
Sans shrugs, "i had to move away for work, was just easier to commute that way"
"Ah I see. I mean it's good that you still see each other often! I haven't seen my sister in a few months actually, now that I think about it"
"how come, if you don't mind me asking?" Sans asks you carefully.
You wave him off assuredly, "Eh it's nothing serious, she's just got a demanding job is all. Not got a lot of time for things"
You can see that he's silently relieved about that, "oh that sucks, sorry about that"
"Nah it's fine, I think I'm catching up with her soon anyways"
The two of you talk a little bit more until you look down at your phone to check the time; it was now 12:30 and you should have been at your studio an hour ago!
"Oh damn, well I better be going otherwise I'm going to be home late again... I'll see you around sometime?" You smile.
"yeah sure," Sans seems to think about something for a moment before speaking again, "actually, i'm having a housewarming party this weekend if you wanna come round? just gonna be some friends and my bro"
You're surprised that he'd offer an invitation to you so soon, but you'd be damned if you let it go to waste.
"Oh for sure! I'll be there man, I'll bring you a gift too!"
"aw thanks, i appreciate it!"
"No problem! I'll see you then"
"see ya"
You turn to walk to the elevator, but you quickly realise you don't know what time he wants you there. You immediately spin around back to Sans' door, only to realise he was still lingering in the doorway.
"5pm, that's when the party starts" Sans says, clearly knowing what you'd forgotten to ask.
"Right! Thank you Sans!" You smile and wave at him before disappearing around the corner.
Well... that went well!
But now you'd have another project to do before this weekend on top of your existing deadline which was in a week.
'whatever, Sans seems cool enough for the effort' you think. You'd probably have to pull a few all-nighters at your studio to make-up for the lost progress of your first project...
But... what the hell do you make him?!