“PAPYRUS! PAPYRUS WHERE ARE YOU?”
Sans poked the baby bones currently playing the bathtub. “hey uh, bro? i think dad wants you…”
“WHAT YOU WANT STINK DADDY? I’S MAKING MOOSIC OVER HERE!”
The infant continued splashing in the tub, the bubbles floating gently through the air with each slap the water received. “UNDER DA’ SEA! UNDER DA’ SEEEA! DOWN HERE IT WETTER, DOWN HERE IT BETTER, TAKE IT FROM BAY-A-BEEEEE!”
“ugh! dad, you don’t have to slam open the door like that-”
“WHERE’S MY KEYBOARD, YOU LITTLE SHIT?”
“I don’t know what you’s talkin’ bout’. What is dis ‘key-board’ you speak of? Is a board game?”
“YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS! YOU USE IT WHEN YOU’RE USING MY COMPUTER! TELL ME WHERE IT IS THIS INSTANT!”
Papyrus stopped. “Why you need it so bad? You’s a scientist, not a moosician! I’S the only one with musical talent round’ here! Listen to mah jams!”
“THAT’S THE WRONG KIND OF KEYBOARD!”
“uh oh,” said Sans, studying the water. The surface of it was almost completely obscured by bubbles, but he had a good idea of what lay beneath. Papyrus normally didn’t even like bubbles, as they got in his eye sockets and made it hard to see where he was swimming, but today he actually asked for extra suds in order to create “special effects” for a “concert” he was performing.
It looked like Gaster had the same idea too, as a trademarked sigh of unmistakable misery escaped him.
Heh heh, it’s like watching a balloon slowly lose its will to live…
SPLASH SPLASH, SPLASH SPLASH!
“It’s under the water isn’t it?”
“My keyboard. It’s underwater.”
Papyrus looked down at the water and then back up at his father. “I do bad Daddy?”
“Yes Papyrus, you’ve made a mistake...”
“Yes Papyrus, you’ve ‘fucked up my life,’ now give me my keyboard so I can repair it.”
“Mmm…no. No, I’s gonna fix it. I already has an idea, in fact! I can still make dis work.” Papyrus licked the water. “Yep. Daz the problem. That’s the problem right there. I got the suds, but the water not be salty enough. SNAS!”
“AHH! wh-what? what do ya’ want pap?” asked Sans, putting a hand against his skull.
“Well FIRST, I’d like you to pay attention,” said the baby. “We gots a situation over here and you’s dreaming bout’ eating Sabastian!” The infant pointed to a dead crab floating in the bath near his feet. It had CLEARLY been eaten a long time ago by someone else, probably a human seeing as Papyrus got all his stuff from the Dump, but apparently the shell was all he needed to play pretend.
“I needs you to search the Powder Place and finds the salt,” said Papyrus, now pointing at the bathroom cabinet.
The bathroom cabinet was where the family keep their cleaning supplies. Heavy-duty powder that was used to clean up serious messes regular soap couldn’t handle, pest control bottles that sprayed foul-smelling chemicals, and copious amounts of baby powder lined the floor of the cabinet. Some of the bottles and boxes were neatly arranged, but most of the supplies had been knocked over, their contents scattered everywhere due to a combination of missing lids and an unsupervised baby…at least that’s what Papyrus said.
His little brother didn’t like the Powder Place very much, and at one point he even tried to do something about it, admitting fully that he had once purposely spilled the contents of the baby powder in order to make the area smell like an infant rather than Catty’s litterbox room. It was Papyrus’s argument that cleaning supplies should never smell like fresh fruit.
“Be careful Snas, it may smell delicious in there, but erything be poison. Big people’s use it as a trick to kill off fat babies.”
“Don’t be absurd! That’s not even close to being correct.”
“Yes it is. Big people’s like their monies and a fat baby is a baby that eats alllll the time. Food costs money, so they buy poison that smell like food to get rid of the baby without legal con-see-quences.”
“That’s not true, who TOLD you that?”
Of COURSE it was Dirt-Butt.
