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Chapter Text

No one ever looked twice when they saw you walking around Snowdin town - or any other part of the underground, for that matter. They always just saw the cloak and assumed you were related to that ferryman that traveled along the waters that connected all these caves together. And, if they got really curious, you tended to look monster enough to be convincing: with your handmade horns and furry, elbow-length, clawed gloves, nobody could tell the difference; not like many of them knew what humans were supposed to look like anyway. And that was all that mattered at first - just trying to make it by without detecting suspicion. You'd learned how to blend in, how to fit with the respective atmospheres of each region of the underground. You were invisible, and that kept you alive - stars knows what would happen to you if you were found out. You'd heard the murmurings among the monsters plenty of times, the hopeful wishes of "Just one more," and "We wont have to wait long now."

When you'd first fell down here nearly three years ago, it hadn't taken you long at all to realize that everyone here was out to get you. They all wanted the same thing: all of them trying to take away your soul. It was their key to freedom, their way out of these dark, damp, cramped caves. From the oldest adult to the smallest child, everyone knew the story of why they were trapped below, of how there was a war, and how seven human mages had once cast a spell, sealing the monsters away in the darkness. And it had taken this poor, determined race centuries, but they almost had all they needed in order to break the barrier that held them prisoner here. All they needed was one more human soul. The death of seven humans was a small price to pay for the freedom of a whole race, at least in the eyes of the monsters. And, you could understand them, because in the grand scheme of things, it was, really.

But you were a coward. You were selfish, and you didn't want to die. There was so much to see in life - it didn't seem fair that you should pay the price for the screw-up's of your ancestors. You wanted to be able to experience all those things people considered 'highlights' of their existences: like getting married, or graduating college, having kids, and retiring. You had the same dreams as all the rest of the monsters down here, so why couldn't you live with them, too? Why did you have to die? You weren't a criminal, or a thief, and you didn't lie and cheat other people to get things to work your way... at least for the most part. You'd had to fib a few times before in order to keep yourself safe down here, had to lie about where you were born and in which sections of the underground you'd grown up in. Thankfully they'd bought your lies, apparently moving around wasn't so uncommon in the underground. People in the city of NewHome often got restless and decided to branch out, like Snowdin's locally-famous skeleton brothers. According to some of the townsfolk, they'd just showed up one day - no one really knew from where though. But they seemed nice enough, and brought amusement and good humor with them wherever they went.

Snowdin was nice, a good place to just exist. Here, it was hard to ever feel threatened; the snow always brought this tranquil feeling over the town when it fell. It seemed to make people friendlier too. There wasn't a person here who would ever send an odd look your way, and you felt welcome. As time had passed and you'd gotten more acquainted with the community, they'd gotten more acquainted with you. All knew you by name and vice-versa. You could not only make idle chat to all your neighbors, but hold meaningful conversations with them. That may not seem like much to anyone else, but to you, it meant the world. You'd been lonely on the surface, and widely ignored by those you'd once called 'friends' and 'family.' Life was better here, easier. You had a community that cared about your well-being just as much as you cared about theirs. Your love for all these people pushed you through the days, and it helped give you purpose.

But... lately, you'd been feeling a low guilt every time you looked at all those people. All of your wonderful conversations made you feel terrible. All their smiling faces brought you secret anguish. You felt like a liar. You felt like a criminal - a wolf among sheep, a monster among men.
You wanted to reveal yourself, to tell them to take you to the king. Your wish for a peaceful existence had been replaced by an undying LOYALTY to monsterkind. You wanted to see all those happy faces shining in the sunlight, experiencing all the things this vast universe had to offer. Of all the people in the world, they deserved freedom the most. It felt so wrong to keep yourself hidden like this... you couldn't stand bringing them this sorrow. You didn't want to be the reason as to why they never saw the stars.
So, that's why, with a lot of courage and mental strength, you'd went to city hall last week, and asked if the mayor could hold a town meeting today.

