Written for day 2 of Febuwhump, requested by a Tumblr follower. Come over to tumblr to request things from me! Sharada-n
"When will you be back?"
Papyrus stops moving, his hands frozen over the suitcase he is packing. The zipper reflects the light coming through the window, perfectly polished, newly bought. He pulls on it. "I thought we agreed you wouldn't ask this."
"I know," Sans says, casually. Everything about him is casual, an effortless front pulled up by curtain strings and he can push and he can prod but it won't fall down unless Sans wants it to. Papyrus knows he could make it fall too. "Or, actually, no. You agreed, I didn't agree to anything."
A grimace spreads across Papyrus' face and well, that is true isn't it? It wasn't like him to falter on such technicalities. Usually, he is more thorough than that. "Fine. Ask again."
Sans doesn't do so right away. He waits for Papyrus to finish hauling his suitcase off the bed, down the stairs, and into the living room. Then he finally speaks up. "Hey Paps, when will you be back?"
And it hurts, hurts more than dying, hurts more than leaving, for Papyrus to turn around and look his brother in the face when he answers. "I won't be coming back at all."
The reaction he gets is... underwhelming. Maybe they had both known this would be how it ended all along. The suitcase is on the ground beneath them, forming the physical barrier that had been merely metaphorical for so long but then it's there and Papyrus is looking at it, unable to stop. A tiny part of him still thinks this is a bad idea, but a bigger part knows there is no other option.
It's either this or dying and Papyrus is more than sick of dying.
Then he steps forward to reach for the straps and in that same moment Sans is moving too, spurred on by the shock probably. He grabs hold of Papyrus' wrist. "Don't-"
He hates how broken it sounds. Like Sans won't be able to survive without him.
"Don't leave-" Sans says. "Just don't, Papyrus. Just stay and we can fix this, I can fix this. You don't need to go, we can-"
Papyrus jolts, and if the way he wrenches his arm lose is too much then he can simply feel guilty about that later. "There is no we, Sans. We ruined that."
Or Sans ruined that, but not even in this moment Papyrus would be spiteful enough to spit that in his brother's face. It can be a secret, held deep within his ribcage burning away at night, festering and growing until running away is the only thing left to do.
Until they reached the surface and the world was endless again and time was endless again too. Then Papyrus will have no choice but to get up and live again.
He starts walking, turns his back and doesn't dare look in fear of hesitance. Sans call after him. "Please come back."
Papyrus closes the door behind himself.
The sky is blue and fractured by clouds, the sun a glaring orb of destruction Papyrus has always loathed, and it's magnificent. Really, it's the most wonderful thing he has ever seen.
Papyrus just never imagined freedom would feel so painful.
