> ᴀ ʙᴏx ᴏғ ᴄʜᴏᴄᴏʟᴀᴛᴇs
"𝘙𝘢𝘪𝘯."
Tiny droplets tittered on the roof like a xylophone, played under the sheet of cloudy skies. The serene weather washed away the worries to encase anyone in a bubble of complete and utter peace. No matter how many times he heard it, every note the sky played was an entirely new piece of music.
That's what Stretch loved about the rain. At times like this, he managed to stir away from the crowd to bask in the natural elements. The Underground had rain near Waterfall. Nothing special like the gemstones embedded in the ceiling, it was just all the same to him.
Predictable.
However, the view above ground was able to draw him even closer than before. Every day a new experience awaited him on the Surface. The seasons changed so did himself, switching back and forth from timeline to timeline. The world stopped at one point and continued on the next like a game of red light green light.
A sanctuary tucked away from the noise, away from the monsters, away from himself.
"Stretch?" A voice beside him calls his name. The skeleton lazily shifted his gaze to land on you. There you were, snuggled up in his orange hoodie. It hung just below your hip, shuffling against your body. You asked him if he was alright, but a simple hum was heard from him. He lit a cigarette between his teeth, must have been his fourth one in a row but he stopped counting.
Your eyes dipped in tranquillity as you inched yourself closer to him. The faint smell of cigarette ash wafted under his nonexistent nostrils mixed with your strawberry scent intoxicated him. He begged his body to not dive his head into the crook of your neck.
Stretch was always known as a monster of few words, it was easier in the long run. Shielding himself away from his brother and everyone else of his burdens. Yet, despite his insouciant behaviour, you knew what bothered him. To share one sparing glance your way as you danced between his line of jumbled thoughts.
How did it come to this?
It must have been his punishment for being so secluded. The universe thought it was the perfect plan to send someone like you to cross paths with him. It could be the cliche, stumbling upon a stranger with the event of love at first sight. You took his SOUL home with you maybe one or two forevers ago. Made of glass you held it so cautiously, so tender, to embrace that warmth as you held him dear.
There would be days he wandered into the corner store for a brief chat as you shooed him away when it would get busy. On other days his routine would eventually be consumed by seeing you once a week. Which then turned into often random encounters, then daily occurrences to which your side glued him. That itch in the back of his mind called your name like it was an endless symphony. From the start of summer to the end of spring, to have that effect on him. Since then, he didn't know how to deal with his emotions leading to the present.
Yet, in your blundering ways, you never rejected him. Managing to weasel your way into his mind, to the point he's fully enamoured by you.
Your presence.
Your mind, body and SOUL.
Your everything— you are everything.
And that was a punishment he'd take without a second thought.
You crawled onto his lap, straddling him. One arm dropped around his shoulder with another on his chest. His SOUL thumped against his ribcage as your fingers drummed against his white tank top. To see you in a thousand pictures, you never failed to catch his breath at your elegance. The curve of your cheeks, the heat behind your eyes, the curl of your lips. He was ashamed to even drink your holy expression for a moment.
"you're an angel." He murmured.
Your smile dipped into a slight frown. Your eyes narrowed for a brief moment. A scoff passes as you take the half-lit cigarette from his teeth. You inhaled the stick, but instead of drawing out the drag you leaned in. His maw immediately opened. Your lips slightly parted to exhale the smoke. He felt the soft touch against his jawline, shuffling your legs to press your chest against his. The tar hit his insides to breathe you in, his skull spun lathering in a high. Your taste on the top of his tongue, impatiently to link with yours.
"Don't call me that." You replied, a smirk on your lips. "There are no angels here."
The smoke escaped him as his hands snaked to your hips.
"then what are you?" He chuckled.
"Not what you think I am." You chuckled with a playful smirk, manoeuvring your hands down his clavicle. He shivered at your touch. The cigarette danced between your fingers before placing it back between his teeth. Your thumb was just on the edge of his chin. A hint of mischief teased behind your actions as he took another drag, flicking behind the dud. His phalanges ran through your hair, massaging your scalp. He relished your satisfied expression, leaning into his touch with fluttered eyes.
