Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The snow crunched under their feet as the skeleton brothers made their way to the sentry station near Snowdin for their daily duty of patrolling the area for humans. There hadn’t been any in a long time, but Papyrus felt that today would be their lucky day! He could feel it in his bones!

“Alright, brother, we must keep our eyes peeled for any humans that come through here!” He looked around the immediate area, “Hmmm, no humans in sight…” Papyrus smiled brightly and snapped his fingers, “Ah, perhaps they are hiding behind the trees!”

Sans shrugged, hands in his pockets, “I don’t know bro, if I was a human and saw you I’d make like a tree and leaf.” He chuckled at his own pun, despite his brother’s groan of annoyance.

“Must you make everything into a pun Sans?” The tall skeleton sighed, already knowing the answer to that, “Just go to your station while I go on patrol. If a human appears, make sure to offer them some of my spaghetti while you are waiting for my return! It would be rude to make them wait on an empty stomach, even for one as great as myself!”

Sans nodded, “Okay, but they might get evergreen with envy over how good it is.”

Papyrus groaned louder and face palmed, “Sans that wasn’t even clever! Just… go to your station, and don’t fall asleep this time!” With that, Papyrus left to go and patrol the forest.

Once his brother was out of view, Sans stretched his arms and yawned, “Welp, Paps’ off to do his thing, it’s time for my nap.” Sans walked around the counter and sat down on the stool he had there and zipped up his hoodie for extra comfort. He looked left, then right, “No humans today, ah well.” And with that, the lazy skeleton rested his arms on the counter and his head on his arms, closing his eyes and falling asleep shortly after.

While his brother was on his way to dream land, Papyrus made his way to a small clearing in the woods, off of the path leading to the giant door. As much as he tried to, the skeleton couldn’t look everywhere in one day. There were sentries all over the Underground, of course, but Papyrus wanted to be the one to find the next human more than anything else! If he did, then Undyne would HAVE to let him into the royal guard! Then he would become popular, and everyone would want to be friends with him! It would be his dream come true!

After a bit, he reached the clearing and looked around. There was a patch of dirt, cleared of snow in the center with trees all around it. Papyrus had stumbled on this spot by accident a couple of months back, which had led to a fortunate meeting with another monster who sometimes came here. The two of them would talk about all sorts of things, and Papyrus would always feel better after talking with them. Also, his friend was able to go almost anywhere in the Underground in almost no time at all, even places that other monsters couldn’t get to like behind the door!

Once he was sure no one else was around, the skeleton called out, “Are you here today, little friend? The great Papyrus was hoping to have a chat with you!” He waited for a response, then called out again, “Hello, little friend?” Again, no response, “Ah, well, I’ll try again later. Nyeh heh heh, perhaps they are just busy right now, searching for a human on my behalf!” He then rubbed his chin, other hand on his hip, “Hmm, then again they probably have other things to do then help look for humans all the time, as helpful as that would be…”

Just as he was thinking this, a flower popped out of the dirt patch, petals opening up to reveal a smiling face, “Howdy Papyrus, I didn't hear you coming!” Flowey smiled up at the skeleton, who returned the expression and walked closer.

“Ah, there you are Flowey! I thought that I had missed you!” Papyrus sat down, crossed legged, and smiled more, “So, have you seen any sign of a human?”

Flowey shook his head, “Sorry, no luck today, but you’ll be the first to know if I do!” The flower chuckled. If he saw a human, he was taking their soul for himself! No way would he hand it over to this bonehead! But, Flowey entertained the other, getting Papyrus to trust him so that he could use him for his own gain, and that time was coming soon to put his plan in to action, he just had to wait for the right moment…

Papyrus, completely unaware of his friend’s true intentions, sighed and nodded, “Well, thank you for looking for me, I appreciate your help. How have you been doing anyway?” He then realized his rudeness, “Ah, I'm sorry, I should have asked that first instead of if you had seen a human!”

“Oh, it’s okay Papyrus, and I’ve been doing great, I’ve been going all over the Underground and seeing everything I can. There sure is a lot to see!” Flowey’s smile twitched. After so many resets, he had seen everything in the Underground more times than he could count. It had gotten boring, but hopefully, it wouldn't stay that way for much longer.

“Wowie, I wish I could travel with you. Ah, but if I wasn't here then who would watch Snowdin for humans? Certainly not my lazy brother.” Papyrus huffed softly and crossed his arms, “He’s almost assuredly asleep at his post by now…”

Flowey frowned, “Well gosh, he sure doesn’t sound like much help. It’s like you have to do everything by yourself!”

“Yes, exactly! I love my brother, really I do, but I just wish that he wasn’t such a lazy bones all the time!” Papyrus sighed, then smiled again, “I’m glad I have you as my friend Flowey, most monsters are too intimidated by my greatness to approach me, and while I am flattered…” the skeleton’s expression fell a bit, “It can get a little lonely at times…” then he smiled again, “B-But, I’m sure that once I’m in the royal guard everyone will feel less intimidated and they will all want to be friends with me!”

Flowey had to stifle a laugh, covering what got out with a cough and a winking smile, “I’m sure they will Papyrus, but…” he tilted his head with a small frown, “How long have you be training to be in the royal guard? It must have been for a good while now, I’m surprised they haven’t let you in yet!”

“Well, that’s because it takes a lot of training to be in the royal guard! A royal guard must be able to face any danger head on without backing down! That’s what Undyne says.” Still, Papyrus HAD been training for a really long time now, but he had gotten stronger because of it! He had faith that he would be inducted into the royal guard soon enough!

Flowey nodded, “Still, you should ask Undyne about it the next time you see her. After all, you can’t wait forever to be in the royal guard, right?”

“Well, I’ll see what she has to say, we’re going to be doing some training tomorrow. Speaking of that, I should get back to my patrol now.” Papyrus stood up, dusting himself off a bit, “Thank you for another one of our great conversations Flowey, I shall see you again soon to let you know how my training went!”

“Okay Papyrus, I’ll see you later!” Flowey waved goodbye using one of his leaves, to which Papyrus waved back with a bright smile and made his way back to the main path. Once the skeleton was gone, Flowey laughed to himself, losing his façade of being Papyrus’ innocent friend, “Hah, what an idiot! There’s not a single timeline where Undyne lets him in,” His expression turned maniacal, “But, I can use that hope against him~” Flowey went back down into the earth, returning to the Ruins to bide his time.

Papyrus went about his patrol like usual, but in the back of his mind, he couldn’t help but think about what Flowey had said to him, about how Papyrus hadn’t been let in to the guard yet. He wasn’t sure why it was bothering him so much, but Flowey had made a good point, and the more Papyrus thought about it, the more he started to wonder about it too…

Meanwhile, Sans was stuck in a nightmare, one which had been plaguing him for the past month or so. He was in a densely packed part of the forest, standing in the center of a clearing. The trees were so tall that he couldn’t see anything above them, and it was deafeningly silent. The short skeleton looked around him. There was nothing there, but the intense feeling of dread and fear he felt was almost palpable.

He tried to call out, to get some kind of response, but his own voice was overpowered by the silence, rendering his voice into barely a whisper, “Papyrus?” Sans waited, but there was no response. He tried again, able to get a bit louder this time, “Papyrus? Anyone?”

After another moment of silence, the sound of a branch snapping came from behind Sans, who quickly turned around to face it, but there was nothing there. Another snap came, but again, nothing in sight. Soon, the sound of snapping branches was almost as deafening as the silence had been. It was so loud that Sans instinctively covered where his ears would be, if he had them, and he shut his eyes tightly, hunching over slightly.

Then, almost as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Hesitantly, Sans opened his eyes again and lowered his hands, glancing around, “Papyrus…?”

To his horror, instead of his brother’s voice, the sound of that flower’s laughter was his response, accompanied by a pain-filled whimper, “S-Sans…!”

“Papy-!?” Something shot out from the trees, smashing Sans’ skull to shards, leaving him with only the sound of a maniacal laugh he knew all too well…

“AAAHH!” Sans shot up from his seat, panting and trembling, his eye socket glowing as he tried to remember where he was. He was still at his station, he wasn’t completely closed in by trees… Still shaking, Sans looked down at the station’s counter, “D-Damn it, why do I keep having that nightmare…?” He took deep breaths, trying to calm down but struggling with it a bit.

Papyrus had heard his brother’s scream and raced as fast as he could back to the sentry station, “Sans!” He called out as soon as he was close enough to see his brother. The taller of the two skidded to a stop next to the shorter one, “Sans, are you alright?! I heard you scream and I came as fast as I could!” Papyrus picked his brother up and hugged him close and protectively.

“P-Paps…?” Sans returned the hug, holding on to his brother as tight as he could, “Stars, you’re alright…!” That dream left him feeling scared each and every time it happened…

“Well of course I’m alright, but what about you?!” Papyrus looked at his brother in worry, shifting Sans in his arms to better look at him. Sans’ eye light was glowing and he was shaking like a leaf…

Sans still held on to Papyrus, but nodded, “Y-Yeah, I’m fine… Just had a really bad dream…”

Papyrus frowned, “Again, brother? Was it the same one…?” Sans hadn’t told him what it was about, just that he had been having a repeating nightmare for about a month now.

“Yeah, same one…” He was finally calm enough for his eye glow and the trembling to stop, but he wasn’t going to let Papyrus out of his sight until they were safely back in town. He might have been the one to die in the dream, but the pain that had been in his brother’s voice, that scared him more than dying.

Papyrus sighed and put Sans down gently, “Why won’t you tell me what it is about? Maybe I can help you feel better if I knew… I hate hearing you scream like that, Sans.”

Once on his own two feet, Sans shoved his hands in his pockets, “Yeah, I know bro, I’m sorry for worrying you like that,” He forced a smile, “But it’s just a bad dream, I’ll be fine. Come on, lets’ head home, all that sentry duty has left me bone tired.”