“Dirt-Butt” was ALWAYS saying nonsense, though it really didn’t bother Gaster as much as every other source of knowledge the infant found. He was usually relieved in fact. Papyrus was used to getting stereotypical info from the media, but the things Dirt-Butt told him more often than not, actually kept him out of trouble.
If only headaches weren’t still the norm…
“NO DADDY, DON’T USE DA’ LECTRICAL HOLE! DIRT-BUTT SAY PICHU LIVE IN THERE!”
“dirt-butt told pappy that pikachus were electric mice who made their homes in electrical outlets,” explained Sans, playing a game on his phone.
“IS TOO! PIKACHU’S BABIES LIVE IN THERE! YOU’S GONNA POKE EM’ IN THE BUTT!” Papyrus covered the holes of the outlet with his hands, Determined to save his fellow infants. “Dirt-Butt says only big people can get poked in the butt, he also say-”
“Pikachus do NOT live or make their nests in electrical outlets.” Interrupted the scientist. “No one does.”
“Yes they do! Dat’s why the tricity gets used up. Pichu eat da’ power so they can gets big, is their nutrients!”
Gaster shook his head. “No. The reason you don’t want to stick things in here is because you’ll be electrocuted. Dirt-Butt lied. You need to pay more attention to people when they’re talking Papyru-”
“You gets elly-cuted cause’ you piss off Pikachu.”
“If you poke the babies, you gets zapped.”
“I KNOWS MAH ANIMALS DADDY!”
“NO, do NOT put salt in your brother’s bathwater, it’s terrible for bones,” said Gaster reaching into the cabinet. He pulled out the salt, but was immediately met with a wet keyboard to the face.
“GIMME MAH SALT STINK DADDY! IS MINE!”
“GIMME MY SALT OR I’S GONNA TELL UPON YOUUU!”
“I WILL! I’ll tell upon you and you’s gonna get in trouble! I tells em’ you taked the salt and tried to make a baby stew…” said Papyrus smiling.
“I’ll tell eryone you putted salt and carrots in mah bath and eryone will hate you. They’ll go ‘poor baby Pappy, he has such a bad wife, his daddy try to cook him for supper! We should ah-rest that bad guy and donate lossa monies to that baby’s fundraiser so their family can eats!”
“…What fundraiser?” asked the father, sensing trouble. He immediately regretted saying anything. In fact, he regretted it before the second word even came out of his mouth, but by then it was already too late.
“MY fundraiser. Baby Pappy’s Happy Nappies for Crap Bs!” Papyrus grinned and spread his arms out wide as if in celebration.
“Crap babies. Babies who not geniuses like me. Snas say, other baes not as fortunate as us, so I should be nice and share mah toys.”
“I don’t wanna do that, so instead I makes a fundraiser to get the inferior infants nappies!”
“I know what nappies are,” said Gaster, already annoyed. Though the fundraiser’s name was enough to prove to Asgore that he wasn’t responsible for whatever came from his youngest’s latest money-making scheme, he still had to put an end to it. If he didn’t, he’d have the king’s citizens knocking at his door, and things were already getting bad in that regard.
More and more monsters had fallen ill from Hotland’s toxic fumes due to the fact that the Underground’s air filter lacked the power to operate and the more…unreasonable, individuals were getting upset. With the Lab being the closest medical building, the sick were often brought in and placed into the renovated Medical Ward. What was once mostly a living room was now a warehouse of beds, stretching almost from one end of the room to the other and lined with monsters of every variety.
Not that he was running out of room or anything.
The monsters there weren’t being cured, but rather drained of their magic to create magic crystals, a brilliant, if cold-hearted idea to be sure. This however, was necessary, though it had a severe consequence as it resulted in an increase of the Fallen; monsters who had lost too much magic and so had fallen into a comatose state. If the comatose had a chance of waking, he wouldn’t have dozens of family members banging on his door and flooding his email with questions, but sadly that wasn’t the case. Those that fell, fell to dust. There was no waking them…at least he didn’t THINK so…Gaster admittedly hadn’t bothered to experiment with that kind of thing yet.
I’m raising two children, keeping the oil reservoir under control AND a secret, trying to come up with a permanent solution to our power problem, logging the names and the number of incoming patients, making magic crystals, recording Papyrus’s progress, AND fixing HIS messes; I don’t have the TIME to meddle in monster mortality.
