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It was 5:00 on a Friday night and you had just gotten in from work. You’d had a bad day, experiencing a lot of dysphoria after one of your co-workers made a tactless comment on your appearance. You knew she probably didn’t mean it, but you still couldn’t chase away the uncomfortable sensation for the rest of the day.
When you stepped through the door and saw Papyrus slouched on your sofa you inwardly groaned. You had given him a key a while before you started dating in case he ever needed a haven from Sans, and once you started dating it was common for him to be there when you got back from work. But as much as you loved him, you didn’t want to see him right now, didn’t want him to see you like this when you were struggling to like yourself. Luckily he was focused on the TV so didn’t you’re your initial entrance, which gave you a little time to prepare. Taking a deep breath you plastered a huge fake smile on your face and walked into your apartment.
“Oh, Paps, hey! What are you doing here so late?” You greet the hoodie clad skeleton, as he whipped his head around to face you, a smile on his face.
“Heh, I just thought I’d pop in and check up on my Vertebae after they’ve been working all week. I’d almost forgotten what they looked like.” He teased. You laughed stiffly. Even you could tell that laugh sounded fake, and you saw the suspicion flicker over Papyrus’ face before returning to his usual easy-going smirk.
“Okay, well let me just get changed and then we can, um, chill. Yeah.” You mumbled, avoiding all eye contact with him, lest he could see the fear in your eyes. You mentally face-palmed at how awkward that sounded and almost ran into the bedroom, your face bright crimson and sweating with embarrassment. The door to the bedroom slammed behind you and you inwardly winced. Outwardly however you didn’t care. You tugged off your t-shirt and stared at yourself in the mirror. It was as though they were mocking you, your eyes drawn to every imperfection, big and glaringly obvious. An overwhelming feeling of defeat settled on your shoulders. How could Papyrus possibly want to be with this?
You sank to the floor, back pressed tight against the door and began to cry, releasing all the anger, frustration, embarrassment and stress you had been holding in all day. What started out as quiet sobs muffled by your hands grew to loud, heart wrenching cries of pain. At some point during all of this Papyrus must have entered the room. You had closed the door, but a closed door wasn’t much of a barrier to Papyrus if he chose to disregard it. He had plenty of respect for people’s privacy, but there were some things he wouldn’t be lazy about and the guttural sounds of pain currently coming from his Vertebae was one of them. He was suddenly on the floor beside you, a warm and distressed presence. He tugged you into his lap and his arms circled around your shoulders, as he pulled you gently into him, head against his chest. You resisted for a moment and then gave into the warmth and soft fabric of his hoodie, tears running in rivers down your face at this point, your throat unbearably sore. You couldn’t utter a word to him if you tried, your breath coming short and fast as you hiccupped in an attempt to stop crying. The whole time you were aware of a quiet murmur above you as he whispered soothing thoughts and rubbed your back.
You finally managed to stop crying and looked up at him with blurry, tear stained, puffy eyes and a runny nose.
“M’sorry.” You muttered into the fabric of his hoodie, avoiding his eyes again.
“Hey, it’s okay but, are ya gonna tell me what happened? I don’t like seeing my Vertebae this torn up.”
“Maybe.” You sniffled, as he tapped his thumb under your chin, forcing you to look up at him. He looked…worried. Worried and upset?
“I just…it’s nothing really, just me being silly I guess. It’s just some days I feel like I really don’t like the way I look. Sometimes it’s just one thing, like my hair or my weight, and then other days it’s everything I do. I feel like you deserve so much better than me Paps-I-I-I don’t know why you’re with me.” You started to cry again, drawing your knees up into your chest, when Papyrus caught your hand, to stop you burying your face in them.
“You want to know why I’m with you?” He asked softly. It didn’t really seem like he wanted an answer from you, more like he was thinking of what answer to give you.
“I’m with you because you’re the sweetest person I’ve ever met. You’re selfless, kind and you persevere. Your patient, God knows you have to be with me, and you accept me and all my friends with no bones about it. Maybe you don’t like something’s about yourself some days. But I do. And on the days when you like them that’s great, and I’m happy for you being able to see how beautiful you are. But on the days when you don’t, on the days when you can’t see that, I want to be there to show you. To show you that you are more than just your weight. You are more than your height, your skin, your hair. You’re all of those things together, along with your SOUL. And I’ve seen a lot of SOULS in my life, a lot of variations of the same SOUL too. But I’ve never seen anyone as unique and constant as you. I love you, for everything that you are and everything that you aren’t Y/N. If you think I deserve better than my answer is you are better. Because when I’m with you I feel like a better person“
You stared at Papyrus in shock. You hadn’t been expecting such a long and passionate speech to come from the usually docile skeleton, but his eyes were blazing with conviction and you couldn’t help but believe every word he spoke was true.
You swallowed, your throat still raw. “I love you too Paps.” You smiled softly at him and he relaxed a little.
“Good. Now, your throat must be sore right? Then how about you finish getting dressed and then we get some ice cream out of the freezer and watch some TV?”
You nodded and happily took your boyfriend's hand as he stood and offered it to you.
“I’ll see you in a moment.”
You turned back to your reflection in the mirror and you didn’t see the same person standing there as before. Sure, you could still see your imperfections, but it was as though they were a part of you you were willing to accept now. It was as though Papyrus’ words were a part of you too. You smiled again. It must be true what they say. A relationship isn’t about being with the right person, it’s about the person you become when you’re with them. And you thought that you were pretty okay with the person you were with Papyrus.