Sans was in trouble.

He didn't know that for sure, but he suspected it. Making his way back to his house—or as Papyrus liked to call it, the Snowdin Royal Guard Outpost—with his hands in his pockets, back bent in a tired slouch and his one red eye gleaming as it roamed the streets, looking for possible threats or anyone else who might be breaching curfew.

The amount of random muggings and assaults that used to go on in the cold town had gone down by a drastic amount since his brother had taken over. Hostility replaced by fear, crimes moved indoors so as to avoid being caught and dusted by patrols. Still, one couldn't be too careful—could never be too careful.

It was the constant paranoia that got Sans in trouble, however. Hours at his outpost, watching for humans or threats or even his brother barreling down at him for a checkup—all of it added to his stress. His anxiety. The constant fear ran him down, broke his defenses, and invariably caused him to lapse into a troubled sleep akin to passing out. These states typically lasted a few hours, and always caused him to miss things or get beatings.

Usually he was able to slip away from his post every now and then to talk to the woman behind the door to the ruins; telling cruel or bawdy jokes to ease his stress, listen to her laugh or chuckle himself at the jokes she made. A recent practice that saved him from the blackouts.

But the woman wasn't there today. And Sans had lost hours to his sleep.

As long as he didn't let anything slip about it, it should be okay. Even though his back was shaking, and his smile wavering like crazy. Maybe Papyrus would be busy and wouldn't care much about how the day had gone.

As luck would have it, the outpost captain was scribbling something in his log book when Sans made his way inside, and he let out a sigh of relief when he didn't immediately get some attention by closing the door. Eager to get some real sleep he quietly started up the stairs to his room.

He got as far as pulling on the doorknob and getting the entrance open just a sliver when a gloved hand came out of nowhere and slammed the door shut again.

"—boss." Sans kept his voice as calm as he could make it, grin stretching wider as he looked up to see his brother's face. "it looked like you were doing a skele-ton of paperwork so I didn't want to bother you."

"VERY AMUSING SANS." Papyrus was scowling, and of course his voice was at top volume as usual, but he didn't seem particularly angry. The look was more his resting expression, and Sans thought that maybe he wasn't being attacked just yet. "THAT IS NOT AN EXCUSE TO KEEP FROM MAKING A SUMMARY REPORT OF YOUR STATION."

"noted."

"IS THAT ANOTHER PUN?" It wasn't, but Sans didn't respond, Papyrus narrowing his eyes and going to grab his smaller brother by the hood of his jacket. "I ALSO NOTICED THAT YOU WERE OUT FIVE MINUTES PAST CURFEW."

"what can i say boss, my feet tend to drag."

Papyrus dragged Sans back down the stairs, not noticing how badly he was starting to shake. Dropping him unceremoniously on the couch before going to sit across from him, pulling out a second notebook that he often used to scribble down Sans' reports. "YOU MAY BEGIN NOW, SANS."

Looking at the notebook and the pen in Papyrus' hands, Sans began to shiver harder—most of it disguised by his jacket at least, but his eye wobbling a little bit, visibly. It took a few seconds for him to speak up, desperately trying to come up with something to tell. Something believable.

"well uhhh…a whole lot of nothing for the first part. mostly just…snow, you know?" He grinned wider and laughed a little. Papyrus didn't laugh back. "uh...yeah so lots of snow and uh…i saw a bird?" Sweat trickled down the back of his skull. "that uh…that was nice? one of those…blue birds with the big talons—"

"SO YOU ARE SAYING YOU DID NOT SEE ANYTHING UNUSUAL, SANS?"

The slightest puff of relief passed through his teeth, and Sans nodded. "yeah. yeah uh…snow-thing out of the ordinary. heheh."

"AND YOU ABSOLUTELY DID NOT FALL ASLEEP AT YOUR POST AGAIN?"

That sent a shot of ice through Sans' spine, and he didn't move. Eye fixed on the expression on Papyrus' face, not changing. Not angry or smiling or anything, just his usual slight scowl. Did he know? Sans' smile drooped—just a little. Then he forced it back up, attempting to say something. "uh…" His brother continued to stare at him. "no."

"NO YOU DID OR NO YOU DID NOT?"

Another long pause. Papyrus had stopped writing in the notebook. "i…well…" He knew. He had to. Sans began to shake in earnest, his grin so wide that it threatened to break his face before the taller skeleton could get a chance. "i…might have…passed out for a…a…a few minutes?"

The silence deafened him after that. Feeling something coiling in his ribcage, everything going cold. Papyrus put down the notebook, still appearing relatively calm.

"SANS I WAS CONCERNED ABOUT YOU EARLIER TODAY."

Shit. Shit shit shit.

"I WAS WORRIED FOR YOUR HEALTH, OUT THERE NEAR THE RUINS ALL ON YOUR OWN, WHAT WITH HOW PATHETIC YOU ARE."

