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"sweetie...sweetie..."
Sans hated this. He really did.
"don't...d-don't leave me, sweetie. p-please..."
This shouldn't be happening. This was so unfair!
"sweetie, please...don't go."
His brother shouldn't have to go through this...not alone.
"sweetie..."
"Would you shut the fuck up already!"Sans yelled as he kicked his brother's door wide open. He quickly made his way towards his sobbing mess of a brother, who ignored him completely, and stomped his foot angrily in front of him. Sans glared at him, getting frustrated more and more with each passing second the longer he watched Papyrus' body shake uncontrollably.
"Do you know how fucking loud and obnoxious your pitiful crying is? I bet our neighbors could hear you!"
Papyrus didn't respond. Instead, the tall skeleton continued to curl up in the corner and cry his soul out. Sans could feel his magic boiling inside him. His brother was really pissing him off.
"We're going to get a noise complaint from someone in the neighborhood if you don't shut your damn mouth soon!"
Papyrus ignored him. His cries sounded so harsh and miserable. Sans angrily stomped his foot on the carpeted floor again. He hated how his brother wasn't responding to him.
"Stop ignoring me, mutt!"
Papyrus' breathing was getting faster.
"You know how much I hate being ignored!"
Papyrus hiccuped, his body shaking violently as he did so.
"Stop crying! S-Stop it!"
"s-sweetie...m-my sweetie, please don't-"
"Fuck that, runt!"
He watched Papyrus quickly lifted his head from his arms and stare at him in shock. His brother's body still shook and the tears kept on coming. His brother's face looked absolutely awful."w-what-"
"If they want to leave, then let them leave! Who needs them anyway?"
Sans could feel the tears forming in his eyes.
"s-sans..."
"Th-They're nothing but a filthy human that we should've never trusted in the first place! I...I regret not dusting them the moment I saw them!"
Sans felt his tears rolling down his face.
"sans!"
"They're abandoning us, brother! After all that we've done for them, th-they're j-just going to l-leave us as if we meant nothing to them!"
Sans felt his soul thumping in his ribcage, his breathing starting to become uneven and his body shaking badly.
"I hate them! I-I hate that runt f-for doing this to u-us! I hate them for m-making us f-feel this way a-and...and..."
Sans fell to his knees and felt a pair of shaky arms wrapping themselves around his body. He cried in his brother's chest and gripped the fabric of Papyrus' hoodie jacket tightly in his fists. He hated this. He hated how weak he felt and how pathetic he was being in front of his brother. He was supposed to be strong for his brother in his time of need.
He was supposed to be...supposed to be...strong...
"I hate them for always being so n-nice to us. I hate them for becoming o-our f-fr-friends. I hate them for bringing u-us to the surface and...I hate them for making us think that...that w-we could've been a...a family t-together."
Sans sniffles loudly and looked up to see his brother's tear stained face. He looked absolutely miserable."Th-They tricked us, brother. They made us c-care a-a-and love them just so they could bring us this far and stab us in the back! I hate them! I hate them so fucking much I hope to never see their hideous face ever again!"
"sans..."
"What?!"
"...i...i don't want them to go either, sans. i-i know letting them go is the right thing to do b-but..."
Sans felt his soul slowly cracking as he waited for his brother to say the words he knew that would break him.
"i'm going to miss them..."
Sans soul broke in half.
The small skeleton buried his face in his brother's chest again, closing his eyes tightly to try and keep his sockets from flooding with tears, but to no avail.
"I-I'm going to m-miss them too, Papyrus."
Papyrus knew he was making this harder for himself and everyone else in the room, but he couldn't help himself. He wanted to make this moment last just a bit longer.
"you're going to behave yourself, right? y-you're going to keep being a good kid?"
He felt Chara nod on his shoulder, and felt them hugging his neck tighter. He rubbed their back in gentle circles, and let out a shuddering sigh. He didn't want to let them go, but he knew he had to.
It was the right thing to do.
"you be good to your mom, alright? you made her w-worried sick about you for being so reckless. n-no more camping on your own anymore okay? you got lucky this time, b-but the next you might not be. the odds of falling into a-another bed of flowers and meeting an underground society of monsters is very, v-very low."He stuttered a bit, surprised he managed to chuckle somewhat at his awful joke at the end.
Chara chuckled at that too, and nodded again. They lifted their head from his shoulder and looked at him with a sad smile. They signed,'I'm going to miss you, dad.'
Papyrus felt tears form in his sockets, and did nothing to stop them. He couldn't even if he wanted to anyway. He suddenly felt like his soul shattered into a million pieces. He hugged Chara closer to him and apologized for any tears that got onto their clothes, but they said it was okay.
Because they were getting tears on his clothes, too.
