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Finally. Friday. The next weekend awaits. Nyeh heh heh. Hooray. Yippee.
No, Papyrus should be more joyous than that, surely. He's The Great Papyrus, for crying out loud! He's always happy, always positive! Even though weeks of nonstop Jerrys and troublesome individuals giving him too many demands! But that's just life as a Royal Guard, isn't it? Papyrus would have to get used to it if he wants to join the elites. At least they can handle everything under pressure! And if they can do it, Papyrus can too! Right???
That's what he told himself while he collapsed on the sofa. His legs stuck out over the armrest, hanging in the air, while his face was buried between two sofa cushions.
He was fine. This is just how Royal Guards rest! He wasn't tired at all! His bones didn't ache! He didn't feel drained! Speech wasn't hard to come by!
He just... liked the darkness burying his face provided him! You know, the snow is very bright, always reflecting light, giving monsters headaches... If Papyrus talked to his brother about this, he was sure he'd agree wholeheartedly. Not that skeletons had hearts... Or organs.
Speaking of Sans, he had just came out of the kitchen with some sort of gadget in his hand, as well as a screwdriver in the other. Though he was in the middle of tinkering, one look at his normally-energetic brother and his definitely not neurotypical perfectly normal position told him to drop whatever he was doing and go to him.
Of course, being the amazing brother he is, Sans did just that. He sat in the spot right next to Papyrus' head.
"sup, bro? long day?"
"MFFPH MMM NNF MPH."
Oh. That didn't sound good. Probably because Papyrus didn't lift his head out of the cushions. Despite the worry starting to crawl up his spine, Sans mustered a little chuckle.
"long week? was it the dogs?"
"MMPH."
"you had a ruff time?"
"MMPH!"
Sans chuckled a little more. Papyrus wasn't responding as passionately as he's used to, but he got the message. The lazybones took the time to sink into the back of the sofa before continuing.
"ok, i gotcha. you know there's no shame in being tired sometimes, right?"
Papyrus finally rolled his head to the side. "I'M NOT TIRED, SANS. THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS NEVER TIRED."
Really? Because The Great Papyrus' voice was definitely flat there.
Sans rolled his eyes playfully. "could've fooled me. you look exhausted."
Papyrus waited for another bone pun. It didn't come.
"IT'S NOTHING, SANS. IT'S ALL IN A GOOD DAY'S... WEEK'S WORK. I JUST HAVE TO GET USED TO IT."
Now it was Sans' turn to talk flatly. "sure you do."
Papyrus didn't respond. For once, the room was silent. Sans wasn't mad, though. He could tell how much the exhaustion weighed down on his brother, no matter how bad he wanted to hide it. And he didn't need a verbal response, anyhow.
So Sans did the next best thing. He gently lifted his brother up with blue magic.
"NYEH..."
Papyrus curled tightly around the sensation, his eyes gently shut. Seems like he likes it.
"NNH..."
"ssh..." Sans shushed gently as he set up a light fluffy blanket on the sofa, and set Papyrus down on top of it. Papyrus remained curled long after the blue magic had dissipated, though a quiet moan indicated he missed it.
"heh... just give me a sign when you're ready, okay?"
"MHM."
Sans nodded, satisfied. Papyrus didn't need too much socialising right now. But he wasn't just going to leave him.
So for the next hour or so, the brothers were silent. They did not utter a word, not were they performing the same actions, nor did they even glance at each other in any way. Instead, they merely remained in each other's presence, happy to engage in their own separate activities.
Papyrus found it within himself to turn the TV on, if only to catch the tail end of the MTT marathon. He loved that sexy rectangle from the moment he first saw him live. And his shows always helped Papyrus forget about his worries for some reason. The chaos occuring on screen made the tired skeleton smile, even if it wasn't as excited as it normally was.
As for Sans, he sat on the carpet near the sofa, carefully sketching out another constellation on his star map. He needed to get it as accurate as possible, otherwise everything would be ruined. Whoops. That was his long lost perfectionist side shining through. He thought he shed it when he was a kid, but he guessed not. Welp. It was necessary for this map anyway.
Neither of them knew how long it took for them to go to bed, but it's got to be late, right? Mettaton's shows always end at around 11pm, so it was around that time where it was decided the two had to go to bed.
And it appeared they subconsciously decided it was a "sleep together" night.
Papyrus collapsed into bed first, and Sans quickly followed. From there, the smaller skeleton used his magic to sift through all the books they had.
At this point, Papyrus had completely checked out. He didn't know where the world went or why it was dead set on running away from him. It made it very difficult to pay attention to his bedtime story, or anything at all. The only thing he could register were soft murmurs of nonsense coming from a soothing presence, and the soothing presence in question. Honestly, he wanted nothing more than to keep that presence close to his soul.
As he was fighting to keep his eye sockets open and get to the end of the story, Sans felt Papyrus' arms envelope him. He turned to look at his brother, and found that his face was hiding away, tucked into his shoulder.
