Whoever said 'popularity is a curse' was either never popular and trying to comfort themself, or working way too hard to make people like them.

For Sans, popularity was a blessing he'd never expected... and certainly didn't consider a curse.

He'd come to the school knowing monsters were beaten down. They were bullied and scorned, easy targets, the internal hierarchy equivalent of the frail nerd with acne who barely ate because the jocks always took his lunch money.

And honestly... he couldn't bring himself to care about himself, and his possible lack of friendships. If they wanted to be petty, scornful humans with stained Souls and dim futures, fine by him. After all- the frail nerd with acne was the one who'd graduate with honours and get a six figure salary working as the CEO for an IT company, while the bullies and jocks would become gas station attendants, at best.

No, he wasn't worried for himself. He was only worried for Papyrus. And even then, if someone could bring themself to hurt Papyrus, he was easily strong enough to put them in their place, and kind enough to make them second-guess their decision to be a bad person. He might not be very good at making friends, but once he has them, they're impossible to lose.

So Sans had expected to be friendless, bored, having to force himself to get up in the morning to go, or get Papyrus to force him to get up and go when Sans didn't have the willpower.

That was not what he got.

Apparently, he intensely misjudged what humans currently found 'cool'. Sans'd always been the observant type, tending more toward watching and listening, then joining in with something relevant.

And humans loved being listened to. He could make friends just by smiling and nodding and pretending he cared about their problems, or who else suddenly had a crush on him. He hadn't even realised he was hanging out with the popular kids until he caught the way Chad threw all the parties and Melanie knew all the gossip (probably forged it herself to see how she could damage those around her, the snake) and Jess attracted those looks.

He didn't really care. It was beneficial to him that he had 'friends' who competed for his company who were in high places, sure, but in the end, nothing made a rat's ass of a difference. In fact, having Melanie clinging onto him like a limpet and telling everyone they were dating (lying through her teeth) could be considered a harsh downside.

It wasn't his 'pals' that convinced him to get up in the morning and go to school. No.

You.

Anothing thing he'd misjudged about human school was that he thought he'd be bored.

How wrong he'd been.

How could he be bored when you were there!?

The moment he'd seen you for the first time in the corridor, tiny, being bumped about like you weren't even visible, your head down and eyes trained to the floor, his life had flipped on it's head. He could still remember the feeling... That sudden rush, his Soul pounding and dancing, magic flaring, unable to look away, everything else drowning out like he'd been dunked underwater, rooted to the spot, breath caught in his nonexistent throat, like he was seeing colour for the first time, hearing music for the first time, and... and...

One thought in his mind.

mine.

And then... you were gone. Vanished into the crowd like a ghost. And the feeling pulled away after you like the tide, as eager to follow you as he was, leaving only a faint buzz in his chest and the overwhelming feeling that he was letting the most important thing in the world slip between his phalanges.

... He'd never been the same.

I mean, here he was. About to start the day- texting you in bed, a soft smile on his face.

Getting your number hadn't been hard. In fact, the only problem was that sometimes, when he was too close to you, he'd go into this... daze , and... totally forget what he was supposed to be doing. He'd just be so lost in the way his Soul moved, like... like everything would be okay.

He'd sat behind you one time in English, memorised your passcode as you typed it in, and swiped your phone from you in the corridor during the hustle and bustle. He just took the number, copied it onto his own phone, and handed yours into lost and found.

... Admittedly, he'd been nervous. He sat on it for a few days, instead finding you on all your social media platforms and searching through every single image and post. It was addicting. When he looked at the images he got a dulled-down rush of that same wondrous, intense feeling, still enough to knock him breathless. How did your pictures only have, like... 3 likes!? Could nobody see how flawless you were?!

betcha slept like a rock

He got up, changing into some less disgusting clothes, waiting for your reply. The little dotted bubble appeared to show you were typing, but... it vanished again. It made him snicker... you were probably trying to think of the right thing to say.

At first, when he'd started texting you, you'd been terrified. Often threatening to call the police, taking all his jokes 100% seriously (he wasn'tactually going to eat you, geez), startling and flinching in class whenever your phone's notification sound went off.

But now...

Fuck you.

You got sassy with him.

He loved it.

gonna be late for class at this rate

Fuck. You. Idc.

such language.

... Tut. He sighed as the minutes ticked by, waiting for your response, but... You'd left him on seen... Ouch.

He swung his bag over his shoulder and went down the stairs, two at a time, a wide grin on his face at even the thought of seeing you, getting the nearest thing to breakfast he could find. School didn't start for another 20 minutes, he had plenty of time... but he was going to follow you on the route there again today, and you would set off soon.

A swig from a bottle of ketchup was good enough, and he just grabbed a piece of untoasted bread blindly, shoving it in his mouth and feeling kinda like an anime schoolgirl. Breakfast wasn't really important... he had a whole day of you ahead of him. You provided him with more nutrition than any type of food... not to mention the fact you undoubtedly tasted delicious.

