Chapter 4: Embrace It

Lou paused as she got to the top of the stairs. There were three doors on the wall she was facing, then another to her left. The one to the left seemed to lead to a bathroom. Good to know. The first door had a keep out sign and a sign that said 'NO BOYS ALLOWED! NO GIRLS ALLOWED! ONLY PAPYRUS!' Huh, must be Papyrus' room. There was a room in the very middle, then another at the end. The one in the middle was the only door open with a light on, so she checked there. Sure enough, Papyrus was happily humming away while putting some fresh sheets on the bed. She knocked before entering. "H-hey, uh...need any help?"

"Oh! Hey Lou! No, I'm just fine. Just finished actually." He smiled. "But that's very kind of you to ask, thank you." He stepped aside and motioned for her to come in, smiling nervously as she looked around. The room was pretty plain, as expected of a guest bed room. There was a framed portrait of a bone on the wall, causing her to smile and giggle a little. More skeleton charm.

Cute. She looked at the bed. The sheets were pretty simple, pale blue blanket with faded orange pillows. Strangely fitting. She thought to herself, remembering Sans' blue ecto-tummy thing and Papyrus' orange blushing. Does he have one too? Lou looked up at the taller skeleton as she wondered this, then realized he was waiting for some kind of response. Oh. "Thanks, Papyrus. It's very nice." She smiled warmly at him. Apparently that was exactly what he'd been searching for. His eyes widened and he got another orange blush, hands going to his cheeks.

"Wowie! Really?"

"Haha, yeah. It's nice." It was a bit bigger than her room back at the farm actually, but she wasn't about to say that out loud. "Thanks for letting me stay over...you really didn't have to do that ya know." She sat on the bed, brushing her hair away from her face. He took a seat next to her.

"I know...but that's what friends do for each other."

"A-about that...you keep calling me your friend but...I only just met you today." Her eyes glanced at the floor. "You hardly know me...I was just some girl you decided to talk to at a bowling alley. How do you know I wasn't lying about being alone? What if I'd been someone who hated monsters and tried to hurt you or your friends? How do you know I didn't just say all this stuff to get you to trust me?"

Papyrus paused, his expression darkening a little as he watched her face. With her head down like that he couldn't read her expression very well. "I...I didn't...I still don't actually." He glanced away for a moment. "But...at the same time I don't think you're a bad person. I mean, you've been pretty nice so far and I get the feeling that you're telling the truth about everything. Sure I haven't known you long but...I believe you nonetheless. You were a bit quiet at first, but I think you really did have a good time at the bowling alley and...I feel like you're my friend. If...you don't feel the same though...I understand."

As he glanced at the human next to him, he saw that her head had shot straight up, sitting as straight as she could but still looking so small and tiny next to him. There were tears in her eyes as she looked at him. He'd thought that those big brown eyes of hers couldn't possibly get any bigger, but as she looked at him they were wider than any time he'd managed to see them before. "Papyrus I..." Her eyes squinted a little as her lips formed a wobbly frown. Before he could say anything she moved forward, wrapping those small arms around his chest as she began to cry. "I'm so sorry...I-I didn't mean it like that..." Her words were garbled by quiet sobs as she gripped his shirt from the back.

He was still a little stunned, but returned the hug and pulled her close beside him. One hand went to her head to gently pet at her hair while the other kept a gentle but firm hold on her spine.

"I didn't m-mean it like that...I'm sorry...I'm so so sorry...I just..." She cried into his shirt, feeling like a complete idiot as he held her close and tried to comfort her. She should have been comforting him right now, not the other way around. Dammit, you let your head get to you again. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid! Once again, that insecure voice in her head had yelled at her, screamed that they were just pitying her, and she'd listened. Now it was yelling at her for being such an idiot. You should've kept your big mouth shut! Stupid! Idiot! Look what you did now! The crying only got worse.

"It's okay." Those two words cut through the darkness in her head. "It's okay." Her breathing slowed. "It's okay." A gentle hand brushed over her hair and her sobs calmed, the hiccups died down. She pulled away a little to look up, seeing that same gentle smile on his face. Her hair was still in her face, but parted just enough to let her left eye be seen, wet streaks staining her cheeks. His boney hand was still on her head as he brought up his other hand to wipe away some of the tears that still lingered. He didn't say anything, just smiled.

