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Papyrus isn’t the kind of guy to immediately start worrying if his boyfriend doesn’t respond back right away. He knows that he’s busy. He can be pretty busy himself. Well, if you count napping and working on commissions and occasionally doing regular adult chores (errands, laundry day, going outside at some point, making sure that either his bed or couch is clean enough to have both him and his partner on it...).
Yeah, pretty busy.
So when his boyfriend doesn’t respond to his texts at the time in the morning when he usually does? Not a problem, maybe he slept through his alarms and had to rush to get to a class or something of the sort. Papyrus has sure as hell been there. He continued to periodically send you whatever dumb memes he finds throughout the day, same as he always does. He starts to get a little concerned when you don’t respond by the time your classes should’ve been over for the day, but he doesn’t ask about it yet. Maybe you had to study immediately afterwards.
It’s starting to get dark when you finally message him back. He had started drawing to take his mind off of the thoughts attempting to send him into a spiral. As soon as Papyrus heard his phone chime, he practically leapt towards his bed where he had put it to force himself to stop checking it every two minutes despite knowing he didn’t have any new notifications. You had reacted to the things he sent with hearts or crying emojis, but you only actually sent one text.
You: Hey, sorry for not responding all day
You: Been feeling kinda off today, y’know?
Papyrus hums sympathetically. He’s had more off days than he can count. Growing up in the Underground tends to leave you with problems like that.
Rus: no problems, i getcha
Rus: anything i can do to help?
He’s honestly completely ready to drop anything and everything if there is something he can do. It’s not like he had much going on anyway. This commission wasn’t due for another week, he had just been using it as busy work to keep himself distracted.
You: Not really? I’m not even in a particularly bad mood, just
You: I dunno, just don’t feel all there today
Rus: want me to come over?
Rus: or if you want i can make sans grab ya and bring you here
Rus: doubt whatever he’s doing right now is that important anyway
There’s a long pause where you’re likely debating on whether or not you feel up for company or not (though, Papyrus would at least like to believe that you’re laughing a little at his remark about his brother, regardless of if it’s true or not). He waits very patiently, and not at all anxiously, until those three little bubbles pop up, disappearing a few times before you finally respond.
You: Don’t bother Sans just because I’m feeling weird lmao
You: But you can come over if you want
Papyrus wastes no time to agree, reassuring you that he’ll be there as soon as he can. If he didn’t know you so well, he’d probably have refused, thinking you were only offering out of obligation. However, he knows it’s more likely that you wouldn’t mind company, but you don’t need it at the moment. He grabs one of his hoodies to throw on, then spends far too long trying to find his keys before giving up and decidedly just clipping through the door instead. Whatever, it’s not that big of a deal.
It takes him longer than he’d like to get to your dorm building, and while you’re likely unconcerned, he can’t help but feel like things are going to slow for him. Once he gets there, he texts you that he’s outside. He would just clip through and go ahead and walk towards your dorm, but your college has rules against unescorted guests, and he’d rather have to wait an extra minute or two for you to come downstairs than to get you in trouble. Thankfully, you only live on the second floor, so it’s not too long until you’re opening the door. He has to resist the urge to frown at your expression. You’re glancing over him like you’re not entirely convinced that he’s actually there, but you’re aware enough about your surroundings to not be distressed about the feeling.
“hey, angel,” Papyrus greets gently, stepping inside. He’d love to offer you a hug right here, but he knows that it’s best if you don’t block the door. So, instead he follows you as you start back upstairs.
“how’re you feeling?” He asks, resisting the urge to reach out for your hand.
“...Weird,” You settle on after a long pause. “It’s like...Like I don’t really feel real? If that makes sense? But I’m not like, panicking over it, because logically I know I’m real and—”
You cut yourself off with a frustrated huff, having difficulty to describe it. Papyrus’ expression softens at your struggle. He knows the feeling.
“i get what you mean,” he reassures you as you both make it to your dorm. Once you enter, he pauses after shutting the door behind him. “roommates out?”
You nod, glancing at him out of the corner of your eye as you slip your shoes off.
“Yeah, both have things tonight,” You confirm, “Don’t know how you always guess that.”
“nyeheh, secret talent,” He says with a chuckle, before his expression turns more serious. He opens his arms in a silent offer.
You hesitate for a moment, as though you’re not sure how you feel about touch at the moment. Eventually, you step forward, letting his arms come around you as he pulls you closer. He’s sure to keep his grip light, ready to let go at any given moment. However, after a moment, your arms wrap around him, holding onto him as you sag into him slightly.
“...Didn’t realize how grounding being around someone else would be,” You mumble, words slightly muffled by his hoodie.
“luckily for you, this someone doesn’t have anywhere else to be,” He responds, taking your words as permission to hold onto you tighter.
If he’s being honest, Papyrus is beyond glad that physical touch is okay and even encouraged at the moment. He would absolutely respect it if it wasn’t, don’t get him wrong! He’s just not great at the whole comforting thing, and while he would do his best to help, it’s always just easier for him when he’s able to be touchy while doing so. It makes his soul ache when his boyfriend is upset and he’s not able to wrap his arms around him and hold him.
The hug lasts a long while before you, very reluctantly, pull away. Your hand lingers on his sleeve, holding onto it as you seem to debate something.
“So, which definitely not Papyrus sized piece of furniture do you feel like squeezing onto today? Couch or bed?” You say, trying to add some humor into your voice. He can tell your heart isn’t in it, but he offers a small smile anyway. You tend to feel...stilted, when you get like this. It had made Papyrus panic the first few times it happened, the sudden struggle to express your usual affection and playfulness causing him to think you somehow randomly lost interest. But he knows better by now. If you didn’t care about him the way you do, you wouldn’t have responded to his texts until you felt completely better, much less invited him over.
The dorm furniture doesn’t tend to be made for more than one person to lay on, especially when one of those people is an over six-foot tall skeleton. However, that’s never stopped your boney boyfriend before. He’s somehow managed to squeeze into both places countless times.
“mmmn, bed,” He says decisively, leading you towards your room. He’s always preferred your bed anyway, it’s comfortable (and it smells like you), but he also thinks it’d be better for you right now. It’s easier for the both of you to cuddle properly, and you seem like you need as much contact as you can get at the moment.
Once you get to your room, he takes his boots off before climbing onto it and lightly tugging you with him. While Papyrus prefers to be the one being held when cuddling, he’s easily willing to give that up for his partner who’s having a hard time. He pulls you in, tucking you underneath his head and wrapping his arms around you. You seem to appreciate the solidness of his presence, pressing into him and gripping his shirt tightly.
“...Hey, Rus?” You speak up after a long while, causing him to wake up from where he had started lightly dozing off.
“what’s up, hon?”
“Thanks. For being here. Even when I’m not...all there,” You end up finishing lamely, a frown tugging at your lips.
“’course, angel,” He responds immediately, nuzzling the top of your head. “anytime. i love you, and love being around you. ‘m just glad i helped.”
“You did. You are. A lot.”
Your grip on him tightens and Papyrus feels a warmth bloom in his chest. You’re not okay at the moment, and you might not be for a while longer, but you’re going to be. And he’s going to be be right there to nuzzle and cling onto you until you are.