Papyrus was surprised, to say the least, when he found Sans and the human asleep and leaning against each other on the couch that morning. His brother didn't open up to many people, after all. But Sans had covered for this human so earnestly that Papyrus had just went along with it. If this small human was so special to Sans, then Papyrus couldn't take that away from his brother.
Even if it made him wait a bit longer to gain his dream, it wouldn't be worth it if he hurt his brother in the meantime.
Papyrus studied the human, noticing the dried tear stains that marked their way down their cheeks. Papyrus wondered what they had been crying about. When he had first seen the child, sure, he had wanted to capture them for Undyne, but after seeing his brother's protective actions all Papyrus really wanted to do now was make the kid smile. They didn't smile and laugh as much as someone that small should, in Papyrus's opinion.
.
Frisk stirred, their neck aching and their eyelids feeling heavy as they yawned and stretched. They were slumped against something that felt suspiciously like… "Sans!" Frisk yelped in recognition, jerking away as flashes of memory raced through their mind.
A hand caught them, looping around their torso and pulling them back down. "five more minutes…" Grumbled the skeleton, eyes still tightly shut.
Frisk gazed back at him in dismay, their cheeks turning pink as the memories of last night came back. They had thought the worst of the panic attacks were over, after staying with Toriel for so long, but they had come racing straight back as Frisk saw more of the world they had nearly destroyed.
"OH! YOU'RE AWAKE, COUSIN!" Papyrus announced, poking his head into the room. He grinned at Frisk, and glanced at Sans in disapproval. "SORRY ABOUT HIM, BY THE WAY. HE TENDS TO OVERSLEEP OFTEN. DON'T WORRY THOUGH, HE'LL BE UP WHEN HE SMELLS THE DELICIOUS BREAKFAST I MADE!"
"…what is it?" Frisk asked, giving up under the heavy skeleton's arm and settling back down.
"SOMETHING REALLY SPECIAL! …SPAGHETTI!" Papyrus announced, beaming with pride.
Frisk squinted at him, and wondered if the skeleton ever made anything other than pasta. Suddenly Sans eating out a lot made a lot more sense. "Leftovers?" They ventured quietly, and Papyrus scowled at them, although his sparkling eyes showed he was just teasing Frisk.
"LEFTOVERS? WHAT KIND OF PERSON SERVES HIS GUESTS LEFTOVERS? THESE ARE FRESH NOODLES! THE FINEST KIND!"
"….I see." Frisk said, deciding just to go along with Papyrus like usual.
Sans suddenly groaned, and pushed himself up into a sitting position, releasing Frisk as he rubbed at his eyes. "how are you two so noisy this early in the morning," he grunted. "it's not even noon yet."
"SANS, YOU LAZY BROTHER," Papyrus started. "GET UP ALREADY, WE HAVE IMPORTANT PLANS TO DO TODAY!"
Sans squinted at Papyrus, before Frisk and Sans glanced at each other in curious surprise. Neither remembered any important plans from Papyrus other than 'capture the human' that landed on this day.
"uhhh… what important plans are you talking about, paps?" Sans ventured, getting up and walking over to the kitchen.
Papyrus beamed down at them as Frisk joined Sans, hair sticking up in the back from their sleep. "WHY, WE HAVE TO SHOW OUR COUSIN ALL OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS'S PUZZLES! I'M SURE THEY'LL LOVE 'EM!"
Sans snickered, and then nudged Frisk with his elbow. "ok, sure. after breakfast we can go do that. i'll be, uh, guarding my sentry stations in the meantime."
"OH NO YOU DON'T SANS, YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO SNEAK OFF AND TAKE MORE NAPS."
Sans laughed, scratched his head, and shrugged. "man, you caught me again, papyrus."
"JEEZ, YOU'RE UNBELIEVABLE BROTHER." Papyrus complained, and then turned his gaze to Frisk. "ANYWAYS, COME EAT, COUSIN! WE HAVE A BIG DAY AHEAD OF US."
Frisk hesitatingly slid into a seat at the table, and tried to look like they were eating the inedible spaghetti placed in front of them while Sans sipped on what looked suspiciously like a glass of mustard. Papyrus kept talking cheerfully, heaping more and more spaghetti onto Frisk's plate as fast as Frisk could hide the pasta in their clothes.
