Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There was a time where things Underground weren't so strange for him. It was relatively easy: wake up, take breakfast, walk —sneak out and do their best to not be seen by any monster looking for easy EXP— to the labs with Sans, wait for him to finish work while reading books, go back home —to the incredibly small apartment in Hotland that had only the necessary for a student to survive— take lunch, watch Sans continue his work at the kitchen table, and then sleep. End of the day.

But then, catastrophe came.

Papyrus tried to ask Sans why was he acting so weird that day when they'd come home earlier after an 'issue' happened at work, something about experiments with a soul trait or whatever, it's not like a six-year-old is going to remember the rambles of his genius older brother. That day Sans had yanked him by the hand way too harsh and he almost didn't bother to look sideways for any danger in their trek back, then he thoroughly locked himself in the bathroom and told Papyrus to go watch TV. Sans knew better than anyone that Papyrus hated TV, there was never anything good, so that's when he knew something was wrong; but no matter how many times he banged at the door nor how loud he screamed, Sans wouldn't open it. He could hear his big brother in distress, panting hard and grunting now and then, he was hurting, Papyrus knew, but he couldn't do anything about it with him locked out like that. And that was just the beginning.

Soon, he and Sans stopped going to the lab, instead remaining locked down inside their department, listening to the frenetic screams and moans at the other side of the door. Papyrus asked Sans again what was going on, but all he said was "don't worry, pap, it's gonna be okay, they're gonna fix it, the other guys in the lab are very smart, remember? they're goin' to make it right, trust me." But he was still sweating when he said that, and a little hotter than normal.

A few days after that —and after a few more lock downs in the bathroom— they left Hotland. They were only taking the essentials with them, and Sans was carrying him and running faster than Papyrus had ever seen him before. As they were getting farther and farther, Papyrus could see various monsters in the sidewalks, in the houses, everywhere, but for the first time they were not fighting each other, instead they were doing strange things he didn't understand, it seemed painful and almost everyone looked like they wanted it to stop, but still they kept looking for it, desperately asking for it, they craved for it. Some of that stuff looked so gross, he decided it would be better to hide in the crook of Sans' neck until he stopped their flee.

Sans came to a halt when they'd reached a cavern that wasn't easy to spot in Waterfall, almost instantly collapsing to his knees and struggling to catch his breath. Papyrus stood and started to look his brother over, searching for any injuries and patting his back in a comforting manner, murmuring pleas to Sans asking him to please be okay and don't leave him alone, tears barely starting to come out. After a long while, when Sans finally managed to steady his erratic breathing, he hugged him, telling him that they would be alright, but sounding like he was rather talking to try assuring himself instead of his little brother.

Ever since that day, life got harder.

Sans had forbidden him to get out of the cave under any circumstances; they’ve managed to make what little food they’ve brought with them last as long as possible, but eventually when the day where they were only surviving with only one crabapple per day, they had to go to the dumps. Papyrus asked why not go to the store like before, and Sans told him that if they searched well enough in the dumps then they could get great stuff for free, including candy from the surface, and that’s all it took for Papyrus to relent. Sans kept Papyrus as close as he could and hidden underneath his lab coat, telling him to not make any sound; Papyrus nodded and claimed that he would be the quietest monster in the underground, even quieter than a quiet mouse, Sans smiled warmly. “heh, i know you will, lil’ bro.”

They managed to scavenge a good amount of food, some torn, thin blankets, a box full of damp books and a cat plushie Papyrus was immediately enamored with the moment he laid eyes on it. “NOW I SHALL DECLARE YOU, DOOMGANGER! THE MOST TERRIBLEST AND FEARSOMEST KILLING MACHINE EVER!” He all but pushed the cat into Sans’ face with a growl. “FEAR HIM AND HIS DREADFUL CLAWS!”

Sans giggled and swayed on his knees, letting himself fall with an exaggerated exclamation and feigning defeat, raising one shaky arm grabbing at nothing in particular. “oh no, i’ve been attacked by the great and terrible papyrus and his loyal minion. he’s so strong and handsome it’s unbearable, uhhh, i think i better die already.”

“NO WAY! YOU ARE GOING TO BE MY SLAVE! YOU CANNOT DIE YET!”

“sorry, too late, i’m a corpse now.”

“SAAAANS!”

“’lright, ‘lright, i’m getting up.” He sat up and smirked at his little brother; it was nice seeing a genuine smile once in a while, and Papyrus was always his best source to get them.

“NYEHEHEHE! NOW YOU MUST CARRY ME ON YOUR SHOULDERS!” He stomped his little foot childishly and chined up, trying his best to look impressive before his taller brother.

“gee pap, but you’ve gotten a skele-ton heavier lately, and who will carry all this?” He gestured towards their loot.

“EXCUSES, LAZY BROTHER!” He picked up the food wrapped in the blankets and brought them to his chest alongside the plushie. “BESIDES, YOU ARE MY SLAVE AND WILL DO AS I SAY.”

Sans was about to give one more complaint but was cut off by some noise in the distance; he lowered his head slightly and brought a phalange to his teeth, Papyrus then went dead silent. Voices seemed to be approaching, and the way they sounded almost animalistic alongside with a strange odor made them both wary. Sans crouched down to gather the box of books and then whispered. “come on, get on my back. we gotta go.”

Papyrus didn’t hesitate climbing up and wrapping a secure arm around his brother’s neck, holding their stuff with the other; the taller skeleton began to walk, being extremely careful of where he put each foot to not make anything fall and alert whoever was nearby of their presence. Luckily, they managed to get out without any more incidents, hurrying as much as they could back to their safe cave. When Papyrus got down, he noticed that Sans was trembling slightly, his skull was covered in sweat and his breaths a little labored. Lately, he’d been getting like this more often, and Papyrus didn’t quite understand what caused it, but it only seemed to happen whenever somebody else was around, when those strange odors appeared. Surely, he’d want some time alone, so when he huddled against one of the far corners of the cave and told him to arrange the things they’d gathered, Papyrus didn’t argue, it was always useless anyway and besides, he'd be back to his old normal self in a while like usual.

So, he spent that while cleaning the food cans and pilling them in a little tower, fixing the sheets in their sleeping spot and taking the books out of the wet box; he found a cooking book with enough salvageable pages to be useful, two awkward diaries that only had boring stuff written, one encyclopedia about plants from the surface, and one story for little kids; Papyrus' gaze lingered longer than he'd like to admit musing over the last book's cover, it was a soft yellow with fancy, thin, brown letters on it, and the picture of some extremely hairy and small creature. He wasn't sure what the title meant, but like hell he was going to go that low and even dare to peek at a childish book, Papyrus was a big boy, and big boys don't read dumb tales about fluffies and bunnies, whatever the hell those are, he's not reading that, not even if curiosity is killing him and he really wants to know what this is about, he's not a little weepy kid.

"ya like that one, pap?"

His brother's sudden voice startled him and he flipped the book immediately, frowning at him and sneering. "I'M NOT A BABY WHO NEEDS BED-TIME STORIES, SO NO, I DON'T."

Sans giggled and sat cross-legged beside him. He seemed to be better now, calmer and more collected. "are you sure? those used to be the toughest ones to read in school, ya know?" He took the book and looked at it with a browbone held high. Then he whistled. "specially these ones. classics were always a pain in the ass."

Papyrus gave him a quizzical look. "REALLY? WHAT KIND OF STUPID KIDS USED TO GO TO SCHOOL, THEN?! I'M SURE A BABY COULD READ THAT!"

"welp, not all kids at school were as smart as you, bro. it was quite the challenge." Sans winked and gave him back the book.

He stared at it a few more seconds. Sans always used to say that kind of stuff just because he was able to skip like four courses and he'd always teach him things he wasn't supposed to know until some years later, but still, that could work like his perfect excuse to give a look at it. "IF THIS INSIGNIFICANT BOOK IS THAT GREAT OF A CHALLENGE, THEN IT SHALL BE EASILY OVERCOME BY ME, THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS!!"

"that's the spirit, bro." They both scooted to the bunch of blankets and sheets they slept on, with Papyrus leaning on Sans' side and the book lying on his lap. Once they were settled, his big brother spoke as he revealed the first page. "peekaboo with fluffy bunny..."

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Their trips to the dump stopped being productive when every time they went there would be even more scavengers than last time. Sans said they shouldn’t risk being that near to other monsters since everyone had got more aggressive the last months, and Papyrus wasn’t about to question him; he was well aware that they were ‘safer’ before because of his brother’s job, but now that they were on their own it was expectable to be more vulnerable. So, they decided they would start rationing: one meal in the morning, and a little bite of something in the night. It was okay for a while, but soon the consequences came. Papyrus’ soul hurt from time to time due to hunger, —and he wondered if the fleshier monsters went through the same, since they had more parts to take the ache— his bones started to get rough and he would feel tired all the time, Sans had now dark circles under his eyesockets and he would fall asleep randomly, telling Papyrus that there was nothing wrong, that he was just being lazy. But then one day, when Papyrus went to take their ration for breakfast, he only found empty cans and old wraps. He told Sans that maybe they should get some job to have money for food, but his brother only shook his skull and said that no one would want to hire a pair of kids for anything at all. Papyrus screamed at him, frustrated and powerless, every single thing he proposed to make their situation better, Sans would outright refuse saying that it was too dangerous.

“WELL, OF COURSE IT’S GOING TO BE DANGEROUS! WE LIVE IN A HELLHOLE!”

“yeah, but that doesn’t mean we’ll start parading ‘round asking for jobs like the perfect bait!”

“THEN WHAT DO WE DO, SANS?! YOU’RE ALWAYS ACTING LIKE A COWARD! YOU DON’T WANT TO DO ANYTHING!”

“don’t fuckin’ tell me what i wanna do and what i don’t! you haven’t seen the whole shit that’s goin’ on outside!”

“FINE! THEN LET’S JUST STARVE TO DEAD! YOU’RE ALMOST HALF-WAY THERE ANYWAY, DON’T YOU?!”

“no one’s gonna die, bro, just fuckin’ listen to me-!“

“SANS, STOP LYING! STOP TRYING TO PRETEND LIKE WE’RE FINE BECAUSE WE KNOW WE AREN’T!!” His screams had lost its vile, Papyrus could feel his bottom jaw quivering and his sockets getting a little damp, looking more like the small ranting child he actually was. “I’VE SEEN YOU SKIPPING MORNING MEALS AND I’VE ALSO SEEN YOU PUTTING YOUR RATIONS WITH MINE! AND YET WE ARE STILL HUNGRY! AND YOU ARE ALWAYS SLEEPING BUT STILL YOU SAY YOU ARE TIRED AND I DON’T KNOW WHY… W-WHY YOU DON’T SEE THAT IF WE KEEP GOING LIKE THIS, YOU… I-I… I DON’T WANT TO BE ALONE, SANS!! ARE YOU THAT STUPID THAT YOU CANNOT SEE THAT?!!”

Heavy silence filled their cave, and Papyrus couldn’t keep looking at his brother, so he turned his back to him and stayed put. He wasn’t going to cry, he was having an argument, you don’t cry during arguments, it makes you look weak, and looking weak means you’ll get killed; his sniffs echoed in the stone walls and he cursed them for making him all the more pathetic. But then, instead of the scolding he was expecting for being childish and immature from his brother, a hug came; Sans buried his face on his clavicle and his arms squeezed him, giving him that comfortable warmth he loved but would never fully accept. Still, he didn’t give in and said nothing.

Sans sighed against his clothes. "look, i'm sorry, 'kay? i know it's not enough for both of us but... i'm trying, 'kay?" He parted to spin him towards his way; Papyrus lowered his gaze to pointedly not look at him. "but i promise i'm not planning on leaving you alone anytime soon, you're my lil' bro, i'd never do that to you."

"SO, YOU PROMISE ME YOU WON'T DIE?" The question came rushed and blunt.

He hesitated for a second. "pap, you know i don't make 'that' kind of-"

“PROMISE!!!” This time, he was the one to hug his big brother, clinging to his neck for dear life. “WE HAVE TO MAKE IT TOGETHER! WE HAVE TO! SO, PROMISE ME YOU WON’T DIE FOR STUPID THINGS LIKE STARVATION!” He had no doubt he was crying freely now, but he couldn’t let himself care, he had more important things to care for right now.

There was an awkward pause, then. “alright. we’ll find a way, just… don’t cry, bro.” He whispered quietly, and if Papyrus didn’t know him better, he wouldn’t know he was doing his best to not cry too. “we’ll find a way, we’re gonna be fine. promise.”

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“WHAT’S THIS CALLED, AGAIN?”

“it’s a telescope, bro.”

“AND WHAT DID YOU SAY IT DOES?”

“it allows you to look at the stars closer but since we ain’t have any stars down here, you can use it to look at the shiny rocks in the ceiling.”

“OH, AND WHY WOULD I OR ANYONE WANT TO LOOK AT THOSE? I MEAN, THEY’RE ROCKS, RIGHT?”

“yup, but you have to admit it looks cool as fuck.”

“WELL… MAYBE IT DOES.” He tilted his skull and looked at the rusty artefact. “YEAH OKAY, IT DOES LOOK COOL.”

Sans grinned at him triumphally, then took the telescope to put it inside a greyish bag full of other items. It had been a few days since their last discussion; they both had agreed that they would sell whatever they could find and could be fixed, Sans would go to the dump alone and Papyrus would help him cleaning what he brought and making the stuff look presentable. It had worked two times and thanks to that they’d been able to buy some food, but they were running low again, so Sans had set on searching fancier things that could be worth more gold to at least last them a month, his stock being two old phones that barely worked, half a kit of cooking tools and the telescope; it was always hard to sell, but if he insisted enough someone would eventually buy. He threw the bag on his shoulder and slightly noogied Papyrus’ skull as good bye.

“welp, time for me to go. you know what we agreed, you don’t get out of the cave ‘til i come back, ‘kay?”

“YES, I KNOW, STOP BEING ANNOYING, JUST GO. AND TAKE CARE BECAUSE IF YOU DON’T, I’LL EAT YOUR EXTRA RATIONS!” He gave a mocking frown like a parent would do to their child.

“oh no, not my secret mustard stash!” He smiled and gave his little brother a bump in the forehead. “stay safe, pap, love ya.”

“DON’T BE LATE EITHER… And I Love You Too.” He murmured against his sweater’s collar at the end.

His smug face gave him away but he still asked. “what was that?”

“NOTHING, JUST GO ALREADY!”

And then with a laugh, his brother left. It was boring to say the least, Papyrus would spend his time sorting through their stuff looking for other things they could sell —not his story book, thank you very much, that was HIS now— or trade; Sans had told him that the area’s shopkeeper was quite persnickety and would only take stuff that was weird enough to make good swindles or truly useful stuff for himself, so Papyrus had taken the task upon himself to make the preliminary selection of what could be useful for that; they had only two readable books and old clothes too big for them left, he sighed, that would be a little hard, but he’d manage. He took the little sewing kit they’d found and started the arduous task to properly amend the clothes.

Hours passed, all the torn holes and rips on the material were closed now, and after three washes in the nearby stream it looked like new; Sans would surely be so proud of his meticulous work, but the thing is that he wasn’t back yet. He’d usually return around nightfall before all the artificial lighting went off and only the echo-flowers and other plants would light the place. He was late, that wasn’t normal, last time he’d been late it was because someone tried to assault him —he’d come back with a few cuts in the arms but said that it was nothing major, that the other ended up worse— and he couldn’t help but feel worried. Sans had strong magic; he wasn’t the best at close combat but he could make the flashier bullet patrons Papyrus had ever seen, and it always worked to scare his enemies off and give them enough time to escape, he should be fine. But still, his soul felt tight and every minute that passed felt like an eternity. It was dark now; the path of echo-flowers was the only thing that he could see and no dark silhouette seemed to be approaching. Should he go out and look for him? Should he wait? Should he call for him? Stars, he wanted to do all those things, but if Sans was to get back and didn’t find him in the cave he would freak out. He started pacing around with his arms folded, scolding at the floor. “Damn It, What’s Taking Him So Long?”  He thought.

And right when he thought he was about to lose it, there was a stumble, Papyrus turned just in time to see his brother trudging into the cave, clutching the bag to his chest. He all but sprinted towards him and halted right in front of him, looking up with a deep frown. “WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?! I WAS WORRIED YOU WERE TAKING SO LONG, SO YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD EXCUSE!” He stood straight and as imposing as he could, but Sans didn’t seem faced at all, he just stood there swaying a little from side to side, his eyelights hazy and unfocused; worry took him once again, so he looked over him again searching for any injury he might have not seen the first time, but there was nothing, then why was he acting so strange? “SANS? ARE YOU THERE?” But he still didn’t answer. “SAAAAANS!!!!”

His shrill yelling was enough to make him jump and clutch the bag a little tighter, then when he finally looked down, the red pinpricks in his sockets seemed to get wider and his face relaxed. “huh, sorry pap, i was a little outta my mind.”

Papyrus gave him a serious look and crossed his arms. “A LITTLE?”

“yeah, but everything’s good, don’t worry.” He walked past him and set the bag on the floor, making a loud sound that indicated it wasn’t empty, then sluggishly proceeded to take out the telescope, the two phones, the cooking kit and a bunch of cans and wraps that looked new. Papyrus gaped slightly.

“WAIT, YOU DIDN’T SELL ANYTHING… THEN WHERE DID ALL OF THIS COME FROM?”

He didn’t answer for a moment, but when Papyrus’ pointed gaze wouldn’t leave him alone Sans sighed. “i huh… i found a guy who had some wrecked stuff, i fixed that for ‘em and they paid. simple.”

“JUST LIKE THAT?”

“just like that. it was a total snip, right?” There was something in the way he smiled, the corners of his mouth were too tight and he wouldn’t look him in the eyesockets for longer than two seconds. “that’s why i’m late, sorry.”

Papyrus thought about it for a second. “AND WHAT EXACTLY WAS IT THAT YOU FIXED?”

“it was, uhm… uhh… it was just stuff.”

‘Stuff’ wasn’t exactly the kind of thing Sans would fix and would not ramble about all day like the huge nerd he was, so something must be wrong. “BUT WHAT KIND OF STUFF?”

“it was…” He had finished taking everything out of the bag by now and was fiddling with his phalanges nervously. “look pap, i’m tired, alright? we can talk tomorrow if you want, just… i gotta go to bed right now.”

“OH, UHM… OKAY.” Suddenly the faint anger he might have felt for his brother’s evasion died. “ARE YOU GOING TO EAT SOMETHING AT LEAST?”

“nah, i’m not hungry. please yourself if you want.” Having said that he got up and went straight to their bunch of blankets, falling face first.

