Work Text:
Sans settles on the bed, looking over at the bookshelf. Papyrus wobbles in front of it, reaching up as high as his little arms will let him. “hey bro, you pick a book yet?”
Like every night, when Sans finally speaks up Papyrus grabs the first book his fingers fall on and yanks it from the shelf. He teeters from the force of his pull but stays standing. “THIS!” Papyrus runs over and clamors up into the bed. He shoves the book in the direction of Sans’s face. Sans tries not to laugh as he gingerly takes the book and waits for Papyrus to get comfortable on his lap. The weight might have been a discomfort, once, but now he looks forward to the nightly ritual of reading his lil’ bro a bedtime story.
Sans takes a closer look at the book and this time does laugh. “bro, this is an encyclopedia of pond fauna.”
“THIS!!” Papyrus tips his head back enough to ‘glare’ at his brother.
Sans shrugs. “you’re the boss, bro.”
“BOSS.” Papyrus seems mollified by this and claps his hands together. Sans opens to a random page and Papyrus proudly points at the fish on the page. “FISH!”
Sans grins. “yep, that’s a fish. good job.” The page is fairly boring, just a basic description of something called an orange-spotted sunfish. “lepomis humilis,” Sans reads. “This fish is small, usually less than four inches… in…” Sans trails off when Papyrus starts tugging at the page. “ready to move on, huh?”
“NEXT.”
Sans snorts. “you got it, dude.” He flips to another random page.
Papyrus bounces, pointing right at the page. “DUCK!”
It is a duck. The page specifically says it’s a mallard, but Sans doesn’t care and he doubts Papyrus does either. Sans says “alright, mr. zoologist, what’s this one?” and turns the page.
It’s a turtle. A snapping turtle, to be precise- wow, that sounds like a whole lot of not fun- and Papyrus puts a bony finger to the page and proudly says “FROG!”
He sounds so proud of himself, too. Sans smiles. “close, but nah. that’s a turtle.”
Papyrus’s eyes narrow like he’s taken personal insult to the page. “FROG!!”
“bro,” Sans says gently, unable to hold back his laughter completely, “i promise you that is a turtle.”
Papyrus twists himself around on Sans’s lap so he can put little fingers against Sans’s face. “NO!” He looks so serious; it’s the most precious thing Sans has ever seen.
“hey, bro, you pick a book yet?”
“NOT YET, BROTHER!” Papyrus rubs his chin thoughtfully, not even looking from the bookshelf to his brother. “YOU CANNOT RUSH GREATNESS, AFTER ALL.”
There’s a little giggle, muffled by a hand. Sans glances down at where Frisk is nestled to his side and winks at them. “i guess you’re right. sorry to-”
“-SANS-”
“-rattle your bones, bro.”
“BROTHER, PLEASE!” But Sans can see the smile that Papyrus hides by turning back toward the books. Frisk is giggling again, high and thin and sweet. They cover their mouth and their shoulders start shaking.
Their shoulders are shaking a little too long and their face tips away from the brothers. “you okay, kiddo?”
Papyrus thankfully doesn’t hear his question; the worrywart would rush over to check on the human otherwise, and then it would take even longer to pick out a suitable bedtime story. Sans carefully grabs Frisk’s shoulders and turns them enough to look them in the eye.
Frisk blinks. Their eyes are glistening but they’re not crying, yet, and they uncover their mouth to offer him a shaky smile. They suddenly bury their face into Sans’s hoodie. Before he can react they lift a little hand and give him a thumbs-up. “as long as you’re okay, kiddo.”
“AHA!” Sans turns to look at Papyrus. Frisk lifts their head from Sans’s chest to look too. “I’VE GOT IT!” Papyrus tugs a book from the very top of the shelf, high enough up that he probably can’t even read the title.
It’s a familiar book, and Sans smiles. “the encyclopedia of pond fauna?”
Papyrus doesn’t even hesitate. Why would his bro? He’s the greatest. “THE HUMAN WILL PROBABLY ESPECIALLY LIKE THIS ONE, AS THEY ARE FROM THE SURFACE.”
Frisk nods solemnly- or, at least, they attempt to, but their honest smile in the face of Papyrus’s enthusiasm is too obvious. They extend a thumbs-up to him instead.
Papyrus blushes a little. He always does when Frisk plays along with his antics. Sans ruffles the kid’s hair with one hand and pats the space beside him with the other. “c’mon, bro, i can’t read the story if it’s over there.”
“RIGHT YOU ARE, BROTHER!”
Papyrus crosses the room quickly with his long legs and carefully hands the book off to Sans before slipping into the bed. He’s taller than Sans, but he still manages to curl against his brother’s side. Frisk adjusts so they they’re tucked into Sans’s other side, an arm stretched across him so they can hold Papyrus’s hand. Sans opens the book to a random page.
“lepomis humilis,” Sans reads. “This fish is small, usually less than four inches…”