Sans turned and started walking home, Papyrus walking next to him with a quiet sigh at the pun, “Lazy bones…” He would’ve chastised his brother for sleeping on the job again, but since the other had just had a nightmare, he decided to let it slide, just this once.

The rest of the day went by peacefully up until dinner time. Sans was sitting on the couch, writing, while Papyrus was in the kitchen working on dinner, Spaghetti and meatballs. As he stirred the sauce, tomato of course, his mind wandered back to earlier. Sans’ nightmare seemed to be getting worse, and he wouldn’t even tell him what it was about. How could Papyrus do anything to help him if his brother wouldn’t even let him know that much?

That led to thoughts of the royal guard and his dream of joining it. He had been training so hard, and for so long, and yet he couldn’t protect Sans from one bad dream. Papyrus decided to ask Undyne if there was any kind of special training for solving or fighting bad dreams the next time he saw her. For now, dinner was just about ready!

Papyrus mixed in the sauce and got two big bowls made for him and Sans, going the extra mile to make Sans’ meatballs in to a smiley face to try and cheer him up more. He picked up the bowls and walked out to the living room with a smile on his face, “Brother, dinner is ready! The great Papyrus has made his signature dish, spaghetti!”

Sans looked up from the notebook he had been writing in up at his brother, “Cool, let’s eat.” He took his bowl, setting the book down and admiring the meatball smile, “Heh, my dinner looks happy to meat me.” Sans then took a mouthful of the pasta and hummed happily, “Mmmm, I think this is your best batch yet Pap.”

Papyrus smiled proudly, “Nyeh heh heh, why thank you dear brother! And because of the compliment I shall chose to ignore your obvious pun!” It was hard to do so, but he at least tried to restrain his annoyance at it.

He sat down next to Sans and started eating, looking at the notebook in curiosity, “Sans, you didn’t tell me that you had started keeping a journal.”

Sans looked at Papyrus with a quizzical look, “Huh?”

“Your notes, you started with saying that you had another bad dream.” Papyrus pointed to the line in question.

Before he could read more, Sans picked the note book up and looked it over. He’d written it in hands so his brother, or anyone else who found it, wouldn’t be able to read it. He looked back at Papyrus, still confused, “Since when could you read hands?”

Papyrus smiled with a proud look on his face, “I’ve been practicing! I will admit, I have not perfected it yet, but I have done very well thus far!”

“Oh yeah, what have you even been practicing with?”

“Nyeh heh heh, I was doing some spring cleaning, and I found a book on different fonts! I’ve been using that to learn hands, and become familiar with other fonts too!” All monsters spoke with a font, which vocally was related to the pitch of their voice, their accent, and other things like that. Most in the underground used similar fonts, which made sense since they had all been down there for generations, but a few like Sans and Papyrus had different fonts. Skeletons were special in that if they used their magic, they could actually read another monster’s font as long as they kept focus.

Sans closed his notebook with a slightly surprised yet proud look, “Wow, that’s so cool Paps! I’m impressed, hands isn’t easy to learn. Heheh, I guess I’ve really gotta hand it to you on this one bro.”

Papyrus restrained a groan, “Sans I just ignored your last pun!” Sans laughed, and the two continued eating dinner as they talked, “What about you? Clearly you can read hands, can you speak it as well?” The taller skeleton tilted his head.

“Yeah, but it’s hard to learn how to, you need to use your magic to do it right.” Sans took another mouthful of pasta, “Besides, no one in the Underground even speaks it anymore, so you’re never gonna be able to use it.”

Papyrus frowned and scratched his head, “If no one speaks it, then, how did you learn to do so?”

Sans chuckled around the mouthful, “Oh, that? I…” Sans trailed off and frowned. Come to think of it, how did he learn to speak in hands anyway…? How did he even learn to read and write it in the first place? He tried to remember, but it was all just a blank slate. Sans swallowed and furrowed his brow, “Huh, that is a good question…” He mumbled and kept trying to remember.

The two brothers sat in silence for a while, Sans poking at his food a bit. Hoping to clear the uneasiness in the room, Papyrus spoke up after a while, “Say, Sans? I know you said that hands isn’t spoken anymore, but do you think you could teach me how to speak it anyway? Just a little bit at least, one or two words.”

“What do you wanna know?” Sans kept poking at his food, barely paying any mind to anything else as he thought over where he knew hands from.

Papyrus hummed as he thought about it, “How about…” He smiled brightly, “Oh, I got it! How about our names? That way we can get each other’s attention without someone thinking we’re calling for them by mistake!”

Sans stopped his poking and thought about it, ‘There aren’t any monsters in the underground with our names, but knowing how to say each other’s names in hands could come in use for emergencies…’ He thought back to his nightmare, shuddering a bit. Yeah, teaching Papyrus how to say their names in hands was looking like a better idea already.

Sans looked at his brother with a grin, “Sure thing Papyrus, after all, it-”

Papyrus gave a suspicious look, “Wait I know that look…”

“Might-”

“Sans I’m warning you!”

“Come in-”

“Don’t you DARE finish that sentence!”

“Handy!” Papyrus screamed in frustration while Sans laughed loudly at his own pun, “Ahhh, but really, I’ll teach you how to say our names in hands.”

“After putting me through yet another one of your puns I would hope so…” After dinner, once Papyrus had finished washing the dishes, the two sat down on the couch to start the lesson.

Sans sat up fully, “Alright, so like I said earlier, you gotta use your magic to speak hands. What you gotta do is speak with your magic, focus on the words you want to say, and they’ll come out in hands. Heh, I know that sounds hard, but once you’ve got the hang of it, it gets a lot easier.”

Papyrus nodded, “Can you show me?” He asked eagerly smiling.

“Sure, no problem.” Sans focused and spoke without even opening his mouth or making any indication of jaw movement, “HOW IS THIS PAPYRUS?”

“Wowie, that… Well, I couldn’t understand a word of it, but it sounded very cool!” Papyrus beamed, “What did you say?”

“I said, ‘how is this Papyrus’. The word at the end, PAPYRUS, is your name. My name is SANS, got it?”

Papyrus frowned a bit and hummed, “Not really, but I’ll give it a try!” He cleared his throat, closed his eyes and focused on his magic, “sans. Did I get it right?” Papyrus opened his eyes again and smiled.

“Heheh, you got real close Paps, but you gotta use caps, not lowers. Try it again, SANS, just like that.”

“SanS” Papyrus furrowed his brow and kept trying, “SaNs… sANs… SANS!” The skeleton gasped and smiled brightly, “Sans I think I got it that time!”

Sans smiled proudly, “Great job bro, just keep at it and you’ll be speaking hands in no time!” The two spent the rest of the night practicing how to say their names in hands, and by the time they agreed to head to bed Papyrus had gotten Sans’ name down almost perfectly. They’d keep practicing whenever they had the time, too, to make sure.

The next day, Papyrus was up bright and early. His training with Undyne wasn't for another two hours, and it wasn't a long walk to her house, but he had woken up with a lot of energy that morning and had decided to go on a walk as a light warm up. There didn’t seem to be any other monsters awake at this time, so it was just Papyrus with his thoughts. He hummed his theme and looked around the town, stopping at the Giftmas tree to admire it.

“Looks as good as always!” He mused to himself with a smile. As he did so there was the soft sound of earth breaking, followed by a sneeze, “Nyeh, is someone there?”

Flowey poked his head out from under the tree, “Down here Papyrus!” He sneezed again, “Ugh, it’s dusty under this tree…” How does that even happen anyway? If it was a fake tree he could understand that, but it was definitely a live one.

Papyrus crouched down and smiled brightly, “Why hello there Flowey! This is the first time I’ve seen you in Snowdin. I thought you said you couldn’t come here because the snow was too hard for you to dig through.”

“There’s a patch of dirt under this tree that’s just big enough for me.” Flowey lied. Snow wasn’t actually an issue for him, it was just a good excuse to get Papyrus to come to him instead of the other way around, “Anyway, I came here because I wanted to see how you were doing? Have you talked to Undyne yet about getting in the royal guard?”

“Not yet, but I’m going to go see her soon! I’ll talk to her when we’ve finished training.” Papyrus smiled more, happy at the thought.

Flowey hummed, “Say, Papyrus, this is just a crazy idea, but…” He scoffed, “No, never mind.”

Papyrus moved a bit closer, “What is it Flowey? Is there something on your mind?”

Flowey frowned, “Yes, but I’m sure you don’t want to hear it…” And Papyrus hearing it was exactly what Flowey wanted.

“Oh, but I do! If I can ease my friend’s mind then of course I’ll listen!”

Flowey moved to stick out from under the tree more, looking to the side, “Well, it’s just that…” He turned to look directly at Papyrus, “What if Undyne doesn’t want you in the royal guard? What if she’s just been giving you all this training out of pity, or worse, some kind of twisted prank?”

Papyrus flinched and frowned, backing up a bit, “W-Why would you say something like that Flowey? Of course Undyne wants me in the royal guard, I-I just have to get stronger first!”

There it was, that split second of doubt on Papyrus’ face, that’s what Flowey had been waiting for. The seed of doubt had been planted, now it was time to help it grow big and strong, “I know you don’t want to hear something like that Papyrus, but I’m just saying it because I’m your friend and I’m worried about you. I’d hate to think that someone is taking advantage of you, that would just be awful!” And besides, that was part of HIS plan. They say imitation is the more sincere form of flattery, but Flowey didn’t want someone copying him!

The skeleton gave a reassuring smile to his friend, “Well, I appreciate your concern Flowey, but Undyne would never do something like that.” He stood up, “I’ll talk to her after training, and this will all be cleared up, you’ll see! I have to get going now, but I’ll see you after my training is done to let you know how it went!”

