Aww man, this prompt works so adorably well for these two! Initially, I was going to have them playing real tennis. But, uh. Sports. So I went with Wii Sports instead hehe. For anyone who’s never played, I’ll just say this – it does not require any real exercise, and (without spoiling this too much) is very easy to rig.
With that said, I hope you like this! Thanks so much for sending in a request! Warning for extreme fluff.
“EDGY ME, HELLO!”
Edge flinched as Papyrus threw
his arms around him, pulling him into a tight embrace. Tensing slightly, he did
his best not to grimace as he slowly pried Papyrus off him. “Hello Papyrus.”
Edge glanced over Papyrus’ shoulder. “Sans.” The shorter skeleton shot him a
grin, before shuffling past him into the living room. Edge watched him go
before ushering Papyrus inside and leaning in to murmur, “I assume you’re ready
to wipe the floor with our brothers?”
Papyrus nodded enthusiastically,
a wide grin on his face. “YES, OF COURSE! THE GREAT PAPYRUS WAS BORN READY! WE
WILL MAKE THEM REGRET THE DAY THEY—”
“Yes, yes, alright,” Edge
muttered, quickly taking a hold of Papyrus’ arm and dragging him into the
kitchen. He closed the door behind him to give them some privacy before
speaking. “We have a… slight problem.”
Papyrus’ grin faltered a little,
but his enthusiasm didn’t seem dampened. “WHAT SORT OF PROB—” He broke off as
Edge hushed him, nodding in the direction of the living room. “Um, what sort of
a problem, Edgy Me? Surely nothing the two Greatest of the Papyruses can’t
handle!”
Edge hummed, frowning. “That
remains to be seen,” he muttered, mostly to himself. Papyrus regarded him
quizzically, and Edge shook his head, grimacing. “Have you ever played Wii
Sports, Papyrus?”
This time, the smile plastered
across Papyrus’ face really did fade—almost into a frown, something Edge wasn’t
accustomed to on the bright skeleton’s face. “That infernal television video
game our brothers are always wasting time on?” He sighed, looking aggrieved. “When
I heard that Sans was playing a sport related game, I made the mistake of
getting my hopes up—I was severely disappointed. No, I can’t say I have strayed
near that ridiculous device, Edgy Me.” Papyrus seemed almost offended at the very
idea. That wasn’t a good sign. Seeming to sense Edge’s worry, he frowned. “Why…
are you asking?”
Edge released a weary sigh. “We
are no longer challenging our brothers to a board game, Papyrus.” Frowning, he
added, “They seemed to be under the impression that such an activity would give
us an unfair advantage, given our natural prowess at…” he coughed, “more
intellectually based challenges.”
“Hmm, I see…” Papyrus looked
thoughtful. “Well, I suppose that is true—you and I are rather well equipped in
the mental department!”
Edge smiled, nodding. “We
certainly are. I’ve managed to convince my lazybones brother to allow you a few
practice rounds on the Wii before we begin the proper challenge.”
Papyrus scoffed loudly, giving a
wave of his hand. “PRACTICE? THE GREAT PAPYRUS HARDLY NEEDS—” Seeing the hard,
deliberate look Edge was giving him, Papyrus quickly nodded, clearing his
throat. “But of course—I suppose it would be bad sportsmanship to turn down
such a generous offer. Very well! We shall practice at this sporting activity!”
“Well, um,” Edge’s eyes darted
away from Papyrus, and he shifted between his feet, feeling a little awkward.
“It’ll just be you practicing. I… should be alright without it.”
Papyrus narrowed his eye sockets
in suspicion, folding his arms. “Edgy Me, while I understand that you and I
both possess copious amounts of natural talent, we should really take advantage
of—”
“Well, no, that’s not it,” Edge
said, quickly. He felt a little embarrassed to admit it, but he’d spent most of
last night learning every technique he could in the various sporting options
available on his brother’s device. “I… practiced earlier,” he confessed,
deciding to leave out the detail of just how much time he’d spent practicing.
“Oh.” Papyrus nodded, seeming
satisfied. “Very well then, perhaps we should proceed to the aforementioned FLOOR WIPING.” Papyrus’ voice increased
in volume, and Edge couldn’t help but smile slightly at the renewed excitement
sparkling in his eyes.
Naturally, both their brothers
were lounging on the sofa when they re-entered the living room. Edge regarded
them disdainfully. “Have you two lazybones even bothered picking a sport yet?”
Red shrugged, not moving from his
seat. “nah, figured we’d let you do it, boss.”
Edge frowned, emanating contempt.
“The easiest task imaginable and you still leave it to us. How typical.”
Sans waved his hand in
nonchalance. “eh, losers pick. we’re just being good sports. hehe.” Edge rolled
his eyes at the weak pun, but proceeded to load the game nonetheless. He handed
Papyrus one of the remotes, ensuring he fastened the safety strap before
turning away. While Edge was fond of Papyrus’ enthusiasm, he himself had come a
little too close to leaving a hole in the TV screen last night due to his own…
passion.
Edge scrolled through the
options, pausing as he considered his strategy. Behind him, he heard Red give a
throaty chuckle. “heh, just pick one, boss. doesn’t matter. we’re gonna beat ya
no matter what.”
Narrowing his eye sockets and
acknowledging his brother with little more than a cold glare, Edge selected
tennis. He had to admit, during his immense… dabbling, tennis had certainly
been his strong suit. While he was tempted to opt for boxing—simply to give
himself an outlet for his temper should this go downhill—he figured it might
not be the best starter for Papyrus.
“hey, toss our remotes over here,
won’t you, paps?” Sans asked, glancing at his brother.
