Gus woke up around seven this time, right at first light.

By the time he had mustered up the energy to get into his kitchen, half an hour had passed and the sun was beginning to rise. He wasn't in the mood for something he'd have to actually make, so he settled for a bowl of cereal.

The morning was cold. Not freezing this time, but still cold. Maybe upper 30s. Trees hadn't changed any.

It was when he was washing the bowl he had eaten from that he thought he caught something in the corner of his eye. It prompted him to look up out the window and he saw Susie out in his front yard, looking back in. She made a stilted wave once she saw him looking back at her and she gestured down the road and smiled. He waved back at her with a smile, and she went on her way.

That was a better interaction than he was expecting given his... confrontational approach on the ride home last night. It made him feel lighter to see that she was in good spirits.

After an hour of wandering around his house and watching the modern nightmare of daytime television, Gus pulled up his boots, put on his flannel, and slung on his suspenders, and headed to his workshop, where he finally began making the cabinets.

It was about an hour into the process when he was cutting out the individual pieces, penciling what the parts would be on the corners of both sides of each piece to keep track of them in case he got confused, when he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket, the ring inaudible for the sound of the bandsaw. He cut the bandsaw off and answered the call. A frail and shaky voice answered, asking him if he could fix a 'horrendous' leak in the boys' bathroom at the school.

"Alright then, what time miss-"

"-Alphys."

"Miss Alphys, what time?"

"Sir, I assure you, I'm not being dramatic when I say that your help is needed now."

"Well, it's just that I'm currently in the middle of another project and-"

"-p-please. I'm begging you, this needs fixing right this minute, it's... indescribable."

Gus looked down at the block of walnut, the first triangle of one of the insignias almost cut out, and he sighed.

"I'm on my way."

"Oh! Thank you so mu-"

Gus hung up before she could even finish. He reluctantly loaded up in his truck, and drove farther yet farther away from his beloved workshop.

When he arrived at the school the first thing that hit him was the smell. The godawful smell.

"Dear god." Gus muttered to himself, before almost slamming his hand into his face and pinching his nose shut, struggling to control himself before he could retch.

Students were heading to lunch at the time, each one covering their noses and mouths. One armless girl, yellow with spikes protruding from her head, was unable to cover her mouth.

She screamed "Yo! Wh-what is that?" Before she uncontrollably dry heaved and vomited on the floor.

This made other students feel sick as well, save for Susie and Kris, who happened to be in this class and instead seemed completely unphased.

Kris noticed him and waved with one arm free at Gus, and Gus waved back with his free hand.

The armless girl looked like she had thrown up half her weight, she was struggling to keep steady on her feet and her eyes looked bleary. A considerate classmate, a blue bird with a magenta bow tie, pulled a colorful handkerchief from his pocket and wiped spittle off of her lips and red dress as he held her steady. He covered her nose with one wing and kept her steady with the other, holding his breath and braving the wretched stench as he walked her down the hall.

"Oh come on, it isn't THAT foul." Another blue bird squawked, a pair of thick wireframe glasses resting on his beak.

"Shut up, Berdly." Susie said. "I bet it was you who dropped that bomb in the bathroom."

"N-no it was not!" The bluebird retorted.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure of it now." Susie snorted. Kris snickered into his sweater sleeve.

"A-alright everyone, move along to the cafeteria!" Shouted a short, stout yellow lizard, half-heartedly shooing them like a tired farmer would his chickens.

She turned to face Gus and excitedly walked up to him with her nose clamped shut. She was positively miniscule. Half as tall as he was, and she seemed to recognize this herself as she stood within his shadow. She began sweating nervously.

"Y-you m-must be..."

Gus realized this must have been the person who called him, given how nervous she was. It probably wasn't too easy on her anxious nature that he absolutely eclipsed her in every way. His shoulders were wider than she was tall.

"Gus." He answered as gently as he could and smiled softly with a nod. The teacher's fear evaporated.

"Y-yes! Gus! I'm Miss Alphys."

A lanky janitor with gloves on walked up to the pile of vomit the armless girl had left on the floor and put on a surgical mask to better deal with the smell that filled the hallways.

"Can we get two of those here?" Gus asked.

The janitor looked in his direction before walking up and handing a mask to Gus and another to Alphys.

"You'll fuckin' need it," he said, his vile tongue cutting through the already tainted atmosphere of this place of learning. "Sorry we had to call you, but it's bad, very bad. And if I knew how to deal with it myself, I would have."

