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After so long, the stars were still beautiful.
Chara had once told him the stars they saw were already long dead, yet still shining brightly in the eyes of the people on Earth.
They were both like that now, long dead and yet still here.
And Papyrus thought he was beautiful.
Even after all the terrible things he’d done, Papyrus still loved him.
The skeleton pulled his blanket tighter around them as a particularly cold gust of wind blew past their balcony, even though he couldn’t feel the cold.
One day they would go explore the whole world, but for now Papyrus wanted to keep looking after the ones who needed it here.
Honestly, he could stay here if he’d have Papyrus’ company.
His boyfriend nuzzled into his petals as they gazed at the stars.
~*~
Papyrus was going to work again, he had to do that every day, how did he not get tired of it? As much as Flowey wanted to accompany him, the kitchen was not an ideal place to focus, and he wanted to get this done so they could go on another trip.
So he was staying in Papyrus’ room again today. He practically lived there at this point, not that Papyrus seemed to mind. On the contrary, he seemed delighted to be able to see Flowey every day.
“hey petals.” And then there was this idiot. Whatever, at least the Trashbag didn’t hate him anymore.
“What do you want? I’m busy.” No one could make him be nice to the idiot when Papyrus wasn’t around though.
Sans, of course, took this as an invitation to sit on Papyrus’ bed. “hey bud, just wanted to say hi.”
Ugh, if he was going to waste time with this shit he might as well have some fun. He turned to face Sans, frowning slightly as he saw where the skeleton had chosen to sit. “You… might want to be careful, I think there’s still some residue from last night there.”
Success! Sans’ eyelights flicked out for a moment as he shifted to slump down on the floor. Flowey bit back a giggle to smile pleasantly at the skeleton. “So what do you want?”
He wasn’t expecting the response. “flower you doing with the new book?”
What’s your game here, Trashbag? “Why do you even care?”
Sans shrugged. “i like the books, they’re cool. so can i get a sneak peek?”
Gosh, he hadn’t expected Sans to like them. This could be good. “Hmmm… Maybe, if you do something for me.”
The skeleton’s expression didn’t change, but he seemed a bit more wary. “what do you want?”
Flowey took a moment to giggle like a maniac, letting Sans think he was about to ask something awful, before grinning at him. “Bring me Toriel’s butterscotch pie for lunch.”
Sans chuckled. “alright bud, you’ve got a deal.”
“Excellent!” A vine held up a drawing of several humans. A tall man, smiling softly at a friendly looking woman, an older woman dressed like Frisk’s teacher, and two children, a girl and a boy. He pointed at the man. “This is Maxwell, he’s kind of grumpy on the outside but on the inside he’s really nice, he just doesn’t like to show it.”
“so like you, huh petals?” Ugh, what an idiot. He was too great for this shit.
“And this.” He moved his vine to point at the small girl, blond and sombre. “Is Wendy. She’s Maxwell’s niece and lives with him ‘cause her parents died. She’s kinda sad after that.”
“maybe she needs a sibling.” Sans was grinning at him. “paps helps me stay here.”
Stupid Trashbag. All he did was laze around even though they had a whole surface to explore!
Next, he pointed to the small boy. “That’s Walter, Wendy’s friend. He’s an idiot who loves to explore and fears nothing.” He giggled, poking his vine against the face in the picture. “I should have made him the murder victim!”
Sans didn’t rise to it. “sure bud. who’s that?” He pointed at the woman stood next to Maxwell.
“That’s Charlie!” He twirled a vine theatrically. “She’s Maxwell’s friend who’s drawing him out of his shell. Also they kind of have crushes on each other.”
“she sounds nice” Sans appeared to be smirking, was the idiot trying to draw more parallels with him and Papyrus?
“She’s dead.” He grinned at the skeleton.
“oh.”
He smirked, pointing to the last character. “And finally, this is Ms. Wickerbottom, Wendy and Walter’s tutor. She’s kind to them but doesn’t get along with Maxwell.”
“cool, cool.” The Trashbag looked pretty happy with what he’d been given. “so who dunnit?”
Idiot. Flowey turned to glare at him. “You’ll have to read it to find out, you idiot.”
~*~
Sans was (unbelievably) right though; Charlie was a great character. She deserved a great death. Fortunately, he had plenty of experience with human-killing.
---
Back in the underground, when the souls had helped him steal control back from Frisk, he’d killed them over and over and over.
Once they’d shrieked as a vine rammed through their abdomen from behind, their guts rammed out the front. His vines uncurled from around them and dropped them unceremoniously on the ground.
They’d looked amazing. Really, it was a good thing he’d chosen Charlie as the victim; there was no way his publishers would let a disembowelled child fly.