Papyrus frowned, his expression
disapproving as he regarded Sans. “Isn’t the point of the game to get off that
lazy coccyx of yours and do some exercise, brother?”
Sans pulled a face, giving a
careless wave of his hand. “nah, the point is to win, bro. now give us those
remotes, otherwise there isn’t even a remote chance of us winning.”
Papyrus looked conflicted for a
moment, his eye sockets narrowing at the grin that spread across Sans’ face. But
eventually, he caved, handing the two lazy skeletons their remotes with a
laboured sigh. He turned to Edge, shaking his head. “Edgy Me, if we lose this,
I will be very disappointed in us.”
Edge gave Papyrus a reassuring
smile. “Don’t worry. I can assure you, we won’t lose.”
Unfortunately however, it seemed
that Papyrus didn’t quite have Edge’s natural affinity for the computerised
tennis game. During his short practice, he missed almost all his serves, hit
the net several times, and even succeeded in dropping his remote (despite the
safety strap). Edge observed him, feeling more and more frustrated by the
minute. Papyrus attempted another swing at the ball, this time missing it
entirely.
Eventually, Edge decided he
couldn’t take it anymore, and rose from his seat, coming up behind Papyrus (narrowly
avoiding another wild swing of his remote). “Ugh, stop—stop. You’re doing it wrong—here,” Edge took a hold of Papyrus’
hand, guiding the remote, “let me show you.” Papyrus turned to look at him, a
hint of alarm crossing his features. But Edge simply nodded in the direction of
the screen. “Don’t focus on me, focus on your movements. They’re too stiff. You
need to be more fluid. Like this.”
His hand still clasped over
Papyrus’ on the remote, Edge braced his other on Papyrus’ ribs, guiding him in
a long, slow swing. Papyrus had gone strangely rigid. “Relax,” Edge murmured.
“It’ll be a lot easier if you do.” The other skeleton quickly nodded, allowing
his shoulders to drop slightly, and—much to Edge’s surprise—leaning right back
against him. “Uh…” Edge felt himself blushing slightly, and he suddenly caught
sight of his brother grinning at him. He shot Edge a wink as their eyes met,
earning him a sharp stare in return.
“I did it!” Papyrus cried, and
Edge’s gaze quickly snapped back to the screen in time to see the ball landing
successfully in the court. He hurriedly withdrew from Papyrus, realising there
was certainly no need for him to still be standing so close.
“wow paps, you’re a natural,”
Sans said, grinning at his brother.
Papyrus scoffed, shaking his
head, but Edge could see how pleased he was beneath the façade. “WELL, OF
COURSE I AM, BROTHER. NOTHING IS A CHALLENGE FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS—NOT EVEN
THIS FOOLISH TELEVISION GAME OF TENNIS.”
Edge glanced at Sans, a brow bone
raised in dubiety. But the shorter skeleton gave him a warning look, a faint
hint of magic prickling in his right eye socket. Rolling his eyes, Edge turned
back to Papyrus, his soul slumping slightly upon seeing that he’d begun to
struggle again. “Um, that’s good, Papyrus. Very good,” he muttered, his
cheekbones still burning from their recent proximity. Clearing his throat, and
very deliberately avoiding Sans and Red’s grins, he picked his own remote up
off the table. “Very well, I think that’s enough practice. Sans. Red. Get up
and prepare to lose!”
Much to both Edge and Papyrus’
disappointment, their brothers neither got up nor lost. In fact, Edge and
Papyrus barely managed to scrape a couple of points off them—despite putting in
their very best effort. When the final point was won, Sans grinned, rising from
the couch and stretching. “welp. all that exercise really took it outta me.
think i’m gonna head home and take a nap.”
Edge glowered at him, feeling
frustrated by the fact that he’d chosen the moment the game had finished to
finally rise from his seat. When he was gone, Red also hoisted himself up,
shooting his brother a grin. “hmm, you know what bro? i think we should discuss
a forfeit.”
“No forfeits this time, brother,”
Edge said, scowling at Red. “The punishment of losing to you is the shame.”
Edge caught sight of Papyrus grimacing slightly out of the corner of his eye,
and he suddenly felt guilty. He turned back to Red, crossing his arms. “Perhaps
next time—once every participant has had a fair
amount of practice—we’ll raise the stakes a little.”
“heh, yeah boss, i’m sure ya
wouldn’t mind a little more practice.” Red
winked, gaze flicking to Papyrus, and Edge glared at him, despite the sudden
rush of heat to his cheekbones. Shrugging, Red yawned. “ha, well. think i’m
gonna follow sans’ advice and take a nap. i’ve sure earned it.”
Before Edge could protest, Red
had popped out of the room, leaving Edge alone with Papyrus. He turned to the
uncharacteristically quiet skeleton, his soul clenching slightly at the sight
of the downtrodden look on Papyrus’ face. “Don’t worry, Papyrus,” he said,
hesitantly placing a hand on his alternate’s shoulder, “I’m certain we’ll be
victorious next time.”
Papyrus still looked unhappy, his
gaze fixed on the carpet. “Edge…” he said, slowly looking up. “Did I… did I let
us down?”
Edge felt as if he’d been struck
in the chest, guilt wracking him. Almost on instinct, he reached out, taking
both of Papyrus’ hands in his own. “N-no—no, of course you didn’t! I think… I
think perhaps you could just use a little more practice. And—and I’m more than
happy to help.”
Almost instantaneously, Papyrus’
expression lightened, his usual grin returning to his face. “Really? THAT’S
EXCELLENT.” He took a step closer, and Edge felt his eyes go wide as one of
Papyrus’ hands crept to his waist. “Because I definitely think I could use a
few more demonstrations, Edge.”
Dragon Blog 