Chapter Two: Forget-Me-Nots and Spaghetti
The door swung open and Sans jerked awake, stiffening as he turned and caught sight of a very confused Papyrus.
His brother was holding a bowl of water, snow falling onto his shoulders and bewilderment flickering across his face. "WHO LEFT A FLOWER IN HERE?" He asked curiously. "DON'T THEY KNOW ANY BETTER? ECHO FLOWERS HATE THE COLD, THEY CAN'T SURVIVE OUTSIDE OF WATERFALL CAVES!"
Sans was turned so Papyrus couldn't quite see his face yet, and Sans trembled as his flight instinct screamed at him.
No. Papyrus could do… something. Actually, Sans wasn't sure what he was imagining his brother could do. Sans was still kind of expecting that brat to reset any second now and this little dilemma would be washed away like it had never happened. But if that were to be, then maybe it wouldn't hurt to try and ask Papyrus for help. Emotionally, at least, Papyrus had always been a stabilizer for Sans.
Sans steadied his resolve and turned fully, meeting his brother's eyes at last with a grin. Taller than most echo flowers, Papyrus still towered head and shoulders above Sans. "uh… hey, papyrus. flower you doing today?" Sans asked awkwardly, expecting his brother to begin sobbing at any moment. Papyrus had always been a crybaby, after all.
Papyrus' reaction did not go as planned.
"ANOTHER TALKING FLOWER?" He asked, brow furrowed as his mouth twitched upwards a moment before settling back into a concerned frown. "…AND ONE THAT TELLS PUNS. ARE YOU A FRIEND OF FLOWEY'S, BY ANY CHANCE? NOT TO BE RUDE, BUT THE GREAT PAPYRUS DOESN'T… I DON'T LIKE PUNS."
A flicker of unhappiness flashed across Papyrus' face again, and Sans froze, mind whirling. He assumed his identity would've been obvious. They were brothers; surely this form hadn't made Sans that unrecognizable.
"uh…papyrus? paps?" Sans leaned forwards, hopefully peering up at his brother. "you- you can recognize me, can't you? i mean- well, uh, i might look a bit strange now but..."
Papyrus rubbed his chin, eyes narrowing as he examined Sans from petal tip to stem. "I AM SORRY, ECHO FLOWER, BUT I AM POSITIVE I'VE NEVER MET ANOTHER TALKING FLOWER BEFORE! MAYBE YOU HAVE ME MISTAKEN FOR ANOTHER SKELETON!"
"i… i see." A heavy feeling settled over Sans. He swallowed, mouth suddenly dry. The small spark of hope extinguished itself, and Sans cursed his naïve thinking once again. Stupid. Stupid, stupid Sans, thinking this was a good idea. What was he thinking, that his brother had all of answers and could just fix everything? No. Papyrus didn't need to be pulled into this.
"WHAT DO YOU NEED? ARE YOU IN TROUBLE?" Papyrus knelt down in front of Sans, eyes softening as he looked at the dark tips of Sans' leaves. He looked back up as he noticed Sans' nervous expression as he shied away from his brother's touch. "I CAN HELP GET YOU BACK TO WATERFALL, IF THAT'S THE PROBLEM! REST ASSURED, YOU CAN COUNT ON THE GREAT PAPYRUS TO HELP ONE IN NEED!"
"i'm fine." Sans' voice came out rougher than intended. Upon seeing Papyrus flinch at his harsh tone, Sans quickly backpedaled. "i mean- i can go back on my own."
"BUT IT'S SNOWING OUTSIDE," Papyrus objected, brow still furrowed. "I KNOW! HOW ABOUT YOU COME STAY IN MY HOUSE UNTIL THIS STORM IS OVER?"
"uh, i dunno, i'm a pretty busy flower." Sans said, but his brother's pleading gaze was compelling. If it made Papyrus distressed for a strange flower to be going home in the snow, then Sans would just alleviate that worry at least before he left. Sans sighed, grinning wryly up at Papyrus. "okay, maybe for a little bit."
"WOWIE, GREAT!" Papyrus exclaimed. "I HAVEN'T HAD ANYONE TO TALK TO OR COOK FOR IN A GOOD WHILE! WAIT HERE!"
The skeleton darted back outside, snow blowing into the shed. Sans stared after him, wondering what he was getting himself into. This might be a bad idea. Or maybe it didn't matter; it would all reset anyway, right?
Sans closed his eyes, still tired. His HP had been depleting by the cold earlier; the only thing that kept him from dying out there was all the extra HP accumulated by his frequent sleeping. He hadn't completely replenished it from that last nap, but he still had enough left so he wouldn't die from one hit or something stupid like that. He was lucky that he had restored HP after first waking up even after the human's attack.
His main goal for the time being was to get to his journal. The kid would hopefully return any day now, so Sans had to record what had happened before any resets. Maybe he could use his leaves to grip the pen with.
