Aconitum Napellus

Bombshell

Deciding to consider it, Blue left it on the current channel and placed the remote on the floor. It didn't take more than fifteen minutes for him to figure out exactly how the movie was going to end, but he supposed that the characters and their relationships were still interesting either way.

That said, it didn't take long for Blue fall asleep. As the movie crawled forward, his eyes drooped shut, and the background noise lulled him into a peaceful rest. Well, as peaceful a rest as one can have when they're going to meet someone who they really don't want to see.

Blue was only awoken when he heard the front door slam, causing him to sit up almost immediately and look for the source of the disruption of his sleep.

"Hey, Blue," a voice casually called, and Blue perked up instantly.

"Papyrus!" he responded happily. If Stretch is home, then it must be around 5:30, Blue figures. That means he'd be leaving to meet Dust in about twenty minutes. He cringed at the thought. "How was work?" Blue asked, wishing to distract himself once more.

Stretch entered the room and took a seat in the massage chair, turning it on as Blue handed him the remote. "It was alright, I guess," he said with a shrug, the chair vibrating and making his voice tremble a bit. "Not much happened today, so it was pretty boring. I prefer it when things explode."

Blue snorted at the last comment. "Yeah, it was about the same here," he sighed, sinking into the couch.

"Oh?" Stretch said as he flipped through the channels. "Didn't you go to work?"

Blue paused for a moment before answering. He had to explain incredibly carefully. "I didn't sleep well last night," he shrugged. "I felt like crap when I woke up this morning, so I stayed home. Maybe I have one of those human 'colds' Alphys was talking about."

"I'm not sure that's how that works, Blue," Stretch laughed. "Are you at least feeling better now?"

"I sure am!" Blue said happily.

"Good," Stretch responded absently, still flipping through channels. There were only so many. He must have been through all of them at least once by now.

"Are you going to decide on a channel or not?" Blue teased, watching as the screen continued to flash.

"I'm trying! There's just so many options!"

Eventually, he settled on a cooking show; it was one of Blue's favorites, and, frankly, Blue suspects that that's why he picked it.

"That's raw!" one of the judges shouted from the TV, throwing the food at the chef. "Are you trying to kill me?!"

Both Blue and Stretch chuckled at this and only continued to laugh as the conversation between chef and judge slowly devolved into senseless fighting.

"My mother cooks better than you!"

"She can't if she made you!"

"How dare you?!"

At this point, the brothers were wheezing and trying not to fall out of their respective chairs.

"Papyrus, holy shit!" Blue said through laughter. "This is the best episode I've ever seen!"

Struggling to speak, Stretch responded, "That judge looks like he's about to have a stroke!"

Still laughing, Blue caught sight of the time and realized that it was probably time for him to leave. This stopped the laughter rather quickly, and he reluctantly stood and retrieved his phone from his bedroom, pocketing it without checking the notifications.

The cafe was quite nearby and the whole "driving" thing was still a little bit sketchy for him, so Blue decided to walk there. He grabbed a set of keys by the door and called to Stretch: "I'll be back later!"

A confused tone answered him back. "Huh? Where are you going?"

"To a cafe!"

"Alone?"

"No, I'm meeting a... friend!"

"Which one?"

Pretending that he hadn't heard this question, Blue quickly opened the door, shouted: "Bye, Papyrus!", and slammed the it shut behind him.

He walked quicker than normal until he was convinced that enough time had passed that Stretch wasn't going to try and follow him. About thirty seconds was enough. Once the half-panic passed, Blue nervously continued along the sidewalk, trying his best to enjoy the nice, temperate weather despite the sick feeling that was steadily growing in his stomach.

The cooler temperatures and crisp air that signified the start of fall seemed to attract a fair amount of people as there were more than usual out for an evening walk. It made the walk a bit awkward, having to wave or say hello as you passed people. Blue was typically a friendly person and didn't mind such actions, but today was certainly an exception.

"Hey!" greeted one person as they crossed paths.

"Hi," Blue mumbled, head down.

From the corner of his eye, he noticed the beautiful patch of slightly wilting purple flowers and realized that he must be close. Every time that Blue had walked to the cafe, he'd stopped to look at the flowers. A sign next to them always stood, clearly stating: "DO NOT TOUCH. POISONOUS". Frankly, it made Blue wonder why such dangerous flowers were allowed to be put next to a busy sidewalk, but they were so beautiful that he didn't really mind.

Within a few more minutes of walking, Blue had arrived at the small cafe. He looked up at the faded sign above the store which read: "Latte Lovers". It wasn't the most popular coffee shop in the city, but, at least in Blue's opinion, it was definitely the best. The workers were nice and polite, and the entire establishment was always kept extremely clean. Even the bathrooms! Not to mention that their hot cocoa was absolutely delicious!

Blue glanced at his phone and frowned; it was already 6:07... he was late. He peaked through the windows for a moment, seeing if he could tell if Dust was already there although he was sure that he already knew the answer. Taking a deep breath, Blue pushed open the door, the dangling of a bell alerting others to his arrival.

"Welcome to Latte Lovers!" one of the cheery workers shouted from behind the counter.

"Thank you!" Blue responded, forcing a smile.

"Blue?" another voice called, one that he recognized, and he quickly turned around.

Walking towards him was a rather disheveled looking skeleton monster. He was wearing a jacket and a pair of jeans. His hood, like always, was up, casting a shadow on his face that only emphasized the dark circles under his eyes, making him seem even more intimidating. His eyebrows were slightly upturned, but his lips quirked up once they made eye contact. Blue instantly looked away.

"Dust," he said, wringing his hands. "Sorry I'm late."

The other only smiled. "Don't worry about it! Do you wanna sit down?" he gestured towards the empty table, one chair haphazardly pulled out, indicating that Dust had already been seated before Blue got there.

"Yeah, sure!" Blue said with a nod, hoping that he didn't seem as nervous as he felt.

He began to walk towards the furthest chair before Dust cut in front of him, causing him to falter a bit. To his surprise, the other had pulled out the chair, gesturing with a smile for him to sit down. With a shaky smile back, Blue sat, only flinching slightly when Dust pushed the chair closer to the table for him.

"Thank you," Blue stuttered awkwardly, adjusting his scarf.

"No problem," Dust responded as he sat in his chair, scooting closer.

For a while, neither of them spoke, tension filling the air. The more the seconds passed, the harder it was for Blue to sit there as Dust's eyes continually scanned him, looking up and down. It was almost as if he were trying to memorize Blue's features... to see if anything had changed. Blue just nervously kept his eyes down, only occasionally glancing up. After about a minute of this, he sighed, opening his mouth ask some shallow question like "how have you been?", but Dust cut him off, blurting out the absolute last thing Blue wanted to hear.

"I still love you."