A/N: No, I did not forget this fanfiction. And even though it is less of a priority than Batmantale, which has over a quarter of a hundred reviews, there are still people who want to see more of this.
Papyrus' puzzles were actually really great. The human spent hours trying to move the frozen spaghetti before leaving the area. They'd managed to melt and untangle one whole strand with nothing but a stick, a plastic knife, a faded ribbon, their own body heat, and sheer determination.
The puzzles with the X's and O's were neat too, and the human loved skating around on the ice, trying to hit each X exactly once. After the first time they finished that one, they even asked the skeleton to set if up again so they could see if they could find another solution. Papyrus was, of course, more than happy to oblige.
The loud skeleton cheered them on at every puzzle, and congratulated them for solving every one. As with the ruins, other monsters smiled and waved at them as they went from puzzle to puzzle, and the human even joined Sans and Snowdrake in telling some ice puns, to Papyrus' chagrin. Over time, the child became accustomed to Papyrus' volume, and grew to enjoy the skeleton's company.
"HUMAN," said Papyrus, after they had solved the elaborate tile puzzle three times, each with a different layout and path, "I WOULD LIKE TO TEACH YOU HOW TO RECALIBRATE PUZZLES. MY BROTHER HAS A FEW PUZZLES OF HIS OWN, BUT HE HASN'T RECALIBRATED THEM FOR DAYS. I THOUGHT YOU'D MIGHT LIKE TO TRY THEM TOMORROW, AND WE COULD RECALIBRATE THEM TOGETHER, SO YOU WOULDN'T BE BORED WHILE YOU WAIT."
The human liked the idea, and agreed to it. Some puzzles were easier than others to recalibrate, and setting them back up with Papyrus proved to be nearly as enjoyable as solving them.
After what was nearly a whole day of puzzle-solving and puzzle-re-calibration, Papyrus offered to carry the human to his house, asking the human if they wouldn't mind having a sleepover. The human had no other place to stay, and though they were willing to stay at the inn, they decided a sleepover would be nice.
Papyrus gave them a full tour of the house. It was... nice, though they couldn't reach the kitchen sink on their own. They asked if they were going to sleep on the couch.
Papyrus looked at the couch, something resembling a frown on his face. "SANS WOULD PROBABLY WANT TO SLEEP THERE... BUT HIS ROOM IS A HORRIBLE MESS, AS IF HIS TORNADO HAD SPREAD ALL OVER IT. I CAN'T POSSIBLY ALLOW YOU TO SLEEP THERE!" The skeleton thought some more, while the human puzzled over the words "his tornado."
"I'VE GOT IT! YOU CAN SLEEP IN MY ROOM!" The skeleton grinned, raising his finger in the air triumphantly.
The human blinked, asking the skeleton if he was alright with that.
"HMM? DO YOU THINK THERE WOULD BE A PROBLEM...? OF COURSE NOT! YOU ARE MY FRIEND, AND I AM PERFECTLY WILLING TO SHARE MY BED WITH YOU. THAT IS, IF YOU'RE ALRIGHT WITH THAT."
And so, not long after, Frisk found themselves in the bathroom, with a set of freshly-cleaned pajamas they were pretty certain belonged to Sans, a borrowed toothbrush, and a spare nightcap. It was odd to see a washroom without a toilet, but come to think of it, they hadn't needed to go to the bathroom once since falling into the Underground. The exact moment they finished changing their clothes, there was a knock on the door.
The human thought for a moment, then asked who was there.
"icy."
They asked the question you probably expected them to ask.
"icy you've gotten pretty close to my bro. when you're done in there, can i talk to you for a moment? i'll meet you at the front door."
Not entirely sure what Sans wanted, but eager to befriend the other skeleton as well, they agreed.
They got out of the washroom, and met Sans in the front door.
"nice outfit, kid." The human wondered if Sans minded that they were wearing his clothes. The skeleton read their face easily.
"don't worry about the clothes. i never wear them anyways. and grillby's doesn't have a dress code either. i noticed you didn't eat any of pap's frozen spaghetti special. you must be hungry."
They were, but it sort of slipped from their mind. They were having so much fun with Papyrus, they hadn't noticed.
"let's go to grillby's. i know a shortcut."
Sans took the human by the hand, and lead them out the door... and directly into Grillby's. The human looked around in awe. Grillby's most definitely wasn't right outside the skeletons' home, but it seemed as if, for that moment, it was. The smell of grease and wet dog filled their nostrils, as well as the aroma of fast food. They recognized the dogs they'd seen outside earlier. Despite the guard dogs being bipedal, the human was reminded of a few dogs they met on the surface, constantly eager for human attention. They looked behind them. Just Snowdin town, with snowflakes drifting lazily onto the ground. Not the inside of a quaint skeleton home.
