It all started with a phone call from Undyne. She told Papyrus that Alphys had called her to say that something had happened at the Lab and she needed Papyrus to go there right away.
"WOWIE, REALLY? BUT WHY WOULD DR. ALPHYS NEED ME AT THE LAB? I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW SHE KNEW WHO I WAS. WHAT AM I SAYING, OF COURSE SHE KNOWS OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS! BUT STILL… WHY DOES SHE NEED ME?"
"I don't know," Undyne replied, "but I'm coming too! I'll meet you there!" There was a click followed by silence.
Papyrus put his phone away before taking off in a sprint. He was in Snowdin re-calibrating his puzzles when he got the phone call, so he was about as far away from the Lab in Hotland as you could get, but Papyrus would go to any length for a friend in need! Well, for a friend of a friend.
Papyrus slowed to a jog as the Lab came into sight, Undyne standing in front of it wearing causal clothes and sipping from a paper cup. "UNDYNE!" Papyrus called, "DO YOU KNOW WHY DR. ALPHYS CALLED US YET?"
"No, I was waiting for you. Let's head in." Undyne chugged the last of her water, then walked confidently into the Lab with Papyrus trailing behind. "Alphys? We're here!"
"U-up here," Alphys called from her room.
"YES, WE HAVE INDEED ARRIVED," Papyrus boisterously called as they walked up the escalator. "AND WE EAGERLY AWAIT YOU TO INFORM US OF WHY WE ARE NEEDED."
There was a squeal, then the pitter patter of tiny little feet running towards them. "Oh my goodness!" Alphys cried in alarm. "Quick, catch him!"
"daddy!" A tiny skeleton child wearing nothing at all ran straight into Papyrus's legs and clung to him excitedly. Papyrus and Undyne both looked down at the child in confusion.
"You uh… got something you forgot to tell me about?" Undyne asked with a raised brow.
"I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT I DO NOT HAVE ANY CHILDREN, THERE MUST BE SOME CONFUSION."
Alphys came huffing towards them with a few pieces of familiar clothes in her arms while Papyrus picked the giggling child up and held them in front of him. "HELLO, LITTLE ONE, WHO ARE YOU?" The child was small, with big, round eye sockets that contained equally big, round, bright pupils, a fixed smile, and short, stubby limbs.
"daddy!" The child squealed again while reaching for Papyrus's face.
Papyrus obligingly hugged the child close as he turned his attention to Alphys and the clothes in her arms. "WHOSE CHILD IS THIS? AND IS THAT SANS'S HOODIE? IS HE HERE? IS THAT WHY YOU CALLED US?"
"Oh, uh… well y-you see uh… that ch-ch-child is Sans."
Papyrus and Undyne stared blankly at Alphys while the child in Papyrus's arms looked up at him in confusion.
"What do you mean this kid is Sans?" Undyne asked as she looked the little skeleton over.
"not daddy!" Sans suddenly wailed, great big tears welled up in his eye sockets and dripped down his face, which was quickly turning red.
"WELL OF COURSE I'M NOT DADDY, SANS," Papyrus responded in confusion as he held the child out to get a better look at him. Sans squirmed and kicked in his brother's grasp. "IT'S ME, YOUR BABY BROTHER… THE GREAT PAPYRUS."
"daaaaaaaaaaddiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeee!" Sans wailed even louder as he kicked and thrashed. Papyrus's grip started to slip, so Undyne reached over and plucked the squirming child from his grasp.
She expertly hoisted him on her hip and began rocking back and forth as she cooed at Sans. "Shhh… I know… I know… it's really scary, huh? A bunch of strangers who are talking around you like you aren't even here. Don't worry, kid, we aren't gonna hurt ya."
"HE DOESN'T RECOGNIZE ME?" Papyrus asked as he turned his attention back to Alphys and wrung his hands in worry.
"He doesn't recognize anyone, I think he lost his memories when he uh… when the accident… when he got turned into a baby?"
"Hey Sans, how old are you?" Undyne asked as she looked down at the still sobbing but much quieter child. He shyly held up two fingers before hiding his face in her shirt. "Wow, two whole years!" Undyne said in a soft voice as she continued to sway back and forth. "That's so big!" She turned her attention to Papyrus and Alphys. "So he likely only has the memories he had way back then, right? Paps, how much older is Sans than you?"
