Papyrus knew that the moment their father placed the little bundled in his arms, the second those small boney fingers grasped his own, the second that giggle escape that permanent smiling mouth, is when he knew that this was going to be the number one thing he'd protect with all his life.

Sans, his little brother, his baby bones.

He vowed to never let anything bad happen to him.

And then Sans, at the young age of ten years old, lay sick in bed with a fever, Papyrus checked and double checked his brother health and realized with a sickening horror at how low it truly was. Just 1 HP, just one single hit from any attacker would be enough to turn Sans to dust. He remembered running to his father lab, Sans wrapped tightly in a blanket, holding him close to his chest. And stood there uselessly, watching as his father's assistances took Sans from him and began poking and prodding his brother, while Sans whimpered in discomfort.

Then Papyrus felt a hand on his shoulder, looking up, he could do nothing but let his father lead him out of the room. And that's when the young passionate and charismatic sixteen-year-old fully broke down, feeling like the most useless and horrible brother ever. "I didn't know what else to do!" He cried as he buried his face into his hands, his tears dripping through his boney fingers, glowing orange. "I should have tried harder!"

Papyrus felt his father wrap an arm around him and proceeded to soothe him, with comforting words. "Shhh, Papy... You did exactly what you were supposed to do."

Papyrus shook his head, his emotions making his soul ache against his ribcage. "I doesn't feel like it! I'm the older brother, I'm supposed to help him, to be there for him!"

His father moved and made it so that Papyrus was looking directly at him, wiping a tear away with the edge of his knuckle. "You were, when Sans' fever became too great, you thought responsibly and brought him to me. You did great, son."

Papyrus took a deep breath and did his best to calm himself, but a question lingered in his mind, "Father? Why is he in such poor health. Monsters his age have higher HP then him."

The older man sighed, rubbing his skull gently, "I do not know, perhaps it all has to do with a mistake on my part. But what I do know is that we are all going to be careful, and we need to make sure that he knows it too."

"Doctor Gaster?" A monster wearing the same exact white lab coat, spoke softly, hesitantly, as if not really wanting to interrupt the conversation the two skeletons were having. "Sir?"

"Yes?"

The monster flipped through the notes in his paws, "His fever was dangerously high, HP had dropped down to 0.7 but thankfully we managed to bring it down, and now we are currently healing the damage down via an IV connected to his soul."

Both skeletons let out a simultaneous sigh of relief at those words. "Thank you, Tardon."

Tardon gave them both a smile and then turned to Papyrus, "Also, he's asking for you."

He felt his soul leap to his throat, and without even needing his father to gesture him forward, he ran down the hall and into the private medical area. And there on the bed that look impossibly uncomfortable was his brother, an IV bag stood next to Sans filled with green healing magic, connecting to his brother's soul. Sans eyes meet his own and he smiled tiredly. "Bro?"

Immediate tears formed in Papyrus' eyes, thick orange tear tracks cascading down his face, "Baby bones!" He rushed forward and cupped Sans' face with his shaking hands. Then place his forehead against the younger skeleton and closed his eyes. Trying to focus on the fact that his brother was going to be okay and ignore the steady beeping of the machine that was pumping Sans' soul with healing magic. "Sans! Thank goodness, thank goodness, how do you feel?"

He watched Sans blinked his eyes once before, slowly placing his hands over Papyrus' larger ones, "Tired," Sans answered, as he blinked again owlishly. "And cold." As if to prove his point, Papyrus felt Sans' smaller form let out a full body shiver. It took less then a second for Papyrus to shed the scarf around his neck and gently, ever so gently drape it around Sans' neck. Sans let out his signature laugh, but it quickly faded as tears formed in the corners of his little brother's eyes sockets. "And…" Sans swallowed, tightening his fingers around Papyrus', "I missed you—"

Papyrus swore, he swore that those three little words felt like his soul suffered a critical hit. "Oh Baby Bones… I was so worried about you. I thought— for a moment you were going to—" Papyrus trailed off as he closed his eyes and held Sans close, because the thought of Sans dying, the thought of him losing his little brother, it made him feel physically ill, which would be a feat for a skeleton.

Sans began to visibly shake against him, as his voice cracked with emotion, "I— when I was passed out, I saw— I saw you and Dad telling how much of a disappointment I was. And then you left, and i—"

Gods, was it possible or healthy for a monster's soul to ache this much? Because Sans' words felt like his soul was being squeezed relentlessly within his rib cage. He tightened his arms around his brother, shaking his head. "Sans, we would never…"

"I know, but sometimes— sometimes, it feels like it. Not that I would blame you though, I am kind of useless tibiahonest."

How long has his brother been feeling like this? How long as he and their father been oblivious to it? More so, was Papyrus too late to fix it? Slowly and as gently as he possibly could, Papyrus climbed into the bed and rubbed soothing circles on his brother's neck bone, "You are notuseless; you are the smartest and most incredible brother I could hope for, I love you."

