Papyrus found his life falling into a new rhythm: dropping Sans off at the Librarby in the morning, going about his sentry duties, warrior training with Undyne, then rushing back to Snowdin to pick Sans back up before the Librarby daycare closed for the day. But then his first day off since going back to work rolled around and Papyrus found himself agitated. Sans was delighted, as much fun as he had with the other children he still never got over his anxiety at being separated from his brother. And Papyrus had to admit that it was nice to spend more time with Sans today too, but something was nagging at him…

He hadn't heard from Alphys again. It had been nearly two weeks since Sans was turned into a toddler, surely that was enough time to translate all the notes at least, right? And Alphys had said she was going to keep him updated, but he still hadn't heard a peep from her except for the one call that he had started. Well, perhaps a friendly visit was in order. After all Alphys and Sans were friends too, right? Papyrus filled his inventory with snacks and toys for Sans, although he wasn't going to let the toddler out of his sight in the Lab. He was pretty sure it would be a bad idea to let Sans wander around in there, but it was best to be prepared.

It took until the third knock for Alphys to answer the door, but when she did she sure had a surprise. "Oh! Papyrus! And Sans!"

"HELLO, DR. ALPHYS! WE CAME BY FOR A VISIT."

"ally!" Sans yelled and reached for Alphys, she obligingly leaned forward.

"H-hello Sans, how are yo-" Her sentence was cut off when Sans bapped her nose. Alphys leaned back in surprise, then smiled and blushed. "H-he's so cute!"

"YES, SANS IS VERY FRIENDLY. BUT HE IS ALSO VERY SHY? TRULY, MY BROTHER IS FULL OF CONTRADICTIONS NO MATTER HIS AGE."

"Well come in, y-you wanted to know how I'm doing with the machine, r-right?"

"I WILL ADMIT TO HAVING ULTERIOR MOTIVES TO THIS UNPLANNED FRIENDLY VISIT," Papyrus cheerfully admitted as he followed Alphys into the Lab.

"I kn-know you said you didn't know any uh… any codes or ciphers, but if you want you can l-look at what I've got so far. I'm almost done with the last page." Alphys lead them over to her desk, where she blushed as her eyes landed on the massive stacks of empty noodle bowls. "D-don't mind the mess. I was uh… I can get pretty single minded sometimes." She quickly gathered up the papers and handed them to Papyrus.

"HERE, HOLD SANS PLEASE," Papyrus skillfully handed the toddler off to Alphys as he began flipping through the papers.

"Wh-w-what do I do?!" Alphys asked in a panic as Sans settled into her arms.

Sans immediately started touching her face and giggling. "feel funny!"

"Heh, I suppose uh… I guess my face would feel funny. Scales are r-really different than bone."

"HIS HANDWRITING IS JUST AS MESSY AS EVER," Papyrus commented absently as he shook his head.

"W-whose handwriting? What?"

"WHAT?"

"You s-said 'his handwriting is just as messy as ever' so uh… whose h-handwriting? Do you recognize it?"

Papyrus blinked, then looked back down at the papers, then up at Alphys again. "I DO, ACTUALLY, BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER WHOSE OR FROM WHERE."

Alphys sighed, "Sans wouldn't talk about it either."

"I REALLY DON'T REMEMBER," Papyrus insisted. "IT'S BEEN… SO FRUSTRATING. THERE ARE HOLES IN MY MEMORY I DIDN'T EVEN REALIZE WERE THERE UNTIL AFTER UH… YOU KNOW."

"R-right… the accident."

Papyrus flipped through more papers. "WOW, I CAN'T EVEN READ THESE!"

"Th-that's uh… those're mine." Alphys hid her face behind Sans, who giggled and squirmed in response.

Papyrus flipped back to the original notes, "SO IT LOOKS LIKE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A TIME MACHINE OF SOME KIND?"

"You can tell?!"

"YES? I MEAN… ISN'T IT OBVIOUS?"

"Did I translate everything right? And the numbers! It's harder to decode numbers because unlike words there's no easy way to recognize it without a constant like writing out the digits of pi or something."

"I HONESTLY CANNOT READ YOUR HANDWRITING."

