Archive of Our Own ^beta

“LEFT! RIGHT! LEFT! RIGHT!” Blue chanted, a confident smile and a determined set to his browbones as he twisted his body left and right, stretching for the big challenge ahead.

Today was finally the day! The grand battle royale! The battle in which he would prove to Black that he was the better skeleton!

Black was impressive, sure, but not as impressive as the Magnificent Blue. And now that would finally be proven. No doubts left. Blue would finally show him how great he is and how he could take care of-

“BLUE!” A shrill shout broke Blue’s thoughts and he snapped his skull towards it. Black. He stood straight, trying to seem taller than he was, arms crossed and glaring towards Blue like he personally offended him. The usual.

“WHAT IS IT BLACK? ARE WE STARTING?” Blue asked as he finished his warm-up routine. He wouldn’t let Black distract him from it so he could win because of something as silly as a cramp at a bad moment. No, Blue would make sure he was in top form for this. It was too important to miss any detail.

Black glared harder as he looked Blue over, then scoffed as he turned around. Blue wasn’t sure but he thought he saw some magic dusting Black’s skull, which didn’t make sense since Blue didn’t do anything bad enough to make him angry enough to go red in the face… or well in Black’s case, purple.

“IF YOU ARE FINALLY DONE PRANCING AROUND DOING SILLY GYMNASTICS, THEN YES, IT IS TIME TO START.” Black grumbled out as he stalked towards the starting spot, hands behind his back and posture ramrod straight. Blue would have been impressed at the poise if he wasn’t so peeved at the words spilling out of those impressive sharp teeth.

“IT IS NOT PRANCING AND YOU KNOW IT! I AM MAKING SURE TO WIN AND SHOW YOU THAT I AM THE BETTER SKELETON. NOT THAT YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND SUCH A SIMPLE CONCEPT AS WARMING-UP.” Blue snapped back, returning the jab.

He knew Black hated being called cold, Red had even teased him by calling him ice queen for a time. Blue knew a lot about Black and how to hit him just right. After all, it was very important to know your enemies, or well, rivals in Black’s case. Cause that’s what Black was to Blue, a rival. Nothing more.

The jab made Black freeze for a moment. Blue was sure he would turn around and start another shouting match like they usually shared in situations like this. He hated that character trait in Black, the short temper that was always so close to breaking. That’s why he kept causing Black to go off, because he wanted to show him how useless it was to shout. It wasn’t because he liked how heated up Black got when he argued, so unlike his usual cold demeanour. No! Of course not! Blue just wanted to teach him that yelling didn’t bring him anything good. That was the only reason!

Unexpectedly, Black stood still for a few more soul beats, then he sighed out, long and exasperated, and continued walking towards the starting line.

“IF YOU ARE DONE ACTING LIKE A BRAT, I WILL BE WAITING AT THE STARTING LINE OF YOUR DEFEAT.” Black calmly shot back over his shoulder, not even looking at Blue as he walked away.

Blue stood there shocked. He never thought that would happen. Black never kept his temper rained in, not around Blue. What was happening?

He felt a spike of anxiety stab into his soul. Was Black so mad at him that he didn’t even want to argue with him anymore? Did Blue do something so wrong? He didn’t think so? His little jab was mild compared to some things they had said to each other over the few years they lived in the same universe. So why was Black acting differently? What should he do?

“come on bro! i’m cheerin’ for ya!” The enthusiastic, yet still somehow lazy sounding, cheering broke Blue out of his little downward spiral.

He shot his eyelights up and saw his brother, together with the rest of the skeletons he shared his home with, hanging out in the spectator area. That spot was fenced off when one of the lazy brothers, Slim, fell asleep a little too close to one of the training obstacles and almost got run through with some practice bones. Now they had a marked area that was declared safe for any lazybones that wanted to fall asleep outside and not risk getting boned… not in a fun way.

The spectator area now had a few comfy looking chairs and recliners, some parasols and something that almost looked like a bar? Blue wasn’t sure because he didn’t really use it much, but he suspected his brother and Red had something to do with that last part. The suspicion was cemented even more when he noticed the two sipping on some fruity cocktails that Blue couldn’t identify. He really needed to talk to his brother about drinking in the middle of the day.

