Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming. It was on days like these that Sans would find himself laying on his bed long past morning.

He truly enjoyed the times where he could nap through all the morning without being scolded by his brother. Papyrus spent the night at Undyne's so there was no one who would wake him up and force him to get out of his messy bed once and for all; Frisk and Toriel were in the house for sure —since it was weekend— but actually neither of them ever felt bothered by his sleeping habits, they were far too used to it by now.

However, it seemed that that morning wasn't going to be one of those. He heard a faint rumble in the distance, and it was getting closer and closer until Sans could practically hear the pair of rubber soles screeching against the wooden floor while making their way through the hallway, and in less than a beat something bounced over his mattress making him jump aswell. He yelped in surprise, two little hands started to yank at his shirt's sleeves and shake him a little, the bouncing in the mattress never stopping.
He cracked an eyesocket open, taking a few seconds to focus his eyelights properly and identify the blur of brown and blue that was facing him; he smiled lazily and tried to cover his face with the sheets.

"aww kid, don't ya know today's m' day off? i was 'bout to break a new nappin' record." He groaned beneath the sheets, but his complainment went unheard as Frisk pulled the sheets away from him and pouted, frowning a little. Sans squinted his eyesockets due to the light that entered from the window next to the bed, and after a little struggle he looked pointedly at the child in question. "kid, i mean it, 's not even past noon, why ya want me up so early?"

Frisk brought their hands up and signed excitedly. "There's a special exhibition at the museum about astronomy and galaxies; Papyrus and Undyne said they would be there and invited us to join them." They knew pretty well that Sans wasn't one to say no to anything science related, much less astronomy. "Mom is already waiting downstairs."

Sans stared at the wall behind Frisk while he considered their proposal. Damn, he couldn't refuse an exhibition like that, it had always been such an enjoyment simply listening to new discoveries about the world outside this planet, that he found it hard to come up with an excuse to resume his sleep. In the end, his inner scientist won over his laziness with an amused sigh.

"'kay kid, just lemme grab my clothes and we're off." Frisk smiled broadly and left the room as fast as they have first entered it. Sans chuckled slightly before bringing himself up and out of his bed, he shoved his feet into his slippers and grabbed his hoodie from a nearby lump of clothes. As he made his way downstairs, he caught sight of Toriel who was standing next to the entrance door, an arm looped around a purse and holding a wrap in her hand. "hey tori, mornin'." He greeted her.

"Oh, good morning Sans. It is good to hear that you are indeed coming with us aswell." Toriel answered back with a gentle smile, then handed the wrap to him. "Here, we saved you a chocolate bun from breakfast for the ride, so we can get going and you have something to eat in the meantime. We would not want to make your brother and Undyne fretful now, would we?"

He grinned and took the wrap; the bun was not that small so he guessed it would do for a quick breakfast. "thanks tori."

Frisk who’d been eagerly waiting with an ever so slightly bouncing yanked at Toriel's dress with their free hand, holding a growling Flowey's pot with their other arm, letting the two grown-up monsters in the room know just how badly they wanted to leave. Toriel giggled at the display and patted their head, smirking down at them but still talking with the same gentle tone as before. "Now little one, do not be so avid to leave, slow down. I am very sure the exhibition will not go anywhere any time soon."

"that's right kiddo, 's not like it'll get abducted or something." Sans bit the now unwrapped bun. "i'm pretty shuttle that aliens have more important stuff to do." As soon as the quip left him, Toriel was howling with laughter, trying to contain herself but utterly failing; Frisk laughed too but didn't yield over it, they were too determined to go that museum as quick as possible.

"Gaahh! Come on! Save your darn annoyedness for some other jerks!" Flowey snarled with a deep frown on his brow, Toriel called his name in a scold, and Sans just gave him a flat look. Frisk stared at the flower monster, signing something about not being rude; the flower just rolled his eyes in response. "Whatever, just let's go."

So, after a little more of yanking and shoving, the four of them got into Toriel's car. The whole trip to the museum was full of space puns and hilarious laughter along with the expected huffs from Flowey. It's been almost over a year since monsterkind got out of the underground, and most of them preferred settling down close to those they were already familiar with. Though their house was at the edge of town, the trip to the center wasn't that long nonetheless. So before they could even think of getting bored, they arrived to the museum's park lot.

Sure enough when they got off and headed towards the museum's entrance, they spotted Papayrus and Undyne —the skeleton being a bit too tall to not be noticed over a crowd— Alphys was also with them, fidgeting with her fingers while talking to the fish monster. When Papyrus caught sight of them in their approached his face lit up and he ran towards them, coming to a stop inches before bumping into them. "YOU'VE FINALLY COME! WOWEE! NOW THIS IS GOING TO BE EVEN MORE FUN!" He greeted in his own unique manner, then looked at Sans. "AND YOU EVEN MANAGED TO GET MY LAZY BROTHER OUT OF BED BEFORE NOON.

"heh, you know me bro', my napping schedule doesn't always go 's planet." He quipped with a chilled wink.

"OH MY GOD SANS, I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY I EXPECTED IN THE FIRST PLACE THAT MAYBE YOU'D NOT BE TELLING PUNS SO EARLY." He crossed his arms over his chest huffing. Then another voice came into presence.

"Hey punks! It was about time for you to show up!" Undyne smiled showing all her sharp teeth. Alphys waved shyly with a quiet hello.

"Greetings to you aswell. We are glad that you invited us over." Toriel responded.

"It was Papyrus' idea actually; the moment he saw that exhibition he wouldn't stop rambling about how much Sans would like it and that you all should see it too!"

"INDEED, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, JUST KNEW THAT THIS WOULD BE A STRONG MOTIVATION FOR MY BROTHER AND A GOOD PLACE FOR ALL OF YOU TO SPEND YOUR WEEKEND MORNING." He puffed out his chest, showing himself full of pride for his actions. The others gave a wholehearted smile in exchange.

"W-we should be h-heading in, i-if we want t-to catch a good seat in the p-presentation." The former royal scientist called, gaining a few nods and exclamations of agreement.
The whole group made their way towards the entrance, making the little tour through the various exhibitions that were now in town, before finally making it into the conference room. It was not crowded so they managed to grab a bunch of seats close to each other not so far away from the screen where the presentation was going to be projected soon.

---

The presentation was nice, they all got to see a very interesting explanation about how a solar system worked, the various galaxies spread all over the universe and all the stars that shared their existence; some of the images were quite stunning depicting wonders such as black holes or nebulae. At some point both Alphys and Sans started to comment on some nerdy reasons as to why those existed, while Undyne just bragged about how cute her girlfriend looked when she got into her scientist nerdy mode, making her blush so bad. Frisk did also signed a little about theories of life in other planets, earning a quizzical look from Flowey.
Eventually they had to head out, walking around to see more of the little exhibits that the museum had to offer. It was one hour past midday when Papyrus spoke.

"ALL THIS GATHERING OF NEW INFORMATION JUST MADE ME HUNGRY. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SUGGEST THAT WE SHOULD GO GET SOME LUNCH FOR OURSELVES, IF YOU ALL AGREE OF COURSE." He announced in his ever so cheerful tone. As in tune, Frisk's stomach growled in agreement.

"Yeah, I totally agree." They signed.

"Oh well if it is that so, we should go see if there are any cafeterias around here." Toriel chimed in.

Undyne and Papyrus started to peer around until she caught sight of a set of tables right next to the museum's exit, pointing at them as a good place to take their meal. "think i saw a snack bar 'cross the street. I can go check while ya look for a place at the tables." Sans offered with a shrug and a winky smile.

Alphys was the first one to respond, stuttering in surprise. "T-that's nice of you, do you want any of u-us to come with y-you or...?"

"nah it's fine, i can handle 't myself." He earned odd looks from everyone. It was so rare of him to offer himself doing this kind of things no matter how little they were; but then again, since they've left the Underground everyone seemed to try harder, Sans included. So maybe today was one of those lucky days where he decided to show he was indeed trying. "besides it's nut a bother at all, i'll just pop there 'nd back."

"THAT WAS LOATHFUL EVEN FOR YOUR STANDARDS, SANS." Papyrus spoke in mild annoyance, yet with a happy tone in behalf of Sans' words. "STILL, IT'S SO GOOD SEEING YOU BE RESPONSIBLE OF SOMETHING FOR ONCE, I MAY SAY THAT I'M PROUD OF YOU FOR THAT, BROTHER."

Sans laughed it off, not really wanting to let his little brother's words get him, since it was sure a one time thing, it's not like he would do that kind of stuff that often. Then Undyne intervened lively. "Well then we'll catch up in a few minutes. See ya in a moment punk!" She scooped Alphys in her arms, making her yelp unexpectedly. Papyrus followed suit and lifted Frisk and Flowey over his shoulders, laughing in full mirth, that way they walked to the tables, closely followed by Toriel who waved at the shorter skeleton with a smile.

He stood there for a second longer before starting to walk in a random direction, and when he assumed he was out of sight, he teleported. Sans appeared in front of a simple establishment, its walls were painted light green with a few orange stripes, and the door was wide enough to let two persons squish themselves at a time through it. He walked past a little group of people that appeared to be hanging around in the sidewalk and entered the building, spending a moment to take in its looks from the inside: next to the door was a little bar with three stools attached to the floor, a lamp with yellowish light was hanging in the center of the place and right across him was a counter. Behind it was a teenager with loopy light hair and square glasses, apparently unaware of his presence as she seemed far more interested in the screen of her phone.

Sans approached to the counter and made a noise with his metaphorical throat to get noticed. "huh, heya pal, what ya got for sell?" The girl finally moved her gaze away from the phone and into the skeleton's direction, having to look down a little since he barely was taller than the counter itself, then she began to list off the snacks the store had to offer with a tilted grin. After a moment of tought, Sans decided that he would take one Italian sub for his bro, one 'dog for himself and burgers for the rest.

He stood beside the counter as the teen told him to wait before disappearing through a door in the other side. The place gave him the impression of having a slow day, as the quietness was that much that he tought he would be able to hear a mouse squeaking among the walls. But just when it was starting to make him feel awkward, the teen returned from the door holding all of his orders in a plastic bag and gave it to him; Sans dug through his shorts' pocket and set the g needed over the counter. "welp thanks. it's bun a pleasure. have a nice day kid." He turned on his heels and headed for the door.

"Uhh... You too sir." The teen answered with a bit of confusion on her voice due to the monster's remark of words.

-----

Undyne had claimed a table underneath the shadow of an awning for themselves, placing Alphys into one of the seats and slumping onto the one next to her. The rest of the group arrived almost immediately and everyone took their sits. They kept talking about the astronomical topics from before, making amusing remarks and trying to make Alphys go all nerdy, or at least her girlfriend was trying to.

Frisk had set Flowey on the table, encouraging him to take part in the conversation, which he eventually did, even if it barely consisted in snarling at others. They were all just killing time. And speaking about time, hadn't Sans been out for the snacks a little too longer than he should?

"And where is that smiley trashbag, anyways? I'm starting to starve here!" It was Flowey who pointed that issue out first with an exasperated tone.

"Flowey!" Frisk signed at him in a scold.

But Papyrus seemed to catch on the important. "WELL NOW THAT YOU MENTION IT, IT'S BEEN OVER HALF AN HOUR SINCE SANS LEFT." He brought a gloved hand to his chin, furrowing a little. "I JUST HOPE HE DIDN'T SNUCK BACK HOME."

"Maybe we should go check." Toriel added.

Undyne shot up from her seat almost making her chair fall. "I'm going to go check on him! I'm starting to get hungry too, and if he did sneak up back, you bet he's gonna have one hell of a time!!!" She set off to where the snack bar was supposed to be, Papyrus getting up too and following her in a haste.

"HEY WAIT FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS! I'M COMING ASWELL!"
And so, the two of them headed towards that light green building with orange stripes.

-----

Sans left the snack bar, holding the plastic bag in the crook of his arm while stuffing both hands into his hoodie pockets. He started to walk rather than taking a shortcut right away, guessing it hadn't been that long so taking the scenic route wouldn't do much harm. Because, who was he kidding? Despite having been in the surface for a considerable amount of time, sometimes —especially when he was alone like this— he could feel a certain feeling crawling over his nonexistent guts, not fear exactly but something that told him he should enjoy it while it lasted; he couldn't quite put his finger on it or on why he would feel like this after all Frisk's reassurances and it bothered him so much, but right now was one of those moments where the damn feeling would make itself known, so he preferred walking to try cool his nerves down.

Bad idea.

As soon as he reached near the block's end and was about to cross the street, something pulled him by the hood; he jerked and tried to turn his head and look what was that but then a second something started pushing him while holding his arms behind his back and covered his mouth. Suddenly Sans realized that there were more hands holding him, way more than two, and they seemed resolved in not letting him go. He tried to scream to attract attention on him and all this commotion, anyone's attention, but his mouth was muffled tight; shit, now he wished he could actually open his mouth to bite.

The group of hooded strangers forced him into an alley, a dark one no less. Sans' eyelights darted furiously around, were they going to rob him? For the sake of stars, he couldn't be that pathetic to get robbed in plain daylight! He had to do something and quick; for a second he considered using a bone attack, but then again, he never felt comfortable while using any of his attacks, too many bad memories related to them, plus it sure would bring monsters a huge problem if he gave humans a reason to distrust them. He really was trying to get free from the grip, wiggling like a madman and even kicking.

Then, something hard collided with his ribcage. Despite not having lungs at all to hold air, he bent over himself in pain, wasted, the bag of snacks fell off his arm spreading its contents all over the floor. He heard a cackle, insidious and full of mockery. "What a way of falling, huh?" It was followed by more of them, like a chorus drilling through Sans' skull. He tried to recompose himself and straightened, glaring deadly at the man who had punched him. The man in question looked at him with a haughty smirk. "What? Not enjoying yourself yet? I thought monsters were fun "

"Don't be so hurried you runt freak! We're barely starting here!" Another man spoke from beside him, while tightening even more his grip on his wrists. Sans suppressed a whimper, his glare never faltering; the magic within him started to amass itself wildly, fighting to come out but yet he refused to show it, although he couldn't quite help his left eyelight from turning a sparkling blue.

Another one of the men, apparently the younger of them, gasped. "Dude! What the fuck is he doing? Gross!"

"And how am I supposed to know? Some messed up monster thing, I don't care." A fourth voice came in, it sounded less deep than the other three, a woman maybe? "Just put him against the wall! Let's see if he has something useful."

Well now he was starting to lose it. The man restraining him pushed him against the wall of the end of the alley, earning a breathless grunt from the skeleton. Someone started to touch him, searching through his clothes and his pockets; Sans confirmed his suspicions about the presence of a woman there, as the hands invading him were far too tiny and skinny for a man. He tried to pull himself away from the touch but the hold around his wrists just wouldn't allow it, his struggling making him get the side of his skull smacked against hard concrete. "Hey easy there, you scum! Stop the fucking twisting!"

He stayed put after seeing stars prickling in his gaze, fighting back the shock of dizziness that the hit caused him. "Hey guys! Look what I just found!" The woman announced pulling out some of the g Sans had in his pockets. They all gathered closer to look at the amount of money, faintly gasping in awe. "Hah! Who would have tought the little runt had a good spare on him?"

"Wha'? No way this worthless freak has more cash with him than any of us!"

"Well, they're monsters, what did you expect? They're here just sucking up everything that was supposed to be ours!" The other man chimed in full annoyance in his voice.

"What a bunch of filthy snatchers." The woman breathed out, and so they kept complaining about monsters indistinctively.

This was his chance; it was now or never. Sans turned his head a little to make sure the man keeping him still was also distracted with their rambling, then he gathered all his strength and threw a kick against the man's stomach. His captor wailed and immediately released Sans' wrists, falling on his knees. The others became aware of what was happening and quickly put the g away in order to recapture the now fleeing monster.

Sans started to call for help, screaming and preparing himself to take a shortcut as far away as possible; he was barely starting to form that blue hue that preceded his pops when the stoutest man out of the group tackled him just halfway through the alley. He heard a crack. He was utterly sure that something had broken even before feeling the sickening pain starting to spread through his left arm. He cried even louder this time, making the humans near him start to get worried that they might be overheard.

"Dude, we should just leave him, he didn't see our faces." The youngest said with a tiny voice, but was cut flat by the startling grumble that came from the bottom of the alleyway.

"That fuck just hit me in the guts!! No way he's getting away with his crap!!" The man started to come over their way, looking utterly enraged and shaking. "He's gotta pay!!!" Suddenly, the stout male was pushed aside, and all Sans could see for a moment were the rabid and twisted features from the man now lingering above him. Sans felt utter dread, and for a split of a second he tought he was seeing the same face that Frisk once wore plastered on the man's. Humans were always so frightening when they were prey of their impulsive and violent emotions.

Without warning, the man started to punch his skull. Sans tried his best to protect himself with his arms but failed when all it took from the man was to swat at his feeble limbs, making his left arm shiver feverishly in agony. He couldn't bear it, the pain was starting to take over him and he could no longer focus on anything around him. Hit. Hit. Hit. The blur of the man's frantic arms was almost unnoticeable and the swearings he was shouting at him just blurred together. It was actually surprising that he wasn't dead yet, he wouldn't know how could 1 HP handle all that damage.

And then, another hit.

This time, he didn't hear the crack, neither he felt the knuckles on his skull. There was just a wave of heavy drowsiness washing all over him from head to toes. All the sounds around him felt so distant, and even the cold concrete beneath him seemed to tilt to the sides. His skull felt hollow, lightheaded. Sans took in a shaky breath and that was when some of his senses started to return weakly, letting him feel a faint leak over the right side of his skull. He turned to lay on his side, trying to focus his eyelights but to no avail; his gaze was starting to cloud as he could feel his skull emptier with every passing second. He heard voices, startled and boisterous, were they scared too? He wasn't sure anymore, maybe it was just him hallucinating some weird stuff? He and his fucked-up nightmares.

"You asshole! You weren't supposed to beat him like that!!"

"I didn't even hit him that hard! I just barely touched the damn runt!"

"We were supposed to scare him! Give him a warning! Not kill him!"

"Oh God, we're so fucked up... I-I'm going to jail..."

"No one is going to jail! Ya hear me?! Let's get out of here!"

"But... What about the guy?"

"Just leave him, damn it! Or are you willing to assume the consequences for a worthless monster?!"

There was no response.

Sans didn't know if it was because it never came or he just wasn't able to catch it.
But he did hear the fading steps of someone walking away. He cracked his eyesockets open an inch, watching a black thin silhouette glancing in his way and then running away from the alley.

The leaking didn't seem to stop, but Sans couldn't tell if it was an abnormal amount of sweat or something else. He chose the latter since it seemed to come out right from his skull.
Some time must have passed, he didn't know how much though. The cold floor started to get more comfortable the more he laid upon it.
A little nap didn't sound so bad in that moment. He could use some rest before getting up and head back with the others. He had to get back. He had to, but his body wouldn't listen to him.
Shit, Papyrus would surely be so mad at him for taking so long.

He started drifting off again.

"Oh my God... Sir, are you okay?" Who was that? He didn't recognize this voice. But it kept getting closer. "Oh gosh... Uhm... I'll get help. Don't worry, I'll get help."

The stranger moved away, and seconds later he could pick up on a commotion nearby. Then a few of the words that were being shouted became a little clearer.

"Oh for stars' sake. Papyrus, call an ambulance now!"

Oh... Damn

"No, no, no, don't come here! Just call an ambulance now!"

"BROTHER? ARE YOU IN THERE?"

Damn. Damn. Damn!

"BROTHER!!"

Were those bony arms holding him? They felt warm and... So cozy.

"p-pap...?" That was his voice? It sounded so small and tired and soared, if it had sound at all.

"SHHH, STAY QUIET SANS, I'M HERE, I'M RIGHT HERE..."

He could hear a far babble behind his brother's talking, saying frantic and rushed words to someone. He tried to open his eyesockets but just couldn't manage to see a thing.
He wanted to see his little brother's face. He needed to. If this were going to be his last breaths at least he wanted to see him.
He felt a strange moisture around his eyesockets.

Then, he forgot that he existed at all.

--------

Undyne was demanding an explanation furiously at the girl with the curly light hair and the square glasses. Between sobs the poor human teen told the rampant fish monster that she had just arrived to the alley and saw the skeleton man laying on the floor, and that she had just finished a call to the emergency line when they crossed paths. Undyne calmed down at that, but it didn't last much for when she turned towards the end of the alley, the sight in front of her could not be described in other way rather than disturbing and heartbreaking.

Papyrus was kneeled down, crading his big brother like he was the frailest thing of the world —which he might be right now, Undyne dared to guess— his limbs were all hanging slack, his eyesockets barely open but apparently not registering anything at all. She noticed a splintered end were his left radius was, but to their dismay that wasn't the only bone broken: there was a thick crack in his skull, the edges were starting to dust and it was leaking a liquid concentration of magic that ran down Sans' forehead and was dripping to the floor.

She really wanted to say something, but there was nothing she could say to make this better, the ambulance was on its way and there was nothing left to do but wait for its arrival.

"BROTHER I'M RIGHT HERE. YOU'RE GONNA BE OKAY. I KNOW YOU'RE THERE SO YOU HAVE TO STAY AWAKE FOR ME." Sans' voice had barely been more than a whisper, and after the only mention of Papyrus' name he had gone frightening still. Nonetheless, Papyrus kept talking to him, doing his best to not lose his composure for the sake of his brother. "COME ON SANS, YOU'VE SLEPT ENOUGH, WAKE UP..." His own voice was starting to fail him.

"Papyrus..." Undyne said, but she wasn't sure why. She wanted to help his friends so badly and she couldn't do a damn thing and that made her feel so powerless, she could just stand there and watch as his best friend's big brother dusted away. Undyne forced herself to check on Sans.

𝙃𝙋: 𝟬.𝟮/𝟭

She grimaced at his stats, it was so low and it made her sick, fearing that anytime now Papyrus would be hugging a bunch of clothes covered in dust. The skeleton sobbed once, then he pulled off one of his gloves with his teeth and started to glow with healing magic. He directed it to Sans but it seemed useless, his stats would stay right where they were. Sweat started to bead on Papyrus' brow, but one could know just by sparing a look at him that the tracks running down his cheekbones were coming from somewhere else.

Suddenly, the restrained sobs were muted by the faint presence of a siren. Undyne left out the breath she didn't know she was holding the moment she saw the ambulance making its way through the street. She got out of the alley swiftly and started to frantically wave her arms at it.

The human girl caught sight of the incoming vehicle too and turned to Papyrus. "Y-you hear that? Help is here, your brother's gonna be alright, they will help him." She tried to lift his spirits, but the skeleton just continued on fighting back his sobs and glowing that healing magic.

What happened next was a total haze for everyone: a team of paramedics —humans and monsters alike— came to see the state of the beaten skeleton, and they had to convince Papyrus to let go of him so they could place him in a stretcher and take him inside the ambulance. The taller skeleton insisted on staying by his brother's side, to which the paramedics relented for his sanity's sake. Undyne told him that she would go tell Toriel and they would catch up in the hospital.

Once inside, Papyrus observed helplessly as the paramedics started to move around, snatching supplies from shelves and making all within their power to stabilize his brother's health and keep him from dusting. He barely could make out half of the words they were saying: low levels, dust, fractures, transfusion, critical damage. None of it reassured him at all, everything seemed to inevitably go down around him.

But he wouldn't let such toughts take root in his mind.

He believed in Sans. He had told him so many times, ever since they were underground; Papyrus always told him he believed he could do a little better, and that he would never stop believing in him no matter what. So this was the moment to prove himself true. Sans would make it out of this situation, he had to, he would make it.

Because Papyrus believes in him.

And he needs his big brother by his side.

Chapter Text

His head was throbbing like hell.
That was the first thing he knew as he started to regain consciusness.

He felt numb and out of place, like he couldn't quite place a finger on his own situation. He tried to open his eyesockets so he could try to guess where he was, but he found it useless —maybe still too weak for that— as only darkness greeted him. He tought of saying something, see if there was anyone nearby, but when he tried his best all that met his metaphorical ears was a feeble moan. It was followed by a shifting somewhere by his right side and a gasp. Unexpectedly, someone was holding his hand, a bit too tighter than necessary that it hurt just a little.

"BROTHER! YOU FINALLY WOKE UP!" The unmistakeable voice of Papyrus brought him assurance, drowning a considerable amount of his uncertainty, but still it carried a noticeable shakiness, like he had gone through something terribly bad just instants ago. That tiny detail was enough to upset Sans.

"papyrus...?" Well, at least it wasn't that hard to talk now; he still felt drained but not that sored anymore. He tilted his skull in the direction where he guessed Papyrus was, since apparently couldn't open his eyesockets yet. "papyrus, where...?"

"I'M RIGHT HERE SANS, DON'T WORRY, YOU ARE ALRIGHT NOW, I'M WITH YOU." As in cue, his grip became even tighter. Sans wailed.

"nhh... hurts."

"OH! I'M SORRY BROTHER!" He let go immediately with more worry in his voice. "I SHOULD GET A NURSE. WAIT HERE, I'LL GO GET ONE TO CHECK ON YOU, OKAY?"

"no, wait." Now he was the one faintly gripping Papyrus' hand. He didn't want to be alone, not when he felt so vulnerable. "d-don't go... please..."

"SANS, YOU NEED TO BE CHECKED, I'LL BE RIGHT BACK."

"no..." He didn't want to be alone in a strange place with no idea of where it could be. He simply couldn't go back to that unprotectiveness. "papyrus... where are you?"

Silence, before an answer came. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, SANS?"

"where are you? i can't... 't's too dark..."

The deafening silence that greeted him only disturbed by a never ending beeping sound, made him feel an uncomfortable weight set where the bottom of his stomach would be. "I-I'LL BE BACK IN A SECOND." And before he could do anything to stop him, Papyrus left.

There he was again, alone and without a damn clue of where the heck he was, and the darkness surrounding him wasn't of any help whatsoever. He tried to get up but as soon as he started to move a sharp pain shot through his left arm which now he noticed was restrained in some way. Sans felt himself panicking, but when he refocused his mind a bit more he started to question himself as to what was the cause of his reaction in the first place? Papyrus said he'd be back, and he couldn't think that low of his brother as to think he would abandone him. So he took deep breaths to calm himself down, and waited for the return of Papyrus.

Not many seconds later, he caught on steps approaching in his way. Relief washed over him when he heard his lil' bro speaking again. "SANS, I'M BACK. I BROUGHT THE DOCTORS."

Right after that reassurance another voice came in. "Good evening Sans, I'm Doctor Loua, and theese are my assistants Nurse Snowder and Nurse Fleming. It's nice to see you finally conscious; could you tell us how are you feeling?"

Sans recognized the first two names as monster names. It was such a luck that Ebbot's Main Hospital had already quite a number of monster workers, it really spreaded a good feeling to know that there was someone who could properly understand monster logistics. "m' head's killin' me... and ever'thing's too dark." He breathed out tiredly.

Doctor Loua made a noise and Sans wasn't sure what it meant. "Alright, let me check on you."

He let the Doctor and their team do their stuff, some looks at the stats showed on the devices he was connected to he guessed, but they were taking so long and Sans was starting to get impacient, not knowing how bad his state could be for him to be laid in a hospital bed made him so unsettled. He didn't remember exactly everything of what happened before, but he was sure that the gist of it was him going to get food for everyone, and then out of nowhere he was dragged into an alley and then everything had become a haze. He needed to know how bad he was at least.

