In Which "BROnding" Occurs?
There were two things that could have happened after Undyne left the house. She said that she had gone to find Sans and tell him to come back here to talk things out. Sans would either be back in less than five minutes – as soon as Undyne mentioned to him that something was wrong – or he would take probably closer to half an hour while Undyne explained things to him.
If it was going to be five minutes, then Papyrus knew he had some very quick cleaning to do.
Before anything else, he had to heal his bones enough that they would stop leaking dust. Even the smallest bit on his clothes could tip Sans off and let him realize that something was wrong. As a potential future Royal Guardsman, he was armed with the knowledge of basic healing magic, so it was less than a minute before his bones were solid again. The chips would remain – those would be permanent if time wasn't going to reset – but they would easily be covered by his mittens and the stretchy black sleeves of his battle body. There weren't any chips high enough on his arms this time that he needed the sleeves to cover them, but pulling them as close to his hands as possible made Papyrus feel just a little bit more secure.
Next, he had to tidy up the dust.
One of the perks of living in Snowdin is that the snow was the same colour as monster dust. What had gotten on the floor was easily swept up and brushed out the window.
Giving his room one last look over, the only things that were out of places were his chisel and his mittens. The chisel was soon replaced in the box at the top of the closet, and the mittens were snugly fit back over Papyrus's hands. He didn't notice the small amount of dust that rubbed off of his arm and onto the edge of one of his mittens.
With all of that taken care of, Papyrus knew that he might have only a minute left to appear as having been doing something completely normal when Sans walks in. Fortunately, his brother is messy enough for two skeletons, so there is always plenty to clean.
Yesterday or a few years ago, Sans had skipped his day to clean the house. Between the dusting and vacuuming and tidying and washing and organizing and fluffing and anything else he could think of, there was a lot of work to do.
Some twenty minutes later, Papyrus is just finishing up with the duster when Sans walks into the house.
"'sup bro?" Sans asked casually as he entered.
"YOU KNOW WHAT'S "'SUP" BROTHER. IT IS ALREADY LATE IN THE MORNING AND YOU ARE NOT STANDING WATCH AT YOUR SENTRY POST." Papyrus replied.
"so are you, bro."
"YES, BUT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE ALREADY INFORMED UNDYNE THAT I WILL BE LATE TODAY. I HAVE RESPONSIBLY LET HER KNOW THAT SHE SHOULD NOT EXPECT TO SEE ME UNTIL THIS AFTERNOON."
"i heard about that. undyne seemed real worried about it. scared too. wanted me to check up on you. any idea why?" Of course, Sans already knew the reason, kind of. "skipping work isn't like you."
"YES, WELL I WOULDN'T HAVE TO SKIP WORK IF SOMEONE WOULD JUST CLEAN UP THEIR MESSES WHEN IT IS THEIR DAY TO CLEAN!" Papyrus retorted.
"uh... was it my day to clean?"
"YESTERDAY! AND I COULD NOT JUST LEAVE THE MESSES SITTING HERE TO GET MESSIER! IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KEEP YOUR HOUSE TIDY IN CASE SOMEONE COMES OVER TO HANG OUT OR TO DATE!"
Sans had to chuckle at that. If the human was behaving itself this round, then Papyrus would get to have his date/hang out tomorrow. He figured that Undyne must have been overreacting. Papyrus seemed completely fine.
Still, he couldn't quite let go of the niggling feeling that she might have been on to something. This was a completely new change in the routine that he had grown accustomed to. Sure, it wasn't uncommon for Papyrus to spontaneously clean the house (except for Sans's own room) from top to bottom until everything shone, but this was the first time that he had done so now. This was the first time that he had skipped work to do something that could wait a few hours with absolutely no consequences.
Or maybe Papyrus had found his secret prank plans hidden deep in the couch cushion.
It was more likely that this was just a very unlikely possibility that hadn't come to pass in any of the previous resets. Time is in flux, and any number of things can happen in a given situation. Papyrus has an almost compulsive need to keep things clean, and he also refuses to take time off from work for any reason barring death. Sans inwardly winced. Perhaps this time, his need to clean won over his need to prove himself worthy of the Royal Guard.
Only staying to clean once in over one hundred resets proved that Papyrus had a lot of dedication. Nearly 100%. If only Undyne could see this and be proud.
"speaking of hanging out, i got some weird orders from undyne. she told me that the two of us needed to slack off today. nice of her, huh?" Sans walked over to the couch and fell onto it face first. He intended to slack off to the fullest today.
Papyrus frowned, "THERE IS NO WAY THAT UNDYNE WOULD SAY ANY SUCH THING. JUST BECAUSE YOU WANT TO NAP THE DAY AWAY, DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOU CAN JUST MAKE UP EXCUSES TO GO DO IT."
Sans took his cell phone out of his pocket and gestured in the direction he thought Papyrus is standing, "she ordered it by text and everything so you can't refuse. i don't think anyone could manage to fish her phone away from her to prank us." His voice was muffled a bit by the couch.
Papyrus ignored the terrible wordplay and took the phone from Sans's hand and read the messages himself. With the way that Sans was acting, it was impossible that Undyne had told him any details about what she had caught him doing earlier. Did she expect him to slip up in front of Sans or talk to him about it? As smart as Sans was, he just wasn't observant when it came to other people. Papyrus had to smile a little. He was safe.
"I SEE. YOU ARE STILL WRONG! UNDYNE DID NOT ORDER US TO SLACK OFF AT ALL! SHE ORDERED US TO HAVE THE MOST FUN DAY EVER! THIS CAN NOT BE ACCOMPLISHED IF YOU SPEND THE WHOLE DAY WITH YOUR FACE IN THE COUCH!" Papyrus picked his brother up by the hoodie and forced him into a sitting position, "NOW WE CAN BEGIN HAVING FUN!"