Flowey frowned a bit more, then smiled, “Sure thing Papyrus, lets meet in the forest and you can tell me all about it!” He moved back under the tree and under the dirt, his plan was coming to fruition.

Papyrus stood there for a bit, thinking over what Flowey had said, then shook his head and started jogging to waterfall for his training with Undyne. He got there early and knocked on the door, “Undyne, it is I, the great Papyrus here for our training! Are you ready?”

A minute later Undyne opened the door, “Hey Papyrus, good to see you’re early! I’m ready, are you ready?!” She grinned enthusiastically.

“I’m ready!” Papyrus replied just as eagerly.

“Good, let’s go! Warm up is three laps around Waterfall then back here for sparring and cooking lessons!” Undyne closed the door behind her, “Try and keep up!” And was off running. Papyrus followed after her, doing his best to keep up, but Undyne was pretty fast. At best, Papyrus was still a few steps behind her, but he still did his best! Back when he first started taking lessons from her, Undyne was able to run a lap in under half the time it took him.

When they finished, Papyrus was standing, hunched over trying to catch his breath. Undyne took a long drink from her water bottle, sighing in relief once she finished, “Phew, now that was a good warm up! Next time we’re gonna push for four laps.” Papyrus gave a tired thumbs up as he still tried to recover. Undyne chuckled and tossed him a water bottle, “Drink up, catch your breath and then we’re gonna start sparring.”

Papyrus stumbled a bit with catching the water bottle, and downed it in one go, “S-Sounds good!” He coughed a bit and sighed contently.

Undyne sighed softly under her breath. She had to admire Papyrus’ persistence, but she wished that he would let go of wanting to be in the royal guard already. Papyrus was strong, and dedicated, but he was just too innocent… She had made him a scout because she wanted to encourage him to get stronger, and he already lived in Snowdin, but it was obvious that he would never be able to kill when it came down to it. That was the reason she wasn’t going to let him in, his refusal to fight to kill. It was harsh, sure, but they needed human souls if they were going to break down the barrier. Just one more was all they needed, just one more human’s soul and they would all be free…

“Hey, Undyne, I was wondering if you could show me some special techniques.” Papyrus was still panting softly.

The fish monster grinned and put her hands on her hips, “Sure Papyrus, you got anything in mind you’d like to see? Maybe some green magic, or a refresher on hand-to-hand combat?”

Papyrus shook his head, “Actually, I was wondering if you knew anything that could fight off bad dreams.”

Undyne raised an eyebrow curiously, “Bad dreams?”

“Yes, my brother Sans has been having the same nightmare for the past month or so, though he won’t tell me what it is about. I was hoping that you knew of a way to stop them, being as strong as you are.” Papyrus looked hopefully at her.

“Ah, geez, sorry Papyrus, I don’t know anything like that…” Undyne shrugged and gave an apologetic smile, “Ya can’t exactly fight something that’s going on in your head.”

Papyrus frowned slightly, “Oh, I see…”

Undyne quickly responded, “B-But! Doctor Alphys might be able to help! She knows all kinds of things, I’m sure she knows something about dreams and how to deal with bad ones! I’ll ask her later okay?”

Papyrus smiled again and hugged Undyne tightly, “Oh thank you Undyne! That is most gracious of you to offer and I greatly appreciate it!”

Undyne chuckled and gently pushed Papyrus off of her, “Yeah yeah you big softy, now come on, lets spar already!” The skeleton cheered in agreement, and the two got to practice fighting, Undyne with her spears and Papyrus with his bone magic.

After a long sparing session together, they went inside to relax for a while and cool off, and to treat the minor scrapes and bruises that came with their sparring too, “You’re getting better all the time Papyrus, I’m proud of ya.” She filled a kettle with water and set it on the stove to boil so she could make them some tea.

“Thank you Undyne, it is all thanks to my wonderful teacher!” Papyrus smiled cheerfully.

“Heh, you’re so freaking sappy.” Undyne teased playfully with a smile, leaning back comfortably in her chair.

Papyrus smiled more, happy to be spending time with his good friend. He was so glad to know Undyne, both as his friend, and as his future captain in the royal guard! But…

What if Undyne doesn’t want you in the royal guard?

That line struck him again out of nowhere. Well, it wasn’t nowhere, it had been with him the entire time they had been training, he had just been able to push it down. Now it was demanding to be heard, and he couldn’t get it out of his head. He looked down at the table, frowning a bit in thought.

“Hey Papyrus, something bugging you? You’re not the type to just start being sad for no reason.” Undyne noticed the expression the on his face, “Is Sans’ nightmares still bugging you?”

Papyrus sighed softly, “Well, yes, but that’s not it…” He kept looking down at the table, “I was just wondering… You’ve been training me for a while now,” He looked up at Undyne again, “and I am very grateful for it! Please don’t think otherwise! But…”

Undyne frowned and leaned forward, “But what…?” She didn’t like where this was going. She didn’t want to have to break her friend’s heart by telling him the truth…

Papyrus frowned more and looked back down at the table, “W-Well, is… is there something I’m lacking, to become part of the royal guard? You said so yourself, I’m getting stronger all the time, and I want to become part of the guard more than anything else, so it’s not conviction I’m lacking either, so, what is it?” He kept looking down at the table, confused, worried, and maybe even a little hurt.

The two sat in silence for a moment, Papyrus waiting for an answer and Undyne desperately not wanting to give him it. The kettle let out a whistle and she stood up, turning the oven off and moving it to the side, “S-So, what kind of tea do you want? I’ve got green, camomile, and oh! Asgore gave me this new flavour he got and it’s-!”

“Undyne, please…!” Undyne tensed a bit, then slowly turned to face her friend. The look of desperation Papyrus was staring at her with made her feel awful about not telling him the truth, but she still wanted to protect him…

The fish monster ran a hand through her hair and sighed deeply, “Papyrus, you’re not… lacking anything, it’s just, I want to make sure you’re strong enough to deal with what being in the royal guard means. There’s a lot to it, and dealing with humans is dangerous even for the most experienced of guards.” She tried to explain desperately.

Papyrus nodded slightly, “I know, but I’m sure if I could just talk to them-!”

“That isn’t gonna work, they won’t listen if you just ask them nicely!” Undyne quickly retorted, a hand going over her blinded eye at the memory of what happened to it, “That won’t work, no matter how nice you are to them. Humans are merciless and won’t hesitate if they think you’re a danger to them…” She clenched her fist, claws digging into her palm as a slow burning anger filled her.

The skeleton smiled, trying to stay hopeful, “But I can show them that I’m not a danger, a-and we could be friends! Then we could all walk through the barrier together and-!”

Undyne slammed her fist against the counter, startling Papyrus and causing him to stop speaking midsentence, “That won’t work Papyrus, don’t you get it?! If we waited for humans to show up and became ‘friends’ with them, they’d die of old age before the next one showed up and their soul would be gone! We’d be trapped down here forever, don’t you get it?!” She glared at Papyrus in frustration and anger, “What do I have to do to get it through your thick skull that humans can’t be reasoned with?!”

Papyrus just sat there, tears forming in his sockets and staring at Undyne in disbelief at what he was hearing from her. He couldn’t… he wouldn’t believe that there was no way for humans to be reasoned with, that they couldn’t overcome their differences to become friends! He couldn’t…! H-He…

What if she’s just been giving you all this training out of pity, or worse, some kind of twisted prank?

Sniffling, Papyrus stood up, “I-I’m sorry Undyne, I-I have to go now…!” He choked back a sob, shutting his eyes tightly.

Seeing how upset her friend was getting, Undyne calmed down a bit and tried to manage the situation, “H-Hey, Papyrus, I didn’t mean to-!”

Papyrus didn’t wait to hear her continue, running out the door before he started to cry more openly, “Papyrus!” Undyne called after him, following to try and make sure he was okay, but by the time she got outside the skeleton was already out of sight, “Damn it!” She growled, then sighed deeply, “God damn it…”

Papyrus was crying as he ran, not entirely sure where he was going. He just wanted, he needed, away from Waterfall and away from Undyne… When he came to his senses enough to look at his surroundings, Papyrus found that he had made his way back to Snowdin, just outside of town. He thought about going home, but he didn’t want Sans to see him crying. Instead, the upset skeleton quickly made his way through town, ignoring the other monsters going about their daily business and went straight to Snowdin forest.

It didn’t take him long before he was in the clearing, sitting in front of the patch of dirt and calling out through sobs, “F-Flowey, a-are you here?” He tried to wipe away some of his tears but they just kept coming.

Flowey heard Papyrus’ call, and smiled maliciously, it was time. He travelled through the dirt and arrived in the clearing, a bright smile on his face, “Howdy, here I am!” He then noticed Papyrus’ expression and frowned, “Golly Papyrus, what happened? Are you okay?”

Papyrus sniffled, “F-Flowey, I-I… I think you m-might have been r-right, about Undyne…” He choked back a sob, “I-I don’t think she really wa-wants me in the royal guard at all…!”

Flowey smiled sympathetically and reached up, his vine body extending out of the ground to reach the skeleton’s face and wipe away a tear with a leaf, “Aw, I’m sorry about that Papyrus. I’m sure that if you could show her just how strong you really are, then she’d have to let you in.”

“B-But, how…? H-How can I get st-stronger…?” Papyrus looked at his friend hopelessly, not knowing what else to do.

Flowey winked and stuck out his tongue, “Well golly, I can help you with that! But first, can I tell you a secret? I can trust you not to tell anyone else right?”

“O-Of course you can, I’d never reveal a secret!” Papyrus rubbed at his eyes again and leaned in.

Flowey chuckled, “And you can trust me to help you, because you see…” He looked around them in an exaggerated manner, then leaned in close to Papyrus and whispered, “I might not look like it, but I’m actually a boss monster!”