Just the thought ...

He teleported, once he was done 'eating', to just outside your house, pretty far away so you couldn't see him, Soul already pounding erratically in his chest and his phalanges squeezing around the strap of his bag.

It was raining... kinda dreary, kinda dull, dampening his shoulders as it pattered down, not heavy enough to be worrying but not light enough to not bother him. He sighed in annoyance. The sky was dark, and cloudy, and grey.

But the bad vibes from the rain were chased away immediately as he saw the light flick off in your bedroom window, undoubtedly you heading down the stairs right now ...

... He just wanted to go straight in, and grab you, and hold you tight forever... He'd been in your room before. Just the thought was enough to get his breathing funny... He was strong, he could hold on, he could keep you there with him, you wouldn't be able to get away. He could keep you in there forever and just have you all to himself and nobody would even care . Nobody would do anything about it, and even of they tried they couldn't stop him. It would be so easy...

...

He took a little breath through his nasal cavity, shut his eye sockets... and headed over to your house.

He was used to that desire, by now. He knew how to keep it in check.

At least, a little.

Usually, he was up earlier, and he'd go in your closet for a short while, watch you bumble about like the cute little thing you were, trying to wake yourself up and get out of bed, yawning adorably, hair frizzy and everywhere. Sometimes he'd get up hours before you did, just to watch you sleep.

But today he had to wait against the wall of the house...

... The door opened.

And just like that, it was dazzlingly bright. His breath caught, head spun, eye sockets widening... Suddenly, the raindrops weren't so dull. He could see the light bouncing off every single one, could hear it pattering, he could feel it on his shoulders and skull. The rustle of you opening up your umbrella against the rain, the droplets rolling off onto the pavement, your reflection on the wet ground, and not even noticing him behind you the whole time, eyes trained forward, nervous frown on your face from the prospect of a full day at school.

He sighed... If only you could be as happy as he was...

Oop, too loud. You turned around to look behind, so he poofed in front, Soul skipping a nervous beat... and he went straight back behind you again when you looked ahead.

So cute . He had to work hard to restrain his laughter, and his good mood from the high feelings was making it worse... It was ridiculous- you never heard him, and you never saw him, even when he was so damn close. Even when he was walking so near he could stand under the umbrella with you, his sockets hooded and phalanges itching to stroke over your clothes and skin. Dreaming of the day he could bask in your presence like this while you were aware he was there.

It was a quiet, almost romantic walk.

Past the buildings, the rain coming down, glittering off the walls and roofs and clouds and ground. The gentle splash of your shoes in the puddles, the pattering of the water on the top of the waterproof fabric above you. The way the clouds parted, ever-so-slightly, letting a single defined beam of sun cast down onto the wet lands beneath.

When he was with you, everything was so beautiful. He saw so many things he couldn't usually see. It was like... life went into colourful HD, the ambiance got dialed to 10, and there was always a little piece of happiness in his chest, like lying on a grassy bank in the summer.

Like it was okay.

... Could've been better. Like, having you know he existed.

But for now, he'd be happy with what he got. Just you being here was enough...

For now, of course.

Once you got nearer to the school he had to bail, in case someone saw him following and brought it up. Last thing he needed was some nerd asking you why Sans the skeleton followed you to school every day, and you finding out about him.

So, although it pained his Soul to do so, he swallowed, took a breath...

... And teleported into class.

And just like that, his world was grey, once again.

The light sapped away, the colour sapped away, the music sapped away, and the happiness drained from him like water through a sieve. He felt the familiar cloud- everyone's voices were dreary, and he just felt...

Empty.

Without you, without your Soul, without your beautiful smile and aura...

His world felt like a shitty oil painting by an amateur artist where the painter mixed in too many colours and it all went brown and smudged.

Life with you was like a six course meal at the finest restaurant in the world with the most perfectly prepared morsels, the lights just right, a candle flickering, sweet music in the air, or just a dish with the right person at the right time that made you feel so warm and tickled your taste buds and senses...

... And life without you was a school cafeteria lunch.

"Saaaaaaaanssssyyyyy!"

... Actually, make that a corpse.

He took a sharp breath through his nasal cavity, biting his teeth together and steeling his nerves, hands coming up to his face and eye sockets shutting to block out the whiny, unattractive tone.

Nope, she was there. Melanie scooted as close as she could go on her chair, tiny arms wrapping around one of his, pulling it against her chest to glaringly obviously press on her breasts, in some kind of stupid flirting tactic. He let out a little exhale, gritting his teeth harder and refusing to look.

Her breasts were too big. Too... unnatural. He wasn't sure what humans loved so much about large mammary glands that drove them to inject toxic plastic into themselves to make them rounder, but whatever reason it was, it was ridiculous. The shape wasn't right... He wanted to pull away and vomit.

But... his mind started to wander a little, shoulders relaxing, as he imagined how your chest would feel against his arm... Against his ribcage...