"hoooow considerate of you, boss."

"YES, I THOUGHT SO." Papyrus stood, and without thinking Sans pushed himself further back in the couch cushions. "SO IMAGINE MY COMPLETE AND UTTER DISGUST AT SO THOUGHTFULLY DROPPING BY TO SEE YOU HARD AT WORK LIKE YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD BE, AND INSTEAD THERE YOU WERE. SLEEPING."

Sans was hoisted up by his shirt front. Sweat continuing to drip down his skull, still grinning as wide as he possibly can. No longer capable of forming words now.

"JUST LIKE THE LAZY PIECE OF SHIT YOU ARE."

There's nothing that he can say in his defense as he's shaken at each word, like a rag doll.

"AND THEN YOU HAVE THE ABSOLUTE GALL TO LIE TO ME."

Instead of being generally shaken, this time he's slammed against the wall behind the couch. No magical attacks this time. That particular kind of beating was reserved for when the two of them were outside, and there wasn't anything of actual value to break.

Sans' ribs didn't count.

One of them felt as though it was developing a crack as he was repeatedly bashed up against the wall.

"b-bo-ss—"

"HAVE THE NERVE TO LIE TO ME MORE THAN ONCE. RIGHT TO MY FACE."

After that he was thrown headfirst towards the stairs. Nothing breaking there but his entire body rattling as he fell down to the bottom step. HP not dropping one iota. With Sans' particular fragility, Papyrus had long ago learned how to hurt him without doing significant damage. Save for the first incident, which had cost him a tooth.

Upside down on the steps, he watched his brother stride towards him, and struggled to get up. Maybe even to defend himself, but his powers were frozen. As they usually were.

"boss have some mercy, i—"

"MERCY? THERE IS NO MERCY FROM THE TERRIBLE PAPYRUS." Demonstrating precisely what he meant, he brought his fist down on Sans' head. "NOT FOR USELESS WASTES OF SPACE SUCH AS YOURSELF. OR ELSE YOU WILL NEVER LEARN."

The smaller skeleton was picked up once more. The smile still there on his face, wavering and biting so hard his teeth were threatening to break, and through them he was beginning to wheeze as the pain set in.

"I WANT YOU TO REMEMBER THIS, SANS."

The shrill, grating sound of his brother's shouting was enough to hurt him as it was, never mind being tossed back into the living room. A small, dull ringing was taking over his hearing, though not enough to drown it out. There was another crack in his wrist bone now, having landed on it. Upon realizing he wasn't dead yet, he started trying to crawl away, only to feel Papyrus' boot land firmly on his back. Pressing in hard enough to hurt though not break anything.

Nothing was said for a few seconds, and Sans starts to weakly paw at the carpet in a pitiful attempt to get away from the awful, painful pressure on his worn spine. It didn't help, obviously.

"g…gotta say that this le-sson isn't all it—it's cracked up to be…"

"THAT WAS PITIFUL, SANS." The boot pressed harder for a moment and Sans cried out in pain. "DO NOT JOKE AROUND WITH ME WHILE I AM PUNISHING YOU."

Another weak chuckle. Pun-ishment.

"I WANT TO KNOW THAT YOU HAVE LEARNED SOMETHING FROM THIS. SO THAT I WILL NOT BE FORCED TO DO THIS AGAIN."

"no sweat boss. lesson totally learned."

Papyrus again leaned on his back and this time Sans made an effort to smother the scream.

"SAY THAT YOU WILL NOT FALL ASLEEP AT YOUR POST AGAIN. YOU WILL NOT LIE TO ME. YOU WILL NOT LET A HUMAN GET PAST YOU."

"no hu-human showed up to—"

"SAY IT."

"i won't fall asl—"

"WILL NOT. NO CONTRACTIONS."

Sans gritted his teeth, feeling a sudden surge of hatred bubble up past the pain and fear. "fuck you."

He felt the boot heel reel back towards his leg and he howled, hearing something splinter.

"YOU ARE TESTING MY PATIENCE TO AN EXTRAORDINARY DEGREE." There was more silence, presumably as Papyrus surveyed the damage. Sans' vision had started to black out, red eye gone and seeing fuzzy spots swirling in his eyeline. "FINE. YOU ARE UNFIT FOR DUTY IN THIS STATE ANYWAY. ARE YOU NOT PLEASED? NOW YOU HAVE AN EXCUSE TO SIT ON YOUR ASS ALL DAY."

That must mean that his leg was broken. Terrific.

When a minute went by and no fresh injuries were doled out Sans slowly, painfully pushed himself up enough to glance back. Papyrus was gone.

After a few seconds thought the battered skeleton decided to spend the night lying there on the floor, face pushed into the carpet.