"What's up, bitches?" asked Lust as he sauntered across the room towards Red and Comic.

"Not a whole lot. Wondering why you don't have any fucking clothes on, but otherwise I'm great," drawled Red, openly looking the other up and down.

Lust just grinned and spread his arms so that the other could see him better. "Undyne did say that we're supposed to dress flamboyantly, and since we're skeletons and can't really freak out any human kids, we just thought we'd not worry about the whole 'clothes' thing."

"Well you certainly met your flamboyant quota for the year. Why do you have so many different pride flags in your paint?"

Lust grinned and turned so that they could see his back as he said, "We were looking over that list that Blue sent us of all the different flags, and we couldn't find one that said 'literally always down to fuck', so Paps said we should just do all of them and tell people we're 'all-the-sexual'."

Red snorted loudly, then turned to Sans, who still hadn't been able to say a word since this had started. "You okay there, buddy?" he asked, amusement obvious in his tone.

Sans nodded quickly as Lust turned to look at him, tearing his eyes away from where the colors were painted across the other's ribs. "Y-yeah," he squeaked out, his voice much more high-pitched than usual.

Lust grinned. "Do you like it?" he asked, holding out his arms to display himself again.

All Sans could do was nod.

"Anyway," said Red, thankfully directing the attention away from Sans's blueing face. "Do you know when we're gonna start headin' over there?"

Lust shrugged. "Nah, I'm not really sure. I'm sure one of these overly excited people will let us know, though."

Blue suddenly seemed to pop out of nowhere, grabbing on to Red's hand and bouncing excitedly. "You and Pink look amazing!" he exclaimed.

"Speak of the devil," Lust muttered under his breath, then he said more loudly, "Thanks, Blue."

"Did you do each other's paint or did you do it all on yourselves?"

"We did our own ribs but we had to have help with the rest. Couldn't really reach it all myself. Didn't exactly mind it though, especially when he had to help me do the--"

"Hey Blue," interrupted Red. "Do you know when we're taking off?"

Blue, as easily distracted as he was, still seemed to know there was something off about the timing of that interruption because he looked at Lust curiously before turning to Red. "We'll go in just a few minutes!" he answered excitedly. "We were going to wait for the SwapFell brothers, but apparently they're meeting us there!"

Red looked confused for a moment. "Razz and Slim were going to come with us?"

"Well, no, but they were going to go to the parade and when Tale found out, he tried to invite them to come with us."

"Ah...I'm guessing he was not successful."

"Not exactly!" Blue smiled and pressed a quick kiss to Red's temple. "I just wanted to say hi to Lust, I'm going to go talk to Tale now! I'll come grab you when we're ready to leave!" And with that, he skipped back over to his best friend.

The three of them watched him go, then Lust said, "How is a grown adult with my face so fucking adorable ?"

Red burst into laughter, and Sans smiled, his blush fading slightly.

"So, how're we doing this whole transportation thing?" asked Fell loudly, obviously trying to get the others moving.

"I can take three at a time," Sans volunteered, "So I've got Paps and Alphyne,"

They all sorted themselves out, getting into groups and making sure that everyone knew where they were going. Then, with a succession of pops , they all appeared off to the side of a large courtyard.

It was crowded with humans, with the occasional monster here and there, and Sans's jaw almost dropped at some of the outfits. It seemed Papyrus had been right about the fashion choices.

"Hey sluts!" came a shout in a familiar voice from somewhere in the crowd. They all turned to look, and a moment later, they spotted Razz, in the middle of being lifted onto Slim's shoulders.

Slim was clothed much like Red, with plain clothes accompanied by a rainbow flag as a cape. Both brothers were lacking in the war paint the others sported, but Razz seemed to match the other's extravagance. Like Fell and Papyrus, he was dressed in nothing but his bandana, a pair of shorts, and a set of his high-heeled boots, and the rest of him was covered in body paint, blue and pink stripes covering his torso, arms, and legs.

When they reached the group, Razz leaned forward, putting his elbows on Slim's head and propping his chin in his hands. He was grinning, but it wasn't the usual malicious smile Sans had come to expect from the little shit. It was a real smile, full of excitement. Sans sometimes forgot how much he and Blue looked alike when Razz wasn't being a pissant.

"You should see some of the stuff they have here!" he said, smiling down at them and seeming to enjoy his new height. "There's a float just for girls, and they're all so nice! They gave me kisses on my face and they--"

Slim coughed pointedly, and Razz immediately straightened, seeming to force his face into a frown.

"I mean...This is fine, I guess. Not up to the Magnificent and Malicious Sans's standards, but close enough to participate." His voice was monotone, and he looked and sounded almost bored if Sans hadn't been able to see the way his eyelights were still sparkling.

Slim grinned at all of them and winked, earning several smirks from members of their party.

"So, where do we go to be as gay as possible?" Lust asked, putting his hands on his hips and looking around the square.

Stretch snorted. "Dude, you're already there, don't worry about it."

Pink snorted, then hid it quickly and ineffectively behind a loud cough. Lust just grinned back at him and winked. "Don't I know it."

"Come on," said Razz, kicking his feet slightly and gesturing for them all to follow him into the crowd as Slim turned and began to walk. "We found a float that said some extra members would be awesome!" His excitement appeared to be back, and Sans found himself getting caught up in it all.

