A/N: Have some angsty nightmare, anxiety attack, fluffy GrymTale shennanigans. ^^

GrymTale is by Ash-Shruf on DeviantArt and Tumblr!

~~~

"Oh, he's my um... He's my boyfriend!"

Words had never burned hotter in his ears. In that instant, his throat tightened and he could feel his magic suddenly activate on its own, subconsciously. It was not his normal magic, either. Rather, it felt hot, burning, almost raging... He took a deep breath to calm himself.

Meanwhile, an older feminine voice rang out. "Oh my child, I'm so happy for you! Finally, you're growing up..." He could see from the corner of his eye that she was crying a fake tear.

Coward.

"Moooom..." The adolescent moaned, facepalming herself. The young man standing next to her merely chuckled, a wide and bright smile on his face. He could see her squeezing her hand tighter, almost comfortingly and in support of her.

Monster.

"Oh, don't worry, my child. I will not embarrass you any more than I have to... Unless you want me to go into 'Mom Mode', as the children like to call it these days," The horned monster grinned triumphantly.

"First off, it's 'teenagers', not 'children'," The human girl replied, tilting her head in slight disappointment. "And secondly, please no," She continued, letting out another groan again.

Her boyfriend laughed. "Aw, it's okay, Frisk. I know how it's like to be patrolled by your parents, it's cool," He comforted her with a small kiss on her forehead.

STOP.

"Anyway, Ms Toriel, I was planning to tell you personally that I was going out with your daughter, buuuuutttt it seems like the situation happened on its own," He smiled sheepishly, scratching his head.

Toriel smiled warmly. "Oh, there's no trouble at all! You both are grown adults and I trust you, young man, with my daughter. I only ask that you do not attempt any funny business until more time has past," Despite the welcoming look on her face, Frisk could tell that she was being dead serious.

After some incessant chatter that the bystanding monster decided not to listen to, he found himself face to face with Frisk, just like long time ago, but now years after they entered the surface. There was a smile on his face but...

"Heh, congrats, kid. Seems like you finally found someone who loves the 'weird monster kid' from a long time ago, huh?"

Frisk beamed. "Actually, this whole thing came out and about from that stupid nickname from a long time ago. You were right to tell me not to listen to them, Sans. I'm pretty happy that it all came down to this!"

Well I'm not.

"Well, I'm happy for ya, kiddo. Anyways, I'll just leave you two lovebirds to whatever you're up to," He waved goodbye to them as he slowly walked away. Right then and there, he didn't care if someone was calling or yelling out for him to come back. He just kept walking.

If only they knew how he was trying to escape that damned entity haunting him.

To think that so many years after he had conquered it that it would still come back to bite him. 
That ghastly shadow trailing by his feet... something only he could see and feel. For some time, it had barely touched him, drifting further and further away from him as he became happier and happier with each passing day, with each passing hour... with her.

And now she was gone from his reach.

And now, he had no choice but to face this silhouette once more, with no light to guide him out of the hell he had been sucked back into. A deep sanctum of negative, overpowering thoughts that told him everyday from then on, that the world was meaningless. That there was no happy ending for him. That his life no longer mattered... especially without her with him.

Nothing mattered. Nothing mattered. Nothing mattered anymore.

The dark specter finally caught up to his mind, engulfing his body into a deep abyss of black. He could not stop himself from falling down, down, down. He fell deeper and deeper back to the same mindset he had so many years ago, something he had hoped, and failed, to forget.

Nihilism.

And then he was gone.

~~~

"Sunshine!" Grey jolted from the covers, beads of sweat trickling down his skull. Blinking once, twice, three times, he flipped the light switch and tried to ground himself back in reality, panting and heaving heavily even though he had no lungs. "Just a dream..." He muttered to himself, cradling his head in his hands.

Despite the shock, Grey knew that this wasn't the first time he experienced such a vision. Many others had happen before, albeit they were slightly different. Some dreams were not too different from his usual life, perhaps a simple foretelling of events to come (and that usually meant that Grey had to protect his sunshine the next day), others were more outlandish, depicting an inverted copy of his world. But this...

He grunted at the painful recollection. There was no indicator as to which world this dream belonged to, no special coloured clothing or different settings that could possibly give him a hint as to whether this had happened in another world... or was about to happen.

The thought sent shivers down his spine.

