Ace in a Hole (Undertale x Hazbin Hotel)

Chapter 16

The following two days after the wedding were spent with Sans. They took a leisurely pace back to New Orleans, one full of slow car rides through long stretches of highways or back roads. Creaky bumps of pavement and muffled car tunes held their attention in between destinations, the scent of construction or farmland filling the car whenever a window rolled down. When the wind struck his hair at those particular moments, Alastor felt an odd emotion surge within him. He never drove much in his living days, and hell's technology had become so twisted he preferred to stray from it. It was nice to be gathered up within a car again, wind in his hair.

The mini vacation was full of impulsive activities they saw based off of road signs and bombarding advertisements. Alastor's favorite moment was when they went emergency clothes shopping. Considering the two men had nothing but suits and ties to themselves, it was a necessity that took up quickly. A pair of golden glittery pants was what made their morning, so outrageously hideous that they both simply had to try it on. Neither bought it; parading around in a mini fashion show with those pants was plenty enough to satiate their curiosity. Oh, the temptation was most certainly there. They just had enough self-respect to not go through with it.

Alastor had a feeling that, if the two of them did decide to celebrate gift-giving holidays, those pants would somehow find their way into a wrapped box. With a pink bow, just to spite him.

Sadly, the two and a half weeks passed in the blink of an eye, and soon enough, Papyrus was back in Sans' life. Alastor was able to monopolize the entirety of Sans' attention for those two weeks, and spent the night before Papyrus' scheduled return with his head in a pillow. Simply contemplating how he was going to handle that man's existence for the foreseeable future.

Papyrus was, frankly, exactly what Alastor had expected. His voice followed his mannerisms to a tee, too high maintenance to be productive. He carried himself like Charlie did, to an almost frightening degree. It was barely tolerable for that night alone—after all, Papyrus had a side gaze all but glued to Alastor for that night. As if he couldn't fathom Sans actually having a friend without his unneeded approval.

Something horrifying to linger on.

Because now Papyrus and Sans' other friends knew who Alastor was. And they wanted to meet him. Not the simple meet where they had done at the wedding, quick nods and discussions that barely held against the tidal waves of life. They wanted genuine bonding. Whispers of hopes and dreams, sitting around campfires and building the type of relationship Sans and Alastor shared. The explanation of their intent came from Sans, looking warily at the text threads the group chat had about including Alastor on future hangout sessions.

From what Alastor gathered about this particular friend group, the lot of them had been rather close since the end of college. So well past ten years of history at this point. Toriel had met Sans right when he was twenty-two and on the cusp of graduation. Alphys herself became another assistant for a man Sans seems antsy to talk about, and the two had grown close ever since that man disappeared. Grillby lived near Sans and Papyrus and owned the bar Sans frequented. Undyne was Alphys' crush and began training Papyrus. Sans, Undyne, and Alphys all worked for Asgore. It all neatly fit together, a bit disjointed but very cared for by the group.

The group that was protective of its people, and now wanted to include Alastor in their mix. Anyone important to Sans, Papyrus had texted in between honeymoon activities, was important to him.

How kind. And how annoying, since Alastor was not very keen on joining another group. Quite the opposite, in fact. His obsession with Sans was a pit that could never quite fill, expanding and demanding more and more until he practically consumed the man whole. In that expanding need for everything Sans was and would be, the knowledge that Alastor had a finite amount of time to spend with him became increasingly apparent. As was the recognition that even if Alastor was Sans' bestie, he still had to compete for his time whilst in the midst of battling his own schedule.