"i'm going to miss you too, s-sweetie...i'm going to miss you so much..."He sniffled and wiped a few tears away from their face with his thumbs. He was about to plant a small kiss on their forehead, before stopping himself from doing so. It would probably be inappropriate if he did that while Chara's mother was right there in front of them watching silently. He gently put them down on the floor to stand next to his brother, but not before Chara surprised him with a quick kiss between his eye sockets.
It took Papyrus every bit of strength he had left in him to not break right then and there.
He always wanted the best for Chara, and this was it.
This was for the best...no matter how much it teared him up inside.
Chara went up to Sans and hugged him before he could say anything. Sans didn't hesitate to hug them back tightly, and sighed when he felt them shaking a bit. He pulled away from Chara, who still wore the same sad smile on their face when they looked at his brother, and patted them gently on the back. He tried his best to smile at them, but he could feel his own smile trembling.
"Don't give me that sad look, human. And stop shaking so much, you're stronger than this! You're...You're so strong, Chara. So strong for such a small child. D-Don't cry, Chara don't-"
'Stay strong, uncle. I'll miss you.' They signed.
Sans didn't realize he was crying until Chara wiped a few of his tears away with their little hands. Sans helped them wipe their tears off of their face too, before giving them another hug.
"I'm going to m-miss you too, Chara. Don't you dare ever think for a second th-that I won't."
Chara nodded and gave him a kiss on the cheek, before letting him go and running up to their mom. Their mom picked them up and hugged them close. She looked at her child for a moment, giving them a kiss on their nose before turning her attention back to the skeletons.
"I still can't thank you two enough for taking care of my child. It's been so long, I've almost given up hope in ever seeing them again...I feel ashamed that I even thought of the worst to have happened to them. You don't know how grateful I am to the two of you for bringing me back my precious child."
"we're just glad that chara is right back where they belong...with their mama."Papyrus tried to say that as happy as he could, but he flinched when he could practically hear how depressed he sounded.
Chara's mother noticed his sad tone of voice and gave him a small, sympathetic smile."...They're very lucky to have met you kind souls. They couldn't stop talking about you skeletons when we spent the other day together catching up. I could tell they were in such great care...you two have really grown on them. "
Sans almost snorted at what she said. Kind souls? Great care? The child was lucky alright. The human mother had no idea what the skeleton brothers been through, who they were before, or what kind of place they lived in.
Saying her child was lucky to be taken in by them was an understatement.
"The feelings are mutual ma'am."
"I could tell...you boys treated them as if they were your own."
"we did, b-but now they're back with their r-real family so, th-there's no need for us to play house anymore, nyeh heh. my brother and i couldn't be any h-happier for them to be reunited with their mother."Papyrus mentally cursed at himself when he felt his knees beginning to shake the more he talked.
Damn, this was really going to take a toll on him when they leave.
He began to panic when Chara's mother noticed his shaking and asked if she could speak with him and his brother in private. He gulped nervously and hesitantly nodded, shoving his shaky hands in his pockets to hide them, and motioned her to follow him to the kitchen. The closer he walked to the kitchen, the heavier his steps felt. As soon as he stepped foot in the kitchen, he watched her sit Chara down on the couch and told them to watch some TV while they wait. Chara nodded and grabbed the remote, turning the TV on and putting it on NTT.
Chara's mother walked in to the kitchen, with Sans following her, and stood right in front of Papyrus. Sans stood next to his brother and crossed his arms, trying to look serious despite how nervous the human mother was making him feel. He could tell his brother was feeling the same, but did a very poor job in hiding it.
The two skeletons were both thinking the same thing...
Were the two of them in trouble?
Chara's mother sighed, and smiled sadly at the two."It's not going to be enough...is it?"
Papyrus broke down.
"i-i-i'm sorry! i really am! y-you were kind enough to offer us to babysit them a-a-and visit you two whenever we want b-but...but...i'm sorry! i-i can't help for what i feel and i know it's selfish of me to want them to stay with me and my brother as a family, even though we're not and you’re their real family, but-"
"It's not selfish at all."
Papyrus looked at her in shock, his tears falling rapidly from his sockets and onto the floor."...w-what?"
She chuckled softly."I don't think it's selfish in thinking of another as a family member, even if not related by blood."
"B-But ma'am! How are we not selfish? We have no right to want them to stay with us as a family. We don't want them to leave...we don't want you to take them away from us! How is that not selfish?!"
"And yet...you boys were kind enough to help my child find me above the surface and reunite us once again."She said, skipping over Sans questions.
"we want what's best for them...and that's to give them back to you...no matter how much it pains us to see them go. how could we possibly not help them in search of their family? that would've been cruel and an absolutely horrible thing to do to my swee-"Papyrus quickly covered his mouth with his hand.