Sighing, he laid back on the bed with a flop, glancing at clock by his bedside table. 5 AM. Early morning. If nothing went wrong, he would be visited and woken up by his brother Papyrus, who strangely retained his cheerful and positive demeanor even though the rest of the Underground were clearly the opposite. Then, he would have to go for his rounds to check on the human-

"CLANK!!"

The sudden clatter of metal snapped Grey back to his senses. Who was that? He wondered to himself. Part of him wanted to believe that it was only Papyrus, perhaps trying to cook something and accidentally dropped something. That part of him also intended to lure him back to sleep to make up for his nightmare.

But another part of him was concerned. If monsters were so desperate to intrude in his home, that meant that it could not end well. And even if that was not true, it would not hurt to check even a little. Besides, a walk wouldn't be so bad for him after a hard night. Deciding that as his course of action, he rose from his bed and slipped his black hoodie on. Since he wasn't going out, he was fine with wearing the black track pants that he wore to sleep and quietly stepped out of his room.

For extra measure, he figured, Grey tiptoed to Papyrus' room first. When he pressed his skull against the door, he found himself listening to his brother snoring quietly. You can easily tell that he was sleeping because of the 'nyehs' he muttered in his slumber.

But then... who's downstairs? Raising his guard up, the skeleton cautiously walked down the steps, heading to the kitchen. In the twilight illumination of the house, he managed to maneuver himself across the living room, catching sight of the messy makeshift sofa bed.

Oh, right. He remembered. There was no intruder in his home, now he was certain.

Grey relaxed from his tense demeanor and casually placed his hands into the pockets of his hoodie as he trotted over to the kitchen. As he approached the lit room, he was met with a startled gasp from a small figure.

There they were. His sunshine. Clumsily trying to... cook? All he could see was a frying pan on the ground and a spatula in their hands. A mixing bowl of a white, creamy liquid with a spoon was sitting on the countertop and the human had donned a purple apron splattered with white splotches of flour. They had a very embarrassed look on their face, realizing that the cover was blown.

"G-Grey!" They stuttered, waving their hands in front of them. "You-you can't be in here, I need to-wait, how are you here?! Wait no-! WHY are you here- I mean-!"

Grey shook his head in amusement. "Butterfly, I think the better question is, what are YOU doing so early in the morning? I'm pretty sure you're not making a midnight snack, aren't you?"

The human sighed in defeat. "I... wanted to make breakfast for you and Pap," They admitted with a sheepish shrug. "Someone taught me how to make pancakes before and I didn't know if you guys have ever had that before... I swear I bought all of this on my own, I didn't steal anything-"

"Relax, sunshine, I'm not mad," He replied, stepping forward to pick the frying pan off the floor. "It's not really safe for you to cook without anyone around to help, though. Especially since you're still a kid and a little weak, you know?" He shrugged a bit as he placed the pan on the table.

"It was supposed to be a surprise..." They reasoned, pouting a little. "Also, I'm not a kid. I know I'm not very strong, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm over fifteen, Grey. I'm old enough to go out on my own,"

"Go out on my own"

"No, you can't," He spoke abruptly.

In his head, he could see it happening again.

And again. And again... The same images. No. No. No, no, no, no. Nonononononono.

"What?" They were shocked by the sudden change in his tone, now stern and almost threatening. They tried to step closer to him, but his magic-

"Don't go outside," He continued. "Stay here, don't leave."

"What do you mean?" The human was confused. His magic grew more and more volatile, pecking all over their body in small bits. There was a very ominous feeling in the room, and it was only growing. "What are you talking about?"

"Stay here," He commanded firmly.

"Grey-?"

"STAY."

As soon as he landed his hands on their shoulders, there was silence. His firm grasp on them was frightening, to say the least. He had such a strong grip, it was almost as if they were on the verge of death and would perish if he let go of them. The human found themselves shivering, slightly paralyzed by the sight of his eyes.

Pure blackness. They were void of the friendly mood he had earlier... what could have changed his demeanor so quickly?

"Grey...?" They asked timidly once more, afraid of his answer and yet still determined. "Are you okay?" Their voice mellowed to a whisper.

"Don't go,"

"What?"

"Don't go," He whimpered again, his hands slowly crawling around the human, clutching them tighter to his body. "Don't go," He repeated like it was a mantra, a prayer, a chant. "Don't leave, stay, please,"

"Grey, what's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?" The human patted the skeleton on his back soothingly, the same way they always had comforted him after a bad nightmare.