"I..." She glanced away for a moment. "I do want to be your friend...a-and I don't hate monsters! I just...don't understand why you would wanna be friends with someone you just met like that so I...I...I'm sorry...I shouldn't have said anything."

Papyrus took her head into his hands and forced her to look at him. "Don't be sorry. It's okay to feel unsure about things and I'm sorry if I made you feel that way." She was about to comment, but he kept going. "You're very kind, and even if you hadn't been alone tonight I would still want to be your friend. I think it's cute when you smile and don't think anyone's looking, I like how you laugh and I am glad that you told me how you felt." He smiled at her.

"So...can we still be friends?"

"Of course we can still be friends! The Great Papyrus would never stop being your friend over something as silly as that!" He picked her up and pulled her into his arms, getting her to laugh and hold tight around his neck.

Sans stood with his back to the wall, standing right next to the open doorway as he listened to the conversation going on inside. He had mixed feelings about it all. What she said struck a chord, almost having confirmed his suspicions. His eye had glowed blue and he almost barged into the room, but then she'd started to cry, and he paused. He peeked into the room, being careful to not be noticed by either of them. Those tears certainly looked real enough. He pulled himself away and leaned against the wall, sighing. What was he doing? This kid hadn't done anything wrong. Yet. No, she probably never would do anything. This wasn't the underground anymore, he didn't need to worry. Frisk had promised no more resets. This kid promised to not hurt Papyrus, heck she even did a lame pinky swear. "heh...kid sure is weird." He glanced back at the door.

Maybe, at least until she deserved it, he could cut the girl some slack. He walked through just in time to see them hugging and giggling. "did i miss somethin'?"

"Sans! The human told me they weren't sure why I kept calling them our friend, then she started crying, but now everything's better and we're all friends again!" Papyrus was holding her like she was some kind of new doll or a puppy that he took home and was about to ask his parents if he could keep it. Lou didn't mind too much, but it was making her shirt ride up a little and expose her tummy.

"P-Papyruuuus! We never stopped being friends!" She looked up at him, pouting. Of course this only made things worse as he hugged her tighter. "Ack!"

"just embrace the fact you're our friend now, kid. he'll be un-bear-able otherwise."

"Sans! Was...was that another pun?!" Papyrus looked at him with a disappointed frown.

"What's wrong? I thought it was pretty punny." Lou bit the inside of her lips to stop her smile. She failed.

"Oh not you too!"

Lou blinked her eyes groggily as she got up the next morning, staring at an unfamiliar white ceiling. Huh? She tried to sit up, but something was holding her down. As she looked at her current surroundings, everything slowly came back. Oh right, I'm at Sans and Pap's house...Paps...I wonder if he'd let me call him that. To her left was Papyrus, passed out with an arm drapped over her chest. Then to her right, was Sans, arm also drapped over her chest, but also a bit more sprawled out with his other arm hanging off the bed as he quietly snored. The sight made her blush, but also brought a smile to her face.

Now she remembered. They never left that room. Everyone was so tired from bowling and had too much fun joking and laughing that they all forgot the time. It was probably at least 4 AM by the time they actually passed out on the bed. Now it was morning, and it seemed like she was the first to wake up. It was a bit odd, seeing how she wasn't exactly an early riser if she didn't have to be. What time it was she couldn't say, but it was Sunday so nobody would have work until tomorrow. Lou looked at the two skeletons next to her one more time, smiling at their sleeping faces. She knew they'd have to get up eventually and she'd have to go home, but until then she wanted to be a little selfish, keeping quiet and letting them sleep. I don't wanna go back. I wish I could stay.

Author's Notes: Whelp, looks like I lied. Seems like chapter 5 or 6 will be where my main planning will come to an end...maybe? I don't seem to be good at this whole planning thing. After that, I'll have to brainstorm a few more ideas to keep this going in some kind of logical order. I'm still taking suggestions for little scenaios you guys might like to see happen with these guys. And it doesn't have to be limited to just Sans and Papyrus! Give me scenarios with Undyne and Alphys, Mettaton, Toriel and Frisk, Flowey, Asgore, hell even Jerry! Give me whatever you got! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a great day!