After "breakfast" (Sans had slipped Frisk a hot dog that, although edible, was little better than the spaghetti) the three had ventured back out into the snowy forests surrounding the town. Frisk tried to quietly complete everything as fast as possible, still tired and not wanting to stay out in the cold, but Papyrus seemed persistent in his attempts to play with Frisk.
The trouble started when Frisk had stood beside Sans while tucking their hands into their sweater and staring listlessly down at their feet, they were startled enough to let out a squeak of protest when Papyrus raced up to them, picked them up and tossed them onto his back, before racing away with his prize. "NYEHEHE, SANS, BEFORE YOU RUB OFF WITH YOUR BAD HABITS ON THEM, OUR COUSIN IS GOING TO HAVE FUN WITH ME FOR NOW! CATCH US IF YOU CAN!" Frisk clung to the skeleton's neck in surprise, and they could see Sans startle, looking over at them in shock before starting to run after him as Papyrus skidded down a tall hill as he skated down expertly keeping his balance, snow flying up around them.
"h-hey! paps wait a moment don't do that!" The hefty skeleton tripped, face planting into the snow and starting to roll down the snowy hill as he gained speed. "h-hey! paps! a little help here!"
"NYEHEHE YOU'RE NOT GOING TO CATCH US LIKE THAT, SANS!"
"Papyrus, what are you doing?!" Frisk yelped, clinging to the taller skeleton tightly as they tried not to get flung off.
"HAVING FUN, OF COURSE!" Papyrus yelled over Sans's cursing as the other skeleton started to resemble a snowball.
"papyrus! i'm going… to get you for this!" Yelled Sans, the two skeleton's reaching the bottom of the hill at the same time. Sans's ball of snow exploded, snow scattering everywhere as the skeleton slid across the ice and lay on his back, puffing, as Papyrus zipped by him.
"BUT BROTHER, FIRST YOU HAVE TO CATCH US. RIGHT, COUSIN?"
Frisk couldn't help but start laughing at Sans's responding groan, a sound that seemed to delight Papyrus. Frisk wrapped their arms around Papyrus's neck for a snugger grip, and relaxed as Sans finally got back up and chased them around, but Frisk could tell Sans wasn't really angry.
Then Frisk's eyes dropped to the red scarf they were clinging to, and for a moment, Frisk's breath caught in their throat before they pushed the uneasiness away and tried to focus on the present.
.
Sans reached over and flicked the snow out of Frisk's hair. "hey, papyrus, we should head back. meat sacks need to be kept at warm temperatures."
Papyrus let out a muffled grunt from where Sans had used his blue magic to drop a ton of snow on him, burying the tall skeleton instantly after Sans had yanked Frisk out of the way, and wiggled his face out of the snow. "UH, A LITTLE HELP? BROTHER?" He asked hopefully, but Sans smirked at Papyrus instead and started walking away.
"c'mon, frisk. he'll get out eventually."
"OK." Frisk agreed, their eyelids drooping as they tried to stifle a yawn as they turned and followed the skeleton. Their clothes were soaked, and they couldn't help but remember the last time Papyrus found them out in the cold forest, all alone and sick… Frisk shivered, and suddenly a thick blue hoodie was tossed at their head.
"don't get sick on me, kiddo, paps really worried about you last time." Sans admonished, and Frisk gratefully pulled his jacket on.
The two walked side by side in the quiet lull of night- or, at least, Underground's night. The villager's had once again shut off their lights, the snow gleaming softly in the darkness. Behind them, Papyrus had managed to free himself up to his waist with a lot of squirming, and the two waited for him by the bridge to the village.
"hey, kid." Sans ventured as he gazed down at the forest far below the cliff. "this is kind of a random question, but… have you ever met a third skeleton?"
Frisk blinked, and then shook their head. "N-no… is there another skeleton here? I've never seen a skeleton other than you and Papyrus…"
"…no. there's just me and papyrus." Sans affirmed, his eyes flickering for a moment. "sorry. just a thought i had. ….forget i said that."
"Sans-"
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU LEFT ME," Papyrus whined, racing up behind them as he brushed the last of the snow off of his shoulders. "YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO GET SO MAD, BROTHER, I DIDN'T PUSH YOU DOWN THAT HILL."
