Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Papyrus put the last spoonful of oatmeal into his jaw.  Its texture was soft, thanks to the milk it sat in for too long. The feeling of soggy oatmeal traveling through his magic and into his soul filled him with disgust.

It wasn't the first time he felt disgusted with food, but this time the feeling was tripled thanks to the soggy texture. 

Still, it was his favorite food—oatmeal with dinosaur eggs. The eggs, which were really just schoco bons, weren't a problem. Neither was the oatmeal. These two were the easiest to swallow, not to mention how nutritious they were. 

It was a nice thought, knowing you can get healthy by something like swallowing food. 

As simple as it seemed, it was still harder than just exercising or overall staying active. The disgust came mostly because of the texture, and there was no texture to exercise. The taste, too, could be repulsive if it were too strong.

Since he stayed on top of his health, he really had no idea why Sans found it such a big deal that he just didn't eat that much sometimes. 

Most of the time, actually.

Sans himself wasn't a perfect picture of health. He constantly ate out at Grillby's or ate hot dogs at his hot dog stand. He even dragged him along to the bar.

Papyrus never ate the greasy burgers or crispy fries; they were overwhelming. If on a rare occasion he did order something, it was milk. Plain, white, and good for the bones. His brother did try to convince him to eat at least something off of Grillby's menu, but Papyrus has been firm on not trying anything.

He knew his brother had been worried, for some reason. He glanced at him when he said he wasn't hungry, or sighed when he didn't eat the whole plate of food. It was his own way of showing concern without asking.

It was unnecessary, tho. He ate when he felt hungry and stopped when he was close to being full. That way, he didn't feel nauseous whilst still having eaten something during the day. There was no point in forcing himself more than he knew he could handle. 

Of course, he understood why his brother may have been worried. Sans ate far more than Papyrus, so he likely just assumed Papyrus always went hungry. It was incorrect, but understandable.

Making spaghetti was one of his ways to de-escalate Sans's worry. It sort of worked.

Papyrus shook his thoughts aside; there was no point in getting lost in them. He already had enough to think about this morning.

He carefully picked up the bowl and went to the kitchen. He made his way to the tall sink by jumping on the counter, since it was the easiest way to get there.

His thoughts lingered, despite trying to distract himself from them. He put his gloves aside and scrubbed the bowl with dish soap. 

What were the rules of eating, anyway? 

He was a skeleton. A skeleton monster, but still, a skeleton. An average amount of magic that had to be eaten by a monster during the day varied from one type to another. A whimsuit didn't eat as much as a vegetoid, and a tsundere plane didn't eat as much as a snowdrake. It was obvious without saying.

So why wasn't it obvious that a skeleton didn't eat as much as other monsters? 

Probably because his brother ate like a normal monster would. But maybe they're a different type of skeleton or something. They were brothers, but their magic was different from each other. 

Sans's attacks were heavily leaning on patience and justice, fast and overwhelming moves, and karma. There was a reason he was chosen to be the judge by King Asgore, after all. His battle style was perfect for fighting a human. Not to mention the karma-based attacks. The more LOVE a human would gain, the more power his attacks had. 

His attacks were cool, yes. But they weren't as efficient when fighting a regular monster, which was a monster that didn't have any LOVE. The same could probably be said for fighting humans with no LOVE. His attacks barely hurt those who have not hurt others. Perfect for a fair judge.

Papyrus's magic, on the other hand, was far different. Stronger. It was the reason Undyne cooked with him instead of training him; he was already powerful enough on his own.

He could use integrity, patience, kindness, and bravery magic. This was a lot of magic for one person to have. Safe to say he was close to having the magic equivalent of a boss monster. He had amazing control of his attacks, too. If he didn't want to hurt somebody, he knew how to lower their health to a small amount without killing them.

The two shared similarities in their magic, duh, they were siblings. It was Sans who taught him how to protect himself using magic when he was a small baby bone. Their magic was different, but related. 

With that in the picture, the keyword was different. 

