Pipeverse collaboration with Abi

Chapter 2

Triger warnings : Bullying, POV character experiencing sensory overload. 

Asbestos POV :

I kept scrubbing at the inside of Holes skull, trying to to get all the spores out. It was rather annoying because a spore had sprouted at record pace and was now adding more spores. Why don't I remove it, you may ask, that's because I have no idea where it is. I tilted my head to try and get a better view, then put my hand in. Feeling around my hand brushed something slightly suede (the underside of leather) and feeling it a bit more I confirmed that is was indeed a mushroom. So, I carefully plucked it out and put it in a Tupperware box so it couldn't spread more spores.

I had felt Hole suppress a flinch when I took the mushroom out. Did that mean he had mycelium growing in his skull ? I'd have to ask for Drear to heal him later.

I took the brush again and scrubbed where the mushroom had been, hoping it didn't hurt that bad. Once I judged it sufficiently scrubbed, I got up and left him to shower like boss told us to ; I had already showered. I took of the gloves I was wearing, as not to get more spores on me, and headed to Drears office to request that he heals Hole just in case. Knocking on the door nobody answered, opening the door nobody was inside which was strange since usually Drear would be here doing paperwork or some other boring stuff. Exiting I started to head downstairs to the kitchen to see if maybe he was drinking tea or something but when passing Errors room I almost walked strait into him as he exited. "Ack, boss, there you are. I was wondering if you could heal-" I started but was cut of by him raising his hand. "No, not now, too tired, he'll live. You, kitchen, now." He said before briskly turning and leaving. Yikes, someone's in a bad mood.

I decided not to investigate just yet and headed down to the kitchen. Once I got there I saw that Cas was looking through the pantry for something and a large amount of ingredients were laid out on the table. "Hey, Cas. What are you looking for ?" I asked.

"The flour, boss told me to cook lunch. Oh ! And you're invited to."

"Ah, ok. And by invited you mean ordered ?"

"Mhm." He hummed.

Looking at the table I saw an assortment of items : an empty cup, mugs with tea in them, a recipe and ingredients. I inspected the ingredients and recipe on the table and chuckled a bit. "Pancakes for lunch ? Really ?" I asked, knowing full well it's the only recipe he knew how to cook other than pie. "You know it won't end well if I try something else ! If I cook something other than pancakes or pie it will catch fire ! Even the water that one time ! " he retorted. It was true, one time both of us got into a cooking competition and almost burnt the domain down. "Yeah, sure." I teased, mixing the liquids while he continued searching for the flour. "Aha !" I heard him say as he got out of the pantry holding the flour like a trophy then set it down on the table and started mixing together the dry ingredients. After that we combined both mixtures, Cas started frying them (they didn't to rest because magic) and I sat down to drink tea.

Hearing clicking noises and feeling my soul turn turn blue for an instant I turned my head to see Hole in the doorway. The clicking was a form of echolocation he used to navigate ; he had memorized the domains layout but continues to do it just in case. Turning souls blue was a way of pinpointing someones exact location. "Hey Hole." I said as a simple greeting. "Hi, 'Bestos." He replied. "And Castellar !" Cas said, munching on a pancake he finished. Usually Drear makes sure we have table manners and makes us wait for everyone to be at the table before eating but I guess Cas gets chef privileges. Lucky him. Hole walked over and took a seat at the table and I slid his mug over. "Drear made tea. I think this one's yours." I said as he reached for it, dipped his finger in it, tasted it and nodded, confirming it was his.

For a while there was silence between us but not an uncomfortable one. I started getting lost in thought, my mind meandering through daydreams and memories. Sipping my tea I spiled some. "Heh, clumsy me." I commented to no one in particular, taking a cloth and drying the table. "YES CLUMSY YOU, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WERE EVEN ABLE TO KILL ME YOU'RE SO CLUMSY !" I heard and I turned around to see Papyrus. Wait, no, I killed Paps ; this must be a hallucination. But Drear said he would use his magic so that I wouldn't see them anymore. Is something tampering with his magic ? Did he catch whatever Err-"WHY ARE YOU JUST STANDING THERE LIKE A DEAR IN THE HEADLIGHTS ? EVEN SOMEONE AS CLUMSY AND LAZY AS YOU-" "Shut up !" I cut him off, hoping this nightmare would end soon. "Or what ? You'll kill us ? Face it, you're an insane, pathetic excuse of a person ! You're listening and talking to nothing !" Undyne yelled at me.

I curled up, putting my hands over where my ears would have been if I had any and closing my eyes shut ; seems I'd have to sit this one out like all the other time they did this before Drear and Hole came. I could hear more yelling and maybe Cas or Hole saying something but it was all muffled and jumbled together. I felt my soul go blue for a moment before a [maybe put adjective here] hand was put on my chest, rubbing gently and slowly. I shied away from the touch, my panicked mind racing and my breathing picking up speed. Why does hallucination paps have a hand ? What is he going to do ? Is he real ? No, no, he's not. This hand must belong to Hole or Cas. I squinted my eyes open for an instant, just barely enough to confirm it was Hole. He kept rubbing me comfortingly and my breathing slowed. Right, breathing ! he wanted me to regulate my breathing.

I concentrated on my breathing and tried to slow it down to the same rhythm of his rubbing. In and out, slow and steady.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

When the yelling had died down I opened my eyes again and saw hole was crouched in front of me and Cas seemed to have disappeared (without forgetting to turn of the stove). "Thanks." I managed, getting up again. Hole nodded removing his hand. I looked around just to confirm that the illusions were gone and, to my surprise, they were. Hearing footsteps I turned to look at the doorway and saw Drear and Cas head in ; Cas went back to the pancakes and Drear headed to me and Hole. "Sorry, not apology for the hallucinations but you did ask me to heal your...friend and I was fresh out of negativity." Our boss said conjuring healing magic and using it on Hole. 

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Hello listeners, watchers and everybody in-between ! I hope y'all liked reading this. Have a nice day/night/afternoon/antivoid in which time is inconsequential, etc...

- Saros