#so he actually likes flowey and doesn't mind him unlike sans who might not be very fond of him.

[soaked-ghost]

their dynamic is so fucking funny because imagine being flowey, and u finally find someone u can relate to in terms of having no soul and seeing the world around u as a game...

... and that someone is sans.

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

What would push them far enough to kill?

Undertale Sans - Pretty much having really no other choice. Sans is not a killer, he's even one of the most empathetic monsters around. He's against any sort of violence and will always try to talk before anything else. If he has to kill, it's only after being cornered and all his previous attempts went unheard. It's the last solution.

Undertale Papyrus - Unlike what most people think, Papyrus could kill in self-defense or to protect a friend or his family. Very easily, actually, as he has a titanic force that could even knock Undyne's down if he really wanted to. But Papyrus chooses not to use it because his own strength scares him. But that doesn't mean he won't use it if the situation is very urgent and threatening. After all, it's a tactical advantage. No one would expect sweet Papyrus to transform into a warrior in two seconds, which can completely change the issue of a fight. So far, only Flowey is aware of it. It's a secret he intends to keep hidden.

Underswap Sans - Even if he doesn't like that, it happens he has to kill people as a police officer. It's a hard decision to make, with consequences, and being a guy who hates to deal with consequences, Blue will always choose another option if he has the choice. He's quite good at fighting and is often faster than his opponents which helps a lot to disarm someone before they can do more damages.

Underswap Papyrus - He could never. Honey is not a fighter, far from that, and with his anxiety, he could never find the strength to end a life. He's way too empathetic for this, and all sorts of violence makes him sick. Even cornered, he couldn't find the strength to fight back, trying to talk to the last second.

Underfell Sans - He hates that, but he will do it to protect himself or his brother. He killed in the past. He will certainly kill in the future. Red had been hurt too many times to give threatening people a chance because he knows determined people rarely change their mind. Killing before they can is the best he can do. He never kills before someone threatens him or a friend though.

Underfell Papyrus - Underground, he had no limits. Being a target, he didn't have any choice but to kill every person threatening him or his brother, out of fear they make things worse if he let them live another day. A lot of these kills are driven by past traumas of the rare people he trusted and they revealed themselves to be killers in disguise. He promised it would never happen again. On the Surface, he's more reluctant to kill, but he can't help the instincts to kick in once in a while. If he's alone and someone is threatening him, he attacks without remorse.

Horrortale Sans - No, thank you. He's done with all of this. The only reason he could kill is to protect his family, with no hesitation. But most of the time, he's chill. Oak wishes to never kill a human ever again, as it wakes up traumatic memories. He's not the survivor he was Underground anymore, he moved on.

Horrortale Papyrus - He can't kill, not anymore. Willow is deeply traumatized by what he had to do Underground, and the simple sight of blood can send him into a panic attack. He might hurt people in this state, but never to the point of killing them. He refuses to cross that line again. He never wants to hurt someone ever again.

Swapfell Sans - He's a cold-blooded killer. His LV is way too high for him to feel anything anymore when he's taking lives. Since he's still general of the royal guard, he has to kill people and execute some others. That's his job. He doesn't hesitate either to get rid of people that can be a threat to him or his brother. He hates his job, he hates he has to take lives to live a normal life, but what else can he do? His hands are tied.

Swapfell Papyrus - Oh, he can kill when the situation is very desperate and he has no other choice. He's not feeling that much remorse either. Rus grew up thinking murder is a normal way to solve conflicts so... When he can avoid it, he avoids it. If he has no choice, he has no choice. That's life.

Fellswap Gold Sans - He can kill in the blink of an eye. Wine thinks all people against him are possible threats and that it's better to eliminate the threat than wait for it to attack. He doesn't feel any remorse, as he has the higher LV of all skeletons. He's completely disconnected from reality, which makes him so dangerous. To defend himself or his brother, he can do everything. The only reason he's not in prison is because no one managed to arrest him and stay alive longer enough to reach the prison quite honestly.

Fellswap Gold Papyrus - He can defend himself when needed, but he's far from a killer. If he kills someone, it's purely by accident, trying to save himself or his family. He knows how to do it, Wine taught him to survive, but he could never do it willingly, which is mainly the problem and why Wine had to protect him so much Underground. Coffee is just born in the wrong universe.

[teddy-feathers]

Prompt from @moss-flowers-trees not exactly fulfilled.