Sans kept his grin. "fast shortcut, huh?" They walked to the bar, as Grillby's other patrons greeted them both familiarly. Despite what one would logically assume, it seems that Sans bringing the kid to Grillby's was a fairly common sight. Which made no sense, as this was the first time Sans had brought them to the diner. At the bar, was some sort of flame monster. The words that came to mind were "Grillby, a fire elemental. An excellent conversationalist and top-notch cook."
Grillby looked at the two quietly. Sans turned to the human. "here, get comfy," he said, motion the human to a seat. They both sat down, and a farting sound came from the human's seat. They'd really have to look out for whoopie cushions when Sans was around...
"whoops," sans said, as if he wasn't the one who put the cushion there. "watch were you sit down. sometimes weirdos put whoopee cushions on the seats. anyway, let's order. whaddaya want?"
They looked at the menu. Some of the options were odd, some of them familiar, and some very obviously meant for the dog guards. They decided to go for fries and a burger. Classic fast food. What child could refuse the allure of crispy, salty fries and a juicy, most-certainly-not-wholesome burger?
"hey, that sounds pretty good." Sans turned to Grillby. "grillby, we'll have a double order of burger and fries.
The fire elemental simply nodded, and walked back to where the human assumed was the kitchen. Excellent conversationalist indeed. Hopefully, they weren't wrong about the cooking.
A moment passed, and Sans scratched the back of his head, the turned to the human.
"so... what do you think of my brother?"
The human took a minute to properly convey exactly how cool they thought Papyrus was. Though the tall skeleton was odd a first, being so excited to see a human, they quickly warmed up to him. They shared a love of puzzles, and they found Papyrus' skill in recalibrating puzzles quite clever. They were definitely excited for the sleepover and another day of puzzle solving. They smirked and chided Sans for trying to scare them by telling them that Papyrus was a "human-hunting fanatic." Unless "hunting" meant "spending a day solving puzzles as if they were best friends" Papyrus didn't seem to try to be hunting any humans at all.
Sans seemed pleased to hear it.
Sometime during the human's enthusiastic gushing about their new best friend, Grillby returned with the burgers and fries.
"here comes the grub." Sans apparently was playing Captain Obvious today. "want some ketchup?"
They shook their head.
Sans shrugged. "more for me." He then took the bottle of ketchup...
...and drank the entire thing, while the human watched, wide eyed.
Sans was, of course, grinning.
Sans started eating, and after the human recovered from the shock of a skeleton drinking an entire bottle of ketchup, they joined him.
They wondered where the food went. And the ketchup. Did it just... disappear? Nothing was falling out of Sans' clothes. Did he actually need to eat? If he had his clothes off, would they be able to see the food pass through his skull, then into his body and... then what? Just... dissolve?
Before the human could come up with a satisfactory answer, Sans started talking to them in between bites. It was hard not to stare at the skeleton's mouth, because, as far as the human could tell, he was just shoving bites of food into his face, not even bothering to open his mouth. And judging from the burger, they were, indeed bites.
"so pap warmed up to ya pretty quickly. you really like his puzzles, don't you?"
They nodded.
"y'know, he's been working really hard to become a member of the royal guard. in fact, just the other day, he was telling me about how he was going to capture a human. that after he caught a human and brought them to the captain of the royal guard, he'd be popular. all his dreams, everything he was working for, training for, would be fulfilled. then suddenly, he stopped talking about capturing humans, and started working on his puzzles more. at first, i thought it was part of his plan to capture a human. that's one of the things puzzles are used for. but as i watched? it seemed like he was getting them ready for someone.
"of course, i didn't realize this until today. after all, who could he be expecting? but then you came, and he acted like he's known you for ages."
A moment of silence passed between them. The human just assumed that Papyrus was naturally welcoming and eager to meet new people.
"so, kid... i wanted to ask..." The room suddenly became dark, and the human could barely see more than the immediately surrounding area. The sounds and smells also faded, except for the smell of food in front of them. "do you know anything about time travel? timelines? anything?"
They shook their head. Another silence fell, then the light and sound returned.
"pap's probably waiting for ya. let's finish up and get back. don't wanna miss the bedtime story. "
So they went back, Sans taking the kid though a shortcut again.
As Sans read "Peekaboo with Fluffy Bunny" to his brother and his brother's new friend, he wondered about what happened.
Thinking about what Sans and the human may have missed filled him with curiosity.
A/N: And here, we begin to get into the real plot of the story. As well as a certain point I'm trying to make. I'm sure many of you disagree.
I also need to remember to edit that one chapter of Batmantale sometime.