His New Favorite Color

“paps, i’m sure they’ll have a place for you to sleep.”

Papyrus looked to you for help, still trying to convince his brother that yes, it was necessary to bring his bed. “HUMAN, WOULD YOU PLEASE TALK SOME SENSE INTO HIM?”

You shook your head, laughing. “He’s right, there will be plenty of room for you back home. There will not be plenty of room for your bed in my car.”

He looked around his room nervously, checking for the umpteenth time. “ARE YOU SURE WE HAVE EVERYTHING? I WOULDN’T WANT TO HAVE TO DRIVE ALL THE WAY BACK.”

“Papyrus, I’m sure we have everything. Now let’s go, I want to get there early so we can catch the parade.”

Slowly but surely, you managed to talk him into leaving, reassuring him that he’d be fine without his entire bedroom.

The drive was long, as it always was, but the banter between the brothers seemed to shorten it by hours. By the time you got into town, the younger brother was passed out in the back seat, and Sans was dozing off.

“We’re almost there,” you whispered, nudging the skeleton next to you.

He rubbed the sleep from his sockets, sitting up in his seat. “should i wake paps?” His voice was groggy, just as it always was when he first woke up.

You shook your head, taking a turn so you could drive past the fair. The usually vacant field was full of vendors and rides, anything from a ticket booth to
a petting zoo. All of the usual rides seemed to be there, or at least from what you could tell.

Sans watched from the next seat, in an obvious awe. “what’s with the giant tea cups?”

“They spin around really fast and make you dizzy.” You glanced at him, seeing his distaste. “I swear, it’s more fun than it sounds.”

You drove past the fair and through most of the town, until the streets became thinner and farther apart. Eventually you headed down a long dead end road, pulling into the gravel driveway and grabbing your phone. As soon as you started to type, the door to your old home swung open, a familiar figure stepping out and heading to your car. You quickly hopped out, rushing to envelop your mother in a tight hug. She smelled like she always did, covered in hairspray and cheap hibiscus scented perfume.

“You really should visit more often, you know?” She pulled back, tucking a strand hair behind your ear. There were tears in her eyes, like there was every time she got really happy.

You grinned, but before you could speak, you heard talking from within your car. Your mother’s eyes widened at the volume of Papyrus’ voice, loud enough for you two to hear him clearly.

“That’s Papyrus,” you began, pulling her to the vehicle, “my boyfriend’s brother, remember?”

She laughed, stopping before you could be in front of the door. “They have quite interesting names, don’t they?”

You nodded, letting go of her hand. “I think we can manage our bags. Is dad at home?” Running to the back of the car, you opened the trunk, grabbing your suitcase.

“He has work, but he’ll be home before dinner.” Despite your best effort, she grabbed a bag as well, walking back towards the house.

Instead of following her, you went around the car again to tap on the glass at Sans’ window. He rolled it down, his grin looking especially suspicious.

“you’re too cute,” he drawled.

“Are you guys gonna get out anytime soon, or are you planning on living in here now?”

Sans slumped back into his seat, feet on your dashboard. “it is pretty comfy.” He looked around the car as if contemplating his living situation before turning back to you. “y’know, maybe we will.”

“SAAAAANS,” Papyrus whined, moving so that he was between the front seats, “CAN WE PLEASE GET OUT ALREADY?”

You tried to hide your laughter, but to no avail. After opening Pap’s door, you headed inside with your luggage, following your mother up the stairs and into your old bedroom. You passed by your sisters room, the door surely locked as it was labeled with several “KEEP OUT” signs. Maybe you could talk her into coming with you, but it wasn’t likely.

By the time you had reamurged downstairs, Papyrus and Sans were inside, looking around the living room. To your right, your mother gasped. You didn’t have to look to know what she was gasping at.

A weak smile crossed your face as you made your way over to the boys, looking apologetically to your mom. “So um, this is Sans and Papyrus!” You know that you should’ve told her beforehand that they were monsters, that you were bringing skeletons home with you. But every time you thought about telling her, you thought about all of the bad things she could’ve said. So instead, you just… didn’t tell her. “Everyone has skeletons in their closet, right? Mine just happen to live next door instead.”

“Well,” she started, shoving her hair back. It was more gray than you remembered. “Maybe I should cook y’all some breakfast before the parade, it seems that you’re all skin and bones.” She tried to joke, but you could see the worry on her face.

Sans took your hand, squeezing it in his own. “sans the skin, huh?”