Papyrus didn’t say anything else, he just stood there dumbfounded and wondering what happened. Sans always read his story with him, even if he knew he would fall asleep before they finished it, but he’d never been like that, so absent and strange that Papyrus would be left clueless as to what to do to help, he wasn’t hurt and he wouldn’t talk to him, then what was he supposed to do? Maybe he was just exaggerating things, maybe Sans was truly tired, maybe it would be better if he asked in the morning after all, it never hurts to double check. It was late, so Papyrus decided he would skip dinner too and go to bed; he made his way into their makeshift ‘bed’ next to his brother —who was facing to the wall and still like a rock— and threw a few blankets over them, getting snuggled and comfy. It wasn’t long before he fell asleep.

And it wasn’t long before he was awoken. There was a faint noise coming from behind him, it was muffled yet clear enough to stir him; but he decided he wouldn’t move nor make a sound. He kept listening until he recognized it as sobbing, but who on Earth would be sobbing at this hour of night? Besides, it was only him and his brother here- Oh… just him and his brother, and he was sure he wasn’t the source of those sounds. Papyrus almost held his breath trying to not let Sans know he was awake; the sobs went on and on and at some point, a noisy hiccup escaped too, he felt his big brother stiffen and go dead silent for a whole minute, but since he made his best to not react at it, he eventually started sobbing and sniffling again. Papyrus wanted so badly to turn around and ask what was wrong, but he was sure that as soon as he did Sans would plaster a plastic smile on his face and say that he was dreaming nonsense, he knew his brother well enough to know that he hated being seen crying and would do anything to keep his pride from shattering. It was saddening and it made his soul twist in guilt, listening to Sans struggling to stay quiet behind him, and he didn’t even know the reason why; he knew something was wrong the moment he saw that vacant stare in him, but he was so stubborn that it was possible that Papyrus would never know what hurt him so bad. All of a sudden, Sans wrapped him in a light embrace, just barely touching him and he felt his face being pressed against his spine, giving him a cold feeling where his tears soaked his sweater; he almost failed his feigned sleep by letting out a yelp but he managed to keep it down. Well, probably right now the least he could do for Sans was to stay there and pretend he didn’t hear a thing, play naïve and act like the oblivious little brother for a few more hours. He would try his best in the morning to be more helpful.

He drifted back to sleep with Sans’ hiccups echoing through his skull.

The next morning, he was practically pushed out of bed; Papyrus looked around briefly trying to wash away the sleep in his sockets, finding himself facing Sans’ face just inches away from him. He was smiling like the biggest bonehead in the Underground and all of a sudden, he raised him by the armpits making Doomfanger fall off his lap. “rise ‘n’ shine, bro, it’s morning already.”

“AND SINCE WHEN YOU GET UP IN THE MORNING?” Papyrus groaned slightly and once his view was clearer, he noticed that there was a pair of bowls full of oatmeal placed on top of a cardboard box, he felt confused. “AND SINCE WHEN YOU PREPARE BREAKFAST? YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CONDIMENTS AND ACTUAL FOOD.”

“hey, ‘f course i know the difference, actual food is just food.” He placed Papyrus in front of one of the bowls and then went to sit across the box. “and condiments are the only thing able to mustard my bones up.”

“THAT WAS TERRIBLE.” He sneered, but Sans laughed nonetheless. Papyrus looked down at his bowl and saw that it had those little dinosaur eggs he loved, it’d been ages since the last time he had those, and he could practically feel its flavor in anticipation. But that made him think about last night again, of how all the items meant for sale were still in the bag, how Sans had acted, and then there was his little melt down. His brother wasn’t a morning person, he’d always be the one to drag him out of the covers, so he had expected that after last night’s events his brother would rather want to stay in bed all day, and maybe his attempts at getting him out would have been futile, and that would have been okay, he could deal with that; but somehow, now that Sans looked a tad too happy, he didn’t feel relief.

“pap? you okay?” Sans was looking at him with a confused brow and chomps of oatmeal stuck between his sharp teeth. “you… didn’t like it?”

He shook off his thoughts and hurried to answer. “NO! NO, IT’S NOT THAT, THIS IS FINE, REALLY.” He took a spoonful, and of course it was more than fine, it was delicious. He swallowed down his mouthful quickly. “BUT… ARE YOU OKAY?”

Sans gave him a quizzical look. “’f course i am, pap, i feel great. what makes you think i wouldn’t be bone-afide with you?”

He needed to find a way to ask him about it without asking him directly, Sans was the best at avoiding matters, that was one useful thing he’d learned after six years of living with him. “WELL, IT’S JUST THAT… UUUH… YOU DIDN’T TELL ME ABOUT THAT THING YOU FIXED YESTERDAY.”

“because i know you’ll get bored with all my rambling.”

He indeed got bored with Sans’ long and confusing talks about stuff he didn’t even know existed, more often than he’d like to admit; Papyrus took a few more spoonfuls to think of the perfect excuse for that. “YEAH, BUT I WANT TO KNOW ANYWAY, IT MUST’VE BEEN A VERY IMPORTANT THING, THAT GUY PAID YOU WELL, RIGHT?”

“y-yeah! they did.” A hesitation, Papyrus noticed; that meant Sans was in fact hiding something. “but it was nothing interesting, really, even i got bored myself.”

“I KNOW, BUT-“

“why don’t ya finish your oatmeal, already? i wanna show you something.”

The sudden change of topic took him off guard, taking him a few longer seconds to speak again. “YOU DIDN’T ANSWER MY QUESTION.”

“i told ya, paps, it’s not important; now, c’me on and finish that, i know you’ll like this.”

With that answer, Papyrus knew that was it. If Sans didn’t willingly talk about it then he’d never make him say a word; more than deflated Papyrus went to finish his breakfast, all the time wondering what was so wrong that his brother didn’t trust him enough to tell him. Maybe he robbed someone and he felt ashamed about it? Crime wasn’t uncommon in Underground, but that didn’t mean everyone was a natural thief by birth, and Sans had never done that before, so maybe that was the problem? Maybe he ended up killing someone to take their gold? Whatever the case, Papyrus knew his brother had good reasons to do whatever he’d done, so if Sans told him he did any of those things he wouldn’t be upset and it wouldn’t change his mind at all of how much he looked up at his brother, of how much he loved him. But nonetheless, if that’s how it was going to be, so be it, Papyrus was not one to beg for anything. Once both their bowls were empty, Sans went to the back of the cave and fetched the unsold telescope, walking back and placing a hand on Papyrus’ shoulder to take him out of the cave.

They paced along the luminous mushrooms and bushes being careful to not walk into anyone, it’s been a while since the last time they —Sans mostly— had to fight against anyone since they almost didn’t leave the cave in the first place, and both would like to keep it that way. Every so often Papyrus would turn his skull to the sides to watch the water sausages growing in the river and the trees giving off its natural light, it was a fact that despite the dampness of the place, Waterfall was quite the sight. Quietly and slowly, they moved until they reached a room not so far from their place, Papyrus remembered being there once back when they still lived in Hotland, it was one of those spots small and cramped enough to create the perfect darkness for the rocks in the ceiling to shine. He walked a little froward from Sans and stared upwards, marveling at the false welkin.

“remember this place, pap?” Papyrus heeded his brother who was setting the telescope right in the middle of the room.

“WHY ARE WE HERE?” He demanded, crossing his arms over his chest. The fact that they wouldn’t discuss yesterday’s events didn’t mean he would act like it didn’t upset him.

“welp, i told ya that it works for looking at things closer, right?” He gave a few steps back and gestured with both arms at the glass in question. “so, since it’s still here, wanna give it a try?” Papyrus huffed and didn’t move from where he was standing. “come on, bro, don’t be like that, just a little peek.”

He didn’t want to relent that easy just to give him a taste of his own medicine, but when he looked at him and noticed that his smile was looser and his eyelights had that spark that only appeared when he was eager for something, Papyrus couldn’t help but sigh and go to the gewgaw in question dragging his feet. “FINE.”

He positioned himself in the lower end and did as his brother instructed him, looking with one socket through the little hole in the tip. To his surprise he didn’t see the tiny meek blue dots he was expecting, instead he saw a bunch of huge shiny balls that seemed like he could grab them by just reaching his hand, they formed funny shapes wherever he would look and it was nothing but breathtaking; Papyrus gasped as he kept gazing, eventually grabbing the telescope from Sans so he could turn it to every available spot.

“heh, and here you thought it was useless.”

“SHUT UP, I’M LOOKING.”

A comfortable while passed, then…

“well you got your time, now lemme see.”

“NOPE, I’M NOT DONE.”

“give it back, i was the one who found it.”

“I AM THE ONE HOLDING IT.”

“pap you little-“

A few minutes later they both ended up with dirt covering their clothes and a slightly dented telescope.

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It's a little more than a month later when Sans announced that they're moving into Snowdin. Papyrus couldn't be more excited, and he practically bursted into uncontrollable joy when his brother told him that they were getting an actual house, one with four walls, one roof above and one floor beneath, no less! No more sleeping on wet rocks or having to endure leakings. Taking their stuff with them wasn't too hard since there wasn't much to carry, just some blankets, cans of food and some other item from the dump.

They walked all the way out of Waterfall early in the morning —when most monsters would still be asleep— until they reached the cold limits that made them know they had almost arrived. Papyrus had never been in Snowdin before, all he knew was that it was considered the calmer place in the Underground, with so little of a population to actually have overcrowding troubles like in New Home. He looked around with wide eyesockets, never letting go of his brother's hand for good measure.

"welp, here we are, snowdin town." Sans smiled looking forward at the main street, then turned to Papyrus with a big smile. "gee, i can already feel the warmness 'f the place."

As in cue, Papyrus shivered slightly with a light rattle; the cold of this town was different from the wetness he'd grown used to, it instead came in a freezing breeze that got through his clothes and bones and would make him feel like he was naked. He frowned and hugged Doomfanger a little closer to his chest trying to collect its warmness. "SANS, IT'S FREAKING FREEZING IN HERE! HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO LIVE IN THIS FREEZER?!"

"slow down bro, don't worry, we just need to acclimatize, that's all." The shit-eating grin he gave him made Papyrus feel his frustration spike.

"I'M SERIOUS, YOU NUMBSKULL! MY BONES ARE GETTING FROSTED ALREADY!"

"'kay, calm down. i imagined that'd be the case." He placed a firm hand over one of his shoulders and started walking ahead. "c'me on, i think i know how to fix it.”

They trudged past a few buildings across the snow, which made a soft crunch with every step they made; Papyrus decided he liked snow more than mud. At some point, there were a few monsters starting to come out of some houses, opening the few stores around or just minding their own business; Papyrus tugged on Sans’ sleeve with a worried frown and looked at him with eyelights that asked what to do, being around other monsters was never good, and if they could avoid any unnecessary violent encounter, then they had to. But Sans just snorted lowly. “don’t worry, bro, they won’t do anything here.”

There was a pair of bunny monsters leaning against a wooden wall piercing them with their gaze, their eyes were filled with something Papyrus didn’t recognize but was unsettling nonetheless, they wouldn’t stop looking at him while licking their mouths and whisks in a weird manner. “What Do You Mean With ‘Don’t Worry’, We Are In The Middle Of The Freaking Street!” He whispered.

“and that’s why they won’t do anythin’” Sans answered but he wasn’t looking at him, Papyrus got a glimpse of his eyesockets going pitch dark, facing the two bunnies from before, who immediately grunted and walked away. “the main street’s grey ground, so we don’t have to worry ‘bout public ambushes. cool, right?”

Papyrus was dumbfounded, but knew better than let his guard down so he kept walking a steady pace. “WHO ON ERATH DOES EVEN RESPECT GREY GROUND, ANYWAY?”

“well, it’s not like there’s much ground to walk ‘round here, don’t ya see this place is smaller than shit?” Looking around, Papyrus realized that most of the place was taken by the woods, and thinking better about it, maybe the monsters here had enough sense to agree to not turn the only living area into a war zone.

They suddenly came to a stop in front of a small cottage with a sign that read ‘Shop’. Then again, Papyrus briefly wondered how were they supposed to go to a shop when their money was so scarce, if all the unsold items were something to go by, but nonetheless Sans went inside and gave him a little push past the door to make him keep moving. Despite not being later than eight in the morning, there was already someone behind the counter, a bunny lady with purple fur and a bored expression; while Sans talked to her —surely trying to annoy her enough with puns so she would give them cheaper prices to get rid of them— Papyrus spent his time inspecting her and the shop. The lady was wearing some strange choice of clothes for a place that was snowed all the time, the thin pink blouse she wore barely covered anything and Papyrus could see some strange black ‘stripes’ crisscrossing around her body, and he had to really wonder how the heck did she managed to get into that without getting tangled? The shelves behind her had various items, some were recognizable as food like the double popsicles or the cinnamon buns, but there were other things Papyrus had never seen in his whole life, there were long and colorful things made of rubber, wire rings of various sizes, some weird underwear with pads and what he guessed were whiplashes, oh, and then there was that creepy doll with holes everywhere, who would want that in the first place?

Suddenly Sans was talking to him while shoving an orange something into his face. “hey! underground to pap? we hereby request for you to try this on.”

Papyrus eyed the piece of cloth and tried to guess what it was before taking it, discovering it was a thick coat alongside with a pair of mittens, it felt soft to the touch and it warmed the tips of his phalanges, so he eagerly started putting it on, leaving Doomfanger on the floor for the moment. The sleeves were a little oversized but other than that it was comfy.

“so? how’s it feel?”

“IT’S ACCEPTABLE, IT WILL DO AS THE APROPIATE TOOL TO SURVIVE THIS DEATHLAND.”

Sans gave a dumb smile and a snort, and turned to the lady. “yeah, i’ll take those.”

He started fetching the gold from one of his pockets, and that’s when Papyrus noticed the coat and mittens were the only new things they had. “WON’T YOU TAKE SOMETHING FOR YOURSELF? BECAUSE I AM NOT SHARING MY COAT WITH YOU.”

“nah, i don’t mind getting chill once in a while, and it might just help makin’ me cooler to match your level of coolness.”

“FIRST OFF, THAT WAS CRUMMY; SECOND OFF, I AM THE COOL ONE HERE! YOU’RE JUST THE NERDY LAZYBONES.”

“oh, so you’re finally admitting my upper-frost intellect?”

“SANS!”

“Ehem!” Both brothers turned to see a deeply annoyed shopkeeper looking at them with furious eyes. “If none of you pillocks are going to buy anything else, save me your shitty act and give me the stars-dammed gold so you can go fuck around somewhere else.”

“aww, and here i thought we were having a skele-ton of fun.” He quipped and immediately put the gold on the counter, flashing the woman a mocking smile and then grasping Papyrus’ hand with his. “come on, pap, let’s get going.”

They exited the shop and resumed their trek through the snowed path of the town. They left the main street and went a little farther from the cabin clusters where houses stood several meters apart from each other, and the farther they got the scarcer the abodes became. It was quiet and the snow was falling a little heavier, but right when Papyrus was about to complain how longer they had to walk, Sans stopped in front of a little wooden construction and placed a hand on his hip.

“welp, here it is. new home sweet home.”

Papyrus looked the building over, it didn’t seem to be larger than nine or ten square meters, way more reduced than their former department, but it had some kind of charm to it, and it surely gave the impression to be warmer inside. Sans rummaged through his pocket until he managed to fish out a lone key, which he used to unlock the door of the cabin and open it to his brother; Papyrus wasted no time getting inside and looking around: there was one bed in one of the far corners, a narrow door next to it and a closet in the opposite wall. Other than that, the room was empty and plain.

“so… whatd’ya think? huh? pretty neat, right?”

“WELL, CONSIDERING WE’VE BEEN LIVING UNDER A ROCK THIS PAST MONTHS, THIS IS FINE.” He answered, and for him it was more than fine, it was perfect, just enough to feel like he had a home rather than just a muddy shelter. “OBVIOUSLY WITH MY PRESENCE, THIS PLACE WILL IMPROVE GREATLY!”

“hehehe, you’re right, bro.” Sans tossed the bag with their stuff and walked the small gap between the threshold and the bed, instantly dropping himself on the mattress face first.

“SANS! GET OFF THE BED! THIS IS NO TIME FOR RANDOM NAPS!”

“oh, come on, throw me a bone, it’s been ages since the last time i touched a bed.” Came the muffled and barely hearable response.

“IT’S BEEN AGES SINCE I TOUCHED A BED TOO! BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU GET TO LAZY AROUND, IT’S BARELY MORNING!” He climbed onto the bed and started to smack his big brother in the skull lightly, to which Sans turned to watch him directly with half-lidded sockets.

“exactly.”

With that, he looped an arm across little Papyrus’ neck and brought him down onto the bed, trapping him in a tight embrace against his chest.

“NOOOOO!! SANS, LET GO!!! YOU NUMBSKULL!!”

“nope.”

“LET ME GO!!!”

“you bed-der go to sleep, paps, ‘cause i ain’t moving a bone.”

“NYEEEEHHHHHHH!!!”

He flailed for a few minutes trying to wriggle his way out of his prison, but it was to no avail, so after several growls and smacks, he gave up and stayed put if only for Sans’ sake.

Chapter Text

Snowdin town was nothing like Waterfall, Papyrus started to realize the longer he lived in there; in Snowdin there weren’t that many fights in public areas, he could hear pained screams from time to time coming from the woods, but so long as he didn’t wander off, it wasn’t his trouble; the townsfolk here usually gathered up in gangs for better survival, so the most violent display he’d seen so far was a fight at one of the local bars between the bunnies and the people from the ‘librarby’; and here it was much easier to buy small snacks, he and Sans once bought a nice cream to share, but the two of them ended up getting weird after that —with Sans locking himself in the shower room and Papyrus taking all his winter clothing off, and yet he couldn’t stop feeling warm and sick the rest of the afternoon, until he managed to throw up some waste magic by the night—. That time Sans went back to the post where they got the treat and practically screamed at the seller to “put a fucking tag on those candies! you’re gonna kill a kid!” and some other stuff about aphrodisiacs, although Papyrus had no idea what the heck was an aphrodisiac, and when he asked Sans, he just changed the topic.

Well, he would find out someday, when he managed to sneak out to the librarby alone.

Another thing that was different since they moved out was that Sans had found a job. He never told Papyrus what he did exactly, but every time he asked, Sans would say. “some people like to play weird games, and when they don’t have someone to play with, that’s when i help them.”

And then Papyrus would ask. “BUT WHAT KIND OF GAMES? I MEAN, THEY MUST BE VERY STUPID TO PAY THAT MUCH GOLD JUST TO PLAY.”