“COMING!” But he wasn’t going to do any of that right now. He just walked over (no running yet, he had to preserve his energy) to where Black was standing and glaring at his own brother as he smoked a dog treat.

When he was close enough he noticed Sans standing near the starting line, looking as lazy and relaxed as always. Blue took his position and nodded towards Sans, ignoring Black at his side and missing a worried looking frown that passed over the scarred skeletons’ features.

“‘kay.” Sans mumbled out and raised a hand, summoning a tiny looking gaster blaster. “rules are simple, no tripping the other or using magic. you gotta pass all the obstacles, no skipping. pap’s bones are marking the order, just follow them. oh and first one wins. simple. understood?”

Both Blue and Black nodded as they took their starting positions, crouching down to get a better sprinting start.

They both wore their old armour, the gear they had in their respective undergrounds. This was a test to prove who the more capable guard was after all, so nothing else would work. Blue hadn’t worn his armour in a while and it didn’t fit as well as before, but it was nothing that would bother him during this competition. He noticed Black adjusting one part of his own armour from the corner of his socket and smirked. Seems they both had the same problem.

“good. ready!” Blue and black lifted up into the sprinting position. 

“set.” They both tensed as the tiny gaster blaster started gathering energy between its jaws. 

“aaaaaaand! go!” Sans yelled, the gaster blaster shot out a small but loud blast into the sky and the two skeletons were off!

They sprinted with all their power as the skeleton crowd behind them started cheering and whooping after them. But they both ignored it and focused on what was ahead.

The first obstacle. A hole with a rope above that needed to be used to jump over it.

Blue ran forward as fast as he could, then jumped hard and caught the rope. That was easy! He was really good at jumping despite his vertically challenged stature. He used the momentum from the run to swing to the other side and landed with a thump on the edge of the hole. Thinking he had the advantage, he gave a quick glance over his shoulder to give Black a teasing smirk, only to see the other skeleton doing the same to him. They were at the exact same spot. Both their sockets widened at that, then quickly turned to glares as they faced forward and started running again, following the bone arrows pointing towards the next obstacle.

This time it was a crawling one, with a wire mesh you had to crawl under to get through it.

Blue dropped down, this time thankful for his smaller size, and quickly crawled over to the other side. As he straightened up, resisting the urge to dust himself down, he glanced to the side only to, again , be met by a mirroring pair of glaring sockets.

Black was keeping perfectly up with Blue’s pace.

Blue started running again, giving it his all through every obstacle, pushing his own limits to the maximum and beyond as he stayed determined to win. He had to win! There was no alternative possible. But every time he finished an obstacle, Black was there. Looking more and more worn down and dirty, but he was there.

The monkey bar obstacle? Blue could hear the thump of Black landing beside him almost in the same moment as Blue’s boots hit the ground.

Wall climbing? Black was both at the top of it, and landed at the bottom in the same moment Blue did.

Jumping over obstacles as they ran? They were evenly matched. Jumping and landing at the same time, pace perfectly aligned.

Obstacle, after obstacle, after obstacle. Blue was starting to get frustrated. It was almost like looking in a mirror. The more Blue pushed, the harder Black went and neither could win any advantage.

Then the last obstacle loomed over them. The deciding one.

The bone attack dodging obstacle. An empty field riddled with bones jumping out suddenly that needed to be avoided because they would turn your soul blue and slow you down. Papyrus was the one that would be creating the bones so Blue knew the gravity magic would be no joking matter.

Blue needed to avoid all the bones and pass the field fast. This was his final chance to take the lead. He frowned and focused on his condition. He could feel his bones creaking from the strain, sweat and dust leaking into his sockets making it hard to see, breath coming out sharp and hard. He was almost at his limit but he needed to get past it to win. So with a deep, stuttering breath, he squared his shoulders and pumped his legs harder to go faster, dodggning left and right as he kept the fast pace, determined to overcome this last obstacle and show Black just who-

The world was suddenly spinning.