“uh, dad? papyrus just ran out the door giggling.”
“Wh-what?” Gaster looked about the bathroom to find that it was, indeed, missing a baby. “Why didn’t you stop him?!”
“he ran right past you, so i figured it was okay.”
“Papyrus by himself is NEVER okay, you should know that! Where did he go?” He poked his head out of the doorway and looked down the hall. A wet trail of baby tracks led into the darkness and he could just faintly hear the clacking sound of tiny bone feet getting farther and farther away.
“he said something about ‘customer satisfaction’ or…whatever. i wasn’t really paying attention-”
“GET OFF YOUR PHONE AND GO GET YOUR BROTHER!”
“*siiiiigh* FINE. PAPPY? WHERE YOU AT BABY BRO?”
“I SAID ‘GET’ NOT ‘YELL’ SANS!”
“uuuughh!” Rolling his eyes, Sans shoved his phone back into the pocket of his hoodie and walked out the door. “PAPPYYYY! HEEERE PAPPY!”
Wiping off his ruined keyboard, Gaster tucked it under his arm and followed his oldest.
He already knew where the little bastard was headed.
Earlier in the week, while he was sweeping dust off the beds, he had found a little white diaper under the covers. ALL of the beds that once held the Fallen, had them in fact. It was obvious that Papyrus was putting diapers on the comatose patients, but until today, he never knew why.
“…those aren’t babies pappy,” said Sans from far off.
“Course they are! Daz why they sweep so much. Cwap babies don’t do much Snas, they just eat, sweep, and doody in their diapies. Some of them pay wit toys, but-”
“PAPYRUS GET OUT OF THE MEDICAL WARD!”
Papyrus turned his head to look down the hall, then, waving at his daddy, he turned back around.
“Shoosh, stink Daddy! You wake da’ babies!” The tiny skeleton looked at the fluffy, unconscious dog-monster. “So tell us, doody-dog…how satisfied are you wit mah pro-duct? From one to a hundred?”
Papyrus lifted the dog’s head, “Eleventy-six!” exclaimed the baby bones, “I’d definitely wear another! Mah only complaint is the lack of hole for my stupid dog tail-”
“THERE SHOULDN’T BE ANY COM-PAINTS!” yelled Papyrus into the dog’s face. “DIS A FUNDRAISER, YOU BE GATEFUL FOR WHAT YOU GET, SUCK-BABY!”
“he’s not answering you bro.”
“Cwap babies not talk much Snas, but the result be clear. They satisfied…and now I must expand mah business!” cried Papyrus, raising a finger in the air. “TO WATERFALL!”
Using his wingdings, Papyrus picked himself up and placed his little body atop his brother’s skull, apparently expecting Sans to take him to his destination with haste.
“pap, i don’t know what EXACTLY you’re trying to do, but it’s probably not a good idea; you’re naked and dad was-”
“TO WATERFALL SNAS!!” repeated the baby, louder this time. “TIME BE MONEY, HONEY!”
Teleporting to Waterfall, the two brothers fell into the water near the docks, Papyrus slipping from his sibling’s head almost at once.
“NYEHHHHAAH! WHY YOU PUT US IN DA’ WATER SNAS? THE FISHIES SEE MAH BUTT!” The infant covered his rear end with a tiny hand, using the other to grab hold of Sans’ hoodie.
“then you shoulda listened to me huh?” replied Sans, CLEARLY not sorry at all. “besides, you know i can’t control exactly where i show up!”
Just the area in general…
“DON’T LOOK AT MAH BUTT CWEEP FISH!”
A strange tapping sound drew the older boy’s attention, and Sans turned his head to see old man Gerson walking along the docks, cane in hand, while the baby batted at the curious fish.
“What’s all the commotion over here?” asked the turtle, scratching under his chin. He looked a lot more ancient when he was in full view. Sans usually only saw him in his shop, as did everyone else. It was rare to find him wandering around, as Undyne had a habit of taking it upon herself to scavenge for supplies at the Dump and present it to him to selling. Because of her, he never really HAD to leave anymore.
