Hackedtale Oneshots

How to Debug a Bad Mood (x Gray)

It's too-late o'clock at night, and you're still doing work in the library. You've been here for almost six hours. The wooden chair is starting to make your back hurt as you try to shift into a more comfortable sitting position, and the table you're sitting at is covered in papers, textbooks, sticky notes, pencils, and pens, and your laptop balances precariously on top of the mess. You put your head down on the desk, groaning as the edge of one of your textbooks presses into your cheek. It's only been a week since classes have started, and you already feel swamped by work. The class currently giving you trouble is Computer Science, specifically the way you're required to write your example code. At least tomorrow is Friday, and you'll have a little bit of break for the weekend. Lifting your head from the desk, you grab your phone, turning it on and scrolling through the texts visible on your lock screen:

Mom: Hi, (Y/N). Just wanted to check in and see how school is going for you. We all miss you so much.

Mom: You must be busy, so I'll just send our love for now. Call us tomorrow. <3

You smile, rubbing your eyes tiredly. Maybe you'll wait until after sleep and caffeine to answer that one.

Remi: Did you remember to eat dinner

Remi: I'M GOING TO TAKE YOUR SILENCE AS A NO

Remi: I'm ordering a pizza

Remi: It should be delivered to your dorm by the time you get home

Remi: I think

That one almost gets a laugh from you. She always worries that you won't take care of yourself when you're working on projects.

Unknown Number: hey its Brad from calculus

Unknown Number: did you do the homework yet

That's one you'd rather ignore for the time being. You know he's only fishing for answers. There are a few other texts like that, and you decide to go back to work to give yourself an alibi for not responding. You mute your notifications and turn up your music, intent on finishing the torture that is your Computer Science assignment. After a few minutes of work, however, someone taps on your shoulder. "why did the programmer quit his job?" You suppress a smile at the familiar voice, one you haven't heard in almost three weeks. "I don't know, why did the programmer quit his job?"

"he didn't get arrays." You snort, shaking your head as your friend Sans sits in the chair next to you. "That one was awful."

"still made you smile, right?" You shrug. "You caught me off guard."

Your eyes are drawn to his shirt, which says, "I need a <br>". You grin. "New shirt?"

"yep. had to explain it to papyrus. he's still mad that i can get shirts that make puns for me, but i'm not sure if it's the puns themselves or the laziness of not saying the pun myself." He looks you over. "jeez, i've only been gone for a few weeks and you already look like you haven't slept in months."

"Yeah, they've really been working me to the bone." The two of you laugh over your bad joke, the hilarity of everything magnified by your state of exhaustion. "But you don't look too hot yourself, Sans."

"really? what tipped you off?" As you look over his slumped posture and disheveled clothes, you decide that you'd rather leave that question as a rhetorical. "So, where have you been?"

"testing a theory in the underground." That piques your interest, especially since you'd been helping him with a certain plan right before he went missing. "What was the theory?"

"nothing special. just some code recovery." His nonchalant tone and pleased expression tip you off to exactly what that experiment had been, and you can't mask the delighted curiosity in your tone as you ask, "Did it work?"

He nods. "managed to collect all the code fragments of the frisk's soul from save files and put them back together. she's out of the underground and resting at tori and asgore's place. traumatic experience and all tha--" You cut him off by leaning over to give him a hug. "That's amazing news! I knew you could do it!"

A light blue blush covers his cheeks. "it was nothing, really. the least i could do, especially since I was responsible for this whole mess in the first place." You frown, unhappy with how he's still holding on to his guilt over what happened. "But you fixed it, and that's what really matters in the end. After all, it's what programmers do: fix problems."

Sans laughs ruefully, shaking his head. "usually there isn't a life on the line, but i appreciate the sentiment." He looks over the papers scatter around the table, eyes landing on your textbook, which is opened to a page on Java. "this looks interesting. thought you weren't getting to coding until the second semester."

"We haven't." Seeing the confusion on his face, you turn one of your notebooks to a page you'd already filled, and he stares at it, aghast. "is that..?"

"A page of handwritten code? Yeah. My professor got it into his mind that this would be the best intro to the basics of programming, like variables and proper syntax."

"but you already know that. you took the intro course last year, right?" You smile bitterly, unable to stop the disgust from creeping into your voice as you say, "The professor who used to teach the course got a better offer. New teacher, new rules. I've been working on this for hours, and I still have to go over it to find my mistakes."

"then i'll forgive you for dropping that semicolon." You immediately begin to scan the page for the mistake he'd pointed out, but Sans pulls it away from you, grinning. "just kidding. this page looks good. want me to look over the rest of them while you work?" You nod, a look of relief and gratitude extremely apparent on your face. "That would be great, Sans. I promise I'll buy you coffee later to make up for this."

"only if you get some for yourself. you look like you're about to drop dead any minute." You push his shoulder playfully. "Says the guy who's literally a living skeleton. Just focus on the corrections."

With Sans's help, the pile of work in front of you seems to melt away, and before you know it the two of you are walking out of the library, your bag full of completed work. "so, i believe i remember something about you buying coffee?"

"Yeah, yeah. You can cash in on that later today after I get my four hours of sleep." You rub your eyes, yawning. "But seriously, thank you for your help. I would've been only halfway done right now if you hadn't shown up." You hug him for the second time that day, your exhaustion and gratitude making you a little more affectionate than usual. He stiffens slightly, then returns the gesture, and you feel a laugh rumble in his chest. "any time, (y/n). by the way, papyrus wanted me to ask you over for dinner sometime this weekend. he's been working on some new spaghetti recipe, really excited about it. think you can handle that?"

"Of course!" The idea of dinner with Sans and the very sweet, taller skeleton that is his brother Papyrus is the final nudge you needed to get you out of your bad mood. "great. saturday night sound good?"

"Yes. I'll put it on my schedule before I go to bed." You yawn again, wishing not for the first time that your dorm building wasn't so far away from the library. Your feet seem to get heavy with each step. "hey, come on, sleepyhead. faster you walk, faster you'll be in bed."

"Shut up, Sans. I'm going as fast as I can." He laughs at your irritation, and you give him an overdramatic frown. Despite your grumpy words, you're still in a better mood than you were before he showed up. It seems that all it took to get you out of your bad mood was a few puns and a little bit of company.