Swept Under the Rug

A Time to Report

Once Stretch arrived at Madam Toriel's estate, he was surprised to see that his brother Blue was on his way out. Upon locking eyes with each other, both brothers immediately felt uncomfortable. Taking a breath, Stretch walked up to his younger brother.

"Haven't seen you in a while, are you doing well?" He asked.

Without warning, Blue pulled his brother into a hug. Stretch was about to ask what was upsetting him, but as soon as he saw tears in the smaller skeleton's eye sockets, he simply returned the hug. He had a suspicion that Blue already knew about this Reaper that Roxanne mentioned, and was scared for his brother's safety.

"I'll be okay Blue. I promise." Stretch smiled, trying to hide his own fear, "You take care of the rest of the city."

Blue quietly wiped his face clean of tears as he adjusted his hat. "Please be careful out there Stretch. I don't want to find your dust on the street."

Stretch gave Blue one last wave as they parted ways, soon heading to Madam Toriel's office. Taking a deep breath, he went to knock on the door, only to be interrupted by Nick.

"It's about damn time you showed up!" He scolded, "Get your ass in here! Madam's been worried sick about you."

Stretch didn't need to be asked twice as he quickly went into Madam Toriel's office. True to Nick's word, Madam Toriel was pacing in her office in fear and concern. He only took two steps further into the office before she noticed him.

"Thank the gods you're alright!" She quickly made her way over to him and kissed him, holding him tightly in what seemed like a protective death grip, "I thought you were among the dust that they found on the streets."

"So, you've heard about the Reaper then?" Stretch questioned, as if he had to ask.

Madam Toriel nodded, "The last place they struck was the bar I sent you to. When you didn't come home last night, I thought you..."

Stretch pulled Toriel into a hug, "It's going to take a lot more than some weirdo to keep me away from you Tori."

Toriel smiled as she gave Stretch another kiss, "Regardless, I don't want to risk another close call like that again. You're going to be staying with me until I know for sure that you'll be safe."

Stretch smirked, "Is it just for my safety? Or is there a different reason for wanting me so close?"

Toriel replied with a giggle, "Not all my thoughts about you are for pleasure Stretch."

"Are you trying to replace me already? You're doing a terrible job at it." The taller skeleton teased.

"We'll talk about that later." Toriel replied, "But I'm curious, I've never seen you in those clothes before. Are they new?"

Stretch had completely forgot about his new clothes, "Oh, kinda, they were given to me last night."

"Oh? Who gave them to you?"

Stretch felt a bit nervous, after hearing that Roxanne's family had once been involved with Toriel's, he suddenly felt compelled to protect her and her brother.

"Blue sent them to me." He replied.

He was lying, Toriel could tell, and Stretch knew she could tell. To Stretch's surprise, Toriel seemed to ignore his blatant lie.