"It's alright. I could use the money."

The two of them put on their masks.

"Alright. Take me to it, Miss Alphys."

"Uh, it's right this way, third stall in the b-boy's restroom..."

"OH!" The janitor shouted, tossing a pair of black rubber gloves at Gus before he could move. "I hope these fit you."

The less said about what Gus saw, the better. Describing it as a "leak" was not only inaccurate but a disservice to the sheer scale of this disaster. The... obscene amount of feces on the floor, the stagnant pool of water in the toilet of the third stall, and the smell - the godawful smell penetrating his mask.

It took him an ungodly amount of time with a plunger and an auger to pull the source out. A few pages of a porn mag. A fucking porn mag. Specifically one that was themed around dragon women. Didn't these kids use their phones these days? Good god...

He called the janitor in over the intercom, using the name he had seen on the monster's name tag, Charlie.

Charlie held open a plastic bag while Gus lowered the filthy contraband (literally and metaphorically) into it.

"You wanna tell the truth about this?" Gus asked.

"Nah." Charlie said. "No need to stir shit up because some dumb kid was horny. The staff will just try and find him out - humiliate him. Ruin the poor kid's life for a few months. Nobody wants to be known as the kid who tried to shove a damn porn mag down the toilet to keep from getting caught. If kids can’t be cruel enough, you give them that kind of information and someone to point the finger at? HA!" The janitor put one hand on his hips as he laughed, the other clasped around a mop. “Brother, you’re talkin’ bout fuuuuuun shit!”

Gus chuckled. "You'd think these kids would use their phones, though."

"Yeah..."

"Just say it was a toilet paper blockage when you get asked. That's what I'll tell em'." Charlie said.

"God. I hope this smell doesn't stick to me." Gus said.

"Did you get any on your shoes?" Charlie piped up.

Gus checked. "Nah. Nah, they're clean."

"Should be fine, then. Well, I uh- gotta get back. Some kindergartener spilled a bowl of tomato soup in the cafeteria. Stuff got everywhere. Take care, big guy."

"You too. Thanks Charlie."

They exited the bathroom, Charlie throwing the contraband in the trash can on his cart, and Gus pausing when he saw Toriel waiting with a check ready.

"Hey Gus" she said, handing him the check.

"It's already written out?" he asked.

"I already wrote you one, remember? For fixing my sink. The one you refused." The goat woman crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow. "I remembered your name and the principal went ahead and wrote this out with my help."

Gus looked at the amount written out to him. A hundred and fifty dollars.

"We didn't even get to negotiate." He said. "This is a... bit high."

"Oh." Toriel playfully scoffed. "Consider part of it as thanks for fixing my sink."

"With the school's money?"

"No, I threw a bit in there myself."

Gus smiled, opening his billfold and slipping the check in. "Hah... alright. I know better than to turn you down. ‘Specially for a second time. Thank you for this, Miss Dreemurr."

"Oh please, you can call me Toriel."

"Alright, then. Thank you, Toriel."

He stood there silently. He could tell by the look on her face that she wanted more out of this interaction. He just wasn't quite sure what it was. His uncomfortable wondering was put to rest when Toriel broke the silence with a concerned huff. She tightly hugged one arm to her bosom with the other, and bit at her nails.

"I uh..." she sounded almost choked up. "...I want to talk to you about Susie."

Oh god.

Gus inhaled sharply and shuffled uncomfortably. Toriel immediately noticed.

"I don't know if she'd be too happy about that."

"I'm not going to ask you every detail of her life. I just- I'm worried about her."

There was a tense silence. A fire alarm blipped down the hall, asking for a change of its batteries.

It was during recess that Gus went into the teacher's lounge with Toriel, nervously sitting with a small cup of water gently held in his enormous hands. The cup was comically small, and would barely quench a monster of typical size, let alone someone of Gus's gargantuan eight foot frame. But it calmed his nerves to have something to sip at if he needed it.

Toriel sat across from him, a cup of water in her hand as well.

"I've had suspicions for a while." Toriel asked, starting off this already uncomfortable sit-down with a question Gus felt was already veering into territory he really didn't want to step into. "She talks about her mother scarcely, she sometimes curses under her breath about the woman when she thinks I can't hear."

Gus fidgeted his cup around.

"Have you seen the woman?"

"Yeah." Gus answered, quietly.

