Chapter Text
“A’ight, open ‘em.”
Sans opened his sockets and his S’s lit up a second later. “Crimson! You bought a house!?”
Red gave a shy smile. “Wanna check it out?”
“Of course!” Sans clapped his gloved hands together.
Red led him up the gray porch, to the white door and unlocked the knob. He opened the door to a spacious living room with pearl white walls and mocha hardwood floors. Towards the back was a white and brown tiled kitchen all ready to be cooked in. There was one door beside the entrance to the kitchen, and beside that door a set of stairs leading to the second floor. Sans headed to the second floor first as Red stayed downstairs, letting Sans tour on his own. Red didn’t want to feel as if he was rushing the little Alpha.
Upstairs, there was a small soft pink and white bathroom and an extra bedroom to Sans’ left. To his right was the master suit, another spacious area with a deep soaker tub in the bathroom.
“Crimson, this is amazing!” Sans called from upstairs. “You have so much space!”
“Well, come back down, I wanna show ya somethin’.”
Sans hurried back down to the living room and stopped next to Red.
“So,” the Chroma started. “The rest of the stuff should be here in about thirty minutes or so. Ain’t too much, so we should be able t' set things up before we head t' the Remains. But I made special arrangements for things in the basement.”
Sans cocked a brow bone. “The basement?”
“Follow me,” Red requested and led the tiny skeleton to the basement door, the door that sat next to the kitchen’s entrance. He opened the door, clicked on a light and illuminated a small yet cozy room lined with crammed bookshelves, paved in plush creme carpet and furnished with black leather chairs and couches. There was even a fireplace.
“Oh, Crimson…,” Sans stared, sockets wide. “What a lovely library.”
“So, ya like it?” Red smiled.
“Well, of course I do,” Sans chuckled, walking down the polished steps. He began to look at the book, phalanges gracing the spines, holding titles he was beginning to recognize.
…Wait a minute.
Sand leaned in closer, stared at the worn spines….
He... recognized these books. They were from the Archives, and not just the main Archives but even from the back up one at the Fallen Leaves library. Why did Red have…?
Sans stared up at Red, who only gave a knowing smile. “Crimson…?”
Red lumbered down the stairs and stopped in front of the tiny skeleton. “Sans… would ya do me tha honor of movin’ in with me?”
Sans’ sockets widen, became full of pale arctic blue light as his S’s sparkled. “Oh, Crimson!” he cried and leaped into his boyfriend’s arms. “I would love to! Thank you so much!” Sans then placed his hands on Red’s cheekbones and gave him a kiss square on the fangs.
Red squeezed Sans closer in his embrace, falling deeper into the kiss for long moments.
Too soon for Red’s liking, Sans pulled away and asked, “Did you… buy this house for… for us?”
Red nodded. “Figured since the Remains were safe… well, safer, I thought ya’d want a closer ‘home base’, as it were,” he smirked as Sans chuckled. “It’s only ‘bout a forty minute walk, less on ya trike. Now ya don’t gotta stay in mah cramped room or the inn, or even go all the way back t' ONK. We got our own little place right here.”
“Oh, Crimson,” Sans smiled again before giving him another kiss. “Thank you so much. Oh!” he perked up. “I have to call Papy and let him know all about this! He can pack up my things at my place and send them. Don’t worry, it’s not much--- clothes, notebooks, more…uh…” Sans looked to the floor, a slight blue blush on his face. “More, uh, books.”
Red stared. “…More?”
Sans gave a nervous chuckle. “Uh, well, you know how much I love to read.”
Red glanced around the room, shuffling Sans a bit in his arms. “I, uh… don’t think we can fit anymore bookcases down here.”
“Don’t worry!” Sans gave a wide smile. “There’s still room for bookcases in our room, the living room, even that cute extra room!”
“Well I…I thought we could use that one as an office,” Red suggested. “t' work on Incantations.”
Sans blinked. “For what? There aren’t anymore Night Terrors to fight.”
“Yeah, but ya can use Incantations for other stuff,” Red replied. “Healin’, makin’ walls… that kinda stuff…,” Red trailed, looking down, brow bone turned up.
“Oh, Crimson,” Sans stroked his cheekbone. “You’re still having a hard time adjusting, aren’t you?”
The heavy skeleton sighed. “ ‘Course I am. I spent my whole life trainin’ t' fight Night Terrors and now they’re all gone… I don’t know what t' do with myself. I mean, Rust works at the cafe, Azure workin’ on being a teacher’s assistant, so she’s always down at tha school. I just… I feel sort of useless.”
