A/N: It's baaack~! And we finally get to see some of the elusive Papyrus! As someone who has actually had sane contact with the outside world, I wonder what his perspective will be like? ;)
-{[(*)]}-
Papyrus had been a bit concerned to realize he was the only normal person in the house. Well, probably. He had only really met Gaster so far. Sans seemed like he could be nice, but he was really just... just so arrogant! Why didn't Sans ever do "chores"? Why was he given all these luxuries?
At eleven and a half, Papyrus could definitively tell you that Gaster was crazy, and he made everything else in the house crazy too. Except Papyrus. He was normal, obviously. How else would he be able to tell you the others were completely off their rockers?
At the moment, he was scrubbing the kitchen floor and contemplating his good ol' "dad" and Sans. Papyrus had been living in this house since he was five, and there were a lot of things that bugged him. Like, he was the only one who had "chores", and he'd never even had a conversation with the second member of the house. He still had no idea why Gaster was so adamant on keeping them separate, but one day, he was just going to snap.
The tween jumped with a high yelp when the bucket of dirty water knocked over and poured all over him. He knelt there for a moment, holding his arms out and staring at his drenched clothes. Maybe Gaster would let him take a shower now?
With a frustrated growl, he went back to the floor, quickly mopping up the water and finishing the last section he had to scrub. The floor was practically sparkling by the time he was done, but his clothing was still wet and was starting to stink. He turned to put the cleaning supplies away- Gaster was suddenly standing in the doorway.
"There are a few more things I need you to do today," Gaster held out a piece of paper. Papyrus growled and snatched it out of the man's hand so he could look it over. Gaster scowled, but Papyrus didn't see it because he was already reading. Dust the living room, do the laundry, sweep the office, wash the windows-
"I can't possibly do this all today," Papyrus snapped. He shook the list at the man. "Almost every one of these take hours to complete, and there are barely three hours until dinner."
"Well, I have to go grocery shopping, and I expect them to be done by the time I get back. I don't care how you do it," Gaster rumbled back. "Did you finish the list?"
Papyrus snatched the grocery list off the fridge and practically threw it at the man. The adult rolled his eyes and irritably swept out of the kitchen. Papyrus let his chest heave for a long moment, then practically screamed in frustration. He kicked the empty bucket, watching as it pitifully fell over.
Muttering angrily to himself, Papyrus put the cleaning supplies away and stormed into the living room to start dusting. Sans was in his special reading chair, so engrossed in a book he probably hadn't even seen Gaster leaving.
Papyrus glared at the wall for a moment, getting distracted from his task by his passionate anger. He knew that the front door was hidden in the wall, but he didn't know how to access it. If he could just figure that out...
The youngest skeleton huffed noisily and grabbed some of the dusting tools from the cabinet in the corner. He set about removing dust from the furniture, even wiping between the leaves of the fake potted plant. If he made even one mistake... He grumbled slightly at the thought.
Soon, he was aware of a set of eyes watching him.
Papyrus turned around slowly, making eye contact with the teenager. He wasn't supposed to talk to Sans, but...
"What're you looking at, princess?" Was what ended up coming out of his mouth, apparently. Papyrus flinched at his own words, but Sans looked oddly excited and eager. The fourteen year old folded his book and set it beside him. He tried to sit up, but the plush chair didn't give him much movement.
"Hey! I'm Sans!" The teenager chirped. Papyrus rolled his eyes and kept working.
"Yeah, I know. And I'm Papyrus."
"Did Dad say we could talk now? I've always wanted to talk to you, you're the first other skeleton I've met, and I've always been so curious- What's your favorite color? What do you like to do? Do you read?" Sans burst. Papyrus slowly stopped and looked at the older monster again.
"Uh..." Unsettled by the fact that Sans didn't sound nearly as self-centered and arrogant as he seemed to be, Papyrus let his magic take over cleaning for him. An orange glow coated the dusting supplies, and they began to dance around the room while Papyrus approached the teenage skeleton.
"Well... Um, my favorite color is red," he started, cautiously. Sans nodded, like it was the most interesting discovery of the century. "I like action figures, and I like telling stories with them... I don't have any action figures here, obviously. And... No, I don't really read." Sans nodded again, looking almost like a toddler.
Sans didn't say anything else, and Papyrus had no idea what he could even say to start a different conversation.
Instead, Papyrus stepped away, much less angry, and began to clean as he considered everything he knew about Sans and good ol' Gaster.
-[]-
The boys didn't have another chance to talk for almost a year. Even then, they didn't take the opportunity. What would they even say?
But after a whole sixteen months, Papyrus was resting on his mat while Sans was positioned in his reading chair. Gaster had been called into the lab for work he absolutely could not do at home.
"Hey," Papyrus started. Sans was this close to having thrown down his book in his haste to participate in the possible conversation. "Why do you always wear pajamas?"
Sans's head tilted, a bit like a puppy.
