It was as if the two were driving to their coffins, the cars soft humming not easing their pounding souls. The sun stood proud in the sky as they drove directly towards it, road empty and barren of life. Bones gripped the steering wheel with panic laced in his voice.

"We'll be okay," Sans hummed out as the engine did, "Right?"

"Y-yeah, I think w-we can do this. I've t-talked to normal people before, I-I can do it again!" Toby said, a nervous fluster dancing with each word in harmony.

The turn signal sounded before the car was turning onto a neighborhood street, soft wind prickling against the windows.

"We both have the story, right?" Sans asked, a brief glance taken at his beloved. "We met at the store, started hanging out, and went on a lot of dates. No murder, no hiding from the police."

"Yeah, y-yeah," Toby repeated, nodding firmly.

The house approached too quickly, looming over the small car as Sans pulled into the gravel driveway. A few other cars were scattered about in the grass, Sans picking an opening between his brother's and Toriel's car to park.

"Alright, okay." Despite the lack of needing oxygen, Sans took a deep breath anyway, using the warm air to try and sooth his worry. "We met at a store, you're not a murderer, and you have to wear that because of your injury."

Toby's hand drifted up the skin of his face before resting on his bare nose, feeling the absence of his usual orange goggles. It wasn't the first time Toby had went without them, far from it. The need to blend in caused the removal of them in public, only ever wearing them when his identity needed to remain hidden. But the need for his true face was overwhelming in this situation. Not only would Toby have to act normal, he would have to try and impress Sans' friends and brother. The mask pressed against his mouth stayed, though, there was no removing that. Only a select few have seen the boy unmasked, Sans remaining to be one of the small group that would see Toby's full face.

The house, although small, still felt as if it was a large building as the two approached on foot. A simple one floor house with white walls and a brown roof, the flowers prominent in the front garden. Movement in a window alerted Toby, the man looking to see a small child's face peeping at him before ducking out of view.

"And there goes Frisk," Sans muttered, looking at Toby. "You ready?"

"N-No." Toby was brutally honest. "I'm not."

The door cared for not Toby's preparedness as it peeled open, the large goat monster standing in the opening with a large smile.

"Sans! Hello, hello!" Toriel said, quickly ushering the skeleton inside before she noticed his boyfriend. "Ah, you."

"I-I'm Toby," Toby introduced himself.

It felt unfamiliar, shaking someone else's hand. Her paw felt soft, welcoming him into the home. Except for how crushing her grip was, Toby had to pull his hand away quickly.

Another jerk carried throughout his body as the door was closed behind him, the two shuffling off their shoes.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you! We've heard barely anything about you." A direct glance was shot at Sans, who simply shrugged with an awkward smile.

"S-Sorry," Toby apologized. "We both had s-said we wanted t-t-t-to keep it under wraps, but he told me a-a-about you. You're T-Toriel, right?"

"Yes," Toriel answered, giving a forced smile. "Everyone else is in the dining room, I wanted to make sure you wouldn't be overwhelmed."

"Oh, t-thank y-y-you," Toby said.

Walking into the next room felt like a trap.

Toby felt surrounded, everyone's gazes on him, watching the poor man like he was their next meal instead of the food prepared on the table. Thankfully, Toby managed to claim a seat at the end of the table, averting his eyes from the others to look at Sans. His boyfriend gave an encouraging smile as he sat down between Toby and Toriel. That helped a little.

The fish monster, Undyne, was the one who spoke up first. "I got to be honest, I didn't expect you to actually be real! Holy crap, Sans got a boyfriend!"

"Hello boyfriend of my brother! I am the Great Papyrus!" Papyrus exclaimed, placing a gloved hand against his white shirt. "I'm sure Sans has talked about me."

"H-H-He has," Toby affirmed, nodding before his body jerked.

Sans had taken the time to explain to everyone that Toby had a stutter and 'tick', a disability forcing his muscles to jerk uncontrollably. Everyone was already aware of this, so when Toby stuttered and ticked, none of them seemed surprised by it.

"Well, uh, I-I'm Toby," Toby announced to everyone, giving an awkward wave to the table. "But I guess y-you all a-a-a-a-already know that."

"I didn't," Sans joked, grinning at Toby.

"I'm Frisk!" Frisk said.

"I-I'm Alphys," Alphys said, her nervous stutter showing while her eyes remained glistening with her shipping habits.

Undyne slammed her hands onto the table, gathering attention onto her. "And I'm Undyne, but who cares about that? I wanna know everything about you two and how that note ended up being written!"

"U-Undyne!" Alphys stuttered, looking at her girlfriend with excited eyes. "I-I was going to s-say that!"

"Uh, well, we met in a store when I went shopping for ketchup," Sans explained, "Then we just bumped into each other a few more times and started hanging out."

"We d-didn't plan to really hang out until t-the third time we m-m-met," Toby said, "Then after a-awhile we exchanged phone numbers, b-b-but both agreed we wanted to h-have a private relationship."

A plate of rolls was passed around the table, eager hands grasping at the freshly baked goods. The distant sound of a car could be heard driving past the house.

"H-How did you guys start g-going out?" Alphys asked.

"Usual way. Toby came onto my doorstep with some flowers, and boom, it was a relationship." Sans picked up a bottle of ketchup Toriel had left for him and popped open the cap, welcoming the cold tomato paste to fill his mouth.