"no, you made me chase you for five hours." Sans retorted, a small smile on his face as he squabbled with his brother. Frisk watched the two, and giggled again despite themselves. Both skeletons turned to look at them, their eyes glowing white in the darkness, and Sans grinned at Frisk. "hey, kiddo, you look positively bone tired. why don't we head home."
"M'kay." The human said tiredly, yawning.
They followed the brothers back to their house in the darkness, but when it came time for them to go to sleep, they lay in Sans's bed wondering if their nightmares would be quite so vivid that night. They rolled onto their other side, but the darkness suddenly felt suffocating, like they hadn't RESET and everyone outside of the door was still dead. Frisk felt sweat drip down their face, and they shivered, trying to squeeze their eyes shut and force the uneasiness to go away. So what if it was quiet, Frisk had been alone long enough to sleep alone at night by now, after all…
The door abruptly swung open, and Sans's bulky form stood in the doorway, a pillow tucked under his arm. "hey, kiddo." He greeted, and then sheepishly shrugged. "…you wanna come watch a movie with me downstairs? i made popcorn."
Frisk stared at him for a moment in surprise, then scrambled to their feet. "What… a movie?" Their voice shook a little, and Frisk hoped Sans didn't notice it even though they were certain he did.
"yeah. alphys lent it to me. wanna see?"
And even though Frisk fell asleep in the first few moments of the opening sequence, Sans didn't say anything about it but merely turned off the television, pulled the blanket over Frisk, and went to bed on the other side of the couch.
.
The next day, Papyrus insisted on introducing Frisk to Undyne.
The three of them stood in front of her house, and Frisk mentally prepared themselves, expecting to be attacked.
"Wha- oh. It's you." Undyne said, opening the door. "Papyrus, your lesson isn't until tomorrow, you know. If you came to bother me about letting you into the Royal Guard again, now is a bad time because I have a date- ahem, a tactical meeting- scheduled with Alphys."
"ACTUALLY, I'M NOT HERE ABOUT JOINING THE ROYAL GUARD THIS TIME, UNDYNE!" Papyrus announced. "I CAME TO INTRODUCE MY COUSIN TO YOU!"
"Your… cousin?" Undyne glanced down at Frisk, confusion and then alarm flitting through her eyes. "Wait a minute, that's your cousin?!"
"yeah," Sans affirmed, closing one eye as he draped one arm around Frisk's neck. "we need to introduce them to alphys too, so maybe we could come with you to her lab?"
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me. That's clearly a human!" Undyne snapped, a blue spear appearing with a flare of light in her hand. "What are you two even talking about, we need to kill it right now!"
Papyrus jumped in front of Frisk immediately, arms outspread. "W-WAIT, UNDYNE! COME ON, THIS IS A MONSTER, CAN'T YOU TELL THAT? PLEASE, PUT THAT SPEAR AWAY."
"yeah, undyne, frisk is a they, not an it. don't be rude." Sans chimed in, and Frisk edged behind the skeleton as they guiltily remembered Undyne's last appearance, where Frisk had slain her not just once, but twice.
"…" Undyne stared down at Frisk, suspicion evident on her face, before her lip twitched and she let the spear vaporize into nothing. "…if you're sure of this, you two." She growled, shooting an accusing gaze at Sans. "Don't forget we have six of seven SOULS, though. You wouldn't do anything to endanger that, right?"
"of course not."
"THE GREAT PAPYRUS WOULD NEVER!"
Still glaring at Frisk, Undyne motioned for the three to follow her as she started making her way towards the Hotlands. This time, Frisk noted she was not wearing any armor so even though she looked uncomfortable in the heat, Undyne was able to withstand it.
"What, are you just going to silently stare at me the whole time?" She snapped at Frisk, and Sans chuckled.
"actually, they're pretty shy. but don't be fooled, they're quite the troublemaker."
"…how did you get mixed up with this, anyways, Sans?" Undyne asked suspiciously, and Frisk glanced anxiously at Sans as they both knew Undyne wasn't buying the fib about Frisk's identity. The only thing preventing her from attacking at the moment was the two skeleton's protection.
"my cousin here wanted to come meet people in the towns, that's all." Sans said unconvincingly, grinning at Undyne. "it was such a shame that they were all alone and bonely so i just had to take them in."
"Hmph. Whatever you say."
