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Papyrus had been rather busy for the past few weeks.
The fourth-year anniversary of Monsterkind's freedom from the Underground was approaching. This day had become an important festival for Monsterkind. They were allowed to have a holiday on that day, which they took advantage of by having extravagant celebrations and throwing large parties.
Most of Monsterkind was now busily preparing for the festival. They bought gifts for each other and prepared decorations and copious amounts of monster food for their parties, as well as sending out invitations to other monsters and humans they befriended on the Surface.
Papyrus was just as excited for the festival as any other monster, perhaps even more so. He, unfortunately, did not have time to prepare for a party, as he was now the Ambassador of Monsterkind and had a lot of duties to complete before the festival.
On the eve of the festival, there would be a celebration at the foot of Mount Ebott. The celebration started with speeches from the King and Queen of monsters, Asgore and Toriel, as well as the Ambassador of Monsterkind, Papyrus. There would also be a concert by Mettaton and performances by some of the monsters. Then, when the clock struck midnight, there would be a fireworks display to end the celebration.
For the past week, Papyrus had been working hard to prepare a script for the speech, even getting Sans, Flowey, and Frisk to help him. He wanted the script to be perfect and hoped that his short speech could help strengthen the relationship between Monsterkind and humanity.
Aside from the script, he was also working on something else; something he was very secretive about. He told no one about it, not even Sans or any of his friends. He managed to hide it very well too, rushing around doing his job as an Ambassador in the daytime, before retreating to his room and working on his secret in the night.
The only people he confided the secret to were the monsters in charge of the festival and Alphys, who he had become close friends with ever since they left the Underground.
One day, a few days before the festival, he headed over to Undyne and Alphys’ house in his car. He and Alphys agreed to meet today at a time when Alphys was home and Undyne was still at her workplace, which was a local gym where she worked as a personal trainer.
He carefully pulled out a large parcel from his car, shiftily glancing up and down the empty street as he did to make sure no one was looking. He placed the parcel under his arm and headed to the front door.
Alphys was waiting for him and opened the door when she saw him coming. He dramatically sneaked into the house on tiptoes as if he were a thief in some old-timey comedy sketch, much to Alphy's amusement.
"HELLO ALPHYS!' He loudly greeted, grinning from nonexistent ear to-ear, "UNDYNE IS NOT HOME YET, I HOPE?"
"O-oh! No! She’ll only get back from the gym in an hour’s time,” Alphys replied with a smile, “So, you brought the fireworks?”
“YES!!!” Papyrus placed the parcel down on the coffee table in the living room. He fully intended to plop them down in excitement, but caught himself and laid them down gently instead, “I HAVE SPENT MANY NIGHTS WORKING ON THESE! IN SECRET, OF COURSE! I CANNOT LET SANS KNOW ABOUT IT UNTIL THE EVE OF THE FESTIVAL ARRIVES!”
“S-sans, yeah. Y-you want to surprise him with these fireworks you made, right?”
“INDEED! IT WILL BE A SURPRISE! THE MOST UNEXPECTED, SECRETIVE OF SURPRISES! ONE THAT WOULD SURELY ASTOUND AND AMAZE HIM!”
As he spoke, he unwrapped the parcel to reveal a few long cylindrical tubes, each attached to a wooden stake and a fuse. Papyrus had painted them all in bright colors.
“I MADE SURE THAT THE FIREWORKS WOULD BE HIS FAVORITE COLORS, BLUE AND YELLOW. I EVEN MADE SURE THAT SOME OF THEM WILL FORM STARS, ROCKETS, AND PLANETS, AS WELL AS HOT DOGS! THOSE ARE THINGS HE LOVES THE MOST AND I AM SURE HE WOULD BE EXCITED TO SEE THEM!”
“CARE TO INSPECT THEM, ALPHYS? I DO NOT KNOW IF THEY WOULD EVEN GO OFF OR NOT, OR IF THEY ARE EVEN REMOTELY SAFE. I DO NOT WANT ANY HARM TO COME TO THE MONSTERS SETTING OFF THESE FIREWORKS!”
"Okay." Alphys replied as she picked up one of the tubes, checking to make sure there were no leaks and that all the parts were attached well, "You made sure to follow the exact measurements of chemicals I gave you right?"
"YES, OF COURSE! I FOLLOWED THEM EXACTLY!"
"A-and you got the right chemicals for the colors right?"
"SODIUM NITRATE FOR YELLOW AND COPPER CHLORIDE FOR BLUE, YES!”
"T-Then it should be alright, as long as all the measurements are correct." Alphys placed the firework tubes back into the parcel paper.
"THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP, AL! I HOPE SANS WILL ENJOY THESE FIREWORKS!” Papyrus gave Alphys a grateful grin and began wrapping up the fireworks.
"I'm-I'm sure he will," Alphys replied with a smile, “It-it’s really sweet of you to make these for him.”
“I HAD TO! HE IS ALWAYS SO HAPPY WHENEVER THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DAY WE LEFT MOUNT EBOTT COMES AROUND! AFTER ALL, HE WAITED FOR MANY LOOPS BEFORE IT HAPPENED."
“ ‘Many loops’? “ echoed Alphys, her head tilted in confusion.
“OH!” Papyrus quickly caught himself, “I JUST MEANT THAT IT WAS A LONG TIME BEFORE THE BARRIER WAS BROKEN!” He hurriedly packed up the fireworks and lifted up the packege, “ANYWAY, THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN FOR THE HELP! I SHALL SEND THESE TO THE MONSTERS RUNNING THE CELEBRATION IMMEDIATELY! I HOPE TO SEE YOU ON THE NIGHT OF THE CELEBRATION, AL!”
With that said, Papyrus left the house and hurried away in his car to deliver the parcel.
The day before the festival soon arrived. Papyrus was so full of excitement that he was ready to start bouncing off walls. But no. He was the Ambassador of Monsters and had to keep his composure.
Throughout the day, it took him a large amount of effort to prevent himself from skipping around as if he had springs in his shoes and from raising his voice louder than it already was, but he managed it. He spent most of his working hours at the foot of Mount Ebott, the site of the celebration, ensuring that the preparations were running smoothly. He could not stop thinking about what Sans' reaction would be when he saw the fireworks. Whenever he thought about it, he would grin widely to himself.
Night soon fell, and the celebration began.
Tens of thousands of monsters and humans had gathered at Mount Ebott, seated in front of a massive stage that had been set up at the base of the mountain. Hundreds of cameras were pointed at the stage and the crowd as this celebration was to be broadcasted worldwide.
The celebration began with a speech by Asgore, followed by Toriel, and finally Papyrus. Then would be some performances by various monsters and a huge concert by Mettaton.
Papyrus recited his speech with confidence, despite feeling rather nervous as he stepped onto the stage. While he enjoyed the cheering and clapping from the audience, he was glad the speech was over and he could enjoy the rest of the celebration without the anxiety of giving a speech in front of the entire world.
Sans had reserved a seat besides his for Papyrus. After his speech, Papyrus quickly headed straight for his seat, glad to be with his brother again as he did not have the chance to see Sans all day, until now.
"HELLO, BROTHER OF MINE!!!" Papyrus greeted, plopping down on Sans' right. On the seats beside him was Frisk, who was holding Flowey in an adorable flowerpot they made themselves, as well as Alphys and Undyne. “HELLO FRISK, FLOWEY, ALPHYS, AND UNDYNE!!! I’M GLAD TO SEE YOU ALL HERE! DID I DO WELL?”
“It was good!” Frisk and Alphys replied at the same time.
“It could have been better,” said Flowey with a mischievous grin. Although deep down inside he felt admiration for the confidence Papyrus showed while on-stage.
“That was awesome, Papyrus!” Undyne yelled. She was quickly shushed by Alphys in fear of disrupting the other people around them.
“you did great, bro,” Sans replied with a larger grin than usual, "i'm glad you added in the puns i suggested."
“AH YES, THE PUNS,” Papyrus groaned, looking a little annoyed, “TERRIBLE PUNS, THEY WERE. I HAD TO ADD IN A FEW OF MY OWN TO MAKE IT SLIGHTLY BETTER. BUT,” he continued with a smile, ‘YOUR PUNS DID GET SOME LAUGHS OUT OF THE AUDIENCE. SO, DESPITE MY CRITICAL JUDGEMENT OF PUN QUALITY, THEY WERE, IN FACT, VERY GOOD."
"not something you expected to hap pun , i guess?” answered Sans slyly.
Papyrus groaned and sat in huff with his arms folded, much to the amusement of Undyne, Alphys, Frisk, and Flowey. However, despite his grumpy appearance, he was almost overwhelmed with joy at being praise, especially from his brother. His eye sockets shone in spite of him trying to look annoyed while watching the rest of the events.
Mettaton’s concert was met with deafening shrieks and cheers from his fans in the audience. The various monster presentations after the concert received thunderous applause from monsters and humans alike. Undyne was especially exhilarated by the spear martial art performance by a group of monsters, as she was the one who had trained those monsters before the festival.
Then, as midnight arrived, the moment Papyrus was most excited about approached.