"can't ya just tell me why i can't open m' sockets?" He asked, tired of not being able to do just that. Sans could've sweared that he heard both Doctor Loua and Papyrus gulp; right after that there was a shuffling. His exasperation only grew more at the lack of an answer. "damn... what's it so hard t' tell me? what's all th' mistery for?"

Another long moment of uncomfortable silence. "Sans..." Doctor Loua said. "Can't you see the light I'm pointing at you right now?"

He didn't know what to answer at that.
This was a joke, right? A very messed up one indeed. There was no way that someone was pointing anything at him, it must be a bad joke, maybe the revenge for all those puns that bothered everyone so much. His eyesockets were still closed, right? That's all! It couldn't be otherwise, because otherwise it meant that he...
That he...

"what?"

"Sans, I've been holding a light right in front of your eyesockets for a minute now. Are you telling me that you can't see it?"

All his metaphorical organs sinked, he felt cold running down his spine and a faint shiver starting to raise in his shoulders. His breath got hitched and sweat was starting to grow all over the exposed parts of his skull. His right hand shot up to his face and started to grope across, feeling the edges of his eyesockest undeniably open.
It was in that very moment that Sans started to truly panick.

It began as a low growl but slowly it escalated to frantic hiccups and then to hysterical hyperventilation. He wasn't aware of the words he was choking out, but he couldn't help it. No, no, it couldn't be real, there had to be some kind of mistake! It wasn't real! He couldn't let it BE real!

~~~~~~~

Papyrus watched in horror as his brother clutched at his eyesockets in utter panick, choking and barely able to breath. Doctor Loua was trying to take his hand off while their assistants discussed about an amount of sedative. He needed to do something too, his brother was fighting against this new terrifying shock and seemed too lost in it. So Papyrus took courage and troted towards the bed Sans was lying on, then he placed a hand on his brother's shoulder and tried to do soothing motions. Sans was so out of it and just hearing his heavy pants made Papyrus' soul ache deeply.

"BROTHER, CALM DOWN. ITS ALRIGHT. EVERYTHING IS FINE. YOU HAVE TO BREATH, COME ON I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT, JUST BREATH." He had no clue if it was helping at all, he sounded so much like a broken record and he was well aware of it. But then Doctor Loua spoke over the noise.

"Keep talking to him, don't stop! We need him to stay as still as possible to inject the sedative."

At that, Papyrus steeled himself and resumed on his supportive talking as he kept stroking Sans' shoulder and back, hoping for the time where this would all end.
The shorter skeleton steadily stopped the frantic grope over his eyesockets, and soon he was instead clutching at his middle as he fought to breath. Nurse Fleming suddenly appeared beside Doctor Loua and was quick to insert a syringe on the catheter attached to Sans' right hand. In a matter of seconds he was knocked out once again.

Now that everything around them was calm, Doctor Loua turned to face Papyrus, their yellow eyes looking down before forcing themselves to look at the skeleton in the room right in the eye. "Let's go to the hallway for a moment. My assistants will take good care of him."

Papyrus nodded, glancing intently at his sleeping brother and then forcing himself to go out of the room. He stood in front of the duck-like monster doctor, already expecting to be delivered bad news.

They sighed before starting their speech. "For what we could see back there, I can confirm my worst suspicions: Sans' eyesight is gone. The magic he lost when his skull cracked must be too much that the magical connections of his eyelights can't sustain on its own anymore. I don't know if he will be able to actually materialize them, but... It's a fact that he will never be able to see again."

If Papyrus had any color it would have gone pale. He felt a sickening feeling hanging on his chest, sinking down below his insides. Now
Sans was blind, and he would have to live like that for the rest of his life. It had taken years for his brother to get used to only having one functioning socket, so he couldn't even start to picture him now having to accept the fact that he wouldn't be able to see anything, and guessing by his reaction just a few moments ago, he knew it would be everything but a fast and easy process.

"Papyrus? Are you alright?"

He didn't notice that he had stayed quiet for longer than he intended. "SORRY. YES, I'M FINE, I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT... YOU KNOW..." He trailed off not knowing how to end his sentence.

"I know this is very overwhelming. Try to take it one step at a time, alright? I'm sure if you give him enough time and care he will get over it before you know it." They gave him a friendly pat on his shoulder. "You can always ask for help at any clinic."

Papyrus just nodded not having it in him to talk to anyone. Doctor Loua told him to let them know if he needed anything and then walked away down the white hallway. Some minutes later Nurse Snowder and Nurse Fleming came out of the room's door and told him that his brother would stay asleep for a few more hours but that when he woke up he should feel better. Papyrus just nodded at that too.

He entered the room to find Sans peacefully lying on that bed, his breathing was way calmer than before and his brow was relaxed. Papyrus couldn't help but think how normal his brother looked like that, just sleeping his way through evening like the lazybones he was, if not for the bandages covering the right side of his skull, the splint holding his left arm still, and the haunting knowledge that he had lost the sight of his other eyesocket for good.

How was he supposed to stand something like that? His big and frail brother was now so vulnerable, how was he supposed to take care of himself? And even worse how was HE supposed to take care of him? Sans barely let anyone know when he had a problem, and he was always so frustratingly stubborn when it came to letting others help him. So how was he supposed to stay positive in a situation like this?

He really wished Undyne, Frisk, Toriel or even Alphys could be there in that moment. But it was still Friday and they all have come to the agreement that only Papyrus would call days off —as many as it took for Sans to wake up— and the rest would come to the hospital after job. Surely it should not take long for Toriel and the children to arrive anytime soon, since she worked at one of the main schools in Ebbot and her shift usually ended around two.

Still, he wished he didn't have had to go through that alone.

He sat on the same uncomfortable chair next to the right side of the bed as before, and watched. Papyrus reached out for Sans' good hand and started to stroke it gently. "EVERYTHING WILL BE JUST FINE BROTHER, TRUST ME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU AS MUCH AS YOU NEED, SO DON'T WORRY, OKAY? WE WILL MAKE THIS WORK." Some teardrops formed on the edges of his eyesockets and started to run down his face, but he was quick to clean them with the back of his gloved hand.

"I PROMISE."

----------

By the second time he could hear the beeping sound above him, Sans didn't even give a try at opening his eyesockets.
A really tiny part of him still hopped that maybe the last events he recalled were only memories of a terrible nightmare he had due to his stress, but deep down he knew very well that that was simple dumb wishful thinking. So he decided on staying that way, surrounded by a darkness that at least he could pretend to be choosing.

"You are awake, are you not?" The soft question startled him and it caused a knot in his voice. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now, not even Tori, he didn't need to cause them more worries like he surely did with Papyrus. He wanted to be left alone, but he couldn't afford himself being that rude towards his old good friend. He finally made himself open his eyesockets, still ever silent. "I understand if you do not feel like talking right now. Just know, that I am glad to see you are awake and calm."

Sans gave a bitter short laugh. "wouldn't say "calm" exactly." And truly, he was still too numbed by the sedative from before to care or even think properly of his problems, but that didn't mean at all that his anxiety was gone, he could still feel the dread making its way down his nerves.

"Do you want me to call a Doctor? A nurse?"

Sans shook his head sluggishly. "papyrus...?"

"He is outside. Undyne took him to the vending machine with Frisk since he have not eaten since breakfast... And because he looked like he could use a break." Sans felt a pang of guilt in his soul at that. That's exactly why he didn't want anyone around when he was like this.

"i must haven't make 't easy for h'm earlier..." He said with a tiny voice, shame flooding from him. "i totally lost it."

Toriel shifted in her seat, not sure of what to say. When she arrived Papyrus told her that Sans had woken up but that the doctors had to put him back to sleep to prevent him from harming himself; he told her of his panick attack and the cause of it aswell. She was shocked at first to hear it, but when she saw deeper into Papyrus' face, she noticed that what he needed in that moment was someone to relay on, a shoulder to lean into, a support, so she told herself she would be that support, for both skeletons. However, that didn't give her any hint of what to say to someone who just lost something so vital as their eyesight. But before it got uncomfortable, Sans spoke once more.

"how long was i out?"

She doubted an instant whether she should tell him or not, but guessed that he would have to know sometime, and the sooner the better. "It has been almost two weeks, Sans."

He had to admit he was a bit more surprised than he should; he knew about people who stayed in comatose for months, even years, so two weeks shouldn't sound that shocking, but still it left him quite bewildered.
He'd been unconscious for two weeks, two weeks of worrying his brother to the bone, two weeks of uncertainty for everyone, two weeks of them wondering if he would survive or simply turn into dust at night with no warning.
Shame just gripped even more at his soul.

"The doctors told us that it was normal for you to take that long to recover yourself, since your injuries were very serious and your HP was lower than usual." She paused, then continued. "We were so relieved when they told us that you were actually getting better by the fifth day."

That didn't make him feel better, but he guessed he'd just have to cope with that. At least Toriel haven't said anything about his eyesight, and if she felt pity for him or anything, she didn't show it, and he was just fine with that. A few more silent moments passed on, only the constant beep from the machine monitoring Sans' soul breaking it. He was dying to ask Toriel a thousand questions, how had he got into the hospital? Who found him? How have Papyrus been doing during his absence? What have they told to his superiors from the mall he worked on? But to be honest he was too tired for that, and didn't really want to know the answers to most of those questions; one thing that was sure was that he'd never ever be able to do another maintenance work at the mall so that was one matter down for the moment.

"Grillby from the bar came last week to see you. He even brought some food, although Papyrus was not so eager to taste it." A snicker escaped her trying to lift the mood. "He said that it was on the house, because he needed us to take good care of you so you can pay your tab."

At that Sans couldn't help but laugh a little, instantly regretting it when his head pounded. "heh... if i paid m' tab grillbz would be a millionaire." He responded, good Ol' Lady always finding a way to make him forget his overwhelming reality once more.

Toriel giggled, glad to see that at least he was giving those short answers rather than being absent. She kept telling him about other folks they crossed paths with at some point who had asked how was he doing or simply wished him well, even if most of them just knew Sans as the hotdog guy or the funny skeleton of the party; Toriel also told him about the "Get better soon" card that Frisk brought a few days ago, reading its contents out loud and describing the goofy image it pictured of a white doggie tangled in bandages holding a big red heart with a bandaid in the center. Sans tought it was a bit ironic but appreciated it nonetheless.

-----

Their chattering continued like that for a couple of minutes, Toriel talking to him about incidental stuff and Sans listening and making small comments trying to ignore the drowning feeling fighting inside him to be recognized. Then, the room's door creaked open and three pairs of footsteps echoed through it.

"Hey! You're awake! Again... I-I mean... That's great! How you doing, punk?"

"I SEE YOU ALREADY SAID HELLO TO MS. TORIEL. I'M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU'RE DOING BETTER NOW!"

Sans was a bit taken aback by the sudden burst of words, but then managed a tiny smile. "hey guys, and... sorry for earlier, bro."

"DON'T BE SORRY SANS, I KNOW IT WASN'T YOUR FAULT." Papyrus smiled, even though Sans couldn't see it.

Frisk was at his side, and they had just started signing something towards Sans when it hit them like cold water; they gave a bashful expression and slowly dropped their hands at their sides, hugging themselves a little and looking at everyone with apologetical eyes, trying to ignore what utter dumbness they just attempted to do. Toriel noticed this, and gave them an encouraging look to resume what they were going to say. Frisk hesitated, but then started to form words with their hands again. "Frisk says that it is a relief to have you back, they were starting to miss your puns." Toriel translated.

The short skeleton looked confused for a second but then realization seemed to knock into his skull aswell, so he answered if a bit sheepish. "aw kid... that's the only thing ya missed 'bout me?"

Frisk shook their head, instantly feeling embarrased once more for keeping forgetting that he wasn't able to register such silent answers anymore. It hasn't been that long since they heard the fateful new from Papyrus, but they couldn't still avoid falling into those old habits they've grown so comfortable with, now as natural as breathing. It haven't ocurred to them that this new condition of Sans could be such a miscommunication issue for them both. So before Toriel could point out the motion they just gave, Frisk closed the short distance between the door and the bed in a rush, climbed up on the mattress and hugged Sans as tight as they could.

He got startled both by the suddenness of the action and the slight pain it caused in his left arm, but after gasps of surprise left the others there was a muffled whimper. The collar of his hospital gown was getting wetter and wetter as Frisk clung onto him and their shoulders trembled. Sans sighed and brought his right arm up to return the embrace.

"me too kid... me too."

Everyone stayed awkwardly quiet as monster and human hugged each other upon the bed, not wanting to say a word that could break such emotional moment. Eventually, Frisk let go, sitting in the edge of the mattress wiping their face with their sleeves.

"So... Uh... Anyone hungry?" Undyne interceded, holding up a bag of raisins that was obviously brought from the vending machine. "I get you're not exactly starving but maybe having something sweet will cheer your day." She opened the bag and handed it to Sans, making sure that it brushed his phalanges so he knew it was there; as in cue he groped over the bag until he took it and placed it on his lap giving her a soft thank you. "Alphys'll be here soon, she said she had to do some extra work or something like that."

Sans nodded, swallowing a bunch of raisins and noticing how sored it felt from disuse; the magic the food offered him felt as a wave of energy hitting him, but not quite enough to defeat his languishment.

"TOMORROW I WILL BRING YOU A PLATE OF MY DELICIOUS SPAGHETTI! I'M SURE YOU MUST MISS IT SO BAD." Papyrus chimed in with a happily tone.

"i'd love that, bro." He wasn't sure if he'd be able to get himself to swallow such culinary strangeness, but of course he wasn't about to say no to his lil' bro at all.

"That is, if you manage to get it past the entrance gate, fuhuhuhuhu!" Undyne's boisterous laugh echoed, with Frisk's following suit.

"THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAS HIS METHODS, NOTHING WILL STOP ME FROM SPOILING MY BROTHER FOR THIS ONE TIME!"

They kept discussing like that for a while. For Sans, it was nice to be able to hear a normal nonchalant conversation of theirs, like nothing bad happened; he was grateful that nobody had mentioned THAT issue yet, and he was more than happy to keep it that way, just listening to his brother and friend talk away.

Listening.
Yeah, but nevermore seeing again.

Apparently that little issue wasn't going to leave him alone just yet.

"Sans, are you alright?" Toriel asked lowly.

He shook his toughts away once more. "yeah... i'll be fine." He had to believe he would, for everyone's sake.

----------

The next day two cops came to take Sans' declaration about the incident. Luckily it was Saturday and the two skeletons weren't alone. Undyne was reluctant to let them enter the room but they said it was something necessary and unavoidable, so she had to step aside to not make any trouble, but still insisted on staying in the room alongside Alphys and Papyrus. The police force was one of the areas where monsters weren't quite trusted yet, since they used to have the Royal Guard back in the underground where it was more like fighting then asking —or at least that's what humans tought— so it was no surprise that monsters didn't quite trust the cops either. It had been pretty difficult for Undyne herself to be accepted as a police officer in the city, and she only knew a little bunch of monsters who were trying to get accepted too.

They asked Sans about what happened as expected, and he told them just what he could remember: snacks, walking, dark alley and then a haze.

"Can you be more specific please? We can't just write down 'it was a haze' in the report, you know?" The tallest of the two cops complained.

"sorry, but that's ever'thing i remember. guess i hit my skull too hard." He answered with a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

"Well that's not of much help. Don't you remember anything to point out? How they looked or what they were wearing?"

"they were wearing hoods."

"Half of teenagers and weirdos wear hoods with this weather." The other cop said seeming ever so slightly exasperated.

"Did you see their faces? Anything? We need you to give us something truly useful." The remark of the word 'truly' annoyed Sans a bit. How hard was it to understand? He had a damn crack as thick as three fingers put together on his skull, surely he got smashed against the pavement or who knows what, how was he supposed to remember such details?

But then a memory flashed; it was weird to picture an image knowing that you're blind, but it was as clear as a real image. A deadly expression filled with hate and rage pining him down on the ground, keeping him still and hitting his face with bloody knuckles while his screams throbbed against his skull like stones, yelling at him all the worst swearings one could imagine. It hurt, it hurt so much to simply think about it, like he was reliving all that pain and desperation anew.
He clutched his hands making his phalanges pop noisily and gritted his teeth.

"Well?" The sudden question from one of the cops startled him back into his dark reality.

"...he was yelling."

"Excuse me, what?" The cop sounded bewildered by such statement.

"th' man who did this... he was yellin' so loud... and it hurt." He hugged himself with one arm. "he said a bunch 'f horrible stuff... he wanted me dead... they... they..." Now he was trailing off, fighting back the flooding images that now threatened to resurface in a sickening wave of shivers; old and new memories from other timelines melted together, the man's face and Frisk's became one, depicting nothing more but utter hate and frenzy. "...they want me dead..."

The shorter cop wrote something down, and they looked ready to make another question when surprisingly Alphys spoke up. "Y-you should leave him alone n-now! D-don't you see he's f-freaking out?"

"Ma'am, it's our job, we need a declaration clear enough to be of any use in our report."

"But he's already losing it! How is he supposed to keep answering your stupid questions like that?!" Undyne chimed in rowdy making the cop be taken aback.

The two humans looked down at the quivering skeleton trying to keep composure and slightly rattling his bones uncontrollably. "Guess we can tag it as another attack of that group then." The tallest cop sighed and nodded at his partner to write that down.

"WAIT, GROUP? WHAT GROUP ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Papyrus asked intrigued. "HAVE THERE BEEN OTHER INCIDENTS LIKE THIS?"

"Yeah kinda, not as violent as this one in particular though." The shorter cop answered calmly. "There have been some minor reports from monsters being stalked or intimidated by a group of radicalists that just won't accept that things have changed here."

"Hold on, you say that there've been more?!!" The fish monster asked in desbelief. "AND WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING ABOUT THEM?! HUH?! JUST WRITING REPORTS AND THAT'S IT?!!"

"Ma'am I'd advice you to calm down if you don't want any charge of aggression against you!" The tallest cop perked up, raising his voice and sounding authoritative. "We are building a case against this group, but all of that information is confidential and none of your business, understand?" Undyne looked at the police man right in the eye, frowning deeply, but when she noticed the man was being serious she relaxed her posture and gave a single nod. "Good, now if you may excuse us."

And so the two cops left, leaving everyone in the room now with a new matter to be concerned about. Toriel came back to the room with Frisk by her side —since she had decided to stay with the child in the hallway during the declaration to ensure they wouldn't see or listen to anything inappropiated— and asked them how had it go. Alphys and Undyne explained everything to her, commenting that they would inform Asgore about the matter. Meanwhile, Papyrus sat in the edge of Sans' bed and Frisk stood by his side watching warily as the tallest skeleton rocked his brother slightly, telling him to calm down. They wanted to get close too and comfort him, but Frisk knew better than anyone else that when Sans had this kind of fits the best they could do was to stay away, since they were a main part of what triggered it in the first place, and were well aware of it.

It didn't take that long to bring Sans back into his senses, reacting after a minute or two of gentle comfort from Papyrus. He hugged his little brother and thanked him quietly. It was then when Frisk decided that it was safe to approach to the pair of skeletons, placing a hand in Sans' arm, and knowing that he was okay with it as he didn't make any move to set it aside.

Surely this was going to be a long morning.

Chapter Text

Four days passed on, and they were still ignoring the main problem of it all. Asgore paid him a visit to ask how was he doing, and also seemed to do his best to not show the pityness he surely felt; that day Sans discovered that the little weed had asked to stay with the former king since he was admitted to the hospital, so that was one doubt less as to why he hadn't been present in the room with Frisk and Toriel. He couldn't be more thankful for that, 'cause he really didn't think he had the will to deal with the flower in these moments.

During the weekend they spent more time making Sans company and dissuading Papyrus from not setting a foot out of the room for an instant under the claim that his brother might need him anytime, however, those claims had no effect at all on the hospital staff. Every time when the visiting hours came to an end Papyrus would complain about the hospital policies for not letting people take appropriate care of their siblings, and Sans would tell him in response that it was fine and he would be alright, that the nurses would do his job of looking after him just fine.

And yet, everytime they all left, right after the nurses and doctors checked on him and left him alone, Sans would sink into a hideous existencial dread that was practically unbearable, and sometimes it would be tinged with those flashes of distorted and enraged faces yelling at him. The silence surrounding him would almost drive him crazy, with only the neverending beeping from the monitor next to him boring down on him like a hateful cackle. Sometimes he would try and make some kind of noise, but it would just end with him either saying lame jokes about blindness or him having to hold up the tears after recalling some pleasant memory of him stargazing with his brother on the top of Mt. Ebbot. It was through the night that he would most think about what he had lost. During his days in the hospital he had learned that there was a window in the left wall next to his bed, not so high from the ground that even Frisk was able to peek through it. That simple knowledge made him feel so hopeless, knowing that he had the stars just a few metters away from him and yet he would never see them, no matter how hard he would try to reach.

One night he even attempted at getting off the bed just for the sake of doing something else rather than just lay in there unable to recognize his surroundings just being aware of the presence of the bed for its touch and the goddamn soul monitor for its irritating sound. He almost fell and his skull got drowsy, so he gave up even before setting one foot on ground.

So by the fifth early morning he started the day with no sleep during the night before, he asked the first nurse that came to check on him when could he get out of bed. "We still have to make sure that your HP doesn't go down the moment we take off the magic transfusions that are now giving you sustain." She had said to him. "It could be today, it could be in a week, there's not an exact time set." And even though Sans wanted so bad to yell at her that that wasn't an answer, he just nodded and said "okay."

Papyrus arrived that day with a slice of butterscotch pie, saying that Toriel had baked a whole piece but she only allowed him to take one slice to the hospital for him. Sans thanked him with a smile and ate the pie thoroughly, enjoying every bit of sweetness; it was a little hard for him being lefthanded having to hold the spoon with his right hand, but he managed without making a mess.

Papyrus had also brought with him a few books from his personal shelves, most of them being about professional designing of puzzles and solving mechanical riddles. He read the books with enthusiasm, not aware that as he went through Sans dwelled more and more on this new realization: he would not read a book on his own again, for that he would have to learn that braille thing, which seemed way too complicated even more than sign language, and he didn't want to stress himself about it right now but he just couldn't help it. It was starting to annoy him that everytime he made a new realization about his current condition he would get like this.
Damn, why even bother to call it a condition? It was a fucking impairment, nothing else.
Still, he stayed silent and kept on listening to his brother's reading.
He was about to start chapter XIX of 'Advanced Puzzle Construction for Critical Minds' when a knock knock in the door came in.

Papyrus halted his reading and Sans grinned. "who's there?"

"Dojo."

"dojo who?"

"Dojo own this hotdog of here? It looks lonely and craveable to be eaten."

Sans giggled and Papyrus groaned closing his book. "I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE STILL INFLUENCING MY BROTHER WITH THAT KIND OF JOKES MS. TORIEL."

"hey, who says she's the one influencin' me, huh?"

The boss monster in question laughed and entered the room alongside Frisk. "Well, I would more like call it an interest in common rather than an influence, to be true." A pause. "Oh my, I have not think of it that way. Frisk says it is actually the ancient code language from The Ruins." She said not being able to stop her laughter from intensifying.

For the past four days Toriel have been translating for Sans everything Frisk signed, so he didn't feel as awkward as the first time when she did it again. "heh, well, guess we're the founders then." He said with a wink. Somehow it felt foolish to do that.

He felt the mattress sinking in one of the edges, and a tiny hand taking his to place it in a warm wrap, ensuring he could hold it firmly enough to not spill its contents. He smelled the scent emanating from the wrap, he'd never stop loving the smell of real sausages in a hotdog. "thanks kiddo."

"Grillby sent it, he said that for this one time it would be on the house, since apparently the bar needs its resident comedian to keep its charm... And customers coming." Although Sans gave a snort and managed to look flattered, inside, he was wondering grimly if he could ever be that carefree comedian again.

"STILL I DON'T THINK THAT'S THE BEST CHOICE FOR A PROPER MEAL."

"Oh, worry not Papyrus, he also sent a milkshake for you."

The proudful skeleton tried to resist, but he couldn't deny such dairy delicacy, so in the end he took it with a huff and sipped through the straw. "THIS DOESN'T CHANGE MY OPINION AT ALL."

The four of them ate while chatting away mostly about Toriel's day. She said everything was going smooth at the school, and that the children have started collecting letters to send them to Sans; she had brought a bunch with her this time and after finishing their meals, she and Papyrus took the task to read every single one of them to Sans. Although he didn't know most of the kids' names, he guessed they had sent the letters just for the natural instinct to show support towards a friend of the teacher they loved; still, there were a few he recognized: Monster Kid's card was wrote with messy 'mouthwriting' —so much like them— with layers upon layers of colorful stickers. There were quite the number of cards from the kids of the bunny lady who used to run the inn back in Snowdin, all with inky pawprints decorating the edges. A slightly burnt drawing of him under a rain of hotdog buns surely made by one of the Vulkys was among those too. The descriptions Papyrus and Toriel gave were quite the wonder.

What a shame he couldn't actually see all those good wishes and drawings.

He didn't know how long they were like that —time just seemed to blur together here inside the void of the hospital room— but all of a sudden someone entered the door. "Good evening." Doctor Loua's voice greeted in general, then they directed towards Sans. "How are you feeling today?"

"m' skull's fine, doesn't hurt that much anymore." He said unbiased, not wanting his hopes of getting out soon get too high.

"That's great. I see you've been eating well too." They said eying the discarded wraps in the trashcan.

"AS WELL AS A GREASY FOOD CAN BE CONSIDERED." Papyrus commented with a small tinge of annoyance.

The doctor gave a short laugh, it was good to see the lanky skeleton in his good normal mood again after two weeks of watching him full of somberness. "Why, I'm your doctor, so I say you can afford a few of those." They said in a mischievous whisper. "Now, may I have a word with you two?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Err... I always preffer discussing this stuff in the hallway, actually." They recovered their serious tone again, looking between Toriel and Papyrus. The skeleton gulped.

"Alright then." Toriel raised form the chair she've been sitting on and Papyrus followed suit, both walking after Doctor Loua to the door, their footsteps echoing. "I am sure this will not take long my friend." She said, and Sans gave a small nod. "Good. My child, could you please stay with Sans until we come back?"

