So we're going back in time a little bit, a few years before the start of TTYHTM. This is technically canon but since it's not really part of the story it kind of doesn't really matter? Anyway, this chapter is entirely thanks to Gilded_Pleasure! The comments they left on TTYHTM really got my inspiration flowing and next thing I know I'm writing this!
Sans started awake, bullets already whizzing around him as he snarled and blearily tried to find the threat. It was his alarm clock. The alarm was going off, the loud blaring stabbing him in the skull. He went limp and sank down into the mattress, one arm slung over his eye sockets despite the room being dark. After a few seconds the blaring alarm got on his last nerve and he blindly fumbled for it.
"alright, 'm up, 'm up!" Sans slurred at the thing before finally finding the off button and pressing it perhaps a little harder than strictly necessary. He yawned wide, then continue to talk to the inanimate object. "what time even izzit?" He looked, then winced and scrunched up his face. "holy hell, 'zway too early fer this shit." He slapped both hands over his face, digging the heels into his eye sockets. "ugh! why was my alarm set for the ass crack of dawn? i jus' wanna sleep! no… no, i set the damned thing fer a reason. get up, ya lazy bones."
He continued to grumble encouragement to himself as he struggled to lever himself up. Maybe he should finally just get a new bed frame, something sturdy enough to withstand any emergency shortcuts that crashed him on the bed. Maybe he'd make it a Gyftmas present to himself. Now there was a joke if he ever heard one.
Finally up, he yawned again as he shuffled slowly out of his room, scratching idly at his sacrum as he went. He could have just shortcut straight to the kitchen, but that would mean completely skipping Papyrus's door altogether. He may be giving the kid his privacy, a luxury Sans was all too happy to be able to give him, but that wouldn't stop him from listening at his door. Muffled snoring could be faintly heard drifting through, Sans couldn't help grinning. His baby was safe, he was safe, they had a home and food and everything else they needed. Life was good.
His next step took him through the void and right into the middle of the kitchen entrance. Then he flipped on the light, which of course immediately blinded him. Sans responded by flipping off the light, then he stumbled over to the coffee maker. It had been prepared the night before so all he had to do was turn the blessed thing on. Sans silently sent a prayer of thanks to his past self. Soon the kitchen would be full of the wonderful scent of caffeine, in the mean time he shuffled over to the wall calendar, certain whatever he had woken up for was written on there.
The day's date was circled in red ink several times. Not that Sans needed the reminder, he could never forget the significance of that date, not even if he suddenly got another gaping hole in his memory. Okay, maybe if that did happen. Maybe he should just tell Papyrus the truth now before whatever stole his memories the first time happened again.
Sans put the brakes on that train of thought before it could get any further. Not today, bitch! Today was a special day! He'd worry about it tomorrow. For now, he had a teenager to go wake up. He left the coffee machine to finish brewing as he stepped right back to Papyrus's door. Carefully and quietly as possible he slowly opened the door, poking his head through to look inside.
Papyrus was sprawled out over his bed, still the race car one Sans had gotten him for his 8th birthday, his limbs awkwardly hanging off the edge or bent up to be able to actually fit, still snoring away. Sans smiled indulgently, the kid was such a heavy sleeper. Talks with Papyrus's classmates' parents had told Sans that it was pretty normal for all teenagers, growing kids needed their sleep after all. Still, Sans couldn't remember ever sleeping that heavily, Nana would surely have taken a picture if she'd ever found him sprawled out and snoring like this. It almost seemed criminal to wake the kid up.
"hey, ya bossy li'l bastard! wake up!" With what Sans liked to think was a clever application of blue magic, he was soaring through the air and onto the bed next to Papyrus. He laughed as he bounced and jostled Papyrus, who woke with a strangled shriek. To his credit his first reaction was to summon a pretty impressive bullet pattern for being half conscious at best.
"WHAT?! WHO DARES! INTERLOPERS! INVADERS!"
Sans couldn't help laughing at that, he had no idea where Papyrus learned these things. Well no, he did have an idea: school. Probably. Not like Sans would know.
"SANS! WHAT THE HELL, BROTHER?"
Sans pushed himself upright, tangled up with Papyrus in his bed sheets, and slung an arm over his shoulders. "happy birthday, ya spoiled brat!"
Papyrus groaned, "MUST YOU DO THIS EVERY YEAR?" A pause as the rest of Sans's comment finally registered. "AND IF I'M SPOILED IT'S YOUR OWN FAULT."
"yeah it is!" Sans laughed, his soul feeling bubbly and light as Papyrus tried to hide a smile. "an' fuck yeah, every year. it's yer birthday, bro! we gotta celebrate!"
"MUST WE CELEBRATE AT THIS UNGODLY HOUR?" He gave a long suffering sigh. "AT LEAST THIS IS AN IMPROVEMENT OVER LAST YEAR."
"so, how's it feel to be fifteen?" Sans plopped himself across Papyrus's lap and looked up at him with his chin resting in his hands.
"SO FAR THE SAME AS FIFTEEN YEARS MINUS ONE DAY, ASIDE FROM SOME BROTHERLY ANNOYANCE."
"funny how aging works."