"How are yoouuu? How's your day goiinngg?" She said, in her annoying, high pitched voice, clearly over exaggerated to sound more feminine, that was nothing like your soft, gentle tone. She always told everyone they were an item... but that just wasn't true.

"... eh." Was his only response, looking toward the front of the class. He heard the sounds of Chad and Jess moving from their chairs to come sit near him instead- he sighed, deeply. Another day, another dollar...

Except he didn't get any money from going to school.

Tsk. They should pay him to attend for every moment you're not there- every dreary 'conversation' about Jess's new pants, or Chad's new efforts to undermine gender equality, or Melanie's... being Melanie, that he has to smile and nod through and pretend like he gives a flying fuck.

He wondered, to himself, as he had before, many times, if he could have this kind of conversation with you... he'd sit and listen to you talk forhours if he could. He'd pay to listen to you. Sometimes, when you thought you were alone in your room, you'd sing a little something to yourself, or mention something to yourself out loud, and he'd just... melt . Your voice was so soft and precious, perfect in every way. His eye sockets almost shut and his eyelights grew hazy as he stared into the distance, mind wandering, completely unfocused. He was vaguely aware of Melanie talking but his brain was elsewhere.

You'd look so cute, sat next to him, eyes bright as you spoke. Perhaps fiddling with a pencil, or ruler, or eraser... perhaps your fingers were in your hair or on your chin, or, fuck...

He smiled at the thought.

Dared he hope, maybe one day, you'd talk to him with your hand in his.

There, in his chest- the familiar spark of love... You, smiling, holding his hand, skin soft on his bones... so soft... he could feel a purr about to start...

"SANS!"

... His daydream, the image of you and the spark in his chest all vanished like a candle flame being blown out.

He had to grit his teeth very hard in order to stop himself from just spearing a bone attack straight through Melanie's fake chest, and make her implants burst or stick out at an unnatural angle so everyone could see that they needed to put her body in the recycling , not a coffin.

"... huh?"

"Daydreaming aggaaiinnn?" She was sitting on the desk now, her feet on her chair, making an unsubtle pout down at him. She looked like a duck.

"well everything you guys say is so boring it's hard not to fall asleep anyway." He mumbled, casting a glance out the window at the dreary rain.

He heard laughing- oh. They thought he was joking.

... Just had to keep it together until lunch.

---

He entertained himself in class by texting you under his desk, a wide grin fixed on his face, that tiny spark back again. It was probably the only thing keeping him sane when sandwiched between Chad and Jess and Melanie constantly.

how's math going?

I know where you're going. Away. Bitch.

not even gonna talk to your favourite stalker??

You're my only stalker. Sure if I had another, you wouldn't be the favorite.

you break my heart

...

He knew that if you were texting him, you were struggling on the test... probably the third and fourth questions. He stole the answer sheet and memorised it, so he could provide the options to you. And... judging by how fast it usually took you to work...

y = 27

and 32 kph

youre welcome <3

Fuck you

what time <<33

...

Seen 9:44am

Ouch. Left on seen again.

you're so cruel bb

...

You're so annoying

only for u

...

Seen 9:49am

my heart is breaking

Seen 9:58am

dont leave me my loovveee...

Can you shut the fuck up already?

send me a good meme and i'll shut up until lunch

a promise is a promise

see you at lunnnchhh <3 xxx

Can't relate.

I'LL see you at lunch.

mwah

YOU SAID YOU WOULD SHUT UP

i'm going i'm going, geez

... No response.

And just like that, the spark was out.

It felt like it took an eternity for lunch to roll around. Why was it, he asked himself, that the time he spent with you seemed so short and beautiful, so fleeting, like a firework exploding in a shower of light and colour, but...

The time he spent away from you dragged and dragged like a slave with a sack full of sand.

Maybe there was some psychology behind it, or something. Like... how time flies when you're having fun. And every single moment with you is pure happiness and ecstacy and utterly addicting that maybe it made it go by faster.

... Either way, he didn't care. He just wanted more of that feeling. More of you . It was all he could ever think about.

...

... Lunchtime.

Such a horrible sound, a drilling bell, was used to signal such a beautiful moment.

He was up before the teacher had even finished his sentence- screw the bell not dismissing them- eye sockets wide, table moving in his desperation to get up. His friends laughed, thinking he was being funny again... morons.

In probably no less than a few seconds he had his bag on his back and was out the door.

now. now now now now. now. she's there, what the hell are you doing all the way over HERE?! He didn't wave back to anyone, and people cleared the way for him as he speed-walked through the corridor. go go go go go go go go go...

His mind was racing. Racing so fast. The walls were moving around him but he couldn't feel his legs... fuck, he was so desperate to see you, to feelsomething , anything-!

... There.

He saw you, and everything went quiet.

Making your way to a table alone, bustled, shoulders up defensively.

The voices around him became, rather than deafening and overpowering, softer, each conversation individual and full of life- like stepping out of a busy train station into a small cafe populated only by a few patrons.

Like stepping into the sun.