"My clothes?" He questioned. He looked down at them, tugging at the inch of give at the hem of his shirt. As soon as he released the fabric, it practically snapped back against his body. "They aren't pajamas..."
"They look like pajamas," Papyrus snorted. "Don't you have any, y'know, cotton or something?"
"What?"
"Never-mind," Papyrus shifted against the mat, shifting to get comfortable. It was nearly impossible most of the time; he really didn't know why he tried. "Why do you read so much?"
"Heh, is there anything else to do?" Sans chuckled. As though the sheer idea of doing anything besides reading was silly.
"Well, I remember watching tv as a kid," Papyrus hummed. "And..." He glanced at the door but decided not to finish the thought aloud. Playing outside.
"What's a tv?"
"Oh my God," Papyrus sat up irritably. "Gaster doesn't let you do anything, does he?"
"Gaster?"
"Your dad?"
Sans mumbled thoughtfully, "So that's his name..." Papyrus stared at him, jaw dropped.
"That's it! When I get out, I'm taking you with me," the twelve year old stomped over to the wall and began to feel it. Maybe he could get them out while Gaster was gone.
"Go... G-Go outside?" Sans jerked back. Papyrus glanced at him. The older skeleton was basically shaking himself apart at the mere idea.
"Yeah?" Papyrus growled. "Something's seriously wrong with Gaster, okay? The things he does? All of this?" He gestured sharply to the house. "None of this is normal!"
"I-I..." Sans floundered. "Y-You don't understand-"
"What don't I understand, Sans? He's got you locked up in the house, probably since you were born. Half the time your stuck in your room, and a good chunk of the rest of it you're trapped in that stupid chair. You've never taken a step on your own, for God's sake!" Papyrus yelled, arms flailing in all directions. "Normal kids run around and climb trees-"
"Trees?"
"-or do pretty much anything other than read books all day! Have you ever even touched the ground?"
"D-Dad always stops me-" Sans gasped, choking on his own breath.
"That is not normal!" Papyrus cried. He turned back to the door. "You really are a princess," he mumbled.
"B-But-"
"What, Sans? What could possibly make any of this okay?" Papyrus fumed. He didn't bother looking at the older skeleton.
"A-all of the rules h-have a... a purpose! I-If I get hurt, even a-a little bit-!" Sans's breath caught on the words and he fell silent. Papyrus turned to look at him, wondering what could possibly be bad enough that Sans could tolerate Gaster's tyranny and constant control over every aspect of his life.
Quietly, he prompted, "What, Sans?"
"I have 1 HP!" Sans buried his face in his head in his hands and sobbing as though it were his great secret shame.
Papyrus stared for a moment, and slowly the rigid lines of his body began to soften. He moved away from the wall and back to Sans's side. Slowly, he reached out, and just, silently, put his hand on Sans's arm. The teen jumped violently and flinched away.
But he wasn't hurt.
He looked up, hesitantly, like it was some kind of trick and he was waiting for Papyrus to deal the fatal blow.
"Okay," Papyrus smiled awkwardly. "I can understand why it's so scary, and why you want to take it slow. But really, it's not as dangerous as you think. Hasn't anyone explained HP to you before?"
"N-No..." Sans hiccuped. "But- But if anything hurts me-"
"-in a fight," Papyrus finished for him. "If anything hurts you in a fight. Look!" The skeleton ran and purposefully threw himself down on the ground. He winced and carefully pushed himself up again. He held his arms out wide to show the complete lack of injury. "I didn't loose any HP!"
"But..." The teen's brow bones furrowed. "Why didn't..."
"Monsters are made of energy and magic," Papyrus started. He remembered a long time ago, when he was still living with Mom. Laying on his bed, she had explained the differences between humans and monsters to him, "We have very little physical matter. Like our food! If our food had lots of physical stuff, then it'd fall right out of us! But it doesn't. And that's why we can only really be hurt by magic attacks, during a fight. Monster magic is a lot about intent. We can do magic so easily-" He levitated the potted plant, "-that it really comes down to what we want to do! Like, if I want this to hit the wall, but not damage it in any way..."
The potted plant bounced harmlessly off the wall, then drifted back to the table it usually rested on.
"So..." Tears gathered in Sans's eyes. "So, we don't have to live like this?"
"No..." Papyrus frowned. He paused before he went on, "Gaster's a little messed up. There's something wrong in his head, and when it comes to you, he doesn't... he doesn't think like a normal person. Well, when it comes to anyone really, but especially you."
The house was silent.
"I-If you can get out," Sans whispered. The tiny voice was barely audible, and Papyrus crossed the room again so he could hear the next part. "I... I will go with you."
-[]-
Gaster had to know something was up at this point. Papyrus knew how to keep a secret, but Sans apparently had never had one to keep. He was suspiciously quiet, kept his eyes either away from or on Papyrus for odd amounts of time, and he just seemed restless in general.
But, Gaster was letting Papyrus go outside, anyway? Of course, he didn't show the thirteen year old how to get out, but he did give him a list of supplies to gather and sent him on his way.
