Chapter Text
Papyrus surveyed the house with satisfaction, and nodded. It would do. For now, at least. It was certainly missing any personality, and it would need a couple of new decorations, but it was serviceable.
He'd take it.
"THANK YOU, GRILLBY," he said, carefully extracting his hand from the fire monster's grip. Papyrus beamed up at the kind man, reaching up to pat his arm to show his appreciation. "WE CAN TAKE IT FROM HERE."
It was hard to read Grillby's expression, considering that he was made entirely out of fire, but Papyrus somehow go the impression that he was raising an eyebrow.
"your brother will be... here soon...?" he said, cuing Papyrus into the fact that he hadn't gone completely with his little tale from before.
It wasn't a lie, necessarily. Just... not the whole truth, which he thought that he could be excused from, considering the circumstances. Sans had told him that this house was theirs, technically, but he had also cautioned that other monsters might not see it that way. Papyrus thought it best to take some cautious measures while he still had the chance.
(He could trust Sans - he knew he could, it was written into his bones. But Grillby, as kind and gentle as he was, still had to be considered an unknown.)
(That, at the very least, was something that the brothers shared.)
"YES!" Papyrus said, nodding. "I HAVE NO DOUBT. HE MAY BE A LAZYBONES, BUT HE IS NEVER FAR BEHIND ME."
In fact, he could hear Sans sniggering to himself at what he probably believed was the accidental pun that Papyrus just delivered. He knew that Sans was trying to stay out of his way right now, though, so he would allow his brother to think that he hadn't immediately noticed Sans following him.
Grillby surveyed him for a moment longer, but then let out a whispy sigh, his breath turning to steam in the winter air.
"you will be alright... until then....?"
"ABSOLUTELY!" Papyrus said firmly. It was nice that Grillby was worried about him, but he knew what he was doing! He was Papyrus, he had everything under control!
Grillby nodded in understanding, and stepped away. He hesitated for a second, clearly uncomfortable with the thought of leaving a child on their own like this, but he finally waved, and started heading back to his Bar.
Papyrus watched him go, waving back cheerfully, and pretended to be surprised when Sans popped up next to him, smiling in that sly way of his.
"well? what do you think?" Sans said, gesturing to the house they were both standing in front of.
Their house. Their home. It might not be that way quite yet, but Papyrus was sure that he could make it work with just a little bit of effort.
"I CAN WORK WITH THIS," he said, his hands on his hips.
They didn't have much. Papyrus had one bag on him, filled with things that he didn't remember owning and held no value to him as of yet, and Sans didn't have anything at all. But they could make this work.
Papyrus wasn't scared, this time. He knew that they could work together to make this place a home.