Just as Sans was starting to wonder where his brother was, Papyrus raced back, slamming a heavy bowl before him. Sans peered at it, confused, when he noticed it was the largest bowl Papyrus owned, filled with fresh dirt. Sans could hear Papyrus quietly panting, out of breath.
"did you just dig this stuff up?" Sans asked.
Papyrus beamed. "THAT IS CORRECT, MY FLOWER FRIEND! IT SHOULD BE A COMFORTABLE RESTING PLACE FOR A FEW HOURS, RIGHT?"
Sans' gaze returned to the pasta bowl. He swallowed down the fear of being trapped in a small pot, unable to dodge whatever might be thrown at him. "yup. looks like a first class hotel," he said. He pulled up his roots, groping for the edges of the bowl as Papyrus watched curiously, and then yanked himself inside. It nearly fell over; Sans swayed before he jerked his head up and regained his balance.
Papyrus reached for the bowl, struggling a bit to pick it up. Sans pressed his stem down into the dirt as the ground fell away from under him. His gaze returned thoughtfully to Papyrus' face, which was now level with Sans'.
His brother seemed to sense Sans' wariness and gave him a grin. He expertly kicked the door open and then kicked it shut behind them as he walked to the house next door, the plant's heavy weight only impeding him a little. Sans, deciding to respect Papyrus' wishes (the skeleton thought he was dead for the love of god- reminding him of that with flower puns seemed counter productive) kept quiet, unsure of what kind of small talk he could make.
"SO, YOU NEVER SAID IF YOU KNEW FLOWEY OR NOT," Papyrus said cheerfully, setting Sans on the floor in front of the sofa so they could talk face-to-face. "DID HE TELL YOU TO COME MEET ME?"
"uh… welp, we're… acquaintances, but not really…" Sans trailed off, blinking as he noticed Papyrus' curious expression. "erm, is something wrong?"
"NO, NO, IT'S JUST THE WAY YOU TALK KIND OF… NO, NEVERMIND. MY IMAGINATION," Papyrus quickly cut himself off, and rushed into the next topic. "SO, THEN, DO YOU HAVE A NAME?"
"of course i do."
"WHAT IS IT?"
"it's- uh." Sans paused, wondering if a flower pun for a name would be pushing it. Probably.
Papyrus seemed to take his silence for something else, though. "YOU DON'T HAVE A NAME YET, DO YOU?" He asked innocently. "DON'T WORRY, LITTLE FLOWER! BECAUSE I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CAN GIVE YOU A GREAT NAME! WAIT HERE!"
Sans only had time to blink and swivel his head to follow the white and red blur as Papyrus raced up the stairs and diving into his room. "where else could i go?" Sans called after him, amused.
"HERE IT IS!" Papyrus bounded back down the stairs, a book clutched in his hands. Sans peered at the cover and saw Botanical Explorations written across the top; he remembered once finding that book in the dumps and giving it to Papyrus.
Papyrus eagerly flipped through the pages, eyes scanning the different pictures of flowers. Once in a while, he would pause, look up at Sans, and either shake his head or nod thoughtfully. "AHA! I FOUND IT!" Papyrus shoved the book towards Sans, who in turn leaned in to get a better look at the open page. "I ALWAYS THOUGHT ECHO FLOWERS LOOK LIKE THE SURFACE'S FORGET-ME-NOTS. MAYBE WE CAN MAKE A NAME SIMILAR TO THAT FLOWER!"
Sans felt his smile slip and eyes narrow as he looked away, even as Papyrus kept talking. "YOU COULD BE FORGET-ME FOR SHORT, OR FORGETFUL, OR-"
"please, stop." Sans interjected, his eyes going pitch black. "i- i don't like those names."
don't forget. The words scratched on a small drawing in Sans' lab made this scene seem like a cruel iteration, some joke played on Sans that wasn't very funny. Sans was supposed to be forgotten for this run. He had decided that. He would just hang on until the human- Chara, as Flowey called them- came back and fixed this mess.
He didn't want his brother telling him to not forget each time they spoke, even as Papyrus had no idea who Sans was.
Sans wanted to forget all of this. He wanted, for the first time he could remember, to forget this timeline. To have everything reset. To go back to the fear of each reset instead of the fear that the reset wouldn't come soon enough.
"OH." Papyrus sounded dejected. Sans' pupil flicked to the side as he examined Papyrus from the corner of his eye. "WE CAN KEEP LOOKING THEN!" Papyrus continued, his cheery tone clearly forced.
Sans sighed, forcing himself to smile up at the skeleton. "i'm sorry, papyrus. i just need some time alone, okay? we can look together again later."
"HMMM. ALRIGHT… ARE YOU SURE?" Papyrus asked, furrowing his brow.
"yup. it's a lot nicer in here than outside, after all. that's thanks to you."