"So... what’s she like?"

Gus sipped at his cup and swallowed far harder than he needed to for such a small amount of water. He tugged at the collar of his flannel shirt.

"...not all that good."

Toriel was bothered by Gus's indirectness.

"Please, Gus. You've got to give me more than that."

"Toriel, I barely know anything." He said, deciding to try and end this conversation as fast as possible and do away with the discomfort of the entire situation. "All I can tell you is it's not good, and I want to help her out of it. But I... we... have to try to respect her situation."

"Respect her situation..." Toriel seemed to understand. She stood up and leaned her back against the wall. "It's that bad, is it?"

"Yeah. Her mom seems like a... pretty tough piece of work. This is one of those things to play smart, you know?"

Toriel sipped at her water. "You haven't stopped shaking since I brought you in here. Are you okay?"

Gus dropped his cup, a small puddle of water spilling out onto the floor. He nervously sat erect and took a breath in fast, forcing it out even harder.

"Hey, hey." Toriel walked over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Breathe."

"No." Gus answered honestly, his head in his hands. "I'm not okay. I... I've been where she is now. A-and it makes me sick. It makes me so SICK, Tori." Gus tried to fight back tears.

Toriel silently wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug. It felt very strange to receive a gesture so tender from a woman he had met only two days prior, but at the same time it felt so right.

“It’ll all be okay, Gus. I don’t know you all that much, and I’ve only known you for three days, but if what you did last night is any indication, there is a lot of good in you. I trust you. I trust you to be her ally. Just stay strong, okay?” He nodded and leaned into her embrace. Looking out the window, he saw the young children in her class playing outside, and he felt his nerves begin to calm.

Gus stopped by Grillby's on the way back home and ordered his typical two shots, but the discussion with Toriel had left him shaky, even if it wasn't a very soul-bearing experience. This situation with Susie, it brought him so much closer to the worst of all his memories, far closer than he ever wanted to be. So he sat, taking in not alcohol but the calm ambience of the bar.

Arnie wasn't here today. It was just a few other people. The graffiti across the street was completely gone by this point, only a few traces of paint left to be taken away. Behind him he heard two patrons talking, and he tuned in as usual.

"Well, it looks like they ain't no closer to figurin' out who sprayed that damn thing."

"I'm not surprised. The security camera footage was pure garbage, at least that's what Buford told me. Just two vague, grainy shapes dressed in all black."

"They didn't leave anythin' behind?"

"Not a footprint."

Gus heard the bar door open, and a car on the road whizz past.

"Typical..."

Someone jumped into the barstool next to Gus and rapped their knuckles on the bar. The sound was sharper and clearer than a pair of knuckles typically was, and Gus glanced to the right to see a bony hand retreating from the bar.

"Hey Grillby. Just get me a hot dog eh? And leave the ketchup bottle." The voice was a steady baritone with little texture to it, a smooth, calm confidence exuded from the person who had sat themselves down next to Gus.

"You got it." Grillby said.

"I don't think we've met, big man." The voice directed itself to Gus's right ear.

He turned to face this new patron. He was a short skeleton with a round skull and a permanent smile drawn across his face. Two white pinpricks stuck out from the black void of his eyes. He wore a blue hooded jacket and a pair of black track shorts that reached just above his ankles. On his feet were two fuzzy, pink slippers. This guy couldn't give less of a damn how he looked, but Gus liked something about that.

"No, I don't think we have." Gus outstretched a hand for a shake, and the skeleton returned the gesture, taking Gus's enormous hand into a shake by clasping around his massive index finger, his bones clacking.

"The name's Sans. Sans the Skeleton."

"Angus. Angus Birchbiter. But folk call me Gus."

"Birchbiter, eh? I guess you must like the taste of hardwood." Sans winked and shrugged.

One minute with this guy and out of nowhere he'd dropped a gay joke on Gus. But he found it amusing. He admired the little skeleton's bold way of making friends.

"I like you already, Sans. No bones about it" he quipped back.

"I'm glad you don't wanna pick a bone with me, I already got too many."

Gus chuckled.

Grillby brought Sans his hot dog and bottle of ketchup, and Sans began to squirt an absolutely merciless amount on the sausage.

"So, Birchbiter... that a woodworking name?" Sans inquired.

"Certainly is. Way back my uhh... great great grandfather- he was beaverfolk if you can believe it with these sharp teeth I got. That's where the 'biter' comes from." Gus answered.

