The room was cold. Dimly lit by early morning light and a tired fluorescent bulb that buzzed above him. Out the window it was beginning to snow on naked branches. Gus looked down at his handcuffs, feeling the chain links shift and clink together as he lifted his hands to cover his eyes and hide away in his shame, though nobody was in the room but him.

That was when the door opened. He heard the sound of wingtip shoes tapping on the tile floor. When he took his head out of his hands and looked up, it was Caden. He looked good in his three-piece suit. There was a long and uncomfortable silence that they shared between one another, neither seemed willing to say anything, but both knew this had to be done. Caden, bold as he was, decided to take that leap.

"Hey, Gus."

"Hi, Caden."

Gus looked up as his brother placed his briefcase on the floor and stood next to the chair across the table from him.

Caden looked almost nothing like Gus, save for in the face. He was shorter, skinnier, his fur was a tone of charcoal instead of brown, and his eyes had a characteristic steely blue, opposed to the bright amber that belonged to Gus.

Caden sat down and couldn't find the strength within him to meet his brother's gaze. Instead he stared at his own hands in frustration, took a deep breath, and quietly asked a question which had been on his mind for years.

"What are you doing, Gus?"

"I don't know."

They sat in silence.

What an awful, awful moment to have dreamt about. He wasn't sweating this time. He just felt hollow. He sat up and looked out the window as silver clouds made the sky overcast, billowing and bulging as they rolled in the wind.

Downstairs from the living room he heard TV speakers blaring. Susie was watching some crude cartoons while the adult block was still on. Gus sat down in the chair next to the couch to watch a bit with her before getting ready to take her to school. They didn’t say much to each other, both groggy and grumpy.

The truck’s old door creaked shut. "You got your lunch?" Gus adjusted the mirror on his side.

Susie pulled up a brown paper bag from the backpack Gus had given her. "Yep."

"Good, good. Let's get about it, then."

The leaves had fallen even further since last night, a cold frost had gripped yet again, stripping the branches down even more than they had been. Desperately a few leaves clung to their home, fighting fruitlessly against the November chill. The first snow was bound to fall any day now.

"Your mom ever done this for you?" Gus asked.

"No. She never drove me. She always wanted me to walk. Figured it'd teach me... something."

"Mmm..."

"Of course she's bullshitting. She just doesn't wanna get up to take me there, and I know better than to argue, so-, ya know."

"Yeah... yeah, I do."

Gus eased on the brakes as he approached the caution lights entering Hometown.

"You'd think that the bus route would come out down here, but no. They never have, don't know why."

"I'm kinda glad it doesn't. I've never liked being on a bus." Susie said.

"Heh... me neither."

Gus rubbed his hands, and cupped them to breathe warmth into them, so that his pawpads didn't freeze

"You uh... got any plans today, Susie?"

"I uh.. I'm gonna ask Kris if I can come over to his place today. Get out of your hair."

"Awww... don't speak so foolish. I don't mind havin' you around one bit. If you can't stay there tonight just ask Toriel to give me a call. She's got my number. I'll drive you back."

Susie smiled and nodded.

The road was clear, and Gus kept driving.

"What are you gonna do today, dude?" Susie asked Gus.

"Well, I... suppose after I drop you off I'll go to Grillby's for a drink."

"I didn't know you drank. Don't most people drink at night though?" She asked, seeming surprised.

"Well, I just don't drink too much. I just go whenever I can manage to swing by. Every day if I can help it. Two shots of whiskey."

"Just two? How come?"

"Well... my uh- my little brother, Caden. At some point he read something on the internet about how a little bit of alcohol can be a health benefit and he just- started doing it every day. I personally don't know if I believe the shit myself. 'Cept... man, Caden, he fuckin' hated alcohol. Beer, whiskey, wine- nothing would please the guy, the taste was just too terrible to him. So instead he started making this homemade stuff that he'd heard was really good. Butterscotch moonshine. Mind you he didn't have a distillery or nothin’, he weren’t no lawbreaker, and it wasn't real corn liquor, it was sugar based. Anyway, he'd make that stuff, and he would drink two shots of that a day. It was good, too. I had some of it but I never learned how to make it, so instead I drink whiskey."

"Well, maybe you could ask him to make you more." Susie suggested.

Gus felt like he was choking on his tongue.

"I uh... I can't."

Susie read the grave expression on his face and it didn't take her long to put two and two together.

