Brothers, A prequel to Brother

Chapter 3: Welcome Aboard

I dropped my arm back onto the stack of cards and flipped one over. "Four-squared."

"Don't tell me, it's," the blue ghost put his fingers to his temples, "sixteen?"

"Yeah," I placed the card in the back of the pile and flipped over another card, "eight squared."

"Forty-two? No, no, its sixty something," he paused and looked toward the clock to the right of him.

"Sixty-four," I sigh and start fixing the cards into a neat stack. "You having trouble with math?"

"Honestly? Yeah. I can do equations. I just can't do math facts." He shook his head and glanced at the pink ghost across the room.

"Is that your cousin?"

"Yeah, he's a little shy." He chuckled, "I promised him I would always be here for him, though."

I didn't take him for the 'caring older sibling' character, but as I saw the natural curve of his translucent lips, I saw it. I gestured to the headphones on his shoulders, "you like music?"

"Yeah, I listen to a lot of Asgore's Rein, but I also make my own beats here and there."

"Asgore's Rein? I love them! I like Chicken Pox."

"That's really cool that you like them, though. I like their song Change of Wind."

"That one's pretty cool too!" I smiled wider, "Napstablook, right?"

"Yeah, so, Papyrus, what lunch do you have?"

"First? Right after class?"

"Nice, that's our lunch too. Do you have a table to sit at?"

Does the bathroom stall with the least graffiti count? "Uh, no. Could I sit with you guys?"

"Sure thing, Papyrus. Hey, do you have a knickname?"

"Paps?"

"Paps. Well, Paps, welcome to high school."

~~~

The large lunchroom was filled with kids. Kids eating, kids talking, and kids making out with other kids. I wanted to throw up, but my stomach wouldn't allow me to.

"This is Paps, he's in our math class," Napstablook said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I waved at the pink ghost awkwardly. The ghost waved back, "Paps, like as in paprika?"

"Uh, no, its Papyrus."

"Papyrus," the ghost repeated. Awkward silence filled the conversation.

"So, uh, Mettaton, do you want to tell him about our band?" Napstablook gestured to me. A band?

Mettaton's eyes widened, "do I have to?"

Napstablook sighed, "Mettaton and I have a band, it's called 'Underground Mysteries'. You wanna join?"

Join? I can't play an instrument. Maybe I could try Sans' trombone once in a while. "What would I do?"

"Manage, filming, stuff like that. You're a wiz at math, so you could work on finances, too. What do ya say?"

"Excuse me, but I'm in this band too," Mettaton tapped Napstablook's shoulder.

"Oh, sorry. Mettaton, what do you think," he leaned back and gestured to me.

Mettaton rolled his eyes, "dick." He shook his head, "so how do we know we can trust you? Are we going to have to make a contract?"

"I mean, if you'd like." I shrugged.

Mettaton nodded, "we should hang out sometime after school, I mean, if you're into that."

"Yeah, sure."

Napstablook put out his hand and shook mine, "welcome aboard."