"To your sweetie?"She said, finishing his sentence with a slight chuckle.
"n-no! i...i have no right to call them that. not anymore. i-i'm sorry for saying it before, it was an honest mistake! she's your sweetie not mine."
"...Well...."
The two skeleton brothers looked at each other, confused at the strange tone her voice suddenly took. She sounded almost...amused?
"Well what?"
"Well, it's obvious how important my child is to you two, and how important you two are to them. You three love each other very much...and I'd personally feel selfish for separating my child from such great friends who care and love them just as much as I do. Before, I said I couldn't thank you two enough for taking care of them and how grateful I am to the both of you...so...."
She suddenly flashed them with a bright smile, and a look that was filled with hope and determination.
Yep.
This was definitely Chara's mother.
"I think I know the perfect way to show my gratitude to you two."
"h-how?"
"By making you two a part of our family of course!"
The two Skelton brothers stared at her in complete and utter disbelief. New tears formed in Papyrus' eyes, but they were anything but sad tears. His mouth slowly shaped into a small, shaky smile.
"y-you want us to...to be..."
She nodded and playfully added,"If that's all right with you-"
"nyeh heh!"The tall skeleton suddenly lunged at her, enveloping the human mother in an embrace while jumping around excitedly. Chara's mother chuckled at his reaction and hugged him with a small pat on the back. Papyrus cried happily as he laughed and held her tightly."yes! that's fine, just fine! it's better than fine it's great, it's wonderful, it's-"
"Is...i-is some kind of cruel joke."
Papyrus stopped jumping around with Chara's mother in his arms, but still held her close as he watched his brother shaking on the spot. He looked angry and skeptical at the human mother, tears threatening to escape his eye sockets as he tried his best to glare at her.
The glare did nothing to her, and she smiled at him fondly. She raised her hand towards him and motioned him to join in on the hug."Come here."
Sans stopped glaring and looked at her in joy and disbelief, running up to her and his brother with tears falling down his cheeks. Papyrus and Chara's mother bent down so that he could hug them properly. The small skeleton wrapped his arms around their necks and grinned happily.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You're the second greatest human I have ever met, ma'am. Second to Chara of course, no offense."
She laughed."None taken."
"What's...going on?"
A soft, almost quiet voice caught everyone's attention as they looked to see Chara standing by the doorway looking very confused.
"s-sweetie! my sweetie!"Papyrus quickly got of out of the hug, which made Chara's mother and his brother stumble a bit for a moment, and enveloped Chara in an embrace, holding them so close to his chest they could hear his soul beating furiously. He cheerfully told them the good news, and now the child was crying happily in the taller skeleton's arms. They thanked their mother verbally, and saw the smile on their mother's face grow even more.
That was another thing she was grateful for.
The skeleton brothers brought out the gift of her child's voice. She's never heard them speak once before they suddenly disappeared, so it brought tears to her eyes the first time she heard them speak when they got back together again.
And it still did.
She laughed at her child and her new family member as they continued to laugh amongst themselves and cry for joy. A cough beside her caught her attention and she turned her head to look down at her other new family member. He had a stern look on his face.
"So...since you're Chara's mother..."
She gave him a confusing look as he drawled his sentence."Um...yes."
"And my brother is going to be their father..."
"Yes..."
"Does that mean you two are like...husband and wife now?"
Chara's mother looked at him with wide eyes and laughed loudly. She hoped the small skeleton wasn't serious, but the look he was giving her told her otherwise. Sans glared at her, thinking she was insulting him through laughter.
"Don't mock me! That was a serious question ma'am!"
She snorted in amusement."That's not how it works, honey."
"How am I supposed to know tha-...h-honey?!"Sans blushed madly at the little nickname she gave him."A-Are you flirting with me human? Now I know where Chara gets it from!"
Chara's mother laughed some more. She wasn't quite sure what the small skeleton was talking about now, but she found his mannerism pretty funny nevertheless. She bent down a little so she can see eye to eye to him, and rubbed his skull affectionately.
"You're adorable."
Sans face burned in embarrassment."S-Stop flirting with me! Ma'am, wha-what's wrong with you? You're already cheating on my brother! Have you know shame? And aren't you my sister now? Oh, dear Toriel...I'm in a scandal!"
Chara's mother looked between the flustered and confused skeleton, and the happy and excited skeleton holding her...their child in amusement. She sighed in content as she saw the pure joy on Chara's as she was being smothered in kisses by Papyrus...and wondered how he could even do that without lips.
She chuckled to herself.
She always wanted a big family...monsters were never in the picture, but seeing how much her child has grown thanks to the two skeletons, and how happy they make them...
She couldn't have asked for anyone better to be a part of their small world.