Papyrus looked at Flowey in surprise, “W-Wowie, are you really? That’s incredible, I never would have guessed! You must be really strong…”

“Yep!” The flower then pouted, again in an exaggerated way, “But since I’m a flower, I can’t really do all that much on my own.” He then smiled, “And that’s where you can help!”

“R-Really? How?”

“It’s simple, just let me hitch a ride inside of you. You’re a skeleton so there’s plenty of room right?” Flowey asked cheerfully and innocently. This was it, this was the next step in his plan. He had spent weeks gaining this idiot’s trust, making them appear all buddy buddy, and now it was time to make use of him.

Papyrus flinched, surprised at what Flowey was asking him, “W-Well, yes, I suppose you could, but don’t you need to be in the dirt? You are a flower, even if you are a boss monster…”

Flowey laughed, the sound echoing a bit, “Oh don’t worry about that! I’m fine without soil, it’s just hard for me to move around out of it! So, what do you say? I’ll help you be stronger, and all you have to do is let me tag along with you, sounds like a good deal right?” Flowey held out a vine to Papyrus as if he were waiting for a handshake.

“That doesn’t sound bad, but is there something you would like in return…?” Papyrus looked at Flowey’s vine a little hesitantly. This wasn’t the first time he’d seen them, but it was still a bit odd. Plus, what if he couldn’t hold up his end of the bargain? He didn’t want to disappoint his friend like that.

Flowey winked and stuck his tongue out again, “Oh, don’t worry about repaying the favour right away friend! All I want is to help you with your dream, really! Don’t you trust me Papyrus?” Flowey kept his vine held out, waiting for his response.

The skeleton looked at the vine. On the one hand, he wasn’t sure if agreeing to something like this was the safest thing to do… but, on the other hand, it was his dream to be in the royal guard, and with Flowey’s help he might be able to finally achieve it…

Papyrus took a deep breath and nodded, gripping and gently shaking Flowey’s vine, “Alright, Flowey, I trust you. It’s a deal.”

Flowey smiled brightly, “Great, I’m so glad you’ve agreed Papyrus! Just hold still for a moment, okay?” He wrapped his vine around Papyrus’ hand, going up his arm and in under his battle body. Papyrus shuddered at the feeling of the plant rubbing against his bones but did his best to stay still like Flowey had asked. It was such a weird feeling, Papyrus didn’t know how to describe it, other than it being weird.

Once Flowey was fully inside, he wrapped his vines around Papyrus’ ribs so he wouldn’t fall out, and grinned maliciously now that the other couldn’t see him, “There we go! How are you feeling Papyrus?”

Papyrus sat back and patted his chest, looking at the hole in the dirt where Flowey had once been, “I-I’m fine, but that was really weird. What about you, how are you doing in there?”

Flowey moved around a bit, causing Papyrus to squirm, “It feels just like home already.” He chuckled and grinned more. This was going to be more fun than he expected it to be, and he had just gotten started!

Chapter Text

Papyrus arrived back home, calling out, “Sans, are you home?” When there was no response, Papyrus sighed softly in relief and made his way up to his room. His face was still tear stained, but it wasn’t so bad anymore.

The skeleton tugged his scarf and looked down, “Alright, the coast is clear, you can come out now!” He informed his passenger. Flowey stuck his head out from Papyrus’ scarf and looked around.

Huh, so this was what smiley trash bag's house looked like. He never really bothered with this place much, not all that interested in his personal life. Flowey looked up at Papyrus, “Golly, this is a nice place you have here! It's nice and cozy.” It was nothing compared to the castle of course, but it would do for now.

Papyrus smiled, “Nyeh heh heh! The great Papyrus does his best to keep the house as spick and span as he can, despite my brother’s attempts otherwise!” He thought about that sock that Sans left in the living room, but he wasn’t going to pick it up! Sans might be the older one but he needed to learn some responsibility!

“I can see that! I bet that Sans always leaves a mess and doesn’t even offer to help clean it up, right?” Flowey looked up at Papyrus with a smile, then continued to look around the room, “Wow, you have a sport car bed! That’s really neat!” He knew from previous timelines that Papyrus really liked his bed, so while Flowey thought it was kinda lame, he still buttered the other up as much as he could, laying on the compliments to gain every ounce of trust that he could.

Papyrus sat down on the bed, “I’m glad you like it Flowey, I do as well! It’s quite comfy, and sometimes I pretend that I’m driving it down a road.” He held out his arms as if holding a steering wheel and pretending to drive, “One day, when we all reach the surface, I want to drive a car like this down a long road, and feel the wind going past my skull!” He smiled more as he imagined this happening, closing his eyes as he did.

Flowey rolled his eyes while Papyrus had his closed, but kept up the cheerful tone, “That sounds like fun! I’d love to do that with you! Golly, we could even go travelling together, just the two of us!”

Papyrus opened his eyes again and looked at Flowey, “Well, the two of us and my brother of course. I wouldn’t want to leave him behind, and I’m sure that he would love to see the sights that the surface has to offer.”

“Well didn’t you say that you wished that we could travel together? Sans would probably just sleep through the whole trip and we’d have to drag him along to go anywhere.” Flowey reached up with part of his vine and rubbed Papyrus’ cheek to try and clear up some of the tear stains on his skull, “Besides, maybe some time apart would help make him more responsible for himself too!”

“Hmmm, I hadn’t thought of that…” Papyrus hummed, crossing his legs on his bed.

Flowey smiled more, “He’s your older brother, right? He’s supposed to be a good role model for you and yet he can’t even pick up his own sock! Now, I might be going a step too far saying this, but that doesn’t sound like a good role model to me, don’t you agree?” Let the doubt sink in, wear the ties Papyrus had to everyone else as thin as possible, and soon he would have no one else but Flowey.

“Well…” Papyrus frowned a bit, “He’s just tired, that’s all. He keeps getting woken up by nightmares in the middle of the night and it takes a lot out of him…” But Sans was lazy even before the nightmares started, just, even more now…

The yellow flower had to restrain a grin, instead putting on a look of concern, “Sans has been having nightmares? Well golly, that doesn’t sound like fun at all!” It was hilarious to Flowey. Smiley trash bag was having nightmares, and after all the time lines they had spent together it wasn’t too hard to imagine why either.

“Yes, and he won’t even tell me what they’re about! I’m really worried about him, but I don’t know what to do to help him either…” He looked down at the blankets, “And he always wakes up screaming… His reaction to this nightmare has been getting worse as well. At first, he would just wake up feeling startled, and now…” Papyrus pulled his knees up to his chest, careful not to press against them and squeeze Flowey, and hugged them, “Now when he wakes up, he screams, he’s disoriented, and he won’t calm down unless I’m with him…” He frowned, hugging his knees closer, “I did ask Undyne if she knew anything that could help, and she said that she would ask Alphys…”

Flowey nodded slowly and hummed, “But, didn’t you two just have a fight? She might not ask Alphys now because of it…”

The skeleton frowned more, “W-Well, she said that she would, a-and Undyne always keeps her promises!” it hadn’t exactly been a small argument, but she wouldn’t go back on her word right? They’d make up and everything would be fine again… right…?

Flowey smiled and wiped away more tear stains, “Well I’m glad that you’re trying to take a positive outlook, maybe you should start looking at other ways to help Sans out.” And that’s when he got a wicked idea, and nearly burst out laughing, “Why, I just remembered something that might just do the trick! I know how to make a special tea that will help you sleep better because it has a special secret ingredient!”

Papyrus started to smile again, “Really? That sounds great, what’s the secret ingredient?”

Flowey chuckled and winked, “Well it wouldn’t be a secret if I told you! Just trust me, it’ll work like a charm!”

Papyrus was about to suggest that they go out to get it now, when the sound of the front door opening was heard followed by Sans’ voice, “Hey Paps, I’m home!” He called out from downstairs, closing the door behind him with a yawn. The nightmare had made it so that he could only sleep when he was dead tired, which was becoming more and more frequent thanks to it.

Papyrus stood up and called back, “Welcome home Sans!” He made his way to the door and went to open it to head down to see him when Flowey grabbed his arm with a vine and pulled it away from the knob. The skeleton looked at the flower in surprise, “Flowey?”

“Sorry to startle you Papyrus, but I just wanted to say that we should keep our deal a secret from everyone, including your brother. After all, if monsters found out about me helping you, then they might doubt that you’re as strong as you really are!” He was more concerned about his plan being discovered, but this worked to keep Papyrus complacent with it.

“Ah, that’s a good point. You are a boss monster, so that might not look very good…” Papyrus thought about it a bit more before nodding, “Alright, consider this both a deal AND a secret! I still want to head down to see Sans, of course, so you should go back in my battle body for now.”

Satisfied that his plan was safe, Flowey smiled more, “Okay! And remember, don’t tell him about the tea either, that’s a surprise” He pulled his head and vines back down, letting go of Papyrus’ arm and settling back into his ribs.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Sans was starting to wonder what was taking his brother so long. Normally they’d stop what they were doing to come and greet the other when they got home. It wasn’t a big house either, so that wasn’t it, “Hey Papyrus, something up? Are you coming down or what?” He called. Sans’ nightmare had him on edge when it came to his brother’s safety and if Papyrus didn’t get his boney behind down where he could see him Sans was going to shortcut right into his room to check up on him.

“S-Sorry, I was just doing some cleaning and was trying to get something from under the bed!” Papyrus didn’t like lying to Sans like this, but at least it was just a small lie, and it was to keep a promise too, so it was okay! With Flowey safely hidden again, Papyrus made his way downstairs, smiling at Sans as he got closer, “Like I said moments ago, welcome home Sans!” He greeted in his usual cheerful tone.

