Chapter Text
It was pouring rain.
It was the rainy season in this small city at the base of Mt. Ebbot, but this was a new level. Large droplets just started falling a while ago and it looked like the city was already drenched.
You had been working on your pieces at your university late into the night and they were closing the studios which meant it was time to go home. You had noticed the rain and were able to store your portfolio in the studio that the security guards locked up. However, you didn’t have an umbrella, and as you stared out of the doors of the main lobby, you wondered what exactly to do.
You had a thin jacket and your backpack, but that was kind of it. They weren’t enough to shield you. You were just gonna have to run for it. Your apartment was… well it was kind of far away. Using public transportation it was fairly short but you weren’t sure if you wanted to wait for a bus in this rain. However, you had already surrendered to the fact that you were going to be soaked.
You stared outside. No time like the present.
Taking a deep breath you pulled your hood over and bolted out the doors.
You had only taken a few steps and were already soaked. Not fun.
Accompanying the rain was a very thick mist. You could only see the closest traffic lights and even though you knew where the bus stop was, the rain and the mist were too much and you decided you needed a place to retreat to.
Just a block down was a glowing sign you couldn’t fully make out, but you figured it was part of a building and that meant sanctuary.
You ran to it and luckily the place was open as you burst through the door.
Breathing heavily, you took a moment to catch your breath and then looked up to see where you actually were. It was a bar. A really nice one too. There were booths lining the windows and round tables in the center of the wooden floor. Then an L-shaped bar area and even from the entrance you could see the immense amount of bottles that lined the tall shelves behind it. The whole place was quite lovely, and the feeling was amplified by the slightly orange-tinted lights.
As you looked around, you saw that there was no one else around.
Nervously, you called out, “hello?”
Immediately the door behind the bar opened and a… a man who was on fire walked through. You blinked and saw your eyes weren’t playing a trick on you, at the bar was a monster. Being at the base of Mt. Ebbot, seeing monsters wasn’t anything new or strange, as they came down and out of the mountain just over a few years ago, but you had never encountered a fire elemental before.
He started making his way to you.
“Sorry, I wasn’t sure if you were open. I was looking for a place to wait out the rain.”
By now he was in front of you and upon seeing your drenched state he gestured to the bar area. “Please, it’s not a problem.” His voice. You didn’t know what to expect, but it wasn’t quite that. It was deep and almost crackled, which seemed to add another layer of thickness to it. It stunned you and it took you a moment to compose yourself.
“Thank you--” there was a puddle of water that had gathered at your feet and as you took a step forward, you slipped. You were prepared to hit the ground but felt a pair of warm arms catch you and for a moment you were pressed against his chest. Instinctually your hands had come up now they were on his very warm chest. The position made you blush but you took it as being from the fact that you were up against a fire.
Then you heard a small sizzle and quickly pulled away, out of his warm embrace. “I’m so sorry!” You looked at and checked his arms frantically. “Are you alright?” It looked like there wasn’t any damage but you weren’t sure.
The fire elemental looked at you, almost amused, as you checked his arms. Then you met his gaze and saw that his shoulders shook slightly and the flames on the top of his head crackled a bit more, and it looked like he was… laughing. His chuckle was deep and sounded like the small pops of a fire. It… it was a nice sound.
You saw what looked like a smirk appear on his face, and then a soft smile. He showed you his arms, the fiery orange fire moved and glowed with the same brilliance as before. It was enchanting.
“I am fine.” He reassured you. A part of you still felt guilty, but you didn’t have much time to dawn on it as a shiver violently ripped through you. The fire elemental saw this and put a hand on your back. It was warm, and there wasn’t a sizzling sound so you assumed that your previous embrace must have dried that spot. “Please, have a seat. I’ll get you a drink.”
You let him lead you to the bar where you sat on a stool and saw him disappear behind a door. He quickly reappeared with a towel, which he offered you and you wrapped it around yourself.
“Thank you. It’s really crazy out there.”
“I can see. I haven’t seen it like this in ages.”
You stared at the fire elemental for a moment and then realized you didn’t even know his name. Not wanting to be rude, you made sure your hand was dry and reached over the bar counter to shake his hand.
“My name is ____ by the way.”
He briefly looked at your hand and you swear you saw a soft smile appear on his face again. He gently took your hand and shook it.