"W-well maybe it'd be better if you just translated it yourself. Wait." Alphys shoved Sans back into Papyrus's arms and rushed over to her desk. She scrambled about the desk, causing a noodle bowl avalanche, then turned back and held up an armful of paper and pens. "Here! If you could just write everything! A-and if you're familiar with the machine you could also help me repair it!"

"ALPHYS, WHILE I AM HAPPY TO HELP YOU IN ANY WAY I CAN, I DON'T THINK IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO JUST JUMP IN LIKE THIS. I MEAN… WHAT WOULD WE DO WITH SANS? I DON'T THINK IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO LET HIM WANDER AROUND YOUR LAB. IF UNDYNE FOUND OUT..."

"aunty mean," Sans groused and clung tighter to Papyrus.

"At least take these home and work on them. And after that's d-done then maybe you can get a babysitter? Oh! I bet Undyne would wa-"

"aunty mean!" Sans insisted even louder and glared with all the hate his little toddler body could muster.

"I DON'T THINK SANS WOULD LET HER, HE SEEMS TO STILL BE MAD AT HER FOR GETTING MAD AT ME."

"I r-remember that, she was pretty upset." There was an awkward pause as they both stared at each other. "W-well here, take these and translate everything for me at least."

Papyrus leaned down and sat Sans on the floor. "SANS, STAY HERE FOR A MINUTE PLEASE. DO NOT GO WANDERING OFF." That take care of, he pulled a snack out of his inventory, opened in up, and handed it to Sans. With a space opened up, he gathered all the papers and pens into a single, neat pile and tucked it away in his inventory. "ALRIGHT, DR. ALPHYS, I'LL TRANSLATE EVERYTHING FOR YOU. AND SEE IF I CAN FIND A BABYSITTER FOR SANS. THE WORK WILL HAVE TO BE BETWEEN MY SENTRY SHIFTS, I'M NOT GOING TO LET UNDYNE DOWN AGAIN."

"No, that's great. I'll t-talk to Undyne and get y-your shift schedule, then I'll contact you through Undernet an-and we'll work out a schedule. Oh! I should friend you, it'll make working this out all the easier.

"THAT SOUNDS LIKE AN EXCELLENT PLAN." Papyrus hid his glee by bending down to pick Sans back up. Another friend successfully made by the Great Papyrus! "GOODNESS, SANS! HOW DID YOU GET SO MESSY SO FAST?" He wiped the crumbs off Sans's face and from between his finger joints, then looked down at the mess of crumbs left on the floor.

"D-don't worry about that, I sh-should clean up around here anyway." Alphys glanced at the noodle bowl avalanche cascading down her desk and flinched.

"WELL, IF YOU ARE SURE… THEN I WILL SEE YOU LATER, DR. ALPHYS. SAY GOODBYE, SANS."

"bye bye," Sans waved at Alphys, "i love you."

Alphys waved back, her face turning a brilliant shade of red as the skeletons left the Lab.

Finding a babysitter for Sans was turning out to be harder than Papyrus first anticipated. While there were several people more than willing to watch Sans, there were very few people Sans was willing to be separated from Papyrus for. In fact, so far there seemed to be none. Sans threw a fit each and every time, even for the Dogi. Papyrus had hoped Ruby or Sylvila could help, they both had children of their own and that seemed to help Sans with the daycare, but that didn't pan out. Thus Papyrus found himself back in the den of grease, desperately trying to keep an active toddler from climbing up onto the bar as he talked to Grillby.

"PLEASE, GRILLBY. YOU'RE REALLY GOOD FRIENDS WITH SANS, RIGHT? AND HE TRUSTS YOU, EVEN AS A LITTLE TODDLER. HONESTLY, HE DOESN'T SEEM TO TRUST ANYONE ELSE AS MUCH AS HE TRUSTS YOU, EXCEPT FOR ME OF COURSE. AND I TRUST YOU WITH HIM TOO."

"...…... the bar is no place for a small child."

Sans grunted and squirmed in his brother's grasp, "girby!"

"I CERTAINLY WOULDN'T EXPECT YOU TO WATCH HIM HERE, YOU COULD COME OVER TO OUR HOUSE. I JUST NEED SOMEONE TO WATCH HIM IN THE EVENING WHILE I HELP DR. ALPHYS REPAIR THE MACHINE THAT STARTED THIS WHOLE MESS. HOPEFULLY IN A FEW DAYS SANS WILL BE BACK TO NORMAL AND WE CAN PUT ALL THIS BEHIND US."

