Chapter 16
Sans was relieved when the human ate some spaghetti, even more so when they told Papy it was good, though Sans could tell she felt otherwise. He had realized earlier that she hadn't had anything to eat since he found her except the mouthful of ketchup, and knew humans probably needed more than that a day. He and his brother didn't need to eat, they wouldn't die from hunger, but it felt uncomfortable not to.
Dinner was calming, and when they went to the living room to watch tv Sans quickly found himself drifting off. His brothers voice didn't wake him, but Pap jumping off the couch did. When Frisk reached over and grabbed his hand, seemingly unconsciously, Sans felt a sudden protective urge.
"Alright bro, if you want." He said, giving the small fleshy hand a squeeze of encouragement before continuing. "We can take her to Undyne as a prisoner. Kind of a shame she won't get to see your puzzles though. Or have any more of your spaghetti." His tone was innocent, and he could see Papyrus become conflicted.
"How about we don't tell Undyne about the human, huh? Then she can stay with us, and get to learn all about puzzles with her new friends." Sans stressed the last word just a bit and knew he had won when Paps eyes lit up. Maybe Sans didn't know a lot, but he knew how to win his brother over.
"WHAT A MARVELLOUS IDEA." Papyrus agreed, sitting back down on the couch. "WE JUST WON'T TELL UNDYNE." Sans smiled and nodded at his brother before looking at the kid again. She had been sitting incredibly still the whole time. Her body was still shaking, and her olive coloured face had paled considerably, but when Sans gave her hand a gentle squeeze she gave a faint smile before leaning against him again.
The rest of the night went on without event, something Sans was grateful for. When Papyrus started getting sleepy he extracted himself from the couch to follow his brother up with a quick explanation to Frisk. He could tell the kid was tired too, and knew that she had almost been asleep before Papyrus had interrupted. It had been a long day.
After he had told Papyrus his third story, the new excitement keeping awake, Sans got up to leave before a quiet voice came from the sleepy skeleton. Well, as quiet as Papyrus could be anyway.
"SANS, I DON'T THINK I CAN LIE TO UNDYNE. SHE IS MY FRIEND TOO." Papyrus voiced his worry, looking at his shorter brother with big sleepy eyes.
"I know bro." Sans replied, patting his brother's hand gently. "I'm not saying we gotta lie to her. All we gotta do is not tell her about Frisk at all. Or change to topic if she asks. Can you do that?"
"OF COURSE I CAN BROTHER. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM AN EXPERT AT SUBTERFUGE." Papy grinned, sinking down into his race car bed and closing his eyes.
Sans went back to the living room cheerfully, glad that everything was working out. He started to tell the kid but his words were silenced when he looked at her. She had apparently fallen asleep on the couch in the time it took him to read the stories, not that he blamed her. She had gone to sleep sitting up, head tilted forward slightly, but that wasn't why he stopped. Instead of being blissful her face was scrunched up in fear and pain. Every so often she would flinch and cry out a bit, or just whimper.
Pulling the blanket from his room with magic he scooped up the kid in his arms, making soft cooing noises as he sat on the couch, leaning his back against the armrests and settling her on top of him. He wrapped the blanket around them both with his magic, tucking it in tightly as she flinched and jerked.
"Hey kiddo. It's okay now. I got you. You're safe with Sans. You're ok. It's alright." He began murmuring pacifications to her, repeating them over and over in no particular order. With one of his hand he started rubbing circles on her back, same as he'd done last night, and he used the other to brush her hair from her eyes. She had a pretty adorable face, when it wasn't scared.
The massage and the soft words seemed to help because soon she had stopped crying out and nuzzled into his sweater a bit. Sans let out a breath of relief he didn't know he was holding and used his magic to turn off the tv and lights.