Chapter Text

- - - T H R E E W E E K S E A R L I E R . . . - - -

It's been a long day, longer than most it seemed. You were so tired, muscles aching and stomach cramping - which also occasionally gave out a loud growl - you trudged your way to Grillby's, feet dragging in the heavy, wet slush that covered Snowdin today. Most days it was more powdery, but the past week... It's like the weather didn't even want to try. Not that you could blame it much though, it was a dreary time of the year. That after-Christmas kind of slump. Only fitting it match the mood, right? You gave out a grunt as you stumbled in the wet soup, trying your best not to stub your hoof on some of the particularly large rocks hidden in the slightly-thawed snow-ice mush. You much preferred the powder, it was easier to walk in. If you could wear normal shoes you'd be saying otherwise, but you'd stopped doing that a long, long time ago.

You were always the crafty type. Maybe not the most gifted in art, but you were clever and knew how to make a few things. You once had friends who did cosplay, and you'd been to conventions once or twice. You'd see things people would make, they would see what you helped your friends create, you'd exchange information. On and on. Snowdin was the first area you explored when you fell down, and one of the first monsters you ever ran across was those odd deer-folk that always had garbage all tangled up in their horns. And hey, that didn't look too hard to replicate. Horns could be made out of a lot of things. When you realized you'd have to look like you actually belonged here, it was the first creature that came to mind. Simple enough, and you could get away with walking on two legs... or rather, hooves. You decided you'd fashion yourself some antlers, and you made yourself hooves out of an old pair of high heels you found in the dump. With enough work, wearing them made you look like you had that extra joint deer did in their feet... probably the proudest piece of your getup.
What still looked human of you, you covered in a cloak and hid your face for a while. As time went on, you found a gaudy-looking couch lodged in the rocks of waterfall, the thing covered in shaggy, light colored fur. And like any sensible person, you cut it to pieces, putting it out of it's ugly misery, while also procuring the perfect thing to cover up your legs, and the seam where your shoes met the rest of your leg. You went on to make arm pieces with what was left over, and a sort of drape that fit around your shoulders and hung on your collar in a way that looked nearly natural with some trimming and fitting. You made yourself a little cubby-hole up in Waterfall, far above the main walkways, close to where you fell.

You spent so many days and weeks perfecting that outfit. Stealing paints and art supplies and whatever else you could get your grubby hands on in order to make yourself one of them. You still remember the proud look you had on your face as you'd tried on the whole thing in front of a cracked mirror in the dump. You looked legit. Like the two-legged goat guy from that "Narnia" movie you once saw, except as a deer... and less... awkward looking. With the right styling, it nearly blended into your natural skin, and you could go around still wearing your very normal, very human face without causing suspicion. But still, you often kept the cloak hiding your face. You just never knew, you know? And beneath it you wore a stolen sweater to hide the more human-ish bits, often accompanying it with a skirt of sorts since it was easiest to wear with the bulky fake fur around your legs. Pants were almost too restricting, and moving around while they were squeezing your legs made you "look constipated," as that yellow Monster Kid had once said. You didn't really prefer skirts, but you took what you could get since some clothing options were too suspicious, as you'd found by trial and error. You took what you could get... Just like you took what you could get with your shoes.

You gave a gasp as the hard plastic of your hooves suddenly slipped out from under you, back hitting the cold wetness as your ass fell on a hidden patch of ice.
Stupid. Cursed. Slush.
You gave a wince as you slowly rolled over, letting out a gasping string of curses while already knowing that you were gonna wake up with a nasty bruise on your thighs. Too lost in your own thoughts and you slipped. You hadn't fell in a long time... kind of reminded you of when you first tried to wear those things. It brought out a pained chuckle.

"OH MY GOSH!"
Ah, fuck. "Y/N? IS THAT YOU???" Ugh. You really had to have a witness for every embarrassing moment, didn't you? It was always the ones where your monster façade faltered too. A real deer monster would've thought you were born yesterday with the way you have to walk in this nasty ice-soup.
"Nooooooooo..." you groaned, trying to dismiss the attention of your witness. Not very convincing, you noted, as you heard the gentle clank of bones bounding to where you lay in the slush like a sad, dead fish.
"ARE YOU INJURED??? I CAN GET THE DOGS!!"

Paps, excitable as always, was once again starting to blow the situation out of proportion like you falling was going to be on MTT's next tv episode. But it was always in that sweet way. Never obnoxious. After a moment you rolled around, hood drooping in your eyes so that all you could see were the boney legs covered by that black thing he wore underneath his iconic armor. Like tights... but for a skeleton. Perhaps even he got cold in this weather.