You snorted, smiling at his dumb joke. “I’m gonna go see if I can talk Jen into coming, okay?” You really didn’t want to linger on the topic, too anxious over what the outcome would be.

Your mom nodded, heading towards the kitchen. You let out a sigh of relief, leading the boys up the stairs and into your old bedroom.

“That went better than expected. For a second there I thought that she was going to faint.”

“HUMAN, DO YOU THINK THAT EVERYONE WILL REACT THIS WAY?”

Honestly, you had no idea.

_____

The crowds at the fair parted for you, letting you push through as people oohed and ahhed your group. At first, the brothers had been very on edge. But after a few rides, and your sister leaving to go hang out with her friends, Papyrus was just as giddy as the kids on the merry-go-round. Sans still followed him closely, sure to not let his brother out of his sight. There was a time or two that you lost them around a corner, only to find them again because of Pap’s height. Even his voice wasn’t loud enough to hear over the all of the commotion.

“PLEASE SANS, I WANT TO GO ON THE BIG ONE!” Papyrus was tugging his brother towards the only ride that could really count as a roller coaster, a large circular track that would send you backwards and upside down. The ride was slowing down, showing that it was almost time for the current patrons to get off.

“no way bro. ‘s way too dangerous.”

“BUT BROTHER-“

Sans cut him off, shaking his head. “there’s no way you’re getting on that thing without me, and there’s no way i’m going.”

“I’ll go with him, you can just watch us have fun.” You stuck your tongue out at your boyfriend, going with Papyrus to stand in line. “Besides, if it was that dangerous, it wouldn’t be here.”

Sans huffed, standing next to you in line, even though he refused to get on the ride. The man who took your tickets looked nervously at Papyrus before letting him board, but the monster barely seemed to notice. You’d only spent a few hours at the fair so far, every ride operator seeming to repeat that same process. You followed him onto the ride, looking nervously out of the car as you buckled into the seat. Sure, roller coasters were fun, but that didn’t mean you weren’t uneasy.

After your seatbelts were checked to make sure you were both strapped in safely, and a few other people got on, you took off. At first you lurched forward, then a bit backwards, and before you knew it, you were being skyrocketed forwards and upside down, resulting in a yelp from Papyrus. He was smiling harder than you’d ever seen as he clinged to the bar in front of him, holding on for dear life. Even from inside of the car, the wind whipped your hair back, the speed causing a rush of adrenaline. You yelled loudly, cheering as you went for another loop. Papyrus joined you in your shouting, though his soon dwindled. Looking at him, you could see that he looked much more nervous than he had when the ride had started.

“You okay?” You had to practically scream so that he could hear you.

Papyrus shook his skull, lurching forward as the ride switched directions. “HUMAN… I DON’T FEEL VERY WELL.”

You could feel the ride slowing down as it rocked back and forth, the speed still enough to warrant another lurch from the skeleton. The idea of skeletons being able to vomit was ridiculous, of course. But then again, they were constantly challenging the basic laws of anatomy.

“Okay, okay just don’t vomit, okay?” The adrenaline quickly turned into panic as you tried to calm Papyrus down. “If you vomit, then you can’t get on the rides, and it’ll be this whole mess, and,” you stopped, seeing that your rambling was clearly making him more nervous. “Okay, just, just hold it for a minute. Can you do that? It’s almost over, and then we can get off.”

Papyrus nodded, his grip on the bar tightening. After another jolt forward, the ride finally ran to a halt. The monster couldn’t get off of the roller coaster fast enough, clambering over to his brother.

Sans opened and closed his mouth, a joke clearly dismissed at the sight of his brother. “you okay bro? you don’t look so good.”

“I think he might get sick, we should find a trash can or something,” you spoke, stumbling behind the younger brother. Your head was spinning, and your balance was totally off.

The three of found your way to a trash can, and thankfully without any incidents. After a few minutes of Papyrus standing over the bin, trying to catch his breath, he finally was ready to continue on with the night. Instead of another ride, you suggested going to the petting zoo. Both brothers gratefully accepted your idea, and so you made your way to the other side of the fairgrounds.

It was getting late, so the area was pretty clear now. A lot of families had gone home, their children surely tired out. Given the smaller crowd, it was easy to get to the pens of animals, and even easier to see Papyrus rush over to the sheep, a high pitched gasp emitting from skeleton.

“LOOK AT THEM! BROTHER, HUMAN, LOOK AT THE FLUFFY CREATURES!” The sheep baaed at him, resulting in an even louder gasp from Paps.