“if they’re stupid or not isn’t important, so long as they pay, it’s a good business.” He would answer back, with that forced smile he always put in bad situations.

“THEN WHY WON’T YOU LET ME HELP? I AM GREAT AT PUZZLES AND GAMES! I COULD MAKE US GAIN MORE GOLD.”

Sans would always cringe at that, twisting his mouth and squinting his sockets, even shivering sometimes, and then he would tell him. “nah, you don’t have to, i’m the older brother, i’m the one who has to take care of you, not the other way around.”

And that would be the end of the conversation.

Even though Papyrus trusted his brother, he wasn’t so sure about this job thing, he never saw Sans meeting with his boss or going to a certain place to work, he just went out to town and told him to stay in the house until he’s back, and then he would return home with new sacks of food or gold. And he wouldn’t ramble about whatever job he did like he used to when he worked at the labs. He would look tired and sometimes he would wince when he did certain movements or sat in the wrong position. And during night, it became more and more often the times when he would wake up to Sans’ quiet wails and light embraces. He tried to ask what was wrong by the morning, but Sans would always dodge the question right away, and Papyrus didn’t have the heart to face him and force an answer out of him, he knew that it would only end up worse.

So, he let it pass.

He also let pass the fact that Sans wouldn’t wear proper winter clothes whenever he went into town, he always wore a long burgundy hood that didn’t even have a proper zip nor buttons on it, with black fur around the neck, and only a tiny dark grey tank top beneath it and black tights, his spine and most of his ribs were visible; at first Papyrus thought that maybe he was going through that oh so called ‘puberty phase’ adults talked so much —whatever it is— and wanted to follow the town’s fashion —since there were several monsters wearing similar outfits, especially the ones that were always coming out of a particularly luminous building he wasn’t allowed in— and was just being whimsical about the matter, but Sans once told him that it wasn’t a whim, but his work uniform. Papyrus didn’t think any place could have such disheveled working uniforms, but when Sans said something, he wouldn’t drop it. Still, with how little bone it covered, he would always have snow stuck between his joints and a little of frost between each bone, Papyrus knew from experience it didn’t exactly hurt, but it wasn’t pleasant either.

One time Sans came home earlier, he opened the door and quickly closed it again, turning to Papyrus with a strange expression.

“SANS YOU A-“

“shhhhh.” He shushed him, and immediately went to kneel down in front of his younger brother, whispering so low Papyrus barely heard him. “get inside the closet and be quiet.”

Papyrus stared at him for a few seconds frowning, he knew that if he was asked to hide then it meant serious troubles, what have Sans done to make them come all the way to their house? What if they found them? What if they didn’t manage to escape? Was Sans going to hide too with him?

Sans knew everything Papyrus was asking him with just a glance, but he proceeded to gather all the papers filled with math problems that were scattered in the floor and shoved them into Papyrus’ hands. “just go!”

Papyrus didn’t lose any more time, standing up and dashing as quietly as possible to the closet, climbing inside and drawing his knees to his chest. He looked at Sans with pleading sockets, asking him to get in with him and hide together, but he just closed the door with lock and all. Papyrus could see him still lingering in front of the fitment through the little cracks of the wood. “pap…” His voice sounded raspy with how low it had gone, and way more serious than he’s ever heard before. “no matter what you hear, don’t make a sound, please.”

With that, Sans walked away and seconds later Papyrus heard the front door opening; if that was meant to reassure him, then Sans had no fucking idea how to reassure people. The sudden rumbling voice that echoed in the small room sent a chill down Papyrus’ spine, he’d never heard it before, but Sans was answering to it with a nonchalant tone, almost as if he knew the monster from a long time ago, and yet, Papyrus could tell that it was forced, he could hear the small insecure tremble that after all his life of knowing his brother he could detect and know when it was an act. Why would Sans bring a stranger home if he didn’t feel safe with them? Because the door hadn’t been forced, so Papyrus knew no one broke in. The voice laughed from time to time in a lecherous tone, and he heard the shuffle of clothes, then the creak of the bed, then his brother’s voice grunting alongside this stranger, and every once in a while, letting out a strangled yelp. Papyrus didn’t dare to look through the crannies, he just couldn’t, he didn’t want to know what was going on out there, it sounded just like those monsters back at Hotland, strange noises that could be a sign of pain or pleasure. And he didn’t want to find out which one of those his brother was experiencing.

He threw over his skull one of the thickest quilts they had stored in the closet and tried his best to ignore the commotion outside. He might not know what was happening exactly, but he knew for sure that it couldn’t be a good thing, it just didn’t seem right. Papyrus lost track of time eventually, and he almost nodded off once, but he wouldn’t let himself fall asleep, not with the hushed words that had now replaced the racket from before. Minutes must have passed, hours for sure, and he was starting to get impatient. He heard the unmistakable jangle of gold, and then the door opened and closed again; did it mean it was over? Papyrus wanted to call for Sans but he knew better, if whoever had come was still out there, he would put himself and his brother in danger, but at the same time he wondered if Sans was already hurt and that’s why he hadn’t let him out yet. The possibilities where overwhelming him, but he couldn’t fret over that now, he had to stay quiet. Silence was all that could be heard at the other side of the wooden door now, and it scared him.

Then, the outer lock made a click and the door was open; Papyrus lifted one of the quilt's corners and looked up at his brother: Sans looked tired, his eyelights seemed unfocused and the smile plastered on his face was almost gone, his gaze kept changing between glancing at Papyrus and getting lost somewhere among the floor or the wall. They stayed like that for who-knows-how-long, and right when Sans made the attempt to say something, Papyrus launched himself at him, clinging to his ribs for dear life and muttering.

"Sans, You're Alright, You're Alright... I Thought They... Y-You..." What was he even saying? Sentences wouldn't come out of his mouth properly and that just frustrated him further, making him fail at keeping his temper cool. "WHAT WAS THAT?! YOU SCARED ME TO DEAD! I THOUGHT THEY WOULD HURT YOU! DON'T DO THAT AGAIN, YOU BONEHEAD!”

He started sobbing; Papyrus hated sobbing in front of others, but his stars-dammed brother just gave him the scare of his life, and he wasn't even saying a thing to excuse himself, he was just hugging him back and... When did they got that low on the floor? Papyrus hadn't noticed, but now he could feel Sans' hands shaking over his spine, and he could hear him trying to find his words. Then, Sans separated him from the hug and held both of his shoulders to look him in the eye.

"sorry, pap, it was just... just a fussy cli- i mean, costumer. it was a last-minute thing, sorry for worrin' you..."

Papyrus was going to ask what kind of job had they requested for but cut himself off before he could even speak. From the corners of his eyesockets, he could see dark purple marks around Sans' wrists, some hairline cracks managing to make their way through the bone if only slightly. He looked back deep into his sockets and performed a quick CHECK.

Sans

LV: 8

HP: 10/1

DF: 1

ATK: 1

Feeling shaken and tired. Could use a long nap about right now.

Only 10 HP? Papyrus swore that when Sans left that morning, he had 20, what had happened to him to take the whole half of his health? He mused for a bit, and then instead of asking any questions about that unknown customer, Papyrus asked. "DO YOU WANT ANYTHING?"

"huh?" Came the confused response from his brother.

"I THINK YOU'VE WORKED ENOUGH FOR TODAY, AND IT'S LATE, SO WE COULD HAVE DINNER?" Was he a coward for avoiding the matter? Maybe, but Sans clearly needed this.

"uhhh..." He thought for a moment where a brief expression of disgust crossed his features, before answering. "n-nah, i think i'll pass. but you can have something if you want."

"NO, IT'S FINE, I'M NOT THAT HUNGRY ANYWAY."

“…ok.” There was a long moment of awkward silence between them, Sans looking like he was anywhere else but the room, but then he took a sharp breath and looked at him with a renewed half smirk. “bed-time story?”

“FINE… BUT DON’T FALL ASLEEP.”

“i won’t, bro.” They started untangling from each other’s embrace. Papyrus stumped to fetch the book from one of the corners of the room, and when he got back, he found a fair number of clean quilts displayed on the floor next to the bed with the few pillows they owned arranged on them. He eyed Sans questioningly, to which he tittered sheepishly. “we haven’t done laundry in a while, have we?”

“NO, WE HAVEN’T, YOU ALWAYS SAY THAT YOU’LL GET IT DONE LATER.” Papyrus halfheartedly complained, still confused as to what did it had to do with anything?

“welp, i think i’ll do it tomorrow, for real this time. our bed’s startin’ to reek”

Papyrus squinted. “NO, YOU WON’T.”

Sans faked a hurt expression. “ouch, what have i done for you to think i’m that lazy?”

“NOTHING.”

“…did you just make a pun?”

“NO, I DIDN’T. YOU STOPED BEING A BONEHEAD.”

They stared at each other before Papyrus’ stern look broke into a smile and Sans actually laughed, it was light but he was truly laughing; well, if he couldn’t make things better, then he would at least make his brother’s mood better.

They settled into the makeshift bedding and started reading together, all the time Papyrus made a point of not looking at his brother’s wrists or saying anything about how much he shifted in his own spot. And then again, Sans fell asleep first, just a few sentences before ending the story. Papyrus took the book away from him and slid it to somewhere else on the floor, covering them with one of the blankets and hoping that this time there wouldn’t be any midnight sniveling.

Stars, if he ever got lucky.

------------------------------------------- 

Soon enough the closet became a routine. Every two or three times a week, Papyrus would have to spend a few hours locked in that cramped space, searching for new things to do to distract himself from whatever was happening in the room. He also stopped his attempts at asking Sans anything, since the last time he did it ended up with them fighting over ‘privacy rights’, although it surely must have sounded more like a tantrum than a fight to whoever have heard them —they could get pretty loud when arguing—. However, they couldn’t manage to stay mad for long and by the time Sans came back from work they both tried to give their best excuse of an apology, which became too awkward, so they decided to just forget about the matter and have dinner. The bed sheets were now constantly changed aswell, and Papyrus was surprised to say the least that Sans had actually done laundry when he said he would.

Today seemed to be one of those boring days; he and his brother had gone to the librarby the day before and got a few books about basic physics, to Papyrus’ dismay, and Sans made sure to explain him the first three topics shown in the index; Papyrus didn’t know why he insisted in making him learn stuff like how much water could fit in a specific container or how far would something slide across somewhere just because someone had the great idea to push it! And all the numbers and small symbols printed on the page were just infuriating, why did physics exist in the first place? And why did it had to be the only thing his brother was good at besides math and lazing around?!

He was barely done with his umpteenth miserable attempt at solving that damn problem about some balls rolling on grass correctly when he felt a small tug at his soul. He froze right where he was, going dead silent and waiting; another tug came and now he noticed the feeble blue hue coming from beneath his shirt, when the third one hit him, he shot up and gathered all the papers, books and pencils that had been scattered around, shoving them under a cover in one corner and running to get into the closet, closing the door as best as he could and curling up to fit better; this was his signal, after the second time Sans had brought that ‘fussy customer’ of his to their home, he had suggested to come up with some sort of way to let Papyrus know when he had to hide before anyone could get inside; since there weren’t many monsters who could use blue magic on others, they’d agreed that when Sans got close to the cabin he would turn Papyrus’ soul blue three times to warn him so he had enough time to do whatever he needed to disappear. Papyrus stayed there, waiting for the already expected creaking of the door and the duo of monsters coming inside, but when it happened, he couldn’t hear a thing; not even steps or fake condescending laughs, there was nothing, even the lights remained off. It made him more wary, he started to gather what little magic he’d learned to create an attack, ready for whatever danger could try to surprise him. From the small gap between the hinges of the closet’s door he could see a silhouette approaching, he held his breath, and when the other figure opened his hideaway he yelled and began throwing his attack against the intruder.

Only to make it stop just scarcely millimeters from its target. He looked down into the darkness to find his brother hunched over and covering himself with his arms and a small wall of blue bones to protect himself. He could swear he felt his right socket twitching before dissolving his magic.

“SANS!! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?! I ALMOST KILLED YOU, YOU STUPID BONEHEAD!”

The mentioned monster straightened up and smiled nervously at him. “hey, those’re big words, ya sure you can already manage killin’ someone with one of your attacks?”

“I AM SERIOUS! WHY DID YOU EVEN DO THAT IN THE FIRST FREAKING PLACE?!”

“i… wanted to give you a surprise?” He said while letting his own magical bones go away.

“YEAH, I’M SURE YOU RATHER MEANT HEART-ATTACK.”

“but you’re heartless, bro.”

“STOP MAKING PUNS RIGHT NOW! I TOLD YOU I WAS SERIOUS! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!”

“ok, ok, sorry. fuck, i knew this wouldn’t be a good idea.” He rubbed the back of his skull with one hand and with the other he seemed to be fetching something from one of his pockets. He sighed. “i wanted to surprise you and give you this.”

Sans retrieved something that looked like a piece of cloth all crumpled up into a tight ball —surely to make it fit in his pocket— and handed it to Papyrus. He studied it for a moment before taking it and starting to unroll it; he noticed that it was something quite long, but with no illumination he couldn’t give a better guess. “UGH, TURN THE LIGHTS ON, I CAN’T SEE A THING!”

Sans muttered a small “oh, yeah, right. sorry, my bad.” And went to the switch near the door, immediately getting back as fast as he could to before the closet.

Now Papyrus could properly see what the mysterious item was: it was a long and wide red almost purple scarf knitted in the tiniest stitches he’d ever seen it practically looked like regular fabric, it was a little ragged at the ends but otherwise it looked overall new, it felt so warm and soft to the touch Papyrus had to restrain himself from hugging it against his chest and cheekbones. He looked back at Sans with a browbone raised. “WHAT’S THIS FOR?”

Sans snorted unintelligently and pouted. “oh shit, so the year i manage to actually remember your birthday you have to forget it? not cool, bro.”

Papyrus stared back at the scarf, then at Sans, then at the forgotten books of physics hidden in the corner, then back at Sans again. “I THOUGHT THAT WAS THE REASON YOU DECIDED TO TORTURE ME WITH THOSE IDIOTIC BOOKS FROM THE LIBRABY.”

The expression in Sans’ face was priceless and in another whole level of offense. “wha-? those aren’t idiotic! they’re for your basic education! and besides, why would i torture ya for your birthday in the first stars-dammed place?!”

“HOW DO YOU WANT ME TO KNOW?! SOMETIMES YOU CAN BE INSUFFERABLE!”

“but not all the time!”

“MOST OF THE TIME!”

“that’s not all the time!”

“NEVERMIND! SHUT UP! YOU’RE RUINING THIS MOMENT MORE THAN YOU ALREADY DID!” There came a moment of silence where Papyrus mused over the new scarf, pretending to be inspecting it for any small detail, before nodding to himself and wrapping it around his vertebrae; it was too oversized it reached the floor and looked more like a cape than a scarf, but he didn’t mind, to be honest. “THIS IS AN ACCEPTABLE GIFT WORTHY OF THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS, SO I SHALL FORGET ABOUT YOUR IDIOCY FROM BEFORE.”

“heh, sounds fair to me, i’m glad you like-“

He cut Sans off by launching himself at him and almost making him topple down, hugging his middle with all his force. He knew that scarf didn’t come from the dump, it looked way too new to have been fetched recently from that place, he knew Sans surely spent gold on it, precious gold they needed to save in order to have enough to live, gold they needed to spare for Sans to not work so often, to not get hurt so often. And yet that numbskull of his brother went to a store and bought that scarf for him, a store that was surely run by a bunch of abusive dicks who would always take advantage of anyone they decided looked weak enough to be threatened or smashed. Sans wasn’t weak by any means, but Papyrus knew he could lower himself and pretend to be so he could get something he needed, but he didn’t need that scarf, he didn’t need to expose himself like that just to get some useless thing for his little —useless— brother.

But it was already done, and he couldn’t just tell Sans to give it back, so he had to find a way to thank him; but the thing is that he didn’t know how else besides trying to make him feel better when he knew he was having a bad time, stars, he couldn’t even prevent him from crying over night!

“hey, pap? you ok?”

Just Be Grateful And End This Scene You Namby-Pamby. “OF COURSE I AM! WHAT?! IS IT THAT NOW I AM NOT ALLOWED TO HUG YOU IN THANKS?!”

“…that was unexpected.” Came his bewildered response, but then Papyrus felt him returning the hug and smile against his skull. “but i guess i’ll take it.”

That night after having a special dinner —cinnamon bunnies no less!— and getting ready for bed, long after they read the story with Fluffy Bunny and midnight passed, Papyrus felt blissed out when all he could hear was the soft and calm breathing of his older brother by his side, placidly sleeping. It was the best gift he could ask for.

------------------------------------- 

Lately life hadn’t been that awful; they had a home, they’d managed to safe a fair amount of money so Sans didn’t work as much as before, they hadn’t been in a fight for at least three weeks and now they had more time to spend together. Town wasn’t still the safest place for a small child with so many greedy bastards stalking around, fights were restricted in the public area, but that didn’t apply for other dubious activities. So, the two brothers spent their afternoons in the little forest area behind their cabin, not so deep to be considered dangerous but it worked to keep them hidden from the rest of the world.

Today they were sparing. Papyrus had asked Sans to, claiming that he wanted to refine his bone constructs and practice his attacks. Sans, lazy as ever, took a seat upon a big snow lump and was throwing pathetic excuses of attacks against him. Papyrus knew he could do better than that, he wanted to face the blasters! He almost never got to see his brother taking them out for fights, it was the coolest attack he’d seen and yet San always said that he was too lazy to summon them and mostly it was unnecessary, so bones alone would have to do.

Papyrus’ bullet patterns looked more colorful than last time he’d practiced; he recently learned how to create blue and normal attacks at the same time, and he had gotten pretty good at it in almost no time, already being able to surround his brother with something akin to a cage. Sans was relaxed the whole while, knowing that despite being young Papyrus had a great control of his magic, damn, maybe even better than him.

“NYEH! YOU’VE BEEN MASTERFULLY IMMOBILIZED BY THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS’ SKILFULL CONSTRUCTS!”

“damn, you got me, bro. i lost, so guess that’s it for this fight.”

“WHAT?! BUT WE JUST STARTED ONE HOUR AGO! I STILL HAVEN’T SHOWN YOU MY NEW SPECIAL ATTACK!”  He stomped his small boot on the snow making the bones go away.

“too bad, i’m cold ‘lready.”

