It's been a few months since the monsters left the Underground. There was still a lot of segregation to get past, but the monsters had a lot of hope it would get better. For now, though, it was all worth it just to feel the sun and fresh air everyday.

A lot of things have changed, and yet, a lot hasn't. The humans who planned one of the monster neighborhoods were not tolerant of them and intentionally planted their homes near the garbage dump. It didn't go quite as they had planned as many monsters treated the news of spying the dump closeby as finding out your new home had an apartment! And so, it wasn't completely out of the ordinary to see the monsters wandering the area, ignoring the smell in search for old and used items that could be recycled. It was how many monsters made their income in the neighborhood. Some scavenged, others cleaned, and many helped rebuild the items, and in some cases, upgrade it. Then they would sell the items to whoever wanted them. It helped bring some of the human and monsters closer together who were impressed by their optimism and handiwork that some monsters got better-paying jobs and benefits.

Papyrus could've easily moved on from moving from the garbage dump, but he loved the work! He was always finding such amazing things and he had a surprising amount of strength that he loved to volunteer to other monsters so they could cart them back home. Besides, he didn't want to go stay somewhere else without Sans following. And with how little Sans seemed to contribute (and yet, still managed to bring in his half of the rent and bills. Sometimes more than that), it didn't seem likely anyone would want to hire the brothers together.

"Nyeheheheh! Time for another day of work!" Papyrus said happily as he bounded down the stairs. He wore a worn short and overalls, along with some boots whenever he went to the garbage dump, so he wouldn't get his battle-body dirty. As soon as the monsters returned home for the day, though, he went right back to his armor.

Papyrus looks over to the couch as Sans, being the couch potato that he was, watched the tv, giving Papyrus a small morning wave as a bowl of soggy cereal rested on his stomach. And yet he always complained that humans had so many channels and very little to watch. Papyrus sighed as he pinched the bone between his eyes before walking past Sans and grabbing his coat that hung from the coathanger. He threw it on top of Sans, luckily missing the cereal bowl and Sans was too lazy to jump from surprise. "Come on, Sans, you're helping too!"

"Aww, c'mon, Papyrus, you don't need my help. When it comes to work, I don't have the muscle to pull it off," Sans grinned as Papyrus murmured an annoyed "Nyeh..."

Walking over to Sans, he took the cereal bowl, set it on the table closeby. Continuing the movement, he sat Sans up and tugged his coat on, like he was dressing a child. Sans was obedient to the movements and didn't struggle except for acting annoyingly limp, his grin still on his face. "Come on, Sans, we need the money so we can be able to help Frisk save up for the one-year anniversary party in a few months! And we're barely bringing in enough to make ends meet. At least come this time and we'll see what you can do so you can be lazy -and- somehow be productive."

Sans didn't feel that likely but let out a chuckle as he was picked up by his coat and set to stand on his own feet. "Okay, okay, Paps."

"When was the last time you were even outside?"

Sans took a moment to think as he slipped on his slippers. "...What month is it?"

It didn't take long for the skeleton brothers to make their way over to the garbage dump. Just down the road of their neighborhood and down the alley before that rocky alley would give way to a grassy hill. As they crossed over it, they'd be met with a dirt road where the garbage trucks would drive over and into the dump. They went through the open gate as Papyrus' peppy step forced Sans to keep up in a half-jog as his wrist was held by Papyrus.

As much as Sans acted unmotivated at being forced to work, he really didn't mind it. Most times, he just enjoyed acting lazy to annoy Papyrus. He loved the encouragement he felt at hearing Papyrus telling him not to act lazy. He knew he wasn't being lazy, anyway. He had several jobs that he managed to keep up with well enough, and yet, he still found the time to be the bodyguard of King Asgore and still provide the time to be with Papyrus. Maybe a little too much time.

Sans always acted dumb at Toriel's hints that she wanted something more than a friendship between them, and had he acted on a whim, he'd have been the first to offer a date with the queen. But for now, Sans was content with spending all of his time and resources on his younger brother. Toriel seemed to understand and didn't push it, content with his friendship. She secretly knew it was specifically because of Papyrus but she was happy with that.

So was Sans. He never felt obligated to stay living with Papyrus or to work so hard he could hardly stay awake. It was something he enjoyed doing, strangely enough, even if Papyrus would never know how much he really does to keep them afloat.

"Garbage Human, hello!" Papyrus waved to the manager of the garbage dump, a human. The human, his real name Rick, looked up from his post that other humans checked into to bring items too big for their dumpsters. He chuckled, giving a wave to Papyrus. He didn't seem to mind the nickname. Working with so many trucks passing by for so many years had such an effect on his hearing that he found it hard to hear among other things being yelled that his name was being called. 'Garbage Human', however, made it so easy to discern and with Papyrus' voice, it made things a little easier. He knew Papyrus wasn't being offensive, anyway.

Sans was still following along with Papyrus as they came up to Rick's post. "I'm ready to work! Sans is going to be helping out today as well."

"I noticed. Look who decided to take a step into the sun! Your bones looked more bleached than Papyrus with how much he's told me you're inside," Rick said in jest as he let out a chuckle, Sans' laugh following with the roast, "What can I say? White suits me."

Rick let out a stifled laugh as Papyrus shakes his head with a slightest smirk his jaw would give him and looks back to Rick. "Where's everyone gathering today?"

