Chapter Text
I felt a giant sense of relief when the training session with Undyne was finally over. Not that I didn't like it, it was more of a feeling like my life had turned upside down and there weren't many things that I knew how to handle.
The training being one of them.
I still had my job and my bestie beside me but now there were so many things that kept me occupied and moving foward in a fast pace.
"Sans, are you sure that agreeing to train with Undyne was a good idea?"
"dunno, maybe it is. sweetcheeks, we are facing an unknown person with Asgore-knows-how-much knowledge that may doom us all. and there's still your SOUL thingy we have to figure out. putting that aside, there we have two mad scientists from hell that want do dissect you but won't because of their morals."
"Care to rephrase all of this....slowly?"
"alright. if you stop training, you'll get fat from eating pasta."
"Fucking hell, Sans, stop being so savage!"
"can't do, sweetcheeks. i'm not the mushy type, as you can see."
He pointed out at his bones and I exhaled out of my nose, holding in my laughter.
"Alrighty then, I'm just gonna let this one slide off. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, I'm going to visit Mark today. We still need to have a rematch."
"fine. i'll pick you up later."
"Fine. Don't wanna get in trouble like last time when I walked home."
He gave me a small somber smile before letting go of my hand, awkwardly leaning in closer to my face to kiss my cheek.
I grumbled in frustration, grabbing his skull and giving him a proper kiss just to see his face painted in cyan blue.
"See you later, then, Sansy. Take care."
"you too, sweetcheeks."
I casually strolled down the street before things get really awkward. It wasn't like I felt like that being around him, but whenever we tried to show our affection for each other in public, everyone made weird faces of gave us unwanted attention. Besides, I knew that the moment I go back home and get a chance to be alone with him I could do whatever the hell I wanted to.
The walk to Mark's apartment was short and quick, even if I walked slowly because my muscles ached and my limbs felt like they're gonna break.
I took my time and let myself aprecciate the surroundings, enjoying the light breeze of air tangling my hair and watched the trees in the distance swaying slowly as the wind danced around the leafs and branches.
There was something peaceful about this moment and I felt like my soul soared from the calmness that gently enveloped me in its embrace. It was mesmerizing.
I felt aware of every emotion and doubt, it made me feel like I'm my own person.
Finally reaching the door of the big building, I've decided that I could just walk up the stairs instead of going into the elevator right beside me, for the sake of not being lazy, even with all the pain and soreness.
Reaching the first floor felt like a piece of cake. And then I went up further and before I knew it, I reached my destination of the day.
I guess training made me more durable in everyday situations. I kinda felt better when I knew that I could run to work without stopping to catch my breath and the thought of being a big round egg didn't feel right anymore. I excercised now.
When I reached the door I lightly knocked and waited for him to open them for me.
"Just a sec, I need to-"
I heard something smashing on the floor and his rushed steps made me think that perhaps his apartment isn't as neat as his office in the lab is.
Minutes passed before he unlocked and opened the door wide open, greeting me with a small smile.
"Thanks for being patient enough, sis."
"Uh, okay. Hi, by the way."
"Oh, yeah, hi. Come on, get in. Don't just stand there."
I shulffed past him and took a glance on the messy place that was my brother's natural habitat.
It was definetly in a messier state than my own apartment. There were papers and notebooks everywhere, big stacks of books and cardboards from pizza and a lot of trash from the takeout food. The place didn't look dirty, just messy. There was also a smashed cup on the ground which I assumed it fell when he tried to reach the door.
"How did you succeed in making this place so messy in...what, a few months?"
"Well, I...Um, I spend most of my time in the lab, so, uh...Look, I don't have that much time. I get in there, work more and fall asleep in my bed if I'm lucky. If not, that desk or the couch has to suffice."
"That's a solid excuse, mister. But you could've cleaned the place today, you know? I know you had a day off today because you weren't in the lab."
He looked away from my gaze, fumbling his hands and going pale for a moment. I could swear that he was hiding something from me.
"Yeah, you're right. Well, I guess I should have. It's just that-....Ugh, nevermind. Wanna play?"
"Nope."
Man, the amount of ignorance that my brother had was so annoying.
I wasn't a big cleaning enthusiast but I wanted to help him clean every nook and cranny of this apartment asap.
"There is no chance that we'll play video games when your whole apartment is like this! Come on, if you don't wanna help me clean your shit, I will not play. Fuck, I know you enough that I know you like order in this entropic way of yours, but this looks like a bomb fell into your apartment and I'm not okay with it. I'll play if you help me clean this mess."
"You don't have-"
"What? Help you out? I know, but I want to."
"I meant to say-... You know what, okay. If I argue, we'll just waste time."
I couldn't believe that he agreed on this so quickly. Usually he would try to persuade me into something he wants to be in his way, but now he pinched the bridge of his nose and walked off to get the stuff we need.
It was unusual.
I didn't like unusual.
It would usually mean something's wrong.
I'll figure it out. But first, I'll try to sort this mess, hopefully.
____________________________________________
I kinda regret my decision now.
I was cleaning the trash and it turns out there's a lot or it. The trashcan was also full of papers and when I saw a glimpse of the floor around his desk I felt such satisfaction and relief that I couldn't describe it.
It's been two long hours and Mark was halfway trough his part of the job. He agreed on sorting all the papers scattered everywhere after he cleaned the remains of the smashed cup.
He worked his way trough slowly and I noticed that he's pretty tired already.
I saw a bunch of papers underneath the desk and all I could notice was the fact that it said 'confidential' on the first one. I gestured him to take it and he forcibly grabbed them from my hand, widening his eyes like he caught me doing something I shouldn't.
"Don't touch that! I said I'll take care of my documents!"
"Okay. What does it-"
"Don't ask. That's why it says "confidential". "
"Oh, ok."
He sighed loudly, running his fingers trough his hair and procceeding to put them away.
When both of our tasks were finished, the only thing left to do was to put the books back on the shelf. We did this together and I could see up close how tense and stressed he is. He acted really careful in my presence, trying to talk less and finish this.
Again, it felt unnatural.
I felt uneasy and jittery, there was something about him today that wasn't like him.
But what?
I can't figure it out.
Something upset him or maybe he's feeling nervous because he hasn't made any progress with figuring out why is my soul weird or maybe he had a really bad day or-
"Ugh, my headache got worse. Be right back, I need some meds."
Or that. Hmmm.
He walked away and I continued to put the books on the shelf and as soon as I went to pick another one I could've sworn that I saw it before.
The book looked like a journal.
Too curious for my own good, I opened it and there it was.
This definetly was a journal. But I was met with the same illegible chicken scratch that looked plainly weird and alien to me.
Then it clicked.
I took a similar journal from Rose's apartment, when I awkwardly lied to my other neighbour that the reason I wanted to see her was that I needed some books that I borrowed from her.
I could hear him approaching so I put it away and procceeded to put the others back on the shelf.
It was done, finally.
"Thanks for helping me out with that...mess. I think I wouldn't find the willpower to do it myself."
"Um it's no problem. Wanna play now?"
"Yeah, but I'm also kinda hungry. Wanna order something?"
"Fine by me, but only if you throw the trash afterwards and stop piling it up like usual."
"Would do. What do you wanna eat?"
"Don't care if it's edible."
"Okay. I'll figure something out. Go and grab the game we'll play and I'll go and order something edible."
"Uh, okay."
Why is he like this?
By the end of this charade, I hope I'll find out what's up with him today and where the hell did he find a similar journal like the one Rose has and the fuck does that mean. Like, is it connected?
I have one chance to find out.