Papyrus was strong as hell. Stronger than his brother, for sure. So maybe he was just strong enough not to have to eat as much as his brother?

It's not as if he's actually tested just how much he had to eat. The description was vague, anyway. "Eat enough nutrition through magic," but how much was enough? Enought as for enough for a whimsuit? A frogit? What does enough mean?

Having finished washing the dish, Papyrus jumped off the counter and put the bowl inside one of the drawers. He carefully put on his gloves again and headed towards the door of the house. 

It was still early, so he didn't have to head to Undyne's just yet. There were still certain tasks he had to take care of, anyway.

The first ones that came to mind were rewiring the whole electrical structure of the tile puzzle. Turns out using thermoplastic insulation wires and cables might not have been the best idea. He did buy them in the capital, where the cold wasn't a problem, so safe to say he didn't expect them to be so brittle and easy to crack in Snowdin. He had to get ones that could handle up to -15 Celsius, or 5 Fahrenheit.

He had to do certain research about it, tho. He didn't want to waste even more money than he already had.

So, the first place he went to was the Snowdin library.

He pushed the frozen door open. A bell above his head rang, announcing his visit to the whole building. Since when was there a bell? 

"Shhh!" shushed the librarian as she put a finger against her mouth,

"OH. SORRY!" apologized Papyrus in a hushed voice. Despite his effort, the librarian still seemed to have deemed it too loud.

The skeleton approached the counter with the librarian. She looked up, raising a brow at him.

"Do you need anything?" she asked.

"YES, JUST ONE THING. DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THERMOPLASTIC INSULATION WIRES?" he asked, trying to keep his voice down.

"Uh, if you could define them a little more?" faltered the lizard. 

"OH," he guessed she wouldn't know words like these. That's all right, not everybody had to be as great as him. "I NEED WIRES THAT CAN WITHSTAND THE COLD. THE ONES I GOT BEFORE WERE BRITTLE AND SHATTERED UNDER THE SLIGHTEST BEND. I NEED A REPLACEMENT," he explained.

"Well," she went under the counter and, after thinking for a while, emerged with three books in hand, "I think one of these could be useful."

The three titles were 'Introduction To Wire And Cable Insulating Materials', 'polypropylene cable insulation', and 'Wiring Systems And Fault Finding For Installation Electricians'. A few of those caught Papyrus's attention.

He picked up the first and third books, since they seemed the most useful in his situation. He was lucky there were so many books about the subject available.

"THANK YOU!" yelled Papyrus.

"Shh!" reprimanded the lizard. "You're welcome," She sighed.

"OH, SORRY," he waved her goodbye. Just as he turned to leave, when his gloved hand was on the doorknob, a question popped into his skull. And what was a better place to get questions answered than in the library?

"ACTUALLY, I HAVE ONE MORE QUESTION," said Papyrus as he turned on his heel.

The librarian, who was ready to get engrossed in her book again, raised her head to face his annoying self once again, "What is it, Papyrus?" she asked.

"THIS MIGHT STRIKE YOU AS ODD, SINCE WHY WOULD SOMEBODY AS GREAT AS ME NOT HAVE AN ANSWER TO SUCH A BASIC QUESTION," he started, lowering his tone under the librarian's watchful eye, "BUT HOW MUCH MAGIC SHOULD A MONSTER CONSUME DAILY?"

She gave him an odd look. She gave him a lot of those ever since he painted the Library sign into a Librarby. "It depends on many factors. For most smaller monsters, it's not a lot. Three filled with magic meals during the day," she answered

"THANK YOU, AND-" 

"But you aren't a small monster, so this probably isn't the answer you were looking for," she interrupted, "for monsters like you—bigger, active, and certainly one who uses more magic, it's probably more. Three medium meals a day, with snacks in between, so as not to exhaust yourself."

Papyrus scrunched his face. Three meals and snacks seemed like a lot to endure.

"What's with that face? Was it not enough information?" she asked, tilting her head.