"heh. not in the mood for a bedtime story, huh? just wanna skip to the good part?"
Silence.
Sans shrugged and put the book down. "whatever. 's fine by me." He followed Papyrus' lead, snuggling into him. "say, howzabout i turn the lights off, huh?"
The lights suddenly turned off. Papyrus felt something stirring up inside as Sans wiggled back into his embrace.
"there we go."
Sans' arms were loose and soft, just how Papyrus liked it. He wished he could express that. He wished he could tell Sans what was happening to him. But how could he? How is it possible to articulate something you don't understand?
He doesn't know why this is happening to him. He didn't want to be tired, he didn't want any of this! All he had to do was deal with a particularly challenging week, that's all! A week full of burdens and snappy monsters, but that was par for the course, right? That's just the trials he has to face to be a Royal Guard, right?
It's days like this where even the greatest of skeletons start doubting themselves. How could Papyrus ever shape up to be a Royal Guard if little things like this caused him such anguish?
Maybe... Maybe he wasn't cut out to be a Royal Guard after all.
That thought... That was the straw that broke the camel's back. The wave that finally burst through the dam.
Oh, and look at that. The waves pushed through, creating a cascade that quickly flooded everything.
And Sans felt the waves.
"whoa, whoa, hey... what's wrong, are you crying...?"
No.
Yes.
Papyrus sobbed into Sans' shoulder. He didn't have the strength to push the waves back any longer.
Sans' soft voice had an anxious undertone. "whoa, ssh, hey, it's okay, i'm here, you don't have to- don't cry..."
He wished he wasn't crying, but there was nothing he could do. He was too tired. He hated being tired.
He felt Sans gently rub at his face with his thumbs. Tiny thumbs. Tiny, tiny thumbs...
Their sheer tininess made Papyrus cry even more.
"ooh boy." Sans pulled his hands back. They were drenched now. "hey, bro? it's gonna be ok, see? i'm right here."
Papyrus sobbed. "I KNOW..." He wiped his tears away. "I AM VERY SORRY ABOUT THAT, SANS. IT'S JUST... THIS WEEK WAS HARD. BUT I-IT'S OKAY! I'VE GOTTEN THROUGH IT, AND NOW IT'S OVER, A-AND... I'M NOT OUT THERE ANYMORE, SO I SHOULDN'T BE- I'M NOT, I'M... I'M OKAY NOW, IT WAS JUST HARD. BUT I'M OKAY. I'M OKAY."
Sans stared at Papyrus thoughtfully. The extra attention would usually flatter the handsome skeleman, but this time... This was getting uncomfortable. Sans seemed to know it too, because as soon as Papyrus shifted, he started snuggling into him.
"i'm proud of you, you know that?"
Papyrus froze. "YOU ARE?"
Sans looked up, a warm smile spread across his face. Papyrus backtracked.
"OH, I MEAN... OF COURSE YOU ARE! IT'S ONLY NATURAL FOR YOU TO BE PROUD, CONSIDERING HOW I'M SO... SO..."
"you can drop the act, bro. i'll be proud either way."
He knew that. Papyrus knew that. And that knowledge sent the taller twin to tears once again.
"(SNIFFLE) I'M SORRY..."
"ssh, it's ok..." Rib rubs. Sans was giving Papyrus rib rubs. That's nice. "it's like you said. you had a hard week and you got through it. and when you felt bad, you were brave enough to show it. honestly, you're the bravest person i know, bro."
"I... I AM?"
"of course. couldn't think of anyone braver."
"WELL, THERE'S UNDYNE..."
"yeah, she's brave. but you're even braver."
"...DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT?"
"i know that."
Papyrus' tears slowed down as he processed what Sans said, as well as the rib rubs. For a moment, he let himself feel what Sans was doing to him. His brother's tiny hand circled around one side of his ribcage, his skull resting on the other. The familiar presence is enough to calm Papyrus down.
He started breathing in time with the rib rubs. Breathe in for one circle, breathe out for two. Rinse and repeat. Sans had the extra bone-us of feeling Papyrus' chest rise up and down as he did it, bringing comfort to both brothers.
Maybe... Maybe he could spend the weekend like this. He was off-work now. Might as well use this time to spend it with Sans. That's all he really wants right now.
Oddly, but not unpredictably, Papyrus' eye sockets began to droop under Sans' soothing touches. His brother seemed to notice.
"heh heh. sleepy, bro?"
"THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS..." Yawn. "NEVER SLEEPY..."
Sans tried not to laugh. Yeah, right. He nuzzled into him a bit more.
"ok. but i am. mind if i sleep here tonight?"
"PLEASE DO."
Papyrus closed his eyes.
"heh heh... ok. g'night, bro."
"MMH... LOVE YOU, SANS."
Sans drifted off to sleep too. "i love you too."