"So that's where those flowers came from!" Papyrus said, "I thought it was weird because you never liked having plants! All you ever took care of was a pet rock, which you constantly forgot to feed!"

"Heh, whoops." The comment was calm, Sans trying to ease the conversation to go lightly.

Toriel scooped a spoonful of green beans onto Frisk's plate. "Why don't you tell us a little about yourself, Toby? Where do you work? Sans does need someone with a stable job to help support him."

The question felt like a direct bullet to the face for Sans' boyfriend, his body almost tensing at the mere word of his 'work'. A gentle skeletal hand wrapped around his own under the table, Toby finding Sans' fingers intertwining with his. The two hadn't noticed her final comment.

"I do private w-w-w-work for a Boss of mine, I-I just go out and do t-t-things he needs, like picking u-up groceries, doing chores, things like t-that," Toby explained, trying to keep as few details out into the public as possible. "It's actually h-how I met Sans, I was on a mission by the B-Boss when I bumped into him."

"Mission?" Toriel asked.

Toby gulped. Oh no.

"That's a fun little name to call it, it does make it sound more interesting!" Papyrus said, "It would probably get boring after awhile!"

"Well, the work g-gets dull, but I like messing with t-t-the people I work with," Toby explained, fork pressing into the food on his plate. "Like one of m-my partners, I like to p-poke him a lot because h-h-he gets annoyed and it's fun t-to watch."

"I can see why he and Sans would get along," Undyne joked.

"OTP!" Alphys whispered, gripping her fork with determination.

"You work with other people? What kind of work does your Boss have you do that requires a lot of people?" Toriel asked.

"W-Well, we're more l-like a big group," Toby pointed out, nervousness eating at his core. "W-We all work for him overall, but only a-a-a-a few work directly with him. I-I only work with t-two other people.

"What kind of dates have you t-two gone on?" Alphys wheezed out, her inability to retain her shipping habits causing the words to slip from her mouth.

"I can answer that." Sans' hand squeezed Toby's under the table. "A picnic one, a couple movie date... a petting zoo a couple of times, and a few times at some restaurants. Just random things, really."

"That is so c-cute!" Alphys hissed, "You guys are s-so adorable."

"But what a-about you two? S-S-S-S-S-S..." Toby took a deep breath, pausing for a moment with a painful jerk of his body. "Sans said you two were... were d-dating."

"Yeah, but it's not as interesting as this!" Undyne said, "You two have been dating for seven months and we never knew! Dude, you're coming everywhere with us now!"

"Toby's work requires him to be really busy, I don't even get to see him that much," Sans said, "He had to convince his co workers to cover for him today."

"I can also understand that, why don't we just talk about possible future plans later?" Toriel asked, setting down her cup of water.

And so, dinner continued.

The discussion was light, yet still demanding on Sans and Toby. Both of them had to be quick with their thinking, new excuses developing left and right as new questions dropped on the two like bombs. What were his interests? What were his coworkers like? Have they kissed yet?

Food was soon finished, satisfied scraps of metal grinding against the newly emptied plates. Toby hadn't had that type of cooked meal in his entire life, it was amazing. Everything was homemade, something never experienced by the killer before. The food was warm, practically melting onto his tongue with each bite. Tears were almost shed when he found the lack of food on his plate, before his considerate boyfriend slid over his unfinished plate for Toby to gorge himself upon like a gamer would.

The food, no matter how delicious it was, wouldn't pass for the conversation. Although his friends were rather nice, it didn't matter. Toriel was the previous Queen who quit because she objected with murder, and Undyne was the head of the Royal Guard who imprisoned people like himself. It was unknown to everyone else at the table that they were his enemies, and he would only hesitate to bring down a hatchet on them due to Sans' emotional ties with them.

The dinner was over as quickly as it had begun, the stress flowing from him as soon as the man was seated within the car again.

"We made it!" Sans laughed, high fiving Toby.

"W-We did!" Toby agreed happily, smile tugging at his lips beneath his mask.

The happiness was short lived. Although the two had done well on the first meeting, more were sure to come. With the combined determination of everyone, they wouldn't let Sans' new boyfriend disappear so quickly. If someone was dating one of their group, they wouldn't get out of social events so quickly. And Sans understood that from experience. A single instance of him trying to skip out from leaving his house, due to his lazy nature, led to Papyrus coming to his house and dragging Sans out. Not to mention they had Frisk on their side, and the kid was just a little bundle of determination. If they could free the monster race and defeat a practical god, they could find Toby.

That's how they found themselves parked on the side of the road, the car dipping slightly into the woods as Sans' attention was focused on his phone at a new text. "Toriel said she was interested in doing a bonfire."

"W-Which I would h-h-have to come to?" Toby asked, reapplying his goggles onto his face.

"Yup," Sans sighed, "I'll do my best to get you out of most of these, and we can start hanging out during your missions too. Like, the lesser one's, I'm not really into killing people right now. Too much work."

"We could s-s-spend sometime t-together when I have to go into town for g-g-g-groceries," Toby hummed in agreement, a tic pulsing through his body as he pushed open the car door.

"Sounds like a plan," Sans said, grabbing the side of Toby's jacket to pull the lover boy in for a quick smooch. "Good luck, text ya when you get back."