His New Favorite Color

The monster in your doorway beamed at you, holding various pool floaties in her arms.

“Come on punk, summer’s almost over! We’ve gotta get in one last beach day.” Undyne gave you a big, toothy grin. Something told you that she’d gotten this idea from an anime.

“IS SHE READY YET?” Papyrus stopped by your door, carrying a box full of what you could only assume were more pool toys. You couldn’t help but laugh at the skeleton’s open shirt, the Hawaiian floral pattern giving him a very touristy look.

This wasn’t the first time that the monsters had expected you to come somewhere or do something that you had never been told about. It was as if they assumed that since Sans would be there, you would be there.

“Maybe I'd be ready if someone had told me that we were going. I’ll meet you guys down in parking lot, okay?”

The two monsters gave you a curt nod, rushing down the stairs and leaving you to get ready. You tore through your apartment, searching for everything you needed. Making quick work of the exploration, you got dressed and left your apartment, a bag filled with beach supplies hanging from your shoulder. Your flip flops gave away your presence well before you had reached the cars.Undyne and Alphys sat on the hood of Papyrus’ convertible, their heads snapping in your direction as you approached.

“Finally! Let’s get going.” Undyne slid off of the car, soon followed by her girlfriend. They both slipped into vaguely familiar van parked next to them.

“HUMAN, YOU WILL BE RIDING WITH THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” The skeleton grinned at you. He was leaning against the red two-seater, motioning for you to join him. Sans was nowhere to be seen, leaving you to assume that he was in the van with everyone else.

You made your way the the skeleton’s car, sliding into the passenger's seat. “Is that Toriel’s van?”

Papyrus nodded, hopping into his own seat, “TORIEL AND FRISK ARE COMING ALONG AS WELL, SO SHE OPTED TO DRIVE.”

Nodding, you watched as the van pulled out of the parking lot. Papyrus followed behind them, keeping as close as he could in the city traffic. It still amazed you how well the skeleton could drive. If you didn’t know that he hadn’t even seen a real car before January, you would have thought he’d been driving for years.

The two of you drove through the city, winding through the morning traffic. It wasn’t too bad, considering it was the weekend. The stereo blasted catchy pop music, the wind blew through your hair, and the skeleton next to you seemed as happy as could be.

A little over half way through the drive, Papyrus turned down his music, a more serious tone crossing his features. “_____, I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK WITH YOU.”

“What’s up Paps?” You turned to him, squinting your eyes to see him through the blinding sunlight.

“REGARDING MY BROTHER…” he trailed off for a moment, “HUMAN, I LIKE YOU VERY MUCH! AND OF COURSE, YOU LOVE THE GREAT PAPYRUS, FOR HE IS VERY GREAT.” The skeleton looked at you to make sure you were listening. “I BELIEVE THAT WE ARE GOOD FRIENDS.”

You nodded, wondering where he was going with this. “Of course we’re friends.”

“BUT IF YOU EVER HURT MY BROTHER,” the air around you became heavy, dense with the energy radiating off of Papyrus. He always seemed so innocent and cheery, but it was clear in that moment that he rivaled his brother when it came to intimidation. “LET US SAY THAT YOU WILL NOT ENJOY WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.”

You gulped, staring at skeleton in fear. Papyrus wouldn’t hurt a butterfly, there’s no way he’d hurt you, right? You took a moment before nodding, relaxing as The magic around you subsided. “I don’t plan on doing anything to hurt Sans, I promise.”

Papyrus held out his pinky finger, silently asking for you to take it. You wrapped your own finger around it, smiling at the childish promise.

By the time you got to the beach, the other monsters were already unpacking Toriel’s van. You found Sans out towards the water, laying some towels onto the sand. Undyne was already in the ocean, filling up various water guns. As you made your way towards your skeleton, Frisk and another monster flew past you, running towards the cool water. The monster, a small yellow reptile, tripped and landed on their face. They quickly stood back up, pushing themself up despite their lack of arms.

Sans chuckled, shaking his skull as he smoothed out a towel. His swim trunks had the same floral pattern as his brother’s shirt. You could see his bones moving under his white T-shirt, the movements mesmerizing you for a minute.

“Are your plans usually this last minute?” You jokingly asked, tossing your bag down into the sand.

“what do you mean?” He sat down carefully, trying to not flood his towel with sand.

You pulled out your own towel, watching as Undyne pumped a water gun, a terrifyingly devious look on her face. “How often is it that you make a sudden trip to the beach?”

“didn’t i ask you about coming with us the other day?”

“You didn’t, but apparently it was decided anyways,” you shrugged. Undyne had disappeared into the water, nowhere to be seen. You sat next to Sans, smiling as he flipped sunglasses over his eye sockets and laid down. Was he already taking a nap?

“_-_____? Have you s-seen Undyne?” Before you could answer Alphys’ question, your attention was drawn back to the water. Frisk and their friend were playfully yelling, trying to dodge Undyne’s attacks with her water guns. “Nevermind.”

