Papyrus leaned back in his chair at the kitchen table, lightly dozing while his brother stood at the stove—using a stepping stool to make up for his diminutive height. The smell of cumin and cooking meat mixed in the air pleasantly, and the sizzle of the pan was a familiar, relaxing sound. He couldn’t resist the pull of the feelings of warmth and safety, and soon found himself dozing lightly. Distantly, he was aware of Sans’ happy chatter, and he managed to offer little grunts of agreement at the appropriate times to avoid his bro’s accusations of laziness.
Neither of them was prepared for the front door to suddenly bang open. Sure, they rarely locked it, but that didn’t imply an open invitation. What really shattered the peace, however, was the sudden, panicked, “PAPS!” that rent the air.
Paps’ chair tilted too far back, dumping him on the floor. Sans yelped and accidentally knocked a pan with his elbow, sending both red-hot pan and its contents to the floor. The smaller skeleton yelped, but turned to the doorway, no doubt worried about their “visitor”. Paps could not allow his younger, smaller brother to face whatever had come to disturbed their lunch break, so he scrambled to his feet to join his brother in the doorway. His jaw popped open at the sight before him.
Another Sans stood on their porch. That was not so surprising—they’d met him before, when their universes had accidentally crossed, and with some tinkering to the machine downstairs, they’d found a way to keep in touch and to contact other universes as well. Seeing this tough-talking version of Sans completely panicked and covered in marrow was worrying enough. Finding him there, apparently uninjured, and dragging his asshole of a brother—who looked completely wrecked—was a good deal more concerning. And surprising. They’d only met Papyrus’s double a few times, but they’d met often enough for Paps to be absolutely certain that he hated the other skeleton.
Sans—or ‘Red’, as they’d taken to calling him to avoid confusion—on the other hand, had essentially been adopted by both Blue and Paps. He was completely panicked, his breathing erratic and his magic flaring and pulsing sporadically. His magic eye guttered and crackled. Looking at him made Paps’ soul hurt.
Blue rushed forward. “sa—blue!” Paps caught him by his neckerchief and forced the smaller skeleton to approach more cautiously. He did not trust the other Papyrus, or ‘Edge’ as they’d taken to calling him.
“please,” Red whimpered, tears gathering in his sockets, “i…i didn’t know where to bring him.”
Paps looked down at the injured skeleton and resisted the urge to suggest they drop him off at the dump, where trash belonged. Or off a cliff. “What happened?” Blue asked, worried. Silently, Paps cursed; his bro was too good for his own good.
“he finally pick on someone big enough to give him a bad time, huh?” Paps asked, unconcerned.
“Papyrus!” Blue scolded, “We have to help!”
“why?”
Blue started to reply, but Red beat him to it. “please, paps….” His voice cracked when he spoke. “…he’s my brother. i can’t l-lose—“ And them he started sobbing, threatening to dump the bigger skeleton on the ground he was shaking so hard.
Opening the door wider, Paps stepped out of the way, a silent invitation. “geeze, kiddo. way to play dirty. just take him to the spare room.”
Red didn’t waste any time. Blue took Edge’s other arm, and the two Sanses awkwardly maneuvered the much larger monster through the living room and onto the guest bed. Paps raised a browbone when he saw that marrow and congealed magic had pooled in their doorway. It stained the snow leading up the walk, too. Despite himself, a flicker of concern caused his soul to flare, but he crushed it ruthlessly. fuckfell deserves it. He forcibly reminded himself, thinking of the casual way the other monster would kick his brother around. If that’s how he treated the smaller monster in front of witnesses, he could only imagine what when on behind closed doors. Not that Red would tell him anything.