"FOUR YEARS OLDER, WHY? OH WAIT… OH..." Papyrus looked down at the still upset toddler. "I WASN'T EVEN BORN YET WHEN HE WAS TWO."
"So Alph, how did this even happen?"
Alphys started wringing the blue hoodie in her hands, "W-well Sans was helping me with some stuff that was left behind when the previous Royal Scientist uh… left? There were a lot of machines and blueprints and half finished projects left laying around and I was trying to move it all around and uh… o-organize things I guess and Sans was… he was helping me. A-anyway! I found some blueprints and notes that looked like a machine that was actually right there but all the old scientist's notes are in some kind of code so we were trying to decode it while we were looking over the machine and uh… th-th-then it accidentally activated. W-with Sans ins-s-side." She gestured helplessly at the toddler. "And uh… he came out like that."
"ARE YOU SURE THIS LITTLE BABYBONES IS MY BROTHER?" Papyrus asked worriedly.
"Of c-course I'm sure! I Checked him first thing!"
"OH! OF COURSE!" Papyrus turned away to hide a faint dusting of pink on his cheekbones, it was also the perfect opportunity to do a Check of his own. The toddler's name was indeed Sans, and the description was the same one as always… until a second line was added. Odd, but it still confirmed what Alphys said.
A quiet, muffled, "want daddy," came from Undyne's side.
Undyne started rubbing his back, "Yeah, I don't blame ya kid. But you know what? We got the next best thing, your big brother Papyrus."
Alphys snorted and Papyrus stared blankly at Undyne, "WHAT?"
"Well, you are bigger than him, aren't ya?" Undyne hefted Sans higher and angled her body so he was closer to Papyrus. She turned her attention back to Sans, "You love your big brother, right?"
Sans looked Papyrus over shyly. "big bruvvuh?" He asked as he shoved a thumb into his teeth.
"THAT'S RIGHT, YOUR BIG BROTHER THE GREAT PAPYRUS."
Sans still seemed unsure, but he did at least stop hiding his face in Undyne's side as he looked Papyrus over more critically. Undyne shifted so Sans was being offered to Papyrus, "Here, take him."
Papyrus held his arms out and Sans let himself be handed over. Once that was done Undyne expertly shifted Papyrus's hold until she was satisfied.
"You s-sure seem to know what you're doing," Alphys commented.
"Perk of being the head of the Royal Guard, lots of little fans following you around."
"SO NOW THAT SANS HAS CALMED DOWN, WHAT DO WE DO?"
"W-well, I should be able t-to decipher the blueprints and notes for the machine we were looking at, once that's done I should be able to figure out what when wrong and h-hopefully reverse this."
"WELL THAT CERTAINLY IS A RELIEF. I SUPPOSE UNTIL THEN I SHALL HAVE TO BE THE BIGGER BROTHER AND TAKE CARE OF SANS." Papyrus looked down at the sleepy toddler.
"Yeah! You're gonna be the best big brother, I can feel it!" Undyne slapped Papyrus's back unusually gently, he barely had to step forward to keep from toppling over.
"H-here, you should probably have Sans's th-things." Alphys offered up the clothes she had been holding, which Papyrus neatly tucked into his inventory save for the hoodie, which was instead carefully wrapped around Sans.
"THANK YOU, DR. ALPHYS. I SHALL TAKE THIS BABYBONES HOME NOW, LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU HAVE REPAIRED THE MYSTERIOUS MACHINE YOU WERE WORKING ON WITH SANS, WHO I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW YOU KNEW."
The journey back to Snowdin was uneventful, the motion of walking apparently lulling the toddler into a doze. The sound of the door closing must have woke him, as the moment they were inside Sans perked up and looked around. "daddy! daddy we home!" he called at the top of his lungs. Papyrus looked down in surprise while Sans's head whipped back and forth. "daddy! where daddy?" Sans turned to Papyrus and tugged on his scarf, "pappus, where daddy?"
