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"just pretend i’m papyrus."
Slim took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. It wasn’t really that hard to pretend that he was talking to Papyrus now. Stretch already looked like him quite a bit, but he couldn’t say they were identical. If they were, he would be having a really hard time right now. But this was Stretch, one of his best friends, who was willing to help him confess to his crush and ready to support him in any way that he can whenever he needed him.
"p-papyrus...i-i..."
"look at me, slim."
Slim gulped and looked up. He didn’t even notice he looked away from him. He cleared his throat and scratched his neck bone.
"papyrus, i...y-you’re one of my b-best friends-"
"hey, i thought i was your best friend."
"i said one of my best friends!"Slim sighed and shook his head, while Stretch snorted in laughter. Focus. He needed to focus and get it together!
"papyrus, you’re one of my best f-friends...and best friends tell each other secrets r-right?"Slim felt his face heat up a bit in embarrassment. Whether it was because of the way Stretch’s smile grew more and more amused from watching and listening to him speak, or how his voice cracked a little at the end of the sentence, he couldn’t tell.
"right."
Slim gulped nervously, and fiddled with his fingers inside his hoodie pocket."w-well...i-i’ve got a secret to sh-share with you."
Stretch leaned his head closer to Slim’s and whispered to him in a low, almost hushed tone,"is it juicy?"
"stretch!"Slim squeaked and quickly pushed Stretch away from him. He could practically feel the heat from his face rising and trying to melt his bones into a puddle of humiliation. Stretch chuckles and wiggles his bone brows suggestively at him.
Slim regretted asking him for help.
"c-c’mon, stretch, be serious! are you gonna help me out or not?"
Stretch chuckles again, before giving him a nod."a secret? for me?"
Slim nodded and grabbed Stretch’s hands into his own shaky ones. Stretch gave them a squeeze to reassure him. Slim was thankful for that small gesture, as his hands stopped shaking, if only a little bit.
"it’s...it’s a secret i’ve been keeping from you f-for...for quite awhile now-"
"awhile? dude, you’ve had a crush on him for a loooooong time."
"sh-shut up!"Slim huffed and tried to ignore the burning blush on his face...
He couldn’t.
"i think my face is on fire..."
"nah, that’s just your magic acting up...wow, i didn’t think a blush could cover up someone’s entire face-"
"i’ve kept a secret from you for quite a long time now!"Stretch yelled and tightly squeezed Stretch’s hand to grab his attention and show him he wanted to get right back on track. He cleared his throat again before speaking softly again."a-and...and i just can’t keep it away from you any longer. you deserve to know, papyrus...and i-i hope you’ll still be one of my best friends after i tell you this if you don’t...if you don’t like this secret of mine."
"what’s the secret, slim?"
Slim took a shaky, deep breath and let it out slowly. He leaned in closer to Stretch, closed his eyes tightly, and whispered,"p-pappy, i...i-i l-love-"
"if you’re trying to tell me you love puns and naps, let me assure you, buddy, i already knew that. tell me another secre-“
Slim growled and pushed Stretch away again."you’re not being serious about this!"
"i’m just trying to calm your nerves a bit, buddy. you’re way too tense. you need to calm down-"
"i was about to tell you that i love you!"
"aaaaw, slim, that’s sweet. but i’m not really looking for a relationship now so-"
"no, not you! i don’t love you!"
"jeez man. first you say you love me, now you don’t. kinda getting some mixed feelins here."
"stop it! stop twisting my words, stop with the jokes, and stop embarrassing me! you know what i meant!"Slim yelled and angrily stomped his foot down a few times.
Stretch chuckled."maybe we should switch roles. you make a much better papyrus than i do. looks like you’re picking up a few things from him."
Slim paused and looked at his foot that just a few inches away from stomping on the floor again, and blushed. He put his foot down and looked away from Stretch. He looked down and watched his fingers pick at a stray string just outside of his hoodie pocket. He pulled it out and watch the string fall down slowly, and gently rest on the floor helplessly. He looked back up to Stretch and stared at him with a serious look on his red face.
"switch roles."
Stretch gave him a surprised look, before giving him a calm smile."alright."Slim watched him take a few steps towards him, let him grab his hands in a gentle hold, and looked him right in his eye sockets.
"papyrus...you’re one of my best friends, and best friends tell each other secrets, right?"
Before Slim could respond, Stretch brought their foreheads together and rubbed the back of his hands with his thumbs in a soft, circular motion. The gesture threw Slim off a bit, but he smiled. That was actually a pretty sweet gesture! He didn’t think of doing that in his confession, but now he definitely wanted to.
Just the thought of holding Papyrus’ hands and holding him so close to him made Slim’s soul skip a beat.