"I'm fine," you responded after a moment, "truly am, but thank you anyway, hero." And with a grin, you reached for the hand you knew would already be extended towards you. With a firm grasp, he hoisted you back on your feet. "You Ought To Be More Careful!" He said, lowering his voice to a slightly more appropriate volume. "You're Really Going To Get Yourself Hurt One Of These Days... *GASP* Imaging If You Had BROKEN A BONE! Such A Terrible Sensation! Take It From Someone Made Of Bones!"
You gave a snort and a weak flex from your fur and sweater covered arms. "Come ooooooon, I'm a big faun! I'm stronger than I look! Me and these guns can take a little tumble in the snow. I've got all this... fur and flesh and junk to keep me safe. If anything I'd say you're the one that needs to be careful, Papyrus. As you said, you've only got bones, yet you trapeze those obstacle courses the captain puts up for you all the time, haha! I don't think she'd be happy to see you with a leg snapped in half." You gave a playful jab to the chest piece of the armor, in response he let out that adorable dorkish laugh of his. That "NYEH-HEH-HEH!"

"You Doubt Me Too Much, Little Deer! I Drink My Milk!" You snorted at that, and you could see him giving you that cheeky grin he sometimes lets out when he thinks nobody's looking. He really does take after Sans with the joking thing, although he would die before he admits it.
"Yeah? You telling me you can eat and actually taste stuff?" He gave a dramatic, offended look. "OF COURSE I CAN! Did You Really Think I Could Make Spaghetti Without Tasting It!?" You stuck your tongue out from under the cloak. "Yeah!" "W-WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'yEaH!'" He mocked. You playfully spun on your feet, dancing around like a little kid as you took on a sing-song voice. "I bet it tastes like boogers!" You squealed with mischievous delight.

Oh, he was having none of that.
You were swept off your feet and hauled over an armored shoulder. "Nobody Insults My Culinary Delights And Gets Away With It! Tonight, You Dine With Sans And I!" Everything sort of froze in that moment. Eating? In someone's house? That's... that's kind of personal. You hadn't done anything like that since you were on the surface. You were good friends with Papyrus and got along with his brother pretty well, but even then... this is... odd? No, not odd for Papyrus to do but it just felt wrong. A little too close to home. In the comfort of someone's home they'd be... staring. At you. A lot. What if they saw through the disguise? You were very convincing but it wasn't a perfect outfit, it never fully was. the details always looked a little off if you were a little too close.

"I... I have an order I called in from Grillby's, actually, Pap. I can't tonight, I don't want it to... go to waste?"
He tossed you a disproving glare and waved his free hand, still continuing to walk.
"My Brother Is Over There. He Can Just Eat It And Pay You Back!"
You felt a bit uneasy, but this was Papyrus... a sweetheart. He didn't even know what a human looked like despite talking about capturing one all the time. It wouldn't hurt to let loose for a night and just enjoy a meal from a friend. Besides, it's not often you get to eat for free.

"...Alriiiiiight, fine... Lead the way!" His walk suddenly had more bounce in it.
"Now That's More Like It! NYEH-HEH! I Promise You... THIS SHALL BE THE BEST SPAGHETTI YOU'VE EVER EATEN IN YOUR WHOLE MONSTER LIFE!"

Your gut sank a little. Monster life. That made you feel a little sour these days when people brought up your 'monster-ness.' Ugh. You shouldn't be thinking about that, it's time for food!

The good mood was dashed for just a moment as you pictured what it would be like if Paps knew what you were.

Chapter Text

It had been a while since you were in this kind of situation?
How long had it been since you last sat at a dinner table that wasn’t your own? …Not counting Grillby’s, that is. Or the resort they had out in Hotland. But… just a genuine home cooked meal with friends or family?

Sometimes it really amazes you how quickly time seems to fly by when you live such a quiet life of your own. Or at least, as quiet as life could get for a human in a land full of monsters. You were being stubborn to admit it to yourself, but it was so nice and refreshing to have this kind of experience again.