The old man got closer and peered down at the two in the water, holding a magnifying glass to his eye. “Wahhaha, of course, of course it’s you, Papyrus. Giving your brother trouble I see!”
Does he bring that everywhere with him?
“it-it wasn’t pappy’s fault, i made a mistake,” said Sans quietly.
“Is that so? Well you two shouldn’t be bathing in the same place we water folk get our food, might get a taste for skeletons! Wahhahaha!” He laughed again, but the little Horror wasn’t as amused.
“we weren’t bathing…i just…took a wrong turn or something…”
“You weren’t? Then where are your brother’s clothes?”
“CTHULHU TOOK EM’! I seens it, wit my own widdle eyes, Wrinkle-Man!” said Papyrus, splashing in the water.
“Really? Well that’s just awful! Isn’t that awful Sans?”
“please don’t encourage him.”
“They must be pretty mean to do something like that; picking on a poor little cherub like you.”
“Yep, I’s a sad cher-chero-cherrio. A very sad cheerio Wrinkle-Man, baby’s don’t gots lots of monies ya’ know? How I supposed to buy new jammies wit no monies?”
“That IS an issue,” said Gerson warily, sensing an approaching problem. He turned to Sans, but the child only glared at him, his expression giving the answer to the old man’s unsaid plea.
You started this, now YOU can deal with it.
“Ya’ know what would make this little cheerio happy again Wrinkle-Man?”
“If you would accept dis diapie.” The baby bones held up a soaked diaper, possibly getting it from out of Sans’ pocket.
“oh, that’s right, i didn’t check my pockets today.” He looked down at his clothes sadly. Whatever was in there today was probably ruined now by the water.
Papyrus tended to hide things in his brother’s hoodie.
Every once in a while, the kid comedian would reach into his pocket to find crayons, candy, a kaleidoscope, bouncy balls, a yo-yo, and sometimes even makeup in his pocket. They were fun little surprises that he enjoyed, like tiny gifts. They obviously belonged to his sibling, but liked Papyrus liked to say “what’s mine is yours,” so he considered them gifts.
The big treasures were his favorite, as they were rare and akin to getting surprise packages in the mail. He’d wake up in the morning and go to the place on the floor near the dresser where he always threw his hoodie and be excited to find a big lump covered by his clothing. A sign that his brother had hidden something neat.
You’d think he’d quit hiding things with it by now. He’s gotta know I’m stealing em’…
One time, Sans even found a skateboard hidden under it. He played with it a lot, and got pretty good, but when he started doing tricks, Papyrus became…unhappy. He remembered his baby brother screaming in terror and crying when he showed him a kickflip for the first and last time. He remembered feeling super guilty about it too. He only had 1 HP after all; if he fell, it was bye-bye big bro.
The skateboard now sat in a corner collecting dust, a sad reminder of what could have been.
“I don’t need a diaper yet kiddo!” said Gerson, slightly insulted.
“Sure, you do! All old peoples need diapies and all we asks in ass-change is dat you gives us a small donation.”
“Yep, for just thirty-twelve G, you could have this super absorbent, long-lasting diaper. Yo’ donations go to the Happy Nappies Fundraiser where we will buy MORE diapies and gives them to the less fortunate.”
“…It sounds like you’re selling diapers for 3,012g, FAR more than they’re worth. That’s thirty-twelve right? 3,012g?”
“Correct. We uses the extra monies to buy more nappies.”
“That’s not a fundraiser young’un’, you’re supposed to be raising money for charity. If you’re selling these to the babies here in the Underground-”
“I not sell to babies, I GIVE to da’ baes!”
“…But their parents pay for them.”
“That’s not a fundraiser, you’re ‘hustling’ as the kids say.”
“No! I not hustle, I BUSTLE! The fundraiser be for babies, THEY gets the diapies for free, not the big peoples.”
“you’re either not understanding bro, or you’re trying to cheat people.”
“Daz not too. I buys diapies for the peoples who needs em’ and I use the rest to buy stuffs dat I need...like my jammies. Erybody wins.”
Papyrus attempted to climb out of the water and then, realizing his arms weren’t strong enough to pull him up onto the dock, he summoned his wingdings and placed himself onto the planks.