Another time they’d shut their eyes, tried to block everything out, and suddenly he’d known what he’d wanted to try next. “Open your eyes.”
They’d looked confused, but had done as ordered, only to cry out as a thin, sharp vine rammed into each of their eyes, blood and a clear fluid spilling out of the holes. He’d withdrawn the vines to admire his work. And oh! They'd looked like that scary face Chara liked to pull. Maybe his sibling had influenced that one.
After that he’d loaded once again, bringing them back to life, trapped in his net of vines, and they’d cried then, thrashing and screaming in a desperate attempt to escape, before freezing up as a single, thorny vine wrapped around their throat.
The thorns had torn into their flesh as the vine tightened, and their hands had flown up to their neck, scrabbling at the plant flesh, choked gasps as they struggled to breathe.
After a few moments, they’d gone limp, blood spilling from their mouth, so he’d dropped them to admire the lacerations on their crushed neck, the cuts on their hands.
---
Gosh, he really had treated them horribly in the past hadn’t he? He’d have to make it up to them, both of them, next time he saw them.
Oh well, at least now he had a great murder method for his book. Charlie would be strangled with barbed wire! But how would the perpetrator avoid cutting their own hands?
~*~
He was just putting the finer touches into the body discovery scene, when Papyrus came rushing into the room, and immediately hugged him. “HELLO FLOWEY! WE HAVE BEEN INVITED TO TAKE FRISK TO THE PARK FOR ICE CREAM!”
Oh boy, ice cream with his three favourite people! He clicked the save button and climbed into Papyrus’ scarf “Hell yes, let’s go.” He turned to grin at the skeleton only for a surprise kiss to be planted on his cheek.
“NYEH HEH HEH! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS ONCE AGAIN VICTORIOUS!” Gosh, he looked delighted as he made his (speedy) way to Toriel’s house.
Frisk was already waiting there, with that yellow reptile kid from Snowdin next to them.
Papyrus, of course, picked them both up in a hug and began carrying them to his car. “HELLO FRIENDS! ARE YOU READY FOR ICE CREAM?”
The monster child nodded enthusiastically as Frisk leant close to whisper to Flowey. “So when are you getting married?”
Ugh, seriously? “You’re lucky I’m your brother.”
They chuckled, patting his petals. “You’re the best big brother.”
Hell yes he was!
“YOU’RE VERY GREAT, BUT SANS IS STILL THE BEST BIG BROTHER!” Papyrus proclaimed as he placed Frisk and the kid in the back seats.
“You think Sans is better than me?” Flowey turned away with an overdramatic huff. “Gosh, I’m so offended.”
Papyrus put a hand to his head and sighed theatrically. “OH NO, HOW COULD THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAVE DONE THIS? WOULD A KISS MAKE IT BETTER?”
He turned, giving Papyrus a smooch, ignoring the giggles coming from the back seat.
After nearly 10 minutes of the monster kid telling Papyrus how cool he is, they turned to Flowey. “Yo! Your books are so cool! My mom loves them.”
He nearly dropped the ice cream Papyrus was offering him, but grinned at the kid. “Gosh, you really think so? Well, between you and me,” He leant down conspiratorially. “There’s a new one coming.”
Apparently taking this as a sign to keep talking, the kid, bouncing on their feet, told him, “I really liked how in the last one everyone thought it was the monster who killed him, but she didn’t!”
Right, that one. Like the monster being blamed hadn’t been fuelled by any anger at the world or how humanity had treated them. “The best part was when he got shot! The dead bodies are the most fun to write.”
“I don’t remember you ever shooting me,” Frisk was looking up at him, everyone was looking at him actually. “Not with a gun anyway.”
He already knew what being shot was like. It had been so long but he doubted he’d ever forget his first death, it was agonizing and terrifying and why the hell had he not destroyed the village?
Of course, he also knew what a human who’d been shot looked like, thanks to Clover. The first time he’d seen them, the gun had called back all the memories he’d tried to bury. Maybe that was why he’d taken such delight in stealing their gun and shooting them, just for the bitter irony. It had certainly made him feel better, before he’d reset and brought the little cowboy back to play with.
“Please, you’re not the only human I killed, you know.” He grinned wickedly at Frisk, who took the hint, instead turning to their friend to talk about a cartoon they’d been watching, something about owls and witches.
~*~
They had searched the room, but alas! No murder weapon had been discovered! He was no expert, but clearly something sharp had been at his beloved’s throat.
Loathe as he was to admit it, anyone could be a suspect at this point, even the children. Even him.