Sans frowned a bit, hands in his pockets, “Hey uh, did something happen? You look like you’ve been crying…”

Papyrus was a bit startled but tried not to let it show, “Why Sans, what are you talking about, I haven’t been crying! There is no reason for the great Papyrus to have been crying!”

The shorter skeleton sighed and pointed to his own eyes, “Paps I can see the tear marks. You don’t gotta try and hide it from me, I know that you’ve been crying.”

Having been caught, Papyrus frowned and looked away, rubbing under his eyes to try and clear it up, “Ah, yes, well…”

Sans moved over to the couch and sat down, patting the spot next to him. Papyrus followed his lead and sat down next to Sans, leaning back against the cushions, “Now, will you tell me what happened?”

Papyrus sighed and nodded, “Alright…” He took a deep breath, “You see, after Undyne and I finished training, we went to her house to rest for a bit…”

“Yeah?” Sans shifted a bit to get a bit more comfortable while still listening to his brother, “What next?”

“I…” Papyrus looked down at his lap, “I asked Undyne if I was lacking something to be a royal guard, because I’ve been training with her for a long time now a-and I was starting to w-worry that…!” He didn’t want to say it, he didn’t want to make that thought real, “W-We ended up yelling at each other, about what if a human showed up. Well, mostly her yelling at me that humans can’t be reasoned with while I tried to tell her that they can…” Papyrus sniffled as he thought about what happened, trying not to cry again, “I-I ended up running out of her house, a-and I walked around Snowdin forest for a while b-before coming home…”

Sans frowned as tears started to well up in Papyrus’ eye sockets again, “Ah geez, I’m sorry that happened Paps, come here.” He gently pulled his brother in for a hug, which Papyrus gratefully returned, half clinging to Sans as he sobbed.

“S-Sans, what if U-Undyne won’t train me a-anymore?” Papyrus sobbed out, “W-What if she doesn’t want to be friends a-anymore because of this?” He held on tighter as tears started coming out.

“Whoa, Papyrus, where is this coming from? It’s not like you to be so negative, that’s my job.” Sans chuckled softly, pulling back a bit so he could wipe away some of Papyrus’ tears. Inside he was starting to get really worried. Sans knew his brother, and it wasn’t like him to get this down about anything, no matter how upset he got.

Papyrus sniffled, “I’m sorry brother, it’s just that Undyne got pretty angry during our fight, and I’m worried is all…” He leaned into Sans’ hand for comfort, which the other supplied.

“Don’t worry Paps, I’m sure this’ll blow over and you and Undyne will still be friends.” Sans tried to reassure, but when Papyrus just nodded, he sighed softly, “Well, I didn’t want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice…” Sans grinned brightly and started tickling Papyrus, “Tickle attack!”

The taller skeleton started laughing and squirming in response, “S-Sans cut it out! Hahahahah!”

Sans chuckled, “Why, doesn’t this tickle your fancy?” He continued his tickle attack, following Papyrus as he tried to move away from the tickling fingers.

“Y-Your puns are still t-t-terrible!” Papyrus laughed and smiled, Sans finally pulling away with a smile of his own. Papyrus panted, trying to catch his breath again.

Sans smiled a bit more, “There we go, there’s your smile. Feel better now?”

Papyrus chuckled, smiling again, “Nyeh heh heh, yes, thank you Sans. I am still worried about Undyne, but I do feel better now.”

“Hey, now there’s the brother I know.” Sans leaned back against the couch and put his hands in his pockets again, “Tell you what, how about I go to Undyne’s tomorrow and talk to her for you?”

Papyrus nodded, “But try not to make her more upset if you can avoid it, okay? And maybe don’t mention me being in the royal guard while talking with her…”

Sans hummed and nodded, “Okay.” He yawned, “For now I’m gonna take a nap, that tickle attack has left me bone tired.” With Papyrus groaning, and Flowey restraining a groan of his own inside of his rib cage, Sans closed his eyes and shortly fell asleep, snoring softly.

Leaving his brother to sleep, Papyrus made his way back up to his room to actually do some cleaning, and to clean up Sans’ room as well since the lazy bones was going to do him a big favour by agreeing to go and talk to Undyne. Once they were alone again, Flowey poked his head out from under Papyrus’ battle armour and started laughing, “N-Nyeh, Flowey are you ticklish too?”

He was actually laughing at how successful his plan was so far, but nodded to avoid suspicion, “I haven’t been tickled in a long time!” The flower smiled brightly up at Papyrus, “Well, looks like Sans might actually get up and do something for once.”

Papyrus smiled, “Yes, and hopefully Undyne and I can make up. I don’t like fighting with friends, so I’m grateful that Sans has stepped in to help.” He wasn’t ready to talk to Undyne yet, so having someone else do it to start with was nice.

Flowey nodded, then hummed, “As long as she doesn’t hold this against you, everything will be fine. Is she the type to hold a grudge?”

The skeleton thought about it, remembering how Undyne had held her hand over her blinded eye while talking about humans. He didn’t know exactly what happened to her eye, but with how she had talked and reacted, even Papyrus could put together that whatever had happened had involved a human, “Mmm, maybe, why do you ask?”

“Well I used to know someone who would hold grudges and never let them go.” Flowey frowned, “She never did make up with him…”

Papyrus frowned, “What happened?”

Flowey waved away the question with a leaf, “It was a long time ago, so I don’t really remember the details. All I’m saying is that you should be careful, Undyne might say she forgives you or that she’s sorry, but she might not really mean it.”

“Of course she would mean it! Undyne is always honest about things like that!” She was, Papyrus was… He was… Maybe he wasn’t so sure of it anymore, with how their fight went, and with what Flowey had been telling him, but he wasn’t going to lose faith in his friend! Papyrus knew that Undyne was a good person and wouldn’t hold this against him! They would go back to being friends right away!

Flowey sighed in a slightly dramatic way and subtly rolled his eyes, “Well, if you’re sure about it.” He smiled, “Don’t forget, you can always trust your best friend Flowey, I’ll always be here for you.” Flowey wiped away the last of Papyrus’ tears.

Papyrus smiled softly, “Thank you Flowey, I’m glad to have you by my side.” He looked down at his chest, “Er, or inside of me, as the case might be.”

“Hehehehe, yep!” Flowey smiled brightly, squeezing Papyrus’ ribs a bit.

The skeleton flinched a bit, “Why are you tightening your hold like that Flowey?”

Flowey winked and stuck his tongue out, “It’s a hug silly! I don’t really have arms, but I have plenty of vines!”

“Ah, that makes perfect sense! In that case I shall return your generous hug!” Papyrus thought about it for a second, trying to figure out how that would work, before gently pulling Flowey in for a hug, arms around the vine part sticking out of him.

Flowey was a little surprised at getting a hug. It had been a long time, and it sparked… something, in him for a moment. What was that, happiness? Well whatever it was it passed quickly and he loosened his vines, signalling that the hug was over.

Papyrus let go as well and walked over to his closet, where he kept some cleaning supplies in the back, “Alright, I’m going to tidy up the place, so if you would like to rest go right ahead.”

“Actually, since Sans is sleeping, I thought that I’d stay out for a bit so I can see more of your house. It doesn’t look that big, but I still want to see it.” And learn where there were any hiding places, and maybe of some secrets that smiley trash bag had too.

“Certainly, just be mindful that Sans might wake up at any time so be ready to hide quickly if you need to.” Papyrus pulled out an apron to keep dust off of himself and tied it around his waist, then grabbed a broom and a dust pan to start with. He made his way around the house, cleaning up the dust in his room, cleaning his action figures, putting fresh sheets on the bed, and a few other small things as well before grabbing his rug and rolling it up to shake the dirt off of it out the window. When that was done he put it back in place and smoothed it out with a nod of satisfaction.

Once Papyrus’ room was done he moved over to Sans’ room to take care of that too, “Golly, Sans’ room sure is a mess!” Flowey looked around in slight amazement at how lazy Sans really was. He couldn’t even keep his tiny room clean! If he still had the ability to feel things, Flowey might actually feel bad for Papyrus for being related to Sans.

Papyrus sighed, “Yes, and normally he doesn’t let me in so I can’t do much about it, but since he’s sleeping on the couch this gives me a chance to tidy it up!” He moved over to the bed to start with, picking up the crumpled mattress cover and put it in the hamper, along with the rest of the dirty clothes he found hiding under the mattress and in various corners of the room. It took longer than he thought it would, but eventually the skeleton had Sans’ room to a state of cleanliness he was satisfied with. Well, aside from the self-sustaining trash tornado in the corner, but Papyrus was honestly a little scared to even touch that without protective gear.

“How does that even work anyway?” Flowey tilted his head in confusion at the tornado. Of all the things he had seen in all of the time lines, this was by far the most baffling. The next thing would be the amalgamates, but at least he knew how those came to be!

“Nyeh heh heh, your guess would be as good as mine. I just avoid it whenever I’m in here, it’s not worth the risk.” As if to prove his point, a book was thrown out of the tornado and flew towards Papyrus. Flowey shot out two of his vines in front of them, blocking the book without taking any real damage from it, “Goodness, that could have cracked my skull! Flowey, are you alright?” Papyrus asked in concern for his friend, adrenaline running through him at the near hit from the book.

Flowey nodded, “Yeah, I’m okay. I’m a boss monster remember? That means I’m really tough!” He assured, “But golly, that sure was close! Any slower and you could’ve gotten seriously hurt! Doesn’t your brother care about that?”

“Of course he does! This was just an accident, and I don’t go in his room much as it is, so it’s not like I have to worry about this often.” Papyrus picked up the book off of the floor, looking at the back cover which now had a rip through the paper cover from where it had hit Flowey’s vines, “Oh, now it’s damaged! Sans isn’t going to be happy about that…” Papyrus frowned, “Maybe if I use some glue or tape I can fix it…” The tall skeleton walked over to the window to get a better look at it using the light.