Papyrus's mouth opened and closed a few times, his orbits wide and threatening to spill the tears gathered in their corners. "DADDY… ISN'T HOME RIGHT NOW," he eventually managed to choke out. What he said was technically true: their father wasn't home at the moment and very likely wouldn't be. Papyrus tried no to think about it as he carried Sans into the kitchen. "ARE YOU HUNGRY? I HAVE SOME SPAGHETTI I CAN HEAT UP."
"skeddi!" Sans excitedly squealed, making Papyrus very glad he didn't have any ears.
Papyrus carefully set Sans down on the edge of the table with his little feet hanging over the edge. "NOW YOU JUST STAY RIGHT THERE WHILE I GET THE SPAGHETTI READY." Papyrus pulled his freshest container from the fridge and started heating it up. There was a muffled thump followed by giggling fading behind him. He whipped around, the table was empty. He looked down, Sans's hoodie was a rumpled pile on the floor. He ran into the living room, Sans was waiting for him at the other end of the room and giggled again before taking off diagonally from Papyrus. The taller skeleton quickly darted towards the fleeing toddler and scooped him up. Sans giggled and squirmed while Papyrus sighed in relief and headed back into the kitchen. After some imaginative juggling, Papyrus managed to get a plate of warmed up spaghetti set out on the table and sat himself in a chair with Sans sitting on the table in front of him.
"skeddi!" Sans squealed in delight as Papyrus held a loaded fork up to his mouth. The anticipated pasta barely touched Sans's teeth before he turned his head and tried to push Papyrus's hand away. "yucky! no!"
"YUCKY?" Papyrus repeated in shock. "BUT YOU LOVE MY SPAGHETTI!"
"no!" Sans declared again. "yuck! no! no! no!" Sans squirmed out of Papyrus's hold and crawled to the other side of the table, where he crossed his arms in a huff and refused to look at Papyrus.
After a few more failed attempts to get Sans to eat, Papyrus set the spaghetti aside and rifled through the cabinets. Children were picky, and tastes changed as you got older, so maybe this little version of Sans would rather have something a little simpler than his artisan spaghetti. Aha! Papyrus found the item he was looking for and kept a careful eye on the fussy toddler while he prepped it. Sans kept trying to sneakily glance at Papyrus by twisting his whole body around and quickly looking away with arms crossed whenever Papyrus caught him.
"LOOK SANS," Papyrus cheerfully said as he moved in front of the pouting toddler and held up a spoon, "DINOSAUR EGGS! DON'T THOSE SOUND YUMMY?" He held up the spoon to Sans's mouth, but Sans didn't seem so sure. To prove his point Papyrus stuck the spoon between his own teeth. "MMM… MMMMM… DELICIOUS! IT'S MY FAVORITE! AND IF SOMETHING IS A FAVORITE OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS THEN IT MUST BE YUMMY, RIGHT?" He scooped up another spoonful and held it out to Sans.
Sans cautiously leaned forward and took the bite. The reaction was less extreme than the spaghetti, but his face still scrunched up and he turned his head away. "yucky!"
"SANS, PLEASE! JUST EAT! THE OATMEAL!"
"no! is yucky!" Sans squirmed away from Papyrus, who continued trying to put the spoon in front of Sans's teeth until Sans slipped from the table and took off running. Papyrus sighed, then put down the bowl and spoon to go give chase.
Once the toddler was captured again, and kicking fussily, Papyrus cheerfully walked back into the kitchen. "THAT'S ALRIGHT, SANS. I KNOW SMALL CHILDREN CAN BE PICKY EATERS. I'M SURE WE HAVE SOMETHING IN THE HOUSE YOU WOULD BE WILLING TO EAT." A search of the cupboards, the pantry, and the refrigerator belied Papyrus's optimism. Aside from the box of oatmeal the only food they had in the house were ingredients for spaghetti. Sans's half of the fridge only had an empty chisps bag, which Papyrus finally just threw away in frustration.
"pappus, hungie." Sans squirmed in Papyrus's hold, his face scrunched up and his permanent grin looking strained.
"WELL, YOU CAN EAT MY GOURMET SPAGHETTI OR YOU CAN EAT SOME DINOSAUR EGGS, BECAUSE THAT IS ALL WE HAVE IN THE HOUSE." Papyrus smiled down at Sans, who only replied by pouting. Papyrus sighed, of course Sans would be difficult no matter his age. "WHAT DO YOU WANT TO EAT, THEN?" Before Sans could answer, Papyrus's phone started ringing. They both jumped at the loud, jaunty ring tone and Papyrus struggled to pull it out without dropping his brother in the process. "YES, HELLO?" Papyrus answered without even bothering to check the caller ID.