“ugh, pap!” Sans covered his face as his tiny and inconsiderate sibling shook his body back and forth like the dogs in Snowdin, attempting to rid himself of the water.
The infant squeezed the diaper in his hands and whipped it in the air, sending beads of water every which way. He knew it would probably not be the most absorbent product he ever sold, but perhaps the old monster would still want it for catching doodies…?
“bro, that diaper’s ruined, you’re not going to be able to sell it. look, it’s torn…”
“Nyeh?” Papyrus looked at the nappy in his hand. It seemed fine just a minute ago, but now it was all stretched out and worse yet, the sticky parts that were meant to hold the diaper in place wouldn’t stick anymore. He tried several times to get them to, but the front kept falling open.
“NYEHHHHHAAHHHH! SNAAAAAAAS!”
“MY DIAPIE BE BOKEN SNAS! NYEH-HAAAHHHH!!!”
Sans got out of the water and picked up his baby brother. “don’t cry pappy,” he said, bouncing him up and down in his arms. “it’ll be okay.” He patted him on the back, but the baby bones refused to stop crying, still clutching the diaper in his little hand.
“Oh dear…hmm…tell you what,” said Gerson, pulling a wallet out of his shirt pocket. “I’ll buy your nappy at 2,000g, since it’s damaged. A young’un’ needs a pair of clothes, right?”
“our dad didn’t sell his clothes if that’s what you’re-”
“Shu up Snas, YES PWEASE MR. WRINKLE-GUY!” yelled Papyrus, suddenly all smiles. “I WOULD VERY MUCH AH-PEA-CIATE THAT!”
“WAHHAHAHAHA!” laughing loudly, the tortoise-monster gave him the money. “Looks like this old man’s been outmaneuvered in marketing! I better watch out!”
“Oh, don’t look so glum, my boy. Your brother needs this practice in order to protect you in the future! He’s gonna be quite the young warrior, isn’t that right Papyrus?”
“WAHHAHAHAHA!” Mr. Gerson laughed again and walked back towards his shop. He tended to laugh a lot when Papyrus was present, though seeing him also made the elderly monster a bit sad too.
Sometimes I miss the old days when a lot of these little guys were around…
Maybe one day, nature will fix our past mistakes. I just hope it doesn’t need help…or that it’s not too late.
“…that wasn’t very nice bro.”
“The business world is a harsh one, Snas,” said Papyrus, counting his G. “You needs to pactice too big Buther. One day, you’s gonna need to help da’ baby, ya’ know? Is sad dat you has no monies of your own. Just cause’ you gots 1 hp, don’t mean you’s useless. You gots a brilliant mind, put it to good use.”
“i don’t need life advice from a crook.”
“Kay’ when you gets a life, come see da’ baby.”
“i HAVE a life, you little asshole! it’s just isn’t a life of crime.”
“No crime no dime, big Buther. Sometimes you gots to break the rules to get da’ jewels! Tell Daddy he either pay you for help, or he pay fines for child labor.”
“Is genius is what it is.”
Sans chuckled and put the money in his hoodie. “why would you need my help bro? unemployed monsters down here are a dime-a-dozen!”
“all jewel need to do is lie and they’ll help you out. i don’t need to do anything, heh heh…”
“…You needs to pactice yo’ font too.”
“SOMEWHERE AWAY FROM DA’ BABY!” yelled Papyrus, kicking his legs.
“i can’t leave you here, child abandonment is a crime-”
“besides, crawling all the way home would be a bit labor-ious, wouldn’t it?”
Oh crap, someone else is coming. I need to get Pappy back in some clothes or-
“HEY! NO BATHING IN THE FOOD SUPPLY, IT’S ILLEGAL!” cried a shrill voice Sans knew all too well. Startled, he dropped his brother in surprise, but luckily the infant didn’t seem to care.
“HELLWOE FISH-LADY!” Papyrus threw up his arm in greeting. “DA’ WRINKLE-MAN JUST LEFT!” The baby pointed towards Snowdin.