As he was being manhandled, Sans noticed the white flecks on Papyrus's mitten. It was odd because Papyrus would never let his clothes get dirty. They were always cleaned before the house was. Something was definitely not right. "hey bro, what's that on your mitten?"
Papyrus looked down to see the dust and inwardly panicked a bit, "OH. THIS? THIS IS... FLOUR! FROM THE SPAGHETTI NOODLES THAT I MADE THIS MORNING FOR THE BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI THAT YOU DID NOT EAT! MAKING THE NOODLES YOURSELF ALLOWS FOR AN EXTRA PASSIONATE SPAGHETTI! AND EXTRA PASSION MEANS EXTRA GREAT FLAVOUR!"
Is that really all it was? He had worried for nothing. "i see. you might have to show me that then. wouldn't making pasta with your bro count as a fun day? you would even have a trofie to show undyne that you were following her orders."
"SANS! THIS WORDPLAY OF YOURS IS MOST CERTAINLY THE OPPOSITE OF FUN!" Papyrus protested. At least Sans was dropping the subject.
"you're smiling."
"I KNOW, AND I HATE IT! I MIGHT JUST HAVE TO TAKE UNDYNE UP ON HER FIFTY LAPS!"
"aw, c'mon. don't be like that bro."
Sans did look a little bit closer at Papyrus, though. Even if this was just an uncommon timeline with unusual events, the theory didn't explain everything. Undyne, while she could be aggressive and while she tended to jump to conclusions, was never scared for no reason. She thought that something was wrong with Papyrus, and she said that whatever it was was terrifying. Sans didn't know if she was right about Pap, but she always needed a very strong and very good reason to be scared.
What could have gotten her so worked up?
Some of Papyrus's habits could seem strange to people if they weren't used to seeing him. When they were children, Papyrus would stack things, and sometimes they would fall over on him. Sometimes he'd pace and chatter to himself until his feet were scratched up. Sometimes he would rub or scratch his arm and leg bones until they turned a slightly different colour. He didn't do much of that stuff anymore (or at least he did it privately if he did), so Sans wasn't sure what Undyne could have seen.
Maybe she saw one of his old scars? The scratches of falling cans and rough ice would be old and mostly faded by now, but for someone who doesn't know about these old odd habits, he supposed the marks might possibly be considered scary to see.
...That was probably a stretch. Besides, Papyrus never removed his battle body. Even in front of Sans, who already knew about the marks. Something about needing to be ready if a human took them by surprise. Not that the human could surprise him anymore. Not that Papyrus would know that.
He certainly had come a long way since they were kids.
"SANS, COOKING PASTA REQUIRES INTENSE CONCENTRATION AND A LOT OF PASSION! I'M... NOT SURE THAT YOU WOULD BE... NECESSARILY... THAT IS TO SAY... IT'S A LOT OF WORK, AND YOU LIKE TO BE LAZY!" Papyrus explained.
"i'll be fine, bro. i think i can serve up some extra energy to cook with you." Sans winked.
Papyrus stamped his foot in annoyance, "FINE! IF YOU INSIST ON LEARNING TO MAKE PASTA, THEN YOU CAN CUT THE NOODLES INTO THE RIGHT SHAPE AFTER I POUND THE INGREDIENTS INTO DOUGH! BUT ONLY IF YOU QUIT. MAKING. PUNS!"
"aw, you're so knife to me, bro. never forkget, i love you!" Sans said sincerely.
Papyrus was glad that he was turned away from his brother so that Sans couldn't see the pain flash across his face. It was brief, but it was there.
He had to keep acting happy and being the clueless brother. Papyrus didn't know what Undyne had said to Sans, but somehow he was in a better mood than before? It didn't make any sense at all, since Undyne had been very angry when she had left. Papyrus was sure that she would tell Sans everything.
No matter, he would just have to bless his luck and get through the rest of the day. The human would be showing up tomorrow, and then Sans would be distracted. Until then, he just had to be the best brother that he could be. He would laugh and tease Sans, and they would make enough spaghetti to last until the next repeat. Sans would fall asleep halfway through cutting a noodle, and it would probably get stuck in his eyesocket when he fell face first onto it. Papyrus would move him to the couch, finish cooking the spaghetti, then wake his brother up in time to eat dinner.
Later on, he would hide in his room and self destruct so that no one else has to. If Sans was happy, if everyone else was happy, then maybe Papyrus could be...
"I MIGHT START TO REGRET THIS... SPOON! NYEH HEH HEH! I LOVE YOU TOO. NOW LET'S MAKE SOME PASTA!"
Papyrus began to mix the dough for the noodles with as much energy as he could. Sans made some more pasta jokes, and inevitably fell asleep. He had at least managed to cut all of the dough into precise linguini shapes. It wasn't spaghetti, but his brother had tried.
Papyrus smiled to himself as he carried his sleeping sibling to the couch. He finished the pasta much more calmly and quietly than anyone would have believed if they were present (or conscious) to see. He woke Sans up just as the sauce was finished, and the two shared the meal. Papyrus figured it must have been the best he'd made so far because Sans actually asked for a second plate.
For the first time in who knows how many repeats, Papyrus smiled a real smile. If Sans was happy, then maybe he could be...
Or was that too much to wish for?
It wouldn't do to get his hopes up too high, only to be crushed again later.
Sooner or later, Sans would fall back into his depression because he thinks he knows everything and that nothing will ever change.
When that happens, Papyrus will...
He had to remember to wash his gloves thoroughly later.