It had been several years since their parents had passed and since they'd been shoved and trapped in the underground, he'd scrounge for food in garbage cans and the back alleyways of newer buildings while his brother went to school, in his time as a stray he had learned several things, all of witch he kept to himself about. But at the moment, he had bigger problems than keeping secrets, he just needed to get out of this alive and he was low on magic and even lower on time.

"Come out, come out wherever you are, brat!" A monster said, one of the things he'd learned was that the 'street rats' would congregate into groups, these groups were usually referred to as gangs. There were three prominent gangs in the city he would scrounge in, they'd often get in turf wars and those were hard but there were few who hadn't yet professed their loyalty to a group, often affectionately referred to as 'strays', he was a-stray figuratively and literally.

"He's not here! I told you he went in that other alley, come-on!" One of the other monsters in their gang said, the gruff growl was heard as the footsteps walked away, Sans let out a breath he didn't remember holding as he snapped his fingers and teleported out of the alley and down the street, that was as much magic he could use that day, he sighed tiredly and trudged home with a bag of food in his grasp. One of the shopkeepers was nice enough to give him scraps every time he came in so they had a good way to get food, the only problem was that getting there involved passing through all three group's territories, this was basically just sending off a flare that would spell out 'I'm weak, kill me' in the sky. Even so, he was gathering a reputation as he hadn't yet been caught or killed, so if he ever did decide to join one he'd have the rep to go up near the top straight from the beginning, he'd also gotten a nickname: Blue Fire.

"Great, I'm almost home." Sans muttered as he saw the familiar rickety shack in the distance, he pondered for a moment why that nickname fit him. Maybe it was because of how he'd flicker from place to place during a fight, making him almost invincible. Maybe it was because of how his eyes would snap a bright blue color whenever he used his power, or maybe it was just because he'd teleport around his enemies and light their clothes on fire while they were searching for him, who knows.

"Ah, home sweet home." Sans muttered as he heard the familiar screeching wheels of his brother's schools, he'd taught his brother to snatch some of the higher grade books or math things so he could learn a bit to, maybe then when he was older he could get a job and feed them- His thoughts were cut off by the loud creaking of the door, and there stood Papyrus, warm smile over his cheeks as Sans held the large bag in his grasp, a few drops of grease dripping from the bottom of the bag.

"Hey Paps, how was school?" Sans asked as he set the bag down on the ground, their home consisted of basically one room. He had the stained mattress that lie on the floor along with a tattered rug he'd found on the floor, that and a small shelf where on the bottom they'd put Sans clothes, second up was Papyrus's clothes. On the third were all books they had to return and the top shelf consisted of a section for two daggers, both of witch belonged to Sans, a section for any food they could save incase they couldn't get any for a few days and some old jugs they'd fill with water from a small broken-down fountain that wouldn't work unless you unscrewed the top just the right amount, Sans smiled at his brother as he grabbed two disposable cups that were definitely not going to be deposed of anytime soon.

"I made two new friends! They said they wanted to come over sometime..." Papyrus said the last bit a bit quieter, Sans dropped one of the cups as he looked at his brother with wide eyes, he then sighed and sat on the floor, he poured himself and his brother a cup of water each as his brother quietly pulled out two half eaten hamburgers from the bag, he gave himself and his brother each one of them hamburgers.

"Sans... Why can't I bring friends over here?" Papyrus asked before taking a large bite of the food, Sans also bit into his, using the time to think up a response.

"Well, if you were ever worried about one of your friends, would you go tell an adult?" Sans asked, Papyrus nodded, obviously not understanding where this was going.

"Well, if an adult found out about this..." He gestured to their small yet nice home.

"Than they might, with the best intentions, try to put us in an adoption home." Sans said, taking another large bite of the burger, his brother swallowed.

"But what's wrong with that?" Papyrus asked as he finished the food, grabbing a handful of soggy fries from the bag and setting them atop a small paper-plate.

"Well, at those places they segregate based on age and that would mean we'd be separated, you don't wanna be separated, right?" Sans asked, he already knew the answer. Papyrus's pupils dilated as fear was written across his features, he shook his head violently as Sans smiled, he was relatively okay on food as his depleted magic levels began to rise given the filling meats in the food. He'd never tell Papyrus but he was usually constantly hungry as there was never enough food for the both of them, he'd save the extra for his brother's lunch, he started to wrap up the food when he noticed his brother's eyes blossoming orange tears at the edges of the pale white of his bone, oh dear.

"S-Sans?" Papyrus sniffled, Sans opened his arms and his brother quickly lunged into the familiar embrace, their souls beating magic filling the room as the colors in the magic they emanated curled around each other.

"Shusssshhh, it's okay." Sans hushed his brother as small sobs wracked his form, he hadn't meant to scare his brother that badly but on the bright side his brother wouldn't ever even think about bringing over friends, he held his brother for a few minutes as his soul's rhythmic beat calmed the younger.

"Here, why don't you get settled in bed while I pack up the food, okay bud?" Sans asked as he dried his brother's tangerine tears, Papyrus nodded and they separated soon after. Papyrus climbing under the quilts Sans had sewn from old clothing others had thrown out, Sans packed up the food and stood on his toes to put away the food, he chugged his water before putting the cups and large jugs away on their perspective spots, he quickly shrugged off his shoes and slightly-to-large-jacket before climbing into bed.

"Goodnight Sans." Papyrus wished, Sans smiled at the sweetness of his brother's voice as they cuddled close, it was getter to conserve heat this way, plus both just liked the feeling of being close to the other and the calm beating of their souls calmed them.

"Night Paps." Sans muttered as Papyrus started to drift off to sleep, his brother cuddling into his chest as Sans warmth surrounded him, Sans sighed as he himself began to fall into the dark clutches of his dreams, and to be honest, he welcomed the escape.

(SORRY I'M SO LATE! I WAS TRAVELING AND I FORGOT MY COMPUTER!

While I'm here, THANK YOU FOR 1.3K READS! To be honest I don't think I've ever gotten that much on a story so thank you all for reading, please remember to comment as it always keeps me going and if you have a suggestion to something feel free to post it in the comments! Thank you again!)