Ace in a Hole (Undertale x Hazbin Hotel)

Chapter 17

A finger drifted across the open contents of the blue duffle bag, pointing with each additional item. That finger belonged to Sans, who was hunched over, doing last-minute checks before the impending trip. Normally, Sans wasn't one for detailed checks. But this wasn't for any vacation trip. This marked the first, true interactions Papyrus would have with Alastor. Unimpeded.

Despite himself, Sans felt sweaty all of a sudden. Nervous.

His sweet, beautiful, amazingly innocent brother insisted on driving them there. So, for half an hour, it was going to be just Papyrus, Grillby, Alastor, and Sans. Locked in a moving vehicle together. Sans had tried to fight it, he had, but Papyrus gave him a look over the video call, and Sans couldn't say no to that face. Papyrus really did have Sans wrapped around his finger.

"... towels, sunscreen—sunscreen?" Sans startled, pausing before he frowned. "Alastor?"

A moment of silence crossed the threshold. "Yes?" Alastor's voice rang from the bathroom.

"Why the fuck do we have sunscreen?" Sans called back, leaning forward on his knees.

A sharp shuffle sounded, and a certain demon in a certain human form of his stuck out from around the bathroom door. His hair lightly coated in undried hairspray, a comb clutched between his fingers. Sans almost laughed at the absurdity of it.

"First off," Sans said, picking up the sunscreen. "I don't think we need this. I got bones, and from what I've noticed about your human body is that you don't really burn. We walked around in the sun for about six hours the other day, and you didn't even tan."

Alastor hummed to himself, stepping fully out of the bathroom and leaning against the door. Arms crossed, head tilted back, as if observing Sans. "Yes, well, it wouldn't make sense for a human to not bring sunscreen, would it?"

"But you're not a human."

"They don't know that."

"Yeah, they do. They just don't believe it."

Even though the man was wearing a simple button-down shirt and a long pair of dress pants, he still looked hauntingly predatory as he stalked toward Sans. As if he would snatch Sans up and drag him to hell if he could. The bracelet, all pink and sparkly, jostled at the movement. For a second, Sans debated putting a bell on it to collar Alastor like a cat before he jolted back to their conversation.

"You want me to be honest about everything regarding my... living arrangements?" Alastor asked, plucking the sunscreen from between Sans' hands. "But not use my powers at all in front of them, much less my demon form? Rather illogical, I must argue."

"There's a difference between them knowing and them seeing. I'd rather not freak out the kid."

The kid that fought Flowey in whatever form that flower took when he all but devoured those souls. Frisk was a lot of things, but being a coward was not one of them. Then again, Sans supposed being frightened of a demon didn't make anyone a coward. He ran out of the room the first time Alastor made his powers known, and he thought he was going to die when they met in person.

Alastor was just that type of man. Anyone would be unsettled when they saw him.

"There is a difference," Alastor continued, "between telling everyone I'm a demon and letting them see it. You just want to try and get them to believe you without having to supply proof. You want that confirmation that they care about you enough to believe you no matter what. What a narcissistic little thing you are."

"It's not my fault you made me this way," Sans grumbled.

"Made or found you this way?" Alastor challenged.