"...….. I need to run the bar."

"YOU HAVE EMPLOYEES, DON'T YOU? PLEASE GRILLBY, I'VE ALREADY TRIED ASKING EVERYONE ELSE, I REALLY HAVE."

Grillby sighed, then set aside the pitcher he had been polishing and held his arms out. Sans gave one great heave out of Papyrus's grasp and ran into Grillby's arms.

"SO IS THAT A YES?"

Sans happily settled himself against Grillby's chest, followed shortly by a soft popping sound. Then another, then a flurry of them.

"SANS! HAVE YOU BEEN SHOVING THINGS IN YOUR ORBITS AGAIN?" Grillby looked down in surprise, a piece of popcorn hopped out of one of Sans's orbits. The toddler simply grinned up at the bartender. "TAKE EVERYTHING OUT OF YOUR ORBITS RIGHT NOW, YOUNG MAN!"

Grillby watched in horror as Sans shoved a hand into one of his eye sockets, his tiny fist came out clutching some popcorn mixed with a few kernels. Sans looked down at his fist full of half popped corn, then shoved the whole thing in his mouth.

"SANS!" Papyrus scolded.

Grillby put a hand under Sans's chin, causing the popping to increase. Sans squealed in delight as more popcorn started hopping out of his orbits.

"GRILLBY, DO NOT ENCOURAGE THE TODDLER, PLEASE!"

".…. I will watch him for you."

"OH! THANK YOU, MR. GRILLBY! I REALLY APPRECIATE IT!" Papyrus reached for Sans, who whined and cuddled further into Grillby's hold. Grillby made no move to hand Sans over. "MR. GRILLBY, I NEED SANS BACK NOW."

Grillby reluctantly held Sans out to Papyrus. Sans burst into tears and started wailing as he scrambled to keep ahold of Grillby's sleeves. Everyone in the bar flinched at the volume.

"SANS PLEASE, YOU'LL SEE MR. GRILLBY LATER. HE ALREADY SAID HE WAS GOING TO WATCH YOU WHILE I HELP DR. ALPHYS WITH HER MACHINE." Sans wailed louder as he was carried towards the door. "I'M VERY SORRY ABOUT THIS," Papyrus said contritely before quickly walking out of the bar.

It was the next night that everything was set in motion, after a long day of patrolling followed by warrior training with Undyne, Papyrus picked up Sans from the Librarby like normal, took him home and cared for him like normal. They had just finished cleaning up dinner and were about to lay on the floor with blank paper and crayons when there was a knock at the door. Papyrus left Sans with his drawing supplies to go answer the knock.

"...…... good evening."

"HELLO MR. GRILLBY, COME RIGHT ON IN."

As Grillby entered there was a shriek in the living room, Sans scrambled to his feet and started running, he managed two steps before he fell flat on his face. Grillby looked ready to rush over, but Sans was already back on his feet and running across the room to latch himself onto Grillby's legs.

"girby!" Sans happily squealed.

"..…. hello, Sans." Grillby reached and picked Sans up, more to keep himself from tripping over the toddler than anything else.

"SO WE JUST FINISHED DINNER, BUT I LEFT SOME SNACKS OUT ON THE COUNTER IN CASE HE GETS HUNGRY BEFORE BED. WE WERE JUST ABOUT TO START DRAWING, THAT SHOULD KEEP HIM OCCUPIED FOR A WHILE. THERE'S A BOX OF TOYS IN THE CORNER IF THAT'S NOT ENOUGH. OH! AND I USUALLY GIVE HIM A BATH BEFORE BED, BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO IF THAT'S NOT SAFE."

Grillby held up a hand, "… I own a restaurant, water is no problem."

"OKAY THEN. SANS, BE GOOD FOR MR. GRILLBY WHILE I'M GONE." He leaned down and kissed Sans on the skull. "I'LL BE BACK IN A FEW HOURS." Sans gave a faint whine as Papyrus left, but happily settled into Grillby's arms when he started petting his skull.

The trip to Alphys's Lab was quick and uneventful, he walked through the doors and cheerily called out, "HELLO, DR. ALPHYS! I HAVE ARRIVED!"

"Hello P-Papyrus, do you have the notes?"