Meanwhile, Sans had woken up from his nap due to a loud sound, the book hitting Flowey’s vines, and had quickly made his way upstairs. He was standing outside his room, but wasn’t entering because of the conversation he could hear coming from inside.

“I’m sure he won’t even notice that it’s damaged, he’s way too lazy to care about things like that!” Sans didn’t quite recognize this voice, but it sounded familiar…

“Well lazy or not I still want to fix it! After all it’s his book, and it’s wrong to damage other people’s property and not try to fix it!” That was definitely Papyrus, but who the heck was he talking to?

“That’s really nice of you Papyrus, to do something like that even though it was his fault it got damaged.”

“What on Earth are you talking about?”

“I’m just saying, that if he didn’t have that tornado to begin with, then you wouldn’t have almost gotten hit by that book!”

Sans’ soul skipped a beat at the thought of Papyrus having almost gotten hurt and he quickly opened the door, “Papyrus?”

Not having expected Sans to suddenly show up, Flowey quickly darted out of Papyrus’ battle body and out of the open window just as the door opened. In a slight panic he ended up scratching Papyrus’ ribs, which caused the skeleton to visibly wince. Fortunately there was a patch of dirt clear, so Flowey was able to just plant himself in there and go straight under the dirt so that he didn’t hit the ground hard.

It took Papyrus a moment to recover from the sudden exit, and he turned around to look at Sans when he did, “H-Hello brother! How was your nap? It sounds like you didn’t have any nightmares this time so it must have been good!” He held the book behind him to try and hide the damaged cover.

Sans looked around the room quickly, but didn’t see anyone else there… Had Papyrus been talking to himself? He’d ask after he addressed that wince, “Yeah, good. Are you okay Papyrus?”

“Why of course I am! I just finished cleaning up both of our rooms, as you can clearly see.” Papyrus then flinched and frowned a bit, “Ah, I’m sorry Sans, I know you don’t like it when I go in your room without your permission, but you were sound asleep and I didn’t want to wake you up.”

The short skeleton walked towards his brother, “It’s okay, but…” He stopped in front of him, hands in his pockets, “Who were you talking to just now? I could hear you from outside my room.

“N-Nyeh, well, I was…!” Papyrus quickly thought up something and smiled confidently, “I-I was practicing ventriloquism! I am a skeleton of many talents and I thought, why not add one more talent to the list? The great Papyrus is always striving to improve himself after all!”

Sans wasn’t buying it, not for a second, but if Papyrus really didn’t want to talk about it, he wouldn’t push the issue. Besides, he was more concerned about the wince he saw. Sans put on a smile, “You’re so cool bro, you gotta show me it some time.”

Papyrus returned the smile, feeling relieved that Sans had believed him, “Nyeh heh heh, of course dear brother! I will even teach you it myself if you’d like!”

“Awesome. So uh, what you got behind your back Paps?” Sans tried to look around his brother, who quickly moved to keep the book hidden. Sans moved the other way, and Papyrus kept hiding the book.

The two kept this up for a bit before holding the book up above his head, “I-It’s nothing Sans, honest!” However, Sans’ attention wasn’t focused on the book anymore. Now his attention was drawn to the faint scratches he could see under Papyrus’ battle body. He reached forward and lifted his brother’s top up as much as he could to get a better look, his eyes widening a bit at the scratches he saw there. They went from his bottom ribs up to the halfway point, and while they didn’t look deep, there were a good number of them.

Papyrus looked down, and his own eyes widened a bit at the sight of the scratches too. They must have been from when Flowey escaped out the window. So that must’ve been what had hurt…

“Papyrus…” Sans looked up at him, eye glowing blue, “Where did you get these?” His voice was unusually serious, lacking any of its usual joking and relaxed tone.

The taller skeleton squirmed a bit and lowered the book, holding the damaged side of the cover towards himself, “I… I must have gotten them while training with Undyne.” He smiled reassuringly, “I-It’s alright brother, they don’t hurt and I’m sure they will heal in no time!”

“Sure, sure…” Sans let go of Papyrus’ battle body, which the other pulled back down in to place. He was going to have to talk to Flowey about- “I’m going to go talk to Undyne. Clean those scratches up.” Sans turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Papyrus followed after him, “Sans, wait!” He opened the door, only to see that his brother was already gone. He must have used a short cut to go to Undyne’s house! Papyrus wanted to follow after him, but first…

He quickly made his way downstairs and outside to under the window, looking around, “Flowey, are you alright?! Flowey?!” Papyrus spotted the dirt patch and jogged over to it, “Flowey, are you there?!” He sat on his knees and pushed more snow away from the spot to make sure his friend had plenty of room.

After a moment, Flowey popped back up, holding one of his leaves up awkwardly. He had purposely pulled a small chunk off of it to make it look like he had gotten hurt. Granted it had hurt to do so, but not that badly, “Howdy Papyrus, are you okay? Golly that was close!”

Papyrus nodded, flinching when he saw the tear on his leaf, “Flowey are you alright?! Y-Your leaf is…!”

Flowey frowned and looked at that, “Oh, that? I hit a rock underground and it tore a bit off. Don’t worry, it’ll grow back!” He chuckled, then fake winced and held his leaf close to himself.

“Oh Flowey, I’m so sorry, this is all my fault! If I had been paying more attention than I might have noticed Sans coming up and you wouldn’t have had to jump out like that! Please, can you forgive me for my carelessness?” Papyrus felt so horribly guilty, he should have been more aware!

Perfect, the idiot was blaming himself for things that weren’t his fault, that guilt would make him easier to control. Flowey gave a soft smile and wrapped a vine around Papyrus’ hand, “Of course I can. After all, we’re best friends, and best friends look after each other.”

Papyrus sighed in relief and smiled a bit, “Of course!” He held out a hand to his friend, “I will make sure to keep you safe while you are healing my dear friend.” Flowey wrapped a vine around Papyrus’ hand and made his way back inside of his battle body, getting comfortable and noticing the scratches. A quick check showed that they had cost Papyrus ten HP, but either the skeleton hadn’t noticed or didn’t care. Either way, Flowey would have to be careful not to cause too much damage. After all, he couldn’t just dust Papyrus like that. Well, he could but then Flowey would have to reset and start this all over again!

“Alright, now to make sure my brother is alright now too. I hope he and Undyne haven’t started fighting…!” Papyrus stood and after a quick check that Flowey wasn’t going to fall out, he started running towards Waterfall to hopefully stop a fight before it started.

Chapter Text

Sans appeared a few feet outside of Undyne’s house, walking the short distance to the door and knocking on it. When nobody answered, he tried knocking again, “Hey Undyne, are ya home?” Again, no answer, “Hmm, guess not. Welp, time to try Alphys’ place.” He short cut his way there.

Meanwhile, Undyne had just finished telling Alphys what had happened with Papyrus over a cup of tea at the lab, “W-Wow, it sounds like you two r-really had a go of it, huh?”

“Yeah,” Undyne sighed, “But I don’t know why the hell he even asked that in the first place! It’s never come up before, so why now?!”

Alphys hummed in thought, “W-Well, Papyrus isn’t the most patient monster to begin with, a-and he is very passionate about becoming a guard.” She frowned a touch, “It is still a bit odd that he would push it that far. A-Any idea if there’s something going on that would have c-caused it?”

“The hell if I know, he’s always so cheerful and energetic.” Undyne looked down at her cup, which had an anime logo on the side of it, “Besides, I probably made things worse by yelling at him…” Damn her temper…

The lizard monster smiled reassuringly, “Well, it’s Papyrus. I-I’m sure that if you apologize he’ll forgive you immediately.” Alphys reached over and held Undyne’s hand comfortingly as she took a sip from her cup.

Undyne smiled a bit, holding Alphys’ hand gently in return, “Yeah, you’re right. I’ll give it a day though, just to make sure I don’t blow up at him again.” She picked up her cup just as the form of a familiar skeleton started to appear on the table.

Alphys quickly let go of Undyne’s hand and picked up the teapot, moving it to safety, as Sans short cut his way to where it had just been on the table. The skeleton looked down at the lizard monster with a smile, “Hey Alphys, did you shrink or did I grow?” He asked jokingly.

“S-Sans, we talked about this! I-If you’re going to teleport into the lab, you have to use the corner!” She pointed over to a corner of the room that had blue tape on the floor sectioning it off and a paper sign on the wall that read ‘Shortcut spot’ in big bold lettering.

Sans chuckled and sat down, scooting off of the table, “Sorry Al, you know I’m not good at doing things assigned to me.” Undyne groaned and ran a hand over her face, “But really, I came here to ask if you’d seen Undyne, but it looks like she’s here with you.” He turned to look at her, “I was hoping we could have a talk, just the two of us one on one.”

“Look I know I upset Papyrus but-!”

“Oh we’ll get to that later, first I wanna ask what kind of training you two were doing.” Sans shoved his hands in his pockets.

Undyne looked at Sans in confusion, “Huh? Uh, just the usual, warm up laps around Waterfall and a sparring match…”

Sans’ eye light started faintly glowing, “Oh really? Then how the hell do you explain the scratches on his ribs?”

“What the hell are you talking about, I didn’t scratch his ribs!” Undyne stood up, and Alphys started getting nervous that a fight was about to break out between them.

Sans stepped closer, “I saw them myself and he said that he got them during training, so are you calling my brother a liar?”

Undyne glared and took a step closer herself, “No, I’m saying that you are you lazy sack of bones!”

“Oh you wanna go?!”

“I can take you on any day, easy!”