“yeah, he headed back to his stall a few seconds ago,” replied Sans, glaring at his brother. “while you were…underwater. why were you underwater? this is the breeding area…”
“Right, I was talking to the fish. Gotta make sure no one’s stealing them, so everyone can keep eating-”
“Fish Lady’s growing an army to fight the homos!” said Papyrus excitedly.
“SSHH!! Shut the fuck up Papyrus!” whispered Undyne harshly.
“homosapiens baby bro, you have to say the whole thing or…you know what? just say humans, kay’?”
“…not better. also, are you talking about actual fish, undyne or water monsters?”
“WHO CARES?” yelled the young girl. “THE MORE SOLDIERS THE BETTER!” She grinned proudly, her hands on her hips. No one would expect an attack from the water AND the land, the next war against humans was as good as won.
That is, if no adults found out about it. They didn’t appreciate Undyne’s ingenious war strategies like Papyrus did.
No matter how helpful or cool they were, adults always seemed to have a problem with her ideas, and unfortunately, Sans and Gaster were no different. For most of them to work, she needed science nerds, but they saw her plans the same way they saw Papyrus’s, terrible and “asinine.”
The Royal Scientist’s words, not hers.
She didn’t know what “asinine” meant, but it had the word “ass” in it, so she assumed their father was calling her ideas booty.
Stupid, crappy, science dweeb, is just lazy. How hard can it be to build a giant robot? Isn’t there already someone asking him to do that already?
“…A giant robot can destroy entire towns, I saw it in a movie.”
“what are you talking about? are you still on about that robot army?” Sans sighed, a trademark sign of his that meant he thought she was being stupid. Undyne had heard it many times before.
“IT’S A GOOD IDEA!!” she screamed. “AND IT WASN’T AN ARMY, IT WAS JUST O-”
“for the last time, if you saw something already done in a movie undyne, the humans know how to COUNTER it; they make the friggen’ things!”
“Yeah, but the movies are old, Sans! They’re in the Dump, because no one watches them anymore! We’ll have the element of surprise.”
“I wish to pilot a Gundam, big Buther.”
“SEE?! Papyrus wants it!” she said, pointing at the baby bones. “You want to blow up a town widdle Pappy?”
The infant smiled and bounced up and down on his rear end excitedly. “Yeah yeah yeah!” he said, ignoring his sibling’s frown. “I’s Middle Eastern ya’ know…is mah calling.”
“still don’t know what middle ease is, pap.”
“Middle East Snas! It mean I comes from da’ center of the earth…only is a liiiittle East.” The infant pinched his fingers together, squinting with one eye to make sure there was space between them, hoping he had solved the mystery.
“The center of the earth…?” Undyne looked confused. “You mean Hell?”
“Noooo! I’s on the WOOF of Hell…cept’ is a liiittle East.”
“Yeast…isn’t that the stuff bread is made from?”
“he’s saying east, undyne. it’s a direction.” Sans pointed towards where he knew the Lab was located.
“…That’s left, Sans-I MEAN RIGHT! That’s your right.”
“SHUT UP PAPYRUS, I WASN’T WRONG!”
“YOU CAN’T ASK ME THAT! I’M A WOMAN, IT’S ILLEGAL!”
“Is you a baby like me, Fish Lady? If so, I gots a great product for you…”
“I’m NOT a baby, I’M GROWN!” Undyne stomped her foot angrily on the planks of the pier, scaring Sans a little. He had no idea how long those timbers had been there, but he knew people walked on them every day. Eventually, they would break and need to be replaced…probably by the pines in Snowdin.
There are some people who use them for firewood too though, I know Grillby does. What if we run out? How long does it take a pine tree to grow?
Who planted them there to begin with?
“Nyeh? You spacing again, big Buther?”
It was something he thought of often whenever he was bored, and he highly doubted it was the monsters doing.
“Come back down from space, Snas!”
No one knew what the inside of Mt. Ebott was like, which is why everyone in the beginning not only scrambled for a home as soon as possible, but also refused to leave it behind for something better. It didn’t make sense to begin with for the monsters to carry saplings with them into a mountain with little to no sunlight. Even if the sunlamps in Snowdin had been immediately installed, it would’ve taken time. Could the trees survive that long without the sun? Why were they all pine trees to begin with? If the monsters came from different environments all over the world, wouldn’t some have brought cacti, palm trees, and other tropical plants?
