Love Has Its Barriers | Soriel

Chapter 1: Takes One To Snow One

It was 2:00 in the afternoon, and the alarm clock failed to wake him up. Anyone had a bad day once in a while. Everyone overslept, and anyone could miss a couple hours of work from a sick day. It was normal.

Well, not for Sans that is.

The lazy, pessimistic skeleton considered part of his "routinely basis."

Sans found himself in his normal attire instead of nightclothes and woke up straight from the floor. As he got himself to get out of the cold, uncomfortable carpeted floor he called a bed to take a few steps around the room, he could already feel a strong migraine hit him.

"Well damn," Sans unfortunately already knew the clear correlation of what that symptom meant, "..How much did I drink last night? It must've only been 1:00 AM or somethin'..if I remember. How the hell did I get outta there in one piece, Papyrus must've been asleep by then."

Sans couldn't help it. He always urged himself to stop drinking, especially at night. He tells himself that he would stop drinking by the next day, and the day became a week. Soon enough, the week became a month. And eventually, the months will soon form the first anniversary of this crisis.

It wasn't right, he knew that. Being constantly reminded by Papyrus, and especially getting scolded once his brother caught him drinking. He never admitted to Grillby that he wanted to stop, or the bartender, also being a good friend to Sans, would have stopped serving him his usual a long time ago.

Sans, however, never has been one to open up. If he had any problems, he didn't want to burden another monster with it and always chose to face them on his own, but more often than not, he never faced them at all.

This hangover was no exception, but in this case, he really did have to drag himself to work..one way or another. The king was especially strict with work and he was much too lazy to go through any procedural punishment. Luckily, his striking migraine had numbed down by now as he took a glance at the time.

2:10 PM

He could still make it for 3 hours of work, and if the king was fuming, he could always fix it with overtime, though that was the least desired route.

He drank some coffee before heading out into the cold, snow-filled town. Putting on a smile, he waved to anyone who called out to him. He looked cheery and excited, but only he knew that was far from the truth.

Even if he didn't want to be, he was probably one of the most deceitful monsters in the underground. A picture could tell a thousand words they said, and his smile sure did say it all.

He never stopped smiling, not with his brother, not at the bar, not even when he was talking to someone like Flowey who he infuriatingly despised.

The permanent smile's charade has gone on for years, and Sans was in fact used not showing any emotion but some form of joy. Whenever he noticed anyone having a shred of doubt on how he was feeling, he cracked a pun or joke of some kind. As soon as they laughed and shook it off, Sans was relieved. It has been this way for a long time now.

Much too long.

The refreshing smell of freshly baked sweet buns filled the air as Sans passed the shop, and gave yet another convincing grin at the shopkeeper. But, he did have some kind of excitement for them, even if they were mostly childish.

Finally, he could see his station from the tall snowy forest, and along with it it, his brother. Mentally preparing himself to be scolded, Sans headed to his station and took a seat as his brother came along,

"Sans! You are much too late for work! Captain Undyne and King Asgore are trusting us for this important responsibility and you.- You- ...I'm worried for you, brother."

Of course, Sans knew no one else who was more perceptive on his behavior than his own brother, Papyrus. The one young royal guard trainee always cared for everyone, most importantly, he always cared about his own brother, as they always counted on each other throughout their lives.

"Don't worry bro, I'm doin' fine. Just..overslept's all."

As an uncommonly apprehensive smile from the optimistic, confident skeleton began to make an appearance, the indolent sentry knew something had to be wrong.

"This is not about oversleeping, Sans! You've been..a lot more exhausted than normal. You're staying in your room for the rest of the day when we don't have to work, you're barely talking to anyone, and you weren't being yourself. In other words, I was wondering what happened to the semi-galling comedian I knew as my brother!"

Now definitely seemed like the time. Should he admit everything to his brother in one emotional burnout? His drinking? His lack of sleep? How did he feel? How tired and lethargic he felt, not just for today, but every day he could remember?

Of course not.

Papyrus was a sanguine monster that always believed the best of anything. No matter the situation, he always put his full effort forward and always looked ecstatic for everything.

How could he pour out all of this? It would be selfish, cruel even to say such things about yourself to someone who cared for you so much. Sans feared he would be sounding thankless, or ungrateful. Most importantly, he just wanted to be a considerate brother.

This was more than just paying the bills for the house or grabbing some lunch for the night. This was being there when Papyrus needed him, giving the most sound advice he could think of, help him find good friends. Adding his own burdens to Papyrus to relieve them from himself was clearly not the solution for this. He could handle it on his own. He has lived with this dilemma for almost a year now and he was regretfully growing accustomed to this tiresome lifestyle.

"Maybe a couple more weeks wouldn't hurt.." Sans thought to himself as he gave yet another beaming look to his brother.

"Y'know, maybe I just wasn't gettin' enough sleep, and I've only got my shelf to blame. But, it sure would help a skele-ton if you helped me out with having s' more rest."

"Sans! On second thought, maybe I didn't miss the puns! Just- get back to your station! The day's not over and we still have work to finish!"

As Papyrus went back to his patrol, Sans was left alone with some time to think, even if the atmosphere was not very welcoming for it.

After staying at his sentry station for a couple minutes, he got up to take a walk, mostly to clear his mind after his onerous afternoon.

The snow crunched against his slippers with every step he took in the glacial setting. Anyone who had not lived and established a standard to the climate would have remained frostbitten with the piercing cold weather. Finally, he stopped at a large door at the edge of the forest.

A comedian wasn't made in a day, and he knew it. And if there was anything Sans took seriously, or at least somewhat seriously, it was satire.

It took some kind of effort to crack every punchline, even whilst half-drunk with a couple shots of whiskey or a mug of beer.

Clearly, he needed some form of practice to accomplish this. Sans was usually a slacker, and to him "work" was never considered a priority. He usually spent it sleeping and keeping a mild watch for his brother, though he could get caught if he overslept.

Once he started to tell some lighthearted jokes and found some distraction in them, he began showing up to the bar much more often to talk to others. Of course, this stemmed the roots of his continuous drinking, but at that prime moment, he tried to see past it. He wanted to see this as an opportunity, an opportunity to finally participate in something he could find himself enjoying and actively take part in.

As such, he tried to find a quiet place to start rehearsing his witticism. Surely he seldom did so with his brother (even if, when the opportunity arrived, he did try to give him the slightest irk with his comedy), but he, unfortunately, did not have anyone in Snowdin who he considered a close friend, at least, not close enough to spend too much time with.

Who knew a door would serve a better purpose to him than any monster he's encountered?

Aesthetic by Fallen Peridot