There was a slight change of weight in the mattress due to Frisk's assent, and with that they exited the room, closing the door behind them. Both Sans and the human child stayed quiet trying to discern any word from the other side, but realized it was useless, so they gave up. Sans snorted, holding loosely with two phalanges one of the cards. "who would've tought all i had to do to get free food and cool drawings was to get m' head smacked against hard rock?" Yeah, sarcasm, his best defense when he was feeling down. Frisk grimaced knowing it wouldn't be seen. "yeah, guess ya just made a face or something." There was more silence, and then...

"...S-sans..."

He was taken aback for a second, not having expected at all to hear the kid talking. Since they arrived underground they have barely said a word, always choosing to sign everytime they could, he could hardly remember them muttering a few sentences when they were in extremely dangerous situations and had their hands busy. So for Frisk to be speaking right now, when there was no incoming danger, it had to be something truly important.

"what's the matter kid?"

They moved their hands out of habit. "...I... I can..." Their voice was so quiet that any sound could easily drown it, but the room was dead silent so he could hear them clearly; they stuttered from not talking so often. "...I can... Fix... It."

A confused silence from him. "what?"

"...Fix this."

Sans didn't say anything for what seemed an eternity to him. Have he heard right? His brow started to get damp with sweat. He knew just perfectly what the implications of those words meant for the kid, he had heard it from other timelines and he had relented for their sake, but now he just couldn't manage to steel himself for that. He couldn't do it all again, even if it meant he would have his eyesight back. He wouldn't be able to bear stand at The Ruins door again waiting to see if the human came out bathed in thick layers of dust or not; he wouldn't be able to go knock in that door again to hear if Old Lady was still there; he surely wouldn't stand to watch his brother challenging the human to a fight again, wondering if they would be pacient and get to befriend him or would grow bored and slash his neck again, and again and again. For every reset they made, there was a new chance that that demonic ghost Frisk had mentioned at some point would get to influence them enough once more to go spread the mercy of death.
No, he couldn't risk that. It was sure that if he had to go through that wait anew, he would loose the last strands of sanity he had left, and it would only get worse if the child decided to relent into that violent urge and go genocidal like all those other times before; he still couldn't quite banish the memory of red against golden tiles from his mind, and it just made him sick to think he could be so easily in that position once more.

"...Sans?" Frisk was growing worried, they raised a hand to pat Sans' shoulder and get his attention back, but as soon as their fingers brushed the material of his gown, he shot his hand up like bolt and gripped at their wrist, his phalanges digging onto their skin. He was faintly huffing, and the empty darkness of his eyesockets were fixated in a lost spot in the child's direction; the left one began to glow a faint blue and yellow, erratic and never getting to create an eyelight, instead pooling inside as liquid magic.

"don't you dare to reset." He growled, his voice so deep it was almost a rumble. "you hear me? if you even think of touching that deranged button for a second, i personally will break every single one of your bones, one by one until you aren't able to raise a hand to touch anything ever again in your life. you understand?" There was dreadful silence, the human child quivering in the skeleton's grip.

"D O Y O U U N D E R S T A N D?"

"Yes!... I-I understand..."

A sob, then a whimper. Frisk had started to cry. Sans blinked out of his frenzy a few times, noticing the strange liquid now leaking from his left eyesocket aswell as the tight grip he was holding on the little human's wrist; he let go, instantly feeling bad for what he had just done. "kid i... i'm sorry, i didn't mean to."

Frisk brought their hand to their chest, stroking the bruised area still in pain. Yet, they didn't blame him, they were very aware of everything a reset could cause, how bad it could turn out to be in the end despite their good intentions.

"frisk, i'm sorry i hurt you. talk to me, please."

More silence, only the beeping next to him answering.

"please..."

"...I won't reset." Their voice was unsteady, trying to fight back more sobs. "I... Just wanted to help you... Help you not to be sad... Because of this." They were failing. "I... I wanted t-to fix this... G-give you back your sight."

Now Sans felt like trash, obviously they would never reset without a good reason after the promise they made to him, anyone could tell that all they wanted to do is to help, help him no less. Still that didn't change his mind about the resets, but he shouldn't have been that rough either.

"oh frisk, c'mere." He reached forward blindly, seeking Frisk's form. When his hand found its target, he pulled them into an embrace; the little child was crying as silent as they could, shaking with every intake of air and breathing out in a hitch. Sans was stroking their back, trying to calm them. "i know you want to help... but you have to know this isn't your responsibility, you don't have to go around fixing everyone's life." He paused to take a deep breath. "bad things will always happen, and it's not your task to fix them. you already achieved this outcome and you've seen for yourself it's the best one we'll ever get."

Their sobs started to go quiet. "so please, don't worry 'bout me, i've already told you i'll be fine. besides, this ol' bag of bones has gone through worst and survived."

"...But... Maybe I... Could have done something to prevent this."

Sans tightened the hug. "no, i'm sure there's nothing you could have done about it. i mean, there's no way you could've predicted those assholes... and even if you reset, it'd only be a matter of time before they do it again." He ran his phalanges through their strands of hair gently. "you can't control everyone's actions here in the surface."

Frisk found themselves returning the skeleton's embrace, eyes still wet but not watering anymore. They buried their face against Sans' chest, taking one last steadying breath before speaking. "Okay... I won't reset then... I promise."

The skeleton monster sighed in relief, relaxing his limbs and giving in into the embrace completely. "thanks kiddo."

They stayed like that for who knows how long, each one comforting one another wordlessly. A wave of weariness washed over them, both drained by the emotional confrontation. Sleepiness took over them, and soon monster and human alike were lying on the bed, chests rising and falling steadily, embrace still ever locked.

When Toriel and Papyrus came back to the room, they went quiet shushing one another, and stood by the door frame contemplating the tender scene displayed on that hospital bed in front of them.

Chapter Text

One more week later of staying at the hospital the doctors said Sans could finally go home.

It was a joy at first of course, Papyrus was so excited to be having his dear brother back he wouldn't stop rambling about how much spaghetti he would cook to celebrate it, and even Alphys said she would take a day off work to be there alongside Toriel. Everyone was happy to know that all those days of heavy incertitude were over now, and that it was a fact that eventually he would heal completely with no need of any more transfusions or monitoring at all —or at least heal as much as he could, obviously.

However, after all the cheer and laugh and noogies, questions flooded back again into Sans' mind; for a moment he wondered if everyone had forgotten that he had lost sight, or if they were just being that unconcerned about it, doing a flawless job avoiding the matter at all costs for the sake of his tranquility. For the past days he'd been so eager to leave that dull bed and get out of that hospital as soon as possible, but now that it was at reach, he felt unsure; did he really want to go back at the outside? The same outside that would now be so strange to him since it would only be a void of darkness full of terrifying noises? How was he supposed to make his way through?

But again, he decided not to mention those so unwanted questions.

It wasn't past noon when Nurse Flemming came to set everything off for him to check out. She took off the catheters from both his hand and soul aswell as the bandages from his skull. "You won't need the bandages anymore, a gauze will be enough, the crack's healing just perfectly, so you'll only need to change it every three days or so at least. In regards of your arm, you'll have to keep the sling for half a month, and once that time is over you come back here for its proper disposal, alright?"

Sans nodded, and Papyrus made an affirmative sound. When all the bandages were gone, Sans felt his skull a slight weight less heavy; the nurse gave a few more instructions and recomendations and then left them alone in the room. It was then that he raised his right hand —if a bit hesitant— and ran his phalanges across it, groping its surface and feeling the thin cracks spread all over the upper part of his skull like a spiderweb. A sickening feeling gripped at his soul, but he drowned it quickly with a tense smirk. "heh, seems things didn't turn out that well at the barber's."

"OH MY GOD SANS, CAN'T YOU BE SERIOUS FOR ONCE?"

"A-actually it d-d-doesn't l-look that b-b-bad, t-to be h-h-honest." If Alphys was stuttering more than usual, then it must have looked bad.

Sans shook his skull in amusement. "welp, whatever the audience says then."

"Do not worry my friend, Ms. Flemming just said it would heal on its own, I am sure it will not take long for that." Toriel supported, not sure if comedy was the healthiest way to deal with this matter in particular, despite her preferring it for countless of reasons.

"yeah, sure it will. thanks tori." He sighed.

"...I'm sure it's... Not as bad as it looked before..."

Everyone present suppressed a surprised gasp —Papyrus utterly failing— at the tiny voice that echoed in the room. Frisk had decided to speak —again—, and for such a mundane thing to say no less, it was quite the novelty for everyone, but Sans understood their intentions behind their actions. "a’right kid, i'll take your word." If they were truly going to make the effort to speak verbally for his sake, then maybe he could try and do an effort to stop being so pessimistic.

A slightly uncomfortable silence was settling when Sans decided he would spare the kid from that discomfort, but before he could say anything Alphys spoke. "Oh, b-by the way, I've g-got something for you Sans."

"huh?" He tilted his head in confusion, there was a shuffle and then something was pressed against his hand; it was hard, cold and way to thin. He held it for a while trying to guess what it could be but he found himself helpless. "and what's this, al?"

"I-it's a cane." She answered nervously. She really didn't want to mess up. "S-since... You know, y-you won't be able t-to see anymore, I-I tought it might be useful for you to h-have one." She paused, uncertain of how to take the skeleton's lack of a reaction. Sweat broke in her forehead before the rambling came. "I designed it m-myself. It's got a GPS that will register all the places you go over and it will save the routes you frequent the most in your phone so it will help you move around easier, and it also has a sensor that can detect objects that are near but not in the ground 'cause according to my researches most people with that condition have a little of trouble bumping against things that they don't feel with the cane since those things are not in the ground but hanging so it will warn you when there's anything near you could bump into and.... A-and..."

Alphys trailed off, noticing that she had started talking way too fast to be understood, and that everyone was just looking at her puzzled. "I-I'm sorry if I bothered you... I don't know why I t-thought it would be a g-good idea. Sorry, I d-didn't mean to s-sound rude..."

Sans wasn't exactly offended, he knew Alphys only meant to help the best way she knew, but it was just too much to take. It haven't crossed his mind that he would actually need a cane, there were a lot of things that haven't crossed his mind yet and that just scared him. So he didn't know how to answer right away at that, but hearing her starting to get into that self-loathe attitude of her because of his reaction, it made him feel guilty, so he forced a smile.

"no, sorry, it's not that. i think it'll be helpful, ya just took me off guard." He placed the cane in his lap, running a hand over it. "thanks alphys, really, i appreciate it."

She seemed to calm with his response, letting out a sigh of relief. "I-it's the least I can do." She gave a small smile, rubbing her hands. "It a-also includes a teaser on the end tip."

Sans raised a brow at her direction, to which Alphys just laughed awkwardly before being interrupted. "WHY WOULD YOU PUT A TEASER ON A CANE?"

"F-for safety. Y-you know what they say: b-better safe than sorry." She explained with shrinking motion. That wasn't quite a lie, given the situation that brought them to the hospital in the first place.

Sans nodded, quickly looking for a change of subject before someone could point that out. "so... i'm heading out all gowned or...?"

Papyrus cleared his metaphorical throat loudly. "WELL SANS, I HAVE TO SAY I REALLY ATTEMPTED AT FETCHING A NEW CHANGE OF CLOTHES FOR YOU, YOU BET THE GREAT PAPYRUS DID HIS BEST. BUT UNFORTUNATELY ALL OF YOUR CLOTHES ARE EITHER DIRTY OR LOST IN SOME PART OF YOUR ROOM'S MESS, SO I HAD TO BRING A CHANGE FROM MY OWN WARDROBE."

".........oh."

Frisk giggled, and Toriel sounded like holding back one of her own. "We will leave you two to do just that, we will wait for you in the hallway." She placed a hand on Frisk's shoulder and led them to the door, followed closely by Alphys.

"I-if you have any trouble, j-just let us know s-so we can help." The bespectacled monster said, closing the door behind her.

The two skeletons were left alone in the room; Papyrus took out the clothes he had brought and waited for his brother to move to the edge of the bed, legs hanging slack and cane set aside. "DO YOU WANT MY HELP?

"nah, i can do it pap, 't's just puttin' one leg into the hole 'nd then the other."

"YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN." He gestured towards the sling holding his brother's arm, but realized with a pang of dumbness that he couldn't register that kind of motions anymore. "I MEAN WITH THE SLING."

Sans lowered his head towards the sling. "oh... well maybe just a little."

Papyrus put the clothes on the bed and started undoing the sling. Once it was off, he told him to raise both arms and slipped down the upper part of the outfit, a hugely oversized sweater; Sans held up his hands with a goofy smirk, sleeves hanging loosely over them silly. He tried to pull them up but as soon as he attempted to get his left arm to move, he felt an uncomfortable tickle that threatened to turn into pain, he grimaced a bit, Papyrus noticing it immediately. "WHAT DID THE NURSE JUST SAY, SANS?"

"yeah 'lright, please yourself." He allowed his little brother to accommodate the sleeves, rolling them up until his hands were visible again.

"NOW, ARE YOU READY TO STAND?"

"huhhh..." He wanted to say yes, but the memory of his last attempt at getting up from that hospital bed made him hesitate.

"IT'S OKAY BROTHER. HOLD ONTO ME, I PROMISE I WON'T LET YOU FALL." Papyrus took Sans' good hand gently, encouraging him all along with a tender smile.

He gripped back with strength, sighing. "okay... here i go." He started to slid down, slowly and steady, until both his bare feet touched the cold floor. He swayed dangerously, his legs still numb but Papyrus was quick to keep him straight; Sans gave a shy laugh. "heh, you never let me down, do ya, bro?"

"SANS." Papyrus grunted exasperated, and Sans could almost hear him frowning.

The shorter skeleton raised one foot letting it feel its way to the hole of the shorts —which on him looked just like normal pants due to their absurd length— until he managed to fit both legs in their correspondent places. Sans then tried to stand up on his own in order to accommodate the huge shorts properly, in which he succeeded at the second attempt; still the shorts kept kind of slipping down his legs so Papyrus ended up having to adjust the strings that kept them in place as tight as possible. Luckily the tall skeleton brought for him the same pair of slippers he always wore, so it wasn't that hard to just slip his feet into them.

"THERE, ALL SET AND DONE." Papyrus commented after putting the sling back into place, retreating a little to take a look at Sans, his jaw instantly breaking into an amused smile at the silly sight of his way too short brother wearing clothes two times his size. "THE GREAT PAPYRUS SAVES THE DAY AGAIN, NYEHEHE!"

"hehe, that's why you're the coolest, bro. thanks." He smiled up at him; he started patting the mattress until he found the cane Alphys gave him, exploring it with his touch once more, now noticing that it was a retractable cane instead of a foldable one. He truly couldn't thank her enough for taking her time to do such a nice thing for him without being asked to do so, same selfless Alphys as ever, he guessed he would have to make it up to her somehow. Sans felt the handle with his phalanges, discovering a tiny button and pressing it, the cane instantly going at its full length. "woah, impressive."

"WOWEE, IT LOOKS SO COOL! AS LONG AS YOU DON'T POINT AT ME WITH IT..." Sans was holding the cane tilted a tittle upwards, so it was narrowly threatening Papyrus with its feared end tip.

He put it down immediately. "sorry."

The room became silent, Sans running a thumb idly across the handle, feeling utterly awkward, not quite wanting to start bumping everything around with the cane.

"SHALL WE HEAD OUT, BROTHER?" Papyrus began, taking him off his thoughts.

He shook his head slightly. "yeah, we oughta be going."

~ ~ ~ ~

Papyrus couldn't decide whether he should hold Sans close while they walked or give him space to manage himself on his own. The little skeleton began to walk, cane seeking across the ground inexpertly and hesitant, he was heading towards one of the walls when the tallest of them decided he should guide him instead of making him wander around the room aimlessly.
"HERE BROTHER, LET ME GUIDE YOU TO THE DOOR." He said as he placed one hand upon his shoulder and the other on his back. Sans tensed up, but offered no opposition.

"yeah, guess it'll be better that way, huh? way better than bumpin' against everything 'til I found the entrance, heh." He said, trying to hide his embarrassment; he didn't want to be treated like he couldn't do anything on his own but he couldn't say no to his brother's offer, besides, it surely was better and easier if he just let him lead the way straight to the door instead of loosing time jerking around.
Both of them made their way out of the room calmly, Papyrus matching his usual upbeat pace with his brother's slow one. Toriel, Alphys and Frisk were sitting on a row of chairs talking —the little human signing— among themselves when they noticed the two skeletons coming out of the door, instantly dropping their topic and standing to meet them. Alphys smiled in a way she only did when one of her projects was a total success; Frisk followed along Toriel who's smile grew into a tiny giggle when she saw her dear friend's attire, he looked just like those kids who inherited their big brother's clothing.

"Ready to leave, then?" Toriel asked gently, looking at them with sweet eyes.

"hell yeah." He just wanted to do this as quick as possible before he could have any second thoughts.
Papyrus nodded with a beaming smile.

The group walked along the white hallway, all the way Papyrus didn't let go of his brother. They took the elevator to the low level where they checked out, signing a few papers and so. At some points they crossed paths with Nurse Snowder who wished them his best. They made it to the hospital's park lot and finally reached Toriel's car, then she fetched the keys from her purse and unlocked the doors; Papyrus helped his brother to get in, taking a seat next to the window out of habit —always the best spot to fall asleep.

Nonetheless, Sans didn't fall asleep.

The radio was playing some chill song in an acceptable volume, filling the car with a comfortable aura, Toriel absently humming along. Papyrus was sitting between Frisk and Sans in the backseats, talking away enthusiastically. "...AND FIRST OF ALL, WHEN WE ARRIVE HOME, YOU WILL HAVE A PROPER MEAL COOKED BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SO YOU CAN RECALL WHAT THE REAL MEANING OF 'EATING' IS." All hospitals were well known for their poor meal choices, nonetheless, they've been bringing various treats and meals for the stout skeleton for all these past days he'd woken up, so he actually couldn't complain about it. "THEN, YOU'LL TAKE A SHOWER, YOU NEED IT AFTER ALL THIS TIME WEARING THE SAME CLOTHE."

"aw paps, do i hafta?" Sans pouted, not even the smallest glimpse of eagerness for taking that shower in him. "'m not that smelly."

"YOU SMELL OF CLEANING CHEMICALS AND THAT'S ANNOYING FOR MY NOSE!" Papyrus claimed, Frisk agreeing silently at his side.

"you don't have a nose, pap."

"YOU KNOW PERFECTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, SANS, AND I'M SURE EVERYONE'S NOSES THINK THE SAME WAY."

"I d-don't really mind actually." Alphys said from the passenger seat, peeking a little.

"That's because you lived in a lab, Alphys." Frisk signed towards her with a snickering, making her laugh awkwardly.

"Ehehehe... I guess." She mumbled, not quite wanting to accept out loud that she had grown to liking that kind of smell.

"see? alphys' fine with it." He stated gesturing with his good hand towards her general direction.

"WELL, I DON'T!"

"Come on Papyrus, I think you can give Sans a break from that at least for one day, can you not?" Toriel chimed in when she made a stop at one traffic light. "Besides, he should rest rather than take baths right now, it is odors from the doctor."

Sans laughed wholeheartedly, smile stretching a little bit more. "good one tori. i see you reek-ly paid attention, huh?" He quipped back, already expecting the huff beside him.

"AUGHH! OH MY GOD, DON'T START OVER IT! YOU SEE WHAT YOU'VE DONE MS. TORIEL???" Papyrus said exasperatedly, frowning in slight annoyance towards the laughing monster at the wheel.

"oh come on bro, ya hafta admit it makes totally scents." He emphasized the last word, leaning upon Papyrus a bit. Toriel was snorting loudly now, one hand holding the wheel steady and the other plastered upon her mouth. Alphys laughed shortly at the situation too along with Frisk.

"STOP IT! IT IS NOT A LAUGHING MATTER, I'M SERIOUS WHEN I SAY YOU NEED A SHOWER!" The youngest skeleton scolded, but the rest kept laughing. He was very serious about that, why couldn't they see how serious he was about making his brother take a bath after nearly a month of not cleaning himself? It wasn't good for him being allowed to be this careless, he couldn't allow it. "WHY AREN'T YOU TAKING IT SERIOUSLY?!"

The laughs started to grow dim until they died completely, a wave of embarrassment settling among them.
"I am sorry Papyrus, you are right, this is not a laughing matter." Toriel apologized, fixating her gaze upon the road ahead.

The car went uncomfortably silent; Papyrus looked down at his brother searching for a response, but then realized he had gone tense, his hand gripping a little harder at the cane's handle, shoulders slumped and smile a bit forced facing forward. Papyrus didn't know that Sans was trying to desperately hold onto any tiny bit of comedy that would come out of the situation, whatever it was, it didn't matter, if it was something funny, he would hold onto it, not wanting to think seriously about what they were going to do once home, once he wasn't forced to stay still in one place all day, the simple idea of it filling him with anxiety. That, there was no way Papyrus could know, but he did know that maybe he was a bit too rough regarding his brother's puns, he knew he used them to entertain —annoy— others as well as to avoid topics he didn't feel comfortable with. So maybe Sans was indeed trying to avoid something, but Papyrus didn't believe this was a good moment to ask about it.

He sighed. "BUT I GUESS IT'S OKAY... MAYBE YOU CAN TAKE THAT SHOWER TOMORROW, IF YOU WANT TO." He slid an arm over Sans' shoulders bringing him closer in a side hug. "IT'S FAIR THAT YOU GET TO RELAX TODAY, AFTER ALL IT'S YOUR FIRST DAY HOME AFTER SO LONG!"

Sans let out a breath and closed his eyesockets, leaning his skull against his brother's battle body. "yeah, that sounds better bro, thanks."
Frisk smiled compasive and leaned onto Papyrus, joining the hug and nuzzling against the tall skeleton's scarf. Alphys smiled at the sight and felt a little relieved, she gave a side glance at Toriel to find out that she was less tense too, looking at them through the rear-view mirror.

--------

All of a sudden the car stopped, signaling they have arrived to their destination. As soon as Toriel parked in, Papyrus practically yanked Sans out of the car, unintentionally making him stumble a little. The taller skeleton placed a hand on his brother's shoulder once more and walked him to the entrance; Frisk quickly jumped out of the car and ran to grab at Sans' arm, smiling up at him with a gentle squeeze. The stumbling little skeleton felt a bit overwhelmed; he could make it to the door without smashing himself nose first against what? Thin air? He wasn't that useless yet, he could walk on his own, there was no need for them to treat him like a gimp... But, then again, they were just being nice. He knew Papyrus just wanted to make sure he wouldn't get hurt again, and Frisk just wanted to let him know they were there with him without having to say a word. They both were trying to help. Why he wouldn't want their help?

At that thought Sans sighed, and let them do what they thought would be best.

They entered the house, soon followed by Alphys and Toriel clicking the door shut. Sans breathed in, taking in all the familiar scents that made his home: dry wood, faint burnt pasta, butterscotch; he hadn’t noticed how much he'd missed those.

Suddenly a high-pitched note chimed startling everyone in the room; they all turned to the source of the nerdy tune, finding Alphys digging deep into one of her lab coat pockets to take out her phone. "Ehehe, sorry, t-that's Undyne. I should pick up n-now." She smiled sheepishly, going past the room to the hallway.

"Perhaps her shift is already over, she said she would come after that, so we better start preparing lunch." Toriel stated towards the remaining trio. "I will be in the kitchen if you two need anything. Papyrus, are you coming?"

The named skeleton doubted for a moment, wondering if he really should go help with the cooking, or stay with his brother and the human, but eventually Sans spoke up, noticing his hesitation. "yeah pap, you said you'd cook your worldwide famous spaghetti." He grinned. "'sides, last time you said you've improved it."

Papyrus argued internally with himself, but eventually decided that it would be okay, and that indeed, he had to show Sans how much of an improvement he had made since the last time he cooked spaghetti. "ALRIGHT. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL HELP IN THE KITCHEN IN ORDER TO PREPARE THAT SPAGHETTI!"

"go for it bro."

After Papyrus left for the kitchen, Sans and Frisk stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, the kid fidgeting with their hands not sure what to do while they waited for lunch. Normally they would suggest to watch TV until Toriel called up on them but... That would be a stupid idea right now. Apparently the skeleton next to them was having the same considerations, only humming low searching for something to say.

"man, what a way to not break the ice, huh?" He said with a half-hearted smile, thrumming his fingers against the cane. Frisk laughed bashfully to not let silence settle once again. "think i'm just gonna lay down in the couch for a while, i kinda miss it."

He started making his way to the aforementioned couch, and Frisk was about to take his arm again to guide him when Sans moved away from them. "kid, i really appreciate that you wanna help but... i think i can walk a few meters without fallin', ya know?" Right, he needed to do this; for a moment Frisk felt ashamed for implying that Sans couldn't do anything on his own now with what his condition was; it downed on them that maybe they were unintentionally acting like all that people who have thought they couldn't make their own decisions just because they refused to speak. It always frustrated them, so maybe Sans wanted to prove himself capable of doing at least simple things, and they were just making him frustrated. So Frisk withdrew their hand and just watched as Sans dragged the end of the cane from side to side searching for the furniture that was near the couch—although he gave up seconds later since it started to bump against everything endlessly—, right arm slightly outstretched looking for security. Finally his hand reached the arm couch, he grinned at himself and flopped down the cushions, setting the cane aside and accommodating himself.

Silence stretched in the room longer than any of them both would have liked, Frisk eventually had taken a seat at the other end of the couch and was currently fidgeting with their fingers, the distant sounds from the kitchen being the only ones there. Sans’ eyes were closed but he was slightly shifting in his spot; it didn’t matter if one was blind, anyone would be able to feel the discomfort building up and practically sense the quick glances that the kid was shooting at him. He spoke with an awkward tone. “so… you wanna watch TV or something?” Frisk turned their head towards the skeleton, squinting their eyes with confusion. “uhm, yeah, don’t give me that look kid, i just know you want to, so just go for it already, don’t mind me.” It would be a thousand times better than that suffocating pitying silence.

A few beats passed and the TV flared to life, filling the air with some racket of sorts, a football game probably, they were always loud. Frisk tried to pay attention to the people shouting in the screen, deciding to give Sans some space; it wasn't long when they chose to glance at him again, only to find him snoring softly. They felt some kind of relief filling their chest as they took in the expression of the monster beside them; he really deserved that tranquility right now.

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

Undyne ended her call with Alphys as soon as the house shared by Toriel, Frisk and the skeleton brothers came into view. She knocked loudly against the entrance door and was greeted seconds later by her girlfriend, who wore a cautious face and was already shushing her. "Hey, what's the matter? I always knock like this." She complained swatting lightly at the claw in her lips.

"Sans is f-finally asleep." Alphys murmured. The taller girl pocked her head in to take a look at the living room, and saw Frisk waving at her, next to a lump of huge clothes that was breathing softly. Yeah, that was definitely Sans.

"Oh well, at least it's good to know he's well enough to still nap that easily." Undyne commented in a lower voice. She closed the door behind her and looked directly at Alphys. "Hun, where are Papyrus and Toriel? I need to speak with them."

"O-oh, they're in the k-kitchen making lunch." The fish monster started walking towards that room, Alphys following close, while Frisk tried to watch the scene as much as they could. “Did something happen?”

“Not much actually, but I think they have to know about this.”

“KNOW ABOUT WHAT?” The two girls had already reached the threshold to the Kitchen, and Papyrus was looking pointedly at the tallest. Toriel turned from where she was standing in front of the stove, stopping the stirring in the pot and quirking an eyebrow.