Your hair was so soft, your skin like silk when his phalanges moved under your clothes. A breathless shudder escaped you when your skin was ablaze. His eyelights flickered between your eyes and your lips, smitten by the spell you hexed on him. Rolling his name off your tongue like that, he was a puddle beneath your legs. He wished to take both sides of your face, to look at yourself squarely in the eye so that you would see yourself from his perspective.
How could you not think of the kind of things he said to you?
Your hands shuffled into his hoodie pockets, a strange small box caused you to raise a brow as you pulled it out. Seeing the object his grin grew, chuckling to himself. Cautiously you opened the box, and your eyes lit up. Flickering your bright eyes from him then to the box.
"Aw, Stretch." You cooed picking out a small wrapping of chocolate. "You seriously didn't have to."
He shamelessly shrugged, but your gratitude held tenfold.
You chuckled, setting aside the gift to close the gap once more. Both hands were behind his skull as he was lost in your hair. In a trance he opened his mouth, manifesting his magic to forge a tongue to deepen the kiss.
Stretch was dying of happiness, something he thought was impossible until now. The tender touches of your to your rough eagerness. Pulling at his SOUL that sang to you, to MERGE with your everything, on his hands and knees he yearned for this moment to last forever. Let him absorb it like the greedy sponge he was.
"Thank you." You said breaking the kiss. "I feel bad that I didn't get you anything."
"you already did." He teased, letting out an airy laugh. The pools of your cheeks darkened, muttering a faint cynical remark to his ribcage. However, your eyebrows knitted themselves together, chewing at your cheek anxiously. He looked in worry when your eyes failed to meet his.
Determined he held your cheek, forcing you to shift your gaze onto him. He wiped his thumb under your eye. He longed for you to look his way. Please don't stop looking at me, he'd whisper into your ear. Whatever you do, please.
"You know what will happen right?" Your voice dipped in sorrow. "Even when things are so good right now, later it'll all be stripped away from you in an instant. I'll be that person you once knew, and you'll be you. I'm worried that I won't be able to keep up with everything and be left to pick up the pieces. Change is scary, even if you ask for it." You kid yourself.
"Sorry, you probably heard that before, huh?" An arrow shot through his ribcage, tightening his bony fingers around the pieces of fabric. He shook his head. This was the first time you've mentioned it. You had your boundaries, and he respected that. Never wanted to delve too deep into whatever troubled you, but that didn't erase the fact he still cared.
"So I can't keep doing this. I can't be the person you want me to be. I can't-"
He interrupted your words. "i don't want to lose you."
"Stop."
"but honey-"
"Just stop trying to cling to whatever this is." Your fierce look bored into his sockets.
"I can't be that person." You admit. "It's been so long just to perfect this cycle and I can't find it in myself to stop. That's so selfish of me. But am I really selfish for wanting you and everyone to stay? So I won't be alone but also can't stand being with anyone?" You rambled, hugging yourself with an empty laugh.
"And no matter where I go or what I do, I'll stay that same selfish person who runs away in the end. I'm so scared of what I've become. What everyone will think of me. Already I don't even like who I am, but it worked so well for so long that there isn't any hope. I just drag everyone in my own mess and expect a push of a button will fix it all." You sighed. You shallow breaths as you spit each word in spite.
"It's better that you leave before I regret everything. I'm used to it anyway." You ran your hand through your hair with an agitated look. Leaving the taller monster to stare in silence.
Struggling to revive the atmosphere, your mind was elsewhere. The long pauses were filled with the rain. The dwindling pitter-patter rose to hammer thuds. Your hesitant words caused only disappointment to latch onto his bones.
"Sometimes I can't but wonder if things were different, would you have made a move on me?" You answered your question with a chuckle. "No, I don't think you would."
He was hurt, your words were the knife that turned inside him. But you couldn't help it, even if it wasn't excusable. He knew that fact if you attached yourself to him, or anyone, the worst possible scenario would rot in the depths of your mind. The tar pit swallowed every distraction you threw in. Smoking, overworking, existing, what was he supposed to do or say in a situation like this? There wasn't an easy solution, life never had that in the first place.
