Papyrus trudged home on heavy feet, feeling both physically and mentally exhausted from his first day of training. He had expected the day to be fun, adventurous, and educational. Instead, he had signed up for stress, tension, and aggression.

The entire time Chris was rude and bossy. Sure, he was supposed to be a little commanding as he was the leader of the chef team, but that gave him no excuse to snap whenever anyone had any questions about things they didn't understand. Papyrus naturally had the most questions as he was naturally very curious and eager to learn as much as he can, yet all that did was infuriate Chris to the point where he just ignored him altogether. This caused Papyrus to fall behind on the lessons, and he struggled to catch up as Chris sped through with Grillby and Denise. He was fairly nice to Denise, but he was also very rude to Grillby. Turns out he was racist towards monsters as well as John.

There was a point where Denise tried to defend Papyrus when Chris ganged up on him during a cooking practice, but Chris completely ignored her. Chris was trying to teach everyone how to properly boil water, and Papyrus knew he had this method in the bag thanks to his many trainings with Undyne. As instructed by the former captain of the Royal Guard, he cranked up the heat as much as he could until the water in the pot over boiled and splattered all over Chris, scalding him. And boy was he livid. He sent the skeletal monster right to John, who didn't even bother to listen to his side of the story and instead banned him from cooking practices for the rest of the day.

It just wasn't fair. Sure, Papyrus perfectly expected not every human would be okay with the monsters resurfacing, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt when people ganged up on him and his kind. He hadn't cried since he was a baby bones, but today he felt like he was going to burst into tears at any moment. He wasn't used to such hostility, and he most certainly didn't know any other way to release any tension through methods other than crying. Hopefully Sans wasn't home, or if he was he was too busy napping. He just wanted to be alone in his room and release his emotions without worrying Sans about him.

He walked up the steps to his front door, yet another abrupt wave of fatigue washing over him and making his legs tremble as they struggled to support his weight. He didn't even know anymore if he'd have enough energy once he got inside to cry before passing out on his bed for the night. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the house keys, using them to unlock the door. He trudged in, closing and locking the door behind him, and made his way to the stairs. He didn't have the motivation to drag himself up to his room, so instead he turned around and collapsed on the sofa with a groan.

"Pap? Is that you?" he heard Sans call out from his room. Stifling another groan, he rolled over onto his back and sat up with much difficulty.

"Yes, brother," he replied, not surprised to find his voice sounded very tired.

He waited for the sound of his brother's snoring to indicate he had fallen asleep, but instead the door to his room opened and Sans began making his way down the stairs with a smile that looked forced, perhaps even a bit anxious. Papyrus would have questioned what was wrong if his arms didn't give out from supporting him in his sitting position, and he let out a grunt as he flopped back down on the sofa.

Sans' eyes arched in alarm before jogging uncharacteristically fast to his side. "Bro, you okay?"

"Y-Yes, I am," Papyrus lied, closing his eyes to avoid looking up at the brother whom he was currently being dishonest towards. He always hated lying to his brother. "Don't worry about me."

"Man, buddy, you look pretty bone-"

"Don't," the younger brother barked sharply, exhaustion making him irritable. He regretted his tone of voice upon seeing Sans flinch, and he let out a long, heavy sigh. "I'm sorry, Sans. It... It was a really hard day today."

"Wanna talk about it?" Sans invited softly, nestling down on his knees and placing a comforting hand on Papyrus' shoulder. "Ya know I won't judge or anythin'. I'm only here to help."

Papyrus really didn't want to talk about the hardship he had gone through during training. All he wanted to do was cry and sleep. But Sans was really worried now, and it would be unfair to leave him that way without at least an explanation. Besides, Sans was always able to help him in the past whenever he was troubled; why would this time be any different? He may be a lazy bag of bones, but he was a very kind, supportive brother. He had to show his gratitude by fulfilling his wish.

The younger brother proceeded to retell the day's events, from the disappointment of learning Grillby didn't actually own the restaurant to John banning him from cooking and everything in between. Papyrus took notice of Sans' eye lights flickering a bit at certain points of the story, specifically the parts where Papyrus and Grillby were being treated unfairly by their coworkers and manager. This only made Papyrus more anxious to continue the story; he knew of his older brother's overprotective nature tracing all the way back to their youth when bullies would pick on him, and he'd use his powers to intimidate them or even beat them up. If he decided to do the same to these people there was going to be far more trouble than just detentions or suspensions from school.

"Please calm down, Sans," Papyrus would plead softly, feeling really nervous to be around him. Sans would notice how uncomfortable his boiling fury would make Papyrus, and he'd take a few deep breaths to control it before apologizing and letting him continue. This happened about five times, and Papyrus was relieved when he finally finished his story.

