Chapter Text
You fell into the snow, laughing. A snowball whipped the back of your hair and smacked the ground near your head. Papyrus really didn’t hold back on his throws.
Somewhere behind you, you heard a grunt and a telltale ”nyeh!” and you roll aside just in time for another snowball to splash in front of you, showering you in cold powder. You panted another laugh, not feeling any chill after how worn out you’d gotten from this fight. Steeling yourself, you managed to scramble to your feet and ran your bare hands into the snow to create a new projectile.
It was already a few days since you’d arrived in Snowdin and you’d settled into it much like the perpetual snowfall. The shock of falling into the mountain seemed a world away now, and the welcoming fairy-lights and warm windows of the charming town actually made you feel at home. It was dim, of course, being underground. There was little difference between night and day. Your stripy sweatshirt was no substitute for the coat you hadn’t brought for this weather. But, for now, these things hardly bothered you. You could go where you wanted, do what you wanted, and you’d already made a friend.
Your snowball splatted Papyrus on the back, leaving slush dripping from his armour. He retaliated with unnerving focus, and you couldn’t dodge the end of his onslaught. A heavy wet smack thudded into your chest.
“Hey, hey, easy,” you called out. The force of it stung a little. “I don’t think I’d survive another twenty of those.”
More like nineteen, precisely.
“DO YOU WANT ME TO RELENT, HUMAN?” the skeleton yelled back, shaping another snowball and flexing with it. “ARE YOU SUBMITTING TO THE MIGHT OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS?”
“Sure, yeah,” you grinned, hurrying across your battlefield towards him while swiping compacted snow from your clothes. “I give, Papyrus. You win.”
Papyrus bounced with glee. “HUMAN, YOU SHOULD BE HONOURED TO HAVE FOUGHT SO VALIANTLY AGAINST AN ADVERSARY SUCH AS MYSELF. AND, INCIDENTALLY, THANK YOU FOR THE PRACTICE. UNDYNE SAYS SHE’S TOO BUSY TO TRAIN ME RIGHT NOW, AND UNSURPRISINGLY MY BROTHER HAS NEVER JOINED IN A SNOWBALL FIGHT.”
“Shocker,” you raised your eyebrows.
“SANS IS GOOD AT MANY THINGS,” Papyrus went on, “BUT NONE OF THEM INVOLVE RUNNING. OR THROWING. OR SNOW.”
“Hey, now. He fries a good snow.”
Papyrus just narrowed his eyes. Being remarkably more enthusiastic, Papyrus was the one you’d spent the majority of your time with in Snowdin. You’d met the brothers together on your route to town through the forest, and it was Sans who’d introduced himself first, but now you were here, you found he preferred to keep to himself. He was hard to find, in fact. You’d never even seen him go in or out of the big house he and Papyrus shared.
You sniffed and wrapped your arms around yourself. You had no pockets in this thing for your hands, and no gloves. Now that you weren’t running around, you were shivering.
“HUMAN! YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID YOU WERE COLD,” Papyrus was suddenly and busily in front of you, patting and inspecting you for some reason. “I WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO TELL. BECAUSE I HAVE NO SKIN. YOUR CLOTHES ARE ALL WET, AS WELL.” He sighed as though addressing an unruly teenager. “YOU’LL HAVE TO COME BACK TO MY HOUSE WITH ME AND WARM UP. IT IS MY FAULT, AFTER ALL.”
You felt frozen damp finally reaching your socks and hurriedly agreed.
Crunching your way through the twinkling, wooden hut town was so pleasant it made you forget the damp and the cold. You puffed out a breath cloud and smiled back at the townsfolk, taking two strides in the snow for every one of Papyrus’s. A mouse person wrapped up in a huge scarf, a bunny person… walking a smaller bunny? It all made you feel like a kid again. You passed by Grillby’s and heard warm laughter and the clink of glasses from inside.
“HUMAN,” said Papyrus, “THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE I’VE BEEN MEANING TO ASK YOU. MAKING YOU MY NEW FRIEND INSTEAD OF TURNING YOU IN WAS A STROKE OF GENIUS ON MY PART. I’M GREATLY ENJOYING OUR FRIENDSHIP,” he put a lot of emphasis on the word, peering down at you.
“Me too,” you beamed. “What’s this about, Papyrus? Did I do something wrong?”
You had to hurry to keep up with Papyrus now, as he seemed to be pacing faster out of nervousness. “I DON’T THINK SO! HUMAN, I SEE YOU PASSING OUR HOUSE SO FREQUENTLY—WELL, I MEAN, HANGING OUT WITH YOU IS EXTREMELY FUN! BUT—UM, GIVEN THAT YOU’RE HANGING OUT WITH AN EXTREMELY DASHING AND ACCOMPLISHED SKELETON SUCH AS MYSELF— AND YOU’RE ALWAYS WEARING ALL THE CLOTHES, AND EVERYTHING—“
You frowned up at him in confusion.
“I DON’T WANT YOU TO GET THE WRONG IDEA ABOUT WHAT GOOD FRIENDS WE ARE!”
“Oh, Papyrus!” you laughed, but tried to quash it in case it seemed rude. “I’m, uh…!”
Papyrus stopped at his front door, throwing his head back and sighing to the heavens. “PLEASE DON’T SAY YOU’RE HEARTBROKEN.”
