Chapter Text
You came home with a small grin on your face and a small bounce in your step.
Usually, returning to the small, dark apartment you called ‘home’ was not such a cheerful affair, but that’s because today was Friday . And Friday’s were special, because it was the one day of the week where you had contact with your brothers.
And it was in the form of a ‘movie night’. Of course, with you being in the Capital and them still living in Snowdin, it wasn’t realistic to expect either them or yourself to make the journey just to put a single VHS in and then go right back.
You were… you were simply too far away. It… It was nobody’ s fault.
Haha… Get it? Nobody? Because you were a family of skeletons.
Ha… you eldest brother, Sans, would get a kick out of that one.
Maybe you should ask Papyrus to put him on the phone before movie night started.
Oh, right! Movie night came in the form of watching Mettaton’s weekly cooking show while on speaker phone with Papyrus. It was far from perfect, but it’s been a tradition for the five years since you’ve moved out.
You settled down on the couch, dialling up Papyrus and grabbing a bag of chips close to yourself as you put the TV on, changed it to the correct channel and muted it. The dial rang for a few moments before the call picked up.
Some rustling… “HELLO! LELEE, BROTHER! I’VE BEEN EXPECTING YOUR CALL!” Your older brother, Papyrus exclaimed. Ah… you momentarily had to hold the phone away from your skull… it seems in the week that you’ve been off the phone with him, you’d forgotten how loud he could be.
“I sure hope so, it’s movie night.” You replied in a teasing voice once you recovered, “Ah… How’s your week been?”
“BETTER NOW THAT I’M TALKING TO YOU!.....”
“Aww, that’s - “
“SANS!!! SANS!!!!” Your brother got ten times louder, which was cause to bring the headphones away again, but you didn’t want to miss hearing what was said next.
“OUR PRECIOUS BABY BROTHER IS ON THE LINE, COME SAY HI!”
… More shuffling…
It was at least a minute before Sans presumably dragged himself over to Papyrus, but you didn’t mind. You hadn’t talked to your brother since… Jeez… it must have been almost a month now…
But… that’s odd… It feels like much, much longer.
Ah ... that's strange…. You’re tired again. Like you’ve been for the past few weeks…
But even those weeks feel like they’ve been going by for years.
What was it that your doctor had said? Exhaustion and changed perception of time were symptoms of your… condition.
Oh, fantastic. You were suddenly too tired to go through with this…
… But that didn’t mean you couldn’t pretend.
“lelee?” The sound of your eldest brother, Sans’, voice roused you out of your depressing thoughts. There was a grating sound through the speaker, and you could tell he was scratching at the back of his skull.
“Sans! Hey! How’ve you been?”
“it’s, uh…. i’ve been good… heh… no fib ula.”
You spared a short laugh at his joke, looking at the clock. It was close to the time Mettaton’s show would be starting. Well. The one you were looking forward to.
“Well… that’s nice.” Ugh. Your vocabulary was obviously severely limited. But. You’d chalk it up to the strain and mental exhaustion from your condition. Heh. You’ve had it for two weeks and you’re already blaming it for everything.
“Did you get your gyftmas present…?”
Papyrus had already sent you photos of himself flaunting the red gloves you’d bought him a week ago, so you already knew they’d received the presents, but it was a conversation topic nonetheless.
“uuuuhhhhhh…”
“HE DID!” Papyrus chimed in, probably across the room. His eavesdropping skills were legendary, how ever. “IT WAS THE MITTENS, SANS… THE ONE’S YOU’RE WEARING RIGHT NOW!”
The microphone picked up a lot of shifting, and you knew it was back in the hands of Papyrus when his booming voice started talking again, closer.
“HE WEARS THEM EVERYWHERE! AS DO I WITH MY GIFT!”
The heavy rock on your SOUL lightened, and a smile came over your face.
“That’s great! I, uh, wasn’t sure you’d appreciate the theme.”
“THE THEME??? THE THEME OF COOL AND THOUGHTFUL GIFTS??”
“No, bro…” You giggled, “The ‘Hand’ theme.”
“...”
“heheheheheheh…” You heard Sans’ reaction first, as Papyrus was silent.
“BRADLEY HAND SKELETON! YOU…. JOKESTER!!”
You fully laughed now, relishing in your brother’s indignance.
“Ah, ah, t’was but a simple jape. I hope it doesn’t ruin the gifts?”
“.... *SIGH*.... WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME….. NEVER MIND, OF COURSE NOT, LELEE. A GIFT FROM YOU IS ALWAYS A TREASURE…. NO MATTER THE MOTIVATION BEHIND IT…”
“That’s good… the show’s starting, though. Better get to it…”
“RIGHT, YES… I’M CURIOUS, THOUGH. HAVE YOU RECEIVED YOUR GIFT IN THE POST, YET? I’M SURE SANS SENT IT QUITE A WHILE AGO BY NOW…”
You thought back to the last time you’d visited your PO box. It was yesterday… you’ve been pretty eager to see what your brothers got you.
It was silly… only Snowdin really ever celebrated Gyftmas, but it was a tradition in your family. You’d started to think that maybe it was a tradition the three of you had grown out of. Seeing as… seeing as you hadn’t received a gift in the week since Gyftmas had passed.
