A powerful knock to his bedroom door abruptly jostled Sans awake from his nap. Mind dazed and startled, his left socket's eye light flashed with electric-blue magic, prepared to fight off any intruder who could possibly be threatening Papyrus' life.
It was only the sound of eager whimpering from the other side of the door and his brother's "SANS!" that brought his senses to the reality that no one was in danger.
With a blink, the older skeletal monster's eye lights returned to his sockets, and he angles his skull towards the door. Now fully relaxed, he sat up in his bed and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. "'Sup, Pap?"
Papyrus must have taken that as an invitation to let himself in, for he opened the door and stomped up to his brother with a very ticked off expression on his face. Sans looked behind him to find his two Gaster Blaster pets - Cannon and Draco - following close behind. Their eyes gleamed with excitement as they panted happily, their glowing blue tongues lagging out of their jagged mouths.
"Sans, your Blasters need to be cared for!" Papyrus began strictly.
"Well, I was kinda in the middle of a nap," Sans replied with a casual shrug. "Can't you take 'em out again?"
"No, Sans! I can't be taking care of your pets all the time! I have decided it is time for you to take responsibility and do it yourself!"
"I dunno, bro, these lil' guys' Blaster Master's gotta lot on his hands, too."
"You do nothing but sleep all day!" Papyrus barked with a stomp of his boot. "I swear, this is becoming the Rocko the pet rock fiasco all over again! You never spent time with him, let alone feed him, and now these poor Blasters are going to suffer from lack of love and affection! It's no wonder Rocko ran away!"
There goes the pet rock thing again. Ever since Sans left the rock back in the Underground - he told Papyrus he had ran away when in reality he just didn't want to deal with it anymore, and he wanted to try caring for living creatures - Papyrus had been bringing it up time and time again whenever Sans didn't care for the Blasters himself. Sometimes he wished he'd never left Rocko behind in the first place.
"Bro, that was two weeks ago," Sans insisted. "I guess he just didn't wanna live up on the Surface with us and ran back Underground. Rocks do belong down there after all."
"Nevertheless, I have had it with your laziness!" Papyrus declared. "I have been elected to assist Undyne run a few errands, and there's no way I'm taking these two with me. That being said, you must watch over them - like you're supposed to - until I get back."
Sans let out a little huff. He really just wanted to go back to sleep. But if Papyrus was going out with Undyne, he knew he had no choice this time but to tend to his pets, otherwise who knows what would happen. After all, he may not care for them like he's supposed to, but he still loves them dearly.
"Alright, alright, I'll watch over 'em," Sans finally said. "I suppose it wouldn't be that big a deal."
Papyrus' face seemed to brighten up like a Christmas tree at this, for he grinned excitedly. "You really will? Sans, this is amazing! Cannon and Draco will be so happy to spend some quality time with their owner! Well, in that case, I'll be off. I left a list of things to do on the fridge as far as caring for them goes; make sure you do all of them."
"Don't worry, Pap, we're gonna have a blast while you're gone."
Papyrus groaned loudly at the pun.
Papyrus bid Sans farewell for the last time until the evening as he jogged off down the sidewalk to Undyne's house. The monster houses in Golden Valley were a fairly short distance away as they preferred not to live too far apart from one another. After the younger brother was out of sight, Sans walked back in his house and made his way to the kitchen to find the list of responsibilities.
There weren't nearly as many items on the check list as he had anticipated. All he really had to do was feed them, take them for a walk, and play with them so they didn't get lonely.
It didn't take too long to feed them. Like Surface dogs, they're able to eat dog food and biscuits, as well as meat as treats. All Sans had to do was fill up two dog bowls with kibble and they were both happy campers, granting him about ten minutes of rest on the couch.
Once they had finished their meal, Sans took them both on a walk trough the Golden Valley park. Gaster Blasters don't really need to do business like regular dogs, but fresh air always does everyone good. They also enjoy the scents of the park, as well as mark their territories using small, weak magical blasts that singed benches, sidewalks, or greenery and left an aroma that smelled like the chilled crisp air of a winter morning.
The walk lasted for about thirty minutes, and finally Sans returned home with Cannon and Draco. At this point, it was four in the afternoon - an hour before Papyrus would return home. He never liked to be out after five on weekdays, for he worked night shifts at a human-run restaurant.
Sans nestled himself down on the living room carpet with a few chew toys next to him. He picked up their favorite toy - a bright blue knotted rope - and beckoned the pets towards him before tossing the rope to them to play with together.
Unfortunately for him, it seemed the Blasters were too excited to spend time with their owner to play Tug-of-War with one another. They sped past the toy and tackled the skeletal monster to the ground, grunting and whimpering happily as they began to nuzzle him.
"Whoa, hold on!" Sans cried out under the pair of magical skulls. "Get offa me, ya crazy bones! I wasn't ready for this skull-duggery!"
The Blasters both ignored their owner's command as they gently nudged against his ribs with their broad snouts. This caused Sans to yelp and jerk reflexively.
"Eeek! H-Hey, that tickles!" he stammered, pushing against their muzzles with his hands.
Cannon and Draco only took this as an invitation to continue playing this way. They continued nuzzling and nudging his ribs, whimpering playfully and enjoying the seemingly happy laughter emitting from their owner.
In reality, Sans wasn't having too much fun at all. He was never a fan at all of being tickled - if anything he liked being the tickler, especially with Papyrus and the human ambassador Frisk. And his ribs were a very sensitive spot. He squirmed and kicked out his legs as he giggled and snorted profusely, unable to push the Blasters away.
