On this long, slow morning, Papyrus made himself busy by restocking the vanilla bean and mocha flavors behind the bar. The coffee bar. He had recently begun working as a barista in the monster colony that had sprung up after the human had freed the monsters from under Mount Ebott. Papyrus smiled as sunlight filled the window overlooking the calm streets of town. Sunlight was new and foreign, but Papyrus found himself enjoying the brilliant rays of light that signaled the awakening of the majority of the population. His eyes narrowed as he recalled one lazybones that hardly ever got to witness the sunrise. That brother of his was even more useless than Jerry.

"Ey Papyrus, pass that clorox thing near your hand will ya?"

Papyrus glanced up at his coworker Ernie before sliding the cleaner toward him.

"HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS MORNING ERNIE?" He asked, "I DIDN'T SEE YOU OVER THERE, DID YOU JUST GET TO WORK?"

Ernie scratched his long floppy ears and gave Papyrus an apologetic smile.

"Yeah sorry bro, I didn't mean to make you open shop by yourself. I just got caught up in some trouble with the doll and ya know how it is." Ernie winked as Papyrus rolled his eyes at the excuse.

"NYEH-HEH! I TOO HAVE GOTTEN VERY CAUGHT UP IN GAMES WITH MY ACTION FIGURES AND OFTEN LOSE TRACK OF TIME. DO NOT WORRY ERNIE, I UNDERSTAND COMPLETELY."

Ernie cracked up laughing, sure that Papyrus did not understand what he was talking about at all.

"ANYWAY, CUSTOMERS SHOULD BE SHOWING UP SOON SO WE SHOULD BEGIN PREPARING THE MACHINES TO MAKE THE BEST COFFEE POSSIBLE," Papyrus began, "IT WILL NOT DO FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS TO SERVE ANYTHING LESS THAN PERFECT."

Ernie nodded in agreement, having been exposed to Papyrus' eccentric personality enough to know that he was a hard worker albeit a bit arrogant. He began restocking cups and wiping down the counters, rushing a bit as the sunlight coming through the window grew steadily brighter.

The doorbell rang, a lovely sound really, and Papyrus eagerly glanced up at his first customer of the day.

"FRISK! I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU SINCE YESTERDAY WHEN YOU CAME BY, HOW HAVE YOU BEEN DEAR HUMAN?" Papyrus greeted him eagerly, excited to see his friend again.

Frisk smiled up at the loud skeleton, approaching the bar silently but with a bounce in his step. Frisk was a bit of a silent type, but he was one of the sweetest kids that Papyrus had ever met, even if he didn't talk much. In his small arms he carried a simple clay flowerpot, containing a grumpy yellow flower.

"FLOWEY! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU CAME OUT OF THE HOUSE, YOU MUST BE FEELING GREAT TODAY!" Papyrus exclaimed, surprised to see the ill-tempered plant with Frisk.

Frisk's smile widened in glee as Flowey let out a "hmph!", revealing his true feelings toward being taken out of his dark solitude. Frisk looked thrilled that he had Flowey with him, whether he wanted to be there or not.

Flowey slowly turned his face toward Papyrus, glaring bullets toward the hyper skeleton.

"I hate going outside!" He wailed malevolently. "Everyone here is so stupid! How have you survived with such an idiotic view of everything skeleton?"

At this, Frisk's eyes narrowed and he began shaking the flowerpot harshly, soil falling to the floor as Flowey screamed louder.

"NOOOOOOO I WANT TO GO HOME FRISK!" He yelled, waiting for Frisk to quit swinging him around. After a good minute or so, and a large pile of soil having formed under the child's feet, Flowey gave up.

"OKAY GEEZ KID, QUIT SWINGING ME AROUND LIKE A FREAKIN CARNIVAL RIDE, I'LL BE GOOD GOSH!"

Papyrus patted Flowey's head with pity, before the flower hissed and attempted to bite him. Frisk glared down threateningly toward the flower, raising him up again before Flowey's eyes widened and he put on a fake smile.