Up to No Good

-

Now it was well known that across the multiverse there was no Papyrus lazier than Stretch. After all, most took him as nothing more than a 'swapped' personality of Classic Sans and his brother.

That was their - a collective term here referring in a general way to the entirety of the multiverse and all of the alternates - first mistake.

Because a swapped Papyrus was still a Papyrus and all Papyri enjoyed a good jape.

Their second mistake was, as always, underestimating his brother.

Blue was a Sans in the way Stretch was a Papyrus, and from day one had resented being underestimated. Credit where its do, no one could do shenanigans like a Sans, especially his brother. It was as admirable as it was terrifying.

The last was more of a fortuitous boon, luck if one really wanted to be so crass, then a mistake on anyone's part and that was no one spoiled the fun.

So to set the stage, to really understand just how priceless the current situation of a nightmare carnival mirror image of him frothing in rage, you have to go back to the beginning.

Not the very beginning - though any good story should perhaps start there - for the sake of time, argument, and a joke that will only grow stale for having to wait for it, let it be assumed for the moment that Stretch is the center of the universe the second he and his brother stumble into a room full of strikingly unfamiliar faces in some sort of mirror maze of 'what ifs' and 'could have beens'.

Papyrus - one of many now, always? Apparently. - zones out, empty sockets not giving away his unfocused attention as Not his Brother Sans reluctantly and with much prodding from a much more handsome and friendly reflection Papyrus explains something about Universal Causality. What homeowners insurance had to do with this bowl of Flowey Flakes they found themselves in he missed, but at some point someone had pointed out that they couldn't all share the same name without even the most friendly of them wanting to dust the others like some bad Highlander reboot.

His brother, Blue now - cleverly claiming the Sans favorite color as his own - nudges him from a lovely little daydream back into the existential nightmare that was the current universe, and Papyrus folds his fingers together and lifts them above his head tilting this way with that until his back pops. This is met with disgusted looks from many faces around the room - most of them his own - and he slumps back comfortably into his hoodie. "Guess I'll go by Stretch."

Several voices protest of course, because life from now on was going to be lived by committee.

"Well That is certainly... unique Orange Me." Says Putting a Positive Spin on This With All His Might Papyrus - or Creampuff as he'd agreeably allowed Edgelord Papyrus to dub him.

"It is Ridiculous is what it Is." Protests the version of his brother that had wandered into a Hot Topic and had never left. "It doesn't Fit with the Already Established naming convention!"

It was times like this that he - The Papyrus who was going by Stretch for Spite now - was glad he had never bothered with the magic expenditure that was eyelights. Meant no one could see him roll his eyes.

There was no Convention - no real pattern for the group as a whole or even just through the pairs. Classic Sans - named such for his outdated old man jokes no doubt - seems to notice all the same and huffs out a laugh. "gotta say buddy, kinda agree - name like that seems like a stretch."

Blue looks as cross as Stretch feels but it would take someone who knew him well to see it. He grabs onto Strectch's arm in a show of solidarity and asks "Brother, why did you choose such a Unique name?" The way he says unique stands in tonal counterpoint to how Creampuff had said it, and Stretch smiles down at his older brother discarding the first three responses that come to mind.

No need to make his brother worry, or get labeled as the Depressing Papyrus right out the door - even if none of this did matter. "Cause bro, I'm the tallest one here."

Of course his brother immediately catches on, lights going to stars in a way that brightens his expression both figuratively and literally. "Nyeh heh heh of Course! How very Astute of you Stretch!"

Immediately several voices raise in protest, and boy did his own voice sound worse when amplified and played back a half dozen times, but it was worth it when his Blues cuts across the din to add with sly earnestness "I Knew my brother was the Coolest!"

This of course started a whole new argument that derailed the last and the rest should have been history.

But of course some part of him just couldn't let it go.

A universal constant for Papyri apparently was a vicious strain of competitiveness. And while Stretch could have let the jape die, it was nice to have something - no matter how fake - to lord over the other Oh So Talented versions of himself.

Literally in some cases.

Creampuff, if not a Perfect host, was unfailing in his attempts to fulfill that responsibility while the whole living arrangement situation was dealt with, that when Stretch's insomnia got the better of him he'd inevitably pop into the kitchen just to grab something off the top shelf for his better mirror's ungodly hours Breakfast Prep.

This was particularly satisfying as Creampuff apparently put everything up on the very top shelves and with the whole lot of them living there, something inevitably ended up pushed to the very back that he just Had to have. It was child's play - minus the murderer possessed doll - to time things that Stretch's arm could slip over his and pull done the item before he had a chance to grab it. Add that to some casual comment about the perks of being tall and...

