Ace in a Hole (Undertale x Hazbin Hotel)

Chapter 20

The third day started without much to note.

Paps, shaking off whatever lingering effect Alastor had left on him, was right back around to his old habits of trying to bond with Alastor. And Alastor, as sharp as a whittle and a sack of shit, continued to easily dodge past Papyrus' attempts with a crooked eyebrow. The demon became a tad more upfront in his displeasure for Papyrus' constant nagging, not enough to warrant any suspicion but quick to derail his brother's eager attempts. Grillby caught on faster, and all but manhandled Papyrus away from Alastor and to the other side of the living room while they ate breakfast.

Toriel was in charge of breakfast for that specific morning. She was conveniently a sandwich too short. And Sans conveniently wasn't hungry. It worked out, much to the suspicious glance with bristling flowers that Lilac shoved in Toriel's direction.

Alastor's fingers snapped against one another, silently, and he all but latched onto Sans with an annoyed beat. A scowl in Toriel's direction.

"Alright there, bud, calm down," Sans mumbled, silently patting Alastor's shoulder.

Breakfast passed without any more incidents. Alastor took a backseat once more in the conversation, content to idly lean against Sans and lightly chew on his half of the sandwich, before scowling at the lack of meat.

More games made their way across the itinerary throughout the day. Volleyball, while pointedly avoided, wasn't the only option the others had brought up. The group managed to get a basketball hoop set up in the sand, and four rounds of that happened until they inevitably flung the ball into the ocean and had to send Undyne out to go bring it back. Alastor mostly stayed in the background of that game, since Papyrus and Undyne were veterans. And he didn't want to get body slammed into a pulp by either of them.

Sans agreed and lingered in the back as well. They managed to inch their way toward sitting on an adjacent rock nearby for a solid fifteen minutes before Papyrus screeched at them to rejoin the fun.

The pesky creature of drama reared its head gently, much like the other incidents. In small, almost meaningless behavior. Toriel didn't pass the ball to either Asgore or Lilac; Toriel avoided talking with them unless she had to, and every remark carried a slight sting to her voice that made Sans antsy. It got to the point where Sans already had the message to send her after the trip typed out and saved into his notes app for the inevitable later use. Because what the hell was up with her? Toriel normally didn't lose her cool like this.

Alastor offered to proofread, but Sans had a feeling that Alastor would add in some additions Sans would rather not have, so he declined.

Eventually, they all agreed to go scamper on up to the souvenir store just down past the restaurant they stopped at previously, and pick up Alastor's dry-cleaned shirt on the way back. Since Alastor and Sans didn't bring their car, the two of them had to shack up within Papyrus' again for the drive, which certainly did put an interesting expression onto Alastor's face the moment it was announced. Papyrus' too.

As much as Sans disliked people hating Papyrus, it was fucking hilarious to see Alastor flounder like this. The man who desperately wanted to go on this trip to establish some sort of precedent on the others also wanted to stay as far away from them as possible. Well, one of them. Alastor seemed quite fine tolerating the others (minus Toriel, for... obvious reasons).

At least Alastor could tolerate the rest of them. Sans would take what he could.

The souvenir shop was bigger than expected. Massive, two floors and a cute little dolphin vibe to it that had him rather amused. The roof caved upward with windows and hanging decorations of seashells and sea animals, with a penchant toward blues and whites. Even in the midst of winter, when the sun wasn't as strong and the breezes nipped with the occasional chill, the store was filled with bodies all lingering about. Sans and his gang managed to squeeze in just fine, all eventually splitting off to go do their own thing, with the promise to meet up by the checkout once they obtained their desired items.