“Crimson,” Sans started, voice stern. “You are not useless. Now more than ever, someone needs to be guarding the entrance to the Remains and it’s because of you we’ve been able to go down there and look around.”
“Pfft,” Red grumbled. “I check papers t' make sure no one unauthorized gets in. Anyone could do that.”
“You do much more than “check papers”,” Sans countered, sockets narrowed. “You patrol the Remains, even map them out and clean out the debris so Alphas can go down there and study. You know how weak Alphas are. And since you map out everything, you know where all the dangerous places are. That means, as long as you’re around, no one gets hurts. Everyone can come home safe and that’s a big deal, Crimson.”
Red blushed his namesake color. “I… I guess.”
“Look,” Sans stared again. “We can still use the extra room as an office. You can draw up more detailed maps, help me categorize things, even just take a break from all the walking around and answering questions. It’ll be like an office and a break room all at once.”
Red’s ankhs shifted to the side in thought. “I guess so…”
Sans smiled. “We’ll make it work, I promise! Now, I need to call my brother and then we cane set up our house! Wow, we have a house!,” Sans gave a excited smile. “I hope it doesn’t take too long. We have to get to the Remains before the first group of researchers show up.”
“Like I said, it ain’t much, so we’ll be okay,” Red replied and went to lower Sans to the floor.
“No, carry me!” the tiny Skeleton whined.
Red rolled his ankhs. “Ya such a baby bones.”
“You know you love it, though.”
“Yeah, I do.”
///
“A’ight, a’ight, settle down,” Red ordered. “In line, so I can check yer papers. Hold ‘em up… yeah, like that, there ya go. Just let me check tha date and signatures…. good, good… Yers expires in a week. I’ll put a note on it fer ya.”
“Oh… uh, thank you.”
“All part of tha job,” Red replied with a little smile as he attached a sticky note to the stout skeleton’s papers. “A’ight, who’s next here? Okay, good, good….”
“Mr. Red, will we finally be going to go to the lower sections today?” asked one of the regulars.
“Not yet. Still gotta map out that area, but I’m aiming fer next week.”
“How exciting!”
“What about the apartments?”
“We can, but I only have half of that area mapped out, so it’ll be a short tour. If we hurry, we might be able t' take a look on tha way back.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I really wanted to examine the court yard again.”
“You’ve examined it ten times!”
“But I’m sure I can find some unique plant life. I just need a bit more time!”
“Two monthz iz not enough time for you?”
“...Well, I, I would enjoy looking at the living quarters myself… if that’s okay….”
“Just pay for a private tour if you want to look at the dirt for so long!”
“Maybe I will!”
“I just hope we find some surviving art! I would loooove to see what our ancestors painted!”
“Ug, you romantics! It’s always “art” and “books” with you.”
“The past times of our people… those are just as important as their war habits… if not… more so.”
“Well, I bet to differ!”
Red chortled, breaking up the quarrel. “Sorry, ya Alphas are just kinda cute when you nerd out like that. S’why ya mah favorite group.”
The skeletons answered back with nervous coughs and blushes.
Red chuckled again. He really did enjoy guiding the Alphas through the Remains. They were curious and attentive.
They were also the first group of monsters to look past Red’s Soul Color.
As Sans had explained, “They see you as an ally in studying history. To an Alpha, no one who studies anything can be all that bad.”
True, Red may not ‘nerd out’ over the Remains, but now that they were safer, he would be lying if he said he didn’t want to explore the past, too. “A’ight, Sans should be coming back up in a minute.”
Sans always went ahead to double check the markers used to tag places to explore and places to avoid. (Red had taught Sans how to see possible dangers and mark them). Even after two months of being opened, the Remains hadn’t quite settled and buildings still collapsed from time to time.
“Hm….” Red looked at his clipboard. “Says today’s group should have fifteen, but I’m only countin’ fourteen… Last skeleton is… a Yellow Chroma?” ‘Why give just tha Color Family? Seems sort of ominous.’
“Mr. Red,” an Alpha called from the group. ‘If they’re not here in fifteen minutes, we’re legally allowed to leave them behind, right?”
Red snorted. “Shit, ya know I got a soft spot for those dumb human jokes. A’ight, since ya all showed up on time, we’ll leave when Sans comes back.”
The Alphas clapped, letters in their sockets lighting up in excitement.
