(Archived) Poth Short Stories and One-Shots

Cold Reception - Chapter 5

That's a relief... at least  I won't be permanently blind.

Goth tried to lift his left hand to feel the crack, but he was met with resistance. The skeleton shifted his gaze to another blurry figure, white with smatterings of black, beige, gold, and light blue, laying where his left hand was.

Is that...?

"Heh, Palette hasn't let go of your hand since we got in here," Reaper chuckled, "He was the one that found you at the bottom of the hill. By the time I got there, he was curled up with you in his lap, wrapped around you like a blanket."

The small skeleton blushed at the thought of Palette holding him that way. 

I wish I'd been awake for that...

It created a warm feeling in his soul that caused Goth to squirm a bit. The movement woke the sleeping skeleton by his hand. Palette let out a yawn as blurry black circles appeared in Goth's vision, green and yellow gradient blobs appearing within them. The blobs turned toward Goth and stared for a moment, then grew larger.

"Goth?" Palette asked cautiously. Within seconds, he sprung out of his chair in an explosion of energy, "Goth, you're awake! I was so worried when you didn't wake up!" The excited skeleton looked as though he wanted to pounce on Goth, but seemed to think better of it at the last second given the current situation. 

The nurse popping her head into the room to remind him where he was, asking him to use an inside voice certainly didn't hurt.

The sheepish skeleton opted to sit back down and grab goth's left hand once more, idly tracing his thumb around the hole to quell a bit of his excited energy. The movement sent tingly ripples up Goth's arm, but it wasn't an uncomfortable feeling. If anything, it felt comforting.

"Do you two want anything to eat? I'd imagine both of you are starving," Geno asked, standing up from his seat. An audible growl resounded in the room from Palette's direction, and Goth was feeling pretty hungry now that he thought about it. 

"I'd say, they're nothing but skin and bones at this point, heh," the god of death chuckled, earning a snort from Goth and Palette and what the smallest skeleton could only assume was a glare from Geno. 

"Oh, just come on already!" Geno hissed, grabbing his grinning husband's arm and dragging him from the room. 

"You kids have fun," Reaper called out as both adults disappeared through the doorway.

Goth chuckled softly before his attention returned to Palette. The usually boisterous skeleton was oddly quiet. "Palette?" the smaller asked, worry plain in his voice. 

"Oh, sorry... was thinking...," Palette turned towards his friend, replying with false cheer. Goth could tell something was off as the skeleton seemed to analyze him, "How are you feeling? Your eye light looks fuzzy along the edges... does it hurt?"

"It's... a bit hard to see still...," Goth began, a little unsure of his words, taking a moment to mentally check himself, "but it doesn't hurt anymore. I feel... kind of tired... a little... floaty, maybe?" Goth quirked his mouth in thought, that seemed to sum up how he was feeling pretty well.

Palette seemed to tilt his skull to the side, pointing out with a snort,  "Floating's normal for you, Goth." 

"True," Goth replied, "guess that means I'm alright."

Palette went quiet once more. "I'm sorry...," he finally whispered, so soft that Goth almost didn't hear it. The words earned a confused look from the smaller.

Why is he apologizing?

"When you were out there, talking to me through the phone... you sounded so scared," the skeleton said in a subdued tone, "I was scared too. I couldn't do anything except spout pretty words over a phone. You might have... might have died, and I wouldn't have been able to do anything about it!" 

His voice was now laced with tears as he gently placed his left arm around Goth in a makeshift hug, burying his face in the small skeleton's left shoulder as he choked out, "I almost lost you yesterday... and that thought terrifies me more than anything else ever could."

Goth stared at Palette's trembling form, speechless at the raw display of emotion. Shock eventually morphed into a sad smile. Goth slowly lifted his right arm to rest on Palette's back, returning the hug to the best of his ability. 

"But you did do something," the smaller skeleton reassured him, lightly patting his back to comfort him, "You looked for me and you found me. You saved me... and you're here with me now. I'm alright because of you, so there's nothing to be sorry about."

Palette looked up with wide sockets, taking in the smaller's words. Gradually, his eye lights softened into something more tender, "You know, I should be the one comforting you, not the other way around... but thanks. I'm glad I was able to make it in time, Gothy." 

Goth barely had time to blush and fluster at the nickname, his crush's skull close enough for him to make out the fine details in their expression despite his impaired vision and the warmth in their words before Reaper and Geno reappeared in the doorway with food from the cafeteria.

***

I have to say I'm kind of proud of myself for managing to come up with those puns by myself. Before Undertale, I'd known and heard some that made me laugh, but I never knew just how much I loved puns until a short, goofy skeleton started cracking jokes. Now I feel a little bit wiser because I can play with the meaning and sound of words and (most of the time) get people to laugh. It also helped me connect a little better with my family since it turns out my dad's actually pretty good at wordplay jokes. Pun goals~

Word count: 1,475