"Hey Paps!" Undyne's voice erupted from the phone. "Just calling to find out how you and the squirt are doing."
"WE ARE DOING FINE, REALLY. ASIDE FROM MY BROTHER REFUSING TO EAT, THAT IS. HOW DOES ONE MAKE A FUSSY TODDLER EAT WHEN HE SAYS HE IS HUNGRY BUT REFUSES ALL FORMS OF SUSTENANCE?"
"Refusing to eat, huh? Then he's not hungry enough!" Undyne yelled.
"W-wait… w-w-what?!" Could be heard faintly in the background.
"Just keep him distracted for a while," Undyne continued loudly, "and when he's hungry enough he'll eat. Don't let the kid trick you into thinking he needs candy!"
"Undyne, it's uh… it's not good to let someone with l-low HP go with-without food. I mean… it's a-a-actually kinda dangerous."
"WAIT, WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S DANGEROUS?" Papyrus asked in worry as he looked down at the toddler perched on his hip.
Alphys seemed to have taken the phone from Undyne because her voice was much clearer as she explained, "You know how monster food replenishes your HP? Well, if you go too long without eating your HP starts to fall and if you have l-low HP you don't have far for it to f-fall before um… it gets dangerous." Papyrus ran a quick Check over Sans.
Sans – ATK 1 DEF 3 HP 19/20
Your lazy big brother
who isn't so big anymore.
Papyrus gasped, "I'M SORRY ALPHYS I HAVE TO GO RIGHT NOW BYE!" Papyrus quickly ended the call and shoved his phone back into his pocket, then turned and ran for the front door. He opened it and stared at the snow, then glanced down at the still naked toddler perched on his hip. Papyrus turned and ran back into the kitchen, picked up the fallen hoodie, wrapped it around Sans again, then ran back to the front door and out it.
"pappus, where we going?"
"WE'RE GOING TO GET YOU SOMETHING TO EAT!" Papyrus slammed open the door to Grillby's and power walked up to the bar, behind which Grillby was polishing a glass as the regulars lounged in their usual spots.
"…... Papyrus," Grillby started to say as said skeleton reached the bar and held the toddler up to him.
"GRILLBY FOR SOME WEIRD REASONS SANS REALLY LIKES YOUR GREASY FOOD AND I CAN'T GET HIM TO EAT AND HE'S GOT LOW HP SO NOT EATING IS REALLY DANGEROUS FOR HIM DR. ALPHYS JUST TOLD ME SO AND I'M REALLY WORRIED SO PLEASE CAN YOU JUST FEED HIM SOMETHING PLEASE!"
Grillby's flames flared up, then darkened to a deep red as he stared at the round faced toddler shoved towards him. "… Papyrus, did Sans have… a child?" Sans was looking up at the fire elemental curiously.
"NO!" Papyrus insisted as he held Sans even closer to Grillby, Sans ducked his head and was trying to hide his face. "THIS IS SANS."
"…... what?"
"THIS IS SANS. THERE WAS AN ACCIDENT AT THE LAB WITH DR. ALPHYS AND SANS GOT TURNED INTO A TODDLER AND HE WON'T EAT! DR. ALPHYS SAYS IT'S REALLY DANGEROUS FOR MONSTERS WITH LOW HP TO NOT EAT! AND WHILE HIS HP IS ACTUALLY HIGHER THAN IT'S BEEN IN A LONG TIME, TWENTY IS STILL REALLY, REALLY LOW. AND HE JUST WON'T! EAT! PLEASE, HE LIKES YOUR FOOD!"
Grillby looked down at Sans, who squirmed uncomfortably before shooting him a shy glance. The rest of the bar had gone silent, every last patron staring at the unusual scene with blatant interest. Grillby put a hand on one of Papyrus's and pushed Sans back towards his brother. "…... have a seat." Without another word Grillby turned and walked through the fire exit.
Papyrus sat down on one of the bar stools and pulled little Sans into his lap. Next to them Red leaned over to get a better look at the little bundle of bones. "Is that really Sans?"