X-X-X-X

Almost an hour later, they found themselves assigned to a float, a large, multi-colored thing manned by several humans who seemed incredibly excited to have monsters in attendance and drawing so much attention to them and their program.

The floats ahead of them were beginning to pull out, starting the parade, and the person in charge of theirs watched carefully, waiting for the signal.

"Are we ready? Yeah? Okay, go ahead!"

With a small lurch, the float began to move. Blue was jumping up and down excitedly, clutching onto Red's arm. Red had a long-suffering look on his face as he was shaken, but there was excitement flashing in his eyelights.

All five Papyruses had chosen to walk alongside, with Razz still on Slim's shoulders. Fell had Stretch and Pink by the hands, raising them above their heads as Papyrus practically ran excited circles around them.

Sans grinned down at his brother, looking around and taking in the vast multitude that surrounded them.

The crowd on the other side of the dividers was huge . It extended almost beyond where he could see, thousands of people with little rainbow flags, dressed in all different ways, accompanied by all manner of friends and partners.

Sans looked behind him, locking eyes with Lust. He was surprised to see that the other's soul had formed as he looked over the crowd, and as they made eye contact, he could see it pulse slightly, glowing with his purple magic that was visible even in the bright light of day. They grinned at each other for a moment before Lust extended a hand, grabbing onto Sans's arm and pulling him closer to him.

Sans felt his face burning brightly as Lust wrapped an arm around the top of his shoulders, popping out a hip so that it tapped against Sans's, making him laugh.

Lust winked, then let go and strode up to the railing on the edge of the float, leaning over it and shouting to the crowd. The majority of the people cheered and happily shouted back.

There was suddenly a huge cheer running through the crowd, and Sans looked over his shoulder to see Red and Blue just breaking out of a kiss. Blue's arms were wrapped around the tops of his husband's shoulders, Red's hands gripping onto his hips as they both laughed at the reaction of the crowd.

Blue said something that Sans couldn't hear, and Red let go of him, grinning. Blue then climbed to the top of the float, waving excitedly at everyone as he went. Red watched him go, almost heartachingly deep affection on his face, before looking away and at Sans, who winked at him. His friend turned bright red, flipping him off quickly before going to the other side of the float, shouting something down at his brother.

Fell shouted back with a grin, still gripping tightly onto his partners, both of which were interacting excitedly with the crowd. Sans didn't think he had ever seen Stretch look so energetic. Suddenly, the other's face completely lit up and he let go of Fell in favor of running off to the side, fist-bumping a member of the crowd that had the same sweatshirt as him before running back, laughing.

"Sans!"

He turned back to see Lust gesturing at him to come back to the railing. Cocking a brow, he obeyed, joining his alternate in waving to the crowd.

The SwapFell brothers were in front of them, walking alongside the float. Razz was laughing at something someone had shouted at him, looking happier than Sans had ever seen him before. He was intermittently letting himself fall back out of a sitting position, hanging upside-down only by Slim keeping hold of his legs. He would grip onto his brother's rainbow cape, sitting back up and pulling the cloth with him, waving it in the air before letting it flutter back down again. Slim was just patiently holding on to his brother, shooting the occasional wink or one-liner into the crowd.

Sans felt someone grip onto his hand and looked to the side, confused. Lust was grinning saucily at him, and Sans found himself blushing when he saw the vaguely heart-shaped eyelights of the other.

"Wanna give them something to really cheer about?" Lust asked, sticking out his purple tongue. Sans hesitated for about half a second before nodding vigorously. His face was burning, and, to his surprise, he could see a light dusting of color across Lust's cheekbones.

Lust pulled on his arm, tugging him closer before reaching up with his free hand and lightly tugging on Sans's chin, moving his own face closer as he let his eyes hood partially shut. Sans could feel his soul pulsing with nervousness and excitement, his surroundings stopping away any reservations he normally would have had. He reached out with one hand, fingers brushing against the other's clavicle, starting to close his own eyes.

"SANS!!! LOOK AT WHAT THE NICE HUMANS GAVE ME!"

Sans sprang back at the sound of his brother's voice, blushing furiously. Lust's eyes were wide and his face was bright purple, but he grinned widely as he rubbed the back of his neck and turned back to the crowd.

Sans stared after him for a moment, trying to sort out the thoughts in his head, before turning to the back of the float, where his brother was following behind. He was waving a huge flag, emblazoned with several symbols and stripes of color, the words LOVE WINS emblazoned across the center.

Undyne was walking next to Papyrus, holding her smaller fiancee under one arm like a sack of potatoes as Alphys blushed furiously.

"Looks flag ulous, Paps!" Sans shouted back, grinning at the look on his brother's face and the snort he earned from the naked skeleton beside him.

"That was awful," Red muttered from his other side, but he was still grinning and looking very pointedly between Sans and Lust before winking and making a motion that would normally have had Blue lecturing him about lewd behavior.

Sans flipped him off before rejoining Lust, who thankfully had not been paying attention, at the rail. He began waving again at the enormous amounts of joyous supporters that surrounded them, taking it all in and letting it wash over him. Papyrus was right. This was an amazing community.