#lost sleep

“GET OUT OF MY KITCHEN YOU USELESS ASHTRAY!”

Two pops of a shortcut.

The sound of someone scrambling to the sink and heaving.

Then the stomping of feet heading to the door and…

SLAM!

No one flinched as Stretch stormed out of the house, using the action over shortcutting to emphasizing his abrupt exit, finally ending the fiery argument. Pans and dishes clattered in the kitchen, replacing the sound of raised voices.

Comic glanced at his cards before looking at Blue. “hit me”

Blue slid him a six of diamonds before glancing at Red.

Red looked at his cards with disinterest. Raising his right hand, Red counted down from three, two, one before pointing at the kitchen door.

The door swings open as Edge storms into the living room, gloves roughly pulled back on as he passed by. Apron, still tied around his midsection, torn off in haste and tossed haphazardly to the ground. “Fucking Idiot Ashtray Forgot He’s In Underfell.” He growled, swaying a little as he slid on his boots and stormed out of the house.

A collected sigh resounded within the group as tension melted from the room. Red tapped his cards, earning him a seven of clubs.

Lowering the Advance Puzzling Guild to Traps, a book Edge had loaned him, Rus looked over to the front door as Doomfanger shifted slightly in his lap to encourage more petting. Rus was more than happy to oblige. “RED, IS YOUR MEDKIT FULLY STOCKED?”

Red grunted, taking a moment to ponder Rus’ question as he munched on a cookie Edge had made earlier that morning. “should be,” Red began, crumbs flying as he spoke. “boss usually keeps it well supplied.” Red swallowed, whipping his mouth with his sleeve, causing Blue to roll his eyelights. “i wouldn’t worry, Boss ain’t gonna harm Stretch. just drag his ass back here.”

“IT’S NOT LAZY-ME I’M WORRIED ABOUT.” Blue and Red glance at each other with raised brow bones before looking back at the taller monster. Rus’ attention is suddenly drawn away from the front door to the kitchen. Putting the book down, he begins to sit up, much to Doomfanger’s rather vocal displeasure. “I SHOULD FINISH UP EDGY-ME’S MEAL. I HAVE A FEELING WE’RE GOING TO NEED IT.”

Sharing another worried glance back at each other, Red and Blue both turn their concerned looks over to Comic, who only offered an unhelpful shrug before showing his cards. “That’s 21, go fish Red.”

“that’s not even the right game!” Red shouts, giving Comic’s shoulder a shove before tossing his cards into the air.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“fucking dustpan for brains.”

Puffs of air escaped Stretch’s mouth as he stormed through Snowden Forest. His hands dug into his sweater pocket, searching for a cigarette and lighter through the mess of honey packets and random scraps of paper. He grumbled to himself, kicking at the untouched snow, while pulling the found cigarette to his teeth as he leaned against one of the many trees in the area.

“fucking asshole.” Stretch muttered to himself as he lit the cigarette, pulling in the nicotine filled smoke into his chest cavity, soothing his agitated magic. Edge irritated the shit out of Stretch. That monster definitely had a way to keep him on (heh) edge.

“who is he to tell me what to do. he’s the one who came late to the gathering, the one he was suppose to be hosting, smelling of fucking dust, of all things. not even a hello. fuckin’ rude. just went upstairs, changed and barricaded himself in the kitchen. brushing off Blue’s offer to help like that, what fucking nerve.” Stretch sagged against the tree, realizing he was venting to no one, as he exhaled smoke from his nasal aperture.

“FuCK YoU, PapYRus!”

Stretch turned to look towards the offending voice, curious of who would be yelling at him with such venom. Suddenly he got a face full of some dark, slimy muck, causing him to lose his cigarette in the snow.

“the fuck…” Suddenly the substance began to burn at his sockets. Crying out, Stretch’s hands fly to his face to try to remove the muck as he sinks to his knees. The viscous matter stuck stubbornly to his face as he tried to dig it out of his sockets.

Dark chuckles alerted Stretch to the danger he suddenly found himself in. Right, this is Underfell, he should have been more aware of his surrounding. How stupid could he be? His soul began to race in his chest, realization hitting hard. For the moment, he was totally blind and surrounded by an unknown amount of hostile, EXP-thirsty monsters. And on top of it all, he was all alone.

Or was he?

A familiar growl came from somewhere to his left. That direction confirmed as he felt the rush of air as someone ran by him. He could hear two bodies collide, a snapping of a stick, followed by the beginning of a struggle between two monsters.