Sans finished putting his mountain of ketchup on his hot dog.

"You keep up the family tradition?" He took a bite of his absolutely smothered food, sauce spilling over his bony cheeks.

"I do, actually. I'm in the middle of making some cabinets for this lady in town."

"That's nice." Sans said, muffled as he chowed down on his hot dog. "What's her name?"

"Toriel Dreemurr. You know her?"

Sans swallowed. "Oh yeah. I know her. She shops at my store."

"You own that place right on Main Street?"

"Yeah, that's the one. You should come by some time."

"You must've just opened. I had to head down to Ebottfield to get my last grocery run."

"Just last week." Sans took another bite. "With my little bro, Papyrus."

"Well, it's nice to see you settling in well."

"The food being nice does help a lot." Sans said through bites of his hot dog.

"Yeah, that'll do it."

Gus spent the next hour talking with Sans about things happening here and there around time, nothing too big. Sans ordered him a burger, which Gus tried to refuse, but Sans wouldn’t hear it, and Gus got a nicer supper than he usually did.

Right as Gus told the skeleton it was probably best that he get back home so that he could continue working on the cabinets before it got too dark, Sans stopped him on his way toward the door.

"I wanna say something to you, Gus." His voice was soft, with a reassuring tone to it. "I could tell by the way you were sitting when I came in here. You got a lot on your plate, eh?"

It was like the entire bar went silent. Gus opened his mouth to speak, wondering if he'd have to steer Sans away from a topic he was uncomfortable discussing with a man he'd just met, but Sans cut him off.

"Don't worry. I'm not gonna ask for details or make you tell me your life story. You don't have to say anything."

Gus relaxed.

"I just wanted to say that I can tell you're rackin' that brain of yours over what you should do about it. And I don't want you to worry. I've been there before. You're a smart guy, I can see it. When the time comes, I'm sure you'll see something that will finally make you understand. And in that moment..."

Sans slowly turned around in his barstool to face Gus.

"...you'll know what it is you have to do. Just keep breathing."

The sounds of the bar faded back in.

"Thank you." Gus said.

It was sunset by the time Gus pulled into his driveway. Gus's day was longer than he thought it would be, a lot more happened than he expected, that was for sure. He went straight to the workshop, intending to cut out the insignia and retire for the day, but when he looked into the open garage door to his workshop he was surprised to see Susie looking at the pieces of the cabinet.

She seemed to be intrigued by it, though there was barely anything to it yet. Just a few odd shapes here and there that he had cut out from mostly plywood. But she took it all in and really, really seemed to appreciate it.

Gus broke the silence by tapping his boot on the concrete floor. Susie raised her shoulders, taking her hands out of her pockets and raising them impulsively. She relaxed when she looked in the direction of the noise and noticed it was just Gus.

"Oh. Uh- hey, Gus."

"Hey." He walked further in.

"So, this is the cabinet you're making for Miss Toriel?" She looked back at the pieces.

"Sure is."

Susie sniffed the air deeply. "This place smells nice."

Gus chuckled. "Like the smell of lumber, eh? Most of this stuff's dry. You ever smelled it cut fresh?"

"No." She shook her head and turned away from the cabinet pieces to face Gus. "Is it a good smell?"

"Very." He nodded and smiled.

He let her look at the pieces for a few more seconds.

"What's got you over here, Susie?" he asked.

She scoffed. "Mom's bein' a bitch again."

"What's her problem?" Gus took a hand out of his pocket to wipe away the wetness from his black nose. He sniffed and scrunched his face.

"I didn't get to eat any lunch today." Susie started. "I packed the pie and the uhh strawberry thing from Miss Toriel's place, but when I opened my bag it was empty. Didn't have any money to buy either."

"When did lunches stop being free?" Gus asked, intrigued.

"Bout a year ago."

"Guess the county's rakin' in too much money for government support..." Gus grumbled. "You said your lunch was empty?"

"Yeah." Susie nodded.

"Why?".

"Mom ate it."

Gus's brow furrowed. "Did you talk to her about it?"

"Yeah. She got mad at me. Told me it was her house, her food, said she could eat whatever she wanted whenever she wanted. Then she kicked me out for the night because I got mad at her. Figured I'd check your place out before I camped out tonight."

Gus could swear he felt blood vessels in his eyes bursting. Susie looked at him and she seemed to shrink away in fear, his breaths heavy through flared nostrils like an enraged bull.