Eventually you got bored and decided to join some of the other monsters in the ocean. You introduced the game of Shark to them, which they all picked up on very quickly. Throughout the morning, more people showed up to the beach, but they tended to avoid your group. You wanted to be angry, but hey, their ignorance gave you more room on the beach.

By the time lunch rolled around, everyone was worn out. Well, everyone but Sans, who hadn’t even touched the water yet. Toriel had been kind enough to make sandwiches for everyone, something that everyone else was used to. The goat monster never failed to warm your heart.

Frisk and their friend, who had introduced themself to you as MK, wanted to rush right back to the water, but Toriel insisted that everyone wait at least 20 minutes. At a loss for what to do, everyone sat for a moment, until Alphys suggested building sandcastles. Everyone liked the idea, but Undyne wanted to step it up, suggesting that instead they bad a sandcastle contest. Everyone loved the idea.

You spent the first few minutes combing the beach for shells and such, picking up any interesting piece you could find. Sans followed along, though it was obvious that he wasn’t looking. You hurried back to the others and began on your castle. It turned out pretty well, the shells giving you an excuse to cover up anything you messed up. Then again, anything would look better next to Sans’ poopy castle. He had just let wet sand drip on top of more wet sand, then put a stick on top.

Frisk had used some plastic molds, making sure to line up everything on their castle with precision. A small sand dollar was pressed into the wall above the door. Monster Kid’s castle was very similar, though theirs had many more rooms and wasn’t as neat.

Undyne’s castle was gigantic, by far the tallest and with a huge moat surrounding the structure. It looked like it would fall apart any minute. Alphys had a smaller castle, but what it lacked in size she had made up for in detail. If you looked closely, you could see furniture on the inside. Toriel had made what you would probably call the stereotypical sand castle. It looked like she had taken a picture straight from a magazine

Papyrus had built a quite magnificent structure, as he had told everyone several times. The castle wasn’t as tall as Undyne’s, but it was still very large.

“That’s cheating, Papyrus! You can’t just make the King’s Castle.” Undyne argued.

“I DIDN’T ‘JUST MAKE THE KING’S CASTLE,’ UNDYNE. I MADE A PERFECT RECREATION OF THE KING’S CASTLE!”

Frisk nodded, leaning in close to inspect the skeleton’s work.

“Yo! Let me see!” MK ran over to look at the castle, not wanting to be left out. Like you had witnessed a few times that day, they promptly fell onto their face. Though this time, their face landed right in the middle of Papyrus’ sand castle.

There was a collective gasp amongst the group as the child landed. Everyone was silent as MK stood back up, looking nervously at Papyrus.

Before they could speak, Undyne gave them a loud clap on the back. “Looks like we have a winner!” she yelled, erupting with laughter.

Papyrus assured the child that it was fine, and that he would build a much more fantastic castle next time.

The group went back into the water the second Toriel gave them permission, even managing to drag Sans along this time. You watched from a safe distance as they played chicken, Undyne and Alphys versus Papyrus and Sans. The skeletons managed to win since the poor doctor not wanting to get too violent.

Of course, Sans was soon longing for another nap, passing out on his towel before you had noticed his disappearance. Bored of your water shenanigans, you decided to put your time somewhere else.

You made sure the skeleton was really asleep before beginning to pile sand on top of him. You’d never seen the prank actually work, only ever seeing pictures online or watching it on TV. Frisk quickly caught on, bringing you buckets of sand so that you could cover him faster. It took a while, but you managed to bury the skeleton up to his neck. You laid next to him, watching the others play as you waited for him to wake up.

Eventually you became antsy, clearing your throat loudly and yelling back and forth to your friends. Sans finally began to stir, soon realizing that he couldn’t move. You smirked at him, batting your lashes. “Something wrong?”

He grumbled a reply, trying to hide a laugh. Suddenly, the sand covering the skeleton became surrounded in a blue glow, the contents lifting into the air. It was then promptly dropped on top of you instead.

You could hear the monsters laugh as you struggled out of the pile. Glaring at Sans, you shook the sand off of you, “How did you do that?”

He shrugged, “magic.”

You stood up, trying to rid yourself of the sand, “I hate that that was funny. I’m gonna have sand in my bathing suit for the rest of eternity.”

“wanna get some nicecream?” The skeleton wasn’t even listening to you, instead staring at the cart at the end of the beach.

“Earth to Sans?” You grabbed his hand, pulling him up from his towel.

He laughed, looping his arm with yours. “sorry, still in sleep mode. and i saw the oppurtunaty  for a nice treat.”

You laughed as he led you to the nicecream cart. “Really, Sans?”

“it shore was a good one, wasn’t it?”

The two of you bought your popsicles and started to make your way along the edge of the water. Sans was clearly worn out, despite his day full of naps. The sun was already beginning to set, and you were sure the skeleton was more than ready for a full night’s sleep.

You looked at him, blushing as you realized that he was already looking at you. Jokingly, you gave the bright blue popsicle a slow lick, winking at Sans. His face lit up, cyan dusting his cheeks.

You loved that color.