Fell knocked on the door of the house his brother shared with his alternates, rubbing his exposed humeri in an attempt to stave off the cold. God, the city was spoiling the hell out of him, the large amount of people and machinery keeping everything warm and completely devoid of snow. He needed to get this Royal Guard business (bullshit, in his opinion) sorted out so that he could return to Snowdin and fix his tolerance to low temperatures. After all, if he were to regain his position in this backwards universe, he would need to be able to be as adjustable as he once was.

There was the sound of running footsteps, and Fell couldn't help the indulgent smile that crossed his face. There was no way that was anyone but Blue, and just like everyone else who had ever met him, Fell had a soft spot for the little skeleton. It certainly didn't help that Stretch talked about him as though he were the greatest thing in the multiverse.

Though it was entirely possible that that may be the truth, it didn't mean Fell enjoyed hearing it from the person he was going to be married to.

The door swung open, and sure enough, Fell was greeted by the smiling face of his brother's much smaller alternate. "Fell!" he stage whispered, looking surprised. "I wasn't expecting you!"

Fell cocked a brow, but followed his lead with the volume, lowering his voice to reply. "Yes, well, I was in the area, and I needed to return a few keys of Sans'."

"Sans'?"

"Red's."

"Oh!" Blue opened the door wider in invitation. "Come on in, just try to keep the volume down for the moment. Red and Sans are asleep and I was just making some dinner!"

Fell snorted in derision, but did as Blue asked and came in quietly, slipping off his wet boots before pulling the keys from his pocket. "Would you mind terribly if I grabbed one or two of your 'world-famous' tacos while I am here? Your useless brother practically begged me to pick some up." His tone was devoid of any real venom as he spoke about his fiancee, and Blue beamed up at him.

"Of course! In fact, why don't you go wash your hands and stay for dinner? You can bring back the leftovers, so that way they will be at their freshest!"

"Oh, I don't know--"

"I insist!" Blue exclaimed, star-shaped eyelights shining brightly. His voice had risen in his excitement, and it seemed to prompt some motion from the lump of blankets on the sofa, drawing Fell's gaze.

Over the last several years, it had become increasingly common to find his brother sound asleep in the oddest of places. Sitting at his sentry station, sprawled sideways across the kitchen table, even, once, up in a tree for no good reason at all. So it was, really, anything but unusual or strange to see Red asleep on the couch.

What was unusual was the fact that he seemed to have duplicated in his sleep.

Sans was snoring softly, his head tucked up under Red's chin and the other's arms wrapped tightly around him, holding him closely as though afraid he would wake to find them empty. Their chests rose and fell in unison, and Fell didn't think he'd ever seen Red so still while he was asleep.

They were both entirely dead to the world, a fluffy blanket covering them from the waist down. They were completely wrapped up in one another, the position so obviously loving and intimate that Fell could feel himself flushing, wondering if he should even be allowed to see them, or if he was intruding in on something private and wholesome.

He turned back to Blue, trying not to feel insulted by the fact that Red hadn't told him that he was in a relationship when it was this obvious. Was it because he thought Fell would disapprove?

Sure, he complained about his brother's counterpart often enough, but he had his own lazy lover; and it wasn't as though he would ever fight against any happiness his brother could find.

"How long has that been going on?" he asked quietly, turning away as he struggled to find an explanation that didn't mean he'd been imagining any progress he'd made with Red.

"Only since last night," answered Blue, and Fell snorted as he imagined how Blue would know the exactly timeline. He opened his mouth to make a comment that he was pretty sure would have the other kicking him out on his ass, tacos be damned, but he was brought up short by the expression on Blue's face.

He was watching the two on the couch with something unidentifiable in his eyes, a small smile curving the edge of his mouth.

Fell couldn't dislodge the feeling that he was missing something.

Before he could ask, Blue gestured to the bathroom, smiling up at him. "Feel free to wash up! I need to go finish up dinner!"

When Fell returned to the living room, it was to quiet giggles, exaggerated snoring coming from the now blanket-covered lump that was probably Sans.

Red was currently trying to push the other skeleton off of him, laughing every time the other just rolled right back to where he had been. "Get off, ya big lump, I gotta go change."

Sans grumbled, apparently still somewhat asleep (or maybe just faking it), and only seemed to clutch tighter to the other. "Nah...Too comfy." he mumbled as he stuck his face out of the blanket only to bury it into Red's shirt, and Fell could see his grin pressed up against the cloth. Then he raised his head, looking Red in the eye. "Also, you smell nice. It just makes scents for me to stay right here forever." he said before burrowing back into the other.

Red snorted loudly at the stupid pun, trying to dislodge him again before seeming to give up, rolling his eyes and throwing his hands into the air. "Blue!"

There was the sound of clattering from the kitchen, undoubtedly the sounds of Blue preparing dinner. "Yes, Red?" came the shouted reply.

"Come rescue me from this terrifying skeleton monster, please!"

Fell snorted loudly at that, drawing his brother's attention. Red's eyes widened and a dark blush bloomed across his face. "H-hey Boss...How long have you been standing there?"

Sans's head popped up, and Fell could see dark blue covering his cheekbones as they made momentary eye contact.

"Long enough for you to have thoroughly embarrassed yourself." Fell said, trying not to grin at how flustered the two were.

"Oh, stop teasing them, Fell." came Blue's bright voice from the doorway. "Can the 'terrifying skeleton monster' come help me in here? I need some vegetables chopped."

"Sure thing, Blue!" came the immediate reply as Sans scrambled off of Red and practically ran into the kitchen. Fell's eyes followed him, fairly certain that was the most excited about work the other had ever been, before he looked back at his still-flushing brother.

Red had sat up and was folding up the blanket, apparently trying not to make eye contact as his blush began to fade slightly. "What're you doing here?" he finally asked, though not unkindly.