“Grillby. It’s a pleasure ____.” The way he said your name. There was a small fire that just sparked in the pit of your stomach.
His hand was warm, and you didn’t really want to let go. There was a comfort while holding his hand you couldn’t explain, but you didn’t want to make this any more possibly awkward, so you let go of his hand. However his hand lingered just a moment more, and then the warmth was gone.
Now you really got a good chance to look at him, at Grillby. He was quite a handsome monster. His flames were a brilliant mix of red and orange that shifted and swayed with his movements. It was mesmerizing that way they moved. The elemental was quite tall, as when you were in his embrace he was at least a head taller than you. You could tell he was lean but built, with his broad shoulders and from when your hands were on his chest.
From the thought, you started blushing, but luckily Grillby hadn’t seen as he was making a drink at another part of the bar. You were thankful because you would rather not explain to someone you had just met why your face was turning red.
After another moment, he returned with a drink that was steaming and placed it in front of you.
“This should warm you up.”
You looked at him, thankful, and took the drink in both hands. Just holding it warmed you up and after taking a sip, you could immediately feel the cold inside you dissipating. It tasted like a mix of hot chocolate and something else you couldn’t identify.
“Thank you. This is really good.”
He looked satisfied with your statement as another soft smile graced his face. Grillby looked at you a moment more, which started to make the blush come back to your face. You tried to hide it by drinking more, and you hoped it worked.
Then Grillby started cleaning some glasses while you looked around the bar again, and there was still no one else.
The rain kept on coming down and there was an air of silence now, but it didn’t feel awkward. In a way, it felt soothing. You fell into a peaceful lull as you just watched the man work, just taking small glances at him to note the way he moved and how the crackling flames followed. You hoped he didn’t notice, and whenever you thought he did, you would hide by taking another sip.
With the towel and hot drink, you weren’t cold anymore, even though your clothes were still damp. You weren’t sure how much time had gone by, and a part of you didn’t really care. There was something about this man, you couldn’t put your finger on it, but you just wanted to stay right there.
You were staring at him again, just watching him when he turned and met your gaze. Crap! You immediately went to take another sip but, to your dismay, you had finished the drink. So you decided to just look outside the window at the rain… a blush creeping on your face again.
“It’s still really coming down isn’t it?” Really, that’s the best you could think of? The weather?
“It is.” You could hear him walking over but when you turned around to face the bar again, you didn’t expect him to be right in front of you, looking out the same window you had.
He wasn’t super close, but you admired his face and flames all the same. It was warm around him, and you continued to look at him, unable to turn away as he kept speaking in that deep hum of a voice. “Luckily everyone left before it started.”
From this, you wondered if he was actually getting ready to close. It was already a few hours past midnight and maybe that’s when he closed.
“Wait, are you actually supposed to be closed right now?” Now he had turned to face you. You didn’t have words for how you felt as you stared into the faint outline of eyes behind his glasses.
The monster saw the look of concern on your face. “Yes, but please, don’t worry. I’d rather stay open and have you warm than let you be out there.” There was a look of genuine worry on his face and he reassured you that it wasn’t a problem.
The small fire in the pit of your pit stomach grew and a part of you wanted to reach out and… touch him. You already had, but now you wanted to do it of your own volition. Just to feel the flames of his face as you imagined him… don’t go down that path. You hardly even know him!
But you almost felt like he was looking at you the same way. No, you’re imagining that.
He continued to look at you and there was a slight blue color that overtook some of the flames where his cheeks were. He averted his gaze for a moment before he looked at you again.
You had no idea how to react to any of what was happening but luckily he spoke before you could do or say anything. “I hope I’m not imposing, but what do you do ____?”
The question took you off guard but you promptly responded. “I’m an art student. I study at the university just down the block.” You gestured in its general direction.
“Art, that’s quite fascinating. Any particular medium?” You felt that you had his undivided attention, which made your stomach flutter but also made you quite nervous.
It was useless to hide your blush any longer, but you tried by resting your chin in your hand. You also saw you weren’t alone as the light blue flames continued to grow on his face.
“Paint. Mostly acrylic.” You waited a moment for another question to be asked, but Grillby just looked at you. A part of you felt that he wanted you to keep talking, which you know seemed a bit odd, but with the way he was looking at you, as if in a trance, you obliged. “I do a lot of abstract work, but I also love doing landscapes and flowers.”