Call himself a hypocrite but the excessive smoking mixed with any distraction he could find, but he knew those struggles. But the feeling in his bones never shook off. This one time let him help with whatever keeps you up at night. Sleep under the gazebo with him to fight it off.
But Stretch wasn't just a distraction for you.
He was more than that, right?
A ghostly touch moved over your hand with his. His thumb rubbed against your knuckles.
"for a sack of bones like me, i wouldn't blame you for pushing me away like that. i'd fall right over with how lazy i am." You rolled your eyes as he continued. "but i know you aren't selfish for wanting a genuine connection. that's yourself, you're true nature coming out. it's what brought everyone together. it brought me and you together." You blinked back at him, your mouth ajared like a fish out of water.
He tightened his hold on your shoulders. "listen, okay? coming from a numbskull like me may not be enough but. i do care about, every past present and future of me will. so i'm not gonna leave you. sure maybe nothing matters, but what matters now is right now. whether you're this (Y/N) or someone entirely new they're still all you. change isn't instant but whatever you choose i know i'll be rooting for you, warts and all."
"You're an idiot." Your voice cracks.
"well isn't any monster who falls in love?" He chuckled taking in your shocked expression. "you've heard that a million times too, huh?"
Although Stretch was Stretch in this universe. People tend to forget he's still a Papyrus after all.
And this Papyrus believed in you.
Gently, he pressed his teeth against your kissable lips, hoping to reignite the spark in your chest. Yet, as confidently as you returned it, he didn't miss how they quivered against his.
Minutes disguised as hours, enjoying each other's presence. Phalanges brushed through your hair, combing out all the impulsive thoughts harbouring the enigma of your mind. Your whispers broke the silence, mumbling into his tank top while you fiddled with the sleeves of his hoodie. He hummed, leaning down for you to repeat your words.
"A clap of thunder, followed by the sky's soft cry, hands are shivering. Perhaps more rain will come. If so, will you stay with me?"
The cogs in his mind clicked at your cryptic words, testing the waters. You were never the type to read poems. But when you peaked your head blow him, the sincere question was more obvious than the pouring rain, as well as the answer. He nodded his head, placing a feathery peck on your forehead.
I love you, his mind cried.
You rocked your hips upwards, sinking his consciousness into your kiss. His mind went blank when your hands roamed under his top, groaning into your lips. The smooth touches of your skin against his, fighting against his shorts. Heat rushed against his bones, his core burning with lusterious passion. The rain picked up in the background, drowning out the breathless gasps and satisfied sighs into the air. He hoped to not spoil the moment but tasted the same words on the tip of your tongue.
I love you.
I love you.
* I love you.
✧༺♥༻∞
Stretched groggily rubbed his sockets, slowly sitting his tall frame from his mattress. For once he woke up just before Blue could, a small win indeed. By the looks of it, it was early, too early in his definition. A yawn escaped his teeth as he adjusted his sockets around his dimly lit room. A growing headache pounded against his skull and rubbed his temples in hopes that it to not form a migraine.
However, when he tried to wrap his head around the events beforehand, his mind came up with fuzzy edges. Distence relics of a dream. They were common for him, especially in the Underground, but this time he felt like the universe was calling for him to remember.
Outside Stretch peeked by his window, and a ray of sunshine spilt into the covers. The birds were singing, the followers were blooming. A perfect sunny day to bask in the sunlight. It was impossible for the sky to not cry today. If that were the case the skeleton couldn't shake off the tightness in his chest.
He must have imagined the sombre atmosphere that hung around him.
Even if it was raining somewhere else, he found himself praying for rain.
> ᴀ ʙᴏx ᴏғ ᴄʜᴏᴄᴏʟᴀᴛᴇs ᴡᴀs ɴᴏᴛ ᴀᴅᴅᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜʀ sʜᴏᴘᴘɪɴɢ ᴄᴀʀᴛ!
A/N: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE. TO EVERYONE WHO HAS PARTNERS, SECRET ADMIRERS, OR WHATEVER I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A TERRIBLE DAY AND GET ROCKS THROWN AT YOU :3.
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