Degeneration

Chapter 1: A little experiment

It was getting late in underground time and Papyrus was running a little behind schedule. Granted, he had a valid reason to be. He had helped a nice older monster on the way home and it took longer than he thought.

He rushed around their small house, pulling on bits of clothing as he did. He'd just gotten out of the shower and was barely dry. He'd been a mess as he stepped in the door, mumbling something about crazy energetic children before making a b-line to their shared bathroom. Now he was almost fully dressed, shaking water out of his sockets.

"Chill out for a second bro." Sans chuckled, amused by the rare sight of his rushing brother before him.

"I simply cannot! I'm already late and would like to reduce the amount of time I am so." Papyrus said quickly, nearly stumbling over his words.

"If you keep rushing like this you'll wind up forgetting something important." Sans grinned. "And you do know that I could get you there in less than a minute right?"

"But how could you-" He paused, "Oh, your 'shortcuts.'" Papyrus pressed a hand to his head in exasperation, "gosh, it seems you were right brother..."

"Aren't I always?" Sans asked as he teleported beside Papyrus.

"No." Papyrus said shooting him a side look. "I can recall several times growing up that you have gotten us into serious trouble."

"Which time though?" Sans chuckled, "and do you have everything you need?"

"Yes, I have all my things." Papyrus fiddled with the strap holding his shoulder parts in place before adjusting his scarf. "And for your first question; how about the time after we moved to Snowdin and you managed to get us locked out of the house because you had said you had grabbed the key only to leave it on the counter."

"Whoops, guess you got me there. I hadn't learned to teleport too well yet either." Sans held out his hand for Papyrus to take. "Whenever you're ready bro."

Papyrus groaned, "I really do not like these shortcuts of yours." He grabbed his hand, feeling them get pulled through the 'void' (as Sans called it) and then standing in front of Alphy's Labs. "You know, you should join us for once. The show we're watching today might interest you."

"I'll pass, you go have fun Paps." Sans yawned lightly.

"You sure? There's a lot of space and science-related stuff in it." Papyrus grinned, knowing that he had the trap baited, "and there's a lot of robot fighting."

There was a short silence.

"I'm in." Same said, his eyelights almost like stars as he stepped closer to the door.

With that, Papyrus entered the code for the lab door that Alphys had given them and stepped back a bit to let the door open. He didn't waste a second, entering as soon as the door was open enough for him to duck inside. He checked the clock on the wall, noting that he had actually arrived just in time.

"Alphys! Undyne! We have arrived!" Papyrus called as Sans shut the door behind them.

"I'm sure they are upstairs already paps." Sans chuckled, gestering towards the stairs.

Papyrus beamed, "Ah yes, I'm sure they are!" He started towards them, shouting on ahead, "We are coming up, make sure you're decent!"

Sans froze, "What?!"

Papyrus looked back at him, "What is it brother?" He watched his brother in confusion, "Is something wrong?"

"Why would you say that?" Sans was silently still hoping Papyrus was still innocent. Though that hope was getting stepped on bit by bit.