Chapter Text
It had been a few weeks since a anomalous reset had sent two versions of Sans and Papyrus into a universe that, for identity purposes, had be labelled as Tale. Because there was now three Papyrus's and three Sans, the ones from the alternate realities were given nicknames to avoid confusion. The ones from the universe that had been labelled Swap were refereed to as Stretch for the Papyrus, being slightly taller then his counter parts, and Blueberry for the smallest Sans. The skeletons from the universe known now as Fell were known as...well Fell for the dark intimidating Papyrus and Red for the sharp toothed Sans with red magic. The brothers from the Tale simply used their real names, this being their reality it only seem right.
Friendships and bonds had been formed between the skeletons in the time they had gotten to know one another. Blueberry and Papyrus got along right away, both being energetic and enthusiastic, they since had become very close friends and spent most of their time together, cooking, cleaning and working on Papyrus's puzzles outside Snowdin.
Stretch had come to find kinship with the Tale Sans, they had a lot in common, he looked so much like his brother but a version of his brother he could relax with and well, get high with since Blueberry would never do such a thing as “smoke pot!”. They had a similar demeanour and sense of humour, but they had their differences to, he felt as though Sans was shyer and a little more on the quiet side, he found that quite adorable about him. What he valued the most though was when they would talk about the resets, he thinks it helped them both talking with someone else who remembers them, easing some of the emotional trauma that had come with the it. He was quite found of this version of his brother. He thinks this Sans was found of him to.
Red on the other hand was something different, they had learned from the two Fell brothers that the universe they were from was not a pleasant one, it really was kill or be killed. The red Sans was always on edge, sweating, glancing around looking as though he would have a break down at any moment. Stretch knew that the unforgiving place that they were from was only part of why Red was so anxious. Even though it was done behind close doors they all knew Reds brother was abusive. Red only referred to his brother as Boss, never by name, or brother. He would also paw at the crack under his eye socket that lead to a gold replacement tooth, when he brother was upset. The two Fells kept to them selves at first, but Stretch couldn't stand seeing someone who looked so much like his brother in such a state, so he started spending time with Red, letting him join in with him and Sans. Red had really started to warm up to him and come out of his shell, though he still had a long ways to go, Stretch wasn't going to give up on him, no matter how long it would take. But tonight wasn't about that, tonight was about fun.
Blueberry and Papyrus had dragged Fell to a sleep over at Undynes, one of Blues attempts at trying to become friends with the grumpy edgelord. The three of them had the whole night to them selves and Stretch knew just how to spend it. He brought out the condiments and the cards for a Poker night. They all sat around the table in the living room sipping their preferred condiments, holding their cards, cigarette smoke thick in the air. They were betting with cigarettes and blunts, so far Stretch and Sans seemed to be even in their winnings. Stretch found he couldn't find a single tell on the small, chill skeleton, his face hardly changed from it's lazy, relaxed appearance, in this, they were equals. Red being the nervous wreck that he was, wasn't fairing as well, his sharp toothed mouth would turn upwards into a slight grin when he got a good hand, it was a clear tell the others caught onto quickly, poor guy, Stretch would have to teach him how to bluff better....after tonight.
They had just finished a round Stretch had won, again, with a flush, Sans had folded and Red had lost, again, with his two pair.
“fucking shit! That's it! this decks gotta be rigged, get a new one!” Red flung his cards across the table as Stretch collected his winnings and added them to the pile. He wouldn't need to be buy a pack of smokes for quite awhile.
“Nyeh heh heh,The decks not rigged bud, I just got luck on my side tonight.”
“then you two are fucking cheats!” Red pounded his fists on the table sending cards and cigarettes flying.
“We ain’t cheating either, are we Sans.” Sans looked over at Red, who had a look of hostility on his face.
“hold on there red, no need to looked so flush, when playing poker sometimes ya just gotta deal with it.”
“Dam straight”
“you guys are fucking jokers!” They stared at each in silence for a moment before all three bursts into laughter simultaneously. Stretch gathered the scattered cards and started to shuffle. They had been playing for a few hours and Stretch was feeling pretty lucky, it was about time to put tonight’s secret plan into action.
“How about we make the next round a little more...interesting?” Stretch said while still shuffling the deck.
“interesting how?” Sans looking at him quizzically.
“How about the winner of the next hand gets to order the two losers around for the rest of the night? They gotta do whatever the winner says.” The way the two small skeletons faces lit up in colour, one bright blue the other a deep red, was precious. They turned to looked at each other as if silently asking what the other thought about this. Stretch was worried they wouldn't agree, so he gave them a push.
“Buuut...if you two Sans's are too timid for that kinda thing, I understand.” Oh, he was bringing it there was he? Well Sans wasn't going to let him get away with that.
“alright pal, i'm in, what about you red?”
“uh...i guess so.”
“Good.” He started dealing the cards outs and kept a closer eye on each of them before he looked at his own hand. Heh, yep, luck was on his side tonight, staring up at him was a full house. Hello friends. He looked over to Red, he was scratching his skull and sweating, but he was always sweating. He looked at Sans, still blushing blue and had an uncertain look on his face, where did your chill go buddy? Nyeh heh.
“Ok boys, let's see them cards.” Red slammed his cards down with a frustrated grunt, pair of threes, poor guy the cards really didn't seem to like him. Stretch looked over to Sans, three of a kind. Stretch let the giddiness swell in him as he knew he had won and laid down his hand.
“Nyeh heh heh heh!!!” Sans stared in horror, how could he have so many good hands in a row.
“i swear bro, if you been cheating i'm taking all your smokes.”
“Nyeh heh, nope ain't been cheating, come check if ya want.” Sans did, he got up, walked over to Stretch and started feeling around his hoodie, even reaching his hand up his sleeves trying to find any hidden cards. There were none.
“whelp red, looks like we are boned.”
“you can say that again.”
“whelp red, looks like we..”
“shut up!”