Sans woke up quickly, just like he always did, beating his alarm clock by almost fifteen minutes. He high-fived one of the action figures he kept by his nightstand, impressed with himself in that he had managed to beat his own best time.
He hopped out of bed, dressing quickly before going to wake Stretch. He slammed the door open, posing in the doorway and yelling, "Get up, Papy! It's time to make the most of this day! Maybe it stopped snowing!"
To his surprise, Papy was already sitting up in bed, and at Sans's words, he smiled widely. "I'm sure it has, bro. Why don't you go check?"
Sans gasped happily and dashed to go look out the downstairs window.
After he left, Stretch collapsed back into his bed, a grin growing on his face. "It worked..." he whispered, almost unable to contain himself.
"Blue..."
Blue tugged on his hands, placing them on his chest, above where his soul lay. "Don't say that you can't. Please, Red. I just want to remember you," he begged, tears starting to gather in his eyes. "I...I can feel my soul reaching out for you. I didn't know what it was before but when you're right here, I can feel myself wanting to be closer to you. I've never felt anything like that before."
When Red stayed silent, staring at him with an unreadable expression, Blue kept talking, desperation making the tears come faster. "I have nothing left. Absolutely n-nothing. And don't t-tell me we can start over, b-because I can s-see the way you look at m-me when you think I'm not watching and I know you don't w-want me. You w-want the other me. Don't you?"
Red opened his mouth to protest, then closed it, finding himself unable to lie when Blue was looking at him like that. He hated himself for not being able to truthfully tell the other why it should matter, why they shouldn't do this.
"I would rather have you like this than dead," he said finally, relieved at himself that it was the truth.
"I don't have to die!" Blue said, gripping tighter onto his hands and leaning closer. "You said it yourself, it's just a risk! And isn't...isn't remembering you worth the risk?"
Red just stared at him. He didn't know what to say. Hell, there was nothing to say. Blue was looking at him earnestly, but Red could see he knew exactly what he was asking.
"I just want something to survive for," Blue said quietly, and that sealed it.
"Okay," Red said, too quietly to be heard. He cleared his throat and repeated himself, louder this time. "Okay. We can try. But you need to finish healing first. I'm not adding any more risk than there needs to be."
Blue nodded excitedly and, after a moment, let go of his hands, allowing Red to stand and grab the empty plate. He laid down slowly, wrapping Red's coat more tightly around him. Red pulled the blankets back over him gently, not making eye contact.
He turned to leave, but Blue shifted suddenly and said, "Wait!"
He looked back, and Blue blushed brightly. "I...I had nightmares last time. Can you..." he cut himself off, looking away and towards the blankets. "Can you stay?" he finished, still not looking up.
Red hesitated for a moment, then set the plate aside and crossed the room, kicking off his shoes and climbing into the bed awkwardly. Blue immediately turned over and pressed himself against the other. Red wrapped his arms around him and closed his eyes, trying to pretend that everything was back to the way it had been.
"I see you are approaching, human. Are you going to give me a hug of acceptance?" Sans asked happily, extending his arms. Of course he, as magnificent as he was, was able to change the human's mind! Of course it had been he that had--
All thoughts fled his mind as the human's smile changed and they brandished the knife they held. He looked at them in shock as they began walking steadily towards him. No! No, they could change! They could be better!
Why were they doing this?
Sans made himself stay still, forced himself to trust in the human. He knew they could do better, and he believed in himself, that he could be the one to change them.
The human raised the knife, bringing it up high, and Sans realized, very suddenly, that he was about to die.
Almost before he had a chance to finish the thought, there was a flash of orange, and the human brought their knife down. "Papy!"
Red blinked his eyes open, wincing at the sudden influx of light assaulting his sockets. There was something pressed against him, and he forced himself to open his eyes the rest of the way and look down.
Blue had managed to get the hood of his coat flipped partially back up, and it obscured part of his face. His soft breathing was stirring the fur of the lining slightly, and he had his hands tucked up in front of him, fists clenching into the material of Red's shirt. Their legs were tangled together, and Red knew from experience that he wouldn't be able to escape the embrace without waking Blue up.
So he stayed there, rolling onto his back to get comfortable and pulling Blue up slightly. Blue made a small noise and shifted, wrapping his arms around the bottom of Red's ribs. Red watched him silently, taking in the sight of the little skeleton. He'd always been at his most adorable when he was sleeping, whether he was conked out on the couch with his mouth hanging open and snoring loud enough to make Fell peek in from the other room, or he was dozing lightly on the ferry, leaning against Red's shoulder because he was so tired from the day of walking through the underground.
This used to be Red's favorite part of the day, making himself wake up before Blue so that he could watch all the little expressions, the shifts in his breathing and in his body, always pressing himself as close to Red as he could, and always managing to have completely kicked the blankets off of them, if not onto the floor. As he lay there, taking him in all over again, he realized that nothing had changed in that regard. He brought a hand across himself, carefully cupping Blue's cheek. Blue, as always, nuzzled unconsciously into the touch, then turned his head so that Red had to be careful about not poking him in the eye, and solidly bit Red's finger.
Red snatched his hand away, trying to muffle his cursing whilst also trying not to laugh. He had forgotten about that particular quirk. Despite his efforts, his snickering seemed to stir the smaller skeleton, and he blinked sleepily, letting out an adorable yawn before seeming to realize where he was, sitting up quickly. From this angle, Red noticed that the orange hoodie had disappeared, but he didn't have time to wonder where it had gone before Blue winced, grabbing onto his ribs. Red extracted his legs before joining him, crossing them and reaching for the leather jacket.
He hesitated, glancing up and receiving a nod of approval before baring Blue's chest. The marrow had started soaking through in earnest again, and he groaned slightly, berating himself for not checking it earlier. Blue's restless sleeping must have done some damage.
He pulled himself out of bed, saying, "Be right back" before he blipped away, reappearing quickly with more bandages. He pressed Blue to lay back down and began removing the old dressings, being as gentle as he could so as not to cause any more pain.
"You can teleport," Blue said quietly, his voice slightly strained with pain. Red nodded, continuing to work.
"Papy could teleport, too."
At this, Red looked up at his face. Blue's eyes were squeezed shut, and he was grimacing. Without waiting for a response from Red, he continued.
"I...I know he wasn't nice. Selfish, and all that, and that he probably hurt me. But I don't remember it. He was all I had, for such a long time. He raised me."
Red went back to changing the bandaging, electing to keep his opinion to himself.
"From what you've told me, the human usually kills me first, doesn't it? It...it tried. I was trying to tell them that they could be better. That they could change. But they...they didn't listen. They were going to kill me. But Papy took it."
Red finished removing the bandages and started to apply the new ones, listening intently.
"He stepping in front of the knife and took the hit for me. And...well, he only has 1 HP. The human didn't even bother to stop walking after he started to turn to dust. They just stepped around me and kept going."
Blue took a deep, shuddering breath, and Red paused for a moment as the area he was working on shook.
"B-before he died, he said he loved me, and that he was glad I knew that. He told me never to forget that he was the one who loved me the most, even if he sometimes didn't act like it. I didn't understand it at the time, but...do you think that maybe he knew what was going to happen? That the world would disappear?"
Red finished what he was working on and gathered up the bloodied bandages, intending to teleport down to the kitchen to throw them away, when Blue reached up and grabbed his wrist. He looked at Blue's face, and realized he actually wanted an answer.
He sighed. "I don't know. But in any case, I'm glad you ended up back here." Then, before he could question it, he leaned down and planted a kiss on the top of his head before gently freeing himself and teleporting to the kitchen.