There was an eruption of yells to his right, causing Stretch to flinch before he scrambled and pushed himself closer to the tree, the only thing he was certain would protect him from any attacks from behind.

“BACK OFF, HE’S MINE!” Stretch heard Edge shout, growls and grunts moving from one area of the clearing to another. A whizzing sound past by his skull, Stretch could only assume was an attack. Stretch couldn’t contain the whimper as he brought his hands up to cover his skull.

“ShoulDa KilleD Meh When yA Had Da ChanCe.” The voice of the attacker called out, sounding further unhinged.

Magic and intent hung threateningly in the air. Suddenly, the scent of spice overwhelmed him as Stretch was all too keenly aware of a large body standing over him, shielding him as he heard bullets rain onto the tree trunk. He could feel Edge’s panting breaths against his temple, hear every slight grunt he made as he was hit by bullet after bullet, before his looming body pushed off of the tree trunk to once again face the attackers.

He could hear each of Edge’s grunts and growls, unable to distinguish if they were from fury or pain. Stretch curled in on himself, wondering if this fight would ever end.

Without warning there was a snap, crunch and a few howls of pain, causing Stretch to flinch from the unseen force, followed swiftly by eerie silence and stillness. The scent of dust hit him like a ton of bricks, making Stretch want to gag.

Seconds, minutes and hours seem to pass at that moment as Stretch sat where he was, listening for any possibility of life. His magic felt frozen in his mana lines as he waited, quickly flooding with relief when he finally heard Edge groan.

When he heard nothing else after, Stretch swallowed down his nervous magic before beginning to cautiously crawl forward where he figured he heard Edge before. “Edge?”

The stars must have granted him luck, for it didn’t take long for Stretch’s hand to land on an arm, a bony arm. He followed it down, first finding the edge of one of those trademarked gloves before reversing and following it up to Edge’s sleeved shoulder. A reminder that Edge had gone out without his normal armor.

“hey, Edge?” Stretch regretted the tremor in his voice as he shifted closer to Edge’s body. He tried to hold down his panic when no response came back, giving the shoulder his hand rested on a firm shake. “Edge, come on lazybones, wake-up.”

A hissing gasp finally came from Edge, followed by a groan as Stretch felt him lean up. “Stretch?” the other sounded off, a little disoriented and a bit too quiet. He felt as Edge’s frame shook as he lowered himself back on the snowy ground. “You’re a fucking idiot.”

“yea, kinda agree ya there, wasn’t my brightest of ideas. you ok? you sound terrible.” Stretch rearranged himself into a sitting position, relief flooding through him.

“I’ve dealt with worse than this. What is that on your face?” Stretch can feel Edge leaning up again, probably to get a closer look at the goop. A gloved hand gently touched his face, thumb wiping against the gunk on his cheekbone, sending an unfamiliar, but pleasant, jolt through Stretch’s core.

That was odd.

“fuck if i know.” Stretch began to touch the goop himself, feeling that it was starting to dry. “they threw it on my face when they attacked. it doesn’t burn anymore.”

“It was burning?” There was a hint of concerned alarm in Edge’s voice. “How’s your visibility?”

“honestly, I can’t see a thing.” He doesn’t sound nervous, not at all. Stars, this was seriously not Stretch’s day.

“Shit, we need to get that off of you.” Edge’s shoulder trembled slightly under his hand as the other monster lowered himself back down.Stretch reached up to pick at the gunk only to have his hand snachted and pulled away from his face.

“Don’t pick at it.” Edge warned. “It won’t help.”

And so Stretch waited. There was a sense of hesitation from Edge. After what felt like forever, he heard the resigned sigh, Stretch tilting his head in question towards Edge. “I need you to shortcut us back to the house.”

He was taken aback by the request. Right before storming out like a moron, Stretch had shortcut Edge from one spot of the kitchen to another, just to make the guy puke his soul out. All in the name of spite. And he was willingly asking for another joy ride home. “you sure about that?”

There was a pause, maybe a hint of movement from the others head, before Edge replied. “Yes, it’ll be the safest and quickest way we can get back home. I can handle it.”

Well, that was a lie.

“yea, sure.” Stretch began imagining the Fell brother’s living room, the open spot by the door. Something yanked at his soul suddenly, shocking him out of the shortcut. He felt momentarily dizzy, laying his free hand back behind him, cursing as it landed back in the snow.

“Stretch?” Edge’s sounded impatient, yet concerned, “The shortcut, we have to get home.”

