At first, no one reacted to Papyrus' speech. That is, they were all struck dumb. Then they all seemed to react at once, and only later, when Papyrus was writing the event down in his diary, did he manage to separate out what each one of them had done.

Frisk's reaction was the first one he wrote down. They didn't seem all that surprised by the information, although they did look sad. Papyrus knew that his young friend sometimes had a hard time seeing the good in people. With the way they were acting, he would not be surprised if they could fill in the gaps in what he had said. Yes, he really needed to have a good long chat with his friend sometime soon. Somewhere private.

They signed to him in a rare moment when he was just looking at them, [You and me and Sans and Cha- uh, we can start a bad parents club! I'm sure we'll find other people to join! We can talk about our feelings.]

Somehow, that idea seemed so very much like the young human.

Next was Alphys. She seemed, once she got over her shock, to be… interested. The kind of interest that had led her to become one of the foremost scientists in her field. It wasn't cold, though. It was altogether too warm. Papyrus knew, he just knew, that she wanted to know more about what had happened to Sans so she could fix him. It was an expression he really wasn't happy to see. He had too many of the wrong kind of memories of those doctors that had hovered around Sans when he was a kid. Most of them featured that expression.

It didn't help that Papyrus knew about Flowey and the Amalgamates now. Alphys might have meant well, but, as his human friends were fond of saying, the road to hell is paved in good intentions. He was sure Alphys wouldn't mean to do harm, but that didn't mean she wouldn't. Papyrus would prefer it if she didn't even try.

Maybe his preferences would have to wait. The last thing Alphys said in reaction was, "I, um. I can m-m-make a sock machine for him. One that will keep all his socks organized and clean. If that's okay?"

Papyrus nodded. That would probably make his brother happy, and he couldn't see how that would cause any harm.

Undyne's reaction was the next one he wrote down. She reacted exactly as he expected her to. At least the cup she had been holding was a plastic one. Papyrus really didn't want to have to drive his friend to the hospital to get glass plucked out of her hand. That would not be fun.

"Okay, someone had better be there with me when we go after these punks, because otherwise someone is getting PUNCHED!"

Papyrus grinned at her. He was definitely sure that Undyne would need to be held back, but it felt nice to have someone care so much about him and Sans that she would lose her temper and try to punch the people who had hurt them so badly.

Gerson was next. He had the least big reaction of them all. His one eye narrowed and his face grew grim. "That must be why you were all alone back then. You must have just been abandoned. I wish I would have stopped you then. I knew something wasn't right, wah hah hah! But I doubt you would have trusted me. Not that I blame you, no. Not after what you'd been through."

Papyrus smiled politely at him, not meeting his eyes. It wasn't that he didn't like Gerson; he did! It was just… he didn't know how he was supposed to react to that. Just like Gerson giving him the crab apples all those years ago, this, too, was unexpected.

Less unexpected was Grillby's reaction. Papyrus had known the tears were coming. It would have surprised anyone who didn't know him well, but Grillby was hugely empathetic and a big softy. The thought of what his children had gone through was bound to affect him. It didn't surprise Papyrus in the least when white-hot tears of liquid magic dripped down his face. Papyrus pulled out a scrap of fabric from his pocket and handed it to his father. Grillby took it, stared at it for a moment, then eventually remembered what it was for and wiped the tears off of his face.

"... Thank you, Papyrus. I am….. so, so sorry for what happened to….. you. Is there anything….. I can do to help?"

Papyrus shook his head. There wasn't anything for Grillby to do because Papyrus wasn't feeling bad at all. He was used to remembering this. He always had. It was everyone else who was being affected by this for the first time.

Also crying was Asgore, but his focus seemed to be on Sans. That was understandable. He was his datemate, after all. Even if Papyrus didn't understand this whole "love" thing, he understood that Asgore's focus would be on Sans. He was fine with that. Someone should pay attention to his brother. This was going to affect him badly.

Asgore reached out with his right hand towards Sans. He wasn't close enough to touch him, but that little motion spoke volumes about his personality. He wanted to comfort Sans. Good.

Toriel needed some comfort, too. She looked absolutely shocked and horrified. Her whole body trembled and shook, her eyes were glassy and unfocused, and her hand hovered in front of her mouth. She looked like her whole world had been shaken, even though Papyrus knew she had suspected some of his revelations for some time now.

When she gathered herself enough to speak, Toriel said, "I… am very glad that you are alright, Sans, Papyrus. That must have been a horrible way to grow up. I can scarcely imagine living like that. I am very much looking forward to seeing these people arrested. No child should be treated like that."

Of all the people in this room, Sans' had been the reaction he was most uncertain about. But that made no sense, right? Sans was the person in this room that he knew best. Surely he should have been the easiest to predict. Surely.

Sans stayed in shock for the longest out of any of them. He didn't shake like Toriel did. Instead he just… switched off. Papyrus stared with interest at the stationary pile of bones. The eye lights in Sans' head had switched off; the rise of his ribs had failed to fall; the gentle strokes of his hand on Frisk's hair had frozen; in short, he behaved like the inanimate skeleton he wasn't.

When he finally moved, it was like someone had slapped him. He jerked back. He still had no eye lights, but his sockets widened. His hand scrunched up a handful of Frisk's hair (not enough to hurt them, thank goodness). His whole body tensed.

Then Sans forced himself to relax… in a way. Papyrus knew the mask he slipped on very well. The smile on Sans' face had no meaning behind it whatsoever. It felt like a sucker punch to see it. Sans had been doing so well, had been emoting and being honest with his feelings in a way that normal monsters could understand. Papyrus wasn't surprised to see this, though. It was a huge shock to Sans. He only hoped he didn't feel betrayed.

"... why didn't you tell me?" Sans asked quietly. So much for that hope. "i'm your brother! i should… you should…"

"I DIDN'T WANT TO HURT YOU. THESE AREN'T GOOD MEMORIES, AND YOU SEEMED SO MUCH HAPPIER ONCE YOU COULDN'T REMEMBER THEM ANYMORE. I DIDN'T WANT TO RUIN THAT OVER SOMETHING LIKE THIS. YOU'RE MY BROTHER. I WANTED YOU TO BE HAPPY," Papyrus said simply.

Everyone turned to Sans except Frisk, probably because it was hard to look at someone from on the floor in front of their chair with their phalanges in your hair. Frisk watched Papyrus, instead. Yes, he definitely needed to have a chat with Frisk.

Sans sighed. "i… i guess i can't fault you there. i've kept secrets from you for the same reason. if i got mad at you for this i'd be a huge hypocrite."

Papyrus chuckled in a reaction he did not expect. "YOU ARE ALLOWED TO GET MAD AT ME, SANS. IT WASN'T A GOOD DECISION. I SHOULD HAVE TOLD YOU. IT'S YOUR HISTORY, TOO. YOU DESERVE TO KNOW ABOUT IT."

"well, now i do, and i'm not mad. i'm just… i guess it really hasn't sunk in? i'm still reeling."

Toriel stood up, drawing everyone's attention to her. She coughed and said, "While we are waiting for it to sink in, why don't we all get something to eat? I believe I have a cinnamon-butterscotch pie in the fridge. Who would like a slice?"