Papyrus kicked his feet as he sat on the edge of the chair, watching as the doctor prepared the needles.
"IS IT GOING TO HURT?" Papyrus asked, not for the first time. The doctor chuckled a bit and shook his head.
"Not a lot, don't worry. I'll be a little pinch and then it'll be over." Papyrus still didn't completely believe the man, swinging his legs with increased vigor.
"hey, pap, don't worry about it." Sans put his hand on top of Papyrus'. The same, easy-going smile he always wore was there and it was comforting. "you're not a baby-bones, are ya?"
Papyrus shook his head and then breathed in a deep breath, sitting up straight, before letting it out.
"Okay Papyrus, we're just going to quickly go through these couple of shots and then you'll be good to go." The doctor turned around, holding one of the needles up. Papyrus gave a shaky nod while the doctor rubbed won the skeleton's bicep with alcohol. The small skeleton slipped his hand into Sans' gripping it tightly and screwing his eyes shut.
"you're doin' great bro." Sans soothed, giving Papyrus' hand a light squeeze back.
"Alright, and… we're done! You were so brave, good job!" Papyrus opened his eyes as the doctor put on the second bandaid. "And, for being such a brave boy… a treat!" The doctor went to the side and took one of the lollipops out of a glass jar, presenting it to Papyrus.
"THANK YOU!" Papyrus eagerly took it and stuck it in his mouth before cocking his head curiously as the doctor picked back up the chart he had grabbed out earlier. "WHAT'S THAT?"
"Oh, this?" The doctor walked over to the other side of Papyrus and bent down until he was about level with the skeleton. "It just helps me keep track of how you're progressing. See, here's a list of all the shots you're going to need to get, and today we did these two. In fact, why don't you help me out and check them off for me?"
The doctor presented Papyrus with a pen and he happily put little check marks next to them. The doctor gave him an encouraging thumbs up before straightening back up and opening up a filing cabinet, putting the chart away.
"okay, well if that's all," Sans put out his hands to help Papyrus down from the chair.
"Actually, Sans, while we're here why don't we give you a check up as well." The doctor pulled out another chart.
"you okay bein' here a little longer bud?" Sans asked, and then winked, "i'm sure i can convince the doc to give you another lollipop for your trouble." Papyrus deliberated this for a bit, already antsy from sitting around so long, but a moment later the doctor held up a colorful puzzle cube and the little skeleton agreed.
He didn't pay attention much to what was going after that, busy twisting the sections of the cube this way and that. Whenever he looked up, though, the scene didn't change much. The doctor sighed and shook as he held up various instruments to Sans' or had the skeleton do various things that Papyrus had done a few minutes earlier and Sans would just shrug.
"Okay Sans, everything seems as normal as ever." The doctor didn't sound too happy about that.
"DO I STILL GET ANOTHER TREAT EVEN IF SANS DID POORLY?" Papyrus asked and the doctor finally smiled again.
"Of course, and Sans didn't do poorly. He just didn't do any better than last time." The last part was accompanied with another sigh. As the doctor handed the lollipop to Papyrus he got a look at Sans' chart, brow furrowing as he saw the same list of shots but with no check marks.
"well, you've been really sweet," Sans pointed to Papyrus lollipop, "but we've gotta go. see ya next time doc."
"Stay safe." The doctor waved them off, something weird and sad in his eyes that Papyrus didn't understand.
oOo
"THANK YOU!" Papyrus smiled brightly up at the librarian over his stack of books.
"It's my job, don't worry about it." The monster smiled down at him, rubbing the top of his head before returning to her desk. Papyrus carefully carried his pile over to the table where Sans was waiting for him. The other skeleton had gotten back from work not too long ago, and he hadn't even bothered to take off his lab coat. He'd still agreed to come with Papyrus to the library though. Papyrus let the books spill onto the table before climbing onto his seat. He frowned when he saw Sans kick his feet up on the table.
"SANS-" Papyrus started but was quickly shushed by a few of the nearby patrons. He cut himself off before starting again, quieter, "SANS, DON'T PUT YOUR FEET ON THE TABLE."
Sans, on his part, didn't repsond. He was already alseep, chair tipped back onto two legs.
"SANS, YOU'RE GOING TO FALL." Papyrus warned him, but the his brother stayed asleep. With a huff Papyrus went back to his side of the table, climbing into his seat and cracking open of the books. Eventually he became focused on copying down information, the vague murmurs of the other people in the library fading into the background.