Papyrus pulled a folder from his inventory and handed it over. "OF COURSE I DO, EVERYTHING HAS ALREADY BEEN COPIED OVER AND ACCURATELY TRANSLATED. THOUGH I WAS SORELY TEMPTED TO MAKE A FEW CORRECTIONS, WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD DESIGN A KILL SWITCH TO BE ON THE BACK OF A MACHINE?"

"Right?!" Alphys asked as she opened the folder and started leafing through. "Oh wow! You even copied over the drawings, and they're so well done!" Papyrus preened at the praise. "Well, I should p-probably show you the machine. It's downstairs in uh… in storage." She lead Papyrus over to the elevator and took him down to one of the lower floors. The machine in question was one of several around the room in various stages of disrepair. The one they were looking at was the most whole of the bunch, something that had actually been finished and even cared for at one point. Papyrus looked it over with a critical eye.

"WOWIE, WHAT SHODDY WORKMANSHIP! IT'S A WONDER THIS FRAME HASN'T CRUMPLED IN ON ITSELF."

"I th-thought the same thing! If you look inside you can see where they reinforced the frame, but it interferes with the access panels to the innards and… well… just w-wait until you see the wiring harness," she concluded in disgust.

"I DON'T THINK I REALLY WANT TO, BUT THE SOONER WE START THE SOONER WE CAN HAVE SANS BACK. I HAVE FAR MORE QUESTIONS FOR HIM THAN I DID WHEN THIS WHOLE THING STARTED."

"Y-yea, I think we all do."

It was several hours later that Papyrus went home. They had gotten a lot done, between Papyrus's translations and the strange familiarity of the design, the worst of the damage had been repaired that evening. Alphys was already talking about figuring out how to do a test run, what would make the best test subject, and recreating the accident without damaging the machine again. Papyrus felt better about that, he'd like to test the machine before putting Sans back in it.

Papyrus opened the door to find Grillby sitting on the couch with Sans curled up in his lap. Sans had already been changed into pajamas: a onesie covered in stripes with a pair of triangular ears attached to a hood and a long tail attached to the back. Grillby raised a finger to his face, the other hand slowly petting sans like a puppy. Papyrus softly shut the door and walked quietly over to the couch.

"GOOD EVENING, MR. GRILLBY," Papyrus said softly.

"...…... I wasn't sure where to lay him down," Grillby replied just as softly.

"I CAN TAKE IT FROM HERE, THANK YOU AGAIN FOR WATCHING SANS."

".…... how did repairs go?"

Papyrus picked Sans up, the toddler squirmed for a moment, then settled sleepily into his brother's arms. "VERY WELL, WE HOPE TO DO A TEST RUN BY TOMORROW, THE NEXT DAY AT THE LATEST." Grillby nodded, then stood up and gave a wave before heading out of the house.

Two days later Papyrus, Sans, Undyne, and Alphys were all gathered at the Lab. The machine had been moved up to the ground floor and the quartet were all gathered around it.

"So you're just gonna… stick Sans in that thing and presto! He's himself again?" Undyne asked as she looked at the thing skeptically. Sans was glaring at her from his spot cuddled up in Papyrus's arms.

"Papyrus should probably un-undress him first." When Undyne gave her a look, Alphys continued, "I-if uh… when this works the clothes he's in now will uh… they'll be too small."

"I REALIZED THIS AND CAME PREPARED," Papyrus announced as he held up the outfit Sans had been wearing the day of the accident.

"Okay! Let's turn this toddler back into an adult!" Undyne raised a fist in the air in excitement while Papyrus carefully undressed Sans, then wrapped him in his faded blue hoodie.

"OKAY SANS, WE JUST NEED YOU TO SIT RIGHT HERE FOR A MINUTE. I KNOW IT MIGHT BE A LITTLE SCARY, BUT NOTHING WILL HURT YOU, I PROMISE."

"you promise?" Sans asked in a wavering voice.

"YES, I PROMISE. EVERYTHING'S GOING TO BE JUST FINE." Papyrus shut the door, then stepped back and started wringing his hands. Alphys was already waiting at the control panel they had migrated to the outside of the machine, she pressed the start button. The machine made a strange, keening noise for half a minute, then suddenly stopped with a puff of smoke. Papyrus rushed back to it and yanked the door open. "SANS! ARE YOU OKAY?"