"Oh." She said. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You didn't know. I don't drink more than that nowadays. Just- to remember him by."

Gus shuffled off his jacket and hung it on the rack when he got to Grillby's. Arnie almost instantly stood up from his seat and sauntered over but Gus didn't even give him the time of day. He simply stuck a hand out and gestured that Arnie should sit back down, and Arnie did just that with a look of defeat that alone could crush the spirit of a lesser man.

Sans was sitting at the bar. Gus took a seat next to him.

"Morning, bonehead." He patted Sans on the back.

"Right back atcha, furball." Sans was chowing down on scrambled eggs which were... covered... in ketchup.

"I see you're enjoying your break." Gus smirked.

"I ain't even opened yet." Sans swallowed a forkful of his eggs. "It's great to own your own business, isn't it? Make the hours whenever you please."

"That's a benefit, for sure."

Gus didn't even have to ask this time, Grillby had two shots of whiskey ready and put them right in front of him and Gus slapped down a five.

Both went down well. Gus sat for a minute and watched the news before he went about his day.

Something about small tremors down the road near Ebottfield. They weren't too uncommon. The mountains were fairly geologically active, even if they were heavily eroded and impossibly old. Gus realized he had nothing to really gain from taking in the atmosphere of the bar today, and he wanted to get back to work on the cabinet instead.

“Hate to cut it like this, Sans. But I’ll be damned, I got nothin’ to talk about today. I’ll have to see you around.” He stood up and patted Sans on the back again.

"Hey, Gus."

"Yeah?"

Sans's white pinprick eyes darted around his sockets, as though he was considering what he was about to say before bony lids closed over them and an expression of calm defied the permanent grin on his face. "Just know that I think I'd like your help with something sometime soon, when the night grows long. And have a great weekend."

"I look forward to working with you." Gus smiled. "And thank you, I will."

Gus had finished cutting out every single piece of the cabinet and drilled holes for pocket screws. He was about to make the inlays, but he changed his mind. Instead, he sat down and watched TV and checked to see if anyone had an interest in purchasing the ranch on the page he had set up months ago on a realtor website. He didn’t usually choose to laze about, but he just wasn’t quite feeling it at the moment.

He was on his front porch when he looked out into the distance to see that snow had finally arrived to the higher peaks of the mountains, painting the countless thousands of leafless trees near the peaks white. Winter is near. At long last.

His phone rang. He pulled his gaze away from the mountains and pulled out his phone. It was Toriel.

"Hello?"

Susie answered. "Hey. Uh, they can't have me over tonight. Apparently Kris's big brother is coming over tonight and they have no idea exactly what he'll be bringing over with him. Can you come get me?"

"What kind of a question is that?" Gus laughed. "Of course I can."

The drive back with Susie was a nice one. She seemed to be happy, genuinely happy. She was talking about how much fun she had with Kris that day, and how great tomorrow would be, because he’d told her that he wanted her to come over by his dad's flower shop and hang out with him, his brother, and his dad. Kris even said he wanted Gus to be there, of all people.

"Wow." Gus said. "Ain't that somethin'. I uh... well I guess I'll be there."

"You better, old man." Susie playfully socked Gus's shoulder and chuckled. “You have to take me there, after all!”

"Heh... You know, I got a surprise for you when we get back."

"What is it?"

"Wouldn't be a surprise if I told you."

"Ha! Screw you old man, fine. I'll wait."

Susie stared at the strange tool that Gus had pulled out from under the work table.

"What the hell is that?"

"This..." Gus plugged it up. "...is a plunge router."

"What's it for?" She tilted her head.

"I saw you lookin' over the pieces yesterday, I figured you'd like to try something out for yourself. So I figured I'd let you try out something with the plunge router and a chisel for these inlays."

"Oh."

Susie caught her tongue in her throat for a moment.

"You sure about that dude? What if I screw something up?"

"Well- depending on how bad you screw it up, we'll either fill it in with a little glue and sawdust, or scrap this piece and recut it."

Susie paused.

"Come on. I know you want to give this a shot" Gus teased. "You'd have told me no otherwise."

Susie bubbled her lips. "Screw it. Let's fuck some shit up."

Gus cackled. "ATTAGIRL!"

Susie carefully held the handles of the router as Gus set the shallow depth and fixed the bit on. He flipped it bit-side down and slid on a pair of goggles before resting another pair on the bridge of Susie's snout and muttering something about eye protection. She straightened the goggles so they covered her eyes.