Sans summoned up a gaster blaster and Undyne summoned several of her spears, the two taking aim at one another. Before either could launch an attack though, two robotic arms came out of the wall and grabbed them, arms pinned to their sides, and separated them, “T-That’s enough! B-Both of you need to c-calm down!” Alphys was holding a remote control that controlled the robotic arms, and used it to sit them down at the table while still holding them, “Put away your a-attacks and let’s try to figure out w-what's going on here, okay?”

Begrudgingly, the two complied, spears and blaster fading away. Alphys sighed in relief, thankful that it hadn’t blown out in to a full on fight, “N-Now that nobody is going to attack each other, Sans, c-can you tell us what happened? You said that Papyrus had s-scratches on his ribs right?”

“Yeah, he does, and he said he got them from training.” Sans looked over at Undyne, clearly pissed off, “There were a bunch of them too…”

Alphys nodded and looked at the blue fish monster, “Undyne?”

“Sure we got a bit banged up from sparing, but we healed each other up so even if I HAD scratched Papyrus’ ribs there wouldn’t be anything left of them.” Undyne grumbled under her breath, “Freaking dork is always wearing his battle body anyway…” It was just a costume as far as she knew, but it did offer him some protection from physical attacks.

Alphys hummed in thought, “Did he get a-any other injuries while you were training?”

Undyne was getting frustrated again, “Look, we were only using physical attacks, so if I HAD scratched his ribs then wouldn’t there be holes in his goddamned shirt?! There’s no way either of us could have missed that!”

“C-Calm down now U-Undyne.” Alphys gulped and turned to Sans again, “Well, w-were there holes in Papyrus’ b-battle body?”

Sans was about to retaliate, but then he realized that they were right, there hadn’t been any holes in his top. He had only seen them when Papyrus had stretched his arms up above his head…

He frowned in confusion, “No, there wasn’t…” Alphys finally had the robotic arms let go of them, causing both to sigh in relief, “Heh, gotta give you credit where credit’s due, you’re really handy when it comes to robotics Al.” The other two monsters in the room sighed, Alphys shaking her head.

Undyne stood up and stretched, “Glad that we’ve got that all cleared up, I should probably get going unless there’s something else you wanna talk about.”

Sans shook his head and got up as well, “Nah, just that you should talk to Papyrus soon and apologize for fighting with him. He took it pretty hard, worse than I think I’ve ever seen him take something.”

“Ah shit, really?” Undyne frowned and rubbed the back of her head.

Sans nodded in response with his hands in his pockets. He was about to head to the door when he noticed that Alphys looked to be deep in thought, “Hey Al, something bugging you?”

Alphys kept staring off with a slight frown, “W-Well, it’s just that something d-doesn’t add up…”

Undyne raised an eyebrow, “What are you talking about Al? I’d say things are all pretty clear to me.”

“W-Well, it’s just that, h-how did Papyrus’ ribs get scratched up without his battle body getting damaged? U-Unless it was a magical attack, that shouldn’t be possible.” The lizard monster looked between the fish and skeleton monsters, the three of them all sharing a similar look of confusion now.

Sans frowned, “Undyne, you’re sure you didn’t use any magic attacks, even by accident?”

“I’m positive…” Undyne’s eye widened a bit as she came to a sudden realization, “Hold the phone, why would Papyrus say that he’d got them during training in the first place? I would’ve known if he had, and we didn’t argue until after we healed up! There’s no reason for him to have kept it a secret!”

Alphys and Sans came to the same realization, looking at each other in slight shock and disbelief, “D-Does that mean he really did lie?”

Sans shook his head, “No way, that doesn’t sound like Papyrus at all, he’s never lied to me. Sure he might’ve lied about small things when we were kids, but NEVER about getting hurt!” He could still remember how one time, when they were little, Papyrus had fallen a short distance from a tree and had gone running to Sans crying about it despite only having a small scrape. Papyrus had gotten tougher since then, but he’d still tell Sans about getting hurt no matter how small of a thing it was. If they had flesh Sans was sure he’d get told about paper cuts all the time.

“Maybe he just thought that he got them f-from training, a-and got them somewhere else?” Alphys frowned and shook her head, “No, that d-doesn’t make much sense e-either. If they were on his a-arms, or legs, then I could see Papyrus being mistaken, b-but wounds to his ribs would be h-hard to miss…”

Undyne grabbed Sans by the hood and Alphys by her lab coat, carrying them under her arms like two sacks of potatoes, “The only way we’re gonna get to the bottom of this is to ask the dork himself, so let’s go!” Before either of them could complain, Undyne was already out the lab door and racing back to Snowdin.

Alphys let out a sound of protest, “U-Undyne we talked a-about this, w-warn me before you d-do this!”

“Don’t care!” Undyne kept running, jumping over a large rock in the way.

Sans instantly started clinging to whatever he could so that he didn’t fall, “Wait, he might’ve gone to your house after I left! Try there first!”

“Got it!” With that information Undyne started running faster, still holding the two monsters under her arms tightly. Despite carrying them she wasn’t slowed down in the slightest.

Meanwhile, Papyrus had reached Undyne’s house and was knocking on the door vigorously, having just gotten there moments ago, “Undyne, Sans?! You two aren’t fighting in there are you?! I don’t hear anything going on, are you alright?!” He kept knocking for a while but still wasn’t getting an answer of any kind. Papyrus moved to the window, looking through it to try and spot either his brother or friend, “Nyeh, no sign of them…”

Flowey poked his head out of Papyrus’ scarf, looking through the window with him, “Maybe they already fought and are looking after their wounds? Or worse…” Papyrus tensed at the idea of ‘or worse’ which Flowey noticed. He rubbed a leaf over Papyrus’ skull and smiled, “Golly, that sure got dark there didn’t it? Sorry buddy! I’m sure they’re just fine!” he chuckled, and Papyrus weakly chuckled back, nodding in agreement even as he pressed his face closer to the window to try and get a better look inside, “Hey, if you want, I could go inside and take a looksee just to make sure.”

Papyrus looked at his friend, “Really? Oh, that would be great if you could!” Flowey nodded and made his way out of Papyrus’ battle body again, going under the dirt before popping up from under a floor tile and waving at the other. Papyrus waved back and watched as Flowey searched the house.

As he was watching, there was a loud yell. Papyrus jumped in surprise and quickly turned to look in that direction, shocked to see Undyne running towards him while carrying Sans and Alphys under her arms. Both of them were clinging to her for dear life as she ran at top speed towards Papyrus. He braced himself for impact, but was relieved when Undyne skidded to a stop a few feet away.

Catching her breath, the blue fish monster put her two passengers down, “Heh, carrying you two is good exercise. Think I could get you to let me do that more often?”

Alphys leaned against the wall of the house while her internal organs caught up with her and Sans slumped down to sit, shaking a little from adrenaline, “G-Geez, that got my soul beating so fast I’m surprised it’s still in run piece…”

“Sans, Undyne! Oh thank stars, I thought that you two had gotten in to a fight and were hurt!” Papyrus sighed, ignoring Sans’ pun out of relief that his friends hadn’t dusted each other or gotten otherwise hurt.

He started to move over to Sans when Undyne stepped in front of him, and before Papyrus could say anything she lifted up his top, wincing a bit when she saw the scratches, “Damn, you really are covered in them…” She looked at him in concern, “What the hell happened?”

Papyrus squirmed and gulped, quickly trying to take a step back but Undyne wasn’t letting him, still holding onto his shirt, “T-They’re nothing, I-I promise!” He looked between Undyne and his brother, not sure what else to say or do. He’d been caught in a lie and didn’t have an explanation that would let him keep his promise to Flowey about not telling anyone about their deal.

“Yeah, like hell it’s nothing, you’re practically covered in them! Why the hell didn’t you just tell us sooner you idiot?!” Undyne growled, a scowl across her face as she pulled him in closer, “You’re not being tough by trying to act like those didn’t hurt, you’re just being stupid!”

“U-Undyne cut it out! W-We’re all concerned about Papyrus b-but yelling isn’t going to do any g-good!” Alphys gripped onto her girlfriend’s arm, trying to calm her down.

Sans had finally caught his breath and stood up as Undyne looked at Alphys for a moment, before finally letting go of Papyrus and sighing, “I’m sorry, I just…” She looked at Papyrus with a small frown, “I was worried about you, we all were. I’m sorry for yelling at you just now.” She crossed her arms and looked down and away a bit, “And yelling at you earlier, too… I didn’t mean to make you so upset, I just don’t wanna see you get hurt, or worse, and was trying to get that through to you.”

Papyrus pulled his shirt back down and opened his mouth to say that he forgave her, but everything Flowey had been saying to him made him hesitate, closing his mouth again. What if… Just what if he was right, about Undyne not actually being his friend? B-But, she was apologizing, so of course she…! Of course she… Why couldn’t he finish that thought? Papyrus knew that she was his best friend, but what if he wasn’t her best friend? Could he handle it if that were the truth? Did he even want to know the truth…?

“Papyrus…?” Undyne had an unusually worried expression on her face. Sans and Alphys looked at each other in confusion. In the past, Papyrus had never hesitated to accept somebody’s apology, especially not an apology from a friend. Alphys gave the short skeleton a questioning look, and he shrugged in response, Sans didn’t know what was going on either, and that had him more worried than anything else right then.

The normally enthusiastic skeleton snapped out of his daze and gave a semi-forced smile, “Of course I can forgive you Undyne! You’re my best friend, even if you had upset me pretty badly back there.” He walked forward and gave her a hug, which Undyne returned after a moment.

Alphys sighed softly in relief, but Sans wasn’t quite convinced that everything was right. Something about all of this, how hesitant Papyrus had been, the strange scratches, the fact that he had lied to them at all, none of it added up. He had to at least get one answer, “So uh, not to ruin the moment or anything, but where did you get those scratches Paps? For real, those couldn’t have been an accident or something you did to yourself.”

