A/N: In which the festival is over and a worn-out, cliched trope is used once more.
After I wrote this chapter, I told myself that the whole "protagonist getting saved by her love interest" trope is so overused and worn out and I should scrap it. I can't. I love it too much. I would write this trope every damn time and read it a million times over. Hopefully it's not too bothersome for my readers, though...
Have fun!
Chapter 2
By the time you made it back to the festival entrance, most of the partygoers had dispersed. There were a few people milling around, but all in all it was quiet. The protesters from earlier were a similar sight. You sucked in a breath and looked out over the nearly empty parking lot. There were a few lights scattered around, mostly around the entrance, and the parking lot seemed to stretch out into darkness. You started to feel a little uneasy as you were reminded how far away you'd had to park. You straightened your spine and gripped the strap of your bag a little tighter. You were no coward. You could easily manage this simple little walk to your car.
You'd made it maybe fifteen feet when someone fell into step beside you. You half expected it to be Sans and looked over with a smile already spreading across your lips.
It wasn't Sans. The human man walking next to you had a cigarette in his mouth and smiled as he blew the smoke right into your face. You coughed and waved your hand, trying to disperse the smoke.
"Dude, that's gross!"
The guy chuckled. "Sorry, sweet thing. What are you doing alone out here?" He took another drag.
"Walking to my car, obviously. I'm fine by myself; I don't want company." Your grip tightened further on the strap of your bag. Something about this guy spelled trouble.
"Are you sure? You look like you could use some company." He raised his eyebrows.
Ew, no.
"Fuck off."
"How 'bout I fuck you instead, filthy monster-lover?"
Okay, this was not going well. You stopped and turned to him. "You sure don't know how to take a hint, do you? I said leave me alone!" You went to shove him away from you, but he caught your wrist and tugged you to him.
His arm wrapped around your shoulders while the hand on your wrist pulled it behind your back and tugged upward enough to send a shock of pain through your whole arm. You cried out and looked around desperately. Surely someone would notice you struggling like this and come help! Nobody seemed to be looking, so you sucked in a deep breath and screamed as loud as you could.
That did it. A couple monsters around the gate noticed and started running toward you. The guy yanked your wrist up, and you screamed again as you felt the bone in your upper arm snap. He pushed you away only far enough to pull his arm back, his hand curled into a fist. You flinched, raising your good arm to try to shield yourself from the blow, as you stumbled backward. You ran into a wall and turned to try…something…you weren't sure what yet. You knew you couldn't go through a wall, but you were just desperate to get away.
The wall curled around you, and you gasped as you looked up. It wasn't a wall at all. Boss pulled you further away from the man and stepped in front of you. Beside him, Sans stood with his hands in his pockets. Both skeletons faced away from you, toward your assailant. In the darkness around you, you could barely make out a faint red glow around Sans' face.
"waddaya think, boss?"
"I THINK ONLY A COWARD WOULD TREAT ANOTHER PERSON WITH SUCH DISGRACE."
"i don't know 'bout you, but i ain't a fan'a cowards."
Between the skeletons, you could see a look of horror on the man's face. You were pretty sure you didn't want to know what caused it.
"COWARDACE BRINGS DEATH."
Oh, shit.
"Wait, guys." You stepped forward and put a hand on Boss' arm. "Don't kill him."
Sans chuckled and looked at you. You gasped and shrank back a little; his left eye burned with a bright red iris.
"don't worry, sugar; we'll just rough 'im up a bit." He noticed your arm then and winced. "uh, boss?"
"WHAT?"
"dude broke 'er arm."
Boss stiffened. You could practically feel the anger pouring off of him as both of his eyes began to glow bright red. He looked you over briefly, his eyes stopping at your arm. After confirming what his brother had said, he turned back to the cowering man in front of him.
"WHAT SHALL I BREAK OF YOURS?" Boss reached out and grabbed the man's throat, pulling him a bit closer. "YOUR NECK, PERHAPS?"
"Don't do that," you pleaded. You hissed as Sans tried to help you cradle your arm. It was a bad break, you could tell already. Gratefully, you let Sans take your bag.