It’s like someone made preparations for us to live here…
“Stop daydreaming and tell da’ Fish Lady how great mah fundraiser be! She doesn’t want to buy my diapies…” said Papyrus quietly.
“s-sorry bro, i was thinking about the trees. how come there’s only pine trees and fruit trees in the underground?”
Why was his brother always thinking about trees?
“There’s a fern in the Resort Area,” said Undyne, hoping to change the subject. She’d rather talk about plants than diapers.
“why though? who was the guy who went ‘hey, yeah, i know i’m being ushered out of my home with little to no warning and should prooobably pack everything i think will be needed to maintain my survival-”
“But this fern doh…” The young girl laughed, imagining the scenario. “I gotta take this fern, man!”
“*pfft!* c’mon undyne, for real-”
“FERNS BEFORE FOOD! FERNS BEFORE FAMILY!”
“AND THESE FLOWERS, DUDE! I NEED THESE GOLDEN FLOWERS IN MY LIFE!”
Sans laughed in spite of himself as his baby brother let out a high-pitched screech of delight. As curious as he and it was, the comedian had to admit it was also pretty funny.
I guess back then, people didn’t have to worry so much about survival as they do now. They probably weren’t expecting things to be so hard down here.
It’s good that kids like us don’t have to worry about that sort of thing…most of us anyway.
Dad’s a douche, but our generation depends on him and he’s doing his best to deliver. Without him, the Underground would be doomed.
He didn’t want to admit it, but he was one of the worrying kids. The future frightened him; his father frightened him.
One of the perks of being invisible, aside from whenever the Royal Scientist needed him, was that Sans could go anywhere and do anything he pleased when off the clock. He knew about the Fallen and what his father was doing before Flowey even appeared to tell him, and he was willing to bet his brother did too.
Papyrus didn’t mess with the draining machine.
Sans noticed he didn’t talk about it either. There were no questions, no threats, no mentions whatsoever. In fact, these days Papyrus seemed to mellow out a bit in general, his pranks becoming fewer and fewer in number until the labs horrendous reputation began to fade. The baby bones had even gone out to recruit other bright minds to help in the lab, no doubt sensing his father’s incoming mental collapse.
Despite how serious their power problem was, the truth remained that they HAD oil. It was dangerous to use, but it was a choice Gaster had other than draining that he didn’t favor. He CHOSE murder, their father CHOSE to drain sick monsters who came to him for help, and showed absolutely no remorse or concern for his actions.
“Does Onion-chan gots ferns?”
“It’s Onionsan, Pappy. You’re spelling it wrong, and yes, those are ferns.”
“oh, you’re still talking about ferns…who’s onionsan?” asked Sans. He didn’t know much about the monsters that lived underwater, but apparently no citizen was safe from his little bro. He hoped he hadn’t caused too much trouble…
“Onionsan-chan be a monster from Japan, man!” replied the infant, enjoying his tongue twister. “I doesn’t know how he got here dough…”
“They too big for mah diapies, so we not visit the tentacles today.”
“Onionsan is a monster that looks like an octopus. I’ve never heard of Japan though.”
“Is where the woah-bots come from, Fish Lady! Da’ Vocaloid and the Gundams and the aira-planes…”
“airplanes aren’t robot birds baby bro,” said Sans smiling.
“Nyeh? No bird? Tsundereplane lie…?”
This alarmed Sans. Papyrus was behaving himself more in the lab, but that meant he was spending most of his time outside where it was dangerous.
Who’s Tsundereplane? How many people is he talking to?!
“you know what? it doesn’t matter. stop talking to strangers papyrus, it’s dang-PAPYRUS!”
Taking Sans’ phone out of his pocket via wingdings, Papyrus called his “friend” on speed dial.
Who the hell gave him their number?! How long has that been in my phone?!
“hang up, papyrus. whoever gave you their number isn’t a sane person-”
“Snas say you’s not a whoa-bot bird Tsundereplane. Why you lie to cute widdle me?”
“WELL SCU YOU TOO, STINK ARROW-PLANE! I BEAT YO’ ASS!”