Sans shyly hid his face in Papyrus's chest, one orbit angled to peek at the bird monster. "OF COURSE THIS IS SANS," Papyrus said confidently.
One of the Dogi walked over to Papyrus's other side and tried to discreetly sniff over Papyrus's shoulder.
"Can I hold him?" Red asked as they leaned in closer to look at Sans. A couple more of the dog guards moved to crowd around Papyrus and sniff at Sans. The toddler whined and burrowed even further into his brother's chest, Papyrus adjusted the hoodie to better cover Sans and gently rubbed up and down his spine.
"I DON'T THINK THAT'D BE A GOOD IDEA RIGHT NOW," Papyrus replied as he began sweating. "MY BROTHER HAS HAD A VERY LONG DAY..."
Grillby returned with a plate piled high with steak cut french fries drizzled in ketchup. He set the plate down in front of Papyrus and then glared at the other patrons until they stopped crowding the skeletons. The smell seemed to be enough to rouse Sans from his hiding post, once he saw the plate of deep fried potatoes he eagerly grabbed the nearest handful and shoved them into his teeth, getting ketchup all over his hands, face, and Papyrus's lap.
"SANS, NO!" Papyrus lifted Sans away from the bar top, aghast at the mess that had somehow gotten smeared on either side of the plate. There were titters from around the bar.
"…... I apologize, I don't have any child friendly food on the menu."
"Grillby says he doesn't get a lot of kids in here," Red supplied as they hid more giggles behind a wing.
Papyrus was taking a napkin to Sans as he eagerly tried to snatch more fries. "THAT IS UNDERSTANDABLE, I'M JUST GLAD THAT SANS IS ACTUALLY EATING." He settled Sans back in his lap, but pushed the plate out of the toddler's reach before grabbing a fry and feeding his brother himself. Papyrus managed to work through half the plate, alternating between holding individual fries up to Sans and trying to wipe up the mess Sans somehow made during his brief attempt to feed himself. Now fed, Sans seemed much more alert and kept trying to crawl up onto the bar.
Grillby took the plate away, then came back with a to-go bag. Papyrus started feeling about his pockets for his wallet, while he was distracted Sans finally managed to climb up onto the bar, the hoodie slipping off him in the process.
"I'M SORRY, MR. GRILLBY, I DON'T SEEM TO HAVE MY-" Papyrus looked up to see Sans slowly toddling across the bar towards Grillby, who was blazing bright white and yellow while holding his hands up as if unsure whether to catch Sans or not. Papyrus lunged across the bar and grabbed Sans before he could reach Grillby, then pulled him back. Sans shrieked and started struggling, then just broke down into wailing sobs when Papyrus held him close. "I'M SO SORRY, MR. GRILLBY! I DON'T KNOW WHAT SANS WAS THINKING!"
Grillby tried to speak, but his soft voice was drowned out by Sans's continued wailing. "It's okay," Red cut in. "He'll just add it to Sans's tab."
Grillby nodded and pushed the to-go bag closer to Papyrus, who took the bag and tucked it into his inventory before wrapping Sans up in his hoodie once more. He really would need to find something to actually put Sans in if the toddler was going to keep insisting on running around. Papyrus nodded to Grillby, then cuddled Sans close as he carried the still weeping toddler out of the bar.
Once home, Papyrus looked down at Sans: large tears running down his round cheeks, ketchup and fry grease all over his face and hands, new stains added to the old ones on Sans's favorite hoodie. Papyrus sighed, a bath was definitely needed, and some sort of clothing that wouldn't keep falling off. He held Sans close and rubbed his spine gently as he walked up the stairs and into Sans's room. Papyrus stopped dead and looked around at the usual mess: the trash tornado, the pile of dirty socks, the half made bed… this was no place for a toddler.
"piew!" Sans whined as he looked around the room.
"PEW INDEED!" Papyrs agreed as he turned and walked right back out. "PERHAPS YOU WILL REMEMBER THIS ONCE YOU'RE THE PROPER AGE AGAIN AND WILL ACTUALLY TAKE CARE OF YOUR ROOM."
