Sanscest Oneshots

Complicated Circumstances

Requested by the_cringe-lol

Dustberry

(Dusttale sans x Underswap sans)

Word prompt: near death experience

Dust didn't know exactly when the smell of static charged air and blood shifted into the gentle scent of cinnamon and buttercups. He couldn't recall falling unconscious either- he couldn't remember much more than the stabbing pain in his chest, but it hardly mattered when he finally woke up resting on a couch in a living room decorated with cool blues and warm golds.

The couch beneath Dust was soft and plush, sinking under him as he attempted to shift his limp body into a sitting position. Getting a firm hold on the material to hoist himself up did him no good as a splintering pain bloomed in his chest and forced him to lay back down as he took a pained breath. Looking down, his scrambled mind tried to make sense of why his bare midriff was wrapped and bound with sterile white bandages.

"I don't think you should move too much, your ribs are pretty badly damaged."

Blinking wearily, his vision finally stopped spinning as he focused on the skeleton sitting in an equally plush chair across from him. Dust shuffled through a number of people he knew in his mind as he tried to find a name to attach to the face of this person. Squinting, the full picture finally came together as he realized Blue was the one talking to him so casually.

It took him roughly five seconds  to then realize the implications of this. What the fuck was he doing in Blue's living room?

His first instincts were to immediately check to see he had been restrained by some form of chains or handcuffs. A few seconds of searching later confirmed that he was free of any such bindings.

"If you keep it up, you'll start bleeding again, Dust," Blue chimed from where he sat. "Please try not to ruin my couch."

Dust's voice was rough and hoarse as he spoke, barely reaching more than a whisper. "Why am I here?"

"You nearly died in battle. If I hadn't done something and brought you here I'm sure Nightmare would have left you to bleed out without thinking twice."

"That's not what I meant dumbass. Try again."

The question he wanted answered was why was he resting in the living room of one of the star sanses, particularly the one that belonged to the very sans he had just been fighting to death priorly. Or rather, why was he, one of the most wanted sanses in the multiverse, had been saved and healed instead of immediately having been tossed into some barren cell to await interrogation.

"I already told you, you're in pretty bad shape if you don't know, but there is a spare guest room you can stay in if the couch isn't comfortable." Blue offered cheekily.

"Let me guess, you brought me here instead of throwing me into a prison because you want me to sit through the spiel of how I can change or some redemption bullshit." 

Blue tapped his chin. "Actually I just thought that a living room would be much more to your liking rather than a prison- but I have no problem handing you over to Dream's authorities if it isn't."

Dust was a grim mix of confusion and shock as he was finally able to sit up. His ribs creaked painfully and each breath was hard and ragged, but he'd be damned if he let Blue catch on to that.

"Dream doesn't know I'm here?"

"As of yet? No. Ink doesn't either."

"No one other than you knows that I'm here?"

"That's what I said."

Dust did a double take. "You didn't restrain me either. What exactly do you have planned that's keeping me from snapping your neck here and now?"

"Basic manners I would have thought, it really isn't polite to attack your host."

"Cute."

"That and of course the fact that killing one of the prized members of the star sanses isn't exactly something that would go unpunished. It'd only be a few hours before someone noticed I was gone, and that's not particularly ample time for you to make a clean getaway. If you got found out, even Dream wouldn't take mercy on you then.

Long story short, nothings stopping you I guess. Nothing if you don't value your own life." Blue picked up a mug off of the coffee table that sat between them. The cup was a bright yellow, overly saturated and cheerful in color like everything else in his home. He swirled the contents around a bit before looking at Dust. "So feel free to go ahead and take the risk."

"I don't trust that you don't have anything planned, after all it's not like sweet old Blue could hurt a fly."

"Funny, considering I'm the one who put that hole in your chest."

Blue took a sip from his cup, the liquid inside was a warm, cheerful brown. Though Dust had no clue whether it was coffee or hot chocolate, it seemed to be 90% cream regardless.

"Dream and Ink, as the prince of positivity and guardian of the multiverse, have a lot of personal business to attend to. They always have plenty of secret plans to make, and I find myself lost in matters I don't have the slightest clue about on the daily. Wouldn't that make anyone feel left out pretty often? I rescued you, one of Nightmare's greatest servants and now you get to live and I get to have a secret all of my own. Doesn't that seem fair?"

"So that's your entire motive?" Dust stated more than asked.

Blue nodded with unadulterated delight. "Yes! I constantly seem to be caught up in the delicate business plans of my associates, so I might as well weave a web of my own for once."

"Strange. And what exactly do you want of me? I'm already being forced to work for Nightmare, so I'm already tangled in quite a few "webs" I don't care to be in at the moment."

"My objective at the moment is simply to make a few useful friends across the multiverse! Making plans is hard without connections y'know, and you know quite a few people in the seedier areas of the multiverse I'm not well versed in. Where's a better place to start?"

"Nightmare would kill me if he found out I was interacting with you."

"He already left you for dead once, didn't take it you'd still be so eager to please such a negligent master." Blue chirped teasingly

The words were a low blow, Dust knew, one aimed at his pride. He shouldn't have allowed them to persuade him, especially since his life was to be risked by doing so. But Blue, the one sans everyone simply took as a basic, bumbling fool was finally rising to action. Finally making plans of his own. 

Dust was fairly clueless about the amount of potential Blue had, or whether or not he underestimated the manipulation the optimistic idiot was capable of. But it was always useful to make connections, especially with someone who occupied places in Dream's court. And if Blue proved to be more clever and skilled than anyone initially took him for...well then maybe it wouldn't be time and resources wasted.

"Fine. But we're not friends, more so...acquaintances."

Blue nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, what friendship doesn't start with two acquaintances? We have to at least know more about each other before we can claim to be friends!"

"...sure."

"You're free to leave whenever you want, though I do request that you join me later for tea."

"What for?"

"To chat of course!" Blue sent him a friendly wink. "That's what friends do isn't it?"

Dust truly had no idea what he was getting into, but maybe there was more to Blue that it seemed. They were in similar situations weren't they? He was tired of being Nightmare's pawn and Blue was fed up being Dream's.

Dust's line of work didn't really allow for "friends", but maybe he could make an exception.

A/N: A oneshot in which Dust is saved from the brink of death by Blue and finds himself owing his saviour a favor.