Today was the day! The day Papyrus had been planning for ever since he got the kindly human's phone number! It had taken nearly two days to finalize the date and time of their meeting, but at long last, the Great Papyrus' new human friend would taste of his masterfully prepared spaghetti!
To say that the tall skeleton was excited would have been a sore understatement: he had cleaned the entire house (except Sans' room—that disaster area was going to be locked away for the next several hours), done some preliminary cooking preparation and had made sure that the house was free of the annoying dog that sometimes came by to steal his noodles and leave its nasty residue everywhere. He was currently trying to keep from texting the human to insure that she really was coming, but his willpower quickly failed him.
From The Great Papyrus: HUMAN, I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW EXCITED I AM FOR YOU TO ARRIVE! :D
The tall monster almost giggled when he saw the three dots appear under his newly sent text, indicating that she was typing a reply right away. He had learned over the past two days that this particular human could take hours to respond to even the simplest of messages. He was lucky to have caught her at a good time.
From Kindly Human: I'm not coming over for another hour. Did you already get everything ready?
From The Great Papyrus: I HAVE BEEN READY SINCE VERY EARLY THIS MORNING. BUT IT IS NO WORRY! WE ARE STILL GOING ACCORDING TO PLAN.
There was no sign that she was going to respond anytime soon, so Papyrus put his phone away and absentmindedly went back into the living room and began fixing the already perfect throw pillows he'd set up on the couch.
"bro, you need to get out for a while," he heard Sans say and looked up to see his brother coming down the stairs. "if you clean anymore, the house will squeak."
"I DO NOT KNOW WHY THE HOUSE WOULD MAKE SUCH A NOISE, BUT THAT IS BESIDE THE POINT! EVERYTHING MUST BE PERFECT BEFORE THE HUMAN ARRIVES FOR OUR FRIENDSHIP SPAGHETTI! YOU COULD LEARN A THING OR TWO ABOUT PROPER PRESENTATION OF ONE'S LIVING SPACE," the younger skeleton huffed.
Sans chuckled softly before he plopped down on the couch, shifting the pillows much to Papyrus ' annoyance.
"yeah, but you're so high strung I could use you as a tightrope," he drawled. "in all seriousness though, you should go out for a run. or just something to burn off that energy else you'll scare the human off when she comes."
"DO YOU THINK THAT'S AN ACTUAL POSSIBILITY ?"
All of a sudden the anxiety hit and Papyrus began to wonder if maybe he had come on too strong. Maybe he had been too pushy in inviting the kindly human over. Maybe she really didn't want to be his friend and was only coming over to be polite.
His elder brother seemed sense the shift in mood and stopped slouching into the cushions so he could look at his younger sibling properly while he spoke.
"bro, i'm only teasing—you know that right? there's no human who in their right mind would be scared of you. i'm just saying you don't want to overwhelm her with all of your coolness all at once."
"DO YOU REALLY MEAN THAT SANS?" Papyrus asked sincerely, still worried.
"of course paps. so why don't you go for a quick run around and i'll hold down the fort here until you get back, kay?"
"VERY WELL...BUT IF I COME BACK AND YOU ARE ASLEEP, HEAVEN HELP YOU SANS!"
Papyrus had to admit that the run had helped, but now that the human would be arriving at any second he had become exceptionally fidgety. Sans kept watching him from the sofa with this terribly smug grin and it was absolutely infuriating given his current mood. So when the doorbell rang, the tall skeleton was relieved beyond relief to finally have something to do and all but sprinted to the door. Flinging it open, he was greeted by the sight of his new human friend on the doorstep and he couldn't help the natural tackle hug that followed.
"HUMAN! YOU'RE FINALLY HERE!"
"H-hi Papyrus," she managed to choke out, the breath knocked out of her just a bit by the overexcited monster.
"COME INSIDE!" Papyrus invited before letting go and racing in. The human followed slowly and found her host standing in the living room.
"WELCOME TO MY HOUSE!" he proclaimed. "ALLOW ME TO SHOW YOU AROUND!"
He then spent the next ten minutes pointing out absolutely everything in sight, including the TV ("THIS IS WHERE I WATCH THE AMAZING METTATON EVERY NIGHT. DO YOU LIKE METTATON, HUMAN?") the stairs leading up to the bedrooms ("OUR SECOND FLOOR IS WHERE OUR BEDROOMS ARE LOCATED. MINE IS VERY VERY CLEAN AND VERY COOL. PERHAPS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT AFTER WE HAVE OUR SPAGHETTI?") and the kitchen—especially the kitchen. ("THAT IS THE KITCHEN WHERE I CREATE MY CULINARY MASTERPIECES. IT IS VERY IMPRESSIVE, IS IT NOT? NOTHING BUT THE BEST—I AM A MASTER CHEF AFTER ALL!")
The human took it al in quietly, just letting Papyrus talk and get some of his energy out of his system. Sans noted that she looked a little uncertain, but he supposed there weren't many people in the world who could compete with his brother's pure enthusiasm about absolutely everything.
"hey paps," he spoke up when Papyrus paused for a breath, "how about you get started on the spaghetti prep and make some lunch already? the human's probably hungry."
The tall skeleton gasped dramatically.
"OH MY! I WAS SO EXCITED TO SHOW MY NEW HUMAN-FRIEND OUR HOME THAT I ALMOST FORGOT WHY THEY CAME OVER! FORGIVE ME HUMAN! I MUST START COOKING IMMEDIATELY TO MAKE UP FOR LOST TIME AND ENSURE THAT YOU ARE NOT HUNGRY FOR A MOMENT LONGER THAN NECESSARY!"