"I talked to Asgore and some partners at the station. It seems that yeah, what those cops told us is true, there have been some humans stalking and ‘mildly’ harassing monsters.” She emphasized the word with a snarl. “The news hadn’t said anything about it ‘cause they decided that they were just minor cases. Until now… Of course.” Her gaze went to the ground to avoid the pang of pain crossing Papyrus’ eyesockets. Even now almost a month after the incident, there was still a lot of people —monsters and humans alike— protesting about why nobody hadn’t taken action in the matter before; although all of them made sure not to spread much information about what happened with Sans, the news found their own way to get away with it and took it as a tabloid new to gain more audience, because seriously, who doesn't like a good confrontation between two social groups? Just the perfect rivalry everyone craves.

The room was full of discomfort. Undyne sighed. "One thing is sure: no one's happy with this, and if it doesn't get solved soon it'll bring more problems."

"Asgore knew about this..." the coldness in Toriel's voice was sharp. "And he did not do anything until now?"

Undyne perked up quickly. "Yeah he did, and he also DID try to talk to the ambassadors about it, but as I said, they labelled all those attacks as minor, and they didn't even make proper reports about it. But you can't quite ignore a skeleton with a freaking hole in the skull who was also punched to blindness, can ya?!"

Silence again, except for the boiling soup in the stove. They'd been definitely avoiding to mention that matter at all by pure instinct; the heavy words lingered. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell like that. It's just..." She ran a hand over her face and hair. "I'm so angry that they tried to hide all of this, and I just want to beat the shit outta them all."

"CAN WE... NOT TALK ABOUT IT NOW?" Papyrus sounded so unlike him, hesitant and tight. "I KNOW THAT RIGHT IN THIS MOMENT, THERE'S PEOPLE OUT THERE TAKING CARE OF THIS NOW THAT EVERYONE KNOWS. BUT... I'D RATHER LIKE TO TAKE CARE OF MY BROTHER FOR THE MOMENT." He looked up, fidgeting with his gloves and glancing between them. Toriel relaxed her shoulders and gave a solemn smile.

"Of course, my friend. I am sorry for earlier; I must admit I am not in my right mind either." She made the magical fire under the pot gutter out and started preparing a bowl of soup for everyone.

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

The rest of the day passed in a strange mix of warm awkwardness; once the soup alongside spaghetti were served, they went to wake Sans up. It took a few moments to convince him that he wasn't sleeping anymore rather than having one of those weird dreams where you can’t really tell where you are; Toriel would have laughed at the hilariousness of the moment if not for the implications. When they were already sitting at the large dining table, the shrill earsplitting clattering of silverware wouldn't stop with every attempt of Sans at holding them right with his non-dominant hand; Papyrus offered to help but the shorter brother just gave a small grunt and said that he could manage on his own, it took a little longer than normal —clumsily and noisily groping across the plate— but he left it clean. Undyne said she had to return to her job and Alphys decided that she would walk with her to go to their house, they said their goodbyes soon after.

Papyrus offered himself to do the dishes while Frisk helped him to dry; that left Toriel and Sans sitting alone in the living room couch. He was —as usual— laying across the cushions, legs propped against the arm-couch and head barely brushing Toriel’s skirt; he had his eyesoskets closed, and a gentle paw-like hand was resting upon his shoulder. “How are you doing, Sans?”

Out of habit, he cracked one socket open as if it would make a difference for him. “mhh? welp, i’m good, i soupose the soup really helped my bro’s spaghetti actually.” He grinned and placed his right hand over his stomach.

She chuckled in her palm, but instantly her voice took that seriousness that she only used in rare important occasions. “But I am serious, how are you feeling?”

He was still for a few seconds, not really knowing what to answer. He was feeling fine, wasn’t he? Fine enough for someone who just returned home after missing it so much, although not being able to see it; see anything at all admittedly. Damn, how was he supposed to feel? To be honest, he wasn’t sure. Back in the first days at the hospital he felt pessimistic, and lately he’d been feeling mostly annoyed for all the things he insisted to do and actually couldn’t. But right now? It was hard to tell, he should be happy for getting back, for being with his family and friends and for… being alive at all? Yeah, maybe even for that too. He should be grateful, but he couldn’t bring himself to do that; his mind was wrapped in a thick fog and he wasn’t ready to break through it yet. So, he just sighed.

“’m fine, really tori. just a little tired.”

The goat lady nodded and started to rub his good shoulder softly. “You know? We could clean your bedroom one of these days.” She noted with a sudden change of tone in her voice. “Since you will need time to recover, you could use a nice place to do so; me and Papyrus could help you clear your floor at least.” Backward-looking maybe they should have done that before Sans arrived, but to be honest, they spent most of their time rather visiting him or being way too destressed about the whole situation.

Nonetheless, Sans appreciated the change of subject and gave a lopsided smile. “heh, sure. i bet if i tried to enter m’ room right now it would be worse than a mine field.”

That earned him a wholehearted snort. Seems he’s still goat humor on his side, after all.

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

“SANS, YOU’RE DEFINETELY SLEEPING IN MY ROOM.”

“you sure bro? you know how messy i am when i sleep.”

“YES, I KNOW I WILL HAVE TO ENDURE YOUR INFURIATING DROOLING ALL NIGHT, BUT UNTIL YOUR HAZARDOUS ROOM GETS CLEANED AT LEAST IN THE BARE MINIMUM, YOU WILL SLEEP HERE.”

Toriel and Papyrus had agreed that they would start with their mission of transforming Sans’ room into an inhabitable place in the weekend, Frisk seemed eager to help aswell, calling it ‘The greatest quest ever by far.’ Sans just listened amusedly at Papyrus maundering about how many delicate procedures it would take. When the time came to go upstairs, right before he could say a word of complain, Papyrus had already scooped him in his arms to make the trek to his room. Now he was already settled in the same old race car bed, wearing a huge nightgown that almost engulfed him completely —borrowed from The Great Papyrus, of course— and waiting for his brother to finish putting on his own pajamas. “so, do i get to drool on your pillow?”

“OF COURSE NOT, YOU’RE USING YOUR OWN PILLOW FOR THAT!” He huffed.

“but what’s the fun in that?”

He didn’t get an answer to that; he startled with a little yelp when Papyrus flopped himself down on the mattress making him bounce slightly. He gave a triumphal “NYEH!” as he accommodated the sheets above them.
A pause, then the unusualness hit.

“bro.”

“YES, SANS?”

“dontcha want your bed time story?” The blankets made a shuffling noise as Papyrus sit and let them fall on his lap. “i mean, i know i haven’t read to you since-” He stopped himself before he made a mistake. “since like, almost four weeks ago, so i guess you gotta miss it.”

There was a beat of hesitation, he could hear Papyrus’ still gloved hands wriggling. “SANS, YOU DON’T HAVE TO, I KNOW THESE LAST DAYS HAVE BEEN VERY TIRESOME, SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO FORCE YOURSELF, OKAY?”

There it was again, that stupid pity; he tried to keep the frustration out of his voice. “pap, you perfectly know that i love bein’ lazy, but i wanna read to you.” He gave what he hoped was a kind smile. “come on bro, take the opportunity now that i ain’t sleepy yet.”

“B-BUT…” Papyrus stopped and cleared his throat. “HOW ARE YOU PLANNING TO READ TO ME? YOU… YOU CAN’T.” He finished with a small voice, barely audible above the looming silence.

A sharp twinge came to Sans’ soul and a frown crossed his brow before he could cover it with a neutral face. Heck, it was something so obvious, why did he have to say ‘read’? He fully well knew it would lead to this, this insufferable discomfiture, and now surely, he was making Papyrus feel guilty about it. He had to fix it, he had already opened his big mouth, so he had to do something to make it better.

“and who said i need to read it?” He sat up leaning against the headboard. “come on, hand me that book.” Both of them remained where they were, and just as Sans was beginning to think he’d made an ass of himself, Papyrus got up and headed to the bookcase next to the door, returning almost immediately, as if afraid to change his mind during that short time. He sat again in the bed and gave the book to Sans, then he reaccommodated himself and the blankets he had thrown.

“ALRIGHT, BUT JUST BECAUSE I APROVE YOUR ATTEMPTS AT NOT BEING LAZY.”

Sans snorted and scooted against his brother making himself comfortable. Setting the book on his lap he felt the edge of the pages, and opened the first one; he didn’t need to see to picture the colorful image of a meadow under a bright blue sky full of pristine clouds, and Fluffy Bunny peeking their head out of a burrow. The blackish letters in the top of the page appeared in his mind, and he started to recite the story from memory.

He made funny voices when the characters talked, making Papyrus giggle and lean over the book to see the pictures better, always careful of not crushing him at all. And just as he finished the story, they both fell asleep.

Yeah, he liked that surviving piece of routine

Chapter Text

Sans had supposed that finally sleeping in somewhere familiar would have helped him, but apparently his insomnia decided that that wasn’t happening tonight. It was horrible being in the dark while still being awake, it was unnatural and annoying and he had no idea what time it was when he woke up; but at least now he had Papyrus’ serene breathing to occupy his mind with. Even in his sleep and with his arms entangled around him he was skillfully avoiding his broken arm. The ever-careful Papyrus, heh, he sure was too good to be real.

But being awake wasn’t the worst part of his night though, the worst part was that regardless of being conscious his mind kept slipping back to old and new memories; this time they weren’t exactly frightful, but more nostalgic. He would remember times like that one when he and his little brother used to go buy nice cream back in the Underground and read out loud what their wraps said, or that one when he would cackle at Grillby’s amusing frown every time he said a truly awful pun, or that other one when he would spend hours sitting at his telescope gazing at the glistening rocks in the ceiling, also about that one where he thought that sun-gazing would be a good idea and it gave him a sneezing fit, or the times when he and Toriel watched cheap movies just for the sake of laughing, or that one time when—

See? That’s what he hated, his mind would just keep mocking him about what he now lacked, it would keep reminding him of all the things that would now be impossible, all the things he wouldn’t be able to do anymore, all the things he had truly lost. Stars, why wasn’t his laziness helping him right now?

His sockets felt damp all of a sudden. Crap, he can’t cry, not while being here next to Papyrus, it would be unfair for him; he was alive, what else could he ask for? He already told that to himself far too many times that day, he should be grateful! He was the one to uphold no more resets in the first place! Wasn’t that enough?

All that turmoil of emotions was threatening to break right there and then. Sans couldn’t let that happen. He shut his sockets tight, clenched his teeth, buried his face against what he assumed was Papyrus’ chest, took in a shaky breath, and then a soft long sigh came out. That was it, nothing outrageous. He could handle it, just deep breaths.

At the umpteenth breath, he fell asleep again.

Someone was gently nudging him. It was still dark, why would anyone wake him up in the middle of the night? Was it that he wasn’t quiet enough and he managed to stir his brother? Oh what a bad bed buddy he was. He gave a feeble groan and turned to —try to— face the source of the shoving, making a little effort to pay attention to what they were saying.

“…ANS? SANS? ARE YOU AWAKE YET?”

It took Sans a few seconds to properly register what Papyrus had just asked. “nhhh… what time’s it?”

“IT’S ALMOST ELEVEN IN THE MORNING, BROTHER. YOU WERE SLEEPING LIKE A TRUNK!”

Woah, really? He didn’t feel like he’s slept anything at all.

“uh… sorry bro, guess i didn’t notice it was day ‘lready.”

“YOU NEVER DO ANYWAY, BUT IT’S OKAY. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, DECIDED TO ALLOW YOU SLEEPING THIS LA—”

The younger skeleton stopped abruptly, leaving the place dead silent for a few heavy seconds. Sans didn’t quite understand why, but suddenly a pair of gloved hands was holding the sides of his skull a little too rough for his liking, sharp turning him to one side and locking him in place. “woah pap, what’s the matter?”

But Papyrus kept silent, squinting his own eyesockets at him, minutely inspecting his face?

Just as sudden as he grabbed him, he let him go; Sans fell slightly backwards against the pillow he’d been lying down before, utterly befuddled and not knowing what to do as he heard his brother’s rushed steps down the stairs. He sat there trying to think of a reason to set Papyrus off like that, was it a bad thing? Was it something he did and didn’t realize it before? He brought a hand to his face but nothing seemed out of place, his cracks were just the same, in any case the bags under his sockets were a bit more pronounced but nothing serious. So what just happened?

As if the universe had have the kindness to stop his fretting, Papyrus’ voice exploded from downstairs loud enough for him to hear clearly.

“YES DOCTOR?! IT’S ME, PAPYRUS! SANS’ BROTHER!... NO! NOTHING BAD HAPPENED! OR I THINK SO… NO, IT’S NOT EXACTLY A PROBLEM!... NO! I—!... DOCTOR, IT’S HIS EYELIGHTS!... YES, INDEED, THEY ARE BACK!”

Oh. Oh, so this is all about that. Damn, maybe that was something he should have mentioned before, specially to Papyrus of all people; how could he have forgotten such an important detail? Well done, numbskull.

Sans straightened again, hearing how with every word that Doctor Loua was surely explaining through the phone with all the pity of the world, Papyrus’ hopes ebbed away, just as fast as they’ve blossomed. Guilt embraced him, he knew the exact feeling his brother was bearing right now, he’d felt it the first time a nurse noticed his eyelights were back, hazy but undeniable there, it was an ephemeral and brittle hopefulness that quickly nestled within his ribcage, and just like that it was shattered and turned to nothing the moment they proved that it meant nothing, it was just his magic trying to reach a part of his body that hadn’t any remaining connections, something akin to a ‘phantom sensation’, or so humans called it.

He heard his brother returning far slower than before, feet almost dragging across the floor.

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

Papyrus ended the call as soon as the doctor said their last apology, but he didn’t dare to return to his room rightaway. He needed a moment to process this; it was nothing, apparently the fact that Sans’ eyelights finally showed themselves was something more normal than he thought. He lowered his phone and pinched his bridge bone, they already said that there was no chance for him to recover his sight, why did he even doubt it? Facts can't be changed, usually.

Stars, he must have looked ridiculous. He needed a few more minutes to regain his composure, for the sake of his brother and his own.

Eventually Papyrus decided that maybe he was taking way more minutes than he'd first thought. He placed his phone on the kitchen table and began the walking back upstairs; he stood before the room's door for a few short beats until he gathered enough will to open it, knowing full well he had to enter despite not having the littlest idea of what he would say and not wanting to think too much about it. Sans was still sitting on the bed, facing nowhere in particular and fidgeting with the hem of the night-gown. Papyrus made a sound that was supposed to be the start of an explanation —or excuse, he wasn't sure— but it died in his metaphorical throat, having second thoughts about what he was going to say. Before he could start stuttering anything more, the shorter skeleton in the room lightly hawked.

"uhh... they said that sometimes when... when my magic's a little higher, it can sorta... kinda get confused and make my soul believe they're still working, so..." His eyelights kept wildly darting everywhere while he spoke, desperately looking their way out of that strange state and catch something to focus on, uselessly. "so... they'd show up and act like some dumb litterbugs trapped in a jar and..." Sans started trailing off, every word sounding more bungling than the previous one. "huh, sorry, now i sound dumb. i should have said something before... before you noticed." The guilt was palpable in his words and that made Papyrus react.

"OH, DON'T WORRY BROTHER, IT'S FINE, I SHOULD'VE ASKED FIRST. THE GREAT PAPYRUS USUALLY NEVER MAKES ASSUMPTIONS."

"heh, 'f course. after all, assuming just makes an ass of you and me, right, bro?"

He truly should have said something about the bad words rule in the house, but it was the perfect way out of that uncomfortable conversation, so he let it slide. "ARE YOU HUNGRY? MS. TORIEL LEFT SOME SCRAMBLED EGGS FOR YOU IN THE FRIDGE; I CAN HEAT IT UP IF YOU WANT."

"yeah, that would be great. thanks paps." He wasn't hungry, to say the truth, but Sans had learned to never refuse a breakfast made by Tori, no matter how late he woke up.

"PERFECT! BUT FIRST, WE MUST GET YOU DRESSED." The way he stated it made it sound like it was the greatest event of the century. Still, Sans didn't think it was worth of that much fussing.

"i think i can give doing that on my own a shot today." He smiled to the side, eyelights briefly fixing on Papyrus before they continued with their flutter.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT, SANS. YOU'LL RUIN YOUR CAST. THE BETTER YOU TAKE CARE OF THAT ARM; THE FASTER IT WILL HEAL."

It wasn't a lie, but still. "i know, but i think i feel better today. i can do it."

Papyrus went to his drawers to fetch another change of the shortest clothes he owned; he found a purple top shirt alongside with a pair of white shorts that would yet fit Sans long enough to look like a t-shirt and trousers. He placed them next to Sans, and started undoing the sling. "oh come on, pap. ya don't trust me?"

"I DON'T TRUST YOUR SLEEPY JUDGEMENT, THANK YOU."

"i can do it."

"STAY STILL, SANS."

Thinking about it again, it was too early in Sans' day to keep an argument, so he gave up with a yielding "fine." and let his brother do what he needed; wriggling out of the night-gown and following the same steps they did in the hospital, it didn't take long for him to be fully dressed. As soon as his sling was back into place, Papyrus gave an approving huff and told him to wait, walking towards somewhere. Sans slid off the bed swaying a bit, and flattened the shirt with his right hand; he stood locked to the ground for some seconds, but decided that the sooner he started walking, the sooner he'd be downstairs. With an arm outstretched he started dragging his feet across the wooden floor; he tried to picture his brother's room in his mind, he had been there enough times and it was always tidy, so it should be easy as a pie. He walked around the bed-frame, remembering to avoid a small gap between the clapboards where they'd tripped a few times before when they'd recently moved in and were still getting used to the house. So far so good, Sans hadn't stepped into anything yet, and just when he thought it would be a good idea to walk faster, he ran into something, making him stagger backwards. Let a bolt hit him if he couldn't swear there wasn't any walls that way, he was sure!

"SANS! I TOLD YOU TO WAIT, I DIDN'T EVEN TAKE THAT LONG!" Said the "wall" that stopped him, holding him by the shoulder to help him keep steady.

"ugh, but i almost made it, bro. i was just getting the hang of following the mysterious paths of the l-"

“NO PUNS ABOUT HUMAN CREEDS BROTHER, IT’S RUDE AND WE’VE TALKED IT OUT ALREADY!” A finger over his teeth shushed him, that didn’t stop him from snickering though, knowing full well those jokes where banned. “HERE, I BROUGHT YOU THIS.” Papyrus pushed a thin metallic thing into Sans’ chest, and now it only took him a matter of seconds to register that it was his cane.

Sans let out a bashful half-laugh. “ehh, i don’t think i’ll need this inside the house pap, i know how to make it to the kitchen even with my sockets closed. experience talking here, by the way.” He added the last as a humor resort, but hearing it said loud and clear, it just sounded lame. Papyrus fought a grimace back even when he knew Sans wouldn’t see it.

“NONSENSE! DR. ALPHYS SAID YOU HAVE TO GET USED TO IT, AND THE BEST WAY FOR THAT TO HAPPEN IS YOU USING IT ALL THE TIME YOU CAN.”

“welp, in that case i’m looking forward to using the shower.”

There was a pause filled with silence before the loud and exasperated “NYEEH!!!” came. Sans chuckled even harder.

----------

Being honest, they haven't wanted to go to school today at all, and for good reasons. Frisk had told Toriel that they wanted to stay home to make Sans company, be there if he needed something or just to be sure he was okay, but she had told them that Papyrus had already called off work to do that, and that maybe it was best —despite her own worries to do just that— to give the brothers some space to figure out on their own in the house.

In the end, Frisk relented; at least that way they'd have a chance to speak with the flower monster, since apparently, he had started to prefer staying at Asgore's house more often. The little human knew just fine that Flowey was well aware of the fact that even though the skeleton's memories of past resets weren't exactly the clearest, he could still hold onto the most important —best and worst alike—moments, so despite his harsh attitude, he seemed to have chosen to better step aside of the whole problem, always making his best to avoid talking about it. Nonetheless, Frisk still thought they should keep making peace. If making peace meant ignoring each other's bullshit the best they could, that is.

As soon as they arrived to school with Toriel and she just left to attend to some work in her office, Frisk was practically ambushed by a spate of fur, nearly knocking them out of their feet. They were all making questions at the same time, and it all sounded like an unintelligible squeaking babble.

“Frisk! Frisk! We heard that Sans came back to your home yesterday!”

“How is he doing?”

“We wanna visit!!!”

“Can you tell him that we miss his hotdogs?!”

“Frrrrrrrisk!”

It was understandable, really, knowing that all the bunnies from the inn had grown up watching ‘the wacky skeletons do their thing’; they’ve been worried sick when they first heard the news that the shortie was hurt, and that he had to spend time at the hospital, Frisk could recall just how thick their letters made Toriel’s folder wishing Sans to get better, even though they didn’t know for sure just how bad his state was. So, Frisk understood, and made their best to raise a hand asking for silence and space, so they could talk properly. It took a moment but eventually the bunnies calmed down, backing down from the crushed human and almost bouncing in place nervously; Frisk could now actually see that Monster Kid had been in that crowd too.

“First of all, good morning to you too.” They signed smiling a tad amused. “Sans is fine, the doctor said that he’s going to be okay, and right now he needs to rest, so I don’t think that visiting is the best idea right now.”

One of the youngest bunnies gave a disappointed pout at hearing that they wouldn’t be visiting soon. “But he’s always resting.”

That earned him a slight jab from one of his older siblings. “Shhh! The doctor said so, and when the doctor says so, it is so.”

Frisk actually giggled at the phrasing. They spent a few more minutes answering questions for the bunnies, telling them about how long it would take for a broken bone to fully heal, how they’d have to take care of his cast, and how they’d make sure against all odds that he eats healthy in the meantime. They never mentioned anything about how they would have to help him learn how to get back to normal without his sight; they felt like it wasn’t their place to tell others about that little detail.

It was the sound of the bell indicating that classes would be starting soon what finally broke their conversation. MK and the other bunny monsters waved their good byes while asking Frisk to say hi to the skeletons from them; waving back, they were just about to head to their classroom when they noticed that there was still one of the eldest bunnies standing there, hands behind her back and gaze locked to the floor. Frisk walked to her, signing something to catch her attention. The bunny looked at them, trying to smile apologetically with her tiny whiskers twitching.

“Uhm… Uhm… My auntie made these f-for… For your friend.” She shoved a little paper bag into Frisk’s hands, almost immediately retreating her touch. “She says that… She hopes- No… That he better gets well soon, or… Or else, she will have to look for a better client to buy her cinnamon bunnies.” The bunny said the last like she’d been practicing it, and seeing how shy she was acting, maybe she did. “M-mom wishes him to get better, too.”

Frisk held the bag for a moment, noticing that it had a crooky smiley face drawn with black marker; a warm smile came to their face. “Thank you. And don’t worry, I’ll tell him that.”  With that, the bunny nodded and rushed towards the way her siblings had gone before. Frisk stared at the paper bag, thinking about just how many monsters turned out to know Sans and actually give a thought for him, it reminded them once more of how close they all were, and not just for living in an enclosed space for so long.

They placed the bag inside their back pack, careful to not crush its contents.

The day passed by as normal as expected; obviously several monsters —and even a scarce number of humans— asked about how the punny skeleton was doing, and that if they needed anything they could always lend a helping hand. Frisk would always answer the same, that he needed rest and he’d be okay; at the end of the classes, they were starting to believe it.

The kids were already heading out of the school while Frisk decided to sit at one of the benches in the front garden to wait for Toriel. It was no novelty, the goat monster tended to stay a few more minutes after the last ring of the bell to help her youngest students to clear doubts about the last assignment they’d get; and it was no novelty either to find the former king of the Underground taking care of the bushes and watering the flowers of the place, he used to do that in his free time whenever he wasn’t at any meeting with the surface ambassadors. So, Frisk approached to say hello. Asgore was just cutting a bush in the shape of an oddly familiar dog, when they came by and tugged slightly at his shirt; when the large mass of fur turned, they spotted Flowey with his tendrils wrapped around the others wrist, looking rather surprised to see the human. Asgore smiled kindly and kneeled down momentarily to ruff at their hair. “Good evening Frisk, it is a pleasure to see you. Are you waiting for Toriel?” They nodded, trying to re-comb their hair but unable to hide the amused smirk it caused. The taller monster looked down to Flowey, expression still gentle. “Are you not going to greet Frisk, young one?”

The flower fidgeted a little, but eventually his answer came reluctantly. “ Hi, Frisk.”

They waved shortly, and then started to sign to Asgore, although they were still looking at the other. “Has he been behaving? He promised he’d curse less, so I hope he’s been keeping his word.”

“How can you doubt me?! You fool! Of course, I’ve been doing nothing more than to sit still in my pot!” Flowey sneered, and immediately covered his mouth with a frown. “And I’m not apologizing for that!”

Asgore chuckled and shook his head, then placed a hand over Flowey's head tu rub his petals. “It is still a work in progress, but he is managing even if he does not admit it."

Of course, the alluded growled but decided to stay quiet. The former king attempted to return to his task of cutting the bush, but just as he was raising the scissors he lowered them again, looking at Frisk with a strange expression.

"And... How has your friend Sans been?"

Of course Asgore would want to know, Frisk simply knew since the beginning of their conversation that he would; they also knew just well that if it was his call, the goat monster would've been at the hospital the day before, when Sans got out; but wether he had the time between meetings or not, he wouldn't have shown up when he knew perfectly how Toriel felt about the whole situation, and that's taking in account that the state of their relationship wasn't good in the slightest before all that ordeal. Frisk didn't blame him, humans could be so complex when it came to laws, and even more so if it was about laws that had to do with monsters.

"He's quite fine. Hasn't been moving around too much but he's managing." Since Asgore knew about what the short skeleton had lost, Frisk didn't have to lie this time. "We left him sleeping this morning as always, I just hope Papyrus kept his word of not waking him up too early."

Flowey seemed to be trying to untune from the conversation, he hadn't want a single care in the matter after all. Asgore hummed. "And how have you been?"

Frisk perked up a little, not expecting the question. The other monster noticed the confusion in their gaze.

"We all know you always prefer signing over talking, and that you feel more confident and comfortable when you communicate that way. This is a new situation that changes things completely, and I can do nothing but think that might be hard for you." His eyes turned apologetic. "So, if you want to talk about it with someone, I am always willing to listen."

Frisk looked pointedly towards their shoes, thinking of a proper answer, but it never came. So, they just signed. "I'm managing too."

Asgore nodded, and resumed cutting the bush, both of them standing in an almost agreed silence until Frisk heard Toriel calling for them. They waved a quick good bye and rushed to climb into the van, ready for the ride home.

Twenty minutes later they were already parking. The little human practically jumped down and hurried towards the door, pushing it all the way in, and stood for a few seconds in the threshold, trying to see if the skeleton brothers were in the living room. The clatter of a pot being fervently smashed answered their question, and they headed to the kitchen, Toriel already getting inside and taking the time to close the door. "Greetings! We have arrived home."

Frisk entered the kitchen just in time to see a splash of marinara sauce spread across one of the walls coming from the huge pot Papyrus was stirring. "HELLO MS. TORIEL, FRISK! I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA IF I SAVED YOU THE TASK OF COOKING LUNCH, SO I DECIDED TO TAKE CARE OF THAT MATTER!"

"Oh, thank you Papyrus, that is indeed very thoughtful of you." Toriel smiled, she was used by now to the disasters that would come each time Papyrus cooked, and knowing that the tall skeleton always took the time to properly clean his workspace, she didn't worry that much anymore. "And I see someone finally decided to take a shower."

