Chapter Text
Papyrus wasn’t stupid, despite what some people say.
He could tell something was bothering his somewhat cynical brother, he was being a lot more clingy than usual, not that Papyrus minded. Though it was odd, Sans seemed to never let him out of his sight, maybe he didn’t want to miss out on anything the great Papyrus did (Papyrus could tell that it definitely wasn’t that).
When walking through Snowdin it looked to Papyrus like Sans was taking a headcount (Papyrus again found his brother's actions… odd, it was like he was expecting there to be someone missing.) His brother’s shoulders seemed to sag in relief once he was done with the headcount. (That set off warning bells inside Papyrus’s skull.) It was then that Papyrus noticed just how tense his brother was.
Sans's entire body was tense, it looked uncomfortable. His eye lights shone with hypervigilance like at any moment something would appear and attack him. (that worried Papyrus even more, why would he seem so wary of every shadow)
Papyrus tried to set his brother up for a joke since Sans honestly hadn’t said much, not even a single pun, too busy observing everything, Papyrus would have congratulated his brother for not being lazy if it didn’t worry him half to death.
So Papyrus said,” sans you seem to be looking around a ton” hoping to prompt a pun.
The reaction Papyrus was expecting and the one he got were widely different, Papyrus was expecting his brother to say something along the lines of ‘i guess i have been looking around a skele-ton’ or maybe ‘yeah i’ve been looking to see if something was skull-king about’
The reaction he was not expecting however was for Sans to stiffen, then force himself to calm down (as if he’s done it hundreds of times) and say “hm i guess i have”
The warning bells in Papyrus’s skull rang loudly, and Papyrus was starting to feel agitated, something was bothering Sans and knowing his brother he would be too stubborn to talk about it probably saying something like ‘im fine bro no need to worry’
That thought brought Papyrus to a stop, Sans obviously wasn’t fine he even stiffened when he got asked a question… but… what if he was. Then he would also answer something like ‘im fine bro you don’t need to worry about me’ but Sans’s previous reaction had thrown Papyrus for a loop. So Papyrus decided that he would ask his brother if he was ok and try to gauge a reaction, even if it was only physical… but what if Sans got mad… What if he lashed out… What if he really was fine and asking would just make him mad What if What if WhatifWhatifwhatifWha---
Papyrus hadn’t realized he had been glaring holes in the snow until his brother startled him out of his thoughts by asking “what’d the snow do to offend you” with amusement clear in his voice.
Papyrus was glad his brother was feeling slightly better and replied “NOTHING, I WAS JUST THINKING” still slightly embarrassed from having had to have been dragged out from his thoughts.
Sans not taking long to reply said “oh? ‘bout what,” he asked, curiosity flavoring his voice.
Sans seemed to be in a better mood and Papyrus didn’t want to ruin that so he said “ABOUT WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN ONCE I JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD.” He lied to not worry his brother.
Papyrus was surprised at how easy that came out.
However he started panicking slightly when Sans asked what would happen, Papyrus did his best to not let his panic show on his face as he quickly thought of a lie.
“WELL YOU SEE BROTHER, I WOULD GET RESPECT, RECOGNITION, PEOPLE WILL ASK TO BE MY ‘FRIEND?’ I WILL BE BATHED IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING,” Papyrus said, trying his hardest to muster his usual cheer. Papyrus is once again pleasantly surprised at how good it turned out (another part of him was concerned due to the fact that he actually could lie like that to his brother… then again… it was just a white lie… his mind supplied.)
“hmm...” Sans intoned “maybe this lamp will help you,” Sans said out of nowhere, body frozen mid-shrug when he realized what he said his eye lights disappeared.
Papyrus got hit by the weirdest sense of deja-vu it didn’t help that Sans had visibly frozen, it felt like something was just on his tongue yet it also felt like there was nothing at all, Papyrus tried to voice his questions as clearly as could “S-SANS WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT, A-AND WHY DO I GET A FEELING OF DEJA-VU, LIKE, SOMETHING IS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN, BUT, NOT HERE.” Sans, who had calmed down to listen to his brother, stiffened, the air around him seemed to follow his example, the air felt colder against his bones, the nice chilly feeling of the cold being replaced by the harsh oppressive… weight was probably the best way Papyrus could explain it.
No longer was the nice chilly wind, in fact, there wasn’t any wind at all, as if the wind was forced to comply to the will of the sheer power that was being exerted, Papyrus opened his eyes and---
The world was darker like if someone turned the light in the underground off, there was also no sound, Papyrus reasoned that would make sense if there was no wind but- Papyrus noticed a leaf floating one that should have been flying with the wind or falling to the ground it was staying perfectly still. It didn’t make sense, so he tried to get up only to figure out he couldn’t move, he tried to speak, but nothing came out. He couldn't move his mouth, he started panicking, he couldn’t move, he couldn’t speak, it was as if time itself stopped.
Papyrus was panicking horribly not being able to hear, to feel, to speak, to breathe, or to move, it was a terrifying experience, to be so utterly helpless, he started to think ‘WHY? WHY AM I STUCK WHAT IS HAPPENING WHY WHY WHWHYWHY HOWHOW HOW DO I GET OUT HOW’ Then a terrifying thought came to him ’…… WHAT… WHAT IF… WHAT IF I CAN’T…’ his downward spiral interrupted by a quiet “......what”' meeker than anything he had heard from his brother, but… something was wrong. First was Sans being able to speak, the second thing wrong was that it sounded so… broken?... defeated?... it just sounded so, so very Wrong. Papyrus wanted with all his being to go over to his brother and comfort him and say that everything was going to be okay, but he couldn’t, not for a lack of trying, but, he physically couldn’t move or say anything as it was.
Papyrus watched as his brother took a deep breath. Inhale, exhale, then the world came crashing down on him.
Sans unpaused time and startled when Papyrus fell forwards breathing heavily, as if he hadn’t been able to breathe. as if he- Sans realized what happened and inwardly cursed himself for not being more careful with his magic, after all, not being able to do anything other than thinking is literal torture, and Papyrus wasn’t prepared.
He went over to Papyrus, footsteps slightly louder than his normal footsteps were, he spoke soothingly “hey bro, can you try to follow my breathing” Sans too a deep inhale through his mouth, with papyrus following along, then he repeated until Papyrus now only shaking, Sans decided to try and take Papyrus’s mind off of what had happened, with puns of course.
“hey bro, why didn’t the skeleton go to prom… because he had ‘no-body’ to go with.” That seemed to have taken a bit of the shaking, so Sans decided to continue.
“what are you ‘skull’-king about? cause i have a ton more puns to cheer you up.. a ‘skele-ton’.” Most of Papyrus's shaking was gone, though Sans was mostly doing this to calm Papyrus down from his panic attack, there was also the part of him that enjoys puns.
Papyrus wasn’t going to lie to himself, the puns, as bad as they were, were helping him calm down. “why was the skeleton sad… because he was feeling ‘bone-ly’” Papyrus thought that one was especially atrocious and let out a groan of what he hoped got the message of annoyance across.
“don’t worry paps i have a ‘femur’” Papyrus sat up, put his face in his hands, and let out something that sounded suspiciously like ‘brother why’
“alright bro i’ll say them later, though...” Sans seemed like he wanted to something but was conflicted but finally said “why don’t go home relax, i'm tired”
And for once Papyrus agreed, he just wanted to go home and forget about everything that happened today.
Then there was a bright flash of white.
And Papyrus woke up.