Blue yelped as the ground disappeared from under his feet as something slammed into him and he was suddenly rolling, everything spinning tangling him even more into what hit him. He felt his back hit the ground a few times, making his spine ache. His left side took a hard hit during another roll. And then he skidded to a halt, the hurt left side damaged even harder as it scraped over the uneven ground, damaged by many training sessions and countless bones. He was extremely grateful to be wearing his old armour right then.

He lay there, dazed and panting hard. His body was starting to feel every strain and every scrape. Blue knew he would be hurting for the next few days after this but he was having a hard time wrapping his skull around all the places that hurt. A groan drew his attention, helping him focus his thoughts away from the injuries as he tried to see who it came from.

Black lay on top of him, looking just as scraped up as Blue felt. He was obviously having a hard time focusing too, eyelights looking dazed as they darted around, not really seeing anything.

“Black?” Blue said in an uncharacteristically quiet voice, confused as to why his rival was on top of him.

The moment Blue’s voice reached him, Black snapped his skull towards him and froze, eyelights shrinking. Not a soul beat later and Black jumped back, getting off of Blue, some of his purple magic dusting his cheeks. Blue assumed he was embarrassed to have been caught in that position. And now that his mind caught up to the situation he felt his own cheeks warming up when he realized how long Black was laying on top of him.

But before he could let his mind wander down that road, Blue realized that Black had tripped him!

“YOU CHEATER!” Blue yelled as he jumped up on his feet (he totally didn’t stumble) and pointed an accusing finger at Black.

Black flinched at the tone, making Blue almost feel guilty, then rubbed his skull and glared daggers at Blue.

“WHAT IN NINE HELLS ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?” He hissed out, straightening up and squeezing his fists tightly at his sides.

“YOU TRIPPED ME BECAUSE I WAS WINNING!” Blue didn’t back off, he wouldn’t let this go just like that.

“YOU WERE WINNING?!! LIKE HELL YOU WERE! I WAS AHEAD OF YOU WHEN A BONE CAME OUT OF NOWHERE!” Black screamed back, stomping closer. “AND I BET YOU MADE IT BECAUSE YOU SAW YOU WOULD LOSE!!”

Blue sputtered, unable to even comprehend that Black would accuse him of something so vile. Instead of yelling back, he stomped closer to Black, making them stand only an inch apart. Eyesocket to eyesocket. Glaring daggers at each other as sweat ran down both their skulls, dirt smeared all over them.

“TAKE THAT BACK, CHEATER.” Blue growled out. Inching slowly closer.

“MAKE ME, LOSER.” Black bit back, raising one hand and grabbing Blue’s bandana in his fist, practically pulling him closer.

Blue could barely hear the others starting to run towards them yelling something about not turning this into a fight, but all he could really focus on was the sound of his and Black’s heavy breathing. The creak of their bones as they leaned closer. And that one drop of purple sweat slowly slipping down the side of Black’s skull. It looked mesmerising.

Then, before anyone could comprehend what was happening, they fell upon each other. Limbs entangled as they fell to the ground, Blue landing on his back, only a half swallowed grunt leaving his teeth as the two fought for dominance with their tongues, each invading the other’s mouth to get a taste of that mesmerising magic.

Blue grabbed the back of Black’s skull, pulling him closer and digging his phalanges into it as he savoured the tangy taste. He could feel Black’s hands pull on his bandana, crumpling the innocent piece of cloth as he tried to get even closer to Blue, seemingly trying to devour him through the kiss.

Blue could hear footsteps coming closer in the background, but he ignored them. When they were close and skidded to a stop, the only thing he heard was a whistle and some laughter, but he had more important things to focus on. Like the taste on his tongue, the feeling of the bone under his phalanges (when did he take off his gloves?), the moans and grunts coming from the monster on top of him. Soon the other noises faded as their audience decided that an intervention wasn’t necessary.

The only monsters left in the field broken by bone attacks and ecstatic moans were Blue and Black, fighting their final battle of their battle royale.