Sitting at their little polished kitchen table, you couldn’t help the creeping smile that was stealing upon your features as you watched Papyrus hum some sort of jaunty tune to himself, cooking away with a sort of innocent joy. He moved with a fluid grace, tossing, chopping, stirring as though he prepared this same meal hundreds of times… Honestly, it was like watching some sort of elaborate dance. Kind of like those dinner shows you’d see in fancy restaurants where they prepared your food in front of you.
It was… Impressive yet very goofy in that way papyrus always manage to be.

You turned your gaze away to look back at the table, and to the paper plate with a rock on it. It was some sort of smooth-looking stone with googly eyes glued messily on it. For some reason, there was a large pile of those rainbow ice cream sprinkles surrounding it… Like a mini ball-pit for rocks… If that’s a thing.
There were a lot of decoration choices in the house of the skeleton brothers that you found a little odd and amusing. Like that incredibly tall sink that papyrus was using to fill his dinged up silver pot. Or the stray sock on the floor that probably had 30 sticky notes on it. The funky carpet choice was also worth noting, and so was the big framed picture of the bone on the wall that you could see if you were sitting on the couch.

That one in particular made you snort.
What is that even the equivalent of for humans? Isn’t that like having a picture of an arm on your wall? Or a leg?… Now that you think about it, that actually sounds a little inappropriate.

In truth, even though you wouldn’t put it past Sans to have something of that caliber on the wall, just judging by his personality and what you did actually know about him. But Papyrus was a bit too virtuous of a person to keep décor like that up. At least, in your opinion. Then again, in retrospect, you didn't really know much about anyone in Snowdin. Sure, they were kind of like neighbors, and they were friendly enough, but... there weren't many who would probably consider you a friend.

With that thought, you turned your attention back towards the kitchen, watching as the skeleton proceeded to haphazardly toss a box of noodles into the pot… While they were still in the box. Suddenly, you really were actually doubting Papyrus’s famous cooking skills.

“Do you uh… need help with that?” You chimed from your seat at the table. He turned to you, unfazed but wearing a joyous grin.

"Oh? You Know How To Cook, My Friend?"

Eh, a bit, yeah. "I live alone, so I cook for myself often. I'm familiar with spaghetti if you'd like... not that I'd think you're incapable or anything!"
A short pause proceeded after the words left your mouth, you'd meant for them to sound friendly, but that was actually probably a little mean... ugh. Papyrus hardly missed a beat, though.

"I'd Be DELIGHTED To Have Another Cook In The Kitchen!" He exclaimed. "So Often I'm The Only One In This House Who Tries To Cook Anything! I'd Love To See What You Bring To The Table!" There it was, another unintentional pun, you noted.
"I Remember Sans Once Made Some Odd Thing He Called A Quiche... It's One Of The Few Times I've Ever Seen Him Make Anything Outside Of Toast! Or Cereal!"

Papyrus paused, making a funny sort of face, "I... Have No Clue Where He Got The Recipe Though. I've Never seen Anything Like It before."

Absentmindedly, you rested your gloved hand on your face and mumbled. "It's a Greek dish."
"...Gree-Que? I'm... Not Familiar With That??"

Realizing the words that'd slipped out, you sort of jerked yourself more into a proper sitting position. "Er- it's... a type of human culture. I read about it once. In a cookbook. From the dump... that I lost. Unfortunately." You awkwardly cough and ramble on. "Anyway it's something humans in a part of the world usually eat for breakfast."

He gasped, now looking quite impressed. "Little Fawn! You Know Human Recipes!?"
"Yeah, a few. Spaghetti is a human recipe... although I'm sure you knew that." You see him nod from your peripheral vision. "It comes from a place called 'Italy,' so does Pizza and lasagna... and a lot of those other pasta dishes you like to make."

He's musing to himself, hand on his chin as he looks up. You think now would be a good time to go start helping him. The pot is starting to boil over, and the pressure on your human knowledge was getting to you. He sort of just... lets you do your thing with the pot. Watching as you turn down the heat a little and remove the soggy carboard bits from the boiling water. Watching as you toss some salt in there, and stir gently, instead of his rapid stirring he was doing to the noodles while they were still raw.
"Your Cooking Ways Are Different?" He sort of states and questions. "They Aren't Quite As Passionate As Undyne's??"