There was coughing coming from the now open door. "yeah, i'm fine… paps? what're you doing he- where're my clothes?! what happened?!"

Papyrus turned to the rest of the room with a giant grin on his face. "GIVE US JUST A MOMENT, PLEASE."

"Yeah, no problem. I don't want to see a grown naked skeleton running around anyway." Undyne shuddered at the thought while Alphys hid a laugh behind her hands. After a minute, Papyrus lead a still wobbly but fully dressed Sans out of the machine and into the rest of the lab.

"okay, so is anyone going to explain what happened or..." Sans trailed off as his pupils settled on Undyne. "whoa, okay… what happened? why am i so mad at Undyne?"

Undyne's grin only spread further, "You're angry at me?"

"yeah it's like… i really just want to punch you right now but i have no idea why."

"Wow, I knew he was holding a grudge as a toddler but I didn't think he'd keep holding it after growing up, that's hilarious!" Undyne started laughing and banging a hand against her knee.

"toddler?"

"Th-there was an accident with the machine we were inspecting and uh… you got turned into a toddler."

"okay..." Sans trailed off as he looked around. "that's really weird."

"IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A TIME MACHINE BUT WE DON'T THINK IT EVER WORKED PROPERLY."

"how long?"

"Two weeks!" Undyne answered gleefully.

"wow, okay, that's a long time to be stuck as a little kid and have absolutely no memory of it. is anyone gonna tell me why little toddler me was so angry at undyne?"

"I got mad at your brother and yelled at him in front of you." Sans turned a glare on Undyne. "Oh come off it, that was a week ago now."

"I… MAY HAVE DESERVED IT. I WAS NOT THE BEST CAREGIVER FOR YOU WHILE YOU WERE A TODDLER."

"aw, no. i'm sure you were the best, bro, you always are."

"I DID IMPROVE VASTLY AS TIME WENT ON. BUT I AM ALSO GLAD THAT I DON'T HAVE TO ANYMORE BECAUSE YOU'RE YOU AGAIN."

"I'm glad too," Alphys said. "It's great to have this whole mess cleaned up, I th-think I'll take this thing apart too. J-just to make sure this never happens again. Plus I c-can always use the parts for something else."

"I'm just glad to finally have all my sentries back, you know how hard it is to replace you?"

"heh, yeah, i'm irreplaceable."

Papyrus lunged forward and picked Sans up in a hug that he had been holding back since Sans had returned to normal. "I MISSED YOU SO MUCH, BROTHER! WHICH IS ODD BECAUSE YOU WERE HERE THE WHOLE TIME, JUST SMALLER THAN USUAL."

"heh, I love you too, bro." Alphys and Undyne both snorted and turned away as Papyrus set Sans down. Sans looked at them with a quirked brow, but neither seemed willing to tell him what that was about.

"LET US GO HOME! I'M SURE AFTER ALL YOU'VE BEEN THROUGH YOU COULD USE THE FAMILIAR SURROUNDINGS."

"yeah, sounds good paps. see you two later."

"Bye bye!" Alphys called as she waved, Undyne snorted and turned away. Sans raised a brow again, but chose to drop it in favor of following his brother home.

Walking into the house was strange, Sans looked around the living room to see a few toys strewn about here and there, and a cardboard box full of more sitting next to the couch. The toys seemed… vaguely familiar somehow. Sans picked up a bright orange dinosaur left in the middle of the floor.

"so uh… this mine?" Sans asked as he turned the toy over in his hands.

"YES, ALL OF OUR NEIGHBORS WERE VERY KIND AND DONATED CLOTHES AND TOYS TO USE UNTIL YOU WERE RETURNED TO YOUR REGULAR, ALBEIT STILL DIMINUTIVE, STATURE."

"that was really sweet of them." Sans tossed the toy in the general direction of the box, then headed for the kitchen. "being turned from a kid to an adult must really do something to ya, i'm feeling half starved." Sans stopped cold on entering the kitchen and stared at the refrigerator. "papyrus, what's all this?"

Papyrus stepped into the kitchen and looked at the fridge. "THOSE ARE ALL THE DRAWING YOU DID. YOU DREW A LOT, IT WAS AN EASY WAY TO KEEP YOU BUSY."