"Ehehehehehehahaha! Hehehey, stop that! D-Down, boys! Dohohown!"
Draco, being the more mischievous of the two pets, began grunting something to Cannon. When Cannon, the peppier one, yipped in some sort of agreement, he gently grasped Sans' wrists in his large jaws and held them over his head.
"Whoa, whoa, what the hell are you two doing?!" Sans exclaimed in alarm. Tugging on his arms did him absolutely no good as Cannon was far too strong for him to overpower. "Cut it out, you two!"
Draco growled softly as he nuzzled Sans' shirt up, driving out squeaks and giggles from the skeletal monster, and stopped once his rib cage was bared. He lagged out his tongue and began licking and slurping at the sensitive bones.
Sans' sockets widened, the ticklish sensations overpowering him, and he threw his head back with loud squeals of laughter. "AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NOHOHOHOHO! DRACO, STAHAHAHAP THAT! C-CANNON, LEGGOHOHOHO!"
Cannon chirped mirthfully, enjoying what he thought was joyful guffaws and thrashes, as Draco threw in gentle nibbling to the harsh rib tickling.
"WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NO NIBBLING, NOHOHOHAHAHAHA! D-DOHOHOWN BOYS!" Sans wailed, thrashing his head from side to side and slamming his heels down on the carpet. If this was karma for neglecting his pets, he swore to himself as he writhed in ticklish agony to never leave them alone again.
Draco grunted something else to Cannon, and soon enough the two stopped tickling and let him go, respectively. Sans barely had time to catch his breath before the Blasters pinned down his legs and whipped off his slippers.
A jolt of panic shot through the skeletal monster, and he struggled to yank his legs out from underneath the two playful pets, but their strength outmatched his by a landslide. "Nonononono! Boys, don't! If this is punishment for neglectin' you, I'm sorry! Just please don't tickle my feet!"
As anticipated, yet still to Sans' dismay, the Blasters ignored his pleas and began licking his soles. He squealed loudly as the tugging on his legs became much more frantic, and he tried wiggling his feet away from their dastardly tickly tongues. Not to mention the feeling of something as sticky and warm as their saliva coating his feet kinda disgusted him.
"GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OH, GAHAHAHAHAD, STAHAHAHAHAP!" he squealed helplessly. He felt the warm release of tears trickling down his cheekbones, which were a bright electric blue in a massive blush. "PLEHEHEHEASE STOP IT! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Cannon and Draco only continued to lap away at his feet for about five minutes, which felt like hours to their poor owner. Kicking it up a notch, they began nibbling his toes.
This drove Sans absolutely bonkers. If there were any bones on his body that were more ticklish than his ribs, they were definitely his toes. He threw his head back and let out a scream of laughter as he abused the ground with pounds of his fists, his backbone flopping up and down like a fish out of water.
"AAAAAHHH! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NOT THE TOHOHOHOES! HOHOHOLY SHIT, STAHAHAHAHAHAP! PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!"
The harsh tickle torture lasted for quite a long time in reality, which of course meant it felt like an eternity to Sans. There would be times where Cannon would leave his left foot alone for a few moments to resume nuzzling and nibbling his ribs, but Draco stayed on his right foot, never leaving his toes untouched for longer than a few seconds with either licks or nibbles.
At this point, Sans was cachinnating so hard his laughter echoed throughout the entire house, writhing and thrashing in a literal small puddle of his own tears that the carpet just couldn't soak up any longer. By the time Cannon went back to his ribs a fourth time, he was cackling too hard to so much as stutter a plea for mercy.
The sound of the front door's lock clicking jolted the skeletal monster out of ticklish insanity for a split second, and his SOUL was filled with hope. The door opened and Papyrus stepped in carrying a few bags of groceries in an arm.
Immediately he heard his older brother's laughter and turned to see the two Blasters licking and nibbling away at his feet and toes, and he snickered to himself as he closed and locked the door behind him. "Well, well. Looks like someone's having fun."
"P-PAHAHAHAHAHA!" Sans squeaked in near silent laughter, struggling to beg for help. He couldn't even keep his eyes open anymore as they constantly swam with tears. "HEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHALP! AHAHAHAHA!"
Chuckling, Papyrus walked forward and gently nudged at the two Blasters. "Okay, okay, he's had enough. Down, boys."
Cannon and Draco both obeyed the younger brother, and they lifted their weight off their owner's legs. Immediately, Sans gasped loudly for much-needed air and drew in his legs, panting and wheezing with giggly breaths.
"Wowie, Sans!" Papyrus laughed. "Looked to me like they were on top of you for at least an hour! How did you even get yourself into that mess?"
Sans took a few minutes of panting before speaking once his breathing began to steady. "I... I was tryin' t'... p-play wi' 'em... Then they... t-t'ckled me... Th'nks..."
"Don't mention it, brother!" The younger brother grinned mischievously. "Perhaps now you have learned your lesson, brother. Are you ever going to ignore them again?"
"N-No way!..." Sans blurted out a lot louder than he was aiming for. "N-Never again!..."
Papyrus laughed and helped his brother up to his feet and sat him down on the couch before bringing the groceries into the kitchen to put away. Cannon and Draco bounded over to their tired owner to pant and yip happily as if amused.
Sans smirked down at them, finally having caught his breath. He leaned over to give each Blaster an affectionate pat on the head. "What're you two laughin' at?"