Looking around, Frisk spotted Sans sitting at the kitchen table, hunched over and resting his chin upon his right arm —and surprisingly without the smallest stain of any of the gooey ingredients his brother was throwing around; you wouldn't notice that he'd already showered if not for the towel loosely hanging over his skull being the only indication of it; for some strange reason —which Sans blamed on 'Metaton'— Papyrus always insisted in doing that after showers, claiming that it helped to keep his 'goodlookingnes' looking great and cool, and... Something about the wind blowing through his hair smoother? Sans surely acceded to wear it only for Papyrus' tranquility.

-----

He smiled lopsidedly, turning his head a little to direct his face towards where Toriel's voice had come. "heeeya..." He barely raised a finger as a mockery of a wave, too much work to lift a whole hand. "i wasn't that smelly, but paps practically made me to."

"I WILL NOT TAKE ANY MORE COMPLAININGS FROM YOU, SANS! YOU KNEW YOU HAD TO TAKE THAT SHOWER SOONER OR LATER, AND THE GREAT PAPYRUS RATHER PREFERS IT TO BE SOONER!"

Toriel "Well, I am sure it did you well, one always feels fresher after a good shower." Sans heard her voice coming closer, followed by the muted thump of her purse being placed somewhere.

"oh but tori, i thought you 'lready knew that my bones're more than chill. i didn't need extra freshness." Of course, his little brother groaned in response, and he tried to focus on that and snicker rather than think how uncomfortable it was having Papyrus right next to the open door asking him if he needed assistance or if he couldn't find something the whole while he showered himself. He could've taken that shower completely alone; he wasn't that useless yet.

He felt a little pat on the shoulder. "hey, what's soap, kid? had a good day at school?" There was a shuffle of paper before something was pressed against his right side; he groped its surface until he grabbed a hold of the object, a bag apparently. "huh? 'n' what's this?" He didn't wait for a replay and started to open the bag, getting his hand inside Sans felt the softness and unmistakable scent of cinnamon; he smiled and took one piece out, knowing that now he was holding a sugary cute little bunny without having to see it. “aww kid, ya didn’t have to.”

Frsik shook their head but then stopped, wriggling their fingers together trying not to sign out of habit. “Not bought.”

Their voice was so quiet that it was a miracle that it was heard over the clattering pots. “huh? then where-”

“It’s a gift… From the… Bunny sisters… Anise said… She…” Frisk trailed off and went quiet for a moment, making Sans frown a tad worried that he might be pushing the kid, but immediately they turned to give Toriel a pleading look, signing what they wanted to say.

“’She said that you better get well soon, or else, she will have to look for a better client to buy her cinnamon bunnies.’ Oh my, hee hee, if you had not introduced her to me, I almost could have not told if she is worried about you or her buns.”

Sans heard Toriel giggle, and couldn’t help to let a loud cackle escape him. “hahahaha, yeah, she can be like that, but she’s actually a real softy once ya get past her shoppin’ phase.” And he knew it perfectly well, seeing how many times Anise would give him buns with just the word to pay for them later in exchange, she wouldn't indulge in giving him any other thing, but still. "could ya tell her i said thanks when you see her, kiddo?" There was a humming sound that came as a yes, combined with an unseen nod. "welp, guess this bunny's gonna get eaten now."

"NO WAY! PUT THAT CINAMMON BUNNY BACK RIGHT NOW BEFORE YOU SPOIL YOUR APETITE. THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS ALMOST DONE!"

"ok, ok, heard ya." He put the bun back in the paper bag, and that's when he felt a pointy thing in there too; curiosity flaring up, he grabbed it, turning out to be something akin to a thin stick. He ran one phalange up and down, going across the stick and then something thicker and harder. Sans' mouth took a mischievous smirk, turning towards his brother's direction. "hey bro, look what i found in the bag."

"MHH?" The taller skeleton turned off the stove having just finished with his cooking, and walked towards Sans to inspect closer what he was holding. There, between two phalanges was a shiny reddish lollipop, it wasn't too big nor too small, just the perfect size for a candy with a perfect flavor. Papyrus beamed and snatched the lollipop from his brother's hands. "NYEEEHH!!! IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE THE LAST TIME I HAD ONE OF THESE!! A CHERRY LOLLIPOP!!" His other hand came up to start unwrapping the candy but stopped just a few millimeters away, dropping back down quickly. "NO! I WON'T BE TRICKED INTO THIS! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL NOT HAVE CANDY BEFORE LUNCH. NICE TRY, SANS, BUT YOU WILL NOT MAKE ME BREAK MY STANDARDS THAT EASYLY!"

He put the lollipop away somewhere among the kitchen shelves. "I WILL HAVE TO PERSONALLY SAY THANKS TO THE LADY FROM THE INN."

Frisk's lips curled into a smile, remembering that phone call they had with Papyrus one time where he told them about the delicious lollipops that the lady who runs the inn —Lavender, they thought— gave him each time he visited. They signed at Toriel, asking for a translation.

"Oh, Frisk says that she aswell sends you her best wishes."

It would be a lie if Sans said that all of this didn’t warm his soul; he told himself that this wasn’t a big deal, that they didn’t have to do all of this just for him, it was too much. Then again, it’s not like he’d done a lot for them in the past.

He was taken aback from his thoughts when someone took the towel off his head, startling him a bit but managing to keep his composure. “Well, what do you think about having lunch right now, mh?” A paw rested over his good shoulder squeezing it gently. “I bet everyone must be hungry.”

The sound of plates being placed over the table made Sans know that maybe he’d zoned out for a little too long. He straightened and reaccommodated on his chair, nodding softly towards nowhere in particular. “sure, let’s see how that spaghetti turned out this time.”

He’d relish on the heavenly flavor of those cinnamon bunnies later. 

Chapter Text

“bro, ya sure ya don’t want help with that?”

“NO, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, SANS, I THINK IT WILL BE BETTER IF I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, FINISH THIS TASK ALL BY MYSELF.”

“just shove it all into a drawer, it’s faster.”

“SANS! WE AGREED WE WOULD HELP TO GET YOUR ROOM CLEANED, AND IN EXTENSION THAT MEANS YOUR CLOTHING TOO! AND IF I HAVE TO FOLD ALL OF YOUR MESSY CLOTHES IN ORDER FOR YOU TO STOP ABUSING YOUR DRAWERS LIKE THAT, THEN SO BE IT!”

Sans made a halfhearted pout in Papyrus’ direction, but relented anyways, going back to shift uncomfortably on the living room couch while his brother arranged his entire wardrobe in a super organized fashion, humming a silly tune a little offkey. Today was Saturday, which meant ‘The greatest quest ever by far’ mission was ongoing; that morning Sans woke up to a flaring headache, a racket rumbling in the next room —his own, he realized after the drowsiness of sleep had passed— and an empty spot next to him on the bed. It wasn’t long when Papyrus entered his room and greeted him good morning, telling him that they’ve decided they’d start with the cleaning early and that he should have breakfast.

Although Sans appreciated the intention, he wasn’t that comfortable having everyone in the house working on what should have been his chores; yeah, it’s true that he wouldn’t have done them in other circumstances, but still, he just felt so awkward and useless having to do nothing but sit in place while the rest was busy with stuff they shouldn’t take care about. Tori and the kid were still upstairs, mopping the floor and dusting the few furniture in there, while in the laundry room his bedsheets were still getting washed after a good scouring by no one else than the meticulous Papyrus to get the stains of ketchup off of it. After a few minutes of him fidgeting with the fluff of one of his slippers, Sans attempted once again, to take one clothe from the lump sitting between him and his younger brother, not paying attention to what it was and more focused in not letting Papyrus notice. It turned out to be a hideous, dreaded and despicable button up shirt. Great, of all the baggy t-shirts and plain shorts he owned, he had to pick up exactly the only one with buttons on it; for a second Sans loathed that fateful day several months ago when he was forced to buy that shirt for some fancy gathering with who-knows-who. Welp, can’t be helped.

Relaying in just his right hand, he laid the shirt over his lap, prodding across it trying to find where the neck and the sleeves were; he could only so much guess that its front was facing him, and so started to make the buttons doing his best at pairing them. The first one was a struggle but he managed, the second one was a little hard to get aligned, and it took him more than two minutes. Papyrus was still humming and the goddamn freaking stupid third button wouldn’t go through the hole and that headache of his was drilling right through the center of his skull and he didn’t want to be useless! But screw it if his right hand alone was just that stupid without his left, he had to be able to make these freaking buttons and fold this stupid shirt properly because shit he was not goddamn useless!

“BROTHER? WHAT ARE YOU DOING? ARE YOU OKAY?” A bony hand placed itself upon his good shoulder, and he froze. He stayed put almost not even daring to breathe, only the din upstairs filling the air. He hadn’t noticed how tense he’d gone, and just now with someone else grabbing him did he feel the painful stiffness in his joints; he was practically tearing the shirt by now.

“uhh…” Sans blurted out, finding himself unable to come up with a proper excuse that would sound realistic. “yeah, ‘m fine... why’d you ask?”

Another gloved hand involved his fist in an attempt at lessening his grip. “WELL, YOU LOOKED QUITE DISTRESSED OVER THAT SHIRT. I TOLD YOU I WOULD TAKE CARE OF IT.”

He let go of the offensive piece of clothing and pulled his fist away from Papyrus’ hold and into his lap. “i though giving it a shot anyway. Guess it didn’t turn out that well?”

“INDEED BROTHER, YOU WERE DOING IT WITH THE INSIDE OUT AND… FAIRLY CROOKED TO BE HONEST. BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT RIGHT NOW.”

“so i really managed to turn it the wrong way, heheh-” A particular sharp wave of pain shot through his skull, and it made him hiss loud enough to cut off his forced laugh, his right hand came up to cup his temple trying to sooth it.

“SANS, WHAT’S WRONG?” The concern in Papyrus’ voice rose immediately. It pried Sans to ground himself, so he forced a grin but kept his face hanging low nevertheless, his phalanges never leaving their spot on his right temple near the gauze.

“’s nothin’ bro, just… feelin’ kinda hazy, that’s all.” Suddenly he just wanted to rip his skull off so it stopped hurting. He leaned against the couch cushions and heaved a long sigh. “it’ll pass real quick. promise.”

A part of him wanted to believe his brother’s reassurance, he didn’t take promises lightly, after all; but another part of him was yelling that it was another one of his blatant lies in order to not worry others, like he used to do back in the Underground whenever he felt stressed over some issue at the lab and just decided to lock himself up in his workshop. Old habits die hard, apparently. So Papyrus discarded the crumpled up shirt and got to his feet, keeping a firm hand on Sans while speaking with an assuring tone. “STAY HERE, I’LL GO GET THE PAINKILLERS THE DOCTOR SENT YOU.” And in a beat, he was gone.

“paps, told ya it’s nothin’.” He reached out, but his brother was already on his way upstairs to the bathroom where they kept all the medicines, so he returned his hand to his temple, trying to make that hideous pain stop. In hindsight, maybe he got lucky, it had been two days since he left the hospital and just now did the headaches start again; the nurse had indeed told them that surely some aches would appear due to the fact that he’d no longer have healing magic transfusions, so maybe he should be thankful that at least it didn’t happen on his first day home? Anyway, he’d be fine on his own.
Another ringing shot of pain.

Welp, maybe he could force himself to swallow his pride and afford to be a nuisance for a little longer, just this one time. Or at least until the darkness around stopped spinning madly.

“HERE, BROTHER, I BROUGHT YOU A GLASS OF WATER FOR THE PILL.”

When did Papyrus return? He didn’t even hear his footsteps approaching. As best as he could, Sans sat straighter and stretched his good arm, opening his palm and short after feeling a tiny something being pressed against it; he brought it to his mouth and then fumbled for the water, Papyrus being efficient at letting him know where he held it. Not a second after, he felt the little magic concentration dissolve and swirl through his nonexistent throat down to his soul, and then spread to the rest of his body, bringing a warm relaxing sensation to his bones; the throe in his skull seemed to dull considerably, leaving him only with a faint sense of vexation. He took a deep and slow breath, and let it out with a pleased sigh.

“thanks, pap… don’t know where would i be without you.”

“IT IS NO PROBLEM, DEAR BROTHER. AND THAT’S ONE QUESTION THE GREAT PAPYRUS WOULD PREFER NOT TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO.” He didn’t need elaboration; this whole state of affairs was answer enough.

The tall skeleton stayed crouched down for a little while until he noticed his brother's whole body relax and fall a little deeper into the cushions. Sometimes Sans was too stubborn for his own sake, but maybe that's something both of them shared at some level, still, his older brother used to go to surprising lengths of stubbornness for no real reasons just to cover up that something was wrong. Papyrus wasn't sure he understood his reasoning.
He gave a final squeeze to Sans' shoulder and returned to his sit on the other side of the couch, getting the button-up-shirt untangled and properly folded to keep it from causing anymore troubles.

"Then, what do you think of it, my friend?" Toriel asked in a happy tone, standing right behind him and sporting a pair of baggy pants, a garment she only wore on rare counted occasions when her dresses and skirts became much of an obstacle on whatever she was set on. The household only remembered her wearing them exclusively on times when the basement got cleaned to its darkest corners, and judging by that, Sans' room must've been a total challenge then.

Although Sans couldn't exactly see what they've done, he could smell the fresh air that normally would've been clouded with the reek of dirty socks and who knows what other stuff; he couldn’t hear the trash tornado spinning around anymore so that meant it was gone, and when he groped across his bed, he felt soft sheets. His room felt way too... Stuff-less this way, bigger, like he was in a whole new place he didn't recognize. Guessing by the blank space he found next to his drawers when he walked around he assumed Tori and the kid must have decided to take away that room’s main source of jokes; oh well, he wouldn’t miss the treadmill that much.

Something warm flooded inside him, and the faint remains of his previous headache threatened to make his nonchalant facade crumble at how much care they really put into this mundane task. But he couldn’t let that appreciation show, not just yet, not while he was sure if he opened the dam that was keeping his emotions at bay, not only the positive feelings would flow, but all those uncertainties and fears and despondence would right downpour over him and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep himself from sinking down to the bottom. So, once again, he resorted to comedy. “gee… I think you even rearranged the foundations. be honest kiddo, ya sure ya didn’t teleport another room in here? wait, ya didn’t throw any of my stuff, did ya?” Frisk’s giggle came from a few feet away next to him.

“Oh no Sans, I can assure you we did not throw away anything important.”

“so my bag of commemorative candy wraps is still under my bed?”

“SANS! MS. TORIEL SAID ‘ANYTHINH IMPORTANT’, AND YOU KNOW WELL THAT YOU HAD THAT BAG OF WRAPS THERE BECAUSE YOU WERE FAR TO LAZY TO OPEN YOUR ACTUAL TRASH CAN AND PLACE THEM INSIDE LIKE A NORMAL MONSTER WOULD!” Papyrus gave a terminant huff and crossed his arms over his chest with a mock-glare towards his older brother.

“but there were a lotta meaningful memories in those wraps…”

“STOP IT.”

“like that time i shared that orange candy with the dog. Man, the look in the little guy’s eyes.”

“OH MY GOD, SANS! THAT WAS THE MOST DISGUSTING THING I’VE SEEN YOU DO!”

Yeap, there it was, pure harmless and carefree laughter, even Toriel was trying to muffle a fit of undignified snorts and Frisk had long lost the battle against the goofiness of it all. In the end, Papyrus stated that he was going to start putting away Sans’ clothes in their respective drawers and hangers, and Frisk was soon following after him with little hops of amusement, prompting the taller skeleton to look down at them for a moment wondering why the idea of snucking their nose into his brother’s wardrobe seemed so exciting. That left Sans and Toriel alone in his room, the skeleton in question had taken a sit on the edge of his now soft bed, dangling his legs a little and brushing his phalanges over the sheet; Toriel looked at him still smiling though now it was softer with a little tint of something else rather than mirth. She sat next to him, making the mattress sink tilting Sans’ frame for a second before bumping against her shoulder, prompting an apologetic expression from her, but it didn’t seem to affect Sans that much, with him only grinning at nothing in particular. Now that should have earned her at least a little quip, every time they were in situations like this, where they were reminded of how silly it must look to see a tall, broad, fluffy monster next to a short, compact, bony one, just like the perfect dichotomy showed in all those cartoons humans seemed to enjoy so much—who knows, maybe they got that idea of opposites from before the war— he’d at least give a snort or look at her with a face that said it all and then they would giggle in complicity. But none of that came, and he seemed to be somewhere else far in the distance of his own mind. Just a few moments ago he was joking and playing banter with his brother airily, and now he was this deep in thought? That could only mean one thing, she herself knew this method all too well, there’s must be something in the back of his mind he was trying to ignore; but right now, there were just so many things they all wanted to ignore with all the recent changes, that she wasn’t really sure how to address them all properly without disturbing their brittle peacefulness.

“What has gotten you into so much of a deep thought, my friend?” She started, hoping the question sounded vague enough to get her a response.

Sans snapped out of his rumination in an instant and turned towards her —reprimanding himself once again for thinking he’d be able to look her in the eye— and his grin became a little more conscious. “nothing. i was just… wondering how am i supposed to keep this place tidy? you know I’ve never kept anything tidy in m’ life.”

“Oh, do not put much worry about that matter, I am sure you will come clean about this.” She nudged him carefully and he actually laughed at that. Maybe if she kept going through this jesty way, something would give eventually.

“’m not so sure, tori; last time i tried mopping a floor i spilled all the detergent, guess i ended up turning the Tide.”

She couldn’t help but snort locomudly. “Sans, you do not use laundry detergent to mop floors!”

“welp, that explains why i got into loads of trouble that day with paps. ya know he’s got a dryer sense of humor.”

“Oh dear, I can tell that was a lifelong pledge from him for you to never touch the cleaning items again.”

“believe me, i though he’d bleach me outta existence.”

They were both poorly holding back their laughter by now; and when a short pause came, Toriel realized that it was her cue. “But honestly, Sans, is there not any extra load you might want to take out of your mind?”

The question had barely left her when the skeleton in the room noticeably tensed. Oh ain’t that a low blow, using horrible puns to try coaxing him into talking. He’d give her credit for her cleverness, but he couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit of betrayal rising. She just wanted to help, like everyone else, but still.

“tori, i already used that pun, that’s cheatin’.” His tone was shockingly sober, almost sounding like he hadn’t been bursting with giggles a few seconds ago, only proving farther how thick that dam he’d created inside his soul had gotten.

“But I meant what I said.” Concern was edging her voice; not so many days ago Sans had at least put more effort into his answer when she’d asked that very same thing, and he’d even sounded more convincing even when she knew it wasn’t completely truth. He was remaining silent, with his no longer present sight firmly fixed on his lap and his right arm faintly hugging his side; what was left there for her to say? Directly asking didn’t bring her good answers, and trying to get him distracted enough for him to slip and let something out about what’s bugging him seemed to lead straight to a dead end. How was she supposed to know how to help him if he wouldn’t let them know what he needed?

And silent he remained. Just when it was starting to get a step further from awkward, Papyrus and Frisk reentered the room, carrying three baskets full of folded clothes —two under each of the taller skeleton’s arms and one over the little human’s head— and started to put it in various drawers. Whether they sensed the tension in the atmosphere or just decided to ignore it, they didn’t say a word, simply doing their task at hand. Toriel gave a brief sigh and stood from the bed, regarding her friend with a soft expression that held sadness, and a very quiet tone that only he’d be able to hear. “I understand if you do not feel like talking for the moment, but if you continue to keep things to yourself, it will do no good to you.” Or any of us she thought to herself. “Just please, try to remember, that we are all here if you need us.”

And with that, she walked out of the room and headed downstairs; it was near lunch time, anyway.
Guilty might be an understatement for how he felt. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid bonehead! If you really wanted to save everyone your troubles then you should at least know how to keep it together right! Not all these lame attempts that just makes them feel more pity for you! You were supposed to not be a burden! You are the only reason they are all downcast like this! No matter how much he tried to think it wasn’t his fault, his own subconsciousness kept yelling at him that it was, and the worst part is that it was true, he was the only one bottling all his problems up and not letting anyone touch them, but he just couldn’t be sure that he’d be able to deal with every single one of them, not even with the help of everyone who cared about him, it was just too much. He knew he wouldn’t have had let his guard down, it was always the same, every time things were alright and he relented to his longings, something would go wrong, one way or another; first it was the experiments with his machine, then the flower, then the kid resetting and now this! Why of all the times this could have happened, it had to happen during the most perfect timeline? The one that’s the definite one!
Welp… Fate could be a real fucker, couldn’t it?

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

It was Wednesday past midday, which meant Toriel and the kid had yet to arrive. Papyrus was still staying home, doing house chores and keeping an eyesocket out for Sans, who was currently in the living room couch halfheartedly trying to figure out that new configuration Alphys had helped him to set his new cellphone on. She said that it was a special mood that read out loud all the text showed on screen, although Sans still wondered how it was supposed to help him with images and videos, and honestly, he couldn’t exactly remember which buttons had to be pressed to make it work, since the day the yellow lizard monster had decided to teach him, he wasn’t paying much attention and was more focused on his headache and bad humor. And speaking about headaches, that crack in his skull was threatening to be a nuisance again today; since his room had been cleaned, he did his best to convince Papyrus that he would be okay sleeping on his own, that didn’t stop the younger skeleton from always staying on Sans’ mattress a while past the end of his bedtime story though; welp, it was a start. Suddenly, he was taken out of his examination by a knocking in the door; it was quiet and without rhythm, so he could be sure that it wasn’t old lady, and Undyne never knocked that gently and Alphys’ was shakier, then who?

“SANS? CAN YOU PLEASE ANSWER THE DOOR? I’M IN THE MIDDLE OF A VERY COMPLICATED IRONING PROCEDURE.” Although he was indeed ironing an utterly delicate wool sweater, it was actually an excuse, since he wanted Sans to move around a little more, or at least make him get out of the couch; Undyne had told him —despite his own thinking— that even if he was still considered ‘at not a hundred percent’ of his capacity, that didn’t mean he’d get to loiter around all the time, and after considering it for a night, Papyrus didn’t find any harm on giving it a shot.
Sans stayed put for a moment, half expecting that the stranger would assume that they were too busy to attend, and then would leave, but that little hope disappeared when a second round of knocking came; he heaved a deep sigh and slowly slid off of the couch, dragging his slippered feet and touching all the furniture nearby to make sure he was going the right way. When his phalanges brushed against the wooden surface that surely was the door, he held the knob and asked “who’s there?” in a very annoyed tone. He wasn’t prepared in the slightest for the voice that answered back.

“……….It’s Grillby.”

Grill- Why on Earth was Grillby here? His sockets went wide as plates and he couldn’t help but froze right then and there. Why would the guy be here? In a Wednesday, no less, when the bar must be crowded like hell. Sans couldn’t just turn him down; he wasn’t that shameless.

“SANS? DID THEY LEAVE OR SOMETHING?”

That made him react again and he opened the door, flashing a wide grin towards where he guessed was Grillby’s face, unbeknownst to him that he was actually pointing a little lower, near the fire elemental’s chest. “heya, grillbz… what are you doin’ here? shouldn’t you be at the bar?” He forced his best nonchalant tone.

The barman just stared at him for a moment, his factions seeming to never change. “…..I wanted to see how you were doing… And bring something for everyone.”

Sans’ brow furrowed in slight confusion when his brother stepped in. “OH! IT IS YOU, GRILLBY! WE WEREN’T EXPECTING ANY GUESTS TODAY. EXCUSE OUR POOR CHOICE OF CLOTHING.” Well, actually Papyrus wore his battle body almost every day —they didn’t allow him to wear it for work— so there wasn’t so much as to choose. “MAY I HELP YOU WITH SOMETHING?”

“…Hello Papyrus… As I was telling to Sans, I just wanted to see how you were doing… And bring this for veryone.” He raised a pair of paper bags that looked a tad drenched in grease, his gaze boring into both brothers.

“WOWEE, THAT IS VERY KIND OF YOU, THANK YOU! I DIDN’T KNOW YOU HAD A DELIVERY SERVICE.” He could swear he was making his best to not grimace while holding the greasy paper bags, quickly glancing inside them and finding three burgers with their respective order of French fries, and surprisingly, a milkshake.

Grillby shook his head slightly. “I don’t…” He changed his weight from foot to foot, briefly avoiding the taller skeleton’s puzzled gaze. “…I’d actually wanted to come a few days earlier, but the bar was having a lot of customers and the staff needed help.”

The three of them stood there in the threshold, awkwardly waiting for who-knows-what. Sans could feel the selfconsciousness slowly crawling inside him, and that’s what made him finally talk. “huh, are we just gonna stand here, or…?”

“RIGHT! WHERE ARE MY MANNERS? PLEASE, COME INSIDE; I THINK THERE’S STILL SOME OF MY WORLD-FAMOUS SPAGHETTI.”

The two skeleton monsters stepped aside to let the fire elemental in, who gave a nod to Papyrus and immediately followed his lead towards the living room; just as he took a seat in the individual couch, Sans was entering the room with a gait far slower than anything he’d seen in the short monster before, way too careful of his surroundings, which was understandable; Grillby didn’t have bones to break but he was sure that if Sans happened to bump against something with his injured arm it wouldn’t be pleasant in the least. Sans took the larger couch and practically melted into the cushions, looking as if he hadn’t slept for a week. The younger skeleton in the house was still in the kitchen, so Grillby readjusted his glasses and leaned forward. “……Last month someone came to repair the jukebox, and they also upgraded the discs… Now it plays different genres other than just the old jingles of before.”

So, the jukebox? That was an easy topic, of course his tired self could handle it. “really? i thought you didn’t change the discs yourself because you liked oldies.”

“…I do, but most people prefer variety… There are a lot more customers than before.”

“i can imagine it, who wouldn’t miss the warmness of that place?”

Grillby wanted so bad to roll his eyes at that, but he didn’t. “……The old regulars also miss your stand-ups.”

That touched a nonexistent nerve. He missed going to Grillby’s too, but how was he supposed to go in the first place now? The charm of it was that he could sneak out there every time no one else noticed just to tease his brother a little, and he just didn’t have a good feeling about his shortcuts right now. “nah, they just miss free cheap comedy shows.”

The bartender unconsciously gave a faint lopsided smile. “……Believe it or not, Red Bird got drunk enough that they invited a human comedian… But he said he didn’t do shows without planning them beforehand.”

“guess it was the dis-appointment of their life, hehehe.”

“…………It would be nice to see you around again, you know?”

He wasn’t supposed to know about it, but restaurant owners talked; it wasn’t strange that humans assumed that just because they were sealed in the Underground for decades, all the monsters knew each other; he’d heard his good share of complaints about monsters whose names had never ever heard before, but he was surprised when he heard the name ‘Papyrus’ among them. The owner of that Italian restaurant downtown kept asking Grillby why her scullion was taking more days off than what he’d asked at first, and the fire elemental only could come up with one reason for such a dedicated monster to be postponing his duties, plus, he hadn’t even heard of Sans being out with Toriel or the child since he’d checked out of the hospital. For the first time, he’d taken the time to give the owner a vague explanation as to why Papyrus wasn’t coming to work, to which she said that it was a pity and seemed to understand… Until she stated that that spot could be filled by someone else if he didn’t return to work soon. Humans and their weird work laws.

The brief silence that had overcome the room ended when Papyrus returned with a steaming plate of spaghetti in one hand; it had been ready a few minutes prior, but he’d not wanted to interrupt his brother and Grillby’s conversation. Sans used to tell Grillby some of the things he didn’t want to tell him, although according to the bartender it always took a few drinks to get at that point. “HERE YOU GO, GRILLBY; I HOPE YOU ARE PREPARED FOR SUCH A WAVE OF FLAVORS.”

The fire elemental nodded his thanks and reluctantly took a bite of the meal. It certainly had improved an awful lot, just a few salty parts here and there, but cooked at the perfect grade. “…This tastes good, Papyrus, thank you… Even better than the last one I had” He still had bad memories about that hard, thick and raw spaghetti drenched in that gooey substance that smelled like rotten onions and even had some sprinkles on it, he’d only ate it because it was the celebration meal Papyrus had cooked, and after years of listening to Sans rambling about how great and cool his brother was, he really didn’t have the heart to turn him down.