"Wait here" he said.

Gus marched out of the workshop and began charging down the hill, long strides with every heavy step as he cast his hate-filled gaze at the house on the other side of the road. He heard fast footfalls behind him.

"Gus, wait! Wait wait wait wait!"

He felt Susie grab at his left arm. "Come on, man! Don't, please, please don't. Come on!"

But Gus was deaf to her pleas. He shrugged her grip off and he felt his heart pound harder and harder, his vision went red. His head was throbbing, drenched with sweat. It had been so long since he was worked up enough to sweat from anywhere other than his paws. In this moment he was little more than a twisted manifestation of his own rage.

"GUS! THERE'S A TRUCK!"

A horn blared, and a semi truck zoomed past him at the speed of light. His heart nearly came to a standstill. The wind from the near-miss almost seemed to slap him, and he snapped out of his trance. He caught himself from falling face-first in the asphalt, hands on his knees, his back hunched. He could not remember when he had reached the road. He started hyperventilating, each heaving breath burning his throat and lungs.

"Woah." Susie came up behind him, standing at the distance of a few paces. "You alright?"

Gus responded to her question by turning around and promptly vomiting into the ditch by the side of the road, spilling out the small supper he had ordered for himself at Grillby's.

"Yeah." His voice was hoarse and exhausted. "I'm... sorry."

Susie had never looked as sheepish and outwardly vulnerable as she did in this moment. Her hands were close to her chest and she bent at the knees, her back hunched forward slightly as she looked on at Gus with concern.

"I'm not- I'm not gonna let you sleep in the cold tonight." Gus tried to steady himself as he stood up straight. "You... you can sleep on my couch."

"Oh, man, I... man... I don't... are you sure?"

Gus shot her a solemn look, the brown furs on his face highlighted by the redness of the setting sun.

"Please..." he begged.

Susie looked around at Gus's house as though she had walked into a different world. It was old, very old. Paint chipped at the corners of the walls, the floorboards creaked, but it was quaint, and clean.

Gus went to the fridge. "You uh, okay with cereal?" He pulled out a gallon jug of milk. "I promise I'll cook you something in the morning I just... I had a moment back there."

"Sure." Susie pulled herself away from scraping at paint chips and sat at the table.

Gus brought out a box of chocolate-flavored cereal and handed the box over to Susie. He gave her the largest bowl he could.

"Eat as much as you like."

Susie cautiously reached for the box, but Gus gestured to her as if to say 'please, help yourself' and within seconds she poured the entire bowl full of spherical puffs of chocolate and milk, and greedily began wolfing them down by the spoonful as if she hadn't eaten in a day. That thought crossed his mind when Gus realized she almost certainly hadn't.

"You get to eat anything today at all?" he asked.

"Kris shared me half of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but I didn't tell him I had nothing to eat by the time he had finished a pack of crackers and a bag of chips, so that was all I got."

"Hm. Such a nice boy."

"Susie stopped chewing for a moment and smiled softly. "Yeah." she said, "Yeah, he is."

Gus was happy to see she had made a genuine friend in the boy. But there was something he needed to talk about.

"About what happened out there..." Gus began. "I uh... I'm sorry."

"Ish okay" she said, through a bite of cereal.

"It ain't." Gus leaned back and breathed deep, cupping his mouth with his hand. "Just earlier I was... I was thinking about how your situation is, how I need to not give in to my emotions here. And what I just did- if it weren't for that truck I could have made it a thousand times worse."

Susie lowered a spoonful of cereal and stopped eating, her full attention on him.

"What I was about to do wasn't for you. It wasn't about you." He made eye contact. "It was for me. It was because it made me angry."

The ticking of a wall clock and the humming of a refrigerator were the only things that kept the room from diving into an eerie silence. "I just... I been there before, Susie. I been there. I know how bad it can get and in that moment it took over me. I was about to take out my frustration toward my pa out on your mother. I made it about me."

Susie's attention was now completely on Gus. He realized he was crying, and wiped away his tears.

"I don't wanna do that. Maybe I think you need my help in your situation, but you need someone who isn't just some... hopelessly angry halfwit."

Susie didn't seem to know what to say.

"Please." Gus gestured toward the bowl. "Eat."

And eat she did. Without scarfing down every bite this time. As though it wasn't going to disappear right before her eyes, and she could take her time.