And with that, Papyrus dashed off, leaving his guest alone with his older brother.
"sorry if that was a bit much all at once," Sans laughed. "my bro doesn't really have a low-energy setting."
"It's okay," she replied, smiling a little. "I was just a little startled at...well how much he was going to get excited about this."
"yeah; he's normally a tad bit more chill, but potential new friends always crank him up past eleven. i'm sans, by the way. sans the skeleton."
He extended his hand for a handshake though he did not move from his spot on the couch. The young woman came over and reached out to take it, introducing herself along the way.
"I'm Tabatha. Nice to meet you—"
She was cut off by a loud farting noise that sounded when their hands clasped. She blinked her brown eyes in shock before she began to piece together what had just happened.
"Do you have...a whoopee cushion in your hand?"
"heh, yep," Sans sniggered. "it's never not funny."
Tabatha seemed unsure how to react, but she did smile even though she made no more attempt at conversation. The elder skeleton brother seemed content with the silence as well as he dropped his hand and snuggled back into the couch cushions until he was almost lying down on them horizontally.
"SANS! IS IT GOING ALRIGHT OUT THERE? YOU'RE NOT DOING THE THING WHERE YOU FRIGHTEN AWAY NEW HUMANS BY STARING AT THEM TOO HARD ARE YOU?"
"nah, though we should be dangling from the ceiling by now."
"WHAT?"
"you know, cuz we're just..." Sans had mischievous expression on his face as he spread his hands in a half shrug, "...hanging around."
"SANS! DEAR ASGORE THAT WAS TERRIBLE!"
"i can hear you smiling from here."
"THAT IS NOT POSSIBLE AND YOU KNOW IT!"
Sans sniggered and Tabatha looked from the kitchen to where he was seated, her gaze evaluating though her expression was quite neutral.
"I assume you always tease your brother like this," she commented lightly, choosing to move around the table and sit on the skeleton's other side. "Considering his reactions and all."
"yeah, he's such a scream." The human's face froze at that one, clearly repressing what would probably be some form of frown at the pun. "geez kid, are you a puppet or something? Cuz you're acting pretty wooden."
"BROTHER, DO NOT TORMENT THE KINDLY HUMAN WITH YOUR TERRIBLE SENSE OF HUMOR!" Papyrus chastised, coming out of the kitchen carrying two plates of spaghetti. Appropriately, he was also wearing an apron with the handwritten words of "MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS" scrawled across it.
"It's not so bad," Tabatha interjected slowly. "I mean, timing could be better and some of them are a bit of a stretch, but it can't really be that bad..."
"NO, IT IS NOT 'THAT BAD. IT IS OVER A HUNDRED TIMES WORSE THAN THAT. BECAUSE, MY BROTHER...HE NEVER STOPS. NEVER EVER, EVEN IF YOU SAY 'PLEASE'!"
The young woman seemed a little startled at how seriously the tall skeleton said that sentence, but before she could comment on it—or even give a proper reaction—his cheerful demeanor was back in place and he set the spaghetti down.
"NOW COME HUMAN! FRIENDSHIP SPAGHETTI AWAITS!"
Tabatha rose from the couch and came to the table, but Sans just slouched even more, clearly not intending to join them. The brunette sat down and picked up her fork before glancing up and catching sight of her host's expectant expression.
"It smells really nice," she complimented. Papyrus' smile widened and he leaned forward, awaiting her to take the first bite. When she did, he came even closer, reading her expression excitedly.
"Oh wow," she said, her tone slightly surprised. "This is really good Papyrus. You're really talented."
"NYEH HEH HEH!" the monster laughed delightedly. "OF COURSE I AM! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS SKILLED IN MANY AREAS, COOKING BEING THE GREATEST OF THEM ALL!"
"Is that your favorite thing to do?" Tabatha asked curiously before going in for another large bite.
"IT IS BUT ONE OF MY MANY INTERESTS! I ALSO DELIGHT IN CREATING AND SOLVING PUZZLES IN MY SPARE TIME AND I HEARTILY ENJOY EXERCISE!"
"What kind of puzzles, if you don't mind my asking?"
"WELL, IN THE UNDERGROUND I WOULD MAKE MOST OF THEM, BUT UP HERE THERE ARE SOME ALREADY MADE THAT YOU CAN PURCHASE! IT WAS VERY EXCITING TO LEARN THAT SOME HUMANS LOVE SOLVING PUZZLES AS MUCH AS I..."
It was early afternoon when Tabatha finally left and Papyrus had been in such an exceptionally good mood that the meal with the human had gone well that he didn't even complain about his brother's good-natured ribbing. Sans took note of that as he finally got up off the sofa (which now had his shape imprinted upon it) and meandered up to his room to do some good hard thinking.
The human had been very polite, he reflected as he laid on his bed with his feet propped against the wall. Almost too polite though. And she had been deflecting nearly every attempt Papyrus had made to get her to talk about herself. She gave vague answers and kept all the attention on him. While there was no doubt that his little brother had enjoyed being the focus of their conversation, Sans wasn't sure how he felt about the absolute lack of information she had been giving. In his experience, most humans liked to talk about themselves just as much as they loved learning about others—if not more.
He was fairly certain that Tabatha wasn't shy—she had interacted easily enough with the both of them and she had no trouble initiating conversation from what he had seen—and that just made him more suspicious. What could this human have to hide?
Yay! Something new to put up! I'm not sure how well I wrote that out, so please let me know!
ElectricSnowman: Thanks! Hope this lived up to your expectations!
UltimateOne: Here you go! Sorry it wasn't as soon as I liked.
Icy Rundas: That's good to hear! I have some ideas in mind I hope you'll like. ;)