It was inevitable that Edgy Mc My Chemical Romance would catch wind of the ongoing shenanigans. And unlike Creampuff who tried hard and was generally likable despite his Arrogance - another trait shared by those who shared his face . Edgelord didn't have a redeeming bone in his body. Made him insufferable... and a particularity sweet target for tomfoolery.

So when at some dinner or another that they all agreed to go to on occasion after they'd gotten their own places, and Edge once more started in about how obviously he was the Superior Specimen of the Skeleton Species, well Stretch wasn't going to take that lying down.

Or, well, he was laying on the Fell - the call sign they'd agreed to for their universe - Bro's couch. But he had lifted his hand and said in a deliberately matter of fact dry tone, "Not the tallest though."

It was like he had murdered their damn cat (who was a friendly surface beasty... if you didn't mind being considered a scratching post). Edge sputtered in rage and had dragged him upright by force, while Stretch uncooperative hug heavily like a rag doll in his unphased grip.

If Creampuff was the Handsome Papyus than Edge was the Strong Papyrus, it would have been easy to hate him just for that if he didn't so obligingly make himself as unlikable as he had. Of course with a little expended magic to give his brother the Babybones Look that worked every time, and Blue's quick intervention with a level and a bit of slight of hand - the fight was diverted and the Japery continued.

Perhaps the most agreeable of the versions that had clowned their way out of the Multiverse Machine that day was the one that went by Mutt. Agreeable in the sense he kept his head down, mouth shut, and kept away from all of them. That could be because his brother was annoying enough for the both of them, but Stretch thought an argument could be made that Mutt didn't consider himself a Papyrus at all - he'd already had the moniker long before the pageant had begun afterall.

Black combined the Worst of Stretch's brother and the Best - if that quality could even be ascribed to him - of Edge. A menace of a monster who honestly came across as the smallest of the Sans in a more convincing way than Stretch was the tallest of the Papyri... Not that anyone had dared mention it to him of course. Stretch was saving the observation for a special occasion.

For whatever reason the Tiny Tyrant had taken an exception to the idea that he was just the evil twin of Blue and went out of his way to be exceptionally petty about finding ways to make himself out to be the better version of his older brother.

Honestly it was a bother and Stretch tried to stay out if it since Blue Obviously could take care of himself but for whatever reason Black seemed to take Stretch's height as a challenge as much as any Papyrus... With the sole exception of Mutt.

Trying to recreate the circumstances of Edge's measuring contest between the Stretch and his own brother during a holiday social backfired spectacularly into Mutt curling even more into himself and Stretch - more than a little tipsy - actually challenging Mutt to see who could slump the most.

Mutt had shrunk so fast into his coat that his skull had almost vanished amidst the fluff like a turtle and Stretch had laughingly declared him the victor, pleasing Black and being the last time for years that anyone bothered with his height.

So now onto the present situation.

Edge had been so pleased when he ambushed him and his brother in the grocery store, smug about his six inch heeled boots and his mastery thereof, dying to show up Blue who also had an insatiable love of the damn feet death traps and he had turned to ice his cake by pointing out that with these he could be the tallest of the Papyri...

That annoying smirk whipped clean off as he met sockets - exactly level - with Stretch who didn't do more then smile back because this was the joke of the lifetime.

"How!" He choaks, the sweetest music to hear.

Stretch leans in even closer to whisper conspiratorially "I'm standing up straight."

This only makes Edge froth with rage and stomp off without ever noticing that Stretch had been standing on a divider on the floor giving him a physical lift along with the rise to his spirits when Edge's dropped like a man into a river with cement shoes.

Blue laughs, mood doing a 180 as quickly as Edge's. "You should have told him the Truth Stretch!"

"Mmm?" He hums curiously, moving to drap himself back atop the already half full cart. The other versions of himself were fun to get the goat of but they were exhausting even in small doses. "What that this place's floor is poorly designed? But he was being insufferable."

"Nope," His older brother says in an insufferable tone of his own - oh no, not one of his 'great' jokes. Those were the worst. "That the reason you're always going to be taller than the others is that you're always Up to No Good!"

Stretch groans and covers his skull with his arms, pushing the cart away with more vigor than he'd shown anything all day. "Title drops are the Height of bad comedy."

Of course that only makes Blue laugh harder.