Sans sniffled, then rubbed his face against Papyrus's battle body. Papyrus sighed, it was already covered in toddler tears and ketchup, may as well add brotherly slime to the list. He'd have to properly wash it after all this abuse. Perhaps he would wear something else until Alphys fixed the weird machine that did all this?
He carried Sans into his own room, Sans immediately perked up. His pupils glittered as he took in the bookcase full of children's books and advanced manuals, the table covered in action figures, the race car bed, just how much cleaner it was. Papyrus opened his closet and started digging through it. Not that any of his clothes would be better sized to fit the toddler, but it was better than trying to dig through Sans's room. Eventually he found a tank top that he had cropped and modified to say "Good to the Bone" by crossing out "Bad" and writing in "Good" in permanent marker. He held it up to Sans, it would be rather large for a shirt, but the lack of sleeves and short length meant it could be a dress. He also went digging though one of his dresser drawers and eventually came up with a single lime green ribbon and a blue scarf with an orange fish pattern on it. They would have to do.
"YOU READY FOR A BATH, BIG MONSTER?" Papyrus asked Sans, who seemed unsure. Eventually Sans nodded shyly, so Papyrus carried him into the bathroom, carefully shut the door, then deposited Sans on the floor and the clothes on the counter so he could start filling the tub with warm, soapy water. "ALRIGHT SANS, IN YOU GO!"
Once in the water, Sans immediately started giggling and splashing. He was so delighted that he squirmed out of Papyrus's grasp whenever he tried to clean the toddler. Eventually, after about half the water in the tub got splashed onto Papyrus, the floor, or both, Sans was completely clean. Papyrus pulled him out of the tub, dried him off, then attempted to dress him. Getting the shirt on Sans was actually pretty easy, keeping it from slipping off while Papyrus attempted to make adjustments was harder, especially with an energetic toddler ready to go play squirming in place. Eventually he got the straps of the shirt tied together with the lime green ribbon and the scarf tied around Sans's middle with a cute bow in the back. It would have to do. Papyrus looked around at the mess in the bathroom, he'd have to clean that up before something got ruined.
"OKAY SANS, YOU CAN GO DOWNSTAIRS AND PLAY WHILE I CLEAN UP THIS MESS YOU UNINTENTIONALLY MADE, OKAY?"
Sans stuck his thumb in his teeth and nodded before turning and running from the room. It took some extra towels, but shortly Papyrus was finished cleaning and carried the pile of soggy towels downstairs to start washing. At the bottom of the stairs his jaw and the towels dropped to the floor in shock, the walls from his knee down were covered in black squiggles. He looked around until he spotted Sans sitting in front of one of the walls, permanent marker in hand.
"SANS!"
The toddler turned around at the shout, another permanent marker rattling around in one of his sockets. Sans's grin widened, "pappus!"
Papyrus leapt across the room, Sans was up and running faster than Papyrus had ever seen him move in his entire life. There was a moment of vertigo as Papyrus slipped on first one, then the other permanent marker that Sans abandoned when he started running. He turned to find the giggling toddler now on the other side of the living room. "SANS, WILL YOU JUST! STAY STILL FOR ONE MOMENT! PLEASE!" The irony of asking Sans of all people to stay still was not lost on Papyrus, but he was too busy chasing the happily squealing toddler to think about that. Eventually he managed to catch Sans and scoop the giggling, wiggling, squealing toddler up into his arms.
"again!" Sans shrieked in delight as Papyrus held him out at arm's length.
"NO, SANS, NOT AGAIN. WE DO NOT DRAW ON THE WALLS."
"pappus! up! up!" Papyrus paused, then held Sans up higher. Sans squealed even more, "again! again!" Papyrus obliged, alternating between lifting Sans up and swinging him low. Eventually Sans's squeals started to die down and Papyrus placed him on a hip before taking him back upstairs.
"IN THE FUTURE IT WOULD BE BETTER IF YOU DID NOT DRAW ON THE WALLS AGAIN," Papyrus gently chided as he dug through his drawers for some paper. He returned downstairs and plopped Sans onto the floor with the papers, then grabbed the errant permanent markers and put one in Sans's left hand. "DRAW ON THE PAPER, OKAY SANS? NOT THE WALLS."
"okay!" Sans switched the marker to his right hand, then happily started scribbling on the paper.
