Papyrus awoke to someone's shifting. He opened his eyes, suddenly realizing he had training with Undyne in… He stared at the clock above the couch and his eye sockets widened. 30 minutes. Accounting for the time it took to get from Snowdin to Undyne's house, even with the Riverperson's help, he had a total of 5 minutes to leave.
Which would've been completely fine… Were it not for the unbelievably entangled mess of human and skeleton bodies he found himself under. Somehow, during the night, Sans and Frisk had managed to squirm their way into an impossible position.
Frisk was lying on Sans' back, an arm wrapped tightly around one of his. Now that would've been easy enough to deal with. However, the shorter of the two brothers had hooked his other arm around Papyrus' spine through his ribs, and also had one leg going underneath one of his and over the other.
The tall skeleton measured his options. He could try to carefully get himself out of this situation, taking up most likely all of the time he had… or he could wake them up so he could leave.
But they looked so peaceful and most important of all… Adorable. He dug his phone out of wherever he had it and snapped another picture. Now that's out of the way… What to do?
Frisk woke with a small yawn. She opened her eyes, and was met with Papyrus' face near to her own. He looked... Flustered.
"Unkie Paps?" She asked, sleepiness causing her to sound even younger then her preteen age.
Papyrus' gaze lowered from Frisk to his current predicament and then back into her eyes. His entire expression just read 'help'.
Unfortunately for them, just as she was about to carefully climb off of Sans' back, he jolted awake from what could only have been a nightmare. He tried to get up, his left eye aflame.
Frisk immediately fell to the floor from it. And then as he attempted to get away from whatever threat his dreams had conjured, having both his arm and leg hooked into Papyrus, they both came crashing down on top of her.
Sans groaned in unison with Papyrus. "ouch…"
"Uggh. You guys are supposed to be lighter, you're just skeletons... Get off!" Frisk grumbled, ineffectual trying to push them off.
The other two crawled off of her, the smaller of the two just collapsing a little ways away and going back to snoring softly. Apparently self-hatred was very exhausting.
"Mrugh. I guess we should get up..." Frisk started, "But Dad is goin' back 'ta sleep. Can I go back 'ta sleep, Unkie Paps?" Without waiting for an answer, Frisk crawled over to Sans, plopping back on top of him earning an 'oompf' from him.
Papyrus sighed, picking the two sleepy heads up to Sans' room. However, upon seeing the state of the bed, he spun and instead placed the sleepy bundle on his own bed.
He left a quick note on Sans' forehead, then set off for training.
Sans woke up once again sometime later, surprisingly without having another nightmare. He felt a literal weight on his shoulders. For half a second he thought it was the weight of his sins until he tried to turn around and was met with a small groan. He twisted his neck so that he could see what was going on and came face to face with Frisk's sleep-filled eyes staring at him.
"You've got a note on your head. Says that Unkie Paps went to train with Undyne." Frisk informed. She then pulled the note off of his forehead, showing it to him.
"We should probably get up." Frisk said, before letting her head drop down onto Sans' back. "Carrrryyyyyy meeeeeeee." She demanded in a whiny tone, grasping at Sans.
He pondered what to do for a moment and then sighed heavily, deciding his grievances were better left for another time. "i would but you're kinda on top of me…"
She didn't make a move to get off of him and he turned back to face her. Raising a brow ridge at her, Sans gave her an inquisitive look, to which she just grinned. "if you don't get off i'll make ya." He warned with a bit of mirth.
"Ok!" Frisk said cheerily, hugging Sans tightly.
Sans grunted as he tried to get himself off the floor with her holding on to him. But halfway through he decided it was too much effort and flopped back on the ground. "you know what, nevermind. i think i'll just stay here for today."
"Ok, ok, I'll get off, you lazybones. Geez Dad, would it kill you to work out a bit?" Frisk teased, voice light and joking.
"i don't know, if it did maybe i should try it…" He mumbled into the floor, his mood darkening suddenly. "hey!" He yelped, Frisk flicking the back of his skull. He brought a hand up to rub over the spot and glared back at her before realizing her eyes were glistening with tears.
He turned around and sat up then, looking at the floor ashamed. He reached out for one of her hands and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her. "i'm sorry, kid… really… for everything."
"I said together. And I meant it. If you go off and die, I'm not gonna keep going without you, Dad. I'll just go back, and we'll do it together." Frisk warned, before burying her head into his chest. She sniffed, leaning into Sans and hugging him tightly.
"I just don't want to lose you..." Frisk muttered, voice muffled by Sans' jacket. She then pulled away from the hug, eyes red from crying. She slowly stood, walking out of the room. When she noticed Sans sitting and staring at the ground, she turned back and offered her hand.
"Let's go make breakfast, okay?" She asked, a large smile on her face.
He stared at her hand for a minute before actually raising his gaze to her face. Her beaming smile sent a wonderful warmth straight to his soul and he took her hand with a small smile of his own.
"alright. i'll bite." He said with a smirk.
As they cooked, or rather, Frisk cooked, and Sans cheered her on, Frisk's bright smile remained. She felt a warmth all around her. When she finished the pancakes, she offered one to Sans, almost anxiously awaiting his reaction to her cooking.
He took one tentative bite into his mouth and froze still. His pupils brightened slightly when he looked back at Frisk and grinned. "your cookin sure takes the cake." He said going straight back to eating.
"you butter keep this up. it's eggcelent." Sans commented after each forkful, stealing glances at her reactions. "olive it to bits."
