Skeleton Ghost

A Confrontation

((And here we witness perhaps the funniest moment in the entire book so far. The Bitch Slap. Enjoy.))

He was taking a long swig of his favorite condiment, leaning against his usual pillar in more anticipation than he had felt in a long time.
Ignoring the semantics of the Resets, that is.

He recognized the faint electricity in the air as the ghost drifted in, regardless of how invisible he was.
"Heya, Naps." He greeted without looking.

"𝙾𝚑, 𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚖𝚎. 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚞𝚙𝚝..."
"You're not interrupting anything, bud. I was just waiting."
"𝙾𝚑, 𝙸 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚊𝚒𝚝..."
"Nah, I wait for the human to show up every time, you didn't bother me. Got that? You're okay."
"𝙸'𝚖... 𝚘𝚔𝚊𝚢?"
"Yeah. You're more than okay, but I can tell you're not ready to hear that yet, bud."

Napstablook smiled faintly, a soft blue gleaming beneath his eyes.
"𝚈𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚘 𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎..."
"... It's the least I can do. Clearly nobody told you that enough."
"𝙾𝚑..... 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚜.."
"You're welcome."

He glanced down the hallway in slight apprehension, then stepped out from the pillar, hand extended.
"The kid 'll be showing up soon. You think you're ready yet, Nappy?"

The ghost glanced down the golden hall as well, studying it with a slight, tense frown.
"𝙸'𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢.. 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚐𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝.. 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚛𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚎.. 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎... 𝚘𝚛 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎."
Sans grinned. "That's more like my attitude." He commented, chuckling.
"Welcome to the procrastinating club, I'm the president."

Napstablook drifted closer with a slight smile, appreciating the humor.
"𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔, 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚠𝚊𝚢?" He asked, still smiling a little.
Sans shrugged. "I know you're not all that confrontational. Believe me, I'm normally that way too. So, you can just make sure I don't immediately die. I can pretty much handle the rest, okay? I'll start off like nothing's changed."

"𝙾𝚑.. 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚜𝚘 𝚋𝚊𝚍. 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚌.. 𝙸'𝚖 𝚗𝚘 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑."
"That's a start. And I'm pretty confident that you're a lot better at it than you give yourself credit for."
"..𝚂𝚞𝚛𝚎..."
"I guess we'll just have to see, right?"

Napstablook shrugged, his arms melding back with his sheet-like body as he did so. Sans shot him a reassuring smile, hand still extended. He drew back a little when Napstablook drew closer.

He was a little curious how the other would play shield, but then he recognized distant footsteps approaching from beyond the hall.
"You might wanna hurry up and turn invisible, the kid's approACH-"
The ghost had squinched his eyes shut and dived into him without warning.

His legs gave out at the unexpected jolt of electricity flooding his bones, a chill settling in just after.
"Oh-OkAy. ThAt WaS nOt what- not what I was expecting." He stuttered, feeling the shocks die down to a sort of warmth as opposed to the original cold.
"I thought you'd float in front of me, not.. in me."

"𝙾𝚑.."
He felt the words vibrate upon his ribs as Napstablook spoke.
"𝙸'𝚖 𝚜𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢.. 𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜. 𝙸 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚐𝚘, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗... 𝙸 𝚖𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚞𝚙...."
"Nononono- I can work with this. It's actually ingenious.." He added, peering at a faint shimmer around his hand before waving it. A faint zap reached him, almost inaudible.
"I can still dodge, and you'd get hurt less. Hell, the kid might not even figure out you're involved at all."