Their Secret Place
Sans was sitting at the kitchen table and his eye lights nervously darted to the clock, which hangs at the opposite wall. It was far past late. Even the dinner was already finished, waiting to be served. But Papyrus was nowhere to be found. He didn't even pick up his phone. Sans began to think, that he maybe had too much honey at Muffet's. As always. When his other call was unanswered, he adjusted his bandana and exited their house. He headed straight to Muffet's.
It was a usual snowy day, here in Snowdin. The snow lazily falls down, making a calm atmosphere. It was pretty quiet. Just crunching of fresh snow under his boots was breaking the peaceful silence. People were hidden in their warm and cozy homes. A light breeze rose up and brought the unmistakable smell of sweets from Muffet's pastry shop. Papyrus loves sweets, especially honey. Sans himself must admit, that some of them were really good, but it always brought him a tummy ache.
When Sans approached Muffet's famous shop, he could already see her escorting the latest patrons. It was about time to call it a night. When she spotted him, she waved him friendly with one of her arms.
"Oh hello, Blue. What brought you here?" her voice was as sweet as her pastry. Sans couldn't help but smile at the nickname she gave him. Papyrus also calls him like that sometimes.
"Hello, Muffet. I just came to get Pap. It's rather late."
Muffet looked surprised. "Papyrus isn't home? But he left almost three hours ago."
Sans was caught off guard. He was prepared for everything. That he would have to drag him home or ask Muffet to let him sleep at the counter and he would come for him tomorrow morning. But this was unexpected. Where on earth can he be? Sans was thinking about every place, where his brother could go and reason, why he didn´t come home.
"Did he mention where he would want to go?"
"I am sorry, deary. He looked kinda off, but he didn't say anything." Muffet seems to start worrying too. "If you want, I can send my spidery search party." she offered.
"Thank you, Muffet, but I think it's not necessary. I already have an idea, where he could be." Sans said with confidence. Muffet nodded with a smile and wished him good luck.
If Papyrus has been feeling down, there is practically only one place, where he would be.
It was getting really dark, he should hurry. Sans sprinted through the rest of the town and headed to the entrance of Waterfall. There he slowed down and walked along rivers. He listened to the fizz of water and sometimes he heard a silent wish of a lonely echo flower.
It wasn't long until he stopped in front of a large field of echo flowers. Sans didn't have to look hard to spot the bright orange hoodie his brother wears constantly. Papyrus was lying on his back, arms folded under his head, staring at the glimmering ceiling above. A thin strip of smoke rising from a cigarette in his mouth. Sans slowly and very quietly - not wanting to disturb the peace of this place - walked to his brother.
Papyrus didn't have to turn his head to know Sans was coming closer, even if he didn't hear him. He could feel his presence. That's one of many mysteries of the monster soul. Every kind of monster has its specific type of magic. That's a well-known fact, but if you have some relatives or someone you love, you cannot just feel when they are approaching, but also their feelings. You can feel when they are happy when something is bothering them when they need comfort. And the stronger the magic you have, the stronger the bond between you two is. And skeletons have one of the most powerful types of magic. Between the two them, it was like reading a book, even if one of them tried to hide their emotions.
"Sup, bro," Papyrus said when a blue figure appeared in the corner of his eye socket. His voice was raspy from the number of cigarettes he smoked during the day. Sans folded his hands on his hips and put on a serious and slightly angry face.
"Do not 'sup bro' me! Do you know how late it is? I was worried sick. Why didn't you come home?"
"Sorry, bro. Just needed a little bit of fresh air, is all. Didn't want to make you worry."
"Then why didn't you pick up your phone?"
"Out of batteries."
Sans wasn't the type of person who can be an angry long time. He doesn't have it in him. And even when Papyrus tried to hide it behind his lazy attitude, Sans could tell something was bothering him. He let out a quiet sigh and sat beside his brother.
"Are you alright?" Sans already knew the answer, but he still needed to ask.
"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry. Just had something on my mind."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Nah, it's ok."
Even when Papyrus never took his eyes from the ceiling, he could see the disappointment on his brother's face. After a long pause, Sans sigh again and laid down. The shine of the glimmering stones reflects in his big blue eye lights.
"I remember," Sans started slowly, "when we were baby bones, you found this field and dragged me here all the way from Snowdin. You said you found stars. I never saw you that happy."
Papyrus let out a low quiet chuckle. "Yeah. And then we played with the echo flowers."
"You told them almost all the jokes you knew. And I had to listen to them the whole time."
"Aww, come on. My jokes aren't that bad. They always tickle your funny-bone."
"At least now you put more backbone into it." Even when Sans hated bad puns, sometimes he enjoyed them as much as his brother. But he would never admit it loudly.
Papyrus was chuckling quietly, but he suddenly gasped and turned his head to Sans. Surprised shock shone in his eye sockets.
"No way. You said a pun. Who are you and what did you do to my brother!"
Sans tried to hide his victorious smile behind his bandana, slight blue hue spread across his cheekbones.
"Oh no! This is terrible! The magnificent Sans was defeated by your awful influence!" Sans said in fake despair, closed his eyes and dramatically put his hand over his forehead. Now Papyrus couldn't help but laugh fully. Sans cracked one eye socket open and observed his brother. When he couldn't find any tracks of the previous sadness, relief washed over him and he started to laugh too.
It was a long time since they were here, at their secret place. It was really hard to find it unless you know where to go. You must go through a pretty complex site of caverns at the distant area of Waterfall. It was just a lucky coincidence that Papyrus found it that day. And more luck that he didn't get lost. Sans was looking for him like mad. Fortunately, Pap has an incredible orientation sense.
When the laughter died down, the skeleton brothers wiped the tears that found their way from their sockets and panted in an attempt to catch their breath. Sans stood up first. He held out his arm to his brother. "Let's go home," he said in a low soothing voice and a slight smile. Papyrus smiled too and took offered hand, careful to not pull by his all weight.
During their way home, they discussed almost every topic they could think of. Sans was describing his new puzzles he made up for a potential human, Papyrus shared his new discoveries at Muffet's pastry shop. It was a very pleasant conversation. Sans really enjoyed it. When they arrived at the edge of Snowdin, street lamps were lit up and there was dead quiet. Sans could feel the weariness taking over him. However, he still tried to don't slow his pace. But Papyrus still noticed. He grabbed his brother around his waist and despite Sans' protests, he sat him on his shoulders. Sans huffed and playfully poked Papyrus' head, but was glad for this gesture.
The rest of their way was poured in comfortable silence. The crunching of snow and Papyrus' swaying walk act as a lullaby for the smaller skeleton. He even didn't notice when he closed his eyes. And before they got home, he was snoring softly, his chin resting at top of his brother's head.
When Papyrus arrived home, he carefully took Sans of his shoulders and removed his blue boots. He didn't even bother to turn on the lights and headed straight to the stairs leading to their bedrooms. He walked through the first doors and laid Sans to his bed and tugged him in. A small smile crept to his features as he watched his brother sleep. Papyrus lightly clanked his teeth at Sans' forehead in a skeletal kiss and quietly left the room.
Even when Sans was a pretty energetic ball, he needed to fill up his sleeping hours to be ready for training with Alphys. Papyrus slowly approached his own room. He slumped himself at his bed and stared at the ceiling for a moment before closing his eyes and drifting to sleep. Tomorrow is gonna be a pretty hard day for both of them.