"NO, NO! IT WAS GOOD, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" he waved his hands apologetically, "IT'S JUST THAT... IT'S A LOT OF FOOD"

She leaned against the counter, figuring this was a longer conversation. "Three meals aren't that much. But I think I understand where you're coming from. You're a skeleton, after all. A skeleton monster, but still, a skeleton."

"IS THERE A DIFFERENCE?" he knew there was, since he had already thought about it before. Still, he was curious if he had missed anything.

"I don't know. You probably need less food as a skeleton. If I didn't know any better, I'd probably assume you don't need food at all."

"...WHAT?" asked Papyrus, now curious.

"Regular skeletons don't eat food. As simple as that," she shrugged.

He lingered on that thought for a moment. 

If skeletons don't need food, then does he?

"Is that all?" she asked as she pushed her glasses up, ready to engross herself in the book again.

"YES! THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ALL YOUR ANSWERS. YOU ARE A BIG HELP!" he said, to which the librarian almost smiled.

He turned the doorknob and went out with his new books and new knowledge. And as he walked through the snowy town, he really processed what she said.

She said he didn't need to eat, even tho he could. Maybe the difference between him and his brother was appetite? Maybe Sans didn't need to eat too, even tho he did.

 That could explain why he was so disgusted with food!

He smiled, taking in a new resolution. Tomorrow was the beginning of another month, so he might as well give himself a challenge. 

And it was to try not to eat for as long as he could. To see how much is really required. To know what the limit was. To know if there is a limit. Maybe he really didn't need food at all. This could change everything for him!

It's only obvious his lazy brother would never allow him to experiment like this. He had an appetite, unlike Papyrus. So maybe it was better to indulge him in the subject only after he tried out his resolution. 

Yes, this was the best idea ever.

Chapter Text

On day one, he spent most of his day fixing the wires.

He brought them the previous day to the Capitol—his time, being so specific about what he wanted, the person selling them barely knew what to give him.

"Back so soon, eh?" said the bunny shopkeeper, "Whatcha need, son?"

"HELLO! YES, THE PREVIOUS WIRES BROKE. I WOULD LIKE TO BUY A REPLACEMENT," explained Papyrus.

"Sorry to hear that. Anything you have in mind?"

"YES! CAN I PLEASE GET THE TPC WIRE & CABLE SUPER-TREX EXTREME TEMPERATURE PORTABLE CORD? BUT IN BLUE. OH! AND THEY HAVE TO BE CABLES WITH A CROSS-LINKED JACKET. ONES THAT CAN HANDLE -70 CELCIUS!"

"Uh..." The shopkeeper looked behind at the large collection of cables. "Do you want to go behind the counter...?" he seemed to hope the skeleton would say yes.

"AH, THAT WOULD BE PERFECT! THANK YOU!"

And so, he got exactly what he needed. All it took was taking down the previous wires, discarding them, and then installing the new ones, so that the tiles worked properly. 

Taking out the previous wires without breaking the whole structure was kind of tricky, but he was patient enough to handle it, as tedious as it was. It was already late afternoon by the time he started putting the new wires in place.

With colorful zip ties, he could organize the new cables exactly how he wanted. With the black cables being used to transfer magic and his new blue ones used to transfer electricity through all the tiles, the zip ties were a lifesaver.

Maybe another day, he could take down the trap tile by tile to change the cables underneath them.

It'd be easy to assume work could draw his attention away from hunger. That certainly would be the case if he were hungry. But he wasn't. Not even a little bit. 

In fact, he could go as far as to claim he felt better without the food in his system. 

He couldn't get too excited, no. It was only the first day. Maybe he'd get hungry on the second or third one. Who knows, maybe he'd get hungry by the end of that day. He doubted. 

The idea of eating anything now was far enough away.

He straightened himself, stretching his spine all at the same time. He walked towards his brother's sentry post. It wasn't that far away. 

The sentry post was empty. He shouldn't have expected anything else of Sans. Ugh, that lazybones. He would love to believe he was just at another sentry or at his hotdog stand, but his years of knowing his brother doubted that would be a possibility.