You could swear Boss rolled his eyes at you. "FINE." Without another word, he twisted the man's arm. His scream was almost enough to drown out the sound of the crack. You winced. Boss waited for the guy to stop wailing before he spoke again. "MAYBE NEXT TIME YOU'LL THINK BEFORE YOU ACT." He let go of the guy's neck and let him drop the asphalt.
"boss, i think she needs a doctor."
"CAN'T YOU JUST HEAL HER?"
You furrowed your brow. You'd heard of healing magic before, but you'd also heard it had limited effects on humans.
"the break's too bad."
"WELL, FUCK."
Your thoughts exactly.
It would have been a great night if you could have said you'd been healed by magic. Although, you were pretty sure Sans had done something, because you couldn't feel the pain anymore and your head felt a little woozy.
"ALL RIGHT, LET'S GO." He turned his attention to someone else near you. As you looked around, you noticed a few monsters that had started running your way were now standing around in a half circle. "TAKE CARE OF THIS MESS, WILL YOU?" You heard a few mutters of agreement before Sans started leading you away.
"My car's over there." You pointed toward it with your good arm.
"yeah, we're taking boss'. you're in no shape to drive; trust me, sugar."
For whatever reason, you did trust him.
He helped you into the backseat of a black Mercedes convertible. You heard yourself mumbling about how awesome the car was as he helped you buckle in. Man, you were out of it. You closed your eyes and let the sounds and movements of the car soothe you into a fitful rest.
You were jolted awake when Sans leaned over you to unbuckle your seatbelt. He helped you inside, your good arm wrapped around his shoulders while his arm around your waist held you up. You could feel Boss beside you. He didn't say anything as you were checked in. You furrowed your brow at the hospital staff as they stared at him with wide, fearful eyes. He'd practically saved your life, dammit. He was probably a good guy. Short-tempered, sure, but good.
You were taken back to triage and asked the usual questions. You felt words tumbling out of your mouth, but you couldn't even understand yourself. What the fuck was going on? Sans was there beside you to interpret.
"Why is she incoherent? Was she drugged?"
What? No, of course you weren't drugged! You felt Sans move beside you and looked to see him rubbing the back of his neck.
"uh, no, but i kinda gave 'er a little magic to take the pain away. i think i overdid it."
Oh.
"SANS, THAT'S DANGEROUS!"
You nearly jumped at the sound of Boss' booming voice. So did the nurse. You tried to wave a hand to dismiss the concern, but pain shot up your arm. You realized you'd tried to use the broken one. Oops.
"i know, boss; i'm sorry."
"Were you two with her when this happened?"
You nodded, and you heard Sans confirm it verbally. She still directed her questions to you but took Sans' answers after you nodded to let her know they were truthful.
Afterward, you were taken to a hospital bed and told to change into a gown from the waist up. You knew you wouldn't be able to do that on your own, but you also knew you couldn't ask your new skeleton friends to help you. Sans looked downright terrified at the prospect. You noticed Boss roll his eyes as he kicked Sans out of the room.
"CALM DOWN, Y/N. I'VE SEEN WORSE IN BATTLE; YOUR WOUNDS ARE NOTHING TO ME."
Your wounds weren't exactly what you didn't want him to see. He was surprisingly gentle as he helped you out of your tank top and bra. He then helped you slip your arms into the gown and closed a few of the snaps behind your back.
"I WAS ONE OF THE FEW ON THE BATTLEFIELD THAT COULD USE HEALING MAGIC. I HELPED MANY SOLDIERS, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN, WHEN THEY NEEDED ME. YOU HAVE NOTHING I HAVEN'T ALREADY SEEN."
He helped you lie back before he went to let Sans back in. Sans came in with a blanket and a soda in his hands. He spread the blanket out over you and then sat in a chair to drink his soda.
You looked between the skeletons for a moment.
"So you're brothers?" you asked.
Well, you thought you asked.
Sans chuckled. "i wouldn't try to talk much, sugar. you're still incoherent."
"YES, WE'RE BROTHERS."
Both you and Sans looked at Boss. He shrugged. "YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND INCOHERENCY WHEN YOU'RE THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD."
You smiled, but you secretly wondered if he'd just paid more attention to what you were saying. It was cute. He was cute. No, he was hot. Like, really hot. Especially in that fucking uniform. Yeah, you'd like to fuck him in that uniform.