“No. Nothing… I checked yesterday. I’ll check again, tomorrow, if that’s good?”
“HMMM…. EITHER SOMEBODY IS SLACKING… OR…. AH….. EXCUSE ME FOR A FEW MOMENTS, LELEE, IT SEEMS I MUST HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH SANS.”
“NOTHING RELATING TO YOUR MISSING GYFTMAS PRESENT… UM… YOU START THE SHOW WITHOUT ME… THIS SHOULDN’T TAKE LONG…”
You… very much doubted that.
You thought about muting the call, not wanting to eavesdrop since you were still on speaker phone…. But…. you were too curious.
“SANS! OUR DEAREST BROTHER JUST TOLD ME HE NEVER RECEIVED HIS GYFTMAS PRESENT. PLEASE, PLEASE TELL ME YOU REMEMBERED TO SEND IT.”
Oh.. that was…
“SANS!!! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU! NOT RECALIBRATING YOUR PUZZLE IS ONE THING… FORGETTING ABOUT OUR DEAR BROTHER IS ANOTHER!! I’M SCANDALIZED! HOW COULD YOU!”
Sans’ voice was much softer… you couldn't hear what he was saying. Papyrus’ responses weren’t painting a pretty picture, though.
“REALLY NOW? IS THAT WHAT WE’RE GOING TO DO? HMMM… LET ME ‘CALIBRATE’ IN MY HEAD THE CHANCES OF THAT LIE WORKING… IT’S ZERO! HAVE YOU NO INTEGRITY? ‘LOST IN THE POST’?!”
“SANS!!! NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR PUNS… WHAT IS A ‘POST MORTEM,’ ANYWAYS???”
Oh… well… that was… more than you needed to hear.
Sans… the brother who had raised you… had… forgotten you? On Gyftmas? Well… that certainly hurt…
But… maybe he was busy.
You always remembered him as being busy when you were younger.
“Hello?” You called out, assuming their phone was still on speaker phone and that they could hear you.
“OH! LELEE… DID YOU… HEAR THAT? NEVER MIND! YOU DIDN’T HEAR ANYTHING!”
“It’s fine… um… I’m getting tired, and I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow, so I’ll just… I’ll just check in early. Have a nice night, though.”
“OH!! DON’T GO, NYEH… I SWEAR SANS DIDN’T MEAN ANYTHING BY IT… EH??? DOCTOR’S APPOINTMENT?? DIDN’T YOU GO TO ONE OF THOSE TWO WEEKS AGO?”
You sighed. “Yeah… it’s… i’ve just been tired lately, that’s all.”
You didn’t want to tell him. He’d be worried and… you didn’t want that. You wanted the last few months or so with them that you had to be nice.
Funny how you were already calling them your last few months.
“I…. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF, BROTHER…”
You cleared your throat to avoid the sounds of you choking up. You were not crying, you would not cry, you would not cry…. Not over something as special unimportant as Gyftmas. It was a special dumb tradition anyways..
“I will, Papyrus. I love you.”
“I LOVE YOU TOO.”
“... Tell Sans… Tell him that I love him, too, okay?”
“I WILL, BROTHER…”
You were the first to hang up. You just… couldn’t take it anymore.
You were so tired, and the pressure on your SOUL was only getting worse by the moment… fuck… this couldn’t be good for your condition.
… The temptation to do a quick ‘CHECK’ on yourself was strong, but you resisted. You wouldn’t be able to decipher anything from your STATS, anyways, and you were going to the doctor tomorrow, anyhow.
She’d be able to tell you how long it was until you Fall Down.
+++++++++++++++
To say that Sans was disappointed with himself was an…. Inaccurate statement.
He knew he should be disappointed, he should feel guilty….
But he didn’t.
It wasn’t even really his fault that he forgot.
(or at least that’s what he told himself.)
It was the RESETS. He’s sure he’s delivered that package a hundred times by now - and here he was, the one time he forgot - give him a break.
It’s not like it would matter next timeline, either way.
This would all just be erased, then Sans could deliver the package and his brothers would go back to being happy and innocent, and ignore any signs that something might be off.
.. But…
Something did concern him.
There’d been so many resets he’d stopped counting at least a dozen ago.
He was starting to forget stuff, he knew that…
… But he didn’t know he was starting to forget his youngest brother…
When Papyrus had called him over to talk to the kid on the phone… he… was ashamed to say he had no idea who the hell his brother was talking about.
… Which is why he was now digging through a box of his old garbage, looking over old pictures and items that belonged to his youngest brother… ‘Bradely’.
Lelee for short… according to Papyrus.
In Sans’ photos, he was a tiny skeleton monster who held a striking resemblance to himself. Just… more proportionate. Thinner bones, thinner skull.
Sans had a rather good time going through baby photos - good enough that he could feel his SOUL happily humming… it hasn’t done that for… since the RESETS started.
Concerningly, he still didn’t remember any of the events from the photos, but they were nice to look at and held a great sense of nostalgia.
It had Sans thinking that maybe he should call up Bradely on his own time.
Apologize.
Maybe he should even bring that gift in person… it’s only one short cut away, after all.
… if he could remember where his youngest brother lived…
Shouldn’t be too hard, right?
Papyrus had to know, at least…