Papyrus heaved a sigh of relief before grabbing the pile of towels and hurrying to the laundry room. He stuffed them into the washer as quickly as possible, once the load was going he walked back out into the living room and eyed the walls disdainfully. Those would need to be scrubbed before they stained, if it wasn't too late already. He looked over at the culprit, then froze. The permanent markers and paper were sitting on the floor, but there was no Sans in sight. Papyrus looked around, there was no sign of Sans anywhere in the living room. He was about to go check upstairs when there was a loud crash in the kitchen. Papyrus ran in to find Sans standing in front of an open cupboard with a pile of pots and pans spilling out of it. Sans looked up, a whole potato shoved in his left eye socket.
"WHA…?" Papyrus trailed off, unsure where to even start. "WHERE DID YOU EVEN FIND A POTATO? WE DIDN'T HAVE ANY IN THE HOUSE AN HOUR AGO?" Sans started reaching for the nearest pot, so Papyrus quickly scooped him up again. "WHY DON'T WE GO BACK TO DRAWING?" Sans whined, but otherwise didn't put up a fight. Papyrus set him down, then gently pried the potato out of his eye socket. "THERE, NOW YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SEE WHAT YOU ARE DRAWING, WHICH WILL VASTLY IMPROVE YOUR ARTISTIC ABILITY." Papyrus picked up the one paper with scribbles on it and shoved the still blank ones closer to Sans. Then he looked at the drawing, there were three circles with various features on them and oddly angled sticks coming out the bottom. "SANS, WHAT'S THIS?"
"you an' me an' daddy," Sans replied simply as he leaned forward to point at the figures.
Papyrus looked at the picture again, he supposed the tall figure could be him, and the smallest one was very round, but the one Sans said was "daddy" didn't look like anyone he knew. Papyrus shrugged, it was hard to make out anything from a toddler's drawing skills, and it wasn't like Sans had any artistic skills as an adult either. He set the drawing aside and decided to simply sit and watch Sans draw, clean up would have to wait.
As Papyrus knew would eventually happen, Sans began to yawn and have trouble keeping upright. Papyrus scooped him into his arms and carried the toddler upstairs. He paused in front of his door, Sans's room was still absolutely out of the question for a small child, but that left only Papyrus's room. With a sigh from Papyrus and another yawn from Sans, Papyrus went into his room and placed Sans on the race car bed. Sans held his arms up expectantly, though Papyrus wasn't sure what that was about.
"WHAT IS IT, SANS?"
Sans tugged at the makeshift belt around his middle and fussed sleepily with the shirt he was still wearing, "jammies."
"OH," Papyrus replied. There was no way anything he owned would be remotely like pajamas on the tiny toddler. He untied the scarf and pulled the shirt off anyway, made much easier by Sans putting his arms up again. "WHAT IF… YOU SLEPT WITHOUT JAMMIES? JUST FOR TONIGHT?" Papyrus tried not to let his nerves show. Sans just shrugged, then sleepily crawled towards the pillows. It was like a light bulb went off above Papyrus' head, he quickly pulled down the blanket and neatly tucked Sans in, then grabbed one of the books from his shelf and pulled up a chair. "WOULD YOU LIKE A BEDTIME STORY, SANS?"
As backwards as the question felt, Papyrus smiled when Sans sleepily nodded, then happily opened the book and started reading the familiar story. "FLUFFY BUNNY LIVED IN A BEAUTIFUL MEADOW WITH ALL HIS LITTLE BUNNY FRIENDS..."
It was a little over an hour later and Papyrus was halfway through scrubbing the living room walls when there was a very enthusiastic knock at the door. Papyrus dropped his cleaning supplies and went to answer the door, unsure who would be visiting at this time of night. "OH! UNDYNE! HOW UNEXPECTED OF YOU TO COME VISIT ME SO LATE IN THE EVENING! AND WITHOUT KICKING DOWN MY DOOR!"
"Hey Papyrus!" Undyne greeted. "You gonna let me in?"
"OF COURSE!" Papyrus stepped aside to let Undyne in. Once the door was closed she shoved a box overflowing with stuff at Papyrus, he hesitantly accepted it. "WHY THANK YOU UNDYNE, WHAT IS IT?"