"yeah, guess that makes sense." Sans started looking through the drawings, lifting the ones in front to look at the layer underneath and moving them around. Most of the drawing were oddly shaped scribbles that he couldn't make out, but one caught his eye. He pulled it off and stared down at it.

Papyrus leaned over his shoulder to see what he was looking at. "OH, THAT ONE'S A FAMILY PORTRAIT." He pointed to each smiling face as he explained the picture. "THAT'S YOU, THAT'S ME, AND THAT'S OUR FATHER."

"i… remembered dad?" Sans's hand started to tremble.

Papyrus nodded, "IT WAS HARD TRYING TO EXPLAIN TO A TODDLER WHY HE WASN'T STILL AROUND WHEN I DON'T REMEMBER HIM MYSELF. SANS, WHAT HAPPENED?"

"i don't… I don't know either." Sans sighed and stuffed the picture into a pocket. "whatever happened it messed with our memories, that's about all i ever figured out."

"OH..." Papyrus trailed off. "WELL IF YOU'RE HUNGRY YOU SHOULD EAT SOMETHING, THE NEIGHBORS ALSO GAVE US MORE FOOD THAN I KNEW WHAT TO DO WITH. THERE'LL BE NO NEED FOR EATING OUT FOR QUITE SOME TIME!"

"awww… but i wanted to stop by grillby's later and tell everyone i'm back. i'm sure they all missed me."

Papyrus nodded, "THEY DID, AND YOU SHOULD PROBABLY GO SAY 'HELLO' YOURSELF IF NOTHING ELSE. AND THANK GRILLBY FOR WATCHING YOU WHILE YOU WERE SMALL."

Sans's pupils blinked out of existence. "what?"

"WELL SOMEBODY HAD TO WATCH YOU WHILE I HELPED DR. ALPHYS REPAIR THE MACHINE, AND YOU THREW A FIT EVERY TIME I TRIED TO LEAVE YOU WITH ANYONE ELSE. HONESTLY, YOU WERE AN INCREDIBLY CLINGY LITTLE CHILD."

Sans flopped into a kitchen chair and dropped his skull into his hands. "oh my god!"

Papyrus gasped, "YOU SHOULD SEE THE PICTURES!"

"oh my god!" Sans moaned.

Papyrus hummed and moved about the kitchen as Sans continued to cradle his skull in his hands. After a few minutes, Papyrus set a plate of warmed cheesy macaroni casserole in front of Sans.

Sans looked up, "what's this?"

"YOU SAID YOU WERE HUNGRY, AND IT'S LUNCH TIME ANYWAY." Papyrus sat down with his own plate and started eating.

Sans sat up, then frowned as something rattled in his skull at the movement. "is there something in my orbit?" He dug his fingers in and came out with a large pebble.

"UGH, EVERY TIME I TOOK MY EYE SOCKETS OFF YOU I SWEAR YOU WERE SHOVING SOMETHING ELSE IN YOUR ORBITS. I HAD TO PULL A WHOLE POTATO OUT ONCE."

"a whole potato?" Sans asked skeptically. Papyrus just nodded, his mouth full of cheesy noodles. Sans dropped his skull back into his hands. "two weeks of running around as a toddler and i don't even remember any of it."

"I'LL SHOW YOU THE PICTURES AFTER WE EAT, I'VE BEEN POSTING THEM TO MY BLOG." Sans groaned again. "EAT YOUR LUNCH, SANS," Papyrus ordered in a stern voice.

Sans didn't look up, but he at least put a forkful in his mouth. "hey, this is pretty good."

"BONNIE MADE IT. ONE OF THE FEW THINGS I COULD GET YOU TO EAT THAT WASN'T PRE-PACKAGED SNACK FOOD."

"what, like i was a fussy little kid?"

Papyrus tolled his eye sockets. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA!"

That got a laugh out of Sans, the rest didn't seem so bad after hearing that. He took another bite of lunch, "so explain to me exactly what happened with undyne, i really wanna hear the whole story."

"WELL, IF YOU REALLY MUST KNOW I SUPPOSE I WILL HAVE TO TELL YOU." They spent the rest of lunch with Papyrus telling Sans about his day going on patrol as a toddler and Undyne's subsequent chewing out. "IN MY DEFENSE," Papyrus concluded as he gathered up the dishes, "NO ONE TOLD ME THERE IS A DAYCARE FOR SMALL CHILDREN IN THE SNOWDIN LIBRARY."