‘Such cute nerds,’ Red smiled as he heard the soft clank of metal on metal. He looked up the path to see a tall skeleton in white and yellow full body tights and… did they have on metal gauntlets and greaves?
…Wait, why did Red recognize those?
His body sunk as the answer hit him. “Shit,” he grumbled.
“Good morning, Crimson,” came a light voice.
Red glared. “Good morning, Gold,” he growled.
Gold, the 301st Son of the Second Yellow Family, the family with all the best connections that went all the way to the Queen herself.
Gold, the tall, handsome Skeleton with dazzling neon yellow crosses in his sockets, who carried---no, created--- an aura of superiority and grace no matter where he went.
Gold… the fucker who had insulted Red because Sans was his boyfriend and Composer, because Sans wasn’t a Chroma like Red, but an Alpha.
Alphas were smart and studious, always coming up with new ideas--- hell, they were called Alphas for all the helpful inventions they had made for monsterkind, for starting their race towards civilization. However, unlike Chromas, they had no stamina for magic use, which, to Gold, made them weaker because, to him, what kind of monster couldn’t use magic? A monster below him, a lower species even.
‘What tha fuck is he even doing here?’ Red thought as he glanced to the other Alphas. Most of them came from Our New Kingdom, so they were well aware of Gold’s thoughts about them. Their glares ran deep, but they kept their teeth shut.
Red stepped forward, between the Alphas and Gold, as if he had to protect them. For a moment, he thought about zipping up his coat to hide his collar, a gift from Sans, but… ‘No. I ain’t hidin’ no more.’
“So,” Red began. “We usually don’t get Chromas on these tours. May I ask what got ya down here?”
“Ah, well,” Gold gave too smooth of a smile. “Mother thought one such as myself would benefit from a history lesson and looking to my roots. An educational field trip of sorts.”
“Right. Well, do ya have your paperwork?”
“Of course,” Gold answered as he reached into his satchel to his side and pulled out some folded sheets of papers which he handed to Red.
As Red looked the paperwork over, a voice came from the cavern.
“Crimson! We’re all set!” Sans called as he emerged into the light. “Sorry about the wait. I could have swore I heard… voi…ces…,” Sans trailed as his smile fell. “Oh…. Hello… Gold.”
“Ah, Gaster’s son!” Gold emphasized, his crosses flickering. “I suppose it’s something of a pleasure to see you again.”
“Yes. Right,” Sans spoke as he walked up to Red. He tugged on Red’s jacket.
“Hm? What is it?” Red asked and leaned forward when Sans motioned for him to bend down. “Ya need somethin’?”
Sans clapped his hands on the side of Red’s skull and gave him the deepest, longest kiss he could muster, loud moaning included. A near minute passed before Sans pulled away with a loud “Muah!” and he smirked at the blushing Alphas, Red’s ruby skull and the look of absolute horror- filled disgust on Gold’s skull--- the poor Skele looked on the verge of running down the path and screaming bloody murder.
Sans smirk turned into a soft smile. “Crimson, do Gold’s papers check out?”
“...Wha…uh…oh!” Red snapped up straight, skull still a deep ruby. “Uh, yeah, yeah…. Here ya go….” He handed the papers back to Gold who plucked them from Red’s hand as if he had sneezed all over them.
“Well!” Sans’ smile grew as he clapped his hands together. “Let’s be on our way then! Oh, but since this is Gold’s first time, he has to walk with me and Red!”
“Wh-what!?” Gold spat, jumping away. “Why must I walk with you?” he growled at Sans.
“It’s fer safety reasons,” Red explained. “Most of the Skeles here are already familiar with the trails and areas, so they can help each other, but first timers need t' stay with us t' make sure yer informed about what the different signs mean, and what dangers t' look out fer--- stuff like that. Knowing all that helps the group overall. Ya can’t go if yer not willin’ t’stay beside me and Sans.”
Gold glared, crosses shifting to the side of his sockets, as if he couldn’t look at Red while he agreed to such a demeaning request. “Fine, fine.”
“Well then, right this way to the head of the line,” Sans gave an extravagant bow.
Gold clacked his teeth and Sans was quick to clack his back. Gold hesitated for a moment before stomping to the front of the line, ignoring the snarling faces of the Alphas.
When Sans straightened up, Red found his tiny fangs clacking in silence.
“Sans,” Red called. “Be. Good.”
“No promises,” Sans spat back.