Person of Interest

Chapter 8: Middle Child Blues

"aight, aight, i get the picture. sowhat brings ya to my office, brosky?" I asked, swapping out my concern for an easy grin.

If I were anyone else, the look he gave me would have chilled my bones; Normally he only looked this ticked when he was about to royally fuck up someone's shit, but I knew I was one of the only two people on the planet who could mess with him without getting my shit royally fucked up.

"I SEEM TO RECALL ASKING YOU TO GO TO THE STORE THIS MORNING, SANS," Papyrus informed me darkly as he crossed his lanky arms over his chest. "WOULD YOU CARE TO EXPLAIN TO ME WHY WE ARE STILL OUT OF SPAGHETTI?"

My eyelids clicked as I blinked. "huh. i guess that was a thing that happened."

"SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?"

"uh... go to the sto-"

"AND ON THE FUCKING DOUBLE, BROTHER," He cut me off before turning on his heel and marching out of the room. I could hear him stomping all the way down the stairs. "IF YOU HURRY, I MAY CONSIDER LETTING YOU HAVE SOME TONIGHT!"

I sighed and rolled my eye-lights skyward as a door slammed downstairs; he'd probably gone to his personal dojo to mangle another batch of training dummies.

...Fuckin' edge lord.

"Trouble in paradise, brother?"

"gah fuck!"

I jumped out of my nonexistent skin for the second time in five minutes before whirling around to snarl at the intruder.

"god fucking damnit wings, i swear to god-"

"I didn't intend to startle you," He cut in with a lazy wave of his hand. "My apologies, brother."

"no you're fuckin' not."

The skeleton leaning on the wall across my room graced me with the signature smug smirk that always got my blood boiling without fail.

"Hm. Guilty."

Wing-Dings Gaster, or Wings (and occasionally Dingus) for short, was the head honcho and founder of our little family business. Papyrus might have been twice as loud, but at least he was tolerable and even a little fun sometimes. Wings was a cocky, conniving, sadistic son of a bitch who had a stick shoved so far up his coccyx he should be tasting wood.

...He also happened to be my older brother.
Of the three of us, Wings was the only one who actually knew our parents before they died nearly thirty years ago. He'd been eighteen when it happened, while Paps and I were just baby bones at one and two, so we were both too young to have anything more than faint, hazy memories of memories of a time when every day wasn't a struggle to survive. Wings though... he got to live that dream, for his entire childhood. Before all that, he didn't struggle for shit; He lived it large, pampered and catered to and spoiled with a very extensive, very expensive private education that I used to envy. But meh, Got a couple doctorates anyway, so fuck 'em. Who needs highschool anyway.

From what Wings told us, Cambria and Web-Dings Gaster pretty much had it made. A big-ass mansion, a hoard of servants, couple of pools, and some over-the-top gardens that would've made Martha Stewart cream herself. You know those huge bushes that people carve into animals and shit? They had those too. And a lot of statues. Naked statues. Priceless.

My older brother's history was probably the reason he rotted into such an arrogant bastard in the first place. And when Papyrus started to take after him... ugh, headaches for days. But luckily, it was that same attitude that pushed Wings back to the top and dragged us up along with him; If nothing else, I'd always be grateful to him for that. Despite everything, I loved him like the brother he was.

...Still annoying as fuck, though.

"whatever," I muttered sullenly, praying it'd be quick; I didn't have enough patience to deal with both my bros today. "whaddaya want? and don't gimme that little, 'ohhhh, i just came to say hiiii to my dear brotherrrr,' line. you don't just say hi. you only come here when you want shit."

That damn smirk of his just widened. "How cruel, Sans. Do you really think so little of me?" He mock- pouted.

"yup."

"I see. I'd love to say you're wrong, but..." he shrugged. "What can you do? I am who I am."

I sighed. "ok, wings, bro, i love ya, but i ain't in the mood for any a' you're shit right now. get to it or geddout," I snapped. My glare darkened when he didn't answer for a second.

Then: "Where did you go last night, Sans?"

Well damn, if he didn't have my attention before, he sure as shit did now. I had just barely enough control to stop my eyelights from disappearing with the shock of his question. He, hid his emotions too, but for a much different reason. Everything about him suddenly screamed danger. He sounded casual, calm, way too calm. This wasn't my brother... this was the Don of the Silver Skulls.

"i went ta take care a' buck, like ya told me to," I answered him smoothly, keeping my expression casual and slightly confused as if wondering why he was asking. Ha! Eat your damn heart out Leo, that shit was Oscar-worthy.

"Really? An hour is a long time for a simple disposal..." He mused. "Are you quite sure that nothing held you up?"

'think fast, sansy. don't fuck this up.'

"weeeell, I did port the body outta town, gave 'im a proper human burial; he was a pal, yanno?" I explained, sheepishly rubbing the back of my skull. God damn, I was good.

Besides, it wasn't technically a lie; I actually did end up burying him about twenty miles south of town after I left _____'s place. Even though we were already compensating his family with more than enough money to basically set them up for life, I had to have my own piece of mind too. He really had been a good friend of mine despite that shit he pulled... and even then, I couldn't really blame the guy for just wanting to stay alive.

Wings searched my face for a moment before nodding. "Alright. I believe you."

God, what a relief...

"However."

What.

"I also believe that you are hiding something important from us. You can tell me whatever story you want, Sans, but your soul..." he cocked an eyebrow at me as he raised a hand to tap at his chest. "...Your soul sings a different tune."

With those cryptic closing words, he melted into the wall he was leaning against, disappearing as suddenly as he'd come and leaving me standing there alone with my anxiety. His soul sight wasn't nearly as clear as mine, so there was no telling what he'd gleaned in his inspection; What did he know? Would he look for her? What would he do if he found her? Maybe I was making a bigger deal out of this than I needed to; there was no way Wings would do anything to put my soulmate in danger... Right?

...Right?

God, I needed sleep.

Not wanting to kill myself with stress until after I had a nap, I took a shortcut to the grocery store to grab the spaghetti before Boss got too impatient. The quicker I got this done, the quicker I could make up for the sleep I'd lost the night before, maybe stock up on some HP.

But, you know... shit happens.