“THAT’S BECAUSE YOU NEVER WEAR PROPER CLOTHES FOR THIS WEATHER, YOU NUMBSKULL! NOW GET YOUR LAZY ASS OFF THAT LUMP AND MAKE YOURSELF A WORTHY OPPONENT!” He crossed his arms over his chest, his scarf was waving behind him and it just added to the epic stance he was trying to show, but it didn’t stir anything in Sans. “COME ON! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! YOU LAZ- ACK!”

Something hit the back of his skull and when he turned to see what it was while rubbing the now sore spot, he saw a flock of ridiculously tiny bones aiming at him; suddenly they were all going after his direction but this time he managed to dodge them, almost falling face-first against the snow. Papyrus heard Sans cackle like a fool, and then he saw him doubling over himself and falling from his lump to the snowed ground.

He went to stand next to him with his fists placed over the sides of his hips, all but glaring down at the mess he’d become. When Sans’ mad laughter finally subsided, he got on his knees and wiped off a small tear from his eyesocket, grinning at him. “first rule when fighting a jackass: you always have to keep eyes on your back.” He got up and brushed himself off, putting both hands in his pockets. “or if it turns out you don’t have any eyes at all, you can always use your same attacks to cover your bonny ass.”

“…WHY DO I HAVE THE HIDEOUS FEELING THAT YOU TOLD MORE THAN ONE PUN IN-“ He cut himself off and practically screamed bloody murder at his face in frustration. “STOP. WITH. THE. PUNS!!!!!”

Sans blared in laughter anew, and he deemed it worthy the smack Papyrus gave him in the shin. “ow! ok, ok, sorry.”

“NOW YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT UP TO ME! TWO MORE HOURS SPARING!” He pouted.

 “hey, don’t be like that, i was goin’ to teach ya anyways.” Sans walked away from the lump until he reached a random spot in the snow. He waited for Papyrus to join him by his side before opting for a more serious stand. “’alright, so, this is what you have to do…”

After several harmless smacks in the skull with tiny bones, Papyrus managed to make a formidable bone construct that was effective enough to block all the attacks Sans sent to him from every direction; he then proceeded to summon a row of blue and normal bones from the ground chasing after Sans, which made the taller skeleton stumble and fall flat on his rear. Papyrus gave a triumphant “NYEH!” before going to help his brother get up. When he came close Sans was still wincing, but it immediately turned into a smile full of pride the moment he noticed him coming.

“that was a good tactic, fuck, i didn’t even see it comin’.” He started to get up with Papyrus’ help and rubbed his butt for a few seconds, then he straightened up and popped his spine. “welp, guess that makes you the best outta the two of us in sparin’.”

Seeing Sans was no longer wincing, Papyrus puffed out his chest. “OF COURSE I AM THE BEST! THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS IS ALWAYS THE BEST AT EVERYTHING!”

“heh, that’s true, pap. still wonder how did i end up with such a cool brother.”

“MAYBE IT’S GENETICS.” He smirked in his direction. “I HAVE TO ADMIT YOU ARE COOL, TOO. WAY LESS COOL THAN ME! BUT A LITTLE, NONETHELESS.” Sure, he had have learned ‘coolness’ from someone, right? and as long as he remembers it’s always been only Sans and him. Not that he was going to give him full credit, no way, he just taught him to improve his naturally cool attacks.

“’lright, i’ll take your word just because you say so.” He giggled and put a hand over his shoulder. “now come on, all this coolness and sparin’ left me bone tired, i might just take a nap.”

“LAZYBONES.” Papyrus muttered as they both went back to the house.

But they hadn't even reached the path to the entrance when there was a boisterous voice coming from the open area leading to town.

"Hey! Fuckboy! Nice to find you around!"

Both brothers all but petrified in their spots, looking in the direction of the new stranger. Papyrus then realized in horror it wasn't just one but three monsters approaching their way. He felt Sans tense up next to him, gripping at his shoulder a little tighter and thoroughly pushing him behind him.

The bulky scaly monster continued his speech. "I know today's not in schedule, but my friends here wanted to know how a hell of a good time you can give."

Every time that monster spoke Papyrus swore he'd heard him before, and it took him a few seconds but he finally recognized it as the muffled voice he would hear from his little corner in the closet. That dreaded, disgusting voice that was nothing but a harbinger of yet another restless night for his brother. Papyrus hated the bastard, but now seeing him directly he couldn't help but feel intimidated, he was practically four times Sans' size and Papyrus got the notion that he might be just as heavy. The other monsters were some types he hadn't seen in a long time, clearly not from the cold grounds of Snowdin since one of them looked like it was made of half cooling lava and the other looked pretty similar to one of the fat toads from the surface biology books. The two were sneering and cackling in mock.

"I have the gold, so don't be a bitch and come on, why don't we get inside and have some... Fun..." He started trailing off, and with that an unpleasant feeling threatened to set in the pit of Papyrus' nonexistent stomach. "Hey, you got some company for yourself, fuckboy? D'you share?" Papyrus flinched and tried to back out into safety, but Sans' frame wasn't enough to cover him.

"Hah! Like that lil' piece of shit's going to keep up with you." Came the shrill comment of the lava monster.

"I'm sure that if ye were t' lay a single thrust on 'em, they'd dust rightaway... I'd like t' see that!" The wide smile the third monster gave was devilish and it made Papyrus' bones crawl and start to rattle feebly. These monsters were throwing threats at them but they didn't seem to have the barest intention of attacking, and it just confused the little skeleton further, what did these idiots want?!

Sans bared his sharp fangs at the offenders and stood at his full height, which wasn't impressive at all but seeing him leaving his usual slouch was always a bad sign. He spoke in a low tone, hollow and dark. "don't you even dare to look at him. you can't have him."

The three monsters exchanged looks and the scaly one walked a little further, spreading his arms feigning what was supposed to be a receiving embrace. "Oh, come on! Don't be a greedy bitch and introduce your little friend there to us. They seem like fun." He looked past Sans and right at Papyrus with dirty eyes.

"stay the fuck back!!" Sans yelled and the monster stopped, just a few steps away from the skeletons.

"Man, you said he was submissive. He looks just like any other fucking talk-back bratt to me." The lava creature growled while staring Sans down.

"He is, he's just being a bitch right now, that's all." The wider monster said to his cronies and then turned to glare daggers at the tallest skeleton. "Now cut the shit down and get your fucking ass and that bratt of yours in the cabin before I lose patience!"

Papyrus was scared. How could Sans stand this guy for so long? He was frightening in all ways. He looked up at his brother, noticing for the first time during the whole exchange the little beads of sweat sliding down Sans' skull despite the cold air surrounding them. His hand was suddenly engulfed by his brother's and it soon turned into a death-grip.

Papyrus didn't need words to know what he was trying to tell him.

Not waiting for a single second more, they started a frantic dash towards the cabin, feet digging deep into the swallow snow and struggling to not slip. They didn’t look back at the rabid gang of monsters chasing after them, their gazes were fixed in the door a few meters away, standing like their only escape.

“Hey! Where the hell are you going?! Come back here, you whore!!”

“Yeah! Come here with us! Unless you want to be fucking dust!”

“Fuckin’ dust… I like th’ idea...!”

“If you don’t stop, I will fucking murder you! And I’ll make sure the last thing you hear is the cries of that runt begging for more!”

They were almost there, almost there, Papyrus could already see the key hole in the door lock. Fuck! They always locked their cabin every time they went out, how the hell were they supposed to find the time to take the key out, unlock the door, get inside and then lock again?! The monsters behind them would get to put their claws on them before they could even reach the entrance, Papyrus knew it, he could feel them just centimeters away from him.

“grab on!”

He felt Sans bring him closer to his body, and then there was the sensation of deadly vertigo and turning emptiness before every color came back and he found himself inside the cabin. Papyrus stumbled and fell on his hands and knee-caps; crap! Now his skull was spinning and floating at the same time, he hated Sans’ ‘shortcuts’! It always took him some time to regain his bearings and make the uneasiness go away. But that was time he didn’t have right now. Papyrus forced his dizziness down and turned to the door, where he could see his brother trying to place a thick wooden board underneath the doorknob. But just before he could arrange it properly there was a violent pound on the door that made the board fall and Sans stumble backwards; Papyrus felt cold washing over him as he remained there, paralyzed, watching how the narrow pieces of wood that made the door bent and cracked, some splinters coming out of the flat surface. This was it, they would die here, no, worse, those monsters were discussing something about having fun before ending them, damn! They were surely going to get tortured to death! Papyrus always claimed that nothing could scare him, but right now, he felt utter dread at just the mere thought of him and his brother not having quick deaths like one would have during a fight; no one cared about quick deaths, living Underground for so long made monsters realize that dying wasn’t the worst way to end up. In the midst of his whirl of thoughts, Papyrus saw Sans leaning against the door, pressing his back against it for dear life, and he was shouting at him.

“…pap, get outta here! go hide!”

But Papyrus couldn’t react, the only thing he could heed was how the door was bending forwards, deeper and deeper into the inside of the room, Sans was barely able to keep standing with how hard they were banging the door, it was starting to crack, Papyrus could already see the reddish hue of lava through the cracks.

Suddenly he felt his soul heavier.

And one second after he was being thrown into some dark place.

The last thing he managed to see was the front door breaking down to shards, the trio of invading monsters making their way in, and his brother running towards him with his two eyelights still glowing an intense red, slamming the closet door and locking it down.

In the darkness of the small site, he briefly saw the familiar blue hue emanating from his ribcage before it vanished. Then the yelling began. The noise finally managed to snap Papyrus out of his shock and he started banging at the door in front of him, screaming bloody murder to let him out. He heard guffaw and sneer in the other side mixed with grunts, and knew it wasn’t a good sign at all. Sans was out there, alone with three monsters that could easily crush him. Papyrus wanted to think his brother would take them down with ease, that he would just use one of his blitz attacks and end it all, but he also knew how much energy Sans spent during their spare; it never seemed much, but there was a reason why he always preferred ending the fights quickly, and they’d spent almost three hours —just what Papyrus had asked— throwing attacks back and forth, wasting precious magic and energy.

Something hit the closet and it almost made him fall backwards, to which he screamed even louder if that was possible.

“LET HIM GO!! LET HIM FREAKING GO!!! YOU DAMN BASTARDS!!! I WILL KILL YOU!!!” He was sure by now that whatever they were doing to his brother, it sounded terribly like what that monster did to him while Sans worked home. But this time there weren’t any condescending words or fake moans, just raw laughter and truly pained grunts, there was no way to mistake it with pleasure.

Papyrus was trembling, and he didn’t care for the tears that were running freely down his cheekbones, he had to do something, anything! He couldn’t just hide like a coward, he had to help him. He had to think, think! Think of something! He could barely see the back of the shortest monster through one slit in the wood; Screw his hideaway, he had to do this. Focusing as hard as he could with his blurry vision and the pained sounds clouding his mind, Papyrus started to call his magic. Focus, bones, he’d done this a few minutes ago —or so he thought, there was no way to tell time inside the closet— bones, bones!

One tall glowing bone with a jagged end emerged from the floor under the closet and broke through the boards, followed by another a few centimeters apart appearing right in front of the piece of furniture, the row went on and Papyrus heard an angry yelp and a scream coming from two of the foreign monsters; his attacks had hit.

“ARRRRGH! Fucking worthless- where’s that little shit?!!!” He could see the light from the lava being moving back and forth in frustration.

“Fuck! I think ‘t came from th’ closet.” The toad-like monster hissed. “I’mma get that runt ‘n’ snap their neck ‘n half!.”

As in cue, the whole thing shook and Papyrus almost lost his balance, but again he prepared himself and shot another array of blue bones, hitting again the monsters; he knew right now his attacks weren’t as deadly as he intended them to, but he would keep attacking and attacking as many times as needed to make them go. Another hiss of pain from the intruders, another attack, the thick woods creaked under the pressure of what Papyrus could only assume were the other’s bullets. Then, the broadest of the three monsters raised his voice.

“Enough! Stop that shit already! I can’t believe you can’t even take down a miserable piece of fucking wood!”

“Dude! It has some kind of shield or some shit like that, it won’t even break with bullets!”

“Oh, is that so?” The closet stopped shaking, but Papyrus felt an empty feeling in his metaphorical guts, the scaly monster was coming his way, he could see his form approaching through the cracks. The monster attempted to open the door but the lock holding it closed didn’t relent, and Papyrus heard the monster sneering. “Hah, so you can’t get out on your own, huh, runt?” Papyrus’ bones ran cold, and he stopped the attack he was beginning to form, trying to stay as silent as his quiet sobs allowed him to. “So, if I casually decided to kill this whore here, you wouldn’t be able to get out, right?” He didn’t say anything, he couldn’t, he was shaking again in a mix of anger and desperation. “Hahaha, I thought so. Let’s make a deal, little shit. You stop throwing bones at us, and I might not end the fuckboy; but if you keep goin’ with your stupid shitty attacks, I’ll take his soul, and I will fuck it. I’ll make sure he suffers very slowly, and then I’ll give him a painful dead. Sounds good to you?”

Papyrus didn’t know what to do. Messing with a monster’s soul was serious business; no matter how shitty their world was, not everyone messed with souls like that, it’s needed a great amount of hurtful intentions to do that. If this monster even dared to bare his brother’s soul, he would never forgive himself, but he couldn’t even get out of there, and killing them wasn’t an option, he wasn’t strong enough. So, Papyrus slid to the bottom of the closet and stayed quiet.

“You mute now? Alright, I’ll take that as a yes.” He could hear the wicked grin the monster was wearing.

And that was all it took; the three of them went back to their business, and Papyrus was left alone to smash his small fists against the wood of the door, still trying to get out and calling Sans' name with a broken voice, but eventually he grew tired, he wanted to get out at least to be with his brother while this hell happened and he couldn’t even do that. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't manage to see more than just the backs of the three monsters, surely towering over his brother, sometimes kicking him, other times just watching the others do their thing with him, always hurting him, Papyrus couldn't tune out the muffled cries and sudden screams piercing his mind. After some time, he found himself crying fat tears and hugging Doomfanger to his chest, squeezing the now miserable looking plush cat into flatness, and barely whispering his former wild pleas.

He didn't know how long it had been, but he was suddenly brought back to the present by something smashed against the closet and Papyrus couldn't help but startle. "Today's your damn lucky day, little shit. But know that there won't be a magical shield protecting you next time."

"Wait, are we s'riously goin' t' just leave 'em like that?"

"Of course, you dickhead." The deep, rough voice seemed to irradiate poison. "We need to save something for later, don't you think?"

"If he survives, that is."

"Right, right. But who'd give a shit for some dusted bratt, anyways?"

They all started to laugh disdainfully, and a cold shiver went through Papyrus' spine rooting him into his spot; then he heard their mismatched steps getting away, and right when he guessed there was only a pair left, he heard one of the monsters speak in a disgusting tone. "See ya later delicious. I hope I can taste yer pet next time."

The room echoed with dirty laughter, and then before he knew it, it was silent again.

Papyrus didn't move, barely breathing and with wide sockets staring at nowhere in particular. It was over, right? They were gone, they finally left the cabin, right? They were alone, they were safe, they were both alive, right? The nightmare was over, all he had to do was get out and see...

Sans.

He had to check on Sans as soon as possible!

Papyrus shot up to his feet and banged at the door uselessly, once again yelling to the top of his magical lungs.

"SANS?! SANS, ARE YOU THERE?!! SANS!! ANSWER ME!!! PLEASE, SAY SOMETHING!!!" A few moments passed without reply. "SANS?!!! BROTHER, PLEASE!!! TALK TO ME!!!"

Nothing, again.

"SANS!! PLEASE!!"

One beat. Two beats. There was no response. Three beats. He was gone. Four beats. He was-

"...nhhh... p-pap..."

His breath hitched and more tears pooled in the rim of his sockets when he heard how low and spent his voice came. "SANS? A-ARE YOU OKAY?" Stupid question, he was aware, but it was the only think he could think of at the moment.

"...pap... i-i can't..."

Bad, he sounded bad, bad, so bad. "SANS, YOU HAVE TO LET ME OUT SO I CAN HELP YOU." He hoped Sans didn't hear the watery tremble in his voice. "I CAN'T GET OUT ON MY OWN, THIS THING GETS OPENED FROM THE OUTSIDE ONLY."

There was a feeble shuffle, and then Sans gave a weak grunt. "c-can't... can't m-move... pap... sorry."

"SANS? ARE YOU STILL THERE?"

"...s-s-sorry..." He was starting to slur, dragging his words into a whisper.

Papyrus could barely hear what his brother was saying, and a new wave of dread washed over him. "S-SANS?! DON'T FALL ASLEEP!! THIS ISN'T... THIS IS NOT TIME FOR NAPS! DON'T FALL ASLEEP!!" Hastily he formed a long, sharp bone in his hand, and started to hit repeatedly the spot where the lock was located; he hit it and hit it several times but it was taking way too long to break! "SANS, DON'T YOU DARE FALL ASLEEP ON ME!!"

It took longer than what he'd had liked, but finally, with a startling snap of the wood Papyrus managed to shatter the lock and make the door go loose; he immediately pushed it open dissolving the bone in his grip and hopped down onto the floor, stumbling a little for not moving his legs for so long. He got back on his feet and scanned his surroundings until he found his brother, running towards him in a dash, but stopped the moment he found himself right in front of him. Sans was unmoving, laying on the floor with only some rags of what once was his tank top hanging from his ribcage, his hands were tightly tied in front of him with some kind of rough-looking rope, and his wrists looked bruised and cracked underneath the knots; he was midway curling up into a ball, with both of his legs pressed together and his bones rattling loudly, Papyrus noticed that there was a new crack running down from the top of his skull to his cheekbone, crossing his right eyesocket, it looked dark colored and had a lot of small cracks spreading around, a strange liquid was coming from it, and although it looked like his usual red magic, Papyrus dreaded that it was tears mixed with blood and something else he didn't recognize. Both of his eyelights were out, and apparently, he hadn't noticed Papyrus approaching by the way he flinched and curled up even further when the little skeleton came into view.

Papyrus felt his magic coiling up behind his nonexistent throat, trying to come out, but he forced it down quickly before he could even gag at the feeling. His brother looked beyond awful, too many injuries covered his body and he couldn’t even count all of the broken bones left. He felt like crying, he felt his soul twisting, but he couldn’t allow himself to wallow in those sensations when Sans needed him most. He had to help him, that’s a fact. Papyrus’ hand hovered above the trembling pile of bones for a few seconds before he decided against touching his brother just yet; first off, cover him, right, it was always cold even inside the cabin, and laying on the bare floor with nothing to work as a barrier between one’s bones and the coolness of the wood boards couldn’t be that comfortable, so Papyrus ran back to the closet and brought the thickest and fluffiest comforter with him, wrapping his older brother as best as he could without hurting him any further, whenever he winced or gave a low whimper, Papyrus stopped and asked him where did the pain come from, but all he got was just shaky breaths and muttering. Once his marred bones were no longer exposed and his hands were untied, Papyrus took a deep breath, trying to muster enough courage to run a CHECK.