The corners of your mouth peak out from the hood, and he watches as your lips curve into a smile.
"Cooking can be passionate in many different ways, my friend. Some passion is fiery and fierce, others are slow, gentle even. Sometimes you have to be gentle when cooking if you want the right result. Otherwise you end up with blackened, inedible lumps."
He leans over a little.
You pick a noodle from the pot, seeing if it's ready yet. Nearly. You ask him to stir the pot as you were while you make the sauce. As you both go about it, he starts talking once more, cheerfully.

"How Many Human Cultures Are There, Do You Know, Y/N? Do They All Have Unique Foods?"
You pause, looking over your shoulder.
"I Remember In School They Said The Surface Was Very Big. That Humans Had Some Ridiculously Large Population Numbers, And That The Amount Of Space there Is On The Surface Is Incomprehensible... Hundreds Of Times Larger Than The Underground!!"

You chuckle at his excitement. "Try... millions of times larger, Paps."
He whips his head around and gawks at you. "NO WAY!!" "Haha! Yeah way! The Underground... on a human map of the world, it would be barely less than a spec. We are contained under one mountain... and there are hundreds of mountains out there. The world... it's absolutely massive. So many different lands, environments... snow, dessert, forest, oceans, lakes, flat grassy lands... all divided into different countries... kind of like how Snowdin is separate from Waterfall. Except... they're so much larger. And certain humans rule over certain lands. Like How Asgore rules the Underground. Except... there's so many humans in the world that the leaders don't know everyone like how Asgore does. There are over 7 Billion humans on the planet, did you know?"

He looks absolutely fascinated, you can tell the numbers are blowing his mind.
"That's... It's So Many! So Much! There Must Be More Recipes Than Can Fit Into An Entire Library!"
"More than can fit into a hundred libraries the size of the Capitol!"
"Oh MY GOD!!!" He practically squeals, and you laugh in delight as you bring the finished sauce to where he's standing.
"Can You Imagine!? All The Things We Have Yet To Try!!! Why... I Ought To Have A Massive Kitchen One Day So I Can Try Everything!"

You chuckle as he lets you take control of the noodles and sauce from here, as you turn the noodles down again, and turn the sauce up so that it's heated properly. No meat in it, but there was cheese, spices, and of course, plenty of tomatoes. It would definitely make due.

"One day, you will!" A smile holds your face for just a moment... "We'll all be out of here one day!"
"If Only We Could Find One More Human First!" ...Your soul plummets, and the smile falls away, hidden in your hood. You'd... forgotten about that. For just a moment. "Y-yeah..."

A silence falls over the room, the bubbling of the sauce filling the silence.

"...Say, uh... weird question, Papyrus." He looks at you inquisitive as he gets out the plates. "Yes, Friend?"
...
"What... what would you do if you actually found a human. And they were nice? A good human? Would you still give them to the king? To Undyne?" Perhaps your words sounded a little scared and desperate there, but stars, you couldn't help it.

"Well! I Would Think That I Still Would, Right? It's What We're Supposed To Do... Although... I've heard Rumors. That The Humans Who Come To Asgore Never Come Back. Sans Told ME It's Because The King Leads The Humans Home, but..."
His voice gets very quiet, just for a moment
A tad too serious for Papyrus

"...i've heard some say that the humans never even make it past the barrier..."

Your blood runs cold.

"I... I'd like to think it's not true, but..."
He seems to have trouble continuing the thought.
You're not really sure if you want him too.

With a gentle pat to his arm, you silently make the plates. You hand him one, topped with sauce and seasonings. The mood seems to lighten a little when you both sit down, and he twirls your cobined creation in his fork, contemplative.
"You Know! I've Never Actually Had Spaghetti Before! I Just Make It Because Sans And Undyne Seem To Like It!"
You snort at that.

You fill your own fork, taking a bit, you speak with a full mouth.
"I guess today's your lucky day!"

