He had a decision to make. One much more difficult than the one previously given to him.

Because, there, on the screen, was a boy. Black hair. Turned towards the camera, giving a big grin only frozen by the single picture taken as he ran from the pound's open doors, where Sans had adopted Smile Dog. In the background, he could recognize the blurred lump of flesh on the ground as the receptionist he met before.

"... If you have seen this boy, please immediately report the sighting to -"

Sans clicked the bright red button on the controller and slumped back into his seat. Smile Dog watched, carefully, as he slowly climbed out of the screen. A bit unusual at first, but Sans has gotten used to it. Apparently he was one of a good number of CreepyPasta that could do the screen trick.

"So that's the guy you meant before," Sans muttered.

"That was the video this morning, I can sense things like that. And he's... he's alone out there. That's why I wanted to show you," Smile Dog said. "He's my friend. My owner, in a sense. If you'd be willing to, I was hoping to bring him here. Not forever, of course, just... a bit. Until the cops cool down and he can leave the state."

Sans stared uncertainly at the T.V, the image still humming within his mind. "He looked so young."

"He was 13 when his story was created. I found him scared and alone, and ever since then, we stuck together. He's 16 now, but still... his age and looks means he has a hard time surviving out there."

Thinking about that was horrible. A teenage boy on the run for three years straight? With that face, pale white and eternally smiling, could never manage to last in public scenes without some hood. Much less, he wasn't some creature born from darkness or anything of that sort; he was just a young, scared boy who probably didn't even know how to write a paper for schools. He did kill people, but still... his situation certainly wasn't going to help any mental state. Sans knew that from personal experience.

When you were in a situation that desperate, the lines between morals and terrible actions became rather... blurred.

"... Fine, I can't let a kid stay out on the streets like that, serial killer or not," Sans groaned, pulling himself to his feet. "But just for a couple of nights, alright? Because one of my friends is literally Head of the Royal Guard and she won't go easy on him just because he's a kid. Frisk is younger than him and literally tried to murder them unprovoked, so uh... let's keep them away from each other."

"Noted."

And just like that, Sans was bringing another serial killer into his house.

Huh. "Another serial killer into his house." Was one not enough? Lord were his sentences starting to sound weird.

This wasn't Sans choosing a decision, though, right? No, of course not. Sans wasn't dedicating himself to hunting down literal serial killers just to shake off some power on his soul that made him constantly paranoid and unable to function without his handy dandy dog friend. Who was also a serial killer. No, this was just Sans doing a favor for his serial killer friend to get that friend's serial killer other friend while not deciding about the curse - or whatever it was - on his soul by a different serial killer -

Okay yeah Sans was going to stop there. His life was already spiraling out of control and into "serial killer" world, apparently. Not the life on the surface he expected.

Sans wasn't sure how to prepare himself, really. How could he? It wasn't like expecting a guest over, where Papyrus would scurry to clean the last of the bone attacks in the corner as Sans would sit and make puns. It wasn't a guest, it was a CreepyPasta kid. Or did he still count as a guest? Sure, he did some stabbing in his off time, but he was a person too. Just like Smile Dog was.

Ugh, this all was so confusing.

He paced back and forth as Smile Dog somehow managed to type something into Sans' computer without even touching the keyboard. When he asked, the animal simply explained it as his powers. Fair enough. Alphys would probably kill for a skill like that.

"There's another boy on the internet who's a CreepyPasta, he and I keep in touch since we meet a lot over lines of code. I don't like him, but you know... he's another kid. I'd feel bad." Smile Dog said, turning back to Sans. "He can tell Jeff where to come to."

"Okay."