"I'm so happy to be here in this beautiful cesspool of happiness and soybeans. Oh joy," he squeaked, not wanting to become any dizzier than he already was.

Papyrus grinned at Flowey's sudden change of mood. Perhaps a trip to town was just what he needed to cheer him up.

"SO WHAT WILL IT BE FRISK?" Papyrus asked. "DID YOU WANT ANOTHER CINNAMON FRAPPUCCINO?"

Frisk shook his head lightly and pointed toward a newer drink on the menu, the seasonal favorite.

"AH I SEE, YOU'D LIKE THE SNOWY MOUNTAIN DRIZZLE THEN? I HAVE NEVER MADE THAT ONE BUT THERE IS A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING HUMAN." Papyrus' eyes lit up in excitement at the thought of a new recipe. To no one's surprise, Papyrus enjoyed mixing coffee as much as he enjoyed cooking, which was a lot.

Suddenly, the door to the small coffee shop slammed open and Flowey shrieked loudly in surprise.

Two young monsters sprang through the entrance, yelling and chasing each other cheerfully, unaware of the calming vanilla bean atmosphere that they had just destroyed. The first monster was a seafoam green color with a long scaly tail and a pair of flashy fins sitting above her ears.

"Sasha! I'm gonna catch youuuuu!" She screamed gleefully.

If the coffee shop would have been any busier, Papyrus would have been worried, but with only him and his three friends here he felt overjoyed to see the young monsters enjoying the beautiful morning. He swore he'd seen them before, but he couldn't put his finger on where.

The second monster, Sasha, was a small gray fox monster that was darting swiftly away from her pursuer.

"Nooooooo!" She cried happily, laughing as she darted around the small shop. "You'll never catch me Riley!"

As the two girls raced around the shop, Papyrus finished up Frisk's Cappuccino and handed it over the counter to him.

"THIS ONE IS ON THE HOUSE SMALL HUMAN, IN CELEBRATION OF YOUR SUCCESS IN BRINGING FLOWEY ALL THE WAY OUT HERE."

Frisk grabbed Papyrus' arm and shook it around gleefully, bouncing Flowey up and down in his other arm in the process.

Flowey sighed dramatically, then reached out a vine to absorb some of Frisk's magical cappuccino. Surprisingly, he seemed to calm down and a look of fragile bliss crossed his face as he tasted the drink.

"Not bad skeleton." He said stiffly, then shrank down into the pot where he could no longer be seen under the soil.

The two monster children seemed to be calming down, and they slowly trailed up to the counter, a look of embarrassment covering their faces.

"I'm sorry," Sasha said, an apologetic tone clear in her voice. She was now facing Papyrus and her face seemed even more familiar.

The other monster child, Riley, began to apologize as well. "We didn't mean to be so loud and crazy in your shop, we just got a little caught up in our game."

Papyrus laughed. "NYEH-HEH, ALL IS GOOD CHILDREN! I AM GLAD THAT SOME MONSTERS FIND THE ENERGY TO PLAY SO GLEEFULLY IN THE EARLY MORNING. MY BROTHER USUALLY DOES NOT WAKE UNTIL NOON."

The kids' faces lit up, and they were about to order some drinks when the door slammed open once again, this time even harder.

"Sasha! Riley!" A familiar voice yelled, and Papyrus suddenly realized who these kids were.

Undyne speedily rushed through the door, roughly swinging an arm around each kid.

"Always gotta run off don'tcha punks? She laughed, rocking the two girls around a bit.

"Mom!" Sasha squealed. "We were just playing and Riley almost caught me!"

"Good job Sasha, you know what I taught you! Never surrender! And Riley, you did a pretty fine job of chasing her all the way up here." Undyne smiled proudly.

Both kids smiled up at their mother, glad to have pleased her. Suddenly, the door swung open again slowly and another familiar face entered the scene.

"Alphys, you're such a slowpoke!" Undyne yelled cheerfully. "Hurry up, we're about to order!"

Alphys hurriedly speed walked to the counter, cleaning her glasses on her coat as she walked.