Chapter Text

You were happy to say this dish wasn't a failure. Though it was off to a rocky start with Papyrus's overzealous nature, the dish was salvaged, and quite nicely at that. Sure, the noodles tasted slightly like cardboard, and the sauce had somehow gotten a little burnt in parts, but it wasn't bad by any means. Just room for improvement. As you quietly ate another forkful, you contemplated the idea of gifting the monster across from you some recipes of your own. Perhaps he'd benefit from having multiple people teach him how to cook? He'd probably be interested, at least. Cooking may not be his life's dream, but it seemed enough of a hobby to where he might want to try new things at some point.

You noticed he seemed to hyper-fixate on recipes, though you weren't sure if that was by choice or lack of options. You know for a fact the first thing he learned to make was that dinosaur oatmeal stuff with the egg-shaped marshmallows in it. Not because you ever tried it, but because you heard people talk about it for a while after. Papyrus invited a lot of people over for food, and they tended to talk about what he made.

You never really knew why his culinary skills were worth that much talk back then, but perhaps if he's tried to cook all of his dishes like he started this one, then... yeah. The talking made a lot more sense now. You hoped the ill-advised cooking wasn't also the reason he never received letters... That would be kinda shitty of the Snowdin folks.

But then again, you couldn't expect monsters to always be nice. Sure, most were a bit kinder than humans, but if you were being honest with yourself it wasn't hard to realize you'd romanticized that fact, and that you held the monsters up to higher standards because of that.
Perhaps that was also an underlying prejudice? Racism?

Ah, to hell with that. Those would be shower thoughts for later. No need to ruin a dinner with oddball inquiries.

You paused in your eating for a moment to look at your companion. He hadn't said anything the whole meal yet, a fact that hadn't really hit you until now.

"So? What do you think of it?" You pushed up your hood a little so you could see his face better. It had... an unreadable expression? A... good(?) one, you think?
It wasn't until he fully lifted his skull away from his plate that you could see his true expression, one of quiet, teary joy. Like the mothers who wipe a tear away at a wedding or something. Ok, so... really good I guess. Nice.
"This!! This Is Amazing, Y/N!" A literal tear ran down his cheek. He can cry???
"I Didn't Know That This Is What Spaghetti Really Tasted Like! I'm Astounded! This! This Friendship Meal! I Feel I Have Learned So Much!! I Can't Wait To Show Sans This! I Think He's Really Going To Like This Batch!!" Oh Sans... what a trouper. You saw what that fridge looked like. No wonder he eats at Grillby's so often, it was kinda making sense now.

For his sake at least, you would be sure this tasted nice. It was like a solid 7/10 pile of spaghet.
After a moment you finally replied, "That's great! I'm happy you like it!"
Any you were, you were happy.

"OH!" He gushed, "You Should TOTALLY Come With Me On My Next Cooking Night With Undyne!!"
You coughed suddenly.
"U-Undyne? Oh, no, hehe, I couldn't intrude... it's a personal lesson, isn't it? That's what you told me. Plus erm... I'm not really as amazing of a cook as it's cracked out to be, I just know enough to feed myself, really..."

The thought of being around, one on one, with the captain of the guard was utterly fucking terrifying for you. Now THERE was someone who ACTUALLY knew what a human looked like, and running into her is something that's a big "hell no" on your list of favorite activities to do.
It's not that she's... bad. But you knew she hated humans... REALLY hated humans. Hah, and if she found out you'd been posing as a monster for, what, three years? Oh...

She'd definitely slaughter you.

"I'm fine, Papyrus, really. But thank you... for the offer."

He leaned over his plate, cheery.
"Oh, I Insist!! I Feel You'd Get Along So Well With Her! You Remind Me Of Her Friend Alphys In Some Ways!!"
He seemed to pause a moment, putting a hand to his chin as he pondered. "...Perhaps... You'd Be Good Friends With BOTH! That Would be So! Cool!! All My Friends Being friends!!!"

This dinner was suddenly getting really uncomfortable.

"I- um- I'm not really-" You stammered, hands slowly gripping onto your fork.
He continued to yammer on, "We Could All have Dinner Together! And Undyne Could Show You Her cooking Prowess...!"
Your fur was getting too hot.
"...And Alphys Could Bring Over One Of Those "History Movies" She Talks About All The Time!!"
Your legs were fidgeting.
"What Do You Say, Y/N? It Sounds Like A Blast To Me, Personally!"
You could feel the sweat on your forehead as your Hooves thumped the floor, making a tunk-a, tunk-a, thump sort of rhythm.
You really wanted to leave now. You didn't want to hang out anymore, and your gut was eagerly tugging, saying flight.