“OF COURSE I’VE IMPROVED. THE GREAT PAPYRUS NEVER STOPS IMPROVING!”

“my bro’s really put hard work on his cooking.” Sans smiled and finally addressed the fire monster in the room. “and… i don’t think i’ll be heading out soon.”

Papyrus who was standing nearby the couches furrowed his brow in confusion and slight worry, while Grillby just stared more intently at Sans. The short skeleton assumed that they were expecting some kind of elaboration since no one said anything. “i mean to the bar… or anywhere else at all. it’d be too much work, you know? i think i prefer the easy way and stay a little longer here just in the couch, at least until i for-see my path through.”

He did it. He finally did it. Ever since the first moment Sans woke up, Papyrus had been half expecting it, but as the days passed by, he was starting to think that maybe his brother would spare himself that selfdeprecation; seems he was wrong. Again. Coping with puns was one thing —and he could tolerate it— but coping with blind puns, that was a whole new level he wished over all stars Sans wouldn’t have reached. Grillby seemed to share his discomfort, with Sans’ dark sockets low and his smile strained and cold, looking like he’d burst into laughter or tears at any moment.

“besides, you ‘lready came to light up my day, so why come out now?”

The heat in the room lessened as Grillby’s flames took a weaker glow. Not that Sans noticed, anyway. “…Alright…… I understand.”

Papyrus did try to save the conversation after that, putting all his efforts at ignoring his brother’s blatant apathy and the fire monster’s uneasiness, though all he got from them were nods and short answers. Grillby left sometime after the remaining spaghetti went cold.

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

Snow.

There was snow everywhere.

It wasn’t that time of the year here in the surface, the leaves were still falling off the tree branches. Autumn, was it called?

The trees were too tall and thin to be the ones near the area.

Wait… He could see.

Was he really back at Snowdin?

But the kid promised, Frisk promised him! How could they have taken back their word? You don’t do that unless it’s a matter of life and death, and as far as he knows no one died during this run. He told them to not Reset!

But something was eerily wrong; no matter how far into the forest you went, the wind always carried the voices from town to every corner of the place. Where was the happy babbling that always flooded the town? It couldn’t be possible that the kid has already started killing everyone, first, because he didn’t greet them at the door, and second, because Frisk had told him that that tiny voice that sometimes told them to do strange things just for the sake of curiosity had calmed down, and now almost never spoke. But what if they’d lied? Oh stars above, he couldn’t do this anymore.

Wait, what if the kid was still here? What if they haven’t made it to Waterfall? That would mean… Papyrus.

It had been ages since the last time he’d dashed like that. If the kid could somehow bend the rules and skip him, then he could play that game too. By the time he reached the border, sweat was pouring from his skull, and he was almost out of breath; no one was standing there. No kid. No Papyrus. But also no lone red scarf lying forgotten in the snow. This was different. He didn’t know if he should take it as a bad or a good sign.

Footsteps.

There were footsteps behind him.

They were getting closer. Faster. Scarier. Why was he afraid of unknown footsteps? Somehow, he had a feeling they were not the kid’s.

He started to run.

Run. Just run, don’t think about it. Run for your life!

But something grabbed his hoodie, and suddenly he fell backwards, smacking his spine against hard concrete. Concrete? But there was no concrete in Snowdin, Hotland was the one with the floors most similar to concrete. He turned his skull, but there was no forest anymore, no snow, no trees, no welcoming cabins. Just concrete everywhere he looked at.

“What a way of falling, huh? Hahahahahaha!”

He froze right then and there. This could not be happening.

“What? Not enjoying yourself yet? I thought monsters were fun.”

No no no NO NO NONONO!!

He shot up, ready to flee as fast as he could, but a man stood right in front of his way and punched him in the ribcage, painfully throwing him over a wall. His breath caught and he felt the burn in his ribs. "Don't be so hurried you runt freak! We're barely starting here!”

All of them were cackling mercilessly, enjoying every bit of his misery. He forced himself to look up, immediately feeling thrown back when he saw all of the three figures staring at him, but they had no faces. The spots where their factions would be were just a messy smear that made them unrecognizable; but there was only three of them, he was sure there were-

“You worthless fuck!”

His bones started to rattle as soon as he heard the voice. That one voice would always stand out from the others; he was sure his eyelights were shaking as well, and no matter how hard he tried to move, he couldn’t bring any of his limbs to react. The human man was now on top of him, pinning him down by the ribs, and his face was startingly clear it made his soul quiver. Those eyes, frowning to impossible depths, bare teeth grinding with uncontrolled rage, pupils wide and lost, and his breath burning against his bones.

“You gotta pay!!!”

This time, he couldn’t even attempt at protecting himself with his arms, he was paralyzed, this human… No, this demon, could do whatever pleased him, and he could do nothing about it.

“You’re nothing but a useless piece of garbage! You’re worthless! Why are you even here in the first place?!”

It was hard to decide, if the most painful thing were the incessant bashes against his quick dusting skull, or the bitter words stabbing at his soul.

“Why didn’t you just stay put in that golden floor?! Why didn’t you just wait until you turned to dust and stayed like that?! You should have never gotten out of that alley!

He couldn’t decide. It just hurt.

“It’s easier to deal with an insignificant pile of dust, than a weeping lump that only hinders everyone’s hopes and dreams!”

It hurt.

“But you’re so coward you don’t even dare to do that one simple thing!”

Stop.

“Come on! Why don’t you try?”

Make it stop.

“You alone can make it stop. You just have to quit being a weepy coward.”

Stop!

His sockets shot wide open, and Sans couldn’t feel safer to find himself engulfed in that empty darkness that was his world now.

However, the placidity lasts only half a beat, as he feels himself falling. He lands roughly upon his left arm and oh stars, he can swear over his own dust, he did the impossible to stifle a shrill cry of pain, shutting his sockets tight again and curling over himself as the stinging sensation ran through his radius, ulna and humerus. He stays like that for a solid minute trying to level his breathing. His skull was still throbbing, but now he was sure that it was just that cracked hole messing with him again. He didn’t scream; that’s a good thing, he didn’t need to wake everyone up in the house at stars know what time in the middle of the night, because it was night, right? Or else Paps would be here announcing that breakfast is ready. Nevertheless, although he’s quiet, he can’t quite stop the shallow breaths that come in and out of his nasal cavity, even when he knows he doesn’t need the air that way, it’s a habit, an involuntary reaction. At least he isn’t crying.

He lays there for who knows how long, definitely finding himself unwilling to return to his bed; but sleep doesn’t come and he hates being like this when he’s unable to glare at the wall in front of him. Maybe it would be a better idea to stand, anyways, because what would the others think if they came into his room to find him curled into a tight ball on the floor, frolicking over his own misery? He’d had enough of that, and surely so did they.

So, Sans stands slowly, using his right hand to support his weight and as soon as he’s on his feet he raises it to cradle his casted arm. Fuck, he wished it didn’t hurt like hell. He remains there in the center of his room, just… remaining. He’s sure he won’t be getting any sleep tonight, but he can’t just keep standing there like a freak in the middle of the dark. Maybe a midnight snack would help; those always got something to them that made them worth the risk of Papyrus’ wrath —as much as an annoyed stomping foot would be considered a ‘wrath’.

He usually uses his shortcuts to make it to the kitchen, but right now he just doesn’t trust his magic enough. Walking will have to do. Sans decides to pass by his slippers and starts to go to the hallway with only his socks to muffle the expected friction of bone against wood. He’s lucky the door doesn’t creak, and he also has on his side the experience of having made this trek with the lights off before, those times when his nightmares would be so vivid that his magic would end up overstressed and he opted to walk to the kitchen to let it cool down. The stairs were relatively easy, and he knows where the couches are, so he proceeds without issue. Finally, he arrives to the kitchen. The easiest thing to pick is the ketchup inside the fridge. He moves around on autopilot, and before he realizes it, he's already sitting at the table with the plastic container secured in his grip.

Suddenly, ketchup doesn't sound that appealing anymore.

He slides it across the cold surface and he can hear it toppling over and rolling a small distance before stopping. The deafening silence soon becomes overwhelming without the soft patches of moonlight filtering through the window to make him company, and it appears to be conspiring against him, doing nothing to pipe down the blaring thoughts twisting in his mind, screaming to be heard and regarded; the last remains of his nightmare started to crawl back in.

"Why are you even here in the first place?!”

He had wondered just that far too many times to remember during those unbearable nights spent in the hospital bed; it was simply impossible for someone with only 1 HP to be able to take all that damage and not dust rightaway; he knows that something like a bad falling during an innocent game could easily cost a monster at least 1 HP, and it was something that lacked any sort of intent. That man was visibly set on producing the most hurtful intent possible against him, so how? All odds and every mathematical logic pointed that he should not be here. But he was. Underground, monsters had only one believe, the prophecy about the angel who'd seen the surface and would make the Underground go empty; up here there was a plethora of believes, a lot of them sounded just about the same but with a different name —so Sans never understood why there were so many— and he could remember one aspect in particular about them; it hadn't come to his mind until the day he heard a human nurse saying that it was a miracle that he'd managed to survive that.

Basing himself on his poor knowledge about human religions, he remembered that a miracle was when something impossible happened and no one could scientifically explain it. In other words, no one knew how he was still alive. No one knew why.

Sans should be okay with it, and of course he'd be, if it didn't mean that that oh so called miracle turned him into a burden for everyone who was important to him. That's the why that has been chasing him nonstop, day and night, at all times. Why? If a miracle is meant to be something good, then why is he here making everything worse for everyone? Making them worry unnecessarily, making them put everything on standby just to fuss over his wellbeing, because of course he noticed that Papyrus hasn't left the house in at least a week, and that Frisk hasn't gone to play with anyone after school, and that Toriel began to leave several ungraded tests just to spend time with him in the living room trying to distract him from his problems. It was painfully obvious, but he'd refused to think about it, to accept it.

It would have been easier for everyone to deal with nothing but a tiny pile of dust.

He stopped his train of thought —too late— stars, was he really that wrecked? His frame started to tremble, feebly but enough to fill the room with a quiet rattle. The dam that was keeping his emotions at bay felt so friable, voicelessly cracking at a slow pace like a harbinger of the imminent breakdown that was to come. His hands were shaking, the corners of his everpresent smile were steadily falling downwards as the row of teeth it displayed started to lose its cartoony friendly appearance. The pair of empty dark pits on his skull, so devoid of life and showing the perfect description of how he felt.

Empty.

There was nothing, but it was too much it cramped his thoughts, he was so full of this void, so full and so empty at the same time. That sickening dampness coming from his eyesockets was back, and he couldn't focus on forcing it down, for the first time in a long time that dampness became a drenching feeling over his cheekbones, steadily flowing down his chin and gently dripping against the table. He couldn't stop it; he poorly tried to hide himself behind his arms as a last desperate resort to keep his feelings from freely bursting into the outside world. He prayed to whatever higher force that was out there listening, that he wasn't making any sound this time, because honestly, he couldn't manage to tell if there was any noise besides the roaring storm inside his soul.

"Sans?"

He stiffened like it would make him invisible. The silence filling his nonexistent ears was too loud, he could not have heard that.

"Oh stars, dear! What is wrong? Talk to me, please."

It was just him and his thoughts, he was here sitting at the kitchen table, alone in the middle of the night when no one else would even think to be awake.

"My friend, please, tell me what is wrong? Are you in pain? What can I do…?"

There is no way that someone would find him here if he decided to just-
Wait... There is someone here. There are arms wrapped around him, his skull now is resting tucked against something soft and comforting, maybe a pillow; there's a rumbling that might be words or just a purring sound, and it soothes him. One second, he was alone in the dark, and the next one someone's holding him.
An eternity passed, and when he's grounded enough to think clearly again, he remembers that there are only three monsters in this house —including himself— and two of them are thoroughly known for their lack of fur. He tries to look up and a sharp breath makes its way through his teeth as he fails at forming said monster's name.

"Shhh, it is fine, you are not alone, you are fine, I am here with you. Breath slowly, alright? I am here, you are not alone anymore.”

It feels so nice, having someone this close; but then again, he’s troubling her, he’s doing the one thing he was trying to avoid, and the worst part of it is that he can’t muster enough strength to tell her to go back to sleep, that he’d be fine on his own with his dusty thoughts. Wait, when did he exactly started to seriously consider dust in this matter? Stop it. The important thing here is that she’s here, and she’s holding him so gently he can’t dare to turn down her kindness. His shaking isn’t as bad as before, and now he can hear himself sobbing, and he can clearly hear her voice, soft and caring, with that motherly undertone that surely never left her since the day she held a child for the first time. He actually feels like a child, so helpless and lost. She’s still talking, but he has to cut it short, it was a school night, Tori had to get up early to set everything up for her and Frisk to leave in the morning.

“s-sorry for wakin’ you up.” Sans whispered, and tried to lean back but her hold didn’t relent.

“Do not be, Sans. It is fine, you do not have to worry about it.”

“…you got school in the mornin’.”

“Hush now, that is not important at the moment.” She sat down on the chair next to him in a more comfortable position. “I want you to relax, breath deep, my friend.”

He wasn’t hyperventilating or anything, but he heeded her words anyway, soon managing to completely stop the soft hiccupping in his ribcage. “…thanks.”

“Please, do not mention it.” There was a moment of silence filled with both of their breathings, making it warmer. Then, Toriel spoke in a volume that was meant for only him to hear. “Do you want to talk about it?”

His first urge was to say no, to tell her that he wasn’t okay with telling her what was going through his mind, he knew she would respect his decision and wouldn’t pry any further, she was just like that. But that would be selfish, she was already here sacrificing her hours of sleep just to hold him and willing to listen to whatever ramble he could throw at her; it would be unfair if he just made her worry all the worse. So he took a deep breath and hid his skull further into her nightgown, utterly blocking his face from her view. “can i… can i ask you something?”

She blinked a little thrown out at the question, but recomposed herself immediately. “Of course you can, Sans.”

“d-do you think… i-“ He stumbled over his own words; how was he supposed to word a question like that? “h-how do you think i… i made it out of that alley?”

This time Toriel had to really frown, she separated herself from Sans a little to search for his expression, but he just hid even more into the crook of her shoulder. “What do you mean by that?”

“you k-know just how low m-my HP is…” He went silent, but Tori wouldn’t say a word, and he thought that maybe he didn’t explain himself properly. “tori…” He sank against her to an impossible depth and his right arm tightened around her. “tori, i should have died.”

She froze at his words that despite being muffled couldn’t have sounded any clearer to her, and suddenly she felt her soul being squeezed tight when the full meaning of what he’d said finally hit her. What to say? What should anyone say when found in this precarious kind of situation? For the first time in a long time Toriel was at a loss of words, what could she say to him? It was a question with so many dark implications that she feared answering it wrongly and cause atrocious consequences. Abruptly she was taken back to reality when his shoulders started to bounce and a choking sound reached her ears. She realized then, that it wasn’t a rhetorical question, and that he was actually asking her for an answer; there was no formula for it and she couldn’t think of anything good enough to tell him to make him stop deeming over this, so she just went for honesty.

“Listen, Sans. When Papyrus and Undyne found you in that alley, they said that you were not even conscious, and she even told me that she actually was not expecting you to make it to the hospital with how bad you looked.” She shifted a little in her seat and reaccommodated Sans so he was set across her lap, so curled over himself that she could practically engulf him with her arms alone. “The doctors said that you probably would never wake up due to all the magic you lost when your skull cracked, and that it would be just cruel to… To keep you alive if you were going to spend your days in a bed hooked to monitors and living off of magic transfusions.” She choked down a sob of her own; there was a reason no one ever brought up the two weeks prior Sans’ waking. “But we agreed that if there was still a chance, no matter how little, we would take it. And well… Here we are, are we not, dear?” She gulped hard trying to make the knot in her throat go away, and to her credit, she’d managed to keep the trembling of her voice hidden. “What I am trying to say is that… No matter the circumstances, and no matter all the changes, we are thankful you are here; and I do not need to know how any of this was possible, you being here with us is more than enough. And I know it must be difficult for you, and terrifying to have to cope with the fact that you are no longer able to see, but please, I have told you before, and I will keep doing so as many times as you need to hear it, you can talk to us, you are not alone in this."

By the time she finished, the front of her nightgown was already soaked with the sticky magic of Sans’ tears, his sobs although quieted made him jolt harshly, and it sounded like he was finally letting all his suppressed emotions flow freely. She held him tight, subconsciously making slightly rocking motions back and forth, her paw-like hand running up and down his spine. They stayed like that long after the dawn came, and long after his tears dried.

Chapter Text

To say he was spent would be the understatement of the century.

Back in the Underground during the rare times along all the resets he’d allowed himself to breakdown, he’d spend hours just staring straight at nothing in particular, the image would become blurry at some moment and he’d start having weird, abstract thoughts about whatever shit had been the lucky one to have caught his mind that time. Eventually everything would stop seeming unreal and colors would fully come back, then noise, scents, and all his other numbed senses. This process would last one day at most if it was too bad, but then the next one he’d be okay and thinking more clearly again.

The thing was that right now Sans couldn’t quite stare at anything at all. Everything was muffled, he couldn’t quite feel where he was and there were no colors nor shapes to tell him this was real, that he’s still here; he didn’t have any idea either as to what time it was anymore. He thought he’d fallen asleep, or maybe he was just too zoomed out of consciousness, how could anyone tell when the blackness never went away? Point is, he suddenly realized he wasn’t in Tori’s arms anymore.

Where was he now? Maybe if he cared a little, he’d freak out right then and there, but it seemed too much effort for what it was worth, besides, it was an okay place, he didn’t need to move right away.

Gradually, he started to hear faint sounds of something, it seemed to have some static in it. It sounded… Melodical, and it would change to hyperactive babbling sometimes. The more he listened to it the clearer it became, and soon he could pick out some cheesy tune. Music. It had to be a radio, because suddenly there was a man blurting out words way too fast to be comprehended.

There was a radio nearby.

…

There were also soft cushions under him.

…

There was… Someone holding him, but not Tori.
He decided to open his eyesockets —he hadn’t even realized they were closed, maybe he was asleep after all— and breathed in deep; there was the smell of freshly made laundry and softener. The arms embracing him shifted and there was the sound of blankets moving. “Oh. Good Morning, Brother! How Are You Feeling?”

How much time had it been since he got up in the middle of the night? He wanted to know but at the same time he couldn’t muster enough strength to ask, much less think of an answer to Papyrus’ question. Why had he been so loud? He was supposed to just take a quick snack to calm his nerves and then go back to bed without bothering anyone, and now he seemed to have succeeded in dragging his brother into- He felt the unmistakable brush of messy hair against the good side of his skull; correction, he had managed to drag his brother and Frisk too into this.

Papyrus seemed to realize he wouldn’t get him to say anything just yet, as he kept talking as softly as he could go. “Ms. Toriel Is Making Breakfast, Meanwhile I, The Great Papyrus And Frisk Decided To Take On The Major Task Of Building A Proper Blanket Fort For Us To Spend The Day… Or However Long You’d Like.”

So they were inside a blanket fort, huh? that explained the smell. He felt the little human kid move a few cushions and pillows around and rearranged themselves closer to the two skeletons, snuggling into Sans’ side and bringing the radio with them, making its sound grow louder. Frisk must have signed something, for Papyrus added. “But Of Course, Frisk Was The One Who Suggested Bringing Their Radio And The Cookies Inside.”

As in cue, Frisk shoved what felt like a plate onto Sans’ lap. “…It’s got… c-chocolate chips.”

Their voice was as low and raspy as ever, and Sans could almost picture them still wearing their orange and yellow stripped pajamas, with their glittery green toy radio in tow and their hair still a mass of tangles. Then again, it was school day, so none of this was right, but he didn’t dare to say a word about it, he’d surely make them all fuss even more. Sans stayed unmoving for a while, just listening to the catchy songs that played and trying to not think of all the things the others were halting because of him, not think at all, if possible, it’d do him no good. It was some minutes before he even wordlessly dared to try and nibble away at a cookie. It was tasteless.

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

Frisk watched as the shorter skeleton replaced a half-way eaten cookie back on the plate. They looked up at Papyrus with their brows furrowed, and found him looking down sadly at his older brother, running an idle hand over his right shoulder. Papyrus was a better actor than what he was given credit for, his voice alone didn’t match whatsoever the heavy and dark expression he was wearing right now, sockets a little damp and fuzzy.

That morning when they had gotten up and went downstairs, they’ve found mom and Papyrus sitting at the kitchen table, talking in hushed voices while she cradled the limp bundle of bones Sans was. As they approached, none of the two monsters tried to hide the tension looming in the air, what was the point when everyone knew nothing was going on as smooth as they all pretended? Frisk looked at Sans and saw the clear tear tracks below his closed sockets, then they started looking at mom and Papyrus; he never teared away his gaze from his much too small brother, and she just gave them a tired expression. It didn’t take much to decide calling one of the school’s teachers and ask if they could take care of opening the building and covering Toriel for that day, of course they said it would be fine and it’d be no problem, after weeks of not having seen even a glimpse of Sans everyone kind of knew it wasn’t okay —and oh stars, all of the gutter press about monster’s rights roaring everywhere didn’t help at all either.

Papyrus asked if he could hold Sans and Toriel didn’t even think of saying no. She said she’d be preparing something to eat for everyone and with that she disappeared into the kitchen. Frisk took a seat next to the tall skeleton, not so sure what to do; they didn’t like seeing their family this sad, it reminded them far too much of those times when they were too curious to care and decided it’d be a better idea to listen to that tiny voice in their head, yelling for them to go discover the mysteries of this world.

A reset could fix all of this.

No

It’s not that hard, just say it.

No.

You could wipe off everyone’s problems in the blink of an eye.

No.

It’s easier than dealing with the consequences.

No! They had made a promise, and they would respect it no matter what.

They went to tug at Papyrus’ night shirt, it took a moment to be sure they had his attention before they signed something to him; blanket forts always made them feel safe during night storms besides being one of the comfiest things in the world, and it would have made a perfect combo with some goofy show on TV, but then again, that might be rude, so they’d have to think of something else. The lanky skeleton monster seemed to consider their proposal in silence, then a tiny smile appeared on his face.

“Yes, I Think That Might Be A Good Idea, Little Human.”

It wouldn’t fix anything, Frisk knew, but it was all they could think to do.

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

“HELLO? OH… GOOD EVENING MRS. FACCHINELLO… YES… N-NO! IT’S NOT THAT AT ALL! I… WELL, IT’S JUST THA—NO! I REALLY APRECIATE IT MRS. FA—NO, I’M NOT… MRS. FA—MRS. FACCHI—” Sans heard a light thump against the door. “NO, I AM NOT SAYING THAT, I ONLY MEANT I NEED A LITTLE MORE TIME… YES I KNOW, BUT… NO, PLEASE! I— I UNDERSTAND IT, MRS. BUT…” There was a light sigh, and a few beats of silence. “…OK, I… I UNDERSTAND. THANK YOU, MRS. FACCHINELLO… YES, I WILL. HAVE A GOOD EVENING.”

He didn’t have to put much effort to figure out what that phone call had been about, if anything, it made him feel worse. Not that it made any difference as to how he’d been feeling lately. It’s been two days since his little emotional stumble and he still hadn’t managed to put his whole self together, spending half of the days lying down on his bed, or the few times someone managed to convince him —force him— to get downstairs, he’d burrow himself inside the blanket fort; yeah, no one had really done anything to try dismounting the thing. He thought it must be pathetic, but he just couldn’t help it, he wasn’t sure anymore if he was sad or irked or stars-know-what about the whole matter, it was like all of his emotions had left him behind that night. All he wanted was to pretend it wasn’t happening; but then again, that phone call he just heard through the bathroom door made him realize that he simply couldn’t, he knew his little brother too well to know how far his stubbornness could get him, to the point of not always paying enough attention to the consequences it could cause in the long term. He couldn’t just stand there and watch his brother ruin his life for him.

Heh. Watch.

He dried himself off as best as he could and got slowly into his pajamas. Papyrus had insisted that he should take a bath before going to bed, since next morning they would be going back to the hospital to finally take off his cast; Sans agreed halfheartedly under the one condition that he would dress on his own, with no help at all. After a long discussion —with Papyrus listing off every possible scenario where Sans could end up hurting himself, and him just hiding away inside the fort— the younger skeleton relented, but stated that he’d still remain outside at the door, in case something happened. Thus, here he was.

He opened the door and stood there, not wanting to risk himself bumping into Papyrus. “done.”

Sans heard Papyrus jump slightly, and he could swear the clacking noise that followed were his attempts at not letting his cellphone fall. “OH, GOOD! THAT’S GOOD; THAT WAS ACTUALLY FASTER THAN I THOUGHT, BROTHER.”

“yeah. told ya it wasn’t that hard.” He could have made a decent pun with that, but he didn’t feel like it.

“WELL THEN… I THINK I SHOULD TAKE YOU TO YOUR ROOM, TOMORROW WE HAVE TO START EARLY IN THE DAY, AND I WON’T TAKE ANY EXCUSES FOR DELAYS!”

“pap, i’ve told you, i can go on my own.” His tone came out flat, and it might have sounded a bit harsh, so he added. “besides, i… could read with you tonight.” He hadn’t touched Fluffybunny’s book since that other night, and he didn’t want to let the guilt grow more than necessary.

Papyrus didn’t respond rightaway and he could feel his pitiful stare upon him. “NONESENSE SANS, I JUST SAID WE HAVE TO RISE EARLY TOMORROW, AND I DON’T WANT YOU TO SLEEP IN.”

“but i ain’t tired yet.” Then he added in almost a plea. “please…”

Papyrus opened his mouth to retort to that but then he went silent the moment he took in the faint creases in his brother’s brow, it could easily be missed if one wasn’t looking for it but it was there, far too clearly for him after years of watching that neutral façade. Lately he wasn’t so sure what Sans wanted, one moment he would do whatever he could to be left alone, and the next one he would awkwardly look for excuses not to; but no matter what he asked, Papyrus felt he couldn’t deny him this.

“ALRIGHT. BUT THEN YOU WILL LET ME TAKE YOU TO YOUR ROOM.” He cocked a brow for good measure, even if it’d be ignored.

“’kay, sure, guess it’s fair.” He gave a smile that didn’t quite reach his sockets.

As usual, they took their respective places in the red race-car bed. They went through the same motions, Sans groping across the pages, Papyrus hugging him sideways, and both trying to evade the looming feeling that they should be addressing something else.