Sans

LV: 8

HP: 0.8/1

DF: 1

ATK: 1

Just went through hell and back again.

His own eyelights guttered out when he saw the decimals staring back at him. He had suspected it would be bad, but he hadn’t expected it to be that bad. This was something a healer should take care of, but he didn’t know any, and he himself didn’t know how to heal; years of asking Sans to teach him attacks and he never thought of asking him to teach him healing magic, why had he been such a fool? But it didn’t matter what he knew and what he didn’t, he had to bring his HP up again, it’s been ages since the last time he saw Sans lower than 1 but it perturbed him all the same.

“Sans…” He called in a whisper, and although Sans didn’t seem to have heard him, he continued. “I Will Go Get Some Food, Okay? I Won’t Be Long.” He got up and started to go towards the corner where they kept all the cans of food and other items in storage, but then he heard him.

“n-no… stay…”

If the room hadn’t been submerged in drilling silence, he might not had heard him at all with how quiet he was, one of his hands was poking out from under the comforter and was reaching for him; Papyrus went back and tucked him again into his cocoon. “I’m Not Going Anywhere, Brother, I Just Have To Get Something For You To Eat.”

Sans whimpered in response. “s-stay…”

Papyrus didn’t want to stand off his brother’s side either, but he had to do this, so he pressed his forehead as gently as he could against his brother’s and reassured him. “I’m Not Leaving, Sans, I Promise.” When he didn’t say anything more to stop him, Papyrus resumed his searching for food, coming back just a minute later clutching a bunch of cans and wraps to his chest. He opened the first one with a sharp bone: pineapple cubes, definitely not their favorite and not the best option —since every food fallen from the surface tended to have less magic in it— but it would have to do, he needed to do this quickly. He took one of the smallest cubes and brought it close to Sans’ mouth. “Here, Take This, It Will Make You Feel Better.”

Papyrus held the piece of pineapple for a while until Sans finally started to open his mouth and engulfed it; he grimaced and grunted a bit, frowning at the sour flavor tingling his insides, burning down his throat before dissolving. Papyrus kept feeding him like that, until at some point Sans clenched his jaw tightly and shook his skull feebly, no longer being able to ignore the stinging in his sored magical throat. Papyrus set the half-finished can aside and went to open the next one: crabapples with syrup, good! This was monster food, harvested, prepared and canned Underground —why was it canned? Who knows, but it was easier to carry around like that— therefore harder to get.

By the time nighttime was arriving, there were four cans and two packages of snacks open and halfway finished, Sans had made Papyrus know that he would not be eating anymore the moment he started nodding off, going in and out of consciousness; the CHECK Papyrus did on his brother again showed him that his HP had barely increased to 1.9, it was nothing and he had the expectation that with all that variety of food it would hit at least 5 or 6, but apparently no such luck. The little skeleton then took all the pillows from their bed and arranged them all around his brother to try making his spot on the floor more comfortable, setting the softest one under his skull. Papyrus looked at his work, it wasn’t even near what he would have deemed comfortable enough, but there was just so much he could do; looking over at the limp form of his brother, he noticed that his right socket was still damp with that strange substance from before; he fetched a cloth and kneeled down next to his skull, but the moment it touched his bony rim, Sans yelped and gave a startling jump, making Papyrus retreat the invading material quickly; he started shaking hard and was trying to cover both of his eyesockets with his hands, anxiously scratching them and muttering nonsense. Papyrus stayed put on the floor not sure what to do, and then he started to catch some of the fretting muttering.

“…out… don’t… out… take out… out… please… out… stop… please…”

He hurt him, he had hurt his brother when he was supposed to take care of him, how come that he had been that careless? So he was that useless, he couldn’t even make Sans feel better like he did with him; Papyrus had told himself that if he couldn’t keep Sans from getting hurt, then he’d at least make it better for him, but now he was the reason why he was fretting this bad and it was all his fault, for not being careful, for not being quick enough to hide on his own instead of waiting for his older brother to turn him blue and do the job.

But no matter what a terrible brother he was, he still had to take care of Sans. To hell with his troubles, right now Sans still needed someone, and there was no one else around to trust besides him.

Papyrus apologized a thousand times while slowly getting close again to the shivering lump hidden underneath the comforter, he spoke in the softest tone he could, ever so gently rising a hand to lay on top of Sans’ skull, trying to soothe him. A few minutes passed before his muttering ceased, and maybe it was an hour when he finally stopped shaking and went limp again, bony eyelids threatening to fall heavily in exhaustion; maybe he could try to clean him later, when he wasn’t so jumpy and had some rest on him. Papyrus laid himself next to his brother, looking at him intently, he didn’t try to hug him —even if he was dying to— it might not be a good idea, he just kept caressing his skull, always avoiding that new crack, and whispered cheesy reassurances telling him he wasn’t alone and there was someone taking care of him, just like Sans did when he was younger and had a really bad nightmare.

He would not leave him alone, no matter how hard things got.

Chapter Text

It had been three days and Sans hadn’t even been able to get up from the floor to lay on the bed properly; Papyrus made a point of making the floor the closest imitation of a bed, adding layers and layers of blankets, covers and pillows, until Sans looked more like a pile ready for laundry than a skeleton. He also made sure that his brother ate every day, practically forcing him to take small portions every time he had the chance to, which left him with several containers with bits of food in them. He’d managed to get Sans cleaned with a wet cloth the second day, it still proved to be something uncomfortable for the taller skeleton, but the flinches and jumps were less violent and less frequent; that time Papyrus noticed that Sans was wearing something akin to a chocker he hadn’t seen before, it was black and made of leather, but when he tried to remove it, it seemed to get tighter around his brother’s fragile vertebrae, so he decided to leave it there for the moment, he’d take care of it later, when Sans got stronger.

Sans seemed to be more aware of his surroundings now, he talked more coherently although his speech was still slurred and quiet, but Papyrus couldn’t be happier to hear his brother making a lame attempt at getting one knock-knock joke right, it pained him to see his brother fussing over him when he was clearly the one who needed to be cheered up though.

“…pap, why dontcha get in bed…? ’s cold here.” He would say every time Papyrus lied on the floor next to him.

“NOTHING THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS CAN’T HANDLE.” He would answer with a smile, not minding the faint cold brushing his bones. “BESIDES, I HAVE TO MAKE SURE DOOMFANGER IS DOING HIS JOB PROPERLY.”

“…heh… bet he‘s.” Sans had been clutching the crushed stuffed black cat for a while, Papyrus had given it to him stating that it would guard him when he wasn’t by his side, even though he hadn’t left the cabin.

“HOW ARE YOUR BONES?” It was awkward asking that directly, but Papyrus didn’t have time for detours.

“…better, bro...” He was never honest about how sored he still was; Papyrus could hear it in the slight tremble of his voice. “…all thanks to you.”

“AND YOUR SOCKET?”

That one always managed to make him stiffen, his right eyelight was hazy and weak, but it was still shining feebly. “g-good… doesn’t hurt anymore…” Another lie.

But it didn’t matter how much he ate or how long he slept, his health didn’t seem to raise at all, that’s how Papyrus knew Sans wasn’t getting better despite what he’d say. It was just impossible that after spending practically ninety hours straight sleeping, his health hadn’t surpassed his maximum HP, and worse of all, his injuries didn’t seem to go away; usually when you reached your maximum HP, it meant your health was optimum and all your wounds had healed up on their own, but as much as he could see, the cracks in Sans’ bones were still there.

The fourth day Sans tried to get up on his own. He didn’t go far before he stumbled and fell with a sickening crack; Papyrus came running from the bathroom where he had been washing some clothes in the tub to find his brother all sprawled and hissing in pain with his eyesockets devoid of any light. The cracks in his wrists and ribs had extended a little bit, and Papyrus scolded him for nearly twenty minutes, telling him to go back to rest until all the cracks were gone.

The sixth day, Papyrus spent the whole night trying to calm Sans down, he’d suddenly started crying nonstop, curling up into a tight ball and not even trying to hide his state; Papyrus couldn’t let it pass, he had let it pass far too many times, and this was the result of his carelessness. So this time, he wrapped Sans in a mild hug being careful of his aching bones, and stayed up until morning, cooing him with soft words he never thought would be saying in this fucked up world.

The eighth day Sans didn’t stir the first time Papyrus shook him. It was five solid minutes before he started to groggily open his sockets with both his eyelights practically gone and not knowing where he was. Papyrus screamed at him to stop joking around like that, but Sans didn’t react, he just looked into Papyrus’ sockets like it was the only thing in the world.

“…ya’re here…” He whispered.

“OF COURSE I AM HERE, YOU DUMMY! WHERE ELSE WOULD I BE?”

“…j’st makin’ sure…”

He didn’t say anything else, just went back to sleep. Papyrus managed to wake him up again near noon to make him eat a few bites of bread covered with mustard, but not even the condiment seemed to appeal him, leaving more than half bread untouched.

The nineth day Papyrus made another CHECK.

Sans

LV: 8

HP: 0.3/1

DF: 1

ATK: 1

Not dead yet.

Papyrus knew that if his HP dropped a bit more, Sans would be fallen.

He couldn’t let him fall, there was no way in the world he could survive without his older brother by his side, he was the only one who had shown him any kindness down here, the only one who ever cared about him, who loved him. He couldn’t let his big brother fall. What to do? Food had long ago proved to be useless; sleeping was no help at all; he couldn’t heal for heck’s sake!

All he had left to do was go look for a healer.

Maybe the bunny lady from the inn might know someone? She was the less crappy monster he’d seen in town, one of the few who didn’t look at him and his brother with hungry eyes, might be a good try. Papyrus put on his coat and his rubber boots, rearranging his red scarf around his neck and looking determined. He kneeled down in front of his unmoving brother, his shallow breaths turning noisier and haunting, he laid a hand on the side of his skull and caressed it gently. “I Will Come Back, Okay? I Won’t Be Long.” He bumped their foreheads softly, without sound, and spoke earnestly. “I Won’t Let You Fall.”

As expected, Sans didn’t give an answer. Papyrus looked at him one last time before getting out of the cabin. There was snow falling outside, so the path leading to town was a little rougher than usual, but that didn’t deter Papyrus. He trudged for a few minutes until he reached the skirts of downtown, ‘neutral ground’ he remembered, he would be safer now while he looked for a healer. There was a fair number of monsters wandering through the main street, giving him confused looks or staring uncomfortably, he did his best to ignore them, focusing instead on looking for some building that looked like a clinic or whatever they got in this forsaken town, but there was nothing, not even a signboard. Apparently, he had to really go all the way to the inn in the other end of town. Damn it.

He wasn’t so far past the librarby when someone yanked his scarf. He fell backwards with and undignified yelp, getting up instantly and staring daggers back at whoever might be the culprit. There were three dogs looking back at him, one of them was stepping over his long scarf, eyes fixed on him and drool spilling through his fangs holding some kind of smoking thing; the other two dogs were wagging their tails madly, and Papyrus could swear one of them was getting taller.

“So, what’s some tiny pup doing around here all alone?” The first dog asked in a mocking tone and baring his fangs into a suspicious grin. The other two just barked along impatiently.

“I AM NO PUP!” Papyrus yanked back his scarf releasing it, noticing that it had some loose threats from where the dog’s claws had teared it. He felt anger taking over him, but he had something important to do. “Neutral Ground.” He repeated himself internally, they couldn’t attack him here, they were just messing with him. He started to walk away but the dogs didn’t leave him alone.

“Hey! Where the fuck do you think you’re going?! Come back here, you little prick!”

The barking became so rabid Papyrus couldn’t help but turn his skull to see the three of the dog monsters running after him; his sockets went wide and he started a mad dash. This wasn’t supposed to happen, it was neutral ground, fucking neutral ground! They weren’t supposed to be attacking him, where the hell were the fucking assholes who were supposed to be making sure no one did anything here?!

All of a sudden, he was pinned down from behind, two heavy paws held him in place and its claws were starting to dig into his coat; he tried to turn back, to squirm out but it was in vain, the freaking dog was way too heavy for him to move it even an inch. The three of them laughed, he was sure it was laughter, and next thing he knew he was hanging from his coat’s collar, the tallest and broadest dog holding him up. They now were in some kind of alley between two buildings, it was fairly dark and all Papyrus could see were three pairs of glowing eyes. Fear began to run down his spine with realization: if they wanted to kill him, they would have since the moment they saw him, but they didn’t, they were planning something else; were they going to do the same thing the others did with Sans? Dread engulfed him in just a second, he didn’t want to go through whatever that had been, he still needed to get help for his brother, he couldn’t leave him alone in the cabin to dust on his own, with no one by his side, cold and abandoned, he had to get out of this! But the dogs cackling just made him panic further, he felt something furry sliding under his coat and his shirt, touching his bare ribs, he shivered with how cold it felt; he started screaming loud, as loud as his voice could go, soon becoming into just shrill desperate cries. He had to get out! He didn’t want this! He didn’t know what this was! He didn’t want to go through that before dying! “Help! Someone, Anyone!” The dogs were starting to reach further and further, he was not going to make it out! Nobody was going to come…!

“…Hey! The hell are you doing in there?”

Everything froze. The alley was no longer dark, there was a warm purple light coming from a door that had mysteriously opened in front of him; the silhouette of the three dogs didn’t let him see who was the one standing in the threshold, but he could guess just for the tone, that they were pissed.

“Heeeeeey, Grillby! What are you doing here, huh? Slow day today?” The thinner dog sneered, exhaling smoke with every word he said.

“…I should be the one asking that…” The deep rumbling voice coming from the threshold said.

“Oh, you know, just having a little fun, that’s all.” The other dogs barked along, and the bigger one tried to hide Papyrus further behind their figures, still too afraid to say anything.

“…What do you got there?” They demanded.

“Nothing of your business, Grillby.” There was a dark undertone lacing his words, like a hidden threat.

The warmness of the place increased along with the purple light, and Papyrus managed to see something akin to flames. “…You’re behind my building… So, whatever happens here… It’s my business.”

As in cue, the grip of the dog holding him lessened, and Papyrus slipped just enough to see the other monster. He was a little surprised when he saw that the purple hue covering the alley was coming from them —or him, they were giving off a more strongly masculine aura— and even more shocked when he noticed that his form was actually a bunch of fire wearing some fancy clothes and… A pair of glasses? Papyrus had heard about elementals before, but he’d never seen one, and of course he hadn’t expected to find one made of fire in a place where it was snowing all the time. He might have stared for far too long, because there was a beat of silence where the fire monster looked at him directly and seemed to rise a brow. “…What are you doing… With that kid, Doggo?”

The one called Doggo giggled nervously and gave a step forward. “Heeheehee, I told you! Just having some fun before work.”

“…That kid is coming with me.” He said, more like stated in a level voice.

“Wait, what? No! We found it first!”

“…It’s my property.” If the dogs were giving suspicious looks, Papyrus couldn’t even start trying to comprehend what the hell did he meant with his property. “…It’s new, so you better let it go.”

“Your property. Hah! Woah, Grillby, and here we didn’t know you liked them that young too!”

The fire elemental’s brow furrowed further. “…It’s new product… Not for me, asshole.”

“Well, in that case, won’t you let us be the first ones to use it? Mhh? Come on! We promise we won’t break the bratt.”

“…No.”

“Shit, don’t be such a killjoy, man. We’re bored as hell!”

The fiery monster straightened the glasses on his face with a graceful move and then crossed his arms over his chest. “…If you’re going to use my back alley instead of my rooms… Then I guess I can take your benefits down.”

“Hey, now listen, you fucking stuck-up! We’re the King’s Brigade, so you better know your damn place in here! Got it?” The smoking dog shouted and the other two dogs growled threateningly at the flame.

But the man didn’t seem faced at all, keeping a neutral expression when he talked back. “…Then maybe I should talk to Dogamy and Dogaressa… About what you do during your breaks?”

All the growling and barking stopped at once, and then Papyrus fell to the ground abruptly. He dragged himself to the opposite wall pressing his back against it and looking up at the group in front of him. The dogs were staring daggers at the so called ‘Grillby’ monster, but then Doggo motioned the others to get out of there. “Fuck off Grillby.”

Papyrus didn’t dare to move until he saw the three silhouettes disappear through the falling snow; he sighed in relief and turned to look at the remaining monster, only to find him already getting back into the building.

“WAIT!” Grillby turned his head to look down at him with a poker face. “WHY DID YOU DO THAT?”

The man kept his gaze fixed with Papyrus’ for a few silent seconds before speaking again. “…What…? You wanted them to keep going?”

“NO, OF COURSE NOT! BUT…” No one did anything if they weren’t aiming to get something in exchange. “BUT… BUT I WILL NOT WORK FOR YOU! I AM NO ONE’S PROPERTY!”

“…Good.” That was all he said before turning his back on him again and resume his walking. This monster was quickly proving to be truly infuriating to Papyrus, why all the mysterious act?!

“HEY, DO NOT IGNORE ME!” Papyrus stood up and approached the fire elemental with a demanding expression.

Reluctantly, Grillby turned back again and gave him a bored look. “…What the hell do you want?”

He wanted to ask why did he do what he did, why save him from the dogs if he wasn’t going to claim him his property? But at the same time, Papyrus remembered why he came to town in the first place, so he decided to ask. “DO YOU KNOW WHERE CAN I FIND A HEALER?”

The other rose a brow again —weird, he was pure fire. “…Healer…? Here, in town?”

“YES, I NEED A HEALER, DO YOU KNOW ONE OR NOT?” He was barely holding back how much this monster was annoying him with his slow and strange speech, he needed that healer now!

To Papyrus’ dismay, Grillby spent half a minute in silence, just looking at him, and when he was about to repeat —shout— his question again, he said. “…They got dusted a long time ago.”

“S-SO, THERE ARE NO HEALERS IN TOWN?”

“…No.”

Awkward silence.

The fire elemental was starting to leave again, but Papyrus stopped him. “NO! WAIT! I-I NEED HELP! I NEED SOMEONE WHO CAN HEAL!” He had already lost too much time with the whole ordeal with the dogs, he was supposed to get back to the cabin quickly, Sans didn’t have that much HP to spare, so he would take his bet on the first monster who didn’t try anything against him. “D-DO YOU KNOW HOW TO HEAL?”