His years of experience with his brother also told him where he could be.

So, at a fast pace, he headed towards the greasiest place in snowdin—Grillby's.

He opened the door of the establishment and walked towards the bar. He tried to distance himself from the dogs playing poker, being all bones, it was better not to tempt them. 

"hey, papyrus" began Sans, "did you hear about the Italian chef who died?"

Well, that was a strange conversation starter! What happened to 'hello'?

"...NO? HOW COULD AN ITALIAN CHEF DIE IN THE UNDERGROUND IF WE DON'T HAVE ANYONE FROM ITALY HERE?" Papyrus stumbled on his words, "UH, ANYMORE. BUT I'M SURE WE DIDN'T HAVE ONE PREVIOUSLY, EITHER! WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?"

Sans sighs dramatically. And it was as if the whole bar had its eyes glued on him. "well, apparently, he pasta-way."

The whole bar erupted into a big, sudden laugh. The whole bar, excluding Papyrus, of course. He just sighs in annoyance. How could he have been so naive as to fall for a joke like this?

"VERY FUNNY," said Papyrus, sarcasm laced in every word. Sans smiled, patting the barstool next to him. Papyrus didn't really want to get comfortable, but he sat down.

"jokes aside, watcha doing there, pal?" asked Sans as he drank from his ketchup bottle. That disgusting sight alone made him want to leave the place and not come back.

The whole bar smelled like grease and more grease. How anyone could sit there for hours at a time was well beyond his understanding.

"I WAS LOOKING FOR YOU AT YOUR SENTRY, BUT YOU WEREN'T THERE," said Papyrus, crossing his arms. It didn't have that much of an effect on Sans.

"yeah, i was out for lunch. i'm eating it now, see?" he put the ketchup bottle on the counter. "aren'tcha hungry? we can eat together if ya want."

Papyrus raised his skeletal eyebrows. He should have expected Sans to ask that. Lunch at such an hour could be considered dinner.

He was never a great liar. Some might even say he was a terrible liar. So, how could he refuse it without outright lying? 

Simple. Resort to his usual, non-suspicious reasons.

"NO WAY! THERE IS GREASE ON TOP OF GREASE IN THE FOOD. DO NOT EXPECT ME TO INDULGE IN SUCH MEALS, BROTHER," he said, and an idea popped into his skull, "BESIDES, I HAVE EATEN WITH UNDYNE TODAY" 

It was a lie—he had no idea why he said it. The grease could have been enough of a reason not to eat there. Why did he lie?

"okay, cool," said Sans as he drank the ketchup again. 

Ugh, could he not do that in front of him?

At least he didn't catch the lie.

"THAT ASIDE, I'M GOING HOME. FINISH UP WHATEVER YOU HAVE LEFT OF YOUR DUTIES AND GO HOME, TOO," said Papyrus.

"mkay," said Sans as Papyrus was already leaving the bar.

The cold air of Snowdin was amazing. He breathed it in and out of his ribs, effectively cleansing them of the uncomfortably hot and greasy air of the establishment.

He walked towards his house, smiling and all.

It was the first time he tricked his brother like this.

Maybe all of his effort finally paid off! All the spaghetti he never ate, claiming it was for others. All the cooking lessons with Undyne, and maybe his own unflairing confidence... Wasn't for nothing!

His brother was the judge—he could read people like open books. If he tried to lie to him about food-related matters about three months ago, he wouldn't believe him. He would ask questions, he would verify, he would be careful. 

That was one of the benefits of trying to join the Royal Guard! The cooking! He could fool his brother just enough!

Not that he had any pleasure in lying to him, not at all. He'd love to be more upfront about his food preferences, but Sans never quite accepted them fully.

About five months ago, maybe earlier, he did tell him about them. Not fully, but he slightly hinted at them. It was a mistake he wasn't willing to waste months repeating.