"there's a daycare in the librarby?"

"YOU KNOW VERY WELL IT'S CALLED A LIBRARY, SANS! AND YES, I DROPPED YOU OFF THERE BEFORE PATROL EVERY MORNING. THERE IS A PUPPY THERE YOU WOULD RUN TO GO PET FIRST THING, IT WAS RATHER ADORABLE." Papyrus paused, then turned his brilliant grin on Sans. "I GOT PICTURES! THEY'RE UP ON MY BLOG, AS I ALREADY SAID, SO YOU CAN GO FIND THEM YOURSELF OR I CAN SHOW THEM TO YOU AFTER I FINISH THE DISHES."

"whatever makes you happy, paps."

After Papyrus finished washing up, he lead Sans up to his room. Sans looked around, the room was mostly unchanged, the only notable difference was the complete lack of action figures in sight. In their spot was now another cardboard box full of toddler friendly toys and beside that lots of very tiny clothes laid out in neat piles. Sans stared at the piles of clothes as Papyrus rambled on. "… AND THE DOGI SEEMED ESPECIALLY FOND OF YOU. DOGARESSA EVEN ADMITTED TO ME THAT DOGAMY SUGGESTED THEY HAVE A PUPPY OF THEIR OWN SOON. AND… SANS? ARE YOU OKAY?"

"i'm fine. it's just… kinda weird looking at all this stuff. it's almost familiar but i can't remember how or why." Sans picked up a tiny sock, then let it drop back with the rest.

"I SUPPOSE SINCE WE DON'T NEED THEM ANYMORE I SHOULD PACK ALL THESE UP AND GET RID OF THEM. MAYBE FIND OUT IF ANY OF OUR NEIGHBORS COULD USE THEM, SINCE THEY ALL GAVE THIS TO US."

"yeah, there's always someone with a kid that needs more socks."

"AND IT'LL BE NICE TO FINALLY HAVE MY ROOM TO MYSELF AGAIN, I HAD TO HIDE MY ACTION FIGURES. YOU KEPT SHOVING THEM IN YOUR ORBITS!" Papyrus glared at Sans.

"what can i say? you have the coolest action figures."

"I REALLY DO, NYEH HEH HEH."

After being thoroughly embarrassed by seeing the pictures of himself as a toddler, and don't think Sans didn't notice he was tagged in every one, Sans finally made it to his room. He needed a break just to absorb everything after the day he'd had so far. He opened the door and stared in shock: his room was clean! It happened once in a while, when Papyrus couldn't stand the mess anymore and bullied Sans into cleaning with him. Sans didn't mind it so much when Papyrus helped, it was like brotherly bonding time. But this had happened without Sans around to watch, from his point of view it had happened in just the few hours he was gone helping Alphys with her organizing. It was just another mark on the weird tally that he didn't know how to deal with.

"hey paps, 'm gonna head on over to grillby's and let everyone know i'm back."

"HAVE FUN, AND BE HOME FOR DINNER. WE HAVE PLENTY OF FOOD IN THE HOUSE, EVEN IF IT ISN'T MY AMAZING COOKING."

"alright paps, see you later." Sans strolled out the house, his slippers squelching satisfyingly in the wet snow. Several townsfolk waved as he passed, Sans waved back cheerfully. He wasn't sure what to expect when he opened the door, but it was Grillby's. Nothing could have changed in the last two weeks, right? Sans took a deep breath before opening the door and walking in, "hey everyone."

"Sans!" "Hey, it's Sans!" "Hi, Sansy!" The other regulars all yelled their greetings at Sans, the dogs were wagging their tales a mile a minute, and Sans couldn't be sure but he thought he saw Grillby go through several different shades of yellow and white when he first walked in. Sans did his usual round of greetings before taking his usual seat at the bar.

Grillby walked up and leaned over the bar, "...…... good to have you back."

"good to be back, i guess. can't say i remember much of the last two weeks, heard you watched me?"

Grillby nodded, his face as unreadable as ever. "...… babysat you while Papyrus helped Alphys."

"It's hard to believe how loud you were as a kid," Red cut in with a chortle.

"oh yeah?" Sans asked with interest. "what? paps brought me in here and i kicked up a fuss or something?"

