The Time Before (Undertale)

25 ~ Living

Sans woke with a start.

How could he have fallen asleep?!! How could he have done that when Gaster could come in at any moment and take Papyrus--

And then he remembered.

They had gotten away. Jeff had helped them.

He and his brother were safe, tucked away in a hotel in New Home, safe and sound, Gaster didn't know where they were-

They were okay.

The realization hit Sans once again like a ton of bricks.

They were safe.

Smiling, Sans settled back down in bed, and pulled Papyrus close.

He was asleep again in minutes.

~o0o~

The next time he woke up, it was to Papyrus gently poking him repeatedly in the ribs.

"hey, pap." Sans yawned. "whassup?"

Papyrus grinned. "San'!"

Sans sat up. "so. what do we do now, huh? we got a whole day, n' then more days to do whatever we want here in the hotel. what's first?"

"Nyeh heh!"

"food? yeah, you're right. breakfast is a good idea."

Sans got out of bed, Papyrus right on his heels. Sans ordered room service, more oatmeal for Papyrus, and a heaping load of pancakes for himself. And, of course, ketchup.

Papyrus managed to make a slightly smaller mess this time, and, halfway through, he decided that he wanted some of Sans' pancakes. Sans was happy to share, and funness ensued.

And then they napped. Sans needed to rest to keep his Magic up, what with the whole boosted-capacity thing, and Papyrus was still at the point where naps were a constant thing. So they curled up together, Papyrus's skull resting on Sans' chest, and Sans' arms around his brother's shoulders, and they slept.

They slept well. They slept carefree. No worry that Gaster would come, take Sans away, no worry of the next experiment, just each other, and their unbreakable love, the safety of each other's Magic, just... brothers.

Together.

When they woke up, Papyrus was fascinated by the tv. Sans turned it on, showed him how to use the remote. They spent an hour or two with that, not really "watching" anything, because of Papyrus's endless fascination with the tv remote, how he could just press a button, and the entire thing would change, even though there were literally only five channels.

Sans was okay with this, though. Papyrus was having fun. So Sans was having fun with Papyrus having fun.

Then they played. Wrestling on the bed, Sans would let Papyrus tackle him down, then struggle free, and attack his brother with a ferocious tickle attack, and laugh when Papyrus tried to tickle him back. And that seemed to last forever.

But, eventually, they grew hungry again.

Lunch was hotdogs. Papyrus seemed to not like the grease too much, but was otherwise fine.

And then Papyrus slept again. Sans didn't really feel the particular need to take a nap, but he did anyway, because he could. Because he didn't have to worry about Gaster coming to get him.