Eventually though, the moment they reached the bottom of the last page, there was a beat of silence, the kind of silence that precedes something uncomfortable, then just like that it was broken with Sans not even raising his skull. “that call from before…” He felt his younger brother stiffen slightly, like he’d just been caught doing something he shouldn’t. “what did she say?”

Papyrus sputtered slightly. “W-WHY, MRS. FACCHINELLO JUST CALLED TO KNOW HOW WE ARE DOING, THAT’S ALL.”

“at almost ten pm?” Sans inquired accusingly.

“SHE’S UHM… A BUSY WOMAN? YOU PREFCTELY KNOW HOW MUCH WORK THERE IS AT THE RESTAURANT, I AM SURE SHE WAS MEANING TO CALL EARLIER, AND BESIDES…” He turned sharply towards the shorter skeleton in the bed. “WHY WERE YOU EAVESDROPPING ON ME?”

“i’m blind not deaf, remember?”

“SANS! I-“ He was taken aback when the words fully sank in his mind. “I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO TALK LIKE THAT, IT’S NOT HEALTHY FOR YOU OR FOR ANYONE.”

“oh, but it is healthy that you lie?” He snapped towards Papyrus’ direction, leaving the book forgotten upon the sheets and feeling the beginnings of anger filling the numb void of his mind.

“THAT WAS NOT A LIE, SHE WAS JUST-“ He huffed in frustration. “I AM NOT OBLIGED TO DISCUSS MY BOSS’ REASONS TO CALL THIS LATE.”

“papyrus, look at me.”

“I AM LOOKING AT YOU, SANS.”

Sans almost winced realizing that probably Papyrus had been actually looking at him the whole time, the anger inside him stirring. “how long have you been skipping work?” There was no response, and the fact that he couldn’t read Papyrus’ expression made the irritation in his voice arouse. “i know no one gives work absence permissions to monsters longer than a week, so how long?”

Silence stretched over both of them. Nothing.

“papyrus, you can’t just leave your job like that, think ‘bout the consequences! that woman won’t have a second thought before firing you!”

“FIRST OFF! SHE’S NOT THAT KIND OF BOSS, NOT ANYMORE. AND SECOND, I AM WELL AWARE OF WHAT I’M DOING, SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO GIVE ME A LECTURE.”

“but, papy-“ He sputtered. “how long will you keep this up? huh? how long will it be?”

“KEEP WHAT UP? I DON’T GET WHAT YOU MEAN.”

“this!” He frantically gestured all around himself, and his voice wavered slightly. “are you that blind that you don’t see what you’re doing? you’re fuckin’ throwing your life away!”

“BROTHER, I JUST TOLD YOU NOT TO-“

“no, papyrus, i’m serious! you’ve been home for who knows how long, and what have you been doing?! i’ve never seen you stay put in one place for this long, you haven’t gone training with Undyne, you haven’t accompanied Frisk to school, you haven’t g-gone to that puzzle club, you haven’t even practiced your special attack a-and you haven’t-“

“SANS! STOP IT!”

He was cut short when Papyrus grabbed him by the shoulders and all but buried him against his chest, muffling him out. Sans stayed still for a few beats, his soul drumming against his own ribcage that was raising and falling faster than normal. “You Have To Calm Down, You’re Working Yourself Up.” He felt his brother’s ungloved hand run up and down gently against his spine, just like he’d always do the few times he’d caught Sans like this. “Deep Breaths, Remember?”

It bothered him so much, but he appreciated the soft motions anyway, so he didn’t complain. One breath. Two breaths. Three breaths. This moment was supposed to be about Papyrus’ issues, not his, why did it always have to be about him? Sans felt that pit of nothing coming back to him again, and he tried to convince himself that it was better than the misguided anger from before. At least he could use it to level his voice faster, finally managing a whisper. “you can’t get fired.”

Papyrus let out a soft breath. “I Already Told You I Won’t, Dear Brother, Trust Me.”

“promise.” He hated promises, that’s a fact, just as he couldn’t guarantee that he’d keep one, he couldn’t trust others to do so, but still he needed to hear it from Papyrus.

The younger skeleton separated him from his chest just enough to look at him. “I’ll Promise Only If You Promise To Stop Having So Self-Deprecating Thoughts About This, How Does That Sound?”

He couldn’t even begin promising that, but…“…i’ll try.”

“That’s Enough For Me, Brother.” He couldn’t help the brief frown that overtook him at Sans’ response, but he knew better than anyone that that’s the best assurance he’d be getting; he’d have to work with it. They fell silent once again, and they were both so still for a while that Papyrus started thinking that maybe Sans had fallen asleep right then and there, but then he spoke up in a soft whisper.

“i think i’ll go to bed now.” With that, Sans went to the task of untangling himself off of the sheets and swung his feet to the bed’s side, but before he could even touch the floor he was lifted.

“Then I Will Take You There, Brother.”
It didn’t take long walking the short distance in the hall to Sans’ room. Papyrus made sure his brother was well tucked in his bed before giving him a goodnight peck in the unmarred side of his skull, Sans always laughed at the ‘clank’ such thing produced, but this time he didn’t react at all. Papyrus stood there trying to decide what to do, it was more difficult than he’d ever admit, he couldn’t tell what Sans needed most of the time so he had no idea what to do to help him; he thought of saying one last thing but nothing came to his mind, so at the end, he just wished his brother sweet dreams, left the door slightly ajar and went back to his own bed.

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

Leaving the house was more of a challenge than expected, with Sans making a short fuss about not really needing his white cane if Papyrus was just going to carry him everywhere around, to which the younger skeleton said that it was just to get there faster without making him more strained; being honest, Sans was a little upset for not being allowed to do this simple task on his own, but at the same time he was grateful for not having to meander around and add to his already pathetic image. The car ride was quick and just before he could get impatient at the waiting room, a well-known nurse came to get them.

“Oh my! You sure have a high-quality artist back home.” Said nurse Flemming with a giggle while Sans accommodated himself on the examination table. He was going to ask what did she mean, but next thing she said was answer enough. “It’s almost a shame that we have to cut this open. But look at the bright side! You’ll finally get your arm back.”

Sans hadn’t even been aware that his cast had been decorated, but… If he really thought about it, maybe it’d have seemed stranger if there was nothing there, with a young child at home, that is. “welp, guess every bright side has a downside.” He had intended to sound more casual, but he wasn’t really feeling up to it.

“Oh, but don’t look so down about it! You’ll se how you’ll be happier with this thing off.” He wasn’t a five-year-old for her to talk to him like this, but he didn’t argue. Papyrus had been told to wait outside despite his complaints, so that left the room only filled with the nurse’s attempts at starting a small chit chat over the plaster saw’s blaring. Every now and then when the short skeleton lightly felt the saw’s edge coming too close to the bone, he would get tense and dead-still, but every single time it happened she would give a carefree reassurance and start cutting anew other part of the cast. Well, maybe her childish talking actually did have true foundations.

As soon as his arm was free, Nurse Flemming asked him to clench and unclench his fist, stretch his whole arm and other bunch of things, which Sans complied halfheartedly; there was a certain position when he turned his arm inwards that sent a stinging shot all the way to his shoulder blade though, but he decided not to mention it, he just wanted to leave once and for all. “Aaaand there you go. Good as new! Just remember to not put too much weight on it and give it proper rest, it might not be broken anymore but it’s still healing, okay? Oh, and it might still feel a bit itchy but that’s totally normal, it will go away eventually.”

Sans just nodded and got off to the floor, grabbing his cane and standing still for a few seconds trying to remember which way had he come from, it’d be uncomfortable to walk around and risk himself to bump into something important, but then…

“The door is at your left, like six steps away, by the way.”

He lifted his skull sharply at her direction, was his distress that visible? Arching slightly a browbone he pondered her words. She wasn’t actually pointing that out, she was just giving him an answer to his silent question, she wasn’t even moving out of her seat. He relaxed. “thanks.”

He met his brother in the waiting room, he was talking with Dr. Loua about something he didn’t quite catch but didn’t bother to ask either. The doctor greeted him with a friendly tone and asked a few questions about his health and routine, Sans answered with the bare minimum of words while Papyrus filled in the blanks. Not much longer they bid them goodbye and exited the building, this time Sans was able to convince his brother that now that he didn’t have the cast anymore, he could walk on his own to the car.

The following week Papyrus did in fact go back to work, as promised, nonetheless he kept calling his brother almost every hour to make sure he didn’t forget to take the painkillers or that he wasn’t in trouble or needed something while he was out. That left Sans with at least eight hours straight of pure solitude. At first, he thought it’d be helpful, that maybe that way he’d be able to put his emotions in order and try fending on his own so he could stop bothering everyone so much; but it only took him one day to realize that it wouldn’t be that simple, honestly, nothing was ever simple in his life, why would this have been any different?

The first day alone, he tried to make one ‘dog full of ketchup to eat while listening to the TV, but he couldn’t find the buns and to make his disgrace even worse, he ended up breaking a jar from the cupboard while searching; he attempted to sweep it off so no one found out, but of course he had to step onto one of the largest pieces of glass with his stupid slipper. Fortunately, or unfortunately, it was Toriel who found him first, sitting on a chair cleaning his foot with a random cloth —that ended up being the filthy sock he had refused to pick up since moving in. He asked her for all she wanted to not tell Papyrus; a relatively short discussion on the matter later, she agreed reluctantly, but only after stating that she’d be making a few arrangements in the kitchen for him. Another time during that same week he’d been wandering around every room in the house to kill time, only to find out he’d left every single possible light turned on when Frisk pointed it out with a hesitant voiced question. There was another time around the second week he got so frustrated trying to find a hoodie that could be deemed as comfortable as the one that got ruined in the alley, he started haphazardly throwing his clothes behind him until he gave up, sitting in the middle of all the renewed chaos of his room just being angry with the situation. After that, he decided that trying was too much work, so he started to do nothing but lie down on his bed while doing dumb searches with the voice assistant of his phone.

When Papyrus found him and asked what in the world was he doing, he greeted him in an all-too-neutral tone before answering. “did ya know there’s this human girl in New Zealand that went blind, and after hittin’ her head on a table she said she could see again? it’s crazy, maybe all i need is to crash my dumb skull against a rock or somethin’. we shoulda give it a shot.”

Of course, he didn’t see the pained expression that settled in the taller skeleton’s mien, how quickly his sockets became darker at the edges and his smile twisted until it was a sad grimace. “No, I Didn’t, Brother.” He said drily.

Sans heard him stomping away from the room in silence; he hadn’t said anything bad, had he? It was just a joke, obviously his skull wouldn’t be able to take one more hit what with the cracked hole and headaches as a reminder of its fragileness. But… He didn’t quite have the energy to get up and go make things clear with his little brother, so he stayed.

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

“…Glasses are in the first upper cabinets; plates are in the second; the silverware is in the first drawer; ladles are in the third drawer; and the pans and pots are below the chopping board. Does that seem fine to you, my friend?” Toriel asked gently after listing off every single item in the kitchen —food and dishes alike— with all the patience of the world.

When the boss monster said that she would make arrangements in the kitchen Sans didn’t care to think about what that meant, until weekend came and he was woken up to a full tour through the kitchen. “yeah, that’s fine. thanks, tori.”

“I know it is a lot of information but it will get easier to remember with time, trust me; meanwhile I made a voice note for you to consult when we are not home, I can send it to your phone, alright?”

Honestly all that Sans could remember was that ketchup was in the top shelf of the fridge’s door, so that voice note might actually come in handy. “that’d be great of you tori, i appreciate it.”

Toriel was about to say something else in return when there was a sudden bang near the living room that made the both of them jump ungracefully, followed immediately by a distinctive ‘NYEHEHEHE!’. Standing by the threshold was Papyrus striking one of his heroic poses, still wearing his job’s uniform and with his car keys dangling from one finger.

“Papyrus, dear! Why is all this hustle for?” She sighed in relief, placing one hand over her chest.

“WHY, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM HERE TO TAKE MY BROTHER ON A VERY FRUCTIFEROUS TRIP!”

Hearing that, Sans gave him a confused look, knowing well the now upbeat monster wouldn’t see it anyway. “a trip? now?”

“OF COURSE! TODAY IS A VERY FITTING DAY FOR TRIPS OF THIS NATURE! THE WEATHER IS NICE, THE TRAFFIC IN THE CITY IS ACCPETABLE, AND I ALREADY TOLD UNDYNE WE’D BE PICKING HER UP!”

“yeah… i think i’ll pass. kinda busy here with tori right now, you know? but you can still go with undyne if you want, don’t mind me.”

“Actually, Sans…” Toriel started; she saw the brief expression of hurt in Papyrus’ sockets when Sans turned him down, and then realized what he was traying to do. It had been two weeks since the last times the little skeleton stepped a foot out of the house, a whole month if you didn’t count his visit to the doctor. “…I think we already finished here, that was all I had to tell you for now. Besides, some sunlight and fresh air might be good for you.”

He changed his weight from foot to foot, lowering his gaze. He really wasn’t feeling up to it, but with the two of them all but urging him out of place, he didn’t want to think of any other false excuse to get away from this. He heaved a long sigh, defeated. “ok, i’ll go.”

“EXCELLENT!! NOW WE JUST HAVE TO SEARCH SOME NICE CLOTHES FOR YOU TO- NYEHHHH!!!!”

“NYAAAAAAGH!!!! WHO NEEDS ‘NICE CLOTHES’ TO GO OUT?!” The fish monster suddenly jumped in behind Papyrus, trapping the poor skeleton with one arm and noogying him full force. “YOU LOOK GOOD ENOUGH, PUNK! JUST GET YOUR BONY ASS HERE!”

“LANGUAGE!” Papyrus was doing his best to wriggle his way out of the noogie, uselessly against her strong grip. “BESIDES, I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO WAIT AT THE PARK!”

“Well, I was, but then it occurred to me that it’d be faster if I just jogged all the way here instead of waiting for you two.” She let go of the taller skeleton and gave a toothy grin. “Anyways, I’m sure Gerson could go faster than that car of yours!”

“THAT’S BECAUSE OF ROAD SIGNS!”

“Whatever, let’s just go!” With no warning at all, Sans was hoisted up for a brief moment and then placed back down over what he guessed was a seat of his brother’s car, he gripped the material of the backrest trying to make the feeling of vertigo in his metaphorical gut disappear. “Stop acting like a skittish kitty, punk! Kitties aren’t allowed where we’re going!”

Wait, so they were going to a particular place. “where’re we going?”

“No questions!”

“SORRY, BROTHER, BUT WE CANNOT TELL YOU THAT INFORMATION JUST YET.”

They both laughed, leaving Sans frowning in the backseat. Papyrus started the car and began their way to the mysterious place. Sans didn’t bother to ask them again, he knew perfectly that when his little brother ganged up with the former captain of the Royal Guard to do something, they wouldn’t relent, so he just tried to make the best of it. The ride was pleasantly quiet, only filled with the noises from passing cars and honks, the wind was nice and… Well, maybe even the sun too —not that Sans could tell. Then they stopped, and Papyrus- no, Undyne took him by the arm and all but pulled him towards some unknown direction and he still didn’t know where they were going and he didn’t like one bit how his brother’s friend was dragging him and he wanted her to stop! But he couldn’t do a thing against her iron grip. The moment he was released he thought he was about to fall over but Papyrus managed to catch him first.

“I TOLD YOU TO BE GENTLE!” He sounded annoyed and sheepish at the same time.

“But he’s gotta learn one way or another how to move around, right?”

“WELL, HE’S NOT GOING TO LEARN IF YOU PULL HIM LIKE THAT!”

“He wasn’t getting off of the car!”

“YOU DIDN’T EVEN WAIT FOR US TO PUT A FOOT ON THE GROUND!”

“i’m uhh… here, i can hear ya, you know?” Sans heard Papyrus’ signature face-palm clearly.

“RIGHT. PARDON THIS POOR BARBARIAN EXCUSE OF A MORAL SUPPORT…”

“HEY!”

“…BUT I ASSURE YOU THAT THIS IS ALL FOR A GOOD DEED! NOW, LET’S GO THIS WAY.”

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

Having said that, Papyrus took Sans once more by the arm and started walking at a steady pace, leading him calmly; the shorter skeleton didn’t object a single time, but Papyrus still didn’t like how quiet he’d been, he should have done a pun by now. He glanced at Undyne briefly, who gave him a reassuring grin and walked a little forward, stopping every now and then to wait for them.

They made a few turns and twists, but he could tell Sans didn’t pay any attention with how spaced out he looked —even with both of his sockets lightless, Papyrus knew. He also noticed that uncomfortable feeling coming from his brother; ever since that day in the blanket fort, Papyrus had been sensing those bitter waves whenever they tried to coax Sans into doing something else besides lying around, they were always so raw and impossible to hide, neutral façade or not. He wanted those to stop, he wanted to see Sans relaxed again, he even missed his jokes —the good bad jokes— and hearing him talk happily about dumb things. That’s why they were here.

“We’ve arrived!”

He came out of his musing when the bell of the door rang, and he barely managed to see a blur of yellow and brown dashing towards them before it crashed right into Sans; he fell to the floor before Papyrus could do anything, and that’s when he noticed the small puppy standing over his brother, gasping with its tongue hanging out and tail wagging madly. It then proceeded to lick Sans’ face and bark, he wanted to say something about it but decided to stay quiet not wanting to make the situation any worse.

“hey… got a bone to pick with me?” Sans raised a hand and petted the small animal; Papyrus let out a small breath, then he saw a chubby man clad with a light purple shirt approaching them swiftly and immediately taking the dog off his brother.

"Sorry! Sorry! I’m so sorry about that. Bad Peach! I told you to sit.” The young man sounded horrified and his words almost blurred together with how fast he talked. “She normally doesn’t do that, like, she’s still in training tho, she’ll learn to behave better than this, right Peach?” Peach gave a happy whine in response, but the man kept talking to her like she'd just said the most convincing excuse in the world. Meanwhile Papyrus helped Sans get up back on his feet, then he brushed off his shirt and pants.

When he raised his gaze, he found himself locking eyes with Greater Dog, only to find that Dogamy, Dogaressa, Doggo and even Lesser Dog were standing there. “(Yes, she’s still a rookie, and we were just finishing with a well-deserved round of pets.)” Dogaressa said. “(Anyway, we’re glad that you could come today, we were so excited!)”

“Indeed! It’s always good to see old friendly faces again.” Dogamy stood by his wife’s side and smiled at them, Doggo waved a hand with a less enthusiastic “Hello.”

Undyne passed her only eye over all the dog monsters and the single human and tilted her head. “Why is everyone here? I thought only you worked here?” She pointed at Greater Dog, to which he barked shyly.

Dogamy cleared his throat. “Well, we had the day off, and Endogeny was having one of those days and they wanted to be alone, so…”

“(…Greater Dog told us you were going to visit, so we decided to come. Besides, we like here, there’s just so many fellow petters.)”

“Yeah, that and Smoothie needed a new harness.” Doggo added and pated the head of his guiding dog. “So, you finally decided to join the club, Sans?”

At that, Papyrus anxiously turned to look at his brother again waiting for his reaction; this was definitely not how he’d planned this to go, they were supposed to explain everything when they arrived to the center, not just throw a question like that rightaway; Papyrus knew Sans was no fool, with all that had been said he’d surely have connected the dots by now. To his credit, the shorter skeleton remained apparently calm, but his aura became slightly darker and his voice came unnaturally even. “didn’t know there was a club for this.”

There was an awkward silence, Lesser Dog glanced at Dogamy and Doggo and yelped, the former reacted first. “Right, the pack we were training is over here, isn’t it, Corny?”

“Oh, oh! That’s right. They’re this way, follow me forward then leftwards!” He rearranged the small golden retriever in his arms and headed to a hallway. “I see everyone here already knows each other except me, hehe, I’m Cornwell, by the way, but Corny is easier and better.” And before anyone could say anything to that he disappeared through a threshold. The rest followed suit —then again, with Papyrus holding Sans by the arm— and soon they were before a huge grille, behind it, there were several dogs resting on small beds or just lying down at sun batches. “Ok, here we are! New friends, meet the doggies, doggies, meet new friends.” All the dogs perked up at his call, raising their heads and panting, some of them got up and went to sit right in front of the group of mosnters in a line, looking up expectantly. “Yeah, those are my good boys and girls! All of them have been largely trained and tested to provide the best of helps and companies to whoever is willing to love them back in exchange.”

Greater Dog barked and the dogs answered back straightening, he opened the grille and gestured to Papyrus to go ahead with a yelp. The tall skeleton hesitated for a beat, then looked down at Sans, nudging him forwards.

He sighed. “do i have a choice?”

Papyrus winced, feeling the smallest bit of guilt in his soul; but he couldn't back down now, they were here and Sans already knew what's going on, so there would be no point in not giving it a chance.
"I AM NOT FORCING YOU, BUT... I WOULD REALLY APRECIATE IF YOU AT LEAST TRIED, BROTHER." He squeezed his hand lightly. "Please?"

Sans sighed heavily, but his tone was still cold. "ok. just 'cause it's you, bro."

Both skeletons entered the grille, soon followed by Corny who went to stand in front of the dog line next to Greater Dog. “Well, well, well, so first thing first. Please abstain yourselves from feeding, petting and inciting the doggies to play, they’re working here and we don’t play while working. Now, that being said, what kind of doggie do you think would suit your lifestyle better?” He asked and gave Sans a quick pat on the shoulder.

The skeleton monster recoiled a bit in surprise. He hummed for a few seconds, thinking, although Papyrus knew that he was actually searching for any kind of excuse to not answer that. “dunno… d’you have hotdogs?”

Corny’s smile tightened but he regained his composure almost immediately the gesture went unnoticed. “Why, of course I do, but those are at home, so, sorry, the inedible ones here will have to do.” An absurd question answered naturally and calmly with an absurd response, that’s a good way to do it, Papyrus had to admit.

"and what if i said that i like blue dogs?" Sans asked annoyingly as Undyne brought a hand to cover her face and shook her head.

"Then it can be blue in your imagination, I don't know of any restrictions that forbid that." He said crossing his arms.

"aaand... what if i said i like dogs with horns?"

Corny smiled with complicity before speaking with a very mischievous tone. "Then I could give you my neighbor's number! He's so single and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't mind having dinner with you! Besides..." He paused for effect. "He's soooooo hot, you said you liked hot dogs, yeah?"

Sans was, to say the least, a blueberry with how blushed he'd gotten. Undyne broke into a guffaw and slapped her knee, Doggo giggled ribbing Lesser Dog in the ribs while Dogamy and Dogaressa gave the short skeleton a pitying look barely holding their grins. Papyrus huffed and patted Sans in the back.

"WELL, ENOUGH WITH THE FOOLING, SANS. NOW GO CHECK THE DOGS."

Sans shook his head and tried to not look as annoyed as he actually was. Papyrus watched him as he walked across the line of firm dogs; he raised a hand and started touching a few of them in the head, then he stopped in front of a German shepherd.

"Oh, so you like the big and serious kind, huh?" Corny got closer along with Greater Dog who was holding a special harness. "Want to give this girl a walk?"

The other shrugged. "'kay."

The chubby human nodded at Greater Dog and he started to put the harness on the dog. "Her name is Bellaresh, but we call her Bell for short; we will take you to a special area so she can guide you around, and then if you're alright with it we can give it a try on the street."

Once the harness was secured, the dog monster placed it on Sans' hand with a high-pitched bark. "And this is where you hold it, try to not let go of it and do not pet Bell, got it?"

Sans nodded and gave a sigh. Bell got up and started to walk steadily out of the grille and through a short hallway that led to a backyard full of trees, bushes and even some dogs. Papyrus and the rest followed them leaving a considerable distance between them, and went to stand next to the backyard entrance; the tall skeleton was watching every move Bell did and how his brother was going behind her, every time they approached an obstacle, a rock or a gap in the ground he tensed, Undyne noticed it and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey Papyrus, relax man, he's not going to trip on every rock in the way." She gave him a reassuring look before glancing towards the dog pack. "Besides, I trained all this guys and if any of them helped train these dogs, then I wouldn't expect less of them."
Greater Dogs yipped aswell for emphasis and smiled at him.

"I KNOW, IT'S JUST..." He looked again at Sans' direction, and when he made sure he wasn't going to twist an ankle in one of the fallen branches he looked back at Undyne. "I DON'T KNOW WHY BUT I CAN'T SHAKE THIS FEELING THAT IF I'M NOT THERE, SOMETHING... SOMETHING MIGHT HAPPEN."

Undyne furrowed her brows slightly. "Nothing's gonna happen to him, okay? We're here because he needs to get out of the house on his own, and he won't do that if you can't leave him alone." She gazed at the shorter skeleton, who was walking stiffly through some roots, skillfully guided by Bell. "He's a strong kid, 'rus, he just needs a little big push to get back to his old self."

Papyrus brushed his fingers through his scarf and nodded regaining his enthusiastic attitude. "YOU ARE RIGHT. I WILL THEN DO MY BEST TO HELP HIM BY ONLY STAYING CLOSE AND WATCHING HIM WITHOUT HIS NOTICE!"

The fish monster giggled and shook her head good naturedly. "Just give yourself a break and let the girl do her job."

He smiled apologetically, mentally thanking her for her words. When he looked once more at the open space of the backyard, he could see Sans was still walking a bit hesitant, but his expression was no longer tense, Papyrus could even dare to bet he was a little calmer than before. Dogs always distracted his brother for good, that's something he'd learned long ago and now this confirmed it further.

Eventually, Bell brought Sans back to where they were standing and sat down, looking intently at everyone with her tongue out.

"That's my good girl! Did you do a good job?"

Sans looked at the human's general direction. "i'm still 'n one piece, so you could say she's not that bad."

Corny smiled widely. "Perfect! It also seems she likes you too! Do you want to give her her reward?"

"huh... sure, why not?"

"Alright, just let me go fetch her favorites." He disappeared through the entrance quickly.

Undyne slapped a webbed hand on Sans' back roughly. "So, how did you feel, punk?"

"did you ever play blind chick?"

"Uhhh... No?"

"well, i felt like i was losing at it." He gave a breathy laugh. "but hey, turns out bell here knows how to handle lazy lumps, huh?"

It was a start, it was freaking annoying to hear him tell jokes that they didn't understand and that were surely as self deprecating as the others from before, but it was a start. "SO, WOULD YOU LIKE TO GIVE IT ANOTHER TRY TOMORROW?"

Sans' smile decreased slightly. "dunno, it was fun, yeah but... a dog's a lotta responsibility, don't you think?"

"YES, IT IS, BUT NOTHING OUT OF THIS WORLD."

"Dogs are not as needy as they seem, you know?" Dogamy spoke.

Then Dogaressa added. "(That's true, they just need to be loved and cared like any other monster)."

"The only bad thing they do is poop, but you can't really get mad at them for that, sometimes it's cute." Doggo said placing a hand on Smoothie's head.

Sans said nothing to that, just raised a brow. "right." He turned to Bell and scratched her ear. "hey i might have something you'll like."

And before anybody could stop him, he created a small bone attack and held it in front of Bell's nose. She perked up immediately, raising both of her ears and wagging her tail.

"No! Sans, wa-!"

Next thing they knew, there was a dog pile over Sans, all that could be seen were wiggling tails and kicking paws. In that moment Corny came back gripping a bag of treats that fell almost instantly as he gaped at the scene in shock. “Poo in a stick and leaping lizards! What the cow happened?!”

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

"...i-"

"Not. A. Single. Word."

"UNDY-

"I SAID NOT A SINGLE WORD!"

"...look, i'm sorry, didn't know."

Undyne turned abruptly and gave a sharp look at Sans. "What part of no feeding and no petting the dogs you didn't get?!"

"how was i s'posed to know that they'd take me as a chewing toy?" He murmured to himself, but Undyne managed to catch it, which infuriated her further.

"You are a SKELETON!! FOR ASGORE'S SAKE!!!"

When there was no other response from the shorter skeleton, Undyne groaned and turned back to the road in front of them. It had taken them at least fifteen minutes to unbury Sans from the dog pile, and then ten more minutes to get them to stop trying to bite at his toes, legs, arms and... Well, everything that was a bone. The whole pack was still barking when Corny asked them to leave, saying that it would be quite a while before they calmed down again, and that "If the bony fellas could please try to strictly avoid being near the dogs that would be very appreciated." The young human was very polite and all, but all of them could tell by the tick in his eye that he was just holding back from yelling nonsense at everyone.

The rest of the ride was quiet, even after Undyne was dropped home and it was just the two of them. Papyrus just kept mentally reproaching himself that he should’ve thought better of what a bad combination dogs and skeletons could be.

