Believe in Me

Bonded

"And you said yes?" Fell asked, looking between the two of them incredulously.

Blue glanced over at Red, who was blushing brightly, then turned back to the others. "Of course I did. We love each other!"

Stretch looked between the two of them for a moment before saying, "Okay, I'm not going to argue that Red loves you. We all know it, it's been obvious for years--"

Blue's mouth dropped open at that. "It has?" he squeaked, feeling incredibly guilty.

Fell nodded at him, a small smile on his face, as Stretch continued without responding. "--but I've never picked up on any of that from you, Blue. You don't have to marry him just because you don't think anyone else will ever ask and mean it, or because you're afraid he'll do something drastic if you tell him the truth."

Blue drew back from his brother slightly, a frown creasing his forehead. He caught Red, out of the corner of his eye, looking down at his hands like he secretly agreed with Stretch and just didn't want to admit it. Blue huffed and reached for Red's hand, squeezing it tightly before turning back to their brothers. "We've already talked about this, before we came to tell you guys. Red didn't want to take advantage of me and I didn't want to rush into anything."

Red cut in then, mumbling slightly, "He didn't say yes right away."

Blue nodded in affirmation of that statement, and Fell looked like that was good enough for him, sporting a smile brighter than Blue had ever seen on his face, but Stretch frowned tightly. "I don't believe you, bro. You're just too nice for your own good, there's no way you actually love him!"

Blue's mouth dropped open. He couldn't believe his brother would say something so incredibly mean, and right in front of Red, too! "Papy! How could you even--"

"Stop it, Sans!" Stretch said angrily, standing to loom over them and taking hold of Blue's humerus. "I'm the older one, I'm not going to allow this! I don't support you trading your life away just to help him. You're more important than that, bro, and you--"

Blue jumped to his feet, letting go of Red's hand to push his brother away from them. "Who the hell do you think you are?" he spat angrily. He heard Red's sharp intake of breath in response to his swearing, but he quickly brought his focus back to his brother.

Stretch seemed surprised, but anger quickly won out, his eyes narrowing. "Your brother. And I have a responsibility to make sure you're happy!"

"I AM HAPPY!" Blue yelled back. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself before jabbing a finger in his brother's face. "You have absolutely no right to tell me what to do, or what makes me happy! I love Red! I really do, more than anyone or anything! I just didn't know that's what it was until he got down on his knee and my whole body just...just lit up, like the sun was right there and I was as happy and warm as I would ever be! So you sit down, shut up, and stop making assumptions about whether or not I'm happy!"

There was a long silence following Blue's outburst. Red was looking at the ground again, but he was fighting a smile. Fell and Stretch were both staring at Blue, completely shell-shocked by the strength of his resolve. Then Stretch's face hardened, and he said, "How do you even know what love feels like? You're practically a child!"

Blue closed his eyes, taking deep breaths to calm himself and tightening his hands into fists by his side. He didn't want to say anything he'd regret, and he wanted this to have a happy ending, but Stretch was making it very, very hard.

When he finally thought he had ahold of himself, he opened his eyes and made eye contact with his brother. "I am not a child. I am 21 years old, and I am plenty old enough to make this decision, with or without your approval. And my decision is to be with Red. If you don't like that, you are welcome to leave."