“No no no no, it’s fine!” you patted him firmly on the back of his armour. “You’re not the one I’m interested in, I swear. Being friends with you is all I want.”
“EXCELLENT!” The skeleton snapped back to his full, impressive height. His voice had no less intensity than normal, but still seemed slightly relieved. His grin had intensified, and it was infectious. He ushered you into his cabin home, making sure to dust himself off as he crossed the threshold.
The living room was cosy, natural wood and nicely decorated, but best of all, deliciously warm. You let out a sigh as heat brought your stiff body back to life.
“Thank you,” it came out almost as a moan. You wiggled out of your shoes and inspected your socks.
“YES, YES, NOW GET THAT SWEATER OFF SO WE CAN DRY IT. I UNDERSTAND BEING WET IS UNCOMFORTABLE FOR NON-SKELETONS,” he huffed. “HONESTLY, YOU’D THINK PARENTS WOULD KNOW HOW SNOW WORKS BY NOW.”
You stopped in the middle of fluffing your soggy sweatshirt. “Um, parents? I dressed myself. I’m here on my own.”
“YOU ARE?”
“Well, jeez, I’m not a kid.”
“YOU AREN’T?”
“No?”
“BUT YOUR SWEATER IS STRIPED!”
“That doesn’t make me not 26!” Clearly some cultural indicator was amiss here. You grabbed the bottom of the confusing garment and brought it up over your head. “See? How about now?”
“not bad.”
You blinked, turning to the stairs on the opposite side of the room. The shorter, stockier skeleton brother had managed to appear during the two seconds you were in the dark with a sweater over your head.
“sorry. am i interrupting something?”
You could’ve sworn his grin looked a teeny bit more shit-eating than you remembered it. For some reason it felt warmer in just your shirt than it had with the extra layer on. The surprise of seeing him overrode your brain for a moment, but soon enough you remembered why you were standing there, gripping a stripy traitor you never wanted to wear again and which you handed over to Papyrus. Sans shuffled past the two of you into the kitchen.
“I DON’T KNOW HOW MY BROTHER MANAGES TO SOUND KIND OF RUDE WHEN HE APOLOGISES.”
“He has… quite a sense of timing,” you said, watching Papyrus lie the sweater out to dry.
The skeleton snorted. “YOU COULD SAY. HUMAN, WHERE ARE YOU STAYING THEN? IF YOU’RE VISITING SNOWDIN ON YOUR OWN?”
“I’ve been over at the inn. It’s okay, although the walls are a bit thin.” You thought about the collection of gold coins in your pocket, lightening every day. All of it won from teenagers and guard dogs you’d befriended out in the forest. You’d managed to afford the last week or so, but.... “Once I ran out of money for it, I just figured I’d… move on.”
Papyrus looked scandalised. “I DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE PAYING TO STAY HERE! WHY, AS YOUR FRIEND, AND ALSO AS SOMEONE WHO WOULD RATHER YOU NOT LEAVE, I MUST INSIST THAT YOU CONSIDER… MAKING THIS YOUR HOME INSTEAD!”
He looked incredibly proud of himself.
The offer caught you off guard. Truthfully, you’d been in denial about the lack of money forcing you to leave before you were ready. You didn’t know how Sans would feel about this. You didn’t know how you’d feel, sharing a house with Sans.
“All right,” you replied on instinct while your brain continued fussing over the details. “I’d love that, you’ve been too kind, Papyrus.”
“THERE’S NO SUCH THING,” he said, and began stepping back and forth across the room, tapping his chin. “NOW, I CAN GET OUT THE EXTRA BLANKETS, AND YOU’LL HAVE TO SLEEP ON THE COUCH. WHICH IS FINE, I THINK, I ALWAYS ENJOY MY TIME USING IT. I CAN MAKE EXTRA SPAGHETTI FOR YOU TONIGHT! OH, AND YOU CAN—“
While Papyrus had been planning, your attention shifted momentarily to the kitchen door. Was Sans still in there? Had he heard what you’d talked about? Did he have an opinion on it? He must have heard Papyrus—
When you looked back at the tall skeleton, he’d trailed off and was watching you with some intensity.
“...What?”
“EARLIER JUST NOW, YOU SAID…” Papyrus frowned at you. “YOU SAID I WASN’T THE ONE YOU WERE INTERESTED IN. AS IN, ROMANTICALLY. AS IN, YOU DON’T WANT TO DATE ME. BUT THEN…”
You felt your heart sink.
“WHO IS IT? WHO HAVE YOU BEEN LOITERING OUTSIDE OUR HOME WAITING FOR? HUMAN, YOU MUST TELL ME! AS YOUR FRIEND, I AM OBLIGATED TO GIVE YOU DATING ADVICE! I MUST KNOW! WHO—“
Your gaze meandered again to the kitchen door.
Papyrus looked from you, to the kitchen. Then back to you. Then to the kitchen. Then he pointed at you and gasped.
You shook your head.
Papyrus pointed between you and the doorway repeatedly.
You waved your hands and mouthed ‘no no no no no no’.
It was too late. Papyrus had his gloves clapped over his mouth in shock.
You took a calming breath. Deep down, you were overjoyed about getting to live with them, even if Papyrus seemed to have just turned into the world’s least subtle wingman. You could handle this. If he would just keep his cool, you’d have a real place to live; you could stay here, comfortable and secure. The idea filled you with determination.