"I figured you needed some stuff for the baby until Alphys can fix this mess. There's some kid friendly food in there, some toys, some clothes, and whatever else Gerson had on hand he thought you'd need."
"WOWIE! I'LL HAVE TO GIVE HIM MY THANKS NEXT TIME I SEE HIM, OR SEND THEM ALONG WITH YOU IF I DON'T."
"Don't worry, I already gave him your thanks."
"THANK YOU, UNDYNE! YOU REALLY KNOW HOW TO SAVE TIME."
"So how's the little squirt doing anyway?" Undyne eyed the walls that still needed to be scrubbed.
"HE IS CURRENTLY SLEEPING UPSTAIRS. WE HAD A VERY 'ACTIVE' AFTERNOON TODAY," Undyne snorted at the quotes, "AND I MUST SAY I AM VERY GRATEFUL FOR THE BREAK. I NEVER THOUGHT I'D SEE THE DAY WHEN I WAS HAPPY FOR SANS TO TAKE ONE OF HIS LONG NAPS."
"Yeah, little kids are full of energy like that. And he's at the age where he should sleep through the whole night, but it's not a bad idea to check up on him at some point. Sometimes they'll wake up for a glass of water or something, and the poor kid will probably be disoriented since this is a strange house and all."
"ACTUALLY, SANS SEEMED TO RECOGNIZE THE HOUSE. WHICH IS REALLY STRANGE, WE DIDN'T MOVE IN UNTIL AFTER THE… UH… UNTIL AFTER I GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL. BUT WHEN WE WALKED IN THE DOOR HE YELLED 'DADDY, WE'RE HOME' AND WAS COMPLETELY COMFORTABLE WITH THE HOUSE."
"That is weird. Also, speaking of your dad, whatever happened to him? I mean… it's weird that I hadn't ever asked before but you never talk about your parents so…?"
"I DON'T REMEMBER OUR DAD VERY WELL, IT WAS JUST SANS AND ME FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER. I THINK HE WORKED A LOT? AND WASN'T AROUND MUCH? BUT AT SOME POINT HE WAS JUST GONE?" Papyrus stared down into the box he was still holding with furrowed brows. "I'D ASK SANS, BUT OBVIOUSLY THAT WON'T DO ANY GOOD RIGHT NOW. OH!" Papyrus stepped into the living room and set aside the box before picking up the drawing from earlier and showing it to Undyne. "SANS DREW THIS," he pointed to each figure as he named them, "THAT'S ME, AND THAT LITTLE ONE IS SANS, AND THIS ONE IS OUR DAD."
"Heh, that's pretty good, that one definitely looks like you." They both looked at it for a moment, then Undyne handed the picture back. "Well, it's something to ask Sans when Alphys fixes him. Along with a bunch of other questions like how he and Alphys even know each other."
"I HAD BEEN WONDERING ABOUT THAT TOO, PERHAPS WE SHOULD JUST ASK ALPHYS TO ANSWER THOSE QUESTIONS SINCE SHE WOULD ACTUALLY KNOW THE ANSWERS."
"Yeah, I'll ask her later, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to hear what Sans will say. Or what he won't say."
"SANS DOES LOVE HIS POINTLESS SECRETS," Papyrus agreed.
"Welp, I'm going to head home. early to bed and all that, but Gerson said to just pop by Waterfall any time and visit him if you need any help. Or even if you don't. He wants to see Sans as a 'little whippersnapper' before this mess gets all cleared up."
"I'LL MAKE SURE TO GO VISIT HIM THEN. HAVE A GOOD NIGHT, UNDYNE."
"You too!"
.
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A fun little scenario I've seen a few times (Sans gets turned into a baby/toddler/small child and it's up to Papyrus to take care of him until things go back to normal) but I've only ever seen it in Underfell. I get it, the added danger of having to protect Sans from a dusting as well as watching the usually harsh Fell!Paps trying to care for smol Sans is really nice. But just... just Papyrus having no idea how to take care of a small child sounds like plenty of drama for a story, so here it is! Enjoy as tiny Sans wraps your heart around his pinky phalange!
Also ff. net messed up the formatting a bit, why can't I have elipses for days? How am I supposed to write for Grillby if I can't include half a line of elipses? Ugh!