THUD
Papyrus jumped at the unexpected sound, looking up from his work. Sans was no longer across from him, and Papyrus quickly stood up on his chair to peak over. The entire library was deathly quiet, and someone distantly gasped. Papyrus glanced up and saw that the librarian that had helped him earlier was now deathly pale, one hand hovering over the phone.
"SANS?"
"... guess that was pretty 'bone headed' of me, huh?" Sans finally said, sitting up and rubbing his skull. A collective sigh of relief rushed through the library as slowly people returned to their tasks, and Papyrus looked at all of them confused. "At least I have a pretty… thick skull."
"SANS I CAN'T BELIEVE I WAS WORRIED!" Papyrus complain, sitting back down and crossing his arms, glaring at his brother. Sans chuckled, fixing his chair, and Papyrus went back to focusing on his homework.
oOo
"SANS! YOUR NEW JACKET HAS ARRIVED!" Papyrus announced, carrying the package in his arms.
"ok." Sans barely lifted his head from where it was smashed into the couch's arm.
"SANS, IT IS HERE!" Papyrus repeated, banging the box on Sans skull in an attempt to get the skeletons attention.
"ok." Sans still didn't move.
"YOU LAZY BONES, OPEN YOUR PACKAGE!" Papyrus demanded. Sans finally shifted, sitting up.
"i guess if you've got a knife, i could finally cut to the chase." Sans winked and Papyrus groaned loudly.
"GOD I HATE YOU." Papyrus summoned a sharp bone and handed it to Sans who went ahead and cut through the tape. Inside was what was supposedly a new jacket, but it looked identical to the one Sans currently had on.
"nice, looks very comforter-ble." Sans layed back down, draping the new jacket over himself like a blanket and was asleep in seconds. Papyrus gave a frustrated sigh but let his brother sleep, one hand going down and patting the new jacket. It felt just like his old one, and Papyrus smiled a bit at the familiarity. Sans' jackets were always so plush and soft.
Papyrus closed his eyes for a moment, thinking back to when they were a little younger and Sans came to pick him up from school. Papyrus would run over and immediately hug his brother, always met by some kind of thick fabric (not always a jacket back then, sometimes it was sweaters) that were so dense he couldn't feel Sans' ribs.
oOo
"THERE SHE IS, SANS, SHE'S REALLY HERE!" Papyrus tugged at his brother's arm, pushing through the crowd until they could see the up-and-coming member of the Royal Guard, Undyne. Trained by Asgore himself, the fish-monster was destined for greatness and Papyrus had kept updated as she raised through the ranks.
The crowd was cheering as she brandished a spear in each hand and charged at her current opponent, Lesser Dog. It was finally time for the sentry tryouts, something that Papyrus had been training and looking forward to for months now.
He'd just recently finished schooling, which meant he could technically join his brother in just laying around the house all day. Gold had, oddly enough, never been an issue. At some point Sans' had come home, taken off his lab coat, and never went back to work. When Papyrus tried to remember why that was, everything got fuzzy and static-y, so it was easier to just not think about it. But Papyrus wanted to do more, to be more, and a good step was to become a sentry.
"you ready bro?" Sans asked, looking up at him.
"OF COURSE I AM, THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS ALWAYS READY!" Papyrus declared.
"Well, then, does the 'Great Papyrus' want to see if he can hold a candle against me?!"
Apparently in the moment of talking with his brother, Undyne had defeated Lesser Dog. He was now pinned down by two spears, looking a bit more battered than he had when they started but no less happy. With a swish of Undyne's hand the spears disappeared and the dog sat up, looking at Undyne expectantly. She considered him for a moment.
"Yeah, sure, you can have the spot." The entire pack erupted into barks and howls at that, all the dogs rushing over to congratulate the dog while Undyne summoned another spear and pointed it at Papyrus. "Two spots left. Think you've got what it takes to get one?"
"no need to be so threatening, he get the point." Sans patted Papyrus's hand.
"UNDYNE, PREPARE TO BE THE FIRST TO FIGHT THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"
Papyrus stepped away from the crowd and onto the designated battlefield. Undyne grinned at him, teeth sharp and predatorial. Papyrus gave her an honest grin back, a bit nervous for the battle but mostly filled with excitement and a drive to get his position as a sentry. He glanced over the the crowd before the fight started and couldn't stop the small trill of happiness seeing Sans still at the front of it and still awake, one hand out of his pockets and giving him a thumbs up.