"After All, I Know Undyne Must Be Curious About You! I... I tell you about her all the time..." He sheepishly murmured, a sort of odd hue decorating his features.
But you couldn't afford the wits to pay attention to the way he looked. Your heart had stopped, and the fork in your hand was now embarrassingly bent.

"y- yh- you..." Deep. Breath. "You... t-told... told her about... m-me?"
She knows.
Oh god
She...
She knows she knows she knows she knows she knows she knows she knowsshe knowssheknows sheknowssheknowssheKNOWSAHEKNOWSSHEKNOWSSHEKNOWSSHEKNOWS- SHE KNOWS!!!
Your vision was swimming and you were seeing a tunnel of black, your head hurt and god you just wanted to go home, You wanted to go home so bad, to the safety of the musty, half-put-together hole you called home in waterfall, to the tragic remains of your couch where you'd curl up and spend the rest of your miserable days until you rotted, sleeping in ignorance of the every-day reminder that everyone wanted you dead

God, You're a fucking coward, You miserable, worthless meaningless little- "Y/N!!!"
Hands shook your shoulders violently, and your head snapped to see the skeleton looming over you, your hood falling away from your face to reveal your terrified face. "Y/N Snap Out Of It!"
He was so damn scary in this light, and lord he saw your face now, did he know? Was he going to kill you!?
In the midst of your scrambled mind, hands moved to hold you gently, wrapping around your waist as you cried and struggled against the taller of the skeleton brothers. Yet, he held still, steadfast, not letting go as your struggled got weaker, weaker still as your bloody cries died down to sobs, then sniffles, then whimpers. Eventually, his ears were met with silence and you stopped moving at all.

Papyrus looked down in his lap, seeing you had fallen asleep, though a look of content was not what stretched across your resting features.
You looked like Sans did when he rested... Distressed. It... really didn't sit right with him. He didn't understand. You'd seemed fine earlier? Was... was it something he said? Did meeting new people really scare you that much?
He... knew you didn't get out a lot. Had heard you loosely mention you didn't have many friends.
Every time he saw you around his place you seemed to avoid walking through town. Always taking some kind of backway into Waterfall. He had thought it odd, but hadn't though much more about it. He was starting to think now that perhaps he'd been overlooking something crucial about your character.

Now that he was thinking about it, he only ever saw you in the center of town if you were grocery shopping or doing something else food-related. Getting necessities. Perhaps he'd been too quick to spring such an idea on you- meeting that many people at once.

And the more he thought about it, the more he realized just how long it'd taken for you both to be friends. He'd known you for a very, very long time. Not long after he and Sans had moved in some four-ish years ago, you'd come to town, wordless and quiet, minding your business when he'd crashed into you, sending you spiraling in the snow.
That was such a long time ago...

Papyrus glanced down at you once more. He... really didn't know a lot about you in retrospect, did he? three years had gone by and this was the first time you were eating together or visiting one-another's homes.
He made a mental note that this would not be the last, or the only time he ever hung out with you.
You needed to get out there! Make new friends! And by golly, was he going to be the bestest friendship wingman to ever exist.

With a newfound energy, he scooped you up in his arms, careful not to wake you, and laid you on the couch the best he could so that your horns could rest comfortably.
Hesitating for a moment, he gently threw a blanket over your cloaked figure, taking a minute to study your features.
He'd only ever seen glimpses of your face. Seeing it all, now, it was unique. Not like he'd expected it to be, like the other gyftrots...
it was more.. soft. Round. Delicate looking, even. You... you had very pretty hair... and a nice nose.

Papyrus jolted upright, confusion shaking his features. What? What kind of thought was that??
He turned heel and began making a beeline for the kitchen, determined to clean up while you slept so you wouldn't have to. Perhaps he'd find his answer in the suds of the dishwater.

...but before he cleaned the plates, he guiltily ate the rest of what little spaghetti you had left on your plate. He'd make a note to apologize later, but it was one of the best damn things he'd ever eaten, and he wasn't about to pass up that opportunity. He'd worry about his conscious later.