They worked in specific areas of the dump every few days, mostly to stay out of the way of the human garbage workers. And so, the monsters soon grew used to this system and had formed work areas among the different sections. This area would be use to clean some of the items and begin repairing them. Many times a monster could just bring them home to their own workshop, but they enjoyed the community helping along.

The monsters were usually grouped off into several teams of workers, though, no monster was required to stick to only one group. They could branch off whenever one team was particularly short on monsters. The teams were mainly composed of the Scavengers, Cleaners, and Crafters.

They reached the work area in the middle of the scrap piles monsters were going back and forth from every so often with something they thought might be useful to the crafters. Papyrus had to come to a stop on his toes as the monster child, lovingly nicknamed Stickyface ran by them, calling back to them with a muffled apology as he carried a bucket of fresh water to the cleaners. Papyrus let out a thoughtful hum as he looked towards where Stickyface ran off before smiling to Sans. "There we go, you can go help the cleaners!"

"Aww, c'mon, Paps," Sans almost said with actual remorse at the suggestion. He knew Papyrus wasn't on the cleaning team and he'd have rather join him with the scavengers since Papyrus was someone Sans actually knew. Plus, he could keep Papyrus out of trouble, which he did often with his naivety.

"Now, now, you want to be a lazy-bones, you're going to be treated as one!" Papyrus said in his superiority voice. He liked acting like the older brother of the two and it made it easier with the heights for people to confuse their ages. "All you're going to do is sit and just scrub or hose something. It's not that hard. But, the great Papyrus will be hard at work, traveling the treacherous lands that is this garbage dump in hopes of finding something worthwhi- Oof!"

As Papyrus was walking towards the cleaners with Sans, neither of them were paying attention as they both tripped over what seemed like nothing but as they looked back, they saw Napstablook lying on the ground, staring up to the sky. "Oh, no! Napstablook, are you okay?!"

Napstablook didn't answer, still staring up at the sky. Papyrus began to panic. "Oh, no, I think we caused serious harm to him! We should take him to the hospital! Is there any ghost hospitals?!"

As Papyrus kept rambling on in panic, Sans walked up to Napstablook and tapped where his shoulder would be gently. Napstablook barely seemed alerted to their presence and Sans seemed to notice the faint music being played over the headphones Napstablook was wearing somehow quieting down. How did he do that?

"Y'okay, Napstablook?" Sans asked as Napstablook acknowledged, Papyrus pausing as he looks back to Napstablook, almost ready to call 911 on his cellphone. Napstablook tilted his head with a blank expression. "I guess I'm okay."

"We're so sorry, Napstablook! We thought we hurt you. We didn't see you coming!" Papyrus said as he joins Sans but Napstablook only shook his head with a sad smile. "I'm used to it...It didn't hurt, anyway."

Sans looked to Napstablook with a lopsided frown, at least as far as his boney "lips" could manage. He wasn't close to Napstablook but when they interacted, he felt bad with how gloomy he always was. Papyrus never seemed to notice, though, as he continued. "Well, that's good, at least! I'm surprised to see you here, Napstablook. I thought you got a job working at the music store downtown!"

Napstablook's eyes cast downwards as he floated in front of the two. "I do, but sometimes, I like lying in the dump and feeling like garbage..."

Papyrus swung a fist in front of him in a joyful gesture. "Well, that's just fantastic!"

Napstablook, unintentionally thinking that it was an insult let out a soft "Ohh..." before he continues. "I'll just get out of everyone's way..."

Papyrus waved a goodbye to Napstablook as he phased away before he looks to Sans who was returning Papyrus' glance with a disapproving frown. "...What?"

Sans didn't answer, still giving him that frown a mother would be jealous of. "...What? What I say?!"

Papyrus was frustrated at what he could've done wrong. He could NOT stand that look when Sans gave it to him, moreso when he doesn't explain WHY.

"Papyrus, don't say that. Feeling like garbage isn't exactly a good thing," Sans said with some experience in his voice. He knew a bit about that. Papyrus, however, had no idea. "Huh? Why would feel like garbage be a bad thing?"

Sans looks to Papyrus, sometimes amazed at how much can go over his head. It wasn't always a bad thing. Papyrus was usually unaware of when someone was insulting him. But it led to Sans having to explain a lot of things to him. Before Sans could explain this, Papyrus continued, "There's nothing wrong with feeling like garbage. I mean, look at all this!"

Papyrus swung his arm out dramatically, always an overly-animated speaker as he was, gesturing to the stinking piles of garbage in the near distance. "Every little piece of garbage is capable of being made into something great! Maybe even better than what it was before. All it takes is the right person to see the potential in it, clean it up and make it beautiful enough for everyone to cherish."

Sans couldn't help but to start laughing as Papyrus looks back down to him in confusion, not knowing what was so funny. He start scanning his words to make sure he didn't accidentally say a pun for Sans to find but he was still confused. Sans' wide grin was back as he let out one more laugh at how his brother could find the good in everything. "Yeah, well...Seriously, though, Papy, if that's true, Napstablook still needs to find that right person."

A light bulb practically sprung up above Papyrus' head at what Sans said and stands proudly, or at least, as proud as he could without his battle-body. "You're right, Sans! And who better to be the right person than the Great Papyrus! I shall become his friend and he shall see the good part of being garbage!"

Sans lets out a snicker as Papyrus went off towards the scavenging area with gusto, completely forgetting Sans was supposed to be working. "Y'do that, bro. I'm sure he'll appreciate it."