With a pot of golden flower tea steeping and a plate of pastries prepared, both brothers were sitting stiffly on the lumpy green couch. Razz had turned the TV on to some mindless Napstaton drivel, and his brother sat next to him, appearing relaxed despite his tense aura and simmering eyes betraying his agitation.

Slim was wearing his usual furred, dark brown hoodie and black track pants, his ratty sneakers somehow not falling apart with every step he took. He wore a red shirt under the hoodie, with today's oh-so-humerus pun being "You're so hot I'm running a femur." His hands, long and slender, were drumming on his kneecaps, and by the way he was lying against the pillows, someone could mistake him for being as laid back as he usually was-if that someone was completely blind and couldn't read the room for shit.

Razz sighed. "Look, I didn't mean-"

"Cut the crap, Razz."

The words died in his throat, and he found that he couldn't even look toward the other, couldn't meet the other's judging expression. Instead, he attached his gaze to the floor.

Slim pulled out a lollipop, unwrapping it from the plastic and giving it a good lick. It wasn't the best replacement for his usual smokes, but Razz didn't allow him to smoke in here and he didn't want to get sidetracked by a petty argument.

"If you didn't mean to be avoiding me, you wouldn't be doin' it. So what's goin' on?" The flames of his irises stared at Razz intently, as though trying to burn a hole through his facade into his brain and let the thoughts there free.

Razz's frame started to shake, the tremors starting small but gradually intensifying.

"...You wouldn't believe me even if I tried to tell you. It would sound insane. And I don't want you to get involved."

Slim's eyelights intensified as he took in Razz's trembling form, noting how his hands had come to rest on his knees as if to hold him up. He reached over for the remote, turning the TV off. The dorm was silent.

"Razz. You can trust me. I won't laugh or anythin'. Just give it to me straight and we can go back to shooting the shit and complaining about projects."

Razz sighed. "I wish it were that easy."

Slim's fingers tightened around the lollipop stick. "Bro, whatever's happening to you, you need to tell me. I tried 'porting to your room a moment ago, and I couldn't. Something was blocking me." A note of desperation entered his voice, but he pressed on, wanting nothing more than to understand what had been happening to his brother for the past 4 months. "I didn't even know that anything could block me, Razz! What is going on?"

Razz hunched in on himself, clamming up and retreating into his shell as the oppressive silence lingered.

After a moment, Slim tried another tactic. "Did you start fighting humans again?" Razz shook his head. "Are you sick?" Razz chuckled ruefully at that one, but shook his head again. Slim looked at him in confusion, not understanding the humor. "Monster hate groups? Dating advice? Where to find dog treats?" Slim rattled off a few more things, and Razz shook his head for each one. Finally, Slim let out a long sigh. "Do you need help?" Razz hesitated, and that was enough for Slim. "What do you need?" More aggressively, Razz shook his head. Slim heard the lollipop crack between his teeth as his patience finally ran out and his fists slammed into the couch cushions, slightly dislodging some of the fluff inside. "GOD DAMNIT, SANS, WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LET ME HELP YOU?!"

At the use of his real name, Razz slowly brought his head back up to regard his brother, and the taller almost recoiled. Razz's eyelights were gone, leaving only a twin abyss of inky blackness that stretched on forever into a 1,000 yard stare. A chilling grimace had slid onto his face at some point, and he looked so detached, so aloof that Slim almost wanted to Check him for signs of life. "Papyrus." His voice reverberated from somewhere deep within his body, and Slim unwittingly snapped to, the gravity of Razz's tone commanding his full attention. "You can't help me. Nobody can help me. I'm trying to protect you from my mistake, and even if I can't save myself, I can at least save you."

He fell silent for a moment, and Slim let out a breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding. After a moment, Razz continued, beads of magic pooling at the corners of his eyesockets and sliding down the smooth bone of his cheeks, eyelights still extinguished. "Please, Papyrus. Forget about me. Go be safe. Just leave me to-"

"No."

The word was small, but filled with unfathomable emotion. As the emotion built, so too did the words.

"No. I'm not leaving. Not until I help you with… whatever this is."

After a moment, Razz's eyelights returned, but the tears remained. Slim looked away toward the wall as he gathered his thoughts.

"When we were kicked out of Dad's house, we were stuck on the streets. I was really little, and so were you. And yet, you were always there. You taught me to read. Got me milk. Sang me to sleep. Shielded me from monsters and humans. And then, you even supported me through high school and helped me get that scholarship."

Slim pulled out another lollipop and began to suck on it, turning back toward Razz. His hands itched to inch closer to his brother's, to send him some measure of comfort, but he knew that the gesture would only cause him to pull back. He fiddled with his lolly stick instead.