Sans finally let himself relax on the couch, nervously twiddling his thumbs as he awaited a new house... person. He still couldn't decide if he was a guest or not.

~~~~~~

He didn't enter through the front door. Of course not. Instead, he apparently decided to let himself in through the window, because Sans was met by suddenly being dragged back against a chest with a knife to his neck.

"Where's the damn mutt?" A voice growled from behind him.

"Seriously, Jeff, is that what you call me?" Smile Dog called from the other room, quickly making his way into the room where Sans was.

"Of course! You're my best mutt friend!" His voice perked up like an excited boy at a football game when he saw Smile Dog, practically discarding Sans as if he was a bag of bones as he dove to hug the dog. "I'm so fucking happy to see you dude you have no idea I was so worried and I thought you were going to die -"

"I'm fine, I was more worried about you, Jeff," Smile Dog said, eagerly wagging his tail, and likely would deny it later if Sans asked. However, he paused, then motioned towards Sans. "He's the reason why I'm alive right now. He got me out of the pound."

That caused Jeff to finally acknowledge Sans again. Honestly, Sans was kinda hoping he wouldn't notice him. It was really awkward now.

"Uh, hey there, kid," Sans mumbled, offering a very brief wave. "I'm Sans. Want anything? Like... food?"

The poor boy looked more... not pathetic, but more so saddening in person. He looked frail, starved, with a bloodied and dirtied white hoodie clearly worn past it's final day. Many holes littered the fabric, and soon, if this treatment continued, there'd be more holes than clothing. In those tears and rips could Sans see Jeff's chest, and his body was clearly thin from hunger.

"I -" He looked quick to say no, but his bright blue eyes darted towards the kitchen, and if looks could eat, all of Sans' food would be gone. "Yes."

Sans didn't reply. He already prepared something in advance. Lacking any particular cooking skills, he stuck to something simple.

"Here."

And outheld, on a plate, did he offer a single sandwich.

They all ended up sitting down inside of the kitchen, allowing for Sans to create more food for Jeff as he practically ate away half of Sans' fridge. As the boy ate, Smile Dog took that time to explain over what Jeff had missed. How he ended up in the pound, he and Sans meeting, Slenderman's encounter with him, and how Sans was okay with Jeff staying to wait for the Police to calm their searches of him.

It was surprisingly easy to convince Jeff to stay. Sans was expecting him to be prideful, declaring Sans a nuisance and trying to kill him. Instead, it only took one single look at the fridge, the promise of constant food, before he was nodding.

Sans had one spare bedroom which he lent to Jeff, offering him some extra clothes from Papyrus' stash. They both had created little stashes at each others houses for sleepovers, since this was the first time they lived apart. It really hadn't been touched. Despite the age difference, Sans still remained the shortest within the house, so his clothes wouldn't work. Smile Dog didn't count, he was a different species entirely.

But that was the funny thing about Jeff's height. He was too big for Sans' clothes but too small for Papyrus'.

"I thought we agreed for me just to spend the time waiting for the cops to cool down, not have a slumber party," Jeff said, staring down at the folded clothes.

"It ain't a sleepover, but I just figured yer would... I dunno, wanna take a shower and sleep in some clean clothes for once," Sans said, "You're still a person, you know, not some killing machine. And people wear clean clothes occasionally."

Jeff stared at his hands for a moment, then finally accepted the gift.

The night went by more smoothly. Of course, until bedtime hit. When Sans realized he's grown quite accustomed to be sleeping with someone else within the bed. Smile Dog, though he and Sans became friends now, weren't as close as Smile Dog and Jeff were. Jeff had a head start of three years. It'd be weird if Smile Dog didn't return to sleep with him.

It was hard to fall asleep without someone to cuddle. Should Sans get a stuffed animal? Because once Jeff left, would Smile Dog? And that'd mean Sans was alone.

Ugh.

"Hello there."

Just like that, there was the dog of the hour, trotting into Sans' room like he always did.

"Hey," Sans mumbled.

"I came to check in on you, and I told Jeff about the whole situation with Slenderman." He paused at the edge of the bed. "Are you mad at me?"

"No, 'course not," Sans said quickly, rolling over to look at him. "I'm just mad at myself. I'm fuckin' pathetic, ya know? I can't even fall asleep without someone next to me."

"You aren't pathetic. You just are different. Personally, I don't believe in the world pathetic." Smile Dog tilted his head. "Jeff may be a teenager with no home or family, but a lot of people still fear him. Everyone has something. Even if it's just your own thoughts, you have that, right?" He then pawed at Sans' face. "And your problems are just amplified because of the effect."

"And if the effect wasn't on me, would you even be here for me?" Sans asked, words choked. "I don' wanna be alone, and I can't stop thinking about it. That you wouldn't have stayed with me if I wasn't more broken than I should be."

A pause. The dog thought for a moment.

"You are not nearly as broken as us CreepyPasta are. Trust me. And, well, everyone's a little broken. And you shouldn't use mental illnesses to try and make friends, that doesn't work very well. I'm not your friend because you're 'broken', I'm your friend because I looked past that. Like your friends do. And you like me because you look past my shit, right?"

Huh. Guess Smile Dog was real good at all of this reassuring stuff. He must have noticed Sans' expression, because he shook his ears and grinned.

"Eh, I practically raised Jeff ever since he started killing. I've gotten good with helping people through confusing emotions."

"Figures. You're real good at it."

The small mammal settled down next to Sans.

"As much as I care about you, Jeff and I are a packaged deal. So when we have a clean opportunity, I'm taking him to a safer place than on the streets. I'll come back and visit, though."

Not wanting to think about it, Sans rolled over and hugged Smile Dog. And just like that, he was out like a light.

《》《》《》

Early upload because I made this animation meme and I'm using this chapter to promote it because it took ages and I demand it receives likes and comments and attention plz

https://youtu.be/9lPLDENIf3w