For the first time, the elemental’s ‘eyes’ seemed to get wide and change into a puzzled look, tilting his head to the side. “…I don’t know if you should be able to read at your age… But have you seen the front sign…? I’m sure it doesn’t say ‘Hospital’ or any shit like that.”

He didn’t even know what building this was, but he didn’t care anymore. “BUT I NEED SOMEONE WHO KNOWS HEALING MAGIC!! ANYONE!! I DON’T CARE IF IT’S NOT A HEALER, PLEASE!! I NEED IT NOW!!”

“…Then go to Waterfall and stop wasting my time.”

“NO!!! I DON’T HAVE TIME!! HE’S DYING!!”

Papyrus was all but clinging to the fire monster’s leg, and Grillby started to get wary that some curious passerby might come and take advantage of the situation, so he gave an annoyed sigh and tried to keep his temper in check. “…Who’s dying?”

Papyrus looked up with watery sockets, unable to keep up his tough façade and speaking in pure desperation. “M-MY… My Brother Is Dying… His HP Won’t Go Up, A-And I Don’t Know How To Heal! I Can’t Help Him!”

This wasn’t the other’s problem, Papyrus knew that he would very likely get kicked for even asking some stranger’s help, but what else could he do? He was desperate, maybe he wasn’t thinking straight anymore but he had to find help however he could. The fire monster was taking too long to react, and he was starting to lose hope, maybe he would change his mind and actually turn him into his property.

“…Where?” Papyrus wasn’t prepared for that question, was this monster really willing to help him? Maybe he spent a little too long musing over that, because the taller man asked again roughly. “…Where?”

“Huhhh… H-He’s At Our Cabin Near The Woods.”

“… … …Wait here.”

Papyrus was left alone in the cold snow as the fire monster entered the building and disappeared for a few minutes; he wiped his eyesockets with his sleeve, and when he calmed a little, he finally noticed the music coming out of the open door, it sounded just the same as the kind he would hear when crossing the main street to the shop with Sans. Papyrus looked up to the rocky ceiling looming over them all, focusing on the small snowflakes wandering around, some of them entering his sockets and making him shiver. He really hoped Sans was still hanging, he didn’t want to remain in this world alone.

“…Are you waiting for the next human to fall or what?”

The deep and crackling voice from the fire monster startled him, but he tried to —poorly— hide it with a frown. He didn’t say anything else, just started to stride back to the cabin, stopping every once in a while to make sure the other was still following him and didn’t look like planning any suspicious shit.

Papyrus felt like the road was getting longer and longer with every step he gave, surely it hadn’t been that long but he couldn’t quite ignore the sensation that he wasn’t going to make it on time, what if he opened the door and all he was greeted with was a pile of dust? What if some breeze got through the small gap under the door and blew it away? Stars, all of his brother’s remains would be lost, and he wasn’t even there to stand by his side in his darkest moment. He gripped his scarf tightly; he couldn’t let himself look weaker than he already did, he had to be tough, there was still the possibility that this monster could try to do something to Sans, he had to be prepared. Discreetly he turned his skull just enough to see the general figure of the fire elemental, and CHECKed him.

Grillby

LV: 28

DF: 45

ATK: 80

Feels quite huffy for leaving work behind, but has morals.

Papyrus frowned in confusion a bit, no wonder his stats seemed as mysterious and vague as the monster himself did, usually one could know what the other’s intentions are with just a CHECK, but this only puzzled him. He felt the familiar tingle of being CHECKed back and rose his eyelights to look directly at Grillby, who was also staring at him.

Fair enough, he guessed.

Soon after the minutes dragged by slowly, the cabin came into view. Papyrus ran through the remaining bit of road left and immediately went to unlock the door; he opened it almost slamming it against the wall and went to kneel down next to the pile of quilts and pillows on the floor. As before, it wasn’t moving, some of the corners of a few blankets had rolled off and were covering where his brother’s face would be, Papyrus felt a heavy feeling in his soul. Better do this quickly. He clenched his sockets shut and lifted the blankets, the soft breaths were still there, so he looked down to find Sans’ slack expression. The dark rings under his sleeping sockets seemed bigger than when he left, and the right one seemed worse. Papyrus turned back to Grillby, looking him in the eye seriously.

“YOU HAVE TO HELP HIM… Please.”

The fire monster closed the door behind him and approached the pair of skeletons wordlessly, he looked at the bundle of quilts and bones on the floor contemplatively, then Sans made a small grunt and attempted to open his sockets, only managing to give a feeble questioning look to Papyrus before shutting them back in place, he was trembling again.

“…tell him to let me see his HP.”

Right, one thing Papyrus knew about healing magic was that it always worked better if the healer in question could see the injured monster’s HP. Papyrus was the only one who was allowed to see Sans’ HP and vice versa, since showing it was considered a disadvantage with all the monsters always looking for easy EXP to increase their LV, so it was expected that Sans wouldn’t feel comfortable being CHECKed, but right now it was necessary. Papyrus got close to his skull and whispered to his brother. “Sans, You Have To Let Him See Your HP, Otherwise You Won’t Get Better. I’m Here, Nothing Bad Is Going To Happen, I Won’t Let It Happen.”

Again, he tried to open his sockets, and only one hazy, pale eyelight showed up, the left one. “…n-no… d-don’… w-wanna…”

“Come On, Sans, I Told You I Won’t Go Anywhere, You Need To Do This Or… Or Y-You Won’t Get Better. Please, For Me?” It was low of him to be asking his brother to do something for him, but if it was the only way so be it. Sans tried to argue, but he didn’t have the energy for that anymore, so he closed back his sockets and did as he was asked. Papyrus smiled tenderly and ran two phalanges over the top of his skull. “See? It Wasn’t That Hard, You Lazybones.”

Papyrus turned to watch Grillby, and saw how he furrowed his brow, not knowing if it was surprise or anger. “…No fucking way…” He muttered to himself, then turned to see the smaller skeleton. “…When was the las time he ate?”

“I GAVE HIM A BREAD WITH MUSTARD JUST YESTERDAY, BUT HE ONLY ATE HALF OF IT.” Why would he think he would let his own brother starve? “HE HASN’T BEEN EATING ENOUGH SINCE… SINCE HE GOT HURT.”

Grillby nodded, then brought his attention back to Sans. He placed one hand over his skull, and it started glowing a green light, seeping through the cracks spreading in that area, but none of them seemed to get any thinner. Papyrus had his gaze fixed on the display, waiting for anything to happen but nothing seemed to get better. The green flow stopped and Grillby CHECKed him again.

“…It’s not working.”

Hi soul just dropped to the very bottom of his being. “W-WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN IT’S NOT WORKING?”

“…Did he take anything?” He asked dryly.

“T-TAKE WHAT? HE HASN’T EVEN-“

“I mean pills… Stimulants… Suppressive… That kind of shit.”

What the hell were those things? How was he supposed to know if Sans took them or not? He was so secretive with him in that regard, were those the same as aphorodisines? Aphrodizziners? How the hell was the word again? Papyrus started tearing up in frustration and hiccupping, the healing magic was doing nothing for his brother, his HP was still so low, he was not going to make it, he was going to die, he couldn’t take it any longer. “I… I… I DON’T KNOW!”

The tears started clouding his vision and the fear of being alone filled his mind and soul, he wasn’t paying attention any longer; he searched for Sans’ hand and squeezed it for all it was worth. He had promised himself to not cry in front of anyone, but he just couldn’t help it. He barely heard the shuffle of the blankets, and when he rose his gaze to look for the cause of it, he saw Grillby setting all the covers aside and inspecting his brother’s body. Some kind of rage burned within all the pain, and he shouted. “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?! LEAVE HIM ALONE!” But the fire monster didn’t stop, he lifted one of his arms close to his face, then the other, then did the same with his ankles. The rage was quickly replaced with confusion. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HIM?”

“…I’m looking for a suppressor.”

“S-SUPP-RESSOR?” He hesitated.

Grillby didn’t answer, just kept looking, until finally his gaze fell on Sans’ neck. Papyrus saw how he brushed the thin, black chocker embracing his tender vertebrae, the one he had tried to remove a few days prior; the man gave it a testing tug and immediately Sans opened both of his sockets and gave a sharp gasp, like he couldn’t breathe, like he even had the need to, prompting the fire being to let go of the garment.

“…Do you have the key for this?”

It took him a moment to process what he had just asked before shaking his skull. “NO. IT ISN’T EVEN OURS. I TRIED TO TAKE IT OFF BUT… IT’S IMPOSSIBLE.”

Something dark crossed Grillby’s expression, but Papyrus didn’t have time to try guessing what it was before it was gone. “…This is a magic suppressor… It prevents a monster’s magic to manifest in any way… Even the healing kind… You need its key to take it off… Or else it will turn against who’s wearing it.”

So that was why everything had been useless so far. But now a real question haunted him. “THEN… WHAT DO WE DO?” His trembling voice rose barely above his own sobs.

Papyrus fixed his gaze on Grillby like he had the answers to all of his problems. The fiery monster’s eyes seemed to dart around in thought, then suddenly he squeezed both of his arms under Sans’ curled up form and started to lift him, making most of the covers fall off to the ground; Sans barely resisted to the action, his head soon lulled between the man’s arms. “…I have a master key for this back in my place. But we have to hurry.”

Maybe he should be acting more suspicious, more wary, but there wasn’t time for that, so Papyrus just got up and trudged as fast as he could behind the tall monster, all the time doing his best at keeping up with him and not even being sure if he left their door open or not. They didn’t go through the same path they’d come from, instead Grillby entered the limits of the forest, where the town’s lights were still visible but they wouldn’t be getting tracked down so easily by any opportunist. The snow was crunching under their own weight; Papyrus lifted his gaze again, only managing to see Sans’ feet peeking out from behind the tall fire’s frame, bouncing with every step he gave, looking so lifeless.

Fucking stars, how is it they ended up in this situation?

They were now walking behind all the buildings of the main street, entering the alley from before; Grillby struggled for a few moments until he managed to open the same door where they’ve first encountered. Despite his sense of danger screaming at him to stop, to not get into any place he didn’t know, Papyrus entered without pausing, he had to keep looking over his brother to make sure he’s still there. The room was made of wood —like most of the buildings in this part of the Underground— and it looked like some kind of storage, with cleaning supplies scattered around and big old cardboard boxes piled in tall towers; Grillby kept walking and got through yet another door, this one lead to a short hallway with stairs at the end and a narrow door in one side; the ruckus coming from the other side of those walls was clearer than what Papyrus had heard from outside, there was laughter and music and other confusing sounds, colorful lights filtering through the gap on the floor alongside with a particular scent, the one that always got Sans nervous, Papyrus remembered. Just what kind of business was this?

He came out of his musing when the fire monster’s heavy steps going upstairs rumbled through the place. Papyrus quickly retook his way after him, getting through one more door leading to a bedroom that was way more spacious than their whole cabin. He saw the man laying Sans on the bed and then going to open a small drawer of one of the smallest pieces of furniture, retrieving a strange looking thing that he could only guess was the master key he’d mentioned before. Papyrus tried to blink as less times as possible to keep an eye on Grillby’s every move when he got closer to his brother’s neck; when the key’s tip approached the chocker, a small hole outlined with light showed up, and it spread further when it clicked in place, releasing the trapped bone a few seconds after, Sans shuddered a little, the vertebrae marked with a reddish hue where the leather had touched. Grillby placed his hands over his skull once more and the green light appeared again, this time the cracks did seem to be closing off slowly but steadily, Papyrus kept watching more out of awe than anything now; the thinner ones started disappearing completely, but the one that crossed his socket from top to bottom remained, until after a solid minute Grillby decided to move onto his sternum, and Papyrus didn't question him. Slowly, every visible bone was healed as much as the magic could, leaving only faint lines where gaps had been present.

Grillby stopped, seeming to be CHECKing the older skeleton again, but he stayed put for longer than necessary, and confusion aroused in Papyrus. "WHAT IS IT?"

"...His HP isn't full yet..." He sounded like he was embarrassed for those words, a tiny breath leaving him and his flames turning a shade of pink.

"DID IT STOP WORKING AGAIN? IS SOMETHING ELSE WRONG WITH HIM?!"

"... It's nothing like that..." Grillby hesitated and then gulped. "...There are still... Other injured bones... That need healing."

Papyrus cocked a brow. "AND YOU CAN'T HEAL THOSE BECAUSE...?"

It took some beats before the fire elemental dared to answer. "...Did you look at his lower bones?"

"LOWER BO-?"

"I don't mean his legs..."

A pause. Then the awkward realization of what Grillby was implying hit him like cold water.

Oh...

Shit.

A blush overtook Papyrus' cheekbones; so that's why the fire monster had started acting so weird all of a sudden.

"...I... We could let those to heal on their own... It will take longer... And... It might not look as good as the rest... But... ... ... ...Give me a moment..."

Grillby suddenly got on his feet and walked near the threshold, covering his face with both hands and huffing; Papyrus felt the room get warmer and that annoying smell started to flood the place faintly, it came and went in waves, like the fire elemental was trying to stop it. It reminded Papyrus of one time when he was like four or five years old, he had forgotten to knock on the bathroom's door and entered without notice, finding his big brother half naked with only his sneakers still on. The unmanly scream he gave made him chuckle while he was pushed out of the room and the door slammed almost in his face, all the while Sans kept yelling at him that it was a private moment and that there were some body parts you just didn't show to anyone like it was nothing, and that it was a matter of honor to always knock on a bathroom's door. Nowdays Papyrus still didn't get why would sneakers be the last thing to be taken off, but he could guess that maybe that was the same reason why the fiery monster refused to heal those bones in particular. Well, he never thought he'd get to see honor in action.

He thought about his options for a moment, his voice came with recovered strength. "I WIL DO IT."

The other monster turned to look at him tentatively. "...What...?"

"TELL ME HOW TO DO IT, I CAN LEARN FAST." Papyrus took off his mittens and rolled up his sleeves, trying to look as prepared as he could and looking directly at the fire being.

Grillby seemed about to refuse but shook his head with a long sigh. "...Alright..." He pointedly stared at the stairs outside, though the pink hue remained. "...First you need to discover the... The area..."

Papyrus clenched his teeth and slowly slid down the loose shorts he'd managed to dress Sans with after that day, he tried not to think how mad he'd be if he knew his little bro was looking there on purpose, but it was necessary. The moment the dark material was out of the way, Papyrus' soul got heavy at the sight in front of him: Sans' pelvis looked almost like a maze with all the uncountable cracks sliding everywhere, covering all the surface, and even some tiny pieces of bone were missing, his sacrum was crooked and his iliac crests gave the impression to be just a gust of bad wind away of falling off. Papyrus forced himself to not yelp, to not sob or let out any indication of how much it made his soul twist in painful ways on his brother's behalf. Under all the fresh wounds, there were more greyish cracks, old fractures that had healed back misplaced, wrongly, deep chips and dents that would surely never look whole again. Just for how long had he been dealing with all of these injuries? They were old, how did Papyrus never notice before? They were undeniably painful; how did Sans manage to hide them for so long?

Papyrus felt guilt looming over him, whispering how he wasn't able to help his brother in the past, and how he wouldn't be able to help him this time, because that's all he was good for, not being able to help at all no matter how much he tried to.

"...You still here, bratt?" The crackle of the fire elemental's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He needed to concentrate in the here and the now. He made an affirmative sound, and the man continued his speech. "...Alright... Now place... Both hands in there... And try to think of soothing stuff... It's like forming an attack... But with the opposite intention... You already know how to form magical bullets... Don't you...?" Grillby turned his head just enough to see the little skeleton nodding. "...Then you know what I mean..."

With all the care of the world, Papyrus placed his bony hands on the sides of his pelvis like it was made of porcelain, Sans jumped slightly and withdrew his legs, trying to press them together but not quite managing to. Papyrus shushed his faint whimpers, telling him that it was going to be okay, that he wasn't going to get hurt, that he was safe. The trembles didn't stop but he stopped fighting his touch. Papyrus began to focus, he called on his magic while he thought of how much he loved his brother, of how much he wanted him to get better, good intentions, a healing intent; two minutes passed and it was then when a faint greenish glow started to show under his phalanges and began to spread weakly through the marred bone under them, his sockets went wide and he set his jaw harder to put more effort into his magic. The cracks weren't closing off as quickly as when Grillby did it, but they seemed to be getting more shallow, less ill-looking. Sweat began to pour down his browbone, but he kept going, Sans seemed to relax after the magic healed most of the lesser cracks, so it had to be helping, and he had to keep going. The chipped ends were starting to get smoother when his vision started to blur, Papyrus swayed in place and grunted, but he forced himself to not stop the green magic flow, his own hands were trembling now, but he didn't stop; Grillby said something about it being enough, but he knew he could do more! Just a little bit more and his brother would be totally healed and-

"...Stop you're going to fucking kill yourself!" A pair of fiery arms grabbed him and torn him away from his brother, taking him against a wall and holding him by the shoulders. "...Are you stupid or is it that you have a death wish, huh? ... ... ...That's enough..."

Papyrus fought against his grip. "NO! I STILL CAN HEAL HIM MORE! LET ME GO!"

"...Listen, bratt... It takes years of practice to become a healer... If you keep going like this... You're just gonna drain your magic and die... Is that what you want...?" His burning eyes pierced him sternly and Papyrus felt a knot in his throat and something wet prickling at his sockets. “…Is it?”

The little skeleton shook his head clumsily, Grillby stared down at him a few seconds longer before letting him go; Papyrus quickly whipped off the beginnings of tears and went back to his brother, running a CHECK.

Sans

LV: 8

HP: 0.9/1

DF: 1

ATK: 1

Too spent to care.

He let out a breath, feeling the slightest weight being lifted off his soul. Sans’ bones weren’t anywhere near healthy, but they didn’t look as bad as before, that Papyrus could tell. He put back in place the older skeleton’s shorts and placed a hand over the right side of his skull. “You Are Going To Get Better, You’ll See.”

There was no answer, but he knew he shouldn’t be waiting for one so soon. Suddenly he remembered the third monster in the room and he rose his skull looking for him, but the fire monster was nowhere to be found. Papyrus felt a pit forming in his metaphorical guts —he should be paying better attention to the odd stranger that helped them for no reason— and quickly got off the bed and ran to the entrance of the room. Luckily, he managed to see him right before he started descending the stairs, so he ran the short distance while shouting. “WAIT!”

Grillby stopped and turned to look at him, annoyed. “…What do you want now?”