Wait. What?! You shook your head and looked up at the ceiling. You decided it would be best to not speak for fear of what you'd let slip.
A while later, the doctor finally came in to examine your arm. You were sent to get an X-Ray and nearly laughed when both Sans and Boss wanted to witness that happening. Sans lamented, saying he was hoping to see the machine that gave a live feed of the image. You wanted to tell him such machines didn't exist, but you chose to keep it to yourself.
Back in your ER room, the doctor explained the extent of the injury and showed you the X-Rays. Sans seemed more interested in the images than Boss, but you could still see a light of curiosity in his eyes. You were told you the bone needed to be set and that you'd get a cast.
The magic that Sans had given to you was starting to wear off when the doctors came in to set your arm. You squeezed Boss' hand with your good one while they did what they needed to.
The casting process took a long time. Your body was wrapped in a sheet that left your shoulders bare so the technicians could reach what they needed. Once casted, your arm was put into a sling to keep it close to your body. Boss helped you back into your clothes when you were finished. You were given some instructions and a prescription for painkillers.
After you were finally discharged, you were a little surprised to see it was still dark outside. It felt like you'd been in there for days. In reality, you'd been in the hospital for three hours.
"What time is it?" You asked.
Sans pulled out his phone. "three-fifty." He sucked in a yawn. "and I gotta work in a few hours."
"I'm sorry."
"NONSENSE. YOU SHOULDN'T APOLOGIZE FOR THINGS THAT AREN'T YOUR FAULT."
"Well, maybe if I hadn't been stupid, this wouldn't have happened."
He shrugged. "PERHAPS; ALTHOUGH I THINK THE FUCKER THAT HURT YOU WAS THE STUPID ONE. YOU WERE MERELY WALKING TO YOUR CAR."
That made you smile. "How did you guys get to me so fast?" You could have sworn they were nowhere near you when you screamed.
"i can teleport. heard a scream and went after it."
You nodded, taking in that information. "Okay."
The drive back to your car seemed longer than the drive to the hospital had been. You were nearly asleep when they finally pulled into the deserted parking lot.
"i'm gonna drive you home," Sans said, digging through your bag. "where're your keys?"
"You don't need to do that."
"OF COURSE HE DOES. HE'S NOT DRIVING MY CAR, AND YOU SHOULDN'T DRIVE WITH THE PAINKILLERS THE HOSPITAL GAVE YOU."
You grimaced. He had a point. "Fine."
Everyone piled out of the car and Sans gave you your bag to find your keys. Once you did, you handed them to him and gingerly rested the strap of the bag on your good shoulder. You turned to Boss.
"Thank you for everything today, Captain."
He looked slightly shaken. "YOU'RE WELCOME, Y/N."
"I'm not gonna call you Captain or Boss all the time; what's your real name?"
You heard Sans chuckle. Boss cleared his throat. "PAPYRUS."
What an adorable name. You decided not to say that and congratulated yourself on your smart decision.
"Alright. Thank you, Papyrus. I'll see you around?"
"OF COURSE. I EXPECT YOU HOME IN AN HOUR, SANS."
"That might not happen. I, uh…I kinda live two towns over. It's gonna take us an hour to get there. And I need to pick up this prescription." You winced a little, certain these skeleton boys were gonna be done with your needy ass by the end of the night. You were a little surprised they weren't already.
"OKAY. AN HOUR AND A HALF."
Sans nodded. "sure thing, boss."
You got in the car and watched Papyrus speed away. You gave Sans your address and watched as he put it into his GPS. You tried to stay awake for the ride, but soon the music on the radio and the soft movements of the car lulled you into a deep sleep.
You woke up when Sans parked. He carried your bag inside for you.
"Thank you for everything, Sans. I really mean it."
He smiled. "anytime, sugar. and, hey, will you do me a favor?"
You nodded. "Sure. What is it?"
"will you call boss sometime tomorrow?"
Your brow furrowed. "Okay, but why? And why do you call him Boss?"
"call him 'cause he could use it. and that's a story for another time. catch ya later." He gave you a wink before he disappeared.
Literally. Disappeared. Right in front of your freaking eyes. You closed your eyes tightly for a second before you remembered what he'd said about teleporting. Weird. Cool, but weird.