Stretch was bewildered, a shortcut had never failed him before. “i’m sorry, Edge, i… i can’t.” He suck in a deep breath as he finally admitted it. “my magic’s not working”

Stretch felt himself being checked. Edge groaned in what sounded like disappointment, silence lapsed between them once again. Not being a patient monster, Stretch began getting back to his feet, moving his hand down Edge’s arm to his hand, grasping it as he stood. “guess we’re hoofing it, Edgy.”

“WAIT! Stretch, I… ARGH!!!” Edge cried out suddenly as Stretch tried to pull him up, feeling a shift coming from somewhere along the arm causing him to drop Edge’s hand. Edge hissed as he fell back onto the ground and growled through his teeth.

“oh shit! I’m sorry Edge. I didn’t realize…” Stretch returned to his knees, reaching around until his hand rested on the other’s shoulder. Edge was curled in on himself, frame shaking beneath his touch.

“Strrretch.” Edge growled out, taking a few deep breaths, slowly relaxing from the tight curl. “I… I can’t get up.” Stretch barely caught what Edge said, surprised by the lower volume he previously thought would be impossible. A hint of resignation came with the bit of information.

“what?!” Stretch was hoping his had misheard him. “what do you mean you can’t get up?”

“It’s exactly what it sounds like, Stretch.” Edge was beginning to get irritated. “I can’t get up, I can’t… walk.” There was a pause as Stretch let the weight of the situation sink in.

“You’re right though.” Edge’s voice shook him from his thoughts. “We really need to get walking. It’s not safe to stay here.”

Stretch shook his head, “how do you suggest we do that, Edgelord. I’m blind and you can’t walk.”

“Carry me.”

“what?!”

“Don’t make this difficult.” Edge barked, “You’re going to have to carry me back. I'll be your eyes and tell you where to go. However, we are going to have to take the long route around. We can’t go straight through town.”

“niiiiiiiice, the scenic route.” Stretch gave Edge a clever smirk, amused with himself.

Edge only gave him an annoyed grumble. “Stretch, I’m going to need you to trust me here.”

“like I have a choice.” Stretch replied jokingly.

“Stretch…” Seems Edge didn’t take it as such, did his body just tense? “Please, if we’re both going to make it home, you’re going to have to trust me.”

“alright, alright, i got it. i trust you with my life. don’t get your panties in a bunch.” Stretch could feel Edge relax as he reached with his free hand towards where Edge’s legs would be, finding snow at first. Feeling around a bit, he finally comes in contact with the other’s boot. Stretch brow crinkled in concern. He’s a scientist, not a doctor, and even Stretch could tell that one’s ankle shouldn’t be going in that direction. “uh, Edge?”

“Ignore that, Just concentrate on picking me up.” There definitely was a hint of pain in his voice. It was getting easier to pick up on these nuances of the normally unreadable skeleton. Either his sense’s where becoming heighten from being blind or Edge was having a harder time trying to cover how he was feeling. Neither of those options made him all that comfortable.

“what the fuck happened? i know you were fighting but these injuries are a bit extreme.” He glided his hand upwards, finding tears in the infamous boots Edge always wore. Finally finding his knee, Stretch reached under, easing his arm under both legs with Edge’s help.

“I’ll tell you when we get going.” Edge groaned, shifting his uninjured leg to get comfortable.

Stretch carefully began to move the hand resting on Edge’ shoulder towards his back, feeling Edge adjust into a better position. Once his arm was secure around Edge’s back, Stretch shifted his legs to brace himself for the weight he was about to lift. Stretch’s brow crinkled in confusion. “i thought you weren’t wearing armor?”

“Light under armor, hides well under clothes, it’s best to always be prepared.” Edge informed him. Stretch could feel Edge tucking his injured arm against his chest, potentially to prevent Stretch from pressing against it. It was soon followed by a hand of Edge’s uninjured arm grasping onto Stretch’s sweater, making it feel as if Edge would be more secure in his hold.

“huh, even during our get togethers?” He felt Edge shrugged in response. “alright mister prepared, ready?” He could feel the rise of Edge’s chest as he sucked in a deep breath.

“Yes, Just...arrr.” Stretch could feel the air leaving Edge in a groan as he stood, followed by a few breaths coming in pained gasps as Edge trembled in his arms.

“you ok?” Stretch adjusted his hold carefully.

“I’m fine. Just be careful” Edge ground out. “Now, turn to the left a bit. Right there. Now walk forward, take careful steps. And now angle yourself to the right to avoid the tree.”

Stretch followed Edge’s directions, finding very quickly how accurate he was. He hated not being able to see but Edge was quickly proving to be a good guide. Even still, his soul flared with sympathy as he felt every cringe or tremor from the monster in his arms.