"well, i’ve got a secret to tell you, papyrus...it’s something that i’ve kept from you for a long time now, but i just can’t take it anymore. i have to tell you how I feel, papyrus, i can’t hide my feelings away from you any longer. you deserve to know...and i hope that you’ll forgive me if you don’t like what you hear. promise me...promise me you’ll still be one of my best friends if you don’t feel the same way. I can’t bear the thought of losing you in my life because of this."
"...have you been reading my diary?"
Stretch’s smirked."don’t know why you were giving me the short end of your confession before. you got some good material going on in there.”
Slim pushed Stretch away from him yet again."i can’t believe you! th-that’s private!"
"well...it was just laying around in your room...so-"
"i left it out in the open in my room?!"
"yeah. i was trying to find that science book i lent to you a few weeks ago, but i found something waaaaay more interesting."
"stretch!"Slim squeaked and pulled his hoodie up to hide his burning face.
Stretch pulled his hoodie down and patted his shoulder, while giving him a gentle smile."relax buddy...i only read the first few pages, but in my defense almost everything that i read from those few pages, you already told me...so...."
Slim’s jaw dropped."that still doesn’t make it okay!"
Stretch shrugged."sorry, my curiousity got the best of me. but in all seriousness, why weren’t you practicing your full confession to me? it was really nice, and i didn’t even recite half of what you wrote down!“
Slim blushed harder and played with his fingers nervously."i-i wanted to, b-but it’s too long a-and it was hard enough to write it down..."
"i think paps would appreciate the effort."
Slim looked at him in surprise. He didn’t think of that...papyrus would appreciate that wouldn’t he? He spent so many sleepless nights writing his confession to him in his diary. He erased countless words that didn’t feel good enough to express what he felt. He sharpened his pencil everytime it got too dull to write anything so much the pencil was now just below the size of his pinky finger. He remembered one night he got so caught up in his own words he teared up and watched his tears soak up his pages.
He panicked that night, thinking his own tears would smudge his words and ruin the paper.
Thankfully it didn’t.
"yeah...yeah you’re right! he would appreciate it! i literally put my tears into writing that!"
Stretch chuckled and gave him another pat on the shoulder."and i bet you remember every single word, don’t you?"
"of course! how could i not? i-it all came from my soul..."Slim said with a bashful smile and looked away, the blush never leaving his face.
The sudden sounds of fingers snapping caught Slim’s attention. Slim looked back at Stretch, who snapped his fingers in front of him one last time before shoving them in his hoodie pocket, and watched the smile on Stretch’s face grow."then you should have no trouble confessing your love for him, and if you don’t trust you voice, then maybe your journal can do all the talking."
Slim looked at Stretch with wide eye sockets for a moment, before tackling him to the floor in a big hug.
"you’re a genius, stretch. thank you...thank you so much. d-do you really think he’ll like it?
"no."Stretch said with a blank face, before smirking at Slim’s horrified expression and giving him a pat on the head.
”he’s going to love it.”
He opened to the page he poured his soul and tears in and handed it over to his crush, sweat forming on his skull as he watched gloves hands hold his diary gently. He waited nervously and fidgeted on the spot, hoping papyrus couldn’t hear how loud his soul was beating frantically in his ribcage. He didn’t tell him what was written on the pages of his diary, he only told him to read it to himself and tell him what he thought of it. He fiddled with his fingers in his hoodie pocket anxiously, when Papyrus turned the next page, but didn’t say anything. He felt his nervous smile tremble slightly and the sweat from his forehead run down to the side of his face as he watched Papyrus’ smile vanish and replaced with a surprised expression.
He still said nothing, and Slim couldn’t tell if he wanted him to say something or not. What if Stretch was wrong? What if Papyrus didn’t love it, or even like it for that matter? Papyrus turned to the last page of his confession, and after a few moments, a small blush painted his features.
"S-Slim..."Papyrus whispered in a rare, small voice and handed him back his diary without saying another word. He looked away from him and tapped his gloved forefingers together. Slim’s soul stopped and felt tears prickle his eye sockets. Did...did he not like it?
Was he trying to think of a way to let him down gently?
Did he just ruin their friendship?
“y-yes, papyrus?”
Slim closed his eyes tightly and waited for the rejection that he so rightfully deserved...
That never came.
"C-Could you read that to me? I...I’d love to hear your voice say all those wonderful things to me."
Slim’s started beating again, and as he opened his eyes, to see the beautiful sight of a blushing, smiling Papyrus, his soul pounded faster and faster with each and every second. He let the tears that were once sad, now fall freely in joy down his cheekbones and cling to his chin.
Slim closed his diary and placed it down on Papyrus’ racecar bed. He didn’t need to read off of it.
He remembers every single word.
Taking a step towards Papyrus, he grabbed his hands gently into his own, and leaned his forehead against his.
“i’d love nothing more than to tell you how I feel, pappy.”