1. Queen

Finding out that the invisible friend he had was actually the queen – ex-queen, perhaps? – of the underground was quite shocking. It wasn't so shocking that Sans forgot to keep his mouth shut. He couldn't really voice this shock in front of everyone; it was something that one mulls over in private.

He did get to reflect on it, after they all saw the sun together. He'd stayed by a tree so that these new visuals would get the attention they deserved.

He thought that the king and ex-queen were very grounded. It was nice. A small world like that wouldn't benefit from peacock-like monarchs, strutting about in useless finery.

If theirs was a simple life just like everyone else, then it gave him a small hope. Sans rather liked it to be simple and maybe because of her being down-to-earth nothing would change between them.

Only time would tell.

2. Rain

Sans watched the rain fall, dripping down the windowpane. Of course there'd been rain in the Underground but it had been rather swampy and smelly. It wasn't fresh like this.

The rain stopped rather unexpectedly and after a while he saw something that had previously been a fragment of a memory.

"hey, tori, come here!" he called.

Toriel emerged from the kitchen to join him at the window.

"Oh!"

She could see the rainbow that graced the sky, faint in the mist above the city.

"I can see why humans adore these," Sans said after a while.

"Indeed. I believe there is a legend… a husband and wife separated by the sky and earth and they can only visit when a rainbow appears."

She hummed. "Or perhaps it was stars. Would you like to know what I think?"

"go ahead."

"Perhaps it is terribly sad," Toriel said, "But I like to believe that my children reside in those rainbows. That they want the colors to shine bright and bring joy to Humans and Monsters."

She chuckled sadly. "Ah, I am sorry. I did not mean to bring the rain here."

She rubbed her eyes and brushed Sans' shoulder.

"Would you like to help me with dinner?"

He nodded and Toriel went back to the kitchen. Sans took a moment to look at the rainbow once more.

"thanks for visiting, kids."

3. Dreams

Usually when Sans had dreams there was nothing. Plain, old darkness until something roused him from sleep.

This night, however, he dreamed of being on an airplane. The seats were uncomfortable, hard as rocks, and the air was freezing cold. The plane felt more like a bus, shaking up and down. Sans kept wondering when the plane was going to stop at a bus stop.

Papyrus was trying his hardest to walk back to his seat, walking through the aisles without falling over. He was complaining about 'blasted seat belts' and how they were just not working.

Frisk was quietly watching a movie that only featured studio logos flashing over and over. Sans wondered where Toriel was and found himself at the front of the plane. Toriel was the pilot.

He woke up and asked, blurrily, "toriel, should we go on a plane?"

"Mmh?"

"nothin'. go back to sleep."

4. Dance

Toriel had enrolled Frisk in a ballet class and would go through the routine of the recitals with her child. However, before one particular recital she'd fallen sick. It was a phenomenon so everyone had cycles to care for her or help out with the house.

After Sans delivered soup to her (strangely, the chicken soup had gotten a few slices of tomato into it) he found Frisk standing outside her door. He wondered if the child wanted to see their mom, but Frisk held up a sheet to him. It was a form with the motions for the next dance.

And that was how Sans found himself dancing alongside Frisk, though his dancing was unpolished and he glanced at the sheet.
At least Frisk was smiling as they danced.

5. Healing

Sometimes Sans forgot how fragile Humans could be. Frisk wasn't a good model for fragileness; Sans swore he once saw the child fall off a high play structure and continue running around without a whimper.

It wasn't until a rainy day hit that he really saw what tumbles and injuries the kid withstood. Frisk was playing a video game, biding their time until their friends could come over.

Sans looked over the single-player game and asked, "whatcha playing, kid?"

Frisk paused the game and looked for the box, but couldn't find the box.

"all right, i'll just watch."

Frisk got the game going again and Sans watched as the protagonist rolled across a field. The character's cries as he rolled across were seemingly endless. It was pretty boring to see the same motions over and over, so Sans spared a glance to Frisk. They looked very invested in the game.

Sans noticed some mosquito bites lined up along Frisk's arms and legs. There were little cuts and bruises from running around or falling, and there was a pretty big scab on their knee.

Sans wondered if this kid was made out of rubber.

Frisk suddenly, frantically, mashed buttons and Sans looked at the TV to see the video game world's moon come falling down. Frisk's character played something called "Song of Healing" but it didn't do anything. Frisk looked resigned before playing another song that made their character fall back in time.

"good thing your mom has the song of healing, huh?"

Frisk nodded vigorously before getting another controller and giving it to Sans. Apparently the moon was just too scary, and another game would wash out the scary feeling.

6. AU (Swaptale)

As was tradition, Sans and Papyrus were taking a walk through Waterfall, chewing on freshly baked cinnabunnies. It was an old sight, but a good one, especially when they made it to the not-stars.

As per tradition, Sans was talking his brother's ear off. The topic had recently changed.

"and queen toriel accepted my offer to go to muffet's! you think she does that with every member of the royal guard? we should all go sometime!"

"YOU REALLY LIKE HER, DON'T YOU, BROTHER?"

"of course! she's a wonderful queen!"

Sans kept on talking so he didn't notice his brother roll his eyes or catch the low-breathed murmur of being oblivious.

7. Free day - AU

It was a hot day, so much that Toriel switched out her robes for something more breathable. She noticed that Sans had not discarded his jacket for the sweltering weather but she figured that the heat, humid or dry, did not affect skeletons.

She smiled as walked, watching the two children walking in front of her. Or, rather, her child was given a melody of "Ice cream, ice cream!" by a dancing, green-haired girl.

Apparently the heat did not affect cheerful children either.

"My goodness, it is hot!" Toriel exclaimed. She wondered if it was possible for her to look akin to a toasted marshmallow by the end of the day.

"feels breezy to me," Sans replied, and he put up his hand to prove it. The wind whistled through his bones.

Toriel imagined Sans' head as a toasted marshmallow and had to stifle a laugh.

"seems like that for those two, too."

"Ah, before I forget," Toriel said, "Sans, your brother calls Yotsuba 'Dandelion,' correct?"

"yep."

"Well, they are both very sunny," Toriel said fondly.

"our kid, too."

Toriel smiled as she watched Frisk join in Yotsuba's dance-walk. "Indeed."

A/N: Originally posted on AO3 on August 13 2018 to August 18 2018

Thank you for reading this.

Since I got back from Japan, and since going there two years ago inspired the Yotsuba & Frisk series, I decided to pay tribute.

I was there for so long I genuinely couldn't tell if it got cooler or if I just got used to the heat.