During breakfast all that time ago, he asked Sans about food. More specifically, if he found it disgusting. Apparently, Sans didn't like what Papyrus meant when he explained he'd prefer to get IV drops instead of having to eat ever again.

What also didn't help was that the conversation took place right after he refused to eat breakfast, lunch, and, at the moment, dinner. 

Sans made sure Papyrus did eat dinner that day. And another. And later, too.

It was annoying. For a comedian, Sans couldn't tell what he said was a joke! Of course, Papyrus wouldn't mind if the joke came true, but still! A joke is all it was. Sans overreacted.

When he reached his home, he watched some Mettaton on TV on the couch. It was a cooking show, 'Cooking with a Killer Robot'. Great to kill time. Just like how Mettaton was often close to killing the contestants.

He didn't watch the show, really. It was more of a background thing. He picked up the book from the small table next to the green couch he was sitting on. 

The book was "Introduction to Wire And Cable Insulating Materials', he picked it up from the library the previous day. 

He wasn't sure just how much time had passed as he read it, realizing all of the mistakes he had made when making the tile puzzle. This was a problem he had to handle head-on tomorrow, before the training with Undyne.

As he approached the middle of the book, his brother suddenly teleported right next to him on the couch.

"m'back. watcha readin'?" he asked as he leaned toward his brother. 

"SOMETHING FOR THE PUZZLE I'M MAKING. IT'S VERY INTERESTING! DID YOU KNOW COPPER IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER THAN ALUMINUM TO CONDUCT ELECTRICITY?" said Papyrus, excited.

"welp, now i know, i guess," shrugged Sans, ready to watch TV.

But Papyrus couldn't just let that lazybones lie around without tormenting him with a joke. He didn't have a counter-joke ready for him at the bar, after all. And there were some jokes in his sleeve here and there.

"I ALSO WENT TO THE CAPITOL TO GET SOME WIRES." Papyrus couldn't help but smile, even before the punchline.

"what was wrong with the previous wires?" asked Sans, sensing something was going on.

"WELL, THEY WERE BRITTLE ENOUGH TO SNAP OFF," began Papyrus when he abruptly closed the book, "MY NEW SURGE PROTECTOR IS A REAL LIVE WIRE, ALWAYS KEEPING THINGS GROUNDED!" he executed the pun.

Sans snorted under his breath as his smile widened. "heh. good one. you're really current with your jokes, bro," he answered, and Papyrus couldn't help but laugh, too.

"so, wanna eat dinner?" asked Sans.

Papyrus crossed his arms, confused. "YOU JUST CAME BACK FROM A BAR, HOW CAN YOU BE STILL HUNGRY?" 

"yeah, i just drank ketchup. tomatoes are good for the bones" shrugged Sans. "i was thinking we could eat together, ya know, something more solid," he explained

Oh. 

Yeah, it was foolish of him to think Sans wouldn't realize he lied.

"DIDN'T I TELL YOU ALREADY? I ATE WITH UNDYNE TODAY," sputtered Papyrus. Sans's smile widened.

"yeah, lunch. not dinner," shrugged Sans, but Papyrus wasn't fooled. Sans must have known something. He had that look in his eye.

Whatever. His usual excuse had to work, then.

"I'M STILL FULL FROM IT. YOU KNOW ME," he waved his hand dismissively, then stood from the couch. "I AM GOING TO BED. ARE YOU GOING TO STAY UP WATCHING TV?" asked Papyrus, drawing attention away from himself.

Sans looked at him for a second longer before shrugging. "nah. i gotta get my beauty sleep."

Side by side, they went upstairs and into their rooms.

Before closing his door, "GOOD NIGHT, said Papyrus

"night, bro," smiled Sans as he closed his door.

That night, when Papyrus lay in his bed, he didn't feel hunger—he felt only satisfaction, and a strange mix of relief and excitement.

Hiding the truth didn't lie well in his nature, but well. He will tell Sans about all of this, just not now. He'll tell him when he's done. When he proves to his brother that food isn't that important.

For skeletons, at least.