"I don't know what's gotten you so worried, but I'm not leaving until I help. You may be my big bro, but I'm more capable now, and it's my turn to help you."

Razz looked at him askance, before he let out a rueful chuckle. "I don't think I've ever heard you say so much at once, shitstain."

Slim chuckled in response, the air lightening just a touch, the heat of the moment settling into something a little cooler. "What can I say, asshat? Maybe I just like the sound of my own voice."

"...You're an idiot, you know that?"

"You're always there to remind me."

Razz sighed. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. If his brother was this determined, he wouldn't refuse, and at this point, he was so, so tired of carrying this burden alone. "Alright. Well, here's what happened…"

Razz told his brother all about the summoning ritual, meeting Blue, making the contract, going to Gerson's, and everything else, not leaving anything out. He even told his brother about the bullies, although he got rather choked up halfway through. True to his word, Slim didn't laugh. He just sucked on his lollipop and regarded Razz with those burning eyelights, not looking away for even a moment. After the tale was done, Razz seemed to deflate, appearing so much smaller than Slim could ever remember seeing him. With a hesitant hand, he reached over to his brother and pulled him close, giving Razz ample time to pull away, but the answering snuggle into his furred hoodie spoke volumes.

With Razz docile for now, the gears in Slim's brain began to whirr into overdrive. As fantastical of a story as it was, at least some part of it must have been real to affect his brother this badly. Slim knew that Razz had a soul of steel, and for him to actively try and prevent Slim from getting involved meant that he had already resigned himself to whatever he thought his fate was. Even if demons and the occult sounded ludicrous, it was a starting point if nothing else, and since Razz didn't seem to mean metaphorical demons, it was the only lead he had. Slim sighed and continued licking his lollipop. It seemed that he was going to have to do some research of his own, as Razz no longer had the book that he had summoned "Blue" from. But for now…

Slight snores came from the body beside him, and a quick glance told him that Razz had drifted off against his hoodie. His thoughts stilled, replaced by warm, gentle feelings in his soul. "Didn't think I'd ever catch my bro nappin'," he chuckled, and he reached into his pocket for his phone, snapping a picture of his brother's peaceful face. To deal with all of this supernatural stuff and still try to get through school and protect him too… his brother may have been misguided, but he was still just too cool.

With surprising strength and a delicate touch, he lifted Razz up and brought him back to his room, tucking him into bed just like Razz had done for him when they were younger. After a moment's thought, he scribbled a note and left a wrapped blue raspberry lollipop next to it, so that his brother wouldn't be too freaked out in the morning. With that done, Slim left the dorm and 'ported to the librarby, searching the shelves for anything he could find on demons. He would stay all night if he had to, he promised himself, as he turned on a lamp and began to read.

Unbeknownst to him, however, a smaller figure somewhat resembling his brother was watching, swirling whirlpools of blue chasing his every step as a wide, wicked grin stretched across the demon's face. So this was Razz's brother, the demon mused. Unfortunately, he wasn't to Blue's exquisite taste, but no matter; Blue always left room in his plans for unexpected variables, and this one in particular could prove to be a fantastic solution or a quickly-settled problem. With a quiet chuckle, Blue made himself comfortable atop a grand mahogany bookcase, tapping his heels against the tomes. He already had his chosen prey in the palm of his hand; now it was time to see if this one would prove to be a worthwhile addition to the hunt.

Razz awoke the next morning feeling better than he had in a long time. Yesterday had been a rollercoaster of emotions, and he was glad that it was over. Besides, his brother…

His brother.

Razz shot up, scanning the room. He was in his own room, in his own bed, with no Slim to be found. His eyelights swept over the desk, quickly landing on the note and lollipop, and realized that Slim must have carried him back. After convincing himself to leave his warm bastion of blankets, he hobbled to the desk and read the note, attempting to decipher his brother's nigh-unrecognizable scrawl.

"*hey bro. u passed out on me last night so i figured it was passed yur bedtime. i'll try to help u w/ yur problem. i'll let u kno if i find anything. stay safe, and dont worry; i wont let yur demon make a demonstration of u, shitbreath

Papyrus"

Razz stifled a groan at the terrible puns, but was genuinely pleased to see that his brother not only forgave him, but apparently believed his story enough to look into it. It was rather soul-warming, if he was honest with himself.

Razz took another breath, then stared at the desk with fiercely glowing eyelights. He couldn't afford to sit around here! ...and he also had class. He quickly got dressed, grabbed a breakfast burrito from the fridge, and headed out, not even stopping to worry about what Blue was up to. After all, he wasn't alone in this anymore. Despite everything, he was still here... he was still Razz.