The four arrived at the lab, and entered the air-conditioned building with varying amounts of relief. "O-oh. I-I wasn't expecting anyone other than Undyne!" A familiar small yellow monster appeared, tripping over her long lab coat and stumbling in front of the four.
"Sans! Papyrus! Welcome, what's the um, occasion?" Alphys caught sight of Frisk, and blinked in surprise. "Oh! You're the one that came out of the Ruins, the hum-"
"yes, this is our humorous cousin." Sans interjected, winking at Frisk. "they wanted to come say hi, so here we are."
"O-oh. It's… it's nice to meet you, then. But I could have sworn…"
"HEY, ALPHYS, YOU PROMISED WE COULD CONTINUE YOUR SHOW LAST TIME WE ALL CAME OVER. I THINK FRISK'LL LOVE YOUR TELEVISION SHOWS AS WELL!" Papyrus announced, pushing Frisk forwards so they stumbled to a halt in front of Alphys.
Alphys blinked, then brightened up, her eyes shining as she turned towards Frisk. "D-do you like anime too, then?"
"Yeah," Frisk said, smiling at the monster as they felt Undyne's glare burning into their skull. At least Frisk hadn't met Alphys during that run. She was one of the few monsters Frisk didn't feel guilty about just by seeing her face. "Sans showed me one of your movies last night."
"WHAT? WHEN DID YOU TWO WATCH A MOVIE WITHOUT ME?!" Papyrus complained.
"just after you went to bed. we didn't get too far though, i was pretty tired." Sans said, winking at Frisk. "right, kiddo?'
"R-really? You liked that?" Alphys asked in delight. "W-well, I just finished making popcorn, so why don't we all marathon a s-series together then?"
Frisk suddenly found themselves having a sleep over with Sans, Alphys, Papyrus, and Undyne, which was a daunting task in itself. It didn't help that Undyne would throw popcorn at the television whenever the bad guy had the upper hand (for some reason said bad guy was a giant killer robot that transformed into an idol to sing character songs every five minutes.) or that Alphys would yell excitedly whenever the main romantic interest made a move on the main character. Sans seemed to be watching silently, except when the bad guy was punched in the face and thrown several feet across the room, he got caught up in the excitement and yelled "geeeet dunked on!" while knocking the popcorn bowl with his hand so it fell upside down onto Frisk's head. Papyrus helped Frisk get the popcorn and butter out of their hair, but then cried over the ending because he was so happy with the conclusion.
After the series was over, Undyne challenged Frisk to arm wrestling, whom, to everyone's shock, managed to win five times out of five.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Undyne yelled. "YOU'RE CHEATING! THERE'S NO WAY SOMEONE THAT SMALL CAN BEAT ME!"
Frisk innocently shrugged. "All about timing, I guess?" They asked weakly, remembering the last time they beat Undyne.
"YOU LYING LITTLE-" Undyne started, but froze as a familiar voice piped up.
"HEY SANS, WHAT DOES HELL MEAN?" Papyrus asked curiously, and Sans nearly choked on the last of the popcorn he was eating.
"what does- you misheard undyne! she said heck. she definitely meant heck." The skeleton narrowed his eyes across the room, and Undyne started sweating nervously under his accusing gaze.
"…shit- heeeeeey, I didn't m-mean it Sans! Uh, Sans? No wait-"
Frisk watched in surprised amusement as Sans promptly used his blue magic to slam Undyne across the room with a pillow, igniting a pillow fight when Papyrus grabbed another pillow and threw it at Frisk so hard they fell off of the chair.
And finally, after everyone had tired themselves out and collapsed in varying positions on the couch, with Undyne and Alphys leaning against each other, Papyrus sprawled out on the floor and Sans and Frisk sitting on the other side of the couch, Frisk could almost imagine they were where they had been after the first run, when everyone had been free and happy.
For once, no nightmares threatened to follow them as they fell asleep besides Sans, who watched the human for a moment before using his blue magic to turn out the light. It was good for the kid to have a breather, after all. If his suspicions were right, the kid might not have much more time before something bad happened again.
.
.
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DETERMINATION fills you as you continue forwards.
((-Slams open the door- did I hear someone request more Sans and Frisk fluff? Well, here you go! Also, everyone's comments are so nice, you guys are the best. Thanks so much for your support and reviews! These few chapters are some of the lighter ones in the story, so I hope you guys enjoy the calm before the storm.))