Papyrus rolled his eyes. As he was about to push Sans off him and untangle himself to get up, Sans's smug grin turned fond. "i'm real prouda ya, papyrus."
"HUH? WHAT FOR THIS TIME?"
"ya hear that?" Sans cupped a hand up to an ear he didn't have.
Papyrus stiffened, head slowly swiveling as he listened intently. After a long pause he slowly turned an exasperated glare down at Sans "I DON'T HEAR ANYTHING."
"exactly!" No pitter patter of little feet, no crying baby, no huge belly clinging to Papyrus's spine. Sans wasn't about to become a grandmother. Not yet (maybe in a few years, if that's what Papyrus wanted, but not yet). He grinned all the wider, Papyrus wasn't going to have to spend his fifteenth birthday the same way Sans had (bloated and miserable, a baby bones abusing his insides), and Sans could only pray he wouldn't have to spend his sixteenth birthday the same way either (holding a nearly one year old baby that would. Not. Stop. Screaming!) Papyrus hadn't repeated his mistake! Not that Papyrus himself had been a mistake, nothing and no one could or would ever hold a candle to him in Sans's eyes, but Sans had been determined that the same thing would never happen to him.
Papyrus scoffed and did finally get around to pushing Sans off him. "YOU'RE SO WEIRD! BUT IT'S STILL BETTER THAN GETTING THE SEX TALK FOR MY PRESENT. UNLESS YOU'RE PLANNING ON REPEATING LAST YEAR." Papyrus looked at him skeptically.
"nah, i figure once was enough. though… if ya really want, goin' over the key points again won't hurt nuthin'."
"I'M LEAVING THE ROOM." And he did, thankfully through the door and down the stairs rather than out the window like the last time he'd said that.
Sans couldn't help an excited giggle as he got up to follow Papyrus down to the kitchen. There was a mug of black coffee waiting him when he arrived, Papyrus still in the middle of preparing his own mug of milk with a splash of coffee. Papyrus yawned widely, orbits already drooped down to half mast. Poor kid was still tired, he must be about to go through another growth spurt. Sans wondered if he was ever going to stop, he'd even surpassed Sans when he'd still been in stripes! And he couldn't remember his own parents very well (he'd been (nine?) four the last time he'd seen them, of course his memories were fuzzy), but he's pretty sure Papyrus is already taller than either of them. Doesn't look like them either… he thinks. Sans wonders if Papyrus takes after his father. He wonders if one day he's going to look at his kid and it'll hurt.
Sans shook the thought away, taking a hurried gulp of his coffee to help pull himself from his musings. Today was special! He won't let anything ruin it! "hey paps, how 'bout i call into yer school an' get ya the day off? tell 'em yer sick."
"WHAT? WHY? I'M NOT SICK AT ALL?"
"c'mon! it's yer birthday, they can't do shit if i call it in."
"AND WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO ALL DAY? SIT AT HOME, ALONE AND BORED?"
"i'll call in sick too, we can spend the whole day together."
"NO THANKS, THE PUZZLE CLUB HAS A MEETING TODAY AND I DON'T WANT TO MISS IT."
"a'ight, whatever ya want." He'd already asked for the day off, but he had planned on putting together a whole party while Papyrus was at school anyway. The club meeting would turn into a field trip to their own house. It was going to be great! "speakin' of, whatcha want fer breakfast? we got time to make anythin' ya want."
A glint shone in Papyrus's pure white eye pips, "ANYTHING AT ALL?"
"check the third cupboard," Sans said nonchalantly as he went back to sipping his coffee.
Papyrus scrambled to put down his mug without dropping it in his haste to throw open said cupboard, inside was a brand new, unopened box of dinosaur egg oatmeal. Papyrus squealed in delight as he grabbed the whole thing and started tearing it open. Sans was already digging around for a pot and a pan.
"we're gonna make it a full breakfast, get out the eggplants and sausages."
Papyrus gleefully threw open the fridge and started grabbing supplies, ever his eager little helper. Sans grinned so wide his skull started to ache, but his soul was so full he didn't even care.
"CAN WE HAVE SCRAMBLED EGGPLANTS WITH CHEESE AND PEPPERS?"
"whatever ya want, kiddo."
As they sat down to eat he thought his soul was going to explode with happiness. What a way to dust, just have his soul burst at the seems as he watched Papyrus shovel breakfast into his mouth like he hadn't eaten a full meal in weeks (despite Sans knowing he'd had double portions at dinner the night before.)
Papyrus finally seemed to notice Sans's dreamy stare. "WHAT? WHAT IS IT?"
"nothin', just… i'm so prouda ya."
Papyrus huffed, "YOU SAID THAT ALREADY THIS MORNING."
"sure, but it's still true. i'm prouda ya, an' i'm gonna keep sayin' it s'long as it's still true."
Papyrus blushed so brightly he started glowing and mumbled something Sans didn't quite catch before going back to eating ravenously.
Sans's soul, which had already been full to bursting, swelled even more. He couldn't imagine a life like this when he was fifteen, the fact he had come so far that his own kid wasn't even in the same ballpark… it had his soul overflowing with warm, soft, wonderful feelings. Life was good, and if he had any say in the matter it'd stay that way.
"so proud of you," he murmured one last time before digging into his own breakfast.