All I want for Christmas

Day 14: Stars and moons

Grillby was walking down the street. He had left work early today and he hadn't told Sans yet, so it was the perfect moment to pick up the Christmas present Papyrus, Mettaton and himself were getting for him.

Grillby burned brighter at the memory of their perfect chosen gift, already imagining the expression Sans would have when he got it in two weeks.

The elemental smiled, but the look he was getting from a human that was passing him, left the flame hurriedly hiding his mouth again. Humans were becoming used to monsters, but the progress was slow and especially rare monsters like skeletons or elementals were often stared at. It didn't take long for Grillby to learn, that he was still a scary sight to some humans. And even more so if he showed his facial features to openly.

Of course, there were also nice and curious humans. Mostly teenagers and young adults, that approached monsters to start a small conversation, examining them in wonder and fascination. But these people were rare.

Grillby quickened his pace and drew his shoulders up a bit, hiding half of his face in his jacket. It helped to calm the flames on his head, which were flickering in the small breeze.

Two passing humans later he began to ignore the people around him, until he came to a stop in front of the small store he had planned to visit.

An ancient bell rung as the flame opened the door. The insides were dusty, and many random objects were scattered around on the floor. The high shelves where stuffed with everything that could be classified as somewhat useful and looked like they would overflow any minute.

The loud wooden bang that suddenly echoed through the abandoned looking space made the elemental jump a bit. His fear however quickly dissolved into light laughter as a young, short and chubby girl appeared behind the counter, rubbing the messy blue-violet hair on her head, face scrunched up a bit in pain. But it lit up as soon as she saw the elemental standing at the other end of the store, still chuckling silently to himself.

"Grillby! It's you! How nice to see you again!" She almost screamed out loud as she clumsily got to the other side of the counter. Grillby was quickly engaged into a tight hug, one of the few he could actually accept without freezing dead in his track.

"It's nice to see you too, Melina." He smiled. Melina was one of the first humans to make friends with some monsters. They liked her, sometimes Grillby even was sure they did so more than humans themselves ever had. On second thought though, that could be related to her shop, which strangely was adjusting to monsters needs more than to the needs of humans.

"Lemme guess. You're here for Sans' present right?" She asked, letting go of the flame and smiling up at him with a huge grin.

"Yes. I left work earlier. Sans isn't home yet, so this is the perfect opportunity."

"I see. Follow me, it's in the back." Melina made her way to a half opened wooden door, "It's a bit messy tho."

Grillby chuckled again. For some reason she reminded him of Sans and Papyrus, mixed together into a human form. It was odd, but it seemed to work out.

The light in the small room was switched on, revealing three tables, two of them overcrowded with half-finished projects, papers and detailed drawings of things she the girl probably create in the future.

Grillbys gaze was drawn to the third table, completely empty except for some small brushes, color tubes, and a long cylinder-like object.

"Is that?" He mumbled quietly, not able to tear his eyes off the object.

"I actually just got done two hours ago." Her gaze suddenly drew away, avoiding the elemental and the table.

"Do you... like it?" She mumbled, voice suddenly filled with self-doubt.

"I can still improve it or change it if you would like t-"

"No, no. This is just beautiful. Oh my god, you're amazing Melina!" the elemental intervened. He moved closer towards the present, examining it closely.

"Thank you!" Melina said relieved, stepping up besides him.

"I tried my best with scaling the starry nights painting onto the telescopes proportions. And..." She twisted a small black nob and then modified the lens a bit "...if you modify it like this, it should be easier to look through without actual eyes." She beamed up at him.

"He will love this! This is just...perfect. How much do I owe you?"

"35 for the paint. And a few pictures of your party. One of Sans' expression when he sees this in particular!"

Grillby stared at her, eyes wide, jaw slightly agape.

"35? Are you crazy? This is a real, well-made telescope! You will go broke this way!"

"Nah, not really. It's cool. And it's made from stuff I already had anyway." She shrugged, her blue eyes meeting his with a challenging glimmer.

Grillby sighed. He learned fast not to argue with this girl. Even though she wasn't good at it, she still somehow won in the end.

"Ok." He replied simply, a grin on his face.

"I will pack it up for you. You think star-patterned paper works for him?" She asked, already back in her excited and busy mode.

"It would be perfect. Thank you! Again."

She giggled lightly.

"No big deal. Really. You monsters do so much nice stuff, it's just fair. Humans aren't all that great at being nice, after all."

Grillby hummed, if in affirmation or plain refusion he didn't really know.

But either way, he was smiling as he left the shop 20 minutes later with a star-patterned box in his hands.