Sans chuckled, patting the sheep’s head. “she’s not very baa-shful, is she?”

“SANS, YOUR HORRIBLE PUNS CANNOT BOTHER ME RIGHT NOW, SO WOOL YOU PLEASE STOP?” Papyrus scratched under the sheep’s chin, pride for his joke showing blatantly on his face.

You and Sans both got a good laugh as you went to see the other animals. There were dogs, bunnies, and even a horse. Among them was also a pig, which Sans has pointed to and said “me.”

Eventually the people running the petting zoo told you that it was time for them to close up, so your group had to leave. Papyrus said goodbye to all of the animals, and you made your way back to the center of the fair. People were still taken aback by the presence of the two monsters, but there seemed to be a lot less staring. Or maybe you simply weren’t as conscious about it.

“CAN WE PLEASE GET FOOD NOW? YOU CAN’T BE AS GREAT AS THE GREAT PAPYRUS WITHOUT NOURISHMENT!”

“I think the place over there has cotton candy, which I’m always down for.” You motioned to your right, a vendor’s van lit up with multicolored lights and depictions of fair food.

“HUMAN, WHAT IS THIS, ‘COTTON CANDY’?” Papyrus asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Come on, I’ll show you.” You led the brothers to the van, ordering your food, and then walking to the other side to wait. At the last second, it occurred to you that you may not have thought it through. “Hey, Sans?”

“hm?” He looked at you, his normal lazy grin spread across his face.

“Can Paps,” you lowered your voice, not trying to draw the other skeleton’s attention, “can he do the tongue thing?”

Sans laughed, “why’re you askin?”

“Just answer the question.” You rolled your eyes, trying not to make it more awkward than it already was.

“yeah, course he can.”

You nodded, grabbing the huge wands of cotton candy from the window and stepping away with the brothers. “Okay, so the cool thing about cotton candy is that it melts on your tongue.” You took a piece from the sugary cloud, popping it into your mouth. After a moment, you stuck out your tongue to reveal nothing but a blue-tinted stain.

Papyrus jumped at the idea, grabbing a piece and placing it on his suddenly existing bright orange tongue. He stood there, his eyes crossed in an attempt to watch the sugary substance melt. “WOWIE! HUMAN FOOD IS INCREDIBLE!”

You held out a portion to Sans, who took it, but only after eyeing it suspiciously. “isn't this pure sugar?”

Shrugging, you grabbed another piece. Soon, the cotton candy was gone, and you were all out into the crowds again. You played some games, though you couldn’t seem to win much of anything. Papyrus, on the other hand, killed it at the “test your strength” game. The woman running the game tried to argue that he must have been cheating, or that he was using magic, but you pointed out that her game is rigged anyways, so she handed him the big robot plushie that he wanted. Of course, Papyrus proclaimed that he won it for Mettaton, and that he couldn’t wait to show it to the robot.

A little after that, your sister found you again, saying that your parents were planning on heading home soon since it had gotten dark. You gave her and Paps a bit of cash, telling them that you wanted to show Sans one last thing. They happily ran off, leaving the two of you alone for this first time that day.

“are you sure they’ll be alright on their own?” Sans asked, following you through the clusters of people.

“Of course. We both know how well Paps fights, and Jen has been taking MMA classes for years.” You finally stopped, pulling the last few tickets out of your pocket.

Sans looked up as the two of you stepped in line, observing the ride. “the ferris wheel?”

You nodded, walking up to the ride operator and handing them the tickets. The two of you boarded the ride, strapping in. “You’re not afraid of heights, right?”

“i mean, i don’t go out of my way to climb mountains like undyne,” he started, “but they’re not an issue.”

The seat lifted into the air, stopping only to let the last people on. It then continued to rise, stopping periodically so that people could get a good view. It went around a few times before the two of you were left at the top, soaking up the breathtaking view. From here, you could see the town surrounding you lit up, and maybe even a glimpse of the next town over. But more importantly, you had an amazing view of the sky.

You could see every star, the lights from the fair far from being able to dim the sky. It was a view you missed dearly. Sure, in the city it was the same sky, but it looked so different. Here, there were no clouds blocking your view, no smog or factory pollution. There was only moonlight and stars, the constellations easy to read. You couldn’t have asked for a better night to give him this view.

_____

The view was insanely gorgeous. He could see every star in the sky, by far the best glimpse he had gotten since reaching the surface. There was nothing to block his view, the skyline perfectly placed. But Sans wasn’t looking at the sky. He was looking at you, and wondering how thought that the sky could ever compare.