Chapter Text

The mall was busy, Sans could tell by the cacophony blaring from everywhere; it was annoying, and after quite a long while he was starting to feel the beginnings of a headache —one of the bad ones— taking him on its grip, but he definitely preferred it that way. Once again, Toriel and Frisk asked him if he wanted to accompany them to the mall to make some errands after school so he didn’t have to spend his whole day at home, he was going to refuse rightaway, but then he remembered that if he stayed, Flowey would use him as an excuse to not go either, which meant he would be stuck with the weed for hours; it’s been four days since the flower got back and although he didn’t act like the psycho he once knew, he still managed to find the way to make him feel uncomfortable, usually that would end with both of them having a passive-aggressive conversation, slipping meaningless threats in between and just trying to get the best of the other; but right now with all that’s been happening Sans wasn’t that thrilled to have one of those interactions, so he accepted the invitation. Still, that didn’t mean that he had the intention to go around all the places they had planned, and as soon as they got off the car, he said that he was too tired to walk, and he would wait for them in one of the corners of the huge building. He felt like garbage when Tori went as far as to offer carrying him around, and he said no, that he would only delay them.

Thus, here he was, sitting on a bench with his back against a cold wall and his cane folded on his lap, out of habit, he reached for his hood but when he was greeted with nothing he remembered —again— that it didn’t exist anymore, so he huffed angrily and crossed his arms. He thought for a moment that he must look more like a weird early Halloween decoration than an actual monster with how still he was, and he scoffed, yeah, he didn’t need his sight and a mirror to know how pathetic he must look.

“Howdy, Sans! What brings-“

“ahhh!” He jumped and hugged himself a bit tighter before registering that it actually was Asgore’s voice speaking to him, he relaxed immediately, then the right side of his skull started to throb. “…king fluffybuns?”

“Oh, I am sorry Sans, I did not mean to startle you.” He heard the king of monsters shuffle, how was it that he didn’t hear him approaching? He was the heaviest monster he knew, it was impossible to not hear him coming. “I was not expecting to find you here, it has been a while, hasn’t it?”

“yeah…” He was pointedly not looking up towards his voice’s direction.

“Are you here by yourself?”

“nah, i came with tori and the kiddos, but you know me, i’m a lazybones.”

The boss monster got closer and seated next to him. “Why, I do not think this is precisely the best place to rest.” There was an awkward pause, with only the people’s commotion filling it. “Do you want company?”

“only if you like snores.”

“You are not planning on sleeping on a bench, are you?”

Sans stayed quiet for a moment, even if he wanted, he wouldn’t be able to sleep right now. Why, of all days the king could have chosen, did he have to decide to come shopping the very same day he was dragged out of his room? He wanted to be alone, but he couldn’t come up with any excuse. “dontcha have any errands to do?”

“Actually, now that you mention it, yes, I do have some.” Welp, that was easy enough- “And I think I could use your help for that.”

“what?” He obviously wasn’t expecting that.

“You see, winter is coming up and I was hoping to give Frisk some new sweaters so they have more variety, you know, other that the stripped ones they already have.”

Sans was still confused as to what did that have to do with him. ”and you want specifically my help ‘cause…”

“Well, I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but I have the impression you and Frisk might be the same size.”

Stars, now this was awkward. “uhh… so… you want me tryin’ them on?”

“If it is no bother, that is.”

Why did people keep giving him chances to let them down all the time? He didn’t want to get out of his comfort corner, that would imply him walking aimlessly and surely tripping into some plant pot and then feeling even more useless than he already did, if he stayed in one place there’s no way he could make his situation worse. But then again, Asgore had sounded so hopeful; Sans knew that while Toriel was at a point where she wasn’t mad at him anymore but she didn’t fully accept him back into her life either, Frisk didn’t hold any grudges against the guy, and yet he always did his best to make it up for what he did. The short skeleton had seen and heard far too many times —during his time as Judge— how much it affected Asgore, he’d heard him sob quietly while watering his flowers, he’d shared a cup of tea with him while he rambled about how much he missed his wife and children with a slightly quivering voice; and to say he didn’t return the favor many times would be a lie, Sans had several chronologically disordered bits of memories from past timelines where he had sat on the judgement hall’s floor weeping for his brother’s death, then Asgore came to ask what was wrong and when he refused to talk, the king would disappear for an instant only to come back with two cups of tea, sit next to him, and then wait for him to cry all he wanted; sometimes Sans stayed silent, other times he spoke to the king about how much he blamed himself for not being able to protect his little brother, but every time Asgore would listen and stay with him long enough for him to function again. Old Fluffybuns was such a pushover he’d even put his own problems on standby to help others.

Therefore, he wasn’t able to find it in himself to turn him down, so he reluctantly let out a quiet “’kay.”

To his relief, Asgore didn’t pick him up nor let him walk on his own; maybe he did catch the insecure frown on his browbone, or maybe he just wanted to get to the store quicker, either way, he’s glad he didn’t have to try and pretend like he knows how to use his cane, because he certainly hadn’t even attempted to practice at all.

After an hour or so, Sans felt like he had tried on the entire kids section, he’d been walking in and out of the dresser nonstop and he still felt like he’d been wearing the same sweater, sure Asgore would describe to him every single piece of clothe he brought, from colors to the pictures and puns they sported, but honestly, it wasn’t the same; and he was beginning to feel bored.

Luckily for him, it wasn’t long when Asgore finally decided that it was enough. He picked four sweaters for the little human: a pink one with purple spots on it, a grey one that had some cartoon embroidered, a red checkered one, and a orange one with yellow hems and a smiling alpaca printed. All in all, they sounded cute, so maybe getting a full-blast headache was worth it. When they excited the building, the king told Sans that he had texted Toriel to inform her of their little trip down the fashion store, and that he would be taking him home; the short skeleton couldn’t think that clearly at the moment, but he felt the guilt in the back of his mind somehow complaining against him for making Tori bring him all the way here just to end up doing something entirely different than what she’d planned, a part of him told him that she wouldn’t get upset over something like that, but he refused to pay attention to those childish ideas.

The ride was quiet, but strangely not uncomfortable, then again, the silence he used to share with the king while waiting for the human to come and be judged on the better timelines was quite pleasant.

All too soon, the van came to a stop and Sans heard the boss monster pulling on the hand brake. He sighed and went to undo the sitting belt when Asgore spoke with a soft tone.

“By the way, Sans, I could not help but notice this hoodie with fur back at the store, I think you might like it.” Sans was about to say that he would check it out next time —which he doubted so— when he felt a paper bag being set over his lap; he moved his skull towards it, trying to figure out its meaning through his migraine, when he rehearsed Asgore’s words again, he then promptly brought his hands to it to feel its contents; soft, warm fabric met his phalanges alongside with something fluffy. “I know you have been quite fond of hoodies for a while, and… Since the last one could not be salvaged, maybe you’ll find this one just as comfortable.”

He lingered in the touch for a few more moments; it was indeed softer than his old one, maybe comfier, still he knew it would never be the same —would never remind him of all the good and bad memories the old one had represented, would never offer him the same comfort and shelter— but he guessed that he couldn’t afford to be that choosy, so he forces a small smile and turns towards the other monster. “heh… thanks, fluffybuns. ya don’t know how i missed having one of these.” Not an entire lie, at least.

“Nothing to thank about.” He went silent for a second, then continued. “Well, I believe I will see you this weekend then. Good bye for now, Sans.”

“yeah, sure, see ya in the weekend.”

With that he hopped off the car and headed inside the house. Papyrus was home, noisily working in the kitchen, he heard Toriel greet him from the dining table and he heard Frisk tapping one hand against the wooden surface. He raised a lazy hand to wave at their direction before going to slump on the living room couch, placing his bag and cane on the floor next to it.

Just then, he realized he had told Asgore he’d see him later. A dry laugh escaped him despite his aching skull. Heh, what a joke.

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

Papyrus was walking on a sidewalk near the center of town. Originally, he had come out to retrieve some groceries, but he found himself wanting more time feeling the cool air against his bones and watching the cloudy sky, so he took a few different turns to make his trip longer to the point of going farther from the store. Besides, he needed the time so he could think.

Of course, Toriel told him about their visit to the mall and how it had turned out; the weekend Asgore came to the house and brought some gifts for Frisk and Flowey, Papyrus made sure to take the boss monster to one of the farthest halls of the house just so he could thank him for managing to make his brother do something else other than just sit or lie down, Asgore had given him an apologetic smile and told him that it was no big deal, that he just deemed it a good chance to spend time with and old friend, still, the helping intention in his bicolored eyes wasn’t lost to the tall skeleton. In that moment, Papyrus thought that maybe these events meant that Sans was making progress in coming to terms with his new reality, and he would start trying harder to get used to this. Three days passed and Sans didn’t set a single foot out of the house; by the time Wednesday finally rolled in, he realized that he might have been hoping for too much. It was infuriating because all his efforts seemed to be fruitless, he had encouraged his brother over and over again in many different ways already, gently, strongly, even lazily; he’d been patient and waited for him to give the first step but the lazybones always stayed put in one place pretending to be very interested on his phone’s new features or just staring with unseeing, dark sockets at nowhere; come to think of it, the former happened more often than he'd like.

For the first time in a long time, Papyrus felt lost, but not the same way as that time when he overheard Undyne talking with the human Frisk back in the Underground. He felt for the first time that perhaps, he wouldn’t be able to find a good side to this.

A shaky breath escaped his teeth, unbidden.

He kept walking, and the next time he decided to raise his gaze and peer at his surroundings, a certain building caught his attention. The once happy combination of green and orange now seemed dull to him, making a slight shudder run down his spine as he thought of that alley just a few meters away. He stood there for some minutes, not taking his gaze off from the small cafeteria, until something within him made him amble towards it; he crossed the street and took a moment to contemplate the building’s façade, then he raised a gloved hand and pushed the door in. There were no customers to be seen, the place eerily quiet, he could have almost missed the lone human that stood behind the counter if she hadn’t spoken in a monotone with her gaze still glued to her phone.

“Welcome; we have special discounts this week, everything’s half its price, and if you buy a complete lunch set then-“ When she finally rose her eyes she cut herself off, going silent and tense in a second, she set her phone down and looked away, looked back at him in recognition, and then away again. “Uhh… Hi, sorry… Good evening.” She looked clearly nervous; Papyrus noted how her eyes darted everywhere behind her big, thick glasses. “Are… Are you going to order?”

Papyrus remained quiet, studying the other in the room; he knew it had been a human who called the emergency line, the one who worked at the cafeteria nearby, but he hadn’t really paid much attention to them that day, he knew they were there in the alley a few meters away from him, but he was so focused on his older brother that he didn’t notice anything else at that time. The girl looked fairly young, surely an underage to the human laws, with small eyes amplified by her square glasses and crimped, light brown hair that barely reached her shoulders; she was looking at him in a mix of emotions he couldn’t quiet place, and then he realized that she had actually asked him something. “OH, WELL… NOT REALLY, I WAS JUST PASSING BY AND THEN I THOUGHT THAT… WELL, PERHAPS…” He trailed off, not fully knowing the reason he entered that place himself.

The girl waited for him to continue, but when nothing came her expression shifted to something more akin to concern. “Is your brother alright?”

The skeleton monster shot his skull up, shocked. “Excuse Me?”

“The shorty; is he okay? I-I mean, you called him ‘brother’ so… Ugh, maybe I shouldn’t jump to conclusions.” She whispered the last part to herself, but he caught it with his fine hearing.

“OH, NO, IT’S OKAY; HE’S INDEED MY OLDER BROTHER.” He walked a few steps forward to be closer to the counter. “AND HE’S FINE NOW, FOR THE MOST PART. THANKS FOR ASKING.”

“Huh, so he’s the older.” She mused, then shook her head. “S-sorry for that. It’s just that everyone talks about what happened on the news, but they don’t quite say if he’s okay or not and… I felt like I needed to know if… You know, everything went alright.” She fidgeted with her glasses over her nose, frowning deeply and nose crumpling. “Those assholes, they should put them in jail as soon as they catch them.” She spat, her left hand curling into a fist over the counter.

Papyrus feels a mixture of anger and helplessness at the mention of the ones that had done this to his brother, but he quickly drowns it down, he doesn’t like thinking about them and the fact that they are still out there in the streets, free to do whatever they want; it’d do him no good. An uncomfortable pause crosses the room before Papyrus makes his mind and speaks a little unsure of what he’s going to ask. “UHM, BY THE WAY, DO YOU HAPPEN TO KNOW ANY WAY TO HELP SOMEONE SIGHTLESS… TO GET USED TO BEING SIGHTLESS?”

She looked at him in confusion for a few seconds before her frown deepened and immediately relaxed turning into a rueful expression, knowing eyes locking with his sockets. “I’m sorry, I don’t know much of that.”

Papyrus’ shoulders sagged, what was he thinking? he was about to thank her anyways, when she spoke up once more. “But I have a friend whose aunt went blind a couple of years ago, and he told me that he’d signed her up for some sort of support group or something like that, I’m not really sure. I can text him right now if you want and ask him about it.”

He remained silent for a bit, fixing his gaze on his shoes and trying to clear his mind so he could think properly. In all honesty, deep down he felt defeated and even the slightest bit of betrayed, because in all the time since Sans woke up from his coma, he hadn’t been able to success in helping his brother. Every reassuring word, every steadying pat, every warm hug, all those things were only ever taken with apathy; Papyrus had thought that with the proper amount of love and care from family —from him— maybe Sans would finally open up and then with time he'd recover. But so far, that had only proven to drive him away. So, Papyrus decided that if being around other different people rather than them —rather than him— might help Sans, then he’d allow his pride to take that little hurt; it was nothing compared to how much it would help in the long run, really.

He rose his skull to face the girl again, a feeble glint of hopefulness to his sockets. “THAT WOULD BE REALLY NICE OF YOU. THANK YOU.”

She half-smiled and picked her phone up again, furiously tapping away and saying a quick “Hold a sec.” with her eyes not looking at him anymore. Papyrus looked at the vacant seats closer to the counter considering that maybe that friend would take his time to answer, but it wasn’t long when her phone started buzzing again and again with the back and forth texting. Well, that was quick… Terrifyingly quick for the teens’ own good. “Alright, I’ve got the location.”

A quick exchange of numbers later Papyrus had the indications and a contact number written down on a new lone message on an otherwise empty chat. He profusely thanked her again for her help, but she kept saying that he shouldn’t, that it was nothing. “Actually, can I borrow you another second? Just wait here, I’ll be right back.” She promptly disappeared through a door behind her and was back in no time, just like she’d said, holding one white plastic bag with a smiley face printed on it; she set it on the counter and gestured to it with a sheepish expression. “I know it’s not much, but I’d like to give you this… For you and your brother, I kinda remember he said something strange about buns. It’s on the house.”

Papyrus quirked a browbone at her. “OH, NO, IT’S NOT NECESSARY, I CAN PAY FOR IT.”

“I won’t accept any money, just take it.” She said firmly. “We’re closing the place anyway, so the food better go to someone who appreciates it.” She looked the skeleton monster in the eye, but when he didn’t move, her eyes darted away momentarily as she added in almost a whisper. “Besides, it’s the least I can do.”

Papyrus pondered his options, but when he saw the look the human girl was giving him, he relented with a sigh, reaching out to grab the bag. “THANK YOU. I’M SURE MY BROTHER WILL APRECIATE IT.”

“It’s no problem. And I hope he gets better soon.” There was hesitation in her voice, but Papyrus could tell she meant what she’d said.

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

“A support group, you say?” Toriel asked bringing a paw to her cheek and looking intently at the lanky skeleton, having stopped walking moments ago to better address what the other monster was saying.

“WELL, YES, THAT’S QUITE IT.” Papyrus would be wriggling his hands together if he wasn’t carrying a bunch of bags full of vegetables and other stuff from the convenience store. He perfectly knew that it was something strange to bring up during a shopping trip, so Toriel’s initial shock was totally justified. “I SENT THEM A MESSAGE YESTERDAY, AND THEY SAID THAT WE COULD GO ANY DAY AROUND 4 O’CLOCK, AND THAT IF WE DIDN’T LIKE IT, WE COULD LEAVE ANYTIME.”

“But what exactly do they do? Did they tell you?”

“I DIDN’T ASK, BUT THE HUMAN GIRL WHO GAVE ME THEIR CONTACT SAID THAT THEY HELPED A FRIEND’S AUNT, SO I THOUGHT…” He peered down, preferring to study the cilantro’s messy leaves peeking out of the bag. “LOOK, MS. TORIEL, I… AS SURPRISING AS IT MIGHT SOUND, I… I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO ANYMORE.” He sighed, and before the boss monster could say a word he continued. “I Will Be Honest, I’ve Ran Out Of Ideas, But I Can’t Just Sit Down And Do Nothing For My Brother, He Clearly Needs Help, But I Don’t Know How To Help Him Anymore, So, Maybe Someone Else Can, Or I Don’t Know, It Wouldn’t Hurt To Try, I Think.”

There was a pause where Papyrus started to go over what he’d just said, stars, it sounded so much better in his mind, but then Toriel spoke in a softer and understanding voice. “You are right, Papyrus, it would do no harm to try.” He raised back his skull to look at her properly when he didn’t hear rejection. “Have you told Sans about it yet?”

Papyrus grimaced guiltily. “N-No, I Haven’t. I Couldn’t Think Of A Way To Tell Him Without Making Him Upset, You Know How He’s Been.”

“You are right about that too.” She said sadly.

“I Was Going To Just Drive Him There And… Hope For The Best, I Guess.” Saying it out loud made him cringe, the pit of guilt growing within him; he shouldn’t be taking advantage of Sans like that, he was aware, but it seemed like the only option left.

Toriel seemed to notice that small change in his mood, for she placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently. “I know that look, Papyrus; Listen, maybe it might not appear to be the best course of action, and I am sure Sans will not agree immediately, but seeing how he has been doing, it might be necessary.” She gave him a small, gentle smile. “Do not be too harsh on yourself, my friend.”

“But What Kind Of Brother Would I be If I Force Him To Do Something He Doesn’t Want To?”

“A good brother, Papyrus.” She said sternly, locking eyes with the skeleton monster. “You are only doing what is best for him, there is nothing wrong with that.”

When Papyrus saw the determination burning in her red eyes, he knew she meant it for real and it wasn’t just some empty reassurances; it didn’t wash away the guilt completely, but at least it made him feel he wasn’t committing a mistake or doing something insensitive. That was all he needed to hear. Nervous that the beginnings of treacherous tears might appear in his sockets, he wiped them with the back of his glove and smiled sincerely for the first time in almost two months. “Thank You, Ms. Toriel."

“Nothing to thank for, my friend.” Her face softened once more as she looked back again to the path before them. “Now, we should better get going, before they start getting worried about why we are taking so long.”

“OF COURSE. WE DON’T WANT TO BE LATE FOR LUNCH, WE STILL HAVE A WHOLE MEAL TO COOK AHEAD!” And so, they resumed their walk home; the convenience store was in the outskirts of town just like their house, so that gave him at least fifteen minutes to arrange his thoughts and emotions before setting to the task of figuring out how to deliver Sans the news about the group.

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

It was just another lazy Friday, and like usual, Sans was dozing off in the couch. Frisk was sitting by his side doing their homework while keeping him company; he could have told them something along the lines that they shouldn’t go off on tangents to get to the point and just sume it up, but he didn’t feel like it, it was pointless anyway, so he just kept it to himself. Papyrus was yet to arrive from work and Toriel was still busy in the kitchen, so it was fine for him to just lie down for a bit without feeling so guilty about it and think.

That last week Papyrus had been acting odd, it was subtle, but even without his sight he could tell something bothered him, especially when Sans was in the room; he’d go dead silent for a long while, or he’d start rambling quickly about random topics that were all related to going outside when there was only the two of them. Sans could catch innuendos, but this didn’t exactly sound like one, there was something else behind it and he just couldn’t tell what, it frustrated him.

Speaking of the devil, he heard the front door opening with a loud slam against the wall, no doubt his little brother’s entrance.

“GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE! I, THE GREAT PAPAYRUS, HAVE ARRIVED!”

He waited until he heard Papyrus stomping close enough to the living room to say his greeting. “hey, bro, how did work go?”

“EXCELLENT IF YOU ASK ME, WHICH YOU JUST DID! IN FACT, TODAY I MANAGED TO HELP PREPARING ONE OF THE MAIN DISHES AND MRS. FACCHINELLO SAID IT SUFFICED! I MIGHT FINALLY GET PROMOTED FROM KITCHEN PORTER TO JUNIOR CHEF! THEY’RE FINALLY STARTING TO NOTICE MY MASTER CHEF SKILLS!”

That was… Impressive to say the least; of course, Papyrus’ cooking had been improving since they’ve come to the surface that it even had turned edible, but to hear someone as rigorous and heavy-handed as the owner of that restaurant to say it sufficed, then it must’ve had made astronomical ameliorations. Sans felt a brief wash of pure pride in his soul, but it was muffled as fast as it had come, like the rest of his emotions lately. “that’s great, bro, good for ya.”

“THANK YOU, SANS.” He paused, staying quiet and not leaving the room; the short skeleton knew by now what that meant. “OH, THAT’S A GREAT IDEA, HUMAN FRISK! OF COURSE, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL DELIGHT YOU WITH A DISH OF HIS MASTERFUL WORK… WHEN IT’S NOT MS. TORIEL’S TURN TO COOK! NYEHEHE!”

Hearing Papyrus like that again brought some relief to him, maybe he’d finally focused on something that is important, and to be honest, he was curious about what that dish might taste like.

But of course, Sans couldn’t have been really that naïve to think that he’d managed to sneak out of the shameful spotlight so easily. That cheerful attitude his little brother had brought to the house ended up being a lure. The moment they had all finished with their estouffade, Papyrus shot up, an ear-splitting noise crossing the room as his chair rasped against the floor and announced “THIS MEAL WAS WONDERFUL! THEREFORE, I, THE GREAT PAPAYRUS, DEEM IT AN APROPIATE TIME FOR SOME BROTHERLY BONDING! SANS, BROTHER, YOU’RE COMING WITH ME TO THE GROCERY STORE!”

Sans wished Papyrus were at least a little better at making up decent lies, because that sounded downright awkward, and he was sure everyone felt the same even if they never admitted it. “bro, didn’t ya go to the store with tori a week ago?”

A nervous twiddling of phalanges. “UHM… YES, INDEED. BUT I JUST REALIZED WE UHMM… OH! WE FORGOT TO BUY TOILET PAPER, OF COURSE! APPARENTLY, WE RAN OUT OF IT!” The only one who used toilet paper in that house was Frisk, and he was sure those jumbo packages were meant to last months with only one person using them. Sans also heard the surprised slam of Frisk’s hands on the table, not loud enough to be rude but surely meant to get Papyrus’ attention, but that was all, if they signed something, he’d never know. “PLEASE?”

Papyrus wanted an excuse to be alone with him, that one was clear, but in the name of Asgore, why did it have to be so uncomfortable? Deciding against his first reaction of just turning him down and thinking better of it, Sans sighed. “’kay, pap. i’ll go only to make sure you don’t get a dozen of the stuff.” The image of a hardcore embarrassed Frisk crossed his mind briefly, and he thought he might as well and try to make it up to the kid later for the inconvenience. Or maybe not, too much work.

They walked the path —with Papyrus holding Sans by the arm all the time, of course— until he could hear the familiar sound of the few cars that usually parked nearby. They stepped over the step to enter the store but didn’t go inside, remaining right in front of the door.

“we still got the full package from last month, huh?”

Papyrus made a strange sound as if pondering his answer. “Actually, I Have Been Meaning To Have This Conversation With You For A While, Sans.”

“so, no toilet paper?”

“SANS! THIS IS-!” The taller skeleton cut himself off and took a deep breath. “No, No Toilet Paper.”

“knew it.”

“Will You Please Take This Seriously, Brother?”

The urge to point out that he had been the one to use such a dumb excuse in the first place was eating at him, but he forced it down and tried to humor his brother. “alright, alright. ’m listening.”

There was a silence where Sans thought that maybe Papyrus had changed his mind and they wouldn’t do this, but then he felt his little brother guiding him sideways. “Let’s Take a Seat.”

They both settled down on one of the benches outside the convenience store, keeping a certain distance between them as usual when they talked serious stuff. Papyrus started his speech with the quietest of his voices, nervously beating around the bush; Sans stayed patient all the time, fiddling with the inner seams of his hoodie pockets and staring forward. Slowly, the younger skeleton started to relate something about visiting that cafeteria, a small conversation with the girl who worked there, and then…

Sans closed his fists inside his pockets, not entirely sure how he should feel. He was admittedly upset, but that was just the beginning: there was anger, sadness, betrayal, guilt, self-loath and… Was that warmth?

Being honest, the reason why he had been aiming so hard to stay home was because he didn’t want to get in anyone’s way —literally and metaphorically— and because he didn’t feel capable of trying at all. He knew he wasn’t helping matters, but he couldn’t muster enough will for it either, he was tired that every time something good happened to him, that every single time things started to go fine for him, something awful had to break his little perfect world and take it all away. For instance, he vaguely remembered that during one of the past times they’d been on the surface, he had found a kitten in the streets; he was so enamored with the little ball of fluff he decided to take her in, and for a while it was fine, although Papyrus wasn’t very fond of the hair-coated cushions he sincerely appreciated the cat and what she did for his brother; she grew up quickly and became independent too soon; Sans might not remember the details, but he sure remembered how limp and cold her frame had felt when he found her that night. Some resets after that, he had encountered the kitten again, but he never kept her, he would just go to the nearest shelter that didn’t sell black cats during Halloween and drop her.

And now there’s this timeline. He was sure by now that should Frisk reset again, he’d end up just the same, so why try?

“look, pap. i get that i’ve not been in my best lately, but it’s fine. i can deal with it-”

“No! It’s Not Fine, Sans. This Has Gone On For Too Long, I Hate Seeing You Like This.”

“pap, i told you, i’ll get over it eventually.”

“But Why Do You Have To Do It Alone?” He placed a hand on Sans’ shoulder, making him flinch slightly. “I Want To Help You, Brother. Please, Why Won’t You Let Me?”

Sans did his best to keep his guilt under that mist surrounding his soul. “you got better things to do, papyrus; i’ll manage.”

He thought, for the lack of another immediate retort, that Papyrus was going to leave him alone, but then he was shocked to hear him nearly screaming. “THEN I’LL QUIT MY JOB!”

He whipped his skull around with his sockets looking wider for the lack of magic in them. “what?”

“IF YOU WANT TO FIGURE THIS OUT ON YOUR OWN, THEN IT’S FINE, I’LL LET YOU DO IT, BUT I HAVE TO MAKE SURE YOU ACTUALLY DO IT.”

“no, papyrus, that’s totally the opposite to what i me-!“

“I’M NOT HEARING ANY OF IT, IF YOU WANT TO DO THIS ALONE SO BADLY, YOU WILL DO IT UNDER MY VIGILANCE! I SEE NO OTHER WAY FOR MAKING THIS ACTUALLY WORK.”

“but-!”

“I SAID I’LL DO IT, SANS! AND YOUR UNFOUNDED EXCUSES WILL NOT CHANGE MY MIND!”

Despite of not having his eyelights, Sans all but glared at his brother’s direction, frustration threatening to boil. When Papyrus said he would do something, you could bet all your damn g he would definitely do it, and Sans was very much aware that his brother’s job was the closest he could ever get to live his dream, and with his last promotion it only added more to the pile. Papyrus loved his job; Sans couldn’t even bare the idea of taking that away from him. So, in the end, he gritted his teeth and turned away, furrowing a bit into the fluff of his newest hoodie, reluctantly uttering. “’lright, you win.”

Papyrus was content enough with his answer, for he reached out and gave him a side hug, squeezing him lightly and setting his jaw over Sans’ healthy side of his skull. “Thank You, Brother.”