Sans let out a sniffle, pressing his face in Papyrus' shirt, "love you too, bro." And even in the tone of his voice Papyrus could tell that Sans didn't believe him. That he still felt like he was useless, a disappointment. A sickening dread filled his nonexistent stomach, and as he lay there, holding Sans while their father joined them soon after. Papyrus made another vow, he vowed to do whatever it took for Sans to see himself the same way that Papyrus does, bright and brilliant as the sunlight out on the surface.

Gaster fell into the Core three years later, leaving their father absent from Papyrus' memories along with everyone else's except for Sans. Who had unfortunately been there when the famous Doctor fell into his creation and altered reality where he was erased from history.

Of course, Papyrus was unaware of this, only Sans, only Sans was aware of the events.

But all Papyrus could see, could comprehend was that Sans was acting differently;

Distancing himself

Telling lies and keeping secrets him and others around them. Then Papyrus also noticed that his brother's attacks were different, more violent,

And if that wasn't all concerning enough, to Papyrus' utter shock; Sans abruptly developed a new ability he never had before. One moment they were walking back to Snowin from Waterfall, and then his brother was suddenly 3 feet in front of him. Sans jokingly nicknamed them 'shortcuts', his brother was playing it off all as a joke, that he's had them for a while but just never had the need to use them, as he winked and a smile up at him, but instead of letting it all go, instead of shrugging his shoulder and accpeting that this was just another thing about his brother that made him more incredible, it left Papyrus all the more confused and worried for Sans.

He tried to get Sans to talk, gently Papyrus tried talking to his brother. Tried so very hard to get him to tell him was wrong this him. Almost to the point of pleading, but Sans once again simply dodged the question by saying everything was fine and that he was simply tired. That maybe it had something to do with his HP bar. Sans was smart, he knew that mentioning his HP bar would always make Papyrus change the subject.

But where Sans was smart, so was Papyrus. While the thought of his brother's HP bar getting lower, he knew that this was just a dodge, a clever ruse to try and make Papyrus forget why he was voicing his concerns in the first that Sans knew very clearly knew was a main concern for his older brother.

However, it wouldn't hurt to double check.

Just to be safe.

So he checked, and while his brother's status didn't seemto have changed any, he also realized that yes, Sans was actually correct when he said that he was tired. He let out a sigh of relief when concluded that the culprit of said tiredness didn't seem to be from his brother's previous bad health. "Little brother, I just checked. And what's been happening with you lately isn't because of your poor health. Though, you do appear to have told the truth of being tired. So, I will ask again;" Papyrus place his hands gently on Sans shoulders and gave them a firm but reassuring squeeze. "What has been going on with you lately?"

He watched for a few minutes as Sans struggled to even get a word out before Sans, unsurprisingly, settled with simply shrugging. "I told ya, bro, I'm fine."

But Papyrus wasn't going to let this slide again, he couldn't. Not when he knew that his little brother was obviously hurting. "Sans! Enough! Please, baby bones! Tell me what's wrong!"

The white of Sans' eyes go out within a second. "No."

Papyrus blinked several times, caught completely off guard by the venom in Sans' voice. "E-Excuse me?"

Sans tried to wrench himself away from Papyrus, but the older brother just held on tighter. "you heard me, no. I'm sorry, bro, but I can't, I won't. You wouldn't understand anything I have to say."

"Sans, you are my little brother, I only want to help you—"

"You can't help me, Papyrus! You can't, no one can!"

But Papyrus shook his head, absolutely refusing to believe that, if his brother was hurting, then he has to do something about it. "Don't be ridiculous, Sans! Of course I can!"

Papyrus has seen his brother get angry before, he's watched Sans pointed fingers clinch into fists, so tight that if his brother had any skin at all, he would have drawn blood, would have dug his nonexistent nails into the soft flesh. He's witnessed Sans' expression contorted into one of pure rage, as his right eye glowed a fiery cyan blue, as he sometimes, not always, but sometimes turned a monsters soul blue and made them float in the air.

So yes, he'd seen his little brother mad, furious even, what Papyrus has never seen before, was all that anger directed towards him. And yet that's exactly what was happening. Right eye cyan tinted, face scrunched in obvious anger, Sans glared at him, for the first few seconds all Papyrus could do was blink several times in shock. Then that shock quickly turned to something between neutral and offense, as his hands that were on Sans' shoulders dropped. "Little brother, please just tell me what's wrong—"

And when his soul turned blue Papyrus came to the realize far too late that he may have made a huge mistake. "Sans...?"

But it seemed that Sans was still far too angry to hear him because one minute he was sitting next to his brother, and the next he was being tossed against the wall. Pain flared along his spine and skull, but it was the sudden impact that knocked the wind out of him, he choked on a gasped, as he fell to the ground in a limp heap.