The lights on the stage were turned down low in preparation for the firework display; and the audience raised their heads to the clear night sky, chattering and whispering while waiting. Papyrus was so eager that he found himself slowly floating off his seat as he had accidentally activated his blue magic in his excitement. He had to grip the edges of his seat to prevent himself from drifting away.
The first few fireworks began streaking through the dark sky with loud whistling noises. They exploded in the distance into beautiful colors and patterns as the audience gazed in awe.
Monster fireworks were a little different from human fireworks. Monsters were able put their magic into the fireworks, allowing the fireworks to form patterns the same way they could create bullet patterns with their magic.
Both monster fireworks and human-made fireworks were used in this display. The sky was filled with the usual flower-like patterns alongside images of various kinds of monsters with shapes of their magic bullets, such as water droplets, fire, ice, and plants, as well as images of scenery from the Underground and on the Surface. It was an incredible, colorful display that made the audience clap and cheer in amazement.
Papyrus was impressed by these fireworks, but he was still waiting impatiently for his fireworks to appear. Thankfully, he did not need to wait very long.
Streaks of yellow and blue flew through the sky and exploded into images of stars, planets, rockets, bones, and even a hotdog. Papyrus pumped his fist into the air in joy. His fireworks were a success!
But, what was this? Alongside his fireworks also came streaks of orange and red, his favorite colors. These fireworks exploded into visages of bones too, but they also formed images of puzzle pieces, cars, and skateboards: all of which were things he loved.
His jaw dropped. Quite literally. He was able to catch it and place it back in his face before it hit the ground.
He turned to Sans, expression full of amazement and a bit of confusion. Sans looked at him with almost the same look of bemusement and awe.
“SANS, I- I CONFESS, I MADE THOSE FIREWORKS FOR YOU. HOWEVER, I DO NOT REMEMBER MAKING RED AND ORANGE FIREWORKS WITH PUZZLES AND CARS AND THINGS LIKE THAT!” he said, raising his voice to be heard over the noise from the fireworks and the crowd, “IT MUST HAVE BEEN AN ACCIDENT!”
“oh,” Sans replied, not quite able to speak over the noise as loudly as Papyrus could, “those are your fireworks! i got kinda confused there for a second.” He gave a sheepish grin, “i got alphys to make those red and orange fireworks. i wanted to give you a nice surprise because you were always fired up when this celebration came around. didn’t expect you to make your own fireworks as well.”
“WAIT! DID YOU SAY ‘ALPHYS’!?” Papyrus was startled. He turned around to look at Alphys.
Alphys gave him an embarrassed smile, “Y-yeah. I- I helped Sans make those fireworks. I knew both of you were making fireworks for each other, but since you both made me promise not to tell anyone, I didn’t.” She looked away, ashamed, “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to ruin the secret for both of you.”
Papyrus scooped her up in a hug, giving her a small scare as her did, “PLEASE DON’T FEEL SORRY, AL! IT WAS VERY KIND OF YOU TO KEEP IT A SECRET FROM BOTH OF US, EVEN THOUGH IT MUST HAVE BEEN HARD! I’M GRATEFUL BECAUSE I’M NOW ABLE TO ENJOY SANS’ SURPRISE AS HE INTENDED!”
“yeah, i’m glad you didn't spoil the surprise for papyrus. it's fine, al. don't worry about it," Sans agreed.
Alphys went red in the face, but she smiled widely at the praise of the two brothers. After Papyrus placed her back down, Undyne, having heard this conversation, leaned over and gave her girlfriend a big hug, wordlessly comforting her. This made Alphys go even redder in the face and feel much happier.
"paps?" Sans said in a lower voice that Papyrus had to lean close to hear, "thanks so much for the fireworks. i got alphys to custom-make fireworks for you because i knew how happy you were to finally get to the surface. you always had so much hope that we would finally escape the underground and those timeloops. you never stopped encouraging me until we did. i don’t know what i would have done without you…”
"IT IS A WONDERFUL GIFT, SANS, AND I'M VERY THANKFUL FOR IT," Papyrus replied, also lowering his voice, "I MADE THOSE FIREWORKS FOR YOU BECAUSE OF THAT TOO. YOU WERE OVERJOYED WHEN WE WERE FINALLY FREE AND THE RESETS STOPPED. I SAW THAT YOU WERE TRULY HAPPY FOR THE FIRST TIME AFTER A LONG TIME. I DON'T WANT ANYTHING TO TAKE AWAY THAT HAPPINESS FROM YOU, AND I HOPE THESE FIREWORKS CAN MAKE YOU FEEL EVEN HAPPIER!"
With that said, he gave Sans a big bear hug, which Sans returned happily. They continued to watch the fireworks until the event was over, feeling the same joy as when they left the Underground and saw the Surface for the first time.