Papyrus flinched a bit, having hoped that they would’ve moved past it, but it looked like Sans wasn’t going to let it go. He let go of Undyne and frowned as he rubbed his arm, “Well, truthfully, I…” He couldn’t tell them the truth, he’d promised… “I don’t know where I got them, they just… showed up.”

“If you don’t mind, c-could I get another look at them? The scratches, that is.” Alphys looked at Undyne, “C-Can we go inside for some better lighting?”

“Yeah, sure, come on in.” Undyne held the door and Papyrus was relieved to see that Flowey wasn’t there, though the tile he had come up under was still sticking out a bit. He walked in ahead of the others and, as discretely as possible, slid it back in place with his foot, stepping on it to flatten it back down. Alphys had also noticed the loose tile, but decided not to say anything about it. It was just a loose tile after all, and Papyrus had already gotten it back into place.

Alphys adjusted her glasses and sat down at the table, “Sit down next to me.” Undyne went and started making some tea for them as Papyrus sat down next to Alphys and Sans sat on the other side of the table. Papyrus glanced around, but didn’t see any sign of his friend in the house, or at least not in the room. He must have left or was in another part of the house.

“P-Papyrus, could I get you to take off your top? I’d like to get a better look if that’s alright with you.” Alphys asked.

“Okay, just a moment.” Papyrus pushed back from the table a bit for some more room, then lifted his battle body top up and off, placing it on the table next to him. He looked down and flinched in surprise at how many scratches there really were. He hadn’t had time to take a good look at them before, but a few of them fairly deep…

Sans inhaled sharply at the sight, “Stars Papyrus, are you sure you don’t know where you got them?” He was positive now that it couldn’t have just been an accident, there was just no way he could have missed them.

Papyrus gulped but nodded, “Y-Yes, I’m sure…” He ran a finger over one of them. Flowey had done a number on him, but it really had been an accident! He just got startled by Sans and made a quick escape was all, Flowey hadn’t meant to hurt him, Papyrus was sure of it!

Alphys ran a finger over one of the lower scratches. It was rough to the touch, but more interesting was how it got thinner near the top, as did the other scratches, indicating that whatever had caused them had gone upwards instead of downwards, “How unusual…” She muttered with a furrowed brow. The scratches all seemed to get more clustered near the top though, but there weren’t any on his collar or spine, which was a bit of a relief but just raised more questions. Alphys did a CHECK on his stats to see if it had affected his stats in any way. His Attack and Defense were fine, but he had taken twenty points of HP damage. She looked at his shirt again, inspecting it for holes, rips, or tears, but couldn’t find any, “Not a physical attack… A magic one than…?” No, that didn’t make sense either, but what else could have caused the wounds?

“Here you go everyone, drink up.” Undyne placed a cup of tea in front of each of them and sat down, “What’s the diagnosis Al, know what happened to him?”

The lizard shook her head and sighed, “Papyrus has taken some HP damage. N-Not a lot, b-but I still can’t figure out how.” Alphys held up the white shirt, “I-If it was from something physical, like Gerson’s hammer o-or Doggo’s blades, t-then there would be holes all over, b-but there aren’t any marks at all.”

“Then it has to be something magic related…” Sans tightened his hold on his mug and looked the scratches over from where he sat. The fact that Papyrus had taken actual damage and didn’t know how it happened, or was lying about it, worried him and made Sans want to know all the more.

“Th-That’s what I’m thinking too, but that doesn’t seem to fit right either with what we’re seeing. Magic attacks d-don’t damage clothes, but Papyrus would have had to have been unconscious for him to not n-notice an attack like that.” Alphys looked at Papyrus, “D-Did you faint, o-or collapse at some point? A-Are there any unexplained gaps in your memory, o-or moments where you’re unsure if they happened as you remember them?”

“No, but I feel fine, really! I’m sure that they will heal up on their own and that this will all pass.” Papyrus picked up his cup and took a drink from it. The slight change in position let Alphys see something which made her gasp, “Alphys, is there something wrong?”

The doctor gulped, “T-There are scratches on the inside of your ribs too, a-and those ones look deeper…!” They still had the same upward stroke as the outside ones, and they all got closer together the higher up they went. Alphys pulled out her cell phone and took a picture, “See for y-yourselves…” She held the phone up to show Sans and Undyne first, the two leaning in to get a better look. Undyne walked around the table to get a better look at them herself while Sans just stared at the picture, trying to rationalize what he was seeing.

“How the hell did this even happen…?” Undyne looked at the scratches on the inside of Papyrus’ ribs as Papyrus looked at his friends in worry and confusion.

“Is it really that bad…?” Sans turned the phone to let Papyrus see for himself, causing the taller skeleton to quietly gasp and cover his mouth in shock at the sight. Flowey had caused this much damage? But, it had just been an accident… Then again, he was a boss monster, so it wasn’t too hard to imagine that something like this could happen, but he surely hadn’t meant to do it!

Alphys pulled out some bandages from her lab coat pocket and started wrapping up some of the scratches. Healing magic was mainly for HP related damage, but it could be used to help with physical damage as well when infused into something like bandages or IV fluid. It wasn’t as effective as regular healing magic so it would still take some time for an injury to heal, but it sped things up. Papyrus squirmed and winced a bit as she did, the scratches were a bit tender, but didn’t stop her and after a few minutes he was all bandaged up, “T-There, that should do it.” The lizard monster handed a roll of bandages over to Sans, “Check on him in a day or two, if h-he hasn’t healed up by then change the bandages, a-and don’t let him get them wet.”

“Got it doc…” Sans looked the bandages over before putting them in his pocket, still trying to figure out how Papyrus had gotten so hurt.

The taller skeleton cleared his throat, “Um, can I put my shirt back on now?”

“O-Oh, go right ahead! Just remember what I said, don’t get your bandages wet or they’ll be less e-effective.” Papyrus nodded in response and quickly got redressed, wincing a bit at the quick action, “Also, you should hold off on a-any combat training too. Y-You’re already hurt, you don’t need to m-make things worse.” Alphys looked over at Undyne, “Stick to just c-cooking lessons for now, until he’s healed up o-okay?”

“Got it, cooking lessons only.” Undyne nodded to herself before turning her attention to Papyrus, “Papyrus, don’t worry about your sentry duties tomorrow, I’ll handle them.”

“What?! Are you sure Undyne? I feel fine, really, I can still-”

She cut him off, “Stay home and rest tomorrow, that’s an order! Sans, I know you’re lazy and slack off, but make sure that Papyrus actually takes it easy tomorrow and relaxes!”

Sans nodded, “Okay, I’ll teach him how to be lazy. Come on Paps,” He looked at the other as the taller skeleton got his shirt back on, “Let’s go home. See ya later girls.”

“B-Bye Sans, bye Papyrus!”

“See you dorks later, and remember, rest and recover Papyrus!”

Sans waved goodbye to Alphys and Undyne, holding Papyrus’ arm and teleporting them home as the two waved goodbye in return. Once they were gone, Undyne sighed and crossed her arms, “So, what do you think babe? Think we got the full story from him?”

Alphys frowned and looked up at Undyne, shaking her head, “I think that there’s s-still something Papyrus isn’t telling us …”

“Yeah, I’ve got that feeling too…” Undyne and Alphys shared a worried look.

Meanwhile, the skeleton brothers appeared inside of their home and Sans instantly led Papyrus to the couch, making him sit down, “Alright, doctor’s orders Paps, take it easy and leave everything to me.”

Although he wasn’t used to it, Papyrus did his best to relax, “Are you sure? I can still help with the cooking and cleaning of course, I know that you-”

Sans pressed a finger against his brother’s teeth, “Ah ah ah, you heard Undyne and Alphys, you gotta take it easy for a while. Besides, I’m not so lazy that I can’t look after my own brother.” He chuckled, “How about I go get us something from Grillby’s?”

Papyrus huffed softly and removed Sans’ finger from his mouth, “Sans, you know I don’t like Grillby’s, there’s so much grease that I can’t taste anything else!”

“How about I grab you a milkshake? I know you like those.” Really he just wanted an excuse to go to the bar, but didn’t want to worry his brother either.

He looked him up and down, then after a moment Papyrus sighed in defeat, “Alright, I’ll take a chocolate one. Don’t dilly dally though! You spend too much time there as it is.”

Sans chuckled, “No promises Paps. I’ll get you some fries too alright?” With that Sans was out the door. Usually he’d teleport there, but frankly, between the lack of decent sleep and all the teleporting he had already done today Sans decided to just walk this time. Besides, he needed some time to clear his head out.

Papyrus watched Sans from the window, and once he was far enough the skeleton headed outside and behind their house, clearing a patch of snow away until the dirt underneath it showed, “The coast is clear now Flowey, you can come out now!” He called out.

A few minutes later, Flowey popped out of the ground and smiled up at Papyrus, “Finally! Golly, what a day huh?”

Papyrus sighed softly in relief, “Yes, it has been. I’m sorry for not getting back to you sooner, things just spiralled out of my control.”

“Hehehe, that’s okay Papyrus! In fact, I’ve got a little surprise for you!” Flowey shot a vine out of the ground, holding a small bag in it, “I went and got the special ingredient for the tea! We can make it together when Sans isn’t home.”

“That’s great! Sans isn’t home right now, so we can get started right away!” Papyrus took the bag from Flowey as the boss monster went back in between Papyru’s ribs, noticing the bandages, they must have been from the window jump. Oh well, as long as the idiot didn’t die Flowey didn’t really care. He took the chance to CHECK his stats though.

Papyrus LV 1
AT 20
DF 20
HP 660/680

Doesn’t know what you really are, trusts you completely

Flowey grinned, it looked like the idiot still believed that they were friends. This would make what happened next all the better.