"Hold tight alright?"

"Got it."

"You ready?"

Susie sighed nervously. "As ready as I can be."

Gus flipped the switch and Susie immediately became nervous as the bit began to spin, but she was reassured when she saw that Gus was holding the sides of the router, careful to avoid brushing her hands with his, so as not to make her uncomfortable.

"Just push down, and follow the marks, okay? Don't get too close to them, though. We won't get those clean chisel marks if you do."

"O-okay."

"I'll guide you if you need me, just shout my name."

"Okay!"

It took her nearly three times as long as it would have taken Gus, and a thousand frantic screams of his name, but with time and patience she successfully cut out the rough shapes of the Dreemurr insignia. When all was said and done, she looked down on the work she had done and Gus saw pride shine across her face.

"Good job."

"Oh holy... I just- I just made that. I made those cuts. And I did it right. Holy shit..."

"Damn right you did."

She laughed softly and joyfully. "Wow... Oh my god..."

"...what's next?"

Gus picked up a small chisel and handed Susie a larger one.

"I'll get the circles, and you get the triangles. I'm not gonna make you try your hand at round shapes just yet. Put the edge of the blade on the groove and push. If it won't budge, hold the chisel steady and tap the other end of it with this." Gus handed Susie a small mallet.

"The goal is to get a shape as perfectly straight as the outline itself. A few scuffs and missed marks are excusable and patchable, though. So don't fret too much."

"Okay..."

Susie fidgeted with the chisel and laid it on the line that Gus had marked out.

"Breathe, Susie."

Susie followed Gus's advice, taking one deep breath in and pushing it out slowly as she bore down on the chisel, a peel of white oak falling into the hole she had just made with the router, a perfectly straight line remained where she had carved, and she smiled. She looked up at Gus, and he gave her a thumbs up before he started working away at the circle. Susie was amazed at just how fast he was at his craft, pushing chip after chip out of the way of a perfect circular outline.

By the end of it Gus had done both circles and three triangles, leaving Susie to carefully finish up three of her own. After vacuuming out the chips of wood that had fallen into the holes, Gus went about gluing in the inlays and he grabbed a belt sander, asking Susie if she wanted to level out the walnut inlays with the oaken base.

Gus did one first, and she did the other, all on her own, perfectly.

"You got a real knack for this."

"You think?" She asked.

"I know. You're great at this."

"Seriously? Oh, man. Thanks."

"One more thing, eh?" Gus turned the cabinet doors over and pulled out a small paintbrush with a little plastic cup, a paper cover rubber banded around it, keeping something black inside from spilling out. He removed the cover and dipped the brush in gently. On the high inside corner of the back of each door, he carefully signed "Gus Birchbiter" in beautiful cursive, beneath each one, he painted a delicate ampersand. He handed the brush over to Susie with a smile.

"Your turn."

Susie gingerly and hesitantly picked up the brush from Gus's hand. She didn't quite know how to hold it.

"Like a pencil," he said. "Just a little higher up."

Susie shifted her grip and dipped the tip of the brush into the black paint. She slowly but surely wrote "Susie" under both of Gus's signatures. It was rough and not quite as refined as Gus's own signature, but Gus's beaming smile at the sight of it melted away at Susie's own self doubt, and she found that in no time she was smiling too.

"Ain't that just as pretty as a picture?"

"Yeah" Susie said. "It is."

Gus stood there proudly as Susie marveled at her handywork.

"Well, I think it's time to call it a night. How about you?" Gus asked.

Susie looked out into the twilight, outside the workshop, in the direction of her house.

"Can I uh... stay over on your couch again tonight?" She didn't make eye contact with Gus, instead opting to stare at her feet.

Gus looked out where she had. In the front yard across the street a lone figure sat in a folding chair next to a raging firepit, sipping from a bottle tucked into a brown paper bag, watching.

Gus turned back to Susie. "Yes. Yes you can."

"I don't wanna go back, I really fuckin' don't, dude." She gripped at her arm and gus noticed as she tugged at the sleeve of her jacket that she had a bruise just above her wrist in the shape of a hand.

He looked back out at the figure by the fire and he felt his anger, his hate, his pain- it burned. Burned brighter and hotter than that fire ever could or would.

"I don't wanna talk to her."

"You don't have to. Let's just get in for supper, hm?"