A Second Chance (Papyrus X Flowey/Asriel)

Paperwork, the Paper-Worst

Papyrus woke up to the sound of stomping footsteps, regretting sitting up so quickly as his head suddenly pounded with ache. After a second of wincing at the pain, he realized the blankets he was tucked in weren't his own, the last few hours coming back to him quite suddenly despite his drowsiness.
He untucked the familiar blankets with a wobbly arm before carefully standing, using the wall for support as he shuffled towards the door that separated him and the increasingly rapid thumps.

The creak of the door made the room go silent, Papyrus rubbing his sensitive eye sockets as the light hit his skull.
"What did I miss?"

Before he could even blink he was wrapped in a bear-hug, lifted into the air as Undyne practically babbled in excitement.
"-AND-AND it's a perfect idea, and I thought of it all myself," she finished, hardly able to get it all out in one breath.
Papyrus tried his best to make out what he could, but after 'super weapon' and 'probably legal' he was a little too suffocated to focus on her.
He looked to Asriel and Alphys at the table once he was put down, a look of confusion painted on his face.

"We thought I could.. maybe, uh, join you as a sentry, or something."

The silence that followed made Asriels half-soul sink into his stomach, about to explain it was 'just a thought' in a panic when the skeleton practically squealed.
"ME. MY JOB. JOINING ME?" He yelled in broken sentences, eyes filled with sparkles and jaw agape. He hardly even felt the sharp stab of pain when Undyne dropped him back on his feet, shaking him by the shoulder with a hearty laugh.

"YOU GET IT!" She shouted, matching his energy immediately as they fan-girled over the possibilities of it all.
Asriel could only shake his head, a smile spreading on his face as the connection only amplified the fuzzy feeling in his chest.
He glanced at Alphys from the corner of his eye, fixing his dopey expression as he realized she was making the same face towards the over-eccentric head of the guard.

"Right, the paperwork! I'll get that right now, with me as your reference you'll have no problem getting the job." Undyne said through grinning teeth as she sped for a door elsewhere in the house, leaving the room much quieter than it was.
"That's the fastest I've seen anyone get a job from her!" Papyrus included chipperly after, carefully stretching his sore shoulder as he took a seat at the table.
"He I-Is a little over qualified, considering his l-last titles at least," Alphys included as she sipped the last of her tea, mostly in an attempt to avoid going further down the topic.

It was a hard topic to avoid between them. Flow- Asriel and Alphys.

It was slowly becoming an unspoken agreement not to bring it up any further.

"GOTTEM!" Undyne declared with a war cry that made the three jump, wasting no time in slamming the thick pile of paper in front of Asriel.
"Name and birth date, yada yada yada, it's all boring stuff you'll only have to do once or twice," She spoke quickly, tossing a pen in the air that he just barely caught to write with.

"Right.. and then I'm a certified sentry? This feels a little.. too easy?" Asriel hesitantly questioned, knowing his da-

Asgore was a pushover, but surely not enough to make security this much of a joke.

"Hey!! My job takes ages to become certified in, you're just on the first step!!" Papyrus included with a defensive wave, wincing at his forgetfulness as his collar ached.
"What he said! You'll still have training to do with me, and you'll need to go through the dog stages, but after that you're good to go!" She explained like it was obvious, her skeletal buddy nodding along in turn.

Asriel stared at the two like they were speaking another language.

"Y-youll have to work with the dogs for experience and approval, it's i-in the handbook." Alphys translated, realizing that he probably doesn't have a librarby card yet.

"I can lend you my copy!! I've memorized it front to back of course, I can even quiz you!" Papyrus added with an excited rattling of bones, the attention of the whole room making Asriel shrink a little into his seat.
"But uh, of course, only if you want to! It's up to you, nyeh heh," He added on as an after thought, the awkward silence making his face darken in colour.

"Phh- you guys are so weird. Just get those papers back here whenever they're filled out and you'll be at Papyrus's level in no time!!" Undyne cut in with a chuckle, leaning an arm on the skeletons shoulder.

Asriel felt the pinch of ache in his own arm as he watched it, followed by a tinge of emotional hurt he couldn't quite place, assuming it wasn't his own.

"A-And don't push yourselves too hard! Being to-too reckless could get you hurt, which means th-the process takes longer." Alphys added, knowing that just the idea of being overworked would likely not be enough to deter the upbeat (and somewhat self-sacrificial) skeleton.

"They grow up so fast, don't they Alph?"
"Heheh, they sure do U-Undyne." The two giggled to eachother, only getting louder as the boys stared in red-faced disappointment.

.

"Yeesh, she really doesn't go easy on you, does she?" Asriel asked as he stretched his sore arm, the close proximity to the skeleton beside him giving him a terrible phantom pain.
"It toughens me up! Though, between you and me, I've had a few too many slings thanks to her." He complained with a fondness in his tone, still jazzed by the exciting new future ahead.

"I just hope I don't need much 'toughening up' then" He laughed with a bleat, subtly drifting a little further away as they walked.
"You're the toughest goat I know! You'll be just fine, especially once we get to patrol together!! I can already imagine the possibilities-" Papyrus quickly devolved into more excited rambling and planning, waving his unaffected arm wildly as he did.

Asriel looked on in the path as the freshly fallen snow under him crunched, the cold air making his breath puff and dampen his face. Papyrus looked at him curiously, the swell of happiness in his gut contributed to by the other, who he'd realized was so far away now.
The goat monster hardly had a chance to react before his body ached, Papyrus having closed the distance and wrapped an arm around his shoulders with a beaming smile carving his face like marble.
He laughed at the strangeness of it all, rubbing his sore shoulder with a playful complaining groan, bickering with the skeleton all the way back home.

Home.

1190 words
(Welcome to chapter 25, oopsie daisies, I took an accidental hiatus! Sorry about that everyone, I'm glad to be back now though! I hope this chapter makes up for the time gone, and as always, happy reading folks)