"NYEHEHE, DON'T MENTION IT!" Papyrus replied, instantly feeling better. "WELL, THERE'S NOT MUCH TIME UNTIL NIGHT FALLS, BUT IT'S STILL SNOWING. DO YOU WANT TO STAY THE NIGHT?"
don't be an idiot, sans, you should leave paps alone, Sans thought, but thanks to his brother's hopeful gaze, Sans couldn't help but shake his head for the second time that day and grin wryly. "fine. you win, br- papyrus." Sans froze, but the skeleton didn't seem to notice, eagerly racing to the kitchen after shouting something about dinner.
The fact that Papyrus was so energetic didn't hide from Sans that it was just one of his brother's coping mechanisms. He imagined Papyrus was trying to keep busy right now. Sans didn't blame him. He himself wanted to go to sleep and take his mind off of the issue at hand. Or at leaf. Whatever.
"DO FLOWERS EAT SPAGHETTI?" Papyrus yelled, coming back from the kitchen in an apron and chef hat. He picked Sans up in his bowl and moved him to the center of the kitchen, allowing Sans to watch him work. Papyrus wasn't bothered that his favorite bowl was filled with dirt. He found a slightly smaller, dented one from beneath the towering sink and quickly rinsed it.
"i dunno, i've never tried eating it before," Sans said doubtfully, examining his stem. Well, as a skeleton the paradox of eating food and getting fat had never stopped him before. "but i'm sure whatever you cook is delicious, so it might be pastable."
Papyrus paused for a split second, and then continued cooking.
Sans, realizing his mistake, also stiffened, stem hunching down. "uh. sorry. my bad, i forgot you don't like…"
"IT'S FINE." Papyrus brushed it off, his cheerful demeanor persisting. "DO YOU LIKE PUNS A LOT, THEN?"
"yeah. i love 'em," Sans murmured. Papyrus scoffed.
"HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO LOVE PUNS?" He asked, and Sans snickered.
"well. for starters, they're a puntastic way to cheer people up. how is it that you don't like puns?"
Papyrus turned, eyeing the echo flower a moment before he scratched his head. "IT'S NOT THAT I DON'T LIKE THEM. I ACTUALLY REALLY LIKED THE PUNS MY BROTHER USED TO TELL ME," he admitted. "ALTHOUGH I WOULD NEVER HAVE TOLD HIM THAT. BUT HE… LEFT A FEW MONTHS AGO."
"oh." Sans shifted, lifting his stem to meet Papyrus' height. "well, i'm sure that he knew you liked 'em, if he told you a lot of puns."
"MAYBE," Papyrus said quietly. "THE DAY HE LEFT, WE ALSO GOT INTO AN ARGUMENT. A REALLY SMALL ONE, BUT HE LET ME WIN ANYWAYS. AND IT WAS OVER STUPID PUZZLES! OF ALL THE THINGS IT COULD'VE BEEN…" Papyrus sniffed and Sans, regretting his immobility, widened his eyes and leaned forward.
"hey, buddy, it's okay. i'm sure you didn't mean anything by that. how about we talk about something else, then, okay? uh, what kind of cooking do you like it do?"
Papyrus took a moment to wipe his eyes with his wrist, and then returned to furiously stirring the pasta. "WELL, I TAKE COOKING LESSONS FROM MY FRIEND- UNDYNE, MAYBE YOU'VE SEEN HER IN WATERFALL?- ON TOP OF SPARRING LESSONS. SHE'S TEACHING ME HOW TO COOK SPAGHETTI! I WASN'T VERY GOOD IN THE BEGINNING, BUT I'M GETTING A LOT BETTER, EVERYONE SAYS SO!"
The two ended up talking late into the night; Sans was careful to steer the topics of conversation far away from himself. Eventually the two decided to call it a night and get to bed.
Sans was placed next to the couch where he could peer out the window or reach the remote, and Papyrus turned to make his way upstairs.
"HEY, ERM, ECHO FLOWER?"
"what is it papyrus?"
"THANKS FOR STAYING. I KNOW YOU WANTED TO GO HOME, BUT… IT REALLY HELPS THAT SOMEONE ELSE IS HERE. SO, IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS TONIGHT, JUST GIVE A YELL. I'LL COME RUNNING FASTER THAN YOU CAN SAY SPAGHETTI!"
"heh. thanks, papyrus."
The lights flicked off, and Sans listened as his brother's door closed. Minutes ticked by. Sans sighed, studying the pot underneath him. He turned to look back towards Papyrus' door and quietly murmured, "good night bro," before he leaned against the couch and closed his eyes, falling back into a restless sleep.
A shadow shifted outside the window, and a yellow flower disappeared back into the snow.
A/N: Making serious conversations work in all caps is a challenge.
Edited once again by FlightlessTree! For those of you wondering, beta notes are something I'm trying where my beta reader can say hi or whatever they want just like I can about the story. We're a team, after all!
Beta Notes: What a fantastic chapter, I love the dynamic between the characters. Eternal has done an amazing job depicting grief here, it's so moving and sad. I'm so excited to see how the story develops!