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“Ninety-eight… ninety-nine… One hundred!”
Papyrus, who was lying face-down on the couch with his hands over his eyes, bounded up with enthusiasm.
“Ready or not, here I come!”
He looked around with a joyful smile: Sans had finally agreed to play hide-and-seek with him! Papyrus began to search the house—Sans was not in the living room, not in the kitchen, not in Papyrus’ room, and the door to Sans’ room was still locked.
“Brother!” called Papyrus, beginning to be worried. “Where have you gone?”
Papyrus searched the same places again, taking care to ensure Sans had not somehow hidden in the fridge or in Papyrus’ clothes closet.
“Sans, this isn’t funny!” Papyrus was getting agitated, now. Where was his brother? All the logical hiding places Papyrus had written down in his notebook of hide-and-seek locations had been checked off.
“Sans, I’m serious!”
The frustration and worry in Papyrus’ voice caused a new sound to emerge: The squeak of Sans’ door. Sans poked his head out and grinned widely.
“SANS!”
“Bone soir, bro.”
“SANS! How did you get in there??!! I would have heard your door open!”
Sans whisked out his trombone and began playing “Magic” by Coldplay. This sent Papyrus into a towering rage.
“SANS! I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU!”
Sans’ expression turned slightly sheepish, and he lowered the trombone slightly.
“Sorry, bro…”
“No, you’re not!” Papyrus crossed his arms and frowned. “Seriously, how did you get in there?”
Sand lifted the trombone to start playing the Coldplay song again.
“SANS, I WILL END YOU!”
Sans ran away, still playing on his trombone. Any time Papyrus was close to catching him, Sans did a short teleport away. Papyrus was livid.
“SANS I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL DESTROY THAT TROMBONE AND SET UNDYNE ON YOU!”
Sans teleported into his room, then back out, this time sans his trombone.
“Alright, bro, alright,” he said in a voice clearly not out of breath, hands outstretched to try to keep some distance between him and his fuming (and fast-approaching) brother. It’s a good thing you’re a good person, Paps, or you’d be scarier than Undyne any day…
“Hey, cool down, cool dude,” he called. He was grinning just a bit wider than he should have.
Papyrus stopped dead, caught between accepting and acknowledging the compliment or getting angrier at Sans for making another pun. Sans took advantage of this.
“Want to play again? I’ll follow the rules, this time.”
Still confused, Papyrus found himself agreeing to another round of hide-and-seek. Sans was hiding in the fridge. Papyrus was so thrilled to have found him that they spent the whole day playing hide-and-seek.
Sans chose (relatively) normal places to hide: On top of the fridge, under the couch, behind the TV, hovering in the air above Papyrus’ bed, etc. Though it frustrated Papyrus that Sans had found hiding places outside the hide-and-seek location catalog, he also felt intensely proud that he’d been able to find Sans in these unusual locations.
It was getting late in the evening, and Sans saw that Papyrus’ energy was flagging.
“Bro, it’s pasta bedtime.”
Papyrus was too sleepy (and a little too happy with his hide-and-seek prowess) to object; in fact, he smiled faintly at the pun.
“Brother, will you read me a story?”
“Sure, bro.”