Fell made his way to the couch, sitting lightly beside Red as he finished folding. "I dropped off your lab keys and Blue invited me to stay for dinner." he answered, then, more quietly, "I'm glad you're happy. It's been a long time since I've seen you smile like that."

Red glanced up at him in shock, but before he could say anything, there was a loud crash from the kitchen, followed by a lot of laughter. Red flinched, looking up at the doorway, then stood quickly, looking like he was very grateful for the excuse not to continue the conversation. "I should go see--" he started, but Fell waved a hand, cutting him off.

"You said you had to change, right? Go ahead, I'll go see what's wrong." he said, standing up and beginning to make his way towards the kitchen. Red didn't move for a moment, then Fell heard him sigh quietly and start up the steps to his room.

He looked around the edge of the doorway, and saw Blue picking up an empty pan, seeming to be recovering from the loud noise and the surprise of suddenly dropping something so heavy.

While he was thus distracted, Sans reached from his place at the cutting board to steal some of the cooking meat, popping it into his mouth before Blue could stop him.

"Hey!" Blue said, giggling slightly. Neither of them seemed to have noticed his presence in the kitchen, and Fell found himself preferring it that way. It felt like he was missing something here, the atmosphere between the two seeming to be...different than he would have expected.

"What?" Sans said, his voice laced with false innocence. "I didn't do anything!"

"I saw you!" Blue laughed, walking back over to the stove and setting down the empty pan before swatting Sans on the shoulder. Sans grabbed the hand and pulled him closer, causing Blue to stumble slightly and allowing Sans to wrap him up in a hug, still grinning at him like the cat that ate the canary.

"What? Me eating your mea--"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Sans!" Blue cried, trying to push the other away despite the large smile across his face.

Sans just pulled him closer, planting a semi-chaste kiss on his teeth before saying, "Aw, come on, you know you love--"

"What. The. Fuck?"

They both jumped violently before swinging around to look at him, looking shocked. They kept holding onto each other, and there was nothing even approaching guilt on their faces, which just pissed Fell off all the more.

Blue frowned, finally letting go of Sans to put his hands on his hips. "Fell! You scared me! And please watch your language!"

Fell just stared at him, completely flabbergasted. Did he somehow not realize the position they were in? There was no way. Stretch may think of his older brother as a child, for whatever reason, but Blue was an adult. He had realize that what Fell had just walked in on was damning. "I will not'watch my language'! You don't get to act all innocent after that...that little..." He threw his hands up in frustration. Red didn't fucking deserve this betrayal. Weren't these two supposed to be his best friends?

Sans' eyes widened in understanding, and he took a step towards Fell, his hands out in a placating gesture. "Hang on, this isn't what you think--"

"How the hell is this anything else? What, is kissing just a sign of friendship in your backwards-ass worlds? I suppose if you fucked behind my brother's back, too, that would just be a fun little game, wouldn't it?!" Fell hadn't been this angry in a long time. He'd gotten his hopes up out there, that Red had finally found happiness, that he wouldn't have to feel so damn guilty about finding his own.

Of course his useless older brother would pick the one damn person in this sugar-coated joke of a universe with enough backbone to tear that apart.

Blue spoke up now, looking worried. "Fell, please just--"

Fell snarled, cutting him off right at the start. Blue looked vaguely affronted, taking a step back and crossing his arms, but he maintained eye contact, opening his mouth to speak again just as Red walked into the kitchen.

He came to an abrupt stop in the doorway as he took in the atmosphere in the room. There was an overwhelming silence as they all turned to look at him, and he was tempted to just back away slowly. Instead, he turned to look at Blue and Sans, who both looked exasperated, with a question in his eyes.

Sans sighed, then said, "He saw us kissing and now he won't listen to reason."

Red snorted, and Fell narrowed his eyes, confused.

"Well, screw you Blue, I guess it's your turn to be the homewrecker," Red said, winking at his alternates. Sans' face lit up in a blush as Red frowned suddenly. "Wait, why does everyone always assume I'm the one getting cheated on?"

Sans opened his mouth, the snark of what he was planning to say practically reverberating around the room before Blue smacked him on the arm. "Sans, don't you dare--"

"Should I be heartbroken right now?" Red asked, throwing his hand over his forehead in his most dramatic pose before shouting, "How could you?!"

Sans snorted, and Red pushed up off the wall to approach the other two, very fake-sounding sobs coming out of his mouth. "Betrayal! Sadness! Jealousy!" he exclaimed, stomping in circles around the other two.

"Oh my god, Red--" Blue tried, reaching out and grabbing Red by the arm.

"Bitterness!"

"Stop!" Blue said, but he was giggling. "First of all, you can't just shout out the emotion you're supposed to be feeling, that's not--"

"What the hell is wrong with all of you?" Fell shouted.

Three pairs of eyes turned towards him at once, amusement fading into a mixture of confusion and resignation.

"Red, how can you be joking about this? These mother fuckers ," Fell shouted, putting emphasis on the swear word and glaring directly at Blue as though daring him to say anything about it, "have done something... unforgivable , and you're acting like an idiot!"

There was a long, uncomfortable silence before Sans spoke up. "Fell, we actually--"

"Shut. Up." He growled, shifting his glare from Blue to Red's supposed boyfriend. "How could you possibly do something like this to him? My brother is one of the most loyal people you will ever meet! He doesn't deserve this bullshit! And just because he can't confront this doesn't mean I won't for him!"

Before Fell could say anything else or summon an attack to dust the traitorous fuckers, a hand was placed gently on his arm. "Boss," started Red, a smile on his face like Fell hadn't seen in a long time. "Thank you for saying that, but I think there's been a misunderstanding."