Before he even had a chance of regaining any composure Sans was already talking. "You don't get it! How can you!? You don't understand anything! You don't remember anything, not like me! You don't have to live with the fact that your a burden, that your useless because you are so amazing and the best and I'm–I'm not... I'm—" Sans' grip on Papyrus' soul tightened as tears spilled down his cheekbones, Papyrus cringed at the action, trying so hard to find his voice in order to comfort his brother.

But he couldn't, all he could do was remain where he was, pinned to the floor, watching helplessly as his little brother had a mental breakdown right in front of him. "No one knows— no one knows gets what's happening! I'm the only one who knows, the only one who can do something, who has no choice but to do something, because I can't lose anyone else!"

The gravity Sans was placing against his soul was getting more and more suffocating, tears pricked at the corner of his eye sockets, finally finding his voice as he managed a weak, "S-Sans! Please..."

And then all at once the pressure dissipated within seconds. It was quiet then, all that filled the room of their home was a deafening silence combined with Papyrus' coughing fit. Then when Papyrus managed to remain some semblance of coherence, he looked up and saw Sans, looking utterly devastated. "Pap...? I... Oh god... I didn't— Bro, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to... I—" Papyrus watched through blurred vision as Sans looked down at his hands, his right eye long since lost it cyan glow. "God, what's wrong with me!?" Sans' voice cracked with that last sentence as he sank to his knees and sobbed.

The sight alone was enough for Papyrus to disregard his own pain, and bolt forward on shaky legs and wrapped his little brother in a tight hug. "Oh baby bones— Shhh, shhh, it's okay. I'm fine, I promise, you didn't hurt me." His soul ached, but it was for a completely different reason, it ached for his brother. Truthfully, Papyrus didn't know what hurt more; the fact that he had ultimately failed in his mission to help Sans see the brilliant worth in himself or realizing that Papyrus had been unaware of his brother's further decent in self hatred.

"Shhh..." Gently, he pressed Sans closer to him, he may not have any idea what his brother was talking about. But right now he wasn't concerned about any of that, right now his main concern was Sans, to comfort his brother and bring him away from that abyss, he knew the younger was dangling from. "I may not know what is causing you such distress, Sans. But you need to know that I am here. I am right here for you, because you are my dearest little brother. And no matter what you think you have to protect me from. It is my job to protect you, even if it's against something I do not understand or something you won't tell me about."

Sans clung to him like he use to as a child when he had been so very small and frail. "I'm so useless, Pap." Sans sobbed out, body trembling, "I'm sorry, you deserve a better brother then me."

But Papyrus had had enough of those words. Slowly, he pulled back and made Sans meet his eyes as he gently place their foreheads together. "Now listen here, baby bones. I never want to hear those words come out of that mouth again. Understand? You mean the world to me, brother. And nothing you could ever do would ever change that."

"I'm tired." Sans croaked out, miserably, "And the worst part is, I don't think it'll ever get better." If Papyrus hadn't been scared by Sans' words before, he was surely terrified now, he shook his head frantically.

"Then rest." He whispered gently, his soul aching as he drew Sans in for another crushing embrace. "Rest, little brother." Giving the side of Sans' skull an affectionate clank with his mouth. "And please, whenever you feel this way again, please tell me. Even if you don't want or can't tell me the reason, at least allow me to lift you up, to help you when you don't have the energy to anymore."

"Heh— I don't deserve you, Paps." Sans let out a wet sniff and nuzzled his face into Papyrus' shoulder, "I'm only going to disappoint you, bro, but I'll try."

"You could never disappoint me, Sans, not ever. I'll always be proud of anything you do," Papyrus returned the nuzzled with one of his own against Sans' skull, "Because you and I are the best of the best, and that's what makes us great, even if you can't see it yet." It was becoming apparent that Sans' earlier break down was having an effect on his ability to stay awake, for now he was slowly slipping into the comforting arms of sleep, gently, Papyrus got to his feet and placed them both on the couch, "Rest, Sans. I'll be here."

Sans let out another weak wet laugh, before he curled up like a puppy, and sigh, with a small tired smiled. "Heh, you're the coolest big bro, love ya."

Papyrus chuckled, rubbing Sans' arm in gently motions. "And I love you too, my baby bones."

And it was only afterwards, after Papyrus heard the light snores coming from his brother, only when he saw the captivated 'Z's' forming and dissipating in a slow and steady rhythm did he finally follow suit, while silent making yet another vow to himself as he left sleep claim him.

From here on out, no matter how stubborn Sans would be, no matter how many secrets his brother kept or how tired he is, Papyrus was going to be there for him.

Taking care of Sans is what made him The Great Papyrus, after all.

Another random Undertale story but something that I've always enjoyed the concept of. I love the canon of Sans being the big brother, it definitely fits him, but Papyrus being the older one is equally amazing, as cheerful and wholesome as he is who wouldn't want Papy as their older brother!?

Anywoo, a penny for you're thoughts? I hope you all enjoy another random Undertale story, feedback in the comments down below are always welcomed and appreciated and I will see you all next time.