Sans didn't say anything. He just looked down at his hands, his eye lights completely gone at this point. It was clear he was absolutely livid, and with reason; Papyrus himself wasn't exactly a happy camper with being treated like less than humanity's equal. When his older brother didn't reply for a few minutes, Papyrus found his voice. "S-Sans? Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not," Sans growled in reply a few moments later, his eerie gaze still fixed at the ground. "They don't have the right to treat my brother that way, or my friend. I swear, when I get my hands on them-"

"No!" Papyrus exclaimed, sounding much more frantic than he intended. Sans looked up at him in alarm, his eye lights faintly returning. The younger brother coughed self-consciously before continuing with a more controlled voice volume. "Sorry. It's just... Well, of course there are going to be people who don't accept monsters yet, just how there are surely monsters who aren't too thrilled to be living among the humans. That just means we have to work hard to prove to them that we're just as qualified to live up on the surface and share the same privileges and rights as they are."

"But we shouldn't have to work for that," Sans hissed through clenched teeth.

"You're absolutely right, we shouldn't, but that's just the way it is. Sans, I'm not happy about this - believe me, I'm really not - but I'm not just going to give up on proving to them that monsters and humans are equals. I will strive to prove to them that we monsters are safe and respectable; I'm certain the reason John and Chris and any other humans who don't like monsters don't like us is because they're scared of us and they don't know what we're capable of. It's pretty normal for monsters as well to fear the unknown, so I wouldn't expect any different from humans."

"But they still can't treat you like this, bro," the older brother argued softly. "I don't want to see you getting hurt by prejudice assholes who don't know a damn thing about us, especially considering they're the ones who trapped us down underground in the first place."

"If you believe I'll keep allowing them to get under my skin, especially considering I don't have any-" Papyrus decided to slip in a little pun to cheer Sans up a bit, smiling as he heard him chuckle a bit, "-then you've got another thing coming. The Great Papyrus is much stronger than people may think, and I'm determined to make humans see the good in monsters. I never let any sort of hardship stop me from training to be a Royal Guard member back in the Underground, and I surely won't let this stop me now."

"If you say so," Sans nodded, still sounding quite unsure. "Just... be careful, alright?"

"Of course, brother." Eager to change the subject now, Papyrus forced a smile. "So, how was your day? I see you're changed, so you must've stepped out. Though I do see the pet rock hadn't been fed yet..." He narrowed his eyes at the rock sitting on the table.

"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry, I was late for my da- uh!" Sans jolted in his seat, cheekbones tinged with electric blue, and he cleared his throat as he looked away. "Uhh... My hangout with Toriel at Muffet's."

Papyrus couldn't help but smirk knowingly. He knew too well of Sans' little crush on the former queen of the monsters, and this little slip-up of his just provided further evidence of this confirmation. He decided to tease him about his puppy love another time. "So you spent the rest of the afternoon there with her?"

"Uh, yeah. We were just, uh, y'know... tradin' knock-knock jokes and such. But, uh... then I, uh... screwed up."

Uh-oh. This won't be good. "Screwed up how, exactly?" Papyrus demanded suspiciously.

Sans ended up looking absolutely everywhere in the house but at Papyrus as he shifted nervously on his knees. "Uhh... I, uh... kinda... sorta... maybe..."

"Oh, just spit it out, Sans."

"Okay, okay! I... forgot my wallet at home. And Toriel didn't have enough Gold to cover us. Sooo... Nnnow I gotta work off what I owe Muffet." Sans grinned sheepishly up at his brother and chuckled weakly.

Papyrus let out a soft moan and rubbed between his eyes in frustration. "Oh, Sans... Well... at least this will give you practice working. It's about time you started looking for a job anyway; we've been on the surface long enough."

"Eh, you're not wrong, but truth be told I'm not really looking forward to it," Sans huffed with a shrug. "Workin's not really my forte."

"Well, let this just be a lesson learned that Grillby's the only one who'll ever allow you to keep tabs," Papyrus retorted as he stood up and made his way to his bedroom. "I had a long day. I think I'm going to spend some time in my room for a little. Be ready to go to Muffet's in the morning at... when was it?"

"Er, five."

"Wowie, that's pretty early. I'll set your alarm. Just don't hit the snooze button." Smiling a bit as his older brother lazily held up a thumb's up before making his way to the kitchen, Papyrus finished the trot up the stairs and entered his room.

The taller skeletal monster sighed as he began unbuttoning his shirt, but not before placing his hat on his bed. He was far too tired to cry now, not that he'd want to now anyway. He'd show them. He'd show John and Chris. He'd show single human on the surface and beyond that he and his kind were worthy of coexisting with them in harmony. He'd prove to everyone that he'll make a fine chef yet, and maybe he'll even earn Grillby back the title of manager just as he deserves.

Humans had determination. But monsters didn't have nearly enough of that to feel it in action. Instead, they possessed their own inner strength nearly as strong. A strength called resolve.

At that moment, Papyrus was filled with resolve.