"You were there, and Pap was there, Tori, Undyne, everyone was," He began, sputtering out every last detail he could remember. There was a cold, hard ball forming within himself, emanating a dark, malevolent force that kept telling him, keep them here, keep them here, keep them here.

"The barrier was gone, we were all happier, none of us felt like the world was going to end, we were all so happy. And then one day, you came to us, you weren't alone, there was someone beside you, your lover-"

"Lover?!"

"I didn't want you to be sad, I said I was happy for you, I wanted you to be okay on your own and be happy in your own right, but in the end..." Grey's shoulders tensed as he recalled. "It wasn't enough, I wasn't happy enough, I wasn't enough to be okay with it, I was scared and alone and afraid of what I would do without you, I-"

"Grey-"

"Frisk, just don't leave, okay?"

That name.

Grey suddenly spoke with conviction, a contrast to the shaky voice he had earlier. "Please, We can't- I can't live without you here, you're my little sunshine and I can't lose you, I can't, I just can't, not again, god, let no one take my butterfly away from me again..."

To say that the human, or rather Frisk, was confused, was an understatement. First off, 'lover'? 
Did he mean that in his dream, they had a significant other or something? And second off, how in the whole underground did he know about their name? They could have sworn that they had told no one about it.

Still, the sight before them was one to pity. Now, Grey was practically squeezing the human in his hands, albeit not to point where they could not breathe. He was whispering all those words in their ears and could hear, feel, sense the pain in his voice. He was not crying, but he very much sounded like he was on the verge to.

" ... Grey, let go of me. I won't move at all, I promise," They requested calmly with very little movement. Given the unstable state that the skeleton monster was in right now, it would be a bad idea to move about and have him go into another anxious fit. Thankfully, Grey was grounded enough in reality to hear those words and managed to loosen his grip on Frisk, lowering his hands to his sides. He was still caught up with various images in his head, however, evident in those empty eye sockets of his.

Frisk sighed as they saw him staring at the floor. They took in a deep breath as they stood on the tip of their toes to reach his height, hands reaching for his head. They leaned in closer, closing their eyes, slowly landing their lips on his.

Right then and there, Grey could feel himself 'waking up' to the real world again, the white pinpricks in his eyes coming back... and staring at the human's bold actions in pure astonishment. Was this... what humans called... a 'kiss'?

After a short second, they stepped back down and retracted their lips, Grey instantly missing the warmth that was on his teeth, if only briefly. He blinked a few times before glancing at the human, who still had their eyes closed and their faces slightly scrunched up. After some moments passed between them, he was mentally persuaded to break the silence. "Sunshine? What was... What happened?" He inquired.

Instead of a proper response, Frisk buried their face in their hands, moaning in embarrassment. At the time, most of the night sky was disappearing, and small rays of light indicated that morning was coming. In the light, Grey could see the human's face turning red. How... adorable. He thought to himself.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that, it just happened, I swear I had no control over myself, but people said that a kiss can help calm someone down after an anxiety attack and I just thought you needed it-!!" They spat out everything in one whole sentence before retreating back to their groans. The warm feeling from many nights ago in the waterfall returned to his soul, replacing the icy cold ball from before. He felt... at peace, at ease... Happy.

"How adorable," He muttered out loud intentionally, stepping towards them with a meek smile on his face. "I have never seen you like this, sunshine," He remarked, reaching out to ruffle their hair. "I wonder why you're so flustered?"

"Speak for yourself!" Frisk retorted. "You had a nightmare about me falling in love with someone else!"

"Ah, probably was another timeline or something,"

"Another what?"

"Nevermind, nothing important," He waved it off as he bent down a little bit to pick the human up from their legs, startling them. "Anyway, how do you feel when I do this, huh butterfly?"

"Grey!" They yelped in surprise, their hands grabbing his shoulders for support. "Wh-why the sudden change in attitude?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, I'm just feeling up for this,"

... Wait... Was that...

Before he could say anything, he was greeted by a chuckle. Then a giggle. Then small but present laughter. As he turned to the person in arms, he realised two things: one, he had unintentionally made a pun and two, he unintentionally found out about something the human liked: puns.

That morning, Grey couldn't care less about the sun rising than laughing with the human that he... loved.

~~~~

I'm happier... I definitely feel happier now.

If I were to look back at that old skeleton from before, I would not recognise him.

And it's all because of them. My little sunshine.

They made me... feel happy again. They.

But if they need to leave, I...

...

I won't force them to stay.

I'll let them go.

~~~~

^_^