You saw a smile form on his face and this gave you the confidence to keep going. You weren’t someone who talked about themselves often. It always felt kind of hard and weird too, but to see someone genuinely looking interested, it wasn’t so bad.
It continued like this for a while, with Grillby asking you small questions about your art and university. He didn’t ask anything too personal, it seemed he didn’t want to overstep any boundaries.
This felt really nice. You shared some small funny anecdotes which made him laugh, and the sound always took your breath away. You wanted to keep him laughing, and some jokes were shared back and forth which led to you laughing as well. You didn’t want this to end as you found how comfortable you felt with this monster, with Grillby.
He kept the conversation focused on you, which started to make you feel bad after a while so you tried to find a way to redirect back to him by asking about his friends or the guests that usually come to the bar.
Grillby’s face lit up as he shared a few words about some of his patrons and friends. He mentioned the Canine Unit, a group of various royal guard dogs, a few bunny patrons, and more. Lastly, he spoke of Sans, whom he described as a short skeleton with an endless amount of puns, and sounded like his closest friend.
“Though he’s never paid his tab.”
“You’re kidding. And how long have you had this place open?”
“Roughly two years.”
“And in that whole time…” Grillby shook his head. “Not even once…” another shake. You laughed some more. “Wow, I don’t even want to imagine what he must owe by now.”
Grillby chuckled, and then there was a natural pause and silence that came afterward. You were staring at him again and then in the silence, you noticed that… there was no longer the sound of rain.
You looked outside and saw that the rain had stopped. You had no idea what time it was as it was still dark but it looked like dawn was close to approaching.
… How long had you been talking with Grillby? Time seemed to have slipped away.
“Oh my… I’m so sorry for taking up so much of your time!” You couldn’t believe that you had robbed Grillby’s night of sleep! That you had kept him up the whole night when he was possibly going to be working again today.
You started to scramble around, hopping off the barstool and folding the towel he had given you. That’s also when you noticed you were completely dry, not even your clothes were wet anymore. You guessed that it must have been because of the warmth that Grillby naturally emitted.
As you moved around, somewhat in a frenzy, Grillby came from behind the bar, shaking his hands to gesture to you not to worry.
“____. It’s not an issue. It’s a pleasure to talk with you.” The blush came back and he blushed a bit too. There was a slight pause as he looked down and put his hand on the back of his neck before looking back up at you. “I’d rather stay open the whole night and talk with you then close.”
Your blush became even more fierce and he put his hand up to his neck as the blue on his face started to grow.
Not too sure how to respond to that, you decided to just be honest. “It’s been really nice talking with you too.” Now it was your turn to look down and then back up at him. “It was fun.”
There was another pause when you suddenly realized something else. “Oh, Grillby.” At the mention of his name, the fire elemental became even bluer and immediately locked eyes with you. “How much do I owe you?” You started to reach into your bag, that was now on the stool when Grillby put his warm hands on top of yours to stop you.
“____. There’s no need.”
“Grillby. That’s nonsense. I kept you up the whole night. I can’t not pay you.”
His hands stayed on yours and lightly tugged to make you stop searching for your wallet.
“You can pay me back by returning to my bar.” His hands were holding yours now. They were much larger than yours and oh so warm. It was soothing.
You blushed more, gosh your face must be beet red right now, and so did Grillby. You looked up at him, meeting his soft blazing eyes, and nodded.
“Alright, that sounds like a deal. But I’m definitely paying next time.”
“Deal.”
This moment, it was serene. Your hands in his. You gazing into each other’s eyes. You didn’t want this moment to end, and you hoped that neither did he.
After a moment, you saw through the windows that the beginning of dawn was about to break and you knew that now you had to part.
You, apprehensively, withdrew your hands first, and shouldered your backpack. You looked up at Grillby once more. “I’ll see you soon Grillby.”
“See you soon ____.”
With that, you headed for the door, and before heading out you waved back at Grillby who waved back.
Once out you looked up at the glowing sign that guided you to this blissful encounter. In bright neon red and orange letters, it read Grillby’s.
Perfect. It made you giggle a little bit and then you walked to the closest bus station.