The possitive reactions to this fic are overwhelming and fill me with determination...

I will never stop writing suffering!Papyrus xp


"Why do you still come here?"

"Because I'm your friend, of course."

He brushes his fingers against the soft pellets, carefully, as if it could still feel pain. As if it could still feel anything.

Red against gold.

Complimentary colors, Papyrus thinks.

"I will hurt you again." Flowey says, and it's not so much a fear as it is a fact.

"I know." Papyrus answers, smile not faltering.

"I will kill you again." But the treat sounds empty, hollow, like the person who uttered it.

"I know." The skeleton shuffles closer, knees digging into the dirt beneath them.

Flowey grins madly at the backwards instinct. A prey baring it's throat to the predator.

He brings up vines to wrap around the proffered neck. Around the shoulders, arms, chest-

Pulls them tight, grinds the bones together.

Papyrus doesn't make a sound, even when the hold gets uncomfortable, borderline painful.

Memories fill his head. Snapping bones and a cracking skull, the taste of his own marrow filling his mouth. Pain so sharp it blinds him.

Thanks to Flowey, Papyrus knows what the inside of his femur looks like.

But today, it stays like that. Tight, aching, but not breaking any bones. Not yet.

So he turns his hands, palms facing up, and folds them over the veins, fingertips touching lightly.

Their demented version of holding hands.

"My training is going really well." Papyrus quips.

Flowey doesn't say anything, but bends his stem. He's listening.

"Undyne says I'm getting better every day. I bet it won't be long before I'm let into the guard now."

"Hmm, I guess you're very strong." The flower hums, caressing a boney cheek.

He wonders about the reaction he would get if he plunged a vine into one of those eyeholes. How Papyrus would cry out in surprise and writhe in pain. But he refrains.

Maybe later.

"Too bad you won't ever reach your full potential if you keep being so stubborn about killing." He says instead.

Papyrus gives him a look that is almost scolding in nature. Flowey exults in it.

Everybody he encountered since becoming like this has only ever looked at him with equal measures of fear and pity.

Even his own parents. Especially his parents.

Everyone, except Papyrus.

"I think you're wrong." The skeleton says, and there is so much conviction in his expression that Flowey feels like he has to turn away.

"Of course you do." He answers, tone sharp. "You're an idiot."

Papyrus pouts at him, brow creased, and he looks a bit deflated.

"But you're pretty amazing too." The flower adds, almost as an after thought, and the huge grin instantly returns.

Flowey doesn't deserve that smile, but he revels in it none the less.

"Do you really think that?" Papyrus asks, straightening a bit.

"Of course I do." and it's not even a lie.

Papyrus truly is amazing.

Countless times, Flowey has broken him. Both in body and in mind.

Sometimes, he does it sharp and sudden, like ripping a bandage off an open wound. Shock-value.

Sometimes, he prefers to draw it out, soaking up the broken sobs and pleas telling him he doesn't need to be this way.

And every time, when it's all over and Flowey gets bored again, returns to his starting point to think of some new torture to inflict on his playthings, Papyrus comes back.

Seeks him out, to offer up his friendship. His compassion. His soul.

They do it again. Again. And again.

No two times are the same. Papyrus reacts differently each time.

He's so fantastically unpredictable. There is a reason he is Flowey's favorite.

"You're very amazing too, Flowey." The skeleton says, and his hands grip a bit tighter, as if resisting the urge to try and hug him.

Flowey looks for any kind of hesitation in the other's face. Even just a trace of reluctance or doubt.

He finds none.

"Golly." He turns his head away again, as if he's bashful about the compliment. In truth, he just doesn't want Papyrus to see he's lying. "You're just saying that because I'm your best friend."

"Yes! Uh- I mean no. I mean-" Papyrus trips over the words, brimming with excitement. "Yes, you're my best friend. But I'm not just saying you're amazing because of that."

If he still had a soul, it would probably be filled with warmth right now.

As it is, Flowey feels only sly amusement.

How lonely Papyrus must be, denoting him as his best friend, of all people.

"What about your brother?" The flower turns back, trying to convey just the right amount of curiosity in his gaze.

Papyrus falters. "S-Sans?" Again, the skeleton hunches in on himself a bit.

"Well, of course." The veins pull down slightly, making it easier for Flowey to see the other's face. "As brothers, aren't you supposed to be the closest."

Papyrus opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. There is a nearly invisible edge of uncertainty around his smile, that he normally wouldn't show to anyone.

The flower continues before he can respond. "Oh, right. He's not home much, always hanging out at that disgusting bar. Doesn't it get tiresome? Eating all by yourself every night?"

Papyrus snaps his jaw shut with an audible click, but still doesn't say anything. There is an obvious look of distress on his face now, and Flowey decides he can twist the knife a bit deeper still.

"Or the way he always treats you like you're still a child. It must be annoying to be lied to all the time, by your own family no less."

He looks up, trying to see the effect his words have, then stops.

The skeleton's expression has turned... grave. Angry, but not at his brother. At himself.

Flowey recognizes self-loathing when he sees it.

"I lie to Sans too."

Suddenly, Flowey feels... strange.

Not guilty. Not remorseful. Those kinds of emotions are not within his capabilities anymore.

It just doesn't feel as good as he thought it would.

The flower shrugs, as far as that is still possible with his body, and tilts the skeleton's head up again.

"Oh, come on, Papyrus. That's just the way family works sometimes." The way Papyrus looks at him just then, eager for approval. For assurances. It's downright adorable.

"My sibling could be pretty terrible at times, but I still-"

He cuts himself off. Talking about his life before always makes him feel empty.

Well, more empty than he already is.

"But you still love them, right?" Papyrus finished the sentence for him, and Flowey looks at him slowly. He's smiling again, happy. Knowingly.

Why does Flowey just feel like he got tricked into revealing more than he intended?

"You're an idiot." But there is no more heat behind it. He tightens the veins some more, thinking about how easy it would be to end this now.

Papyrus grins at him. Flowey relaxes.

They can spend some more time like this for now.

After all, there will be plenty more runs left to play with his favorite.