Papyrus looked pointedly at the taller man trying to look as tough as possible, but he couldn’t quite manage to hide the lingering relief he was still feeling; he took a moment before he could muster up an answer. “I Don’t Have Gold Right Now… BUT I CAN WORK FOR YOU. I CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANT, AND WE WILL LEAVE TOMORROW. IF ONE DAY ISN’T ENOUGH, THEN I CAN WORK FOR YOU FOR AS LONG AS YOU WANT.” He straightened up and did his best to sound determined. “JUST PLEASE, LET MY BROTHER STAY JUST ONE NIGHT.”

The fire elemental rose a brow and made a strange, crackling noise, something like a breathy laugh, and shook his head. “…You have no fucking idea what you’re saying.”

“I MEAN IT! I CAN BE USEFUL, I TOLD YOU I LEARN FAST!”

He sighed. “…Just make sure that your brother doesn’t stain my sheets with his dust… Then I’ll think about it.” And with that, he left.

Papyrus stood there dumfounded and not quite knowing what to do next; he was expecting to be asked a payment, he was fully prepared to take on whatever nasty task he was told, hell he even expected a fight, but what was he supposed to do if the man didn’t tell him what he wanted? This couldn’t be as good as it looked, he had to be wary, because no one in the entire Underground does anything out of the kindness of their soul, everyone has their own problems to take care of.

In the end, he decided to listen to Grillby’s words and went back to the room, locking the door and putting a chair he found in one corner under the knob, just to be sure, then he climbed up on the bed next to Sans. He sat down next to his brother’s skull and looked down at him, noticing how all of his features were less strained and that his breaths were finally steady. The guilt was still there, Papyrus couldn’t ignore it and every time he started to think about the reasons why they were like this, it got worse and it squeezed his soul; he moved to grab the blankets that were now crumpled up at the end of the bed and covered his big brother carefully in an attempt at making his destructive thoughts stop, it didn’t work but at least Sans would be warm now.

He stayed up for a long time guarding the room, and at some hour around midnight Sans had a nightmare, Papyrus spent several minutes hugging his sleeping form and whispering soothing words until he stopped tearing up. He lasted a few hours more just staring at the door waiting for any threat to come in, but it never came.

Eventually when his mind started to care more for softness and warmness of the bed, he fell asleep.

---------- 

Papyrus was startled from his slumber when a rough knocking echoed within the room; he conjured a sharp bone and glanced in every direction looking for the source of the sound, and when it came once again making the door rumble, he remembered where he was and what had happened last night. Damn it! He should have been more careful, surely that monster was going to attack them now that their guard was at the lowest.

“…I can hear you’re awake…” It wasn’t a threat, and it didn’t sound like one either, still he kept an iron grip on his attack. “…Open the damn door… Before I break it down and make you repair it…”

Honestly, he didn’t have many choices or places to run to; in the past, the few times he and Sans had gotten cornered by more than one dangerous monster, his brother always found a way to get them out of there, somehow, he always managed to find a shortcut in the very last moment for them to flee. Papyrus didn’t know any shortcuts, all he could think of in that moment was to wait still for whatever could happen, or take the risk of opening the door. That Grillby guy hadn’t done anything suspicious so far, in fact, he’d helped Papyrus more than he could remember anyone doing so. His phalanges clenched around the bone tightly. Slowly, he slid down from the bed and ever so wary walked to the imposing door, removed the chair and opened it all the way.

“…Put that thing down… You shouldn’t be making attacks after yesterday…” Grillby sauntered in past Papyrus like he hadn’t been pointed at with a bone just seconds ago, holding a bowl full of something the little skeleton didn’t recognize. “…Besides, it’s my business… I can go in and out whenever I want…”

Papyrus watched the flame monster as he put the bowl on the nightstand next to the bed —dangerously close to his brother— and immediately walked away towards the big and tall closet sitting in one of the corners of the room. He eyed the intruder and the bowl simultaneously. “WHAT IS THAT?”

“…I told you I don’t want a mess of dust here…” He answered as he casually dug out strange clothes from the closet. “…That goes for you aswell.”

Papyrus got closer to the bowl: it was full of some kind of broil; he couldn’t place what it was but its smell —and its oh so luring warmness— was enough to remind him that it had been at least two days since the last time he ate properly. Then again, how could he be sure that it wasn’t poisoned? Or that it didn’t have any of those strange shits everyone seemed to talk about?-

“…Kid, if I were to kill you… I wouldn’t waste good shit on you… I’d just use my hands. So, eat.” Grillby’s voice sounded next to the door making Papyrus rise his skull quicker than he meant to, earning him a faint crick in the neck, then the fire elemental was gone. It maddened him to no ends how easily this monster seemed to read him, like he didn’t even need to voice out his thought for him to know; creepy. The broil’s steam flooded the room making Papyrus’ soul grumble. After a roaring inner battle with his common sense and his hunger, Papyrus ended up eating half of the bowl —he was making sure himself it wasn’t poisoned so Sans could eat it later, nothing else.

Hours must have passed, but Sans didn’t seem like he was going to wake up that soon. It’s okay, Papyrus told himself, he still looked better —his cracks looked less intimidating— and he could use a good, long nap after everything he’d been through. Papyrus didn’t have it in him to disturb his brother in any way. So, the younger skeleton decided that instead of waiting he would go explore what this place was about, one thing he learned from the years they’ve spent living as scavengers, is that you should always know your surroundings. He placed his forehead against Sans’ as he whispered that he’d come back later, and then he went off.

He walked down the stairs quietly, making sure to peek around every corner before stepping out; it was fairly quieter now that was midday. Papyrus roamed through the wooden hallway, not finding a trace of the fire monster; he was still curious about what was all the ruckus from before about and was determined to find it out, for the sake of recognizing his surroundings. So, the little skeleton approached the door of the side and placed his earhole against it, but he was greeted with silence. Taking a deep breath, he pushed it and managed to open it, revealing a large room decorated with… very exotic amenities. There were plush couches around several round tables, each of them pierced with a thin pole that reached all the way to the ceiling, there were long burgundy curtains covering a room-like corner, and there was some kind of stage right in front of everything, with several of the same poles arranged all across its surface. All the place in general was poorly illuminated and it reeked of more than one same odor; Papyrus looked around squinting, not even the large windows covered with fine pink feathersilk curtains let enough light to filter. He started forward but before he could exit the threshold he was yanked backwards, and the door closed with a loud slam. Papyrus looked up to find the elemental staring daggers at him.

“…Stay away from the fucking front… Unless you want to be dusted.” Then the man let him go and walked past him to the other room —the one with cleaning supplies where they entered the night before.

Papyrus rearranged his scarf with a frown and followed the other. Grillby was crouched over a box, retrieving various bottles, scrubs and… A broom and a mop? He rose a browbone and tilted his skull to the side as the fire monster slipped on a pair of rubber gloves. “WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?” He got no response, as the fire monster just stood up and went back to the front, he followed in toe, and right the moment he was going to enter the room he was shoved, barely managing to keep his balance. “HEY! WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM?! WHAT DID I DO NOW?!”

“Stay… The fuck… Away… From the front!”

After all his long seven years of life, Papyrus had thought that the worst thing that could happen to him was to encounter a murderous monster, but right now he was really starting to question himself, because freaking stars! It would be easier to just get quickly dusted than having to put up with this crazy man’s act, it gave him the creeps, because he hadn’t asked for anything from him, nor didn’t seem to care for his presence at all. Just what the hell was wrong with the guy?

So, Papyrus stood there, pointedly giving him the sourest glare he could muster, and eventually after the fifth cleaned table he got a reaction. “…What… What?! …What is it… That you want?”

“NO, WHAT DO YOU WANT?!”

The elemental stopped his attempts at scrubbing a nasty stain in one of the couch cushions and stared at the skeleton. “…What…?”

“I TOLD YOU I COULD WORK! AND YOU WON’T EVEN TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO! WHY ELSE WOULD YOU LET US IN?” His mind briefly took him to dark places, making him wonder if it could be possible that this monster was just like the dogs, or like the ones who hurt his brother. He swallowed thickly. “W-what… WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT WITH US?!”

The other just held his gaze in silence, then after a few seconds he scoffed and resumed his scrubbing. “…Fucking great… I decide to do one thing right… And all I get is a cussing brat… That can’t keep his fucking mouth shut.”

Papyrus couldn’t find a retort to that quickly enough, so he crossed his arms over his chest and kept his dark sockets glued to the elemental’s every move, standing rock-still in the threshold. A while passed, and then Grillby groaned and threw the dirty cloth in his hands hard against the floor, the flames atop his head flaring up briefly. “…You say you want to work…” Papyrus lowered his arms and reignited his eyelights to show he was listening.  “…What can you do…?”

“I CA-“

“…And don’t say ‘whatever you want’… Or I’ll throw you out...”

He shut his jaw, thinking of another answer that could work. His eyelights landed on the nauseating rag now laying on the floor for a second before looking back at the man with renewed determination. “I CAN CLEAN. I’M THE BEST AT CLEANING ANYTHING, I CAN CLEAN EVEN THE MOST DISGUSTING, REPUGNANT, GRUESOME, DINGY-“

“…You know how to wash sheets?”

He stopped, nodding vehemently. “YES, I USED TO HELP MY B-”

The other gave him a plain look before approaching him, not letting the younger finish. “Follow me, then…” Grillby walked calmly to the stairs leading to the second floor, only this time he turned to the other side where a row of doors littered the hallway’s wall; they stopped in front of the first one, the fire monster opened it and gestured to the sole piece of furniture in the center. “…I want them clean before noon…”  Papyrus barely opened his mouth when Grillby added sternly. “From all the rooms… And I don’t want to hear your whining… Understood?”

Papyrus felt offended at the whining part, but he decided to keep it to himself and just nodded with a frown. The other didn’t remain there a second longer and went back to the stairs, stopping just at the top. “…The laundry room is in the basement… If you try anything… I will know.” And then just like that he continued on his path and left.

Papyrus stood there for a few seconds just looking at the crumpled sheets scattered all across the bed, he took a small breath and marched forward and onto his new task; he yanked at the material and balled it up on the floor, noticing how every time he moved it too much it would expel that odor he’d come to despise —it always made his brother upset— making him wrinkle his nose bridge and giving him the perfect motivations to finish with this as soon as possible. It was five rooms in total, and every single bedding smelled gross, he even found small amounts of dust sticking to two of the coverings. It sent shivers down his spine.

Carrying with both arms the huge lump of beddings —barely able to see his path over it all— he halted in the middle of the hallway right in front of the stairs and looked to the right, to the room where Sans was resting. He stood there quietly waiting for any small indication that he was awake, but it never came, and he had to do his best to not give into the urge to go check on him and make sure he was still solid; Grillby had healed him, he had healed him, his HP should stay stable, and besides he’d left the half —cold, his mind added guiltily— bowl of soup close so his brother could reach it on his own should he wake up while he wasn’t there. Papyrus sighed and went downstairs.

After tripping on two steps and a loose wood board on the floor, he managed to arrive to the laundry room, which happened to take all of the basement area so there was no way he could have gotten lost. There was one washing machine, but one, Papyrus had never used one in his life —when they lived in Hotland, Sans would be the one to do their laundry in the common room of the department building— and two, he was a hundred percent sure those stains wouldn’t come off without a proper scouring —luckily, he’d spent enough time washing with his own hands on the rivers of Waterfall— so hand-washing would be.

Several hours passed, his knuckles started to feel rough and his arms felt leaden, but still he gave his all when drying phase was reached, squeezing and wringing the stench out of the sheets. Lower, submerge, lift, twist, drop in the basket, and then start over again. He was so caught up in the process he almost jumped off the floor when he heard the deep, crackly voice speak up.

“…Are you done?”

Papyrus looked up to the fire elemental with a scowl, trying hard to not appear startled. “I ALREADY FINISHED WASHING THEM, I JUST NEED TO FIND A SPOT TO PUT THEM TO DRY.” He briefly looked around as if to make a point.

“…Leave it…” He said as he walked towards the basket full of bedding, knelt on one knee and hovered both hands mere centimeters away from the damp material; his palms emitted a blueish hue as there was a quiet fizzling sound coming from the basket. Papyrus watched in awe as the water vaporized and disappeared, soon leaving a huge pile of clean and warmly dried sheets. Grillby peered at him, and a half smirk surged where his mouth should be. “…No need for a shitty drier…”

He picked the basket up with ease and started to climb the stairs back to the main floor, and the young skeleton followed. He watched as the man rearranged every layer of bedding over the mattress and slipped the bare cushions into their cases, making the bed look crisp and neat, a far cry from how it had looked before. As he stared at the elemental’s meticulous actions, an old question popped into his skull, and seeing that he’d done something useful he considered one single request wouldn’t be that dangerous; besides, he needed to know.

“WHAT DO PEOPLE DO IN HERE?” He all but blurted out.

Grillby turned slightly form the second bed he was making. “…What… Do you mean… By that?”

“WHAT DO PEOPLE DO IN THIS PLACE? WHY ALL THE BEDS AND… GROSS SHEETS?” Just like their sheets after those monsters broke into their cabin, his mind finished.

The elemental stopped shoving a particular stubborn pillow into its case and actually looked surprised towards the skeleton. “…………You really have… Not a fucking idea… What kind of services I provide… In this place?”

Papyrus looked away. Now he must look dumb, how great of him. “My Brother Told Me To Never Enter These Buildings. But He Never Told Me Why.” He muttered into his scarf.

Grillby remained quiet for a few seconds, then a sigh left him, turning back to his previous task. “…I don’t know… What your brother has told you… About my job… Or his job, that is… But every monster who enters my bar… Do so, for their own will… No one is forcing them to have sex here…“ His tone became even more serious as he straightened up. “…That’s a rule I refuse to break.”

With that, the fire elemental walked past him and went to the next room, leaving Papyrus rooted to the floor, staring blankly ahead. The gears inside his mind were running at full force trying to comprehend what the other had said; so, in here… No one was forced to do the kind of things that are done in bed? But then why Sans was always keeping them as far away as possible from here? Why, when Papyrus asked what was wrong with the neon building in town, Sans would only tell him that it wasn’t safe? If what Grillby said was really true —and so far, he hadn’t done anything to hurt Papyrus— then this place seemed a whole lot safer than their cabin; every monster who entered this place could, apparently, chose to not do anything in a bed, to keep to themselves, to not get hurt the way they hurt Sans, to not… Have sex.

Papyrus knew what sex is, Sans had explained it to him when he asked where babies come from. “it’s uhh… it’s like how plants grow, you know how that shit works, right? you have a plant, ‘n’ this plant has a flower that produces pollen, ‘n’ the pollen travels through the air t’ land on another flower, ‘n’ then this flower produces a seed, which you plant on the ground ‘n’ then a new plant grows… ya get me, don’t ya?” His skull had been red during the whole explanation, Papyrus remembered well; sex was exclusively for making babies, and that’s why he couldn’t understand why monsters came here to do it, it was supposed to be something private and with special intent, right? So why did everyone treat it like something to be paid for?

Why did Sans treat it like a job? And why did it seem so… Painful?

His nonexistent stomach gave a churn. It was too much information he didn’t want to think about, but now it was the only thing in his mind. He felt himself shuddering despite his scarf and his warm sweater. He looked at the left, catching the distant shuffle of sheets and cushions and the soft hue of purple illuminating the hallway. Slowly and with heavy steps, Papyrus went towards the right, reaching for the doorknob of the lonely door once he was standing in front of it, turning it silently and letting himself in the room, closing it with a soft click. He raised his eyelights to the unmoving form of his brother in the bed, taking in his presence —still solid, still alive. He noted that Sans had uncurled a little and was now laying on his back with his skull slightly turned to the side, breathing softly; good, that meant he was getting stronger. He then noticed that the bowl of soup had disappeared from the nightstand, and now its place was occupied with a tall glass and two pieces of bread; Papyrus got closer and after inspecting the items, he realized that the breads where one of the cheapest types sold by the bunny from the shop, but he didn’t really mind, it was still food. He climbed onto bed, sitting next to Sans’ skull, and taking a small sip from the milkshake; the sweetness was a welcoming distraction, and soon he’d already gulfed it down entirely before he was even aware, bread along. He left the second piece untouched, just in case his brother woke up hungry. He remained there, just looking at his brother’s chest raising and falling under the clean sheets, the uncertainness eating at him. He almost didn’t notice the moment music started playing downstairs, and the —not so strange anymore— noises that followed after.

----------------------------- 

The next day, Grillby sent him to wash the tableware, and as expected, it was just as gross as the sheets; just how many fluids could you possibly think to pour into a mug? And he really didn’t want to know what happened to the spoons. Just like the day before, he wasn’t allowed to set a foot on the front, but he didn’t push it this time. Maybe the fact the elemental was made of fire had something to do with him sending Papyrus to do all the heavy washing? He pondered while lathering a heavy plate, if it was so, then Papyrus could feel a little reassured that the bartender would have to think of a better solution for the matter if he wanted to get rid of them.

Sans looked better today too, the bags under his sockets were less prominent and the crack across his right one seemed less brittle, and he’d also shifted on bed a little, to Papyrus’ relief.

Around noon, he was sent upstairs with a plate of fries and a warning to no matter what not come downstairs during the night. Papyrus felt slightly exasperated that the bartender felt the need to warn him about something like that, he was no fool, he knew he wasn’t supposed to be there and should stay hidden; also, the soggy fries had tasted awful, but he had no choice but sacrifice some of his dignity and eat them to keep his magic levels stable; he knew Sans would like the greasy flavor though. He didn’t do much after that, not like he could anyway. He stayed sitting against the headboard clutching his own arms against his ribcage, unconsciously seeking that comfort only Doomfanger could give him, keeping an eyesocket on Sans’ every small move.

He didn’t realize he had nodded off, until suddenly he felt himself coming back to his senses with a stern grip around his shoulders and a rough shake. His sockets shot open still a little bleary from sleep, finding himself face to face with another more than familiar skull, which could only mean that his brother was awake.

Sans was awake.

He shook his own skull and brought a hand to wipe at his sockets, but when he was about to exclaim his relief out a bony hand settled itself over his jaw and he heard a hush.

“stay quiet. we gotta get outta here, quick.” Sans whispered; distress written clearly across his face.

Papyrus blinked a few times and when the hand released his jaw he frowned at his brother in confusion. “What?” 

“there’s no time, paps. come one!”

The taller skeleton took his forearm and yanked him out of the bed, making him stumble before regaining his balance. Papyrus saw the way Sans’ legs shook with effort, his whole skull drenched in sweat and one arm wrapped around his barely covered ribcage’s side. Nonetheless, he kept hobbling forward towards the door, releasing heavy breaths. If Sans kept this up he was going to hurt himself, yeah, his state was better than before now, but he still was weak and in need for rest, so Papyrus planted his feet on the ground with decision, yanking his older brother dangerously backwards, who immediately turned to him with eyelights the size of a pinprick.

