Papyrus looked at the flower, surprised. He didn't know if it was normal for a monster to be a flower, but he didn't judge. After all, this seemed like a promising way to get rid of his boredom. And they seemed so nice!
He grinned and waved back. The flower appeared satisfied with Papyrus' attention, and proceeded to gesture for him to come closer. He stuck as his body as much as he could to the glass door. The flower laughed and shook its head, then went into the ground, popping up a little further from the shop and gestured again.
Papyrus started fiddling with his fingers, not knowing what to do. Sans was still talking to the shop owner and he didn't know if he was allowed to go. He wanted to, so badly! They were the first monster he met that didn't look intimidating at all, and they seemed like they wanted to know him. He turned around, ready to ask Sans for permission, but stopped dead in his tracks when he realized he was busy signing some papers. He didn't want to interrupt.
So…did he go on his own, or did he wait for Sans?
He turned to look at the flower and try to tell them to wait for a little, but when he did he saw that they were crestfallen and seemed really upset. Noticing his presence, they lifted their head to look at him and moved their leaves in such a way that it looked like they were shrugging, then went back into the ground.
Scared he was about to lose his first potential friend Papyrus quickly opened the door and rushed outside. He instantly felt the cold, having forgotten his coat inside, but he pushed the feeling aside and started looking for the flower in the ground, hugging himself to try to keep warm.
"Hey! Flower! Are you there? I'm sorry!" he didn't know exactly why he was apologizing, but it didn't mind as long as the monster felt better.
He suddenly saw movement under his feet and, startled, he jumped back. There they were. The flower beamed at him.
"Howdy, I'm Flowey! Flowey the flower. Who are you?" he said, still smiling.
"I'm Papyrus!" he replied, happy about finally knowing someone else other than Grillby and Sans. They would be so proud of him, he bet. They always said he needed to get some friends.
"Well, howdy, Papyrus! Why did it take you so long to get out? I was starting to think you didn't want to be my friend" he asked looking sad again, slightly lowering his petals.
"No! I'm sorry, I was going to ask my brother for permission" he was quick to reply "But I didn't want you to leave. Maybe I can ask him now…" he started to turn around, but the flower suddenly popped up in his line of vision. He looked at him, surprised.
"Don't worry, I'm sure it's ok. He'd want you to make friends, right?" he winked at him, his tongue sticking out.
"Yeah…I guess…" he agreed, still doubting.
Satisfied with the answer, the flower started tugging at Papyrus' pants with his leave.
"Come on, follow me. I want to show you something cool" he said before it got under the ground and appeared a few feet away from where Papyrus was.
The skeleton stood still a few seconds, hesitating. Sans probably didn't want him wandering off. After all he didn't know Snowdin very well, and didn't want to get lost.
He voiced his thoughts to the flower, who just laughed.
"Don't worry, it'll be just a second and I'll guide you here again. Trust me" he smiled cheerfully, still standing in the direction he wanted Papyrus to go.
That convinced the skeleton. Sans was busy anyway, and if he stayed inside he would still be bored, so how bad could it be to just go away for a little while? If Flowey promised to take him back then it shouldn't be a problem.
"Ok"
He followed Flowey. He seemed to be taking him to the forest, which started to make Papyrus feel uneasy. It was dark, cold, and kind of scary. He didn't like darkness and cold. They reminded him too much of…before. But he didn't want to be scared anymore. He wanted to be strong and brave, and maybe then Sans wouldn't have to be so worried about him anymore.
Maybe this was good. Maybe this could help him be a tougher monster. With this in mind he puffed his chest and kept walking, Flowey popping up occasionally to show him the way, but spending most of the time under the ground.
It wasn't too long after they went into the forest when Papyrus heard some shouting coming from the village. He turned, curious, but once again Flowey appeared in front of him.
"Hey, silly, what are you doing? It's the other way!" he said still smiling, though Papyrus could see the corners of his mouth twitching slightly, as if it took him great effort to keep the expression.
He was about to reply, but was interrupted by a much more clear shout. It sounded like they were screaming…his name. Sans. Sans was screaming his name!
"It's Sans! He's looking for me!" he cried, feeling awful about making his brother so upset.
He started to rush forward but had to stop not long after when he almost stepped on Flowey.
"Oh, boy! That sucks! I wouldn't want to be you right now" he laughed, despite the situation.
"Yeah, I feel really bad! He sounds so scared! Please, I need you to let me go with him" he started to move again, but once more Flowey didn't let him.
"No, not about that, silly! I meant I would be afraid if I were you"
That made him stop trying to get over the flower.
"Afraid?"
"Of course! He's gonna be sooo angry, don't you think? Now, I don't know what he's like, but I'm sure he's going to punish you when he sees you. Everyone does when they're angry" he said, and winked at him "I wouldn't go if I were you"
"P-Punish? N-no, he wouldn't do that" Papyrus shook his head "He cares about me. He…He wouldn't punish me"
The flower noticed he had hit a nerve and smiled smugly.
"Papy, trust me, everyone does that. It can't be helped" he eyed him "I bet you've been punished before, haven't you?"
Papyrus didn't reply, just kept staring at him.
"It's always the same: they say they love you, they treat you right, but in the end in this world it's kill or be killed, Papyrus. No one is truly good, not here" he looked at him with sad eyes "I'm sorry I have to be the one to tell you this. I don't want you to be disappointed later, that's all"
Papyrus kept staring, not knowing what to say. He could hear Sans panicked screams from the village, and had this sad looking flower in front of him saying everything was a lie, and he suddenly didn't know who to trust or what to do and he had trouble breathing and he didn't want to be punished but he didn't want Sans to be sad and what did he do now what did he do?!
He couldn't handle it, couldn't take the screams anymore. If he had to be punished then fine, he deserved it, he shouldn't have wandered off and he knew it. It didn't matter that he was scared because Sans was upset and that was worse than anything else.
He started running towards the village following the shouting, trying to calm down in the process. He still was having a hard time breathing, and running didn't help at all, but he needed to get to Sans and having a breakdown now wouldn't do.
He didn't bother looking behind to check if Flowey was following him. He had heard him chuckle after he started running. He didn't even know if they were friends anymore. Was he trying to help him, or did he have bad intentions? He had seemed sincere…But he didn't have time for that now.
Once he got out of the forest he could clearly see Sans running around, talking to everyone he came across in an erratic manner, then proceeding to shout his name once more while looking around. Were those tears in his face? He wasn't sure.
Papyrus sighed, shaking, not just because of the cold. He was resigned to what was to come; he had misbehaved, it was only logical.
Well, at least his brother would feel better.