"Eh, that last one coulda been better. Not even used in pancakes." Frisk judged, her face serious.
He shrugged with a cheeky grin. "oh well, they can't all be wieners."
Frisk glared at him, before starting to chuckle. In moments, she was full on laughing.
The rest of the morning went in a similar manner: Every time Frisk would finally calm down, Sans would set her off with some horrible food pun.
His laughter drifted off with her own. A comfortable silence settled around them and Sans closed his eyes, enjoying the stillness. After what happened it was nice to have a moment of quiet, both in and outside of his mind. But after what felt like forever of them just sitting there, quietly savoring each other's company, he decided that their issues should be addressed. Even if neither of them actually wanted to.
"look kid… i don't really know what's going on, and someone told me i shouldn't think about it… but i have to at least try to make sense of something. do you know what's happening to me? to us?" He asked her carefully, hoping it wouldn't set any of them off. "why is it that i feel like you matter so much to me and at the same time…"
He fell silent then, not wanting to say the rest. He didn't want to tell her that a part of him, deep down in his soul, was afraid of her and what she could do to everyone. It was like there were two versions of Frisk and he could never be sure which was in his presence.
"I don't actually know much myself..." Frisk trailed off for a moment, before leaning into Sans' side as they sat on the couch. "There was someone in the void, back when I slept once. They said that they took my memories to save me from the void. They said that if I was the only one being corrupted that they might have been able to help me without altering my memories, but someone else was being lost to the hatred of the void."
Frisk paused in their speech, looking up at Sans. "I guess that was probably you. They said that they were being used to corrupt both of us. That the void was using their hatred to possess me. That I wasn't myself for a long time.
"And that our past bond was used to get a hold of you, too."
Sans didn't know what to say to that. He stared at the ground for a few heartbeats before turning back to Frisk. "past bond? d-do you remember a time before this?" He asked after the words registered into his mind.
"i mean…" One of his hands came to rest above his chest. "i feel like… we definitely share something… i just wish i knew what."
"I don't remember. But I think it was probably the same as we have now. I mean, if we have no memories of each other, we'd probably do the same things as before, right?" Frisk asked.
"And for some reason, I don't see us being anything but family together. But... I think I might have been younger when I first fell into the Underground. I-I think I age even through the repeats."
He reached for one of her hands and rubbed soft circles on them, pulling her head to rest on his shoulder. "no one should have to go through something like that."
Sans gently pet her head, unable to find the words to comfort her. "i know i'm not worthy of being your dad, you deserve so much better. but i'll try to be here for you."
"Ya, well, you deserve a child who won't turn around and kill like a madwoman. But you love me anyways. So you had better try your best, 'cuz I'm doing the same" Frisk responded, angry at Sans' self destructive behavior.
The skeleton laughed at her fierceness. "geez, kiddo, alright." He ruffled her hair. "your best is good enough for me."
He leaned back into the couch and stared up at the ceiling. "can i ask ya something, Frisk?"
Papyrus walked through the door to see his two favorite people sitting together on the couch. He smiled they were perfect together. "I see you two are getting along. That's great, the great Papyrus shall make celebratory spaghetti!"
"Sounds great, Unkie Paps." Frisk said, barely holding her annoyed moan back. "Dad and I were talking about something, we'll head over to the kitchen in a moment."
Sans' eyes followed Papyrus walking into the kitchen. "actually, it's not important." He told her, shrugging nonchalantly. "let's just go make sure he doesn't burn the house down… wouldn't be the first time." He added with a smile.
He got up from the couch, hands stuffed into his jacket pockets. His posture was still a little slumped but he was feeling much better than he did the day before. Secretly, he hoped that everything that happened could just be buried like it never happened. It technically didn't, despite him having vivid memories of it now. Perhaps whatever he forgot from before, was actually better left that way.
At the entrance to the kitchen he turned back to Frisk, forcing a grin onto his face. "you comin?"
Frisk gave him a sour look, before muttering out a small "ya." She really didn't like it when Sans avoided saying what was on his mind like that.
"TURN up the heat frisk! Sans stop being such a lazy bones and punch those tomatoes like you mean it!" Papyrus shouted totally into the swing of making the best spaghetti ever.
Papyrus watched to see how Sans and Frisk were interacting and was pleased to see them getting along well. However, he also saw some tension in both of them.
After they finished with their meal, which surprisingly Frisk had managed to salvage, they decided to sit and watch some TV. One of Metaton's quiz shows was on and no one but Papyrus was actually paying it any mind. Sans' thoughts started drifting to what would happen next. He looked at Frisk and decided that staying here wasn't the life she deserved. The question he was going to ask her earlier before Pap had arrived swam around in his head and he really wanted the answer.
"Frisk, do you think we'll ever make it to the surface together?" He finally brought himself to ask.
"Mmhm!" Frisk assents. "If you wanna go up, then sure!"
Her enthusiastic response actually sparked a little hope inside him. To finally be free… To see the surface and all the things it had to offer. He didn't realize until then how much he actually wanted to get out, not only for himself, but for her and his brother and the lady behind the door. For everyone. And for some reason he had this feeling that Frisk would be the one to guide them there.
"i'll help you." He suddenly decided. "we're gonna make it out of here, together."
Papyrus smiled. Everything was going to be alright. When Sans had a goal, he worked towards it with a single minded fury that no one could match. "Of course you'll need my help as well. With me on your team the barrier dosen't stand a chance" Papyrus boasted.
