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Jeong and her friends ran through the dark, knowing there was a threat around every turn. The dirt pounded beneath their feet as the cold October air chilled their bones. As they entered a large open clearing, they stopped, only seeing corn stalks around them. Silence was only broken by a voice behind them.
“the surface leaves are falling ... and the monster wolves are howling…”
A shadowy figure appeared seemingly out of nowhere from the path they took. From the light of the moon, three demon shaped skulls began to lower themselves closer to the group.
“on nights like these… humans like you…”
The group of three best friends began to cower as one of the floating skulls lowered down until they could see something was in its mouth. A child’s body, a striped shirt covered in blood. The sharp fangs opened and lowered the corpse in front of them as their screams caught in their throat.
“ . . . s h o u l d b e b u r n i n g i n h e l l .”
The creature became a visible skeleton with a bright cyan eye, matching only the mouths of the other two skulls as they appeared to be charging a weapon.
Another night, another group of kids screaming off to the exit of the haunted corn maze. Frisk stood up and dusted the dirt from their outfit covered in fake blood. They and Sans had been scaring kids all night and they never thought they would have so much fun playing dead before.
“that was pretty good, kid” spoke Sans as he stepped closer and motioned for one of his blasters to open their mouth as a hiding place again. “i especially like how you didn’t start giggling this time.” he grinned. Who knew there was a day when his threats were actually encouraged?
Frisk began to put their hands up to protest that he was totally making the blasters bite at their hip. But before the signing could start, a group of footsteps could be heard running closer. Throwing their hands up, Frisk climbed into the blaster as it sank into the shadow of a nearby abandoned tractor. Hearing the panicked voices approach, Sans walked directly into the overgrown corn stalks as he left the ‘room’. Once the group stopped, he entered through the ‘entrance’ they arrived in. It was showtime.
——————-
The door slammed shut and Sans was left in the empty house. It was already November third and human commercials were advertising the importance of family and thankfulness. How fitting that he had his first fight with his brother since he came to the surface?
He felt like shit. On one hand he knew why his brother was angry, but on the other hand he couldn’t resolve the problem alone. Standing up his legs crinkled with the noise of dry leaves and grass. It turns out that his Halloween shortcuts didn’t stop the dry foliage from getting in between his joints. He actually had to wash his slippers for once! Even after days of picking grass out from the gaps in his hands and feet, there was still some stubborn material that he couldn’t quite reach. It added to the frustration of the situation he couldn’t control.
Sans shuffled to the table and tapped his fingertips on the counter as he stared out the window. The trees were more barren and only a few leaves struggled on the branches. He sighed and Things are different now, he can ask his friends for help.
A pause. Okay, not friends. Really only one friend. And she did owe him a favor.
———————-----
“i’m calling in on my favor.”
The cosy room showed a large goat creature looking up from her knitting. It appeared to be a red cap with white bones. She finished her last line and set down the project on her lap as she addressed the sudden skeleton in the room.
“Hello~ What is the pressing matter?” She smiled as she looked up; the magic fire crackling behind her. Sans always came in calling in on his favor. Last time it was for an extra slice of pie.
If she looked closely, she could see her friend was trying to force his smile a bit. “i’ve got an itch to scratch… and it won’t leaf me alone.”
Something with plants. The tall monster took her glasses off, stood up, and set her knitting on the chair behind her. “Oh? And what can a little old lady like me do to help?”
“...” it was difficult, sometimes. To discuss anything past good jokes and make the tone more serious. He tried turning over different ideas in his mind and his best puns.
“Did something make Papyrus upset?” she set her large furry paw on his shoulder. If there was one thing he talked seriously about, it was his brother. And they both knew he had been on edge lately since the anniversary.
“after halloween,i had some unfortunate corn-sequences… like leaves stuck in my joints that i still can’t reach.. it’s a bit rooted”
A smile spread across her face “Aw, shucks, I can help you with that. Where is it?”
He turned around, but looked over his back. “you can see where i kneed it” the back of his legs had thin strips of corn leaves sticking out every which way. You could tell someone had tried to pick at them from different angles, but clearly there were a few he was missing.
Toriel motioned for him to lay on the couch. She was too tall to reach his legs standing up. The skeleton obliged and laid across the couch cushions; his face resting in his crossed arms in front of him. From this angle you can see how his tibia trapped the leaves against his knee cap. If this were any other plant, the leaves would have shriveled by now, but the corn leaves were thick and already dried out when they became stuck.