“…Tsundereplane not my friend no more.”
“Aww…poor Pappy…” Undyne patted the infant’s skull.
“don’t feel sorry for him! that’s what he gets for talking to strangers, maybe next time he’ll think before putting numbers in MY phone!”
“Yep, woe is me Fish Lady…”
“are you even listening to me?”
“…First they steals mah jammies and now they lie and call me an idiot-face. I am the saddest of cheerios…”
“THEY STOLE YOUR CLOTHES?!”
“STEALING’S ILLEGAL! Don’t worry Pappy, THE UNSTOPPABLE UNDYNE WILL GET YOUR CLOTHES BACK!”
Sans reached out to stop her, but Undyne was already off towards Hotland.
There’s no way he’d catch her, he didn’t even know who or where Tsundereplane was.
I don’t even know what they LOOK like…an airplane probably, but…
“*humph!* i bet you’re pretty proud of yourself, huh baby bro?”
“you think you did the right thing?”
“what do you think’s gonna happen when undyne finds out you were lying?”
“She gonna come back and do the accu-sa-tions and Imma say ‘they throw my jammies in da’ lava?’ then I’s gonna cry reeeal loud, and she gonna feel sorry for me.”
“She’ll say, ‘aww, I didn’t think of that! Poor baby Pappy…I should go out and buy you NEW jammies!’ and then I say, ‘no, no, you’s done enough.”
“Yep. I say, “Just gives me some monies and I go gets em’. Shopping be boring.’ Then she gonna go ‘you’s right! Shopping IS boring. Here are some monies…and a widdle extra for the accu-sa-tions.”
“That’s when I be reeeal nice and say ‘keep da’ extra, you deserves it for being a good friend to da’ baby.’ Then I buys candy and I eats it, then we all live happy ever after.”
“WHY YOU GOTS TO DESTROY MY HAPPY AFTER?”
“I’M NOT SELLING YOU NOTHIIIIINN’!!!” screamed Papyrus, “NYEH!” Snatching his brother’s phone, the baby bones took off running towards Snowdin.
“DO NOT GO INTO TOWN NAKED, PAPYRUS!”
Friggin’ dumbass! There’re dogs everywhere there, he can’t be showing that many bones, he’ll get eaten!
Either way, Sans knew who would ultimately be blamed.
“GOOD LUCK FINDING ME IN DA’ SNOW BIG BUTHER!”
With an enthusiastic smile, Papyrus leapt into a snow poff as soon as his sibling lost sight of him. There was no way Sans would find a tiny white skeleton in a snowfield. It would be like finding a needle in a haystack…whatever a haystack was.
Finally, his Michael Jackson syndrome was paying off.
That was odd. The snow poff he was in smelled like doody. Well, actually, the whole town smelled like a barnyard, but this was especially bad…
“*huff puff* pa-papyrus…”
“papyrus, i know you’re in there, your tracks lead right to the snow poff field!”
“…Those could be anybody’s tracks, there’s no baby here, skelly-man.”
“really? heh heh, well that’s weird. most people who live in snowdin avoid the snow poffs.”
“…I had to move cause’ I missed my rent. This my home now.”
Sans laughed; his brother had no idea. “woooow, that sucks. i’d personally hate to live in a poop-igloo, but you do you man, ha ha ha!”
“What?” Papyrus poked his head out of the snow poff and looked down.
“yep. the reason the snow is built up in this area and nowhere else, is because this is where people dump their chamber pots.”
“the snow tends to build on top of the droppings and that’s what makes these little mounds, cool huh?”
“asgore is trying to get plumbing up and running, but it’ll be a while before THAT happens, what with the power issue and all. personally? i don’t see it happening. people make money gathering these snow poffs up to sell for fertilizer.”
Without saying a word, Papyrus climbed out of the snow poff and walked towards the Ruins. It was the longest route to a river, but at least it didn’t cut through town.
“aww, what’s wrong pappy? paaappyyyy-”
The baby bones jumped into the river, using his wingdings to hold himself steady in order to keep from being swept away by the current.
“oh no, pappy! you can’t just hop into the river, the fishies will see your butt!”
“you know what you need to catch those doodies? what every baby needs?”