Undyne made the first move, throwing her spear at him, and Papyrus successfully dodged it before throwing out his hand a sending a slew of bones in her direction. The Royal Guard easily leapt over them, summoning two spears in midair and hurtling straight for his position. Seeing the perfect opportunity, Papyrus made some blue bones spring up from the ground as he darted away. Undyne hissed as the bones impacted her before disappearing, but not before she had thrown another spear at Papyrus, whose confidence had left his susceptible, hitting him in the ribs and making him step back.
It went pretty down hill after that. For every hit Papyrus managed to get in, Undyne had five more she was able to get in. She was faster than anything in Snowdin, anything Papyrus could've possibly trained against, ducking and dodging and weaving and it was clear how she had made it so far up in the ranks in such a short amount of time. It all ended when Undyne managed to get him to fall onto his back. Before he could even think of getting up or orient himself, she came down from above him, spear in each hand, and stabbed them in an x above his neck.
"You're dead punk," Her grin had stayed on her face the entire time, but now it seemed somehow sharper and more dangerous. She then stood back up, the spears disappearing as her hands left them, and brushed some snow off of her shoulder, "But I guess you're decent enough to be a sentry."
"REALLY?!" Papyrus sat straight up. Undyne winked at him.
"Yep. The pack should help you get set up."
"SANS, DID YOU HEAR THAT?" Papyrus ran over to his brother, picking him up into a hug.
"yep, i'm not standing that far away bro."
"Okay, which one of the rest of you think they have what it takes to get the last position?" Undyne leveled her fierce gaze on the crowd once more. Papyrus held up his brother.
"MY BROTHER WOULD LIKE TO TRY."
The effect was immediate. The rest of the town's residence fell silent, even the dogs. Papyrus looked at them, confused. Undyne didn't seem to notice though, looking at his brother with the same intensity as when he'd fought her.
"The little runt thinks he can survive me?" Sans shrugged in his grip.
"i'm not one to flounder about on the battlefield. sure, i'll give it a go."
And then the town erupted.
"Sans no!"
"Don't throw your life away!"
"Are you crazy?!"
"That's suicide!"
Papyrus frowned as all of the monsters around him started shouting. Undyne seemed to share his confusion.
"Whoa, hey, I've never hurt someone more than half their health." She held up her hands placatingly, but the town still seemed worried. One of the bunny stepped forward.
"It's okay hun, you just don't know. Sans here, he only has 1 HP."
Papyrus froze. Slowly, he lowered Sans back down to his eye level. He looked at the other town-folk, all of who were nodding along to what the bunny had said. He'd never bothered to check Sans's stats before, he'd never seen a reason to.
There it was though, plain as day.
1 HP
1 AT
1 DF
For a moment, a heart beat, Papyrus worried. He thought about when Sans had slipped on ice and fallen, that time he'd climbed a tree and the branch had started breaking with him on it. 1 HP. Even the smallest moldsmal could easily kill his brother. For that small second, Papyrus considered bringing his brother home and locking him in there where he might be safe.
But it was only for a moment.
This was Sans after all.
Papyrus grinned again, putting Sans on the ground.
"WHAT, DON'T HAVE THE GUTS TO TRY AND DEFEAT MY BROTHER?" Papyrus dared the Royal Guard.
"Wh- no! That's not it, he's just-" Undyne gestured to Sans, "I could kill him!"
"don't count on 'mackeroles' like that." Sans winked at her. The people around him were still protesting, but Sans sent a small and slow moving bone towards Undyne, and by that point it would be considered incredibly rude to turn down the fight.
"I'll make this quick," Undyne promised and rushed forward, "NYAAAAAGHHH!"
And just like when Sans had been training him, his brother easily sidestepped, allowing Undyne to plow right past him. Bones surged up right at her feet even without Sans moving his hands, a master at his magic. Undyne jumped up, a few of the nicking her feet, and she finally summoned a spear to fling at Sans. Sans side-stepped again, the spear just barely missing his head. From his foot a wall of bones manifested, bouncing up and down in a complex pattern that caught Undyne off guard, hitting her in the gut and flinging her backward. She landed on her feet, skidding in the snow, and when she looked up her eyes were crinkled in glee.
"Finally, a real fight."
Papyrus stood up a bit straighter. Sure, maybe he hadn't know that small fact about his brother, but that didn't mean he didn't know what he was capable of.