"Yeah," Red answered. "Papyrus brought you by a couple times. You always wailed at the top of your lungs when it was time to go."

Sans's face fell at Red's words, he hadn't expected his joke to turn out to be reality. "i didn't want to go?"

"More like you didn't want to let go," Red chuckled as they motioned to Grillby, who was still leaning over the bar towards Sans.

"…... I would say the whole experience was very enlightening. I think I learned a lot about you… Sans."

"what uh..." Sans swallowed nervously despite not having a throat. "what'd i do?" Red chuckled, but otherwise kept quiet and let Grillby tell this part of the story.

"...…... every time you saw me," Grillby started, and Sans swore he saw a grin on the elemental's blank face, "you did everything in your power to get close. And when Papyrus pulled you away..." Sans felt his face flush as Grillby paused, "you cried like the whole world was ending."

"i cried?" Sans repeated back, unsure if he really wanted to hear more.

"Total toddler meltdown," Red added with a snicker. Sans pulled his hood up and slouched down in his seat, if only the earth would open up and swallow him whole! There were titters coming from the corners of the restaurant, but Sans chose to ignore them.

"..… you were a very affectionate little child."

Sans groaned and dropped his head on the bar. "i don't want to hear any more!"

"…... at least tell me you don't have any more popcorn in your eyes."

Sans sat up, "welp, it was great catching up with you guys, but i promised paps i wouldn't stay out late tonight."

"It's not even three o'clock yet," Red protested.

"it's been fun, i'll be around." Sans waved to the room as he slipped off his stool and headed for the door.

As if on cue, the entire bar called, "Bye bye, I love you," to Sans.

He froze, then turned to look back into the restaurant. Every single patron had huge grins across their faces, the dogs were wagging their tails even faster than when he had entered, Grillby was waving his fingers at Sans. Sans's mind stuttered, and when it finally found its footing again he pulled his hood even further over his face, then pulled the drawstrings until there was nothing left of his face showing. Somehow he found the door through that and hunched his way out of the restaurant.

Once safely back home, Sans flopped onto the couch and fell sideways, his hood still scrunched up around his face. Papyrus was picking up the box of toys when Sans came in, but that was abandoned when Papyrus saw Sans's distress. "SANS, WHAT HAPPENED?"

"we gotta move, bro."

"WHAT? WHY? TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED!"

"we just gotta! i can never show my face in snowdin again."

"SANS," Papyrus moved to sit on the couch next to his brother. "ARE YOU GOING TO TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED OR IS THIS GOING TO BE ANOTHER POINTLESS SECRET?"

"apparently i was a 'very affectionate' kid."

"WELL, YES. YOU SEEMED TO THINK 'I LOVE YOU' WAS JUST HOW YOU SAID GOODBYE." Sans groaned and buried his face into the couch cushions. "YOU WERE ALSO VERY CLINGY AND DIDN'T LIKE TO BE SEPARATED FROM ME OR GRILLBY."

"red called it a 'total toddler meltdown'."

"A VERY APT DESCRIPTION. BUT I THOUGHT IT WAS VERY SWEET, EVEN WITHOUT REMEMBERING US IT WAS VERY CLEAR YOU STILL CARED VERY DEEPLY FOR YOUR GOOD FRIEND AND YOUR COOL BROTHER."

"yeah… you are the coolest."

"AND EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS THAT YOU COULD NOT HELP HOW YOU ACTED AS A TODDLER, SMALL CHILDREN ARE KNOWN FOR BEING EMOTIONAL AND IRRATIONAL AFTER ALL."

"yeah, but it doesn't stop them from teasing me about it."

"THAT WILL EVENTUALLY PASS. SO STOP BEING SUCH A BABYBONES ABOUT IT."

Sans groaned and buried his face even deeper into the couch.

.

.

Tada! I hope everyone had as much fun reading this fic as I did writing. And let me tell you! It was fun to write! Or at least the concept was fun to bat around with Skerb. I know I left it pretty open, especially with all the Gaster stuff, but I honestly did no intend to write that. Hopefully I can address it later, possibly in a different fic. Some headcanons just span across a writer's work and this might be one of them. I do also have a couple ideas related to this fic I'd love to explore, but mostly I want to get back to working on the other stuff I have going. It'll be nice to have my inspiration not wrenched bodily in weird directions again... hopefully.