Adjusting her glasses, the goat monster sat on the edge of the couch and peered down at the forgotten leaves. There was a handful of strands, but easy enough for her claws to reach. Reaching over, she began to pull on a strand--- and his leg shot away. That was… a lot more ticklish than he expected.
“Kernel of truth… I can’t help you if you don't stay still.” her motherly voice chided. She tried again with the other leg, but a slipper kicked her elbow and arm out of the way.
Okay, clearly this wasn’t going to work. “Sans, if you really want my help, I need to corn-centrate” She motioned to the plush, faded purple carpet on the floor. She wasn’t trying to be strict, but there was really no way she could move on without at least holding him down a little.
Embarrassed but compliant, Sans got off the couch and laid down on the floor. If this wasn’t over the happiness of his brother, he would live with the corn. Be one with the corn. Become a child of the corn.
A sudden warmth and he felt a large body place two legs on his sides and sat lightly over his feet. Her larger legs held his thighs in place as her knees went past his. He didn’t know what to do with his arms. Lay on them? Hold them forward? Dig into his eyes out of embarrassment? She was truly a large force and he never felt so vulnerable about it until now… well, no, that was a lie. There was that last time at the Royal Knight’s wedding where she embraced him in dance and then threw him across the room at her ex. It made sense at the time.
The fire cracked as she adjusted her glasses. Those leaves were really stuck. Well, she had to start somewhere, right? She tried to be gentle as she grasped a longer strand in between her fingers and pulled it out slowly.
Sans’ body tensed as his face head planted into the carpet. He could physically feel the laugh at the back of his throat. Never in his life did he think the back of his legs were this ticklish. Even though Toriel had stopped touching his leg, his body still twitched in anticipation. This was the worst??
She placed the strand of straw into her left paw, and bent down to grab another piece. This one was picked too short, she had to nudge it out. Using a single claw, she delicately but firmly dug the strand out and then pulled it free. It didn’t feel that simple to Sans, though.
A silent scream. His body tried to wiggle but couldn’t other than his shoulders. He was going to die. She placed another strand into her hand and started again.
“....eeah! A-heh hEEE!” well, that slipped out.
She paused for a second, but continued, knowing this needed to get done. “Well that wasn’t a very husky voice for somebody full of corn leaves” She smiled, and continued to dig in, placing the strands in her non dominant hand.
The dam was broken. He could no longer hold it in. “...e-geh-ehEEH!” She had to dig hard for a few pieces that were really stuck.
“EhaHAhehehe -EEP! -Hehegeh heheh hee!” His head shook back and forth. His arms continuously tried to lift himself on his elbows only to fall back down in ticklish defeat.
She was almost done. “Is there something wrong? You can tell me, I’m all ears.” she teased. She knew exactly what was wrong. Her nails scraped again on his other leg, picking at the last bits of straw.
He needed her to finish so he couldn’t think of a correct answer. Lie? “-ehehe iehit iehtches…”
“Oh? It itches? Here let me help with that.” she then began to use multiple claws to lightly scrape the back of his knees. He lost it.
“nnoooOEHAHA! Nahah!” his hand slapped on the floor in futile resistance as his shoulders continued to shake.
“Oh? What’s wrong? I thought this would help? Do you want me to scratch here?” her claws moved in a slightly neglected spot of his knees and around his leg bones.
Oh no. “no-heheh-nonohehahaHA!” A gasp “ Ahahre youhoho- o- duhn yehehet??”
Toriel reached over and placed the pile of leaves and straw near his head. “Here’s what I have so far.” Then leaned back and lightly scraped her nails against his knees, the fur of her paws doubling the sensation. “You said it itches, right? Is this helping?”
“ nonuhnoah-” He screamed like a baby-bones. “ehehehahatehehe-ieht-- tieheheCKleS!” he confessed. And snorted.
She smiled. “Oh, in that case, I’m done.” and got up, dusting off her paws and letting her glasses hang around her neck by the chain.
Curling up, sans paused from a moment of his giggling to realize that last few minutes were probably just teasing. Okay, now she really owed him.
She sat back on the couch, and patted the seat next to her as she picked up her knitting again. Taking full advantage, Sans joined her but held his feet up on the arm rest and used her lap as a pillow. She would have to knit around him like she were applying a bib if she wanted to get anything done. “Feeling better?”
Now that the plant material was removed and he was full of post-giggles, he really was in a better mood. “A-maizing”
She gave a snort and bopped her project on his forehead. “You’re always so corny”