“what the fuck, papyrus?! what are you doin’?!”

“WE HAVE TO STAY HERE! AND YOU HAVE TO STAY IN BED! YOU’RE INJURED!”

“wha…? paps, we can’t do this right now, we have to get outta here! it’s dangerous!” The stage-whisper was becoming louder and louder as his exasperation piled over. “don’t ya see where we are?! we’re in the fucking wolf’s mouth!”

“NO! WE ARE SAFE IN HERE, AND YOU STILL NEED TO RECOVER-!”

Suddenly Sans was looking at him with wide trembling eyelights and all but let himself fall onto his knees in front of Papyrus and took him by the shoulders. “what did he give you?” He held his bottom jaw firmly and stared deep into his eyelights. “what did he do to you?”

Papyrus stepped out of his brother’s grasp and clenched his fists. “NO ONE DID ANYTHING TO ME, I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!” He watched as his older brother looked him over in shock, bones rattling loudly from exertion, not uttering a single word. Papyrus took this as his chance to explain. “We Are Safe Here For Now, And You Need To Rest. Don’t Worry About It, I’ve Been Working For The Flame So He Lets Us Stay Here And…” His voice trailed off when he saw Sans’ expression morph into something he’d never seen in the usually calm skeleton; horror, anger, sadness, disgust, Papyrus couldn’t indetify which one was at display, his brother just froze, his eyelights going fuzzy and flickering in and out of existence; the rattling increased and Papyrus heard a chocked sound —not a sob at all— coming from his brother. “Sans? Are You-?”

“i’m sorry.” His voice was so quiet it was almost lost to the rumbling from the floor below. “papyrus, i’m sorry, i… i couldn’t…” His sockets went dark, and an eerie aura surrounded them. “i’m gonna get you out of here.”

With a dashing movement, Sans stood up and grabbed Papyrus by the arm, the grip so hard the younger skeleton was sure it would leave marks and ran to the door; he slammed it open and looked from side to side, locking his gaze with the top of the stairs. He staggered bringing the younger skeleton along but neither Papyrus’ begging to stop nor the creaking of his bones seemed to stop him, his magic gathering at the tip of his phalanges ready to defend from any threats. They had barely stumbled down one step when a voice reached Papyrus’ ear canals.

“Hey! What are you two -hic- doin’ ‘ere? ‘m sure never -hic- seen you before.” The slurring voice came from a rabbit monster leaning heavily against the wall in the middle of the stairs, swaying unsteadily and looking at them with eyes clouded with booze. They craned their neck backwards at a weird angle and shouted. “Hey Grillbz! Didn’t tell me -hic- you changed your mind ‘bout kids! You sicko~”

Papyrus’ soul dropped immediately. Not again, this couldn’t be happening again, that same tone, the smell, the way their eyes trailed up and down scanning them, that disgusting grin in their face. “Hey, handsome~ I’ve never done it with -hic- fledglings, but Imma sure -hic- I coulda teach you some games~” They ambled towards them, their breath quickening and their smell almost thick enough to be touched. “jus’ say yes, I love hot guys~ and -hic- you seem hot ‘nough for me-”

Just as they were reaching out, a reddish row of bones appeared in front of them and lurched towards the rabbit, hitting them square in their front and making them teeter and fall. “Hey! What’s -hic-  your problem, man?! Didn’t even touch ya f’cking ass -hic-!“

Papyrus felt himself being put behind Sans, who was staring daggers at the other monster, his breathing ragged and shallow. “don’t you dare to touch my brother!“

More bones appeared around the rabbit and they squeaked, but just as the sharp ends were about to land a dome of fire materialized above them and deflected his attacks. Sans’ sockets widened, and Papyrus managed to peak just in time to see Grillby appearing next to the monster laying on the steps; the elemental looked at him then at his brother, squinting.

“Grillbz! Why da fuck wouldya -hic­- hire violent people! I thought you only hired -hic- hot guys!” They whined, struggling to bring themselves back on their feet.

The fire monster didn’t look away from the skeletons as he spoke curtly. “…Get out… This isn’t any of your business…”

“But Griiiiiillbz! You -hic- said I could-“

“Get out now…!”

The rabbit monster looked at the fire elemental, then to the skeletons, then back at the elemental and huffed in annoyance, starting their trek down the stairs and back to the front. “Fiiine. But you -hic- owe me a nigh’, Grillbz!”

When they left the tension was still palpable. Time seemed to freeze, with Sans and the fire monster staring at each other, waiting to see who would act first. Papyrus could only watch in fear, not knowing what to do or how would the bartender react at his brother terrorizing one of his customers; they just stared silently. Sans bared his teeth and Papyrus felt that well-known tickling sensation that would always precede a shortcut, but it died out as soon as it started and he saw Sans flinching, browbone furrowed and dotted with beads of sweat.

“…I thought I told you… I didn’t want to hear trouble from you…” The elemental talked, apparently directing himself to Papyrus who only shrunk into himself. “…What the hell… Are you two doing out here…? Was it so hard… To stay in one fucking room…?”

Papyrus was going to try and say that this was a misunderstanding, but before he could even string his thoughts Sans lurched forward and conjured a few uneven bones, aiming them towards the fire elemental and trying to run past him. But apparently Grillby saw it coming, for he blocked every single one of the weak bones and grabbed Sans’ wrist. Papyrus fell on his tail bone and felt his brother’s hand slipping; fearing that maybe the fire monster’s patience had finally reached its limit, Papyrus scrambled to his feet and turned around, only to find his brother laying on his back on the floor with the fire being on top of him, holding his forearms down, pinning him. The young skeleton felt deep, pure dread wash over him at the scene; Sans was right, he’d been a fool and believed this monster’s every lie, he was hurting Sans now and it was all his fault for believing that someone would be willing to help them, for trusting other more than his own brother, it was all his fault-

“…Stop it! …Fucking stop it, for stars’ sake…! I didn’t bother to heal you… Just so you could waste your magic and kill yourself…! …So stop that and go back to the room…!”

Sans’ eyelights were shaking, Papyrus could see it from where he was still frozen to the floor, and for a split second he looked at him, a flash of pain crossing his gaze, before he looked back at the elemental and closed his eyesockets, keeping the faint beginnings of tears from escaping them, and then opening them again, but this time, while the right one remained pitch-black, the left eyelight had formed itself into an upside down heart, his cheeks gained a scarlet hue, and a different smell invaded the place.

It was like fresh petunias and a gentle touch of cranberries. Papyrus noted that the smell didn’t seem strange to him, he’d smelled it before, on their clothes, on their quilts, when they cuddled at night to read Pekaboo With Fluffy Bunny. He’d smelled it before, but not like this; this was different, it gave off a different aura, and Papyrus felt a knot in his metaphorical guts at how similar it was to all the smells on the sheets and tableware he’d washed.

Papyrus watched with silent tears in his sockets. His brother rose his pelvis wincing, but managing to cover it with a moan, his skull tilted back and his teeth curved upwards slightly, half lidded sockets boring into the elementals face and hands trying to massage what they could reach of the older monster’s arms in their pinned state.

“i could work for you, instead.~” His lone eyelight flashed, his voice tinged with a foreign tone so similar to the rabbit’s. “i can offer good services… i’m the perfect size and can endure way longer than you imagine.~” He raised his skull and breathed into the elemental’s neck. “you only need one monster, i can be enough, i assure you.~

This… this was too much. Papyrus’ face was a mess as he couldn’t stop the tears streaming down from his sockets. Why would he do that? Why would his brother start acting just like everyone else? And worse, he was injured, Papyrus could see the well-hidden pain in his movements, in his noises, hidden with such care and practice that he just had to know it wasn’t the first time his brother did this. Why would he willingly let others hurt him? This couldn’t be his brother, could he?

There was another smell in the room mingling with his brother’s, Papyrus had noticed this one too, it was on the wood that made out the doors, the halls, and especially it was on the bed they’ve slept on the past two nights; it smelled like poppies. Papyrus could see the stiffness in Grillby’s movements, his heavy breathing following Sans’, his fingers curling deeper around the bones. Papyrus felt like throwing up.

But just as the smell aroused, Grillby suddenly pushed his entire body upwards and grunted, getting on his feet as quickly as Papyrus had ever seen someone move and walked a few steps away, turning his back against Sans. The skeleton in question frowned in worry and got on his knees, looking expectantly at the fire monster; the smell of poppies wavered and the warmness of the place rose and fell over and over again. Grillby ran both of his hands across his face and flames and gave a shuddering breath.

“…D-don’t… Don’t you… Fucking… Do that…” His tone, despite faltering with arousal, was dead serious and even furious. “…S-stay away…! …F-fuck… Go away…!”

Both Sans and Papyrus were watching his reaction agape, almost holding their breaths. Papyrus didn’t understand what exactly happened, but he found it was just like when they were first healing Sans, the fire elemental had also started to smell stronger, and the temperature increased too; Sans in the other hand, looked totally bewildered, his heart-shaped-eyelight had disappeared and now they were wavering, his bones rattling and sweating.

When neither of them made any effort to get out of there, Grillby turned violently and shouted, flames flaring up wildly and scorching the ceiling above them. “Get the fuck out of here!”

Papyrus came out of his shock first, running towards his older brother and taking his hand, hastily leading him back to the room in the right and locking the door right away. His hands shook and he hunched over himself, eyelights downcast and turned to the door; he could hear Sans’ ragged breaths behind him, but he didn’t want to look, he was afraid that he might be met with that same lustful gaze everyone was always displaying. He stood there, fists clenching and unclenching at his sides and not bothering to dry the tear tracks away.

“what… d-did just happen?” He heard Sans asking in a small and shaky voice to no one in particular. But he didn’t turn. The uncomfortable silence stretched for so long it rivaled the music and laughter below; then, all of a sudden Papyrus felt his brother’s hand on his shoulder. “pap…“

Papyrus shrugged the hand away and took one step farther, but the hand came again and he stepped away once more. “papyrus-“

The younger skeleton let out a sob that made Sans go quiet, but he remained keeping his back facing him. “Why?”

“bro, i’m so-“

“Why Did You Do That?” His voice broke at the end of his sentence, and it almost turned into a whine when Sans grabbed his shoulder once again and tried to make him turn, but Papyrus resisted it. “Why Would You…? I… I T-Thought They Were Forcing You… I-I Thought…”

A beat of silence passed. “…pap, i had to. i wouldn’t let him lay another hand on you again, it was the only way he’d let you go.”

Papyrus’ face scrunched and finally, turned to see his brother with hurt, taking a step back. “He Didn’t Do Anything To Me! He Was Helping! You Were Almost D-Dusting In the Cabin And I Didn’t K-Know What To Do! And He Was T-The Only One Who Didn’t Try To H-Hurt Me and Agreed To Heal You!” He was supposed to be nagging him, giving him a lecture for not listening when he told him they were safe, but his crying dampened what little anger he’d managed to keep through his despair. “He Never T-Touched Me, Sans… He Didn’t Touch You… W-Why Did You Do That?! I Thought They Were Forcing You!”

Sans’ eyelights dropped, his face going blank and letting himself sink to the ground, legs shaking too hard he was barely able to stand anymore; his voice sounded broken and tight, barely a whisper. “it’s not that simple, p-pap…”

Papyrus opened his jaw to repeat his question one more time but his voice didn’t come, he’d stopped the moment he truly saw his brother. Thick tears were starting to rim his sockets, his eyelights were meager smears of faint red among dark, his whole frame was shaking quietly, and his phalanges were digging against his femurs, leaving deep scratches along; hunched over making himself as small as possible and taking shallow breaths that didn’t suffice. “y-you weren’t s-supposed to s-see that…” He whined, words jumbling together almost unintelligible. “you weren’t s-supposed to… n-not yet…” Sans sobbed hard and the brittle remains of his façade crumbled. “’m s-sorry! i-i was s-supp-pposed to t-take c-care of y-you and i c-couldn’t e-even do that. y-you shouldn’t b-be l-lookin’ after m-my m-mist-takes. Y-y-you sh-shouldn’t b-be-“

Papyrus felt horrible; he was no better than the rest of monsters in the Underground, he was hurting Sans just like all of them. He didn’t mean to make him break down like this, but he was upset and felt betrayed and confused and he just couldn’t understand why Sans would do something like that if he clearly didn’t find enjoyment in it?

But it seemed like a stupid question now.

He didn’t need to know, he didn’t need to understand, at least not now. It wouldn’t change what’s already happened anyway. It wouldn’t matter.

Right now, the only real thing that mattered was to stop Sans from hurting.

And so, Papyrus all but launched himself to his brother, embracing him tightly and as much as he could, doing his best to keep his bones from rattling against one another. Sans jumped and became awfully tense, trying to back away from the touch, but Papyrus wouldn’t let him, he buried his face into the crook of his neck and stood there, firm and still; stars know how long it was until finally Sans stopped his violent sobbing, and oh so painfully slowly he raised his arms and returned the embrace, light and hesitant as if afraid to touch his little brother.

“…I Love You, Brother.” Papyrus spoke firmly, fighting against the knot in his nonexistent throat. “None Of This Changes Anything, Okay? I Love You, You Are The Only Important Person In My Life And Nothing Can Change That.” He felt Sans hugging him tighter, and that somehow reassured him a bit; his brother deserved to be reminded of this.

----------------------- 

“… … … No fucking way I’m doing that… You’re What? …Thirteen?”

“i’m sixteen!”

“…Still not old enough… Sorry, but I don’t hire kids…”

“look, i already said i’m sorry about what happened, i got the point, you don’t like my type-

“It’s not your type! … … … …You’re a child for fuck’s sake… I’m sure you can find a better job… Somewhere else…”

“you think i haven’t tried?!” There was a loud smack against a wooden surface —surely a table— and it made Papyrus jump in his place behind the wall. “no one needs a kid for anythin’ different from a blowjob or a quick fuck! that’s the only thing every single fuckin’ ‘employer’ i’ve met wants from a pathetic kid! why’s it so hard for you to understand that at least here my brother has more chances than out there?!”

“…And that’s how you want him to see you?”

There was a long silence, and for a second Papyrus was tempted to take a peek inside the kitchen where the two older monsters were discussing, but he resisted it, and not long after, his voice came again, quiet but so full of self-inflicted venom.

“it’s not like any of us can really help it, is it?”

Another silence.

“…No, maybe we can’t help it… But we can choose how to act on it… And I choose to not hire you for that kind of job…”

“…fine.”

Papyrus heard his brother’s heavy steps get closer and he quickly went back to the storage where he’d been left waiting, pretending to be inspecting the contents of a nearby box. When Sans entered all he said was “we’re leaving now” and took Papyrus’ hand, not stopping for even the slightest glance back. The younger skeleton didn’t question him, taking notice of the way his teeth were gritting against each other with force and how he still walked with a sly limping.

As soon as they made it outside the cool morning air hit them and it chilled Papyrus’ bones, having become used to the bar’s warmth; Sans wasn’t wearing a coat and he was clearly not doing a good job at hiding his shivering, his bones still tender from the recent injuries, but Papyrus didn’t dare to ask where they were exactly going. They just walked behind the row of buildings towards the woods; Papyrus could barely keep up his older brother’s furious pace with all the snow clinging to his boots, and just when he was about to ask him to slow down Sans stopped dead still. The younger skeleton almost fell forward, but he managed to keep his balance in the last moment, turning to look up at his brother in confusion.

That’s when he saw the tears.

His scowl looked more like a frown with the thin reddish marks running down his cheekbones.

“Sans?”

He blinked and immediately brought a hand up to cover his face, turning away from his little brother. “just gimme a minute.”

Papyrus’ browbones knitted together and he pressed himself against the taller’s side. “We Can Find Another Way-“

“i just don’t know what to do anymore.” He sounded strained, then after a few moments of just the wind blowing, he took a deep long breath. “we’ll be okay. just… give me a minute… ok?”

Of course, Papyrus gave him more than a minute, they stayed there long enough that their tracks on the snow were starting to fade.

But suddenly, there was a fizzle in the snow. Papyrus turned as quickly as he could and formed a bone attack in his hand, only to find the now familiar silhouette of Grillby standing a few feet away from them. The fire elemental raised his hands to show he meant no harm as Sans turned a few seconds later and locked his gaze with him, wiping away the last remnants of magic from his face.

“what? changed your fucking mind or somethin’?” Sans asked in the most threatening tone he could muster.

“…Do not start with that shit again…” The fire monster said with clear annoyance in his voice, although he seemed to be trying to hold it back.

“then why come all the way here? huh?”

“…Listen to me carefully… Because I’ll only say this once…” He lowered his hands to his sides, but still Papyrus didn’t dismiss his attack. “…I won’t hire you per se… But I can let you work… As long as you don’t get close to any of my customers… And keep your brother out of sight… You’ll do all the chores… And I let you stay in the storage… Sounds like a deal to you?”

Papyrus’ eyesockets went wide at what he heard. Was the bartender… Really giving them a chance? He looked at Sans and found the same dumbfounded expression on his face, his jaw opening and closing a little, and then he looked back at Papyrus. He thought about the last day’s events, and so far, the fire elemental had seemed to act decent enough for Papyrus to decide that maybe —most likely— Sans wouldn’t get hurt again if they took this opportunity, that this time it was worth to risk trusting someone else besides his brother; so he dismissed his attack and nodded, giving Sans all the go ahead he was silently looking for.

“sounds fine to me. when do i start?”

“…How about… You start by washing your smell off my sheets…?”

A small breath that almost sounded like a relieved laugh escaped Sans’ teeth as he nodded before he realized it and cleared his throat, willing his scowl back again. “yeah, i can do that.”

“…Good… If you need to retrieve something back from your cabin… Now is the time…” The fire being spun on his heels and barely turned his head towards the pair of skeletons before adding. “…I expect you both before noon…”

The two brothers were left alone in the edge of the forest, staring towards the purple glow of the elemental until he was no longer in sight.

“brother…” Papyrus turned to Sans who was still gazing forward. “…you think we did the right thing here?”

Papyrus smiled a little and hugged his brother’s side. “I Think It’s The Best, Brother.” And he was sure of it.

Sans squeezed Papyrus’ shoulders, finally turning to look at him. “anything you need from the cabin?”

“Just Doomfanger. And You Need a Coat.”

Sans gave a breathy laugh, took his hand, and started walking towards their former home.

As long as he stayed right beside his big brother, Papyrus thought, there would be no hell they couldn’t get through.