"Undyne you know I can't wa-walk as fast as you and the kids, my legs are ju-just too sh-short." She stuttered, embarrassed for arriving so late after the others. Undyne only grinned and summoned a magical spear into her hand.

"I want the salty caramel one!" She yelled, flailing her spear toward the menu.

The kids then piped up, yelling that they wanted the caramel coffee too.

"I TAUGHT THEM THAT TOO!" Undyne screeched, flailing her spear even faster until it ultimately slipped from her grasp and sailed behind them toward one of the tables.

"UNDYNE," Papyrus cautioned, "THOUGH I AM VERY GLAD TO SEE ALL OF YOU, I MUST INSIST THAT YOU NOT THROW YOUR SPEAR AROUND. IT MIGHT HIT SOMEONE!"

Undyne smirked and laughed heartily. "Okay Papyrus I get it! Please give me, Sasha, and Riley the caramel one, and one hot apple cider for Alphys!"

It seemed that Frisk was not the only one in a wintery mood. Apple cider was one of the favorites of customers in cold weather. Papyrus began making the drinks with the help of Ernie, and Frisk waved goodbye as he finally agreed to take Flowey home.

Papyrus soon finished the drink order, collecting the payment from Undyne and handing out the coffee and cider to his friends. They seemed really happy with their drinks, but as soon as they received them, Alphys began ushering everyone out the door.

"Co-come on guys, we have to go if we're gonna make it on time for the movie! We have a long day ahead of us!" Alphys waved back to Papyrus happily, then lead the way out the door. The kids and Undyne followed suite, waving and laughing in merriment as they rushed off to the theater.

The next few hours went by slowly, and Papyrus felt his previous excitement begin to die down. Ernie was good company, but there wasn't much to do with only a few customers dropping by every so often. It was almost ten, but Papyrus didn't get off till 11:30. He paced behind the counter, desperate for something to do. As if on cue, a certain skeleton walked through the door, giving off a lazy but happy vibe.

"SANS!" Papyrus yelled happily. "YOU'RE AWAKE BEFORE NOON!"

Sans chuckled and made his way over to the counter. "Hey bro. How's it going?"

"UNFORTUNATELY WORK HAS GOTTEN RATHER SLOW AND I DON'T HAVE MUCH TO DO. OTHERWISE ALL IS WELL BROTHER! I'M GLAD TO SEE YOU THAT YOU ARE AWAKE!"

Sans chuckled again. "Of course bro, I like coming to see you a latte,." At this he winked, and Papyrus felt a feeling of dread rise within him.

"I TAKE BACK WHAT I SAID SANS! TAKE YOUR PUNS FAR AWAY, I HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS ENOUGH AT HOME!"

Sans laughed again, amused by his brother's irritation at his sense of humor.

"What's wrong bro? Why so bitter? There's some sugar over there if you need it."

"SANS!"

"Okay okay I know," Sans chuckled, happy to get such a rise from Papyrus. "I'll do you a flavor and leave after my frappuccino is done. Can't have you getting sick of me and caffeine your guts out."

Papyrus quickly turned and made Sans' usual order, a mocha Frappuccino, in attempt to usher his brother out of the store as soon as possible.

"OKAY SANS ITS DONE YOU CAN GO NOW HERE," He declared, practically throwing the drink at his brother.

"Catch you later Paps!" Sans smiled and vanished with his coffee, leaving behind a small stack of gold for Papyrus and making sure to leave a bit extra for heckling him at work.

Papyrus sighed but ended up smiling. He loved his brother, but his puns were absolutely horrendous.

Time slowly began to speed up and before he knew it, Papyrus was done with his shift. He waved goodbye to Ernie, wishing him luck with his "doll", and made his way over to his red sportscar.

On the way home, which was about a two-minute drive, Papyrus put the top down on his car and enjoyed the feeling of the wind on his bones. So far, the surface seemed really great and he felt like life was a dream. He had his friends and family, his job at the coffee shop, and his car to go on adventures in. Papyrus was happy, and he knew that he would enjoy life on the surface with every one of his friends, smiling the whole way.