Papyrus could have left and never come back.
Instead, he picked up what he'd been asked to, with a few... extras. He hid the special items in his rib cage, and Gaster let him back in the house without any trouble. In the house, Gaster took the items from the list and disappeared out behind the house. Sans and Papyrus were alone once again.
Papyrus waited an hour before he made any kind of move. With all the monitoring magic and such, he didn't want to get Sans in trouble by getting them caught. He didn't want to get in trouble, either, of course, but he knew he could take a few more hits. Sans could not.
But after that first hour, Papyrus threw the potted plant and waited to see if Gaster would come running in.
...
Nope!
Immediately, Papyrus went to Sans and offered one of the things he had picked up. Being kept so close to his soul actually kept the item warm, and it was still steaming like when he had bought it in Hotland.
"What is this?" Sans questioned. He tilted it side to side, obviously unfamiliar with it.
"It's food-" Confused and curious, Sans glanced at him sharply. "-because apparently you've never had anything other than salads and veggie soup. Just try it. I want to see if you like it!"
The older skeleton carefully took a bite. His face scrunched up at the quick, unfamiliar taste. There was a sharp hit of something kind of like a veggie and some sort of paste seasoning, then he hit the squishy, meaty center and finally the soft, fluffy bun. His face smoothened out as he rolled the bite around in his mouth, considering the taste. His eyes sparkled.
"This is amazing! I love it!" He decided excitedly. Bouncing up and down on the chair and kicking his legs out happily. Papyrus caught on to his excitement and started springing back and forth on his toes. "What's this red stuff?"
"That, my friend, is ketchup!" The younger skeleton grinned. "And the entire thing is called a hotdog. Well, we don't have any real meat in the Underground, so you actually ate a water sausage, but whatever!"
"Is there more food like this?" Sans asked, leaning forward. He took another bite and practically melted into his seat. He looked up at Papyrus, with little kits of ketchup and mustard smeared on his cheeks.
Papyrus laughed so hard, he collapsed to the floor in a pile of bones.
-[]-
Papyrus should probably be concerned that Gaster was leaving them alone so often, but he was too happy that he could show Sans some of the great things he'd been missing his whole life.
"This is a sweatshirt," he had explained. "And this is a t-shirt, and these are some basketball shorts. Do you need help putting them on?"
"No, but..." Sans chewed on his lower jaw for a second. Since realizing he could get hurt a little without dying, Sans had lost nearly all of his stiffness. He lounged around the house, lazily sinking into whatever Gaster had put him on at the moment. He tried stretching every once in a while, clearly wanting to walk for the first time, but they needed to take some more baby steps before they reached that point. Sans had been so sheltered, almost everything new seemed intimidating. "Won't they make my bones brittle?"
"I still have no idea how you can be so smart and Gaster can have filled your head with all these silly ideas. I wear these kinds of fabrics all the time, and I'm fine, right? Wearing what you do all the time just makes your bones soft. It makes it harder for you to do anything with them!" Papyrus held out the clothes again. "Look, I even got slippers." Sans took the clothes and shamelessly began changing.
Papyrus hurriedly turned around to give him some privacy. He still wondered about things sometimes, and Gaster's involvement in Sans's clothing was inching its way up the list. Why in the Underground was Sans so comfortable changing when someone else was watching?
"Done," Sans's voice squeaked. Papyrus turned back around. A simple white t-shirt hung around his frame, hiding ribs which always seemed to be showing through thin fabric. Baggy black shorts hung down to his ankles, pooling around his legs, while the thick, blue sweatshirt covered his arms and back perfectly. Little pink slippers dangled from his feet.
Papyrus walked around him slowly, observing the get-up from all angles. Something about it seemed so... right. In his mind, Papyrus knew that Sans was always meant to be this way.
A kind of heaviness settled over his soul, even as he cheerfully declared, "You look great! Just like a normal person. Maybe..." Papyrus went to his own clothing and retrieved a pair of socks. He gently removed Sans's slippers and slid the socks over his bones. They hung limply around his ankles. Perfect.
Papyrus paused as he realized what he was doing. He glanced up to see Sans had practically fallen into a trance, hypnotized by the younger skeleton's actions. Even as Sans stared at him intently, Papyrus finished the job and put the slippers back on over the socks. He sat back on his heels.
"I... I have chores to do," he mumbled uncertainly. "When Gaster comes back, you gotta change into your usual clothes. I'll hide these for you."
"Thank you," Sans murmured. He rubbed the sleeve of his new sweatshirt between two phalanges, enjoying the different feeling from the different fabric.
Papyrus quickly left the room.
-{[(*)]}-
A/N: For once, a chapter that's not totally loaded with angst. Hurray!
QUESTION OF THE UPDATE: What's your favorite fabric to wear? I really like well-worn cotton, or cotton blends. My mom's favorite fabric is always line dry only, and I get kinda made when she buys an entire closet of the stuff! XD