No, not him. It hadn’t been him. Unless he’d been sleepwalking…
He must find the culprit, lest they kill again!
Charlie’s body showed signs of a struggle, her dress torn at the collar, and on her arms. Both her neck and hands were wounded and bloodstained, clearly this had not been a quick death, and yet the room appeared undisturbed. Had the killer cleaned everything but the body or was this not truly the scene of the crime?
It was time to extend his search.
Papyrus sat down next to him, patting his petals. “DO YOU KNOW WHO THE MURDERER WILL BE?”
“Oh yeah, I have it all planned out.” He looped a vine around his boyfriend’s arm, tugging him down so they could share a kiss. “Who do you think it is?”
“I’M NOT SURE!” He was now lying next to Flowey, reading the screen. “MAYBE THEY DID IT FOR A GOOD REASON THOUGH.”
He smirked at Papyrus, before leaning close to kiss his cheek. “Maybe they did. You must be rubbing off on me”
Papyrus beamed at him. “NYEH HEH! THIS WILL BE YOUR GREATEST WORK YET!”
“But of course, it’s better than ever with the aid of the Great Papyrus!” He pressed a leaf to his stem, mimicking Papyrus’ favoured heroic pose, only to be interrupted by a kiss.
Another room down and still no murder weapon, he must have missed something. But he had searched the place top to bottom, how could he possibly have missed something covered in blood? Unless the culprit was still carrying it. He must make haste!
His nieces ran to hug him as he returned, Abigail looking up at him eagerly. “Have you discovered the culprit, Maxwell?”
“I’m afraid not. But I believe the culprit is someone in this very room! Perhaps one of you is hiding the murder weapon.”
Gosh he couldn’t resist putting on a show, could he? The group seemed appropriately surprised at least.
As the police searched each of them, he saw one asking Ms. Wickerbottom about a small tear in her sleeve.
“Oh, I must have caught it when I was picking roses this morning.”
It seemed plausible, and his attention was caught by one of the policemen holding up a bloody knife, others moving to restrain their butler.
Papyrus gasped. “THE BUTLER DID IT!”
He turned to grin at his boyfriend. “Looks like he did. Did you see it coming?”
“NOPE! BUT WHY DID HE DO IT?”
“You’ll see” He winked at Papyrus. “I think you’ll like the next part!”
The police seemed to think this was it, but something seemed strange here… if Charlie had died from a knife, then why was the wound all the way around her throat? Perhaps he should search this room before the case was closed.
As with the other rooms, this one was, for the most part, normal. Behind the curtain, however, was a bundle of barbed wire. Looking closely, it appeared to have flecks of blood, along with strands of black fabric on it. Could this be the murder weapon?
Charlie’s dress was purple, but Ms. Wickerbottom’s blouse was black. Had she been in contact with the wire?
~*~
Pancakes for breakfast, Papyrus was the best. Sans was at the table, reading a copy of his latest book. So, he really was a fan huh?
His smile seemed a little more genuine as Papyrus placed a plate of pancakes in front of him. “thanks bro”
“OF COURSE! THE GREAT PAPYRUS MUST BAKE CARE OF HIS FAMILY!” He beamed at them both, Flowey rolling his eyes as Sans chuckled.
“you know i pan never turn down your food.”
As Papyrus, groaning at the latest pun, sat down, Sans turned to Flowey. “so bud, wickerbottom did it to protect the kids?”
Ugh, just read the text, it’s in there. “Yeah, Papyrus gave me the idea.” He smiled at Papyrus, who smiled proudly back at him. “She’s still an idiot though.”
Sans chuckled. “sure bud. so i guess you two are taking another trip?”
It had become a tradition at this point. A holiday after each book, maybe they should bring Frisk next time.
“Yeah, we’re going to the beach!” He grinned at Sans.
“BUT DON’T WORRY! WE’LL STILL SEE PLENTY OF SAND AT THE BEACH, SO I WON’T HAVE TO MISS YOU!” And gee, Papyrus just looked so proud of that pun.
~*~
The beach was one of the better holidays they’d been on. They had chips here! And ice cream! Ice cream was the best.
Papyrus seemed to like the sand too, making elaborate castles for Flowey to tunnel into (and destroy in the process).
When they got back the rest of the money would go into Papyrus’ restaurant, but for now they were looking out to sea, the water as dark as the night sky.
For all his energy, Papyrus seemed to enjoy these moments of calm. And strangely enough, so did he. The boredom that had plagued him throughout so much of his time in the Underground strangely absent now.
Maybe it was just because Papyrus was the greatest.
He planted a kiss on the skeleton’s cheek, a warm feeling spreading through him as Papyrus smiled at him.
It was perfect.