Turtle Side Note- So... I said I would update my AoD before this... welp, I guess I lied, because this was really close to being done, so I just finished it quick. But don't fear, I will update the AoD book... eventually... just... use this to distract you for now.
About an hour had passed before the front door gently creak open.
Sans quietly stepped through, half of him hoping no one would hear him, only for that hope to be immediately crushed by a feminine voice calling him from the other side of the house.
"Sans? Is that you?"
Sans winced, cursing under his breath before calling back, "yeah..."
"Can you come over here, we need to talk." The voice responded.
Sans hung his head, looking at the ground, mentally preparing himself, "i'm comin', toriel." He knew better than to call her by a nickname when she was mad.
He shuffled through the house, walking to where he heard the voice coming from. The living room. He peeked around the corner hesitantly.
Toriel was sitting in her armrest, reading a book. She caught him in the corner of her eye, taking off her reading glasses, closing her book, and putting both the items on the table next to her. Papyrus was seated on the couch, pausing the game he was playing, looking over the back of it at his brother.
"hey-" Sans could barely make a sound before Toriel immediately cut him off.
"Explain." She crossed one of her legs over the other, folding her hands in her lap. She gave him a cold stare from across the room that could make any child burst into tears from fear.
Sans glanced to his brother, as if he was hoping to suddenly gain the ability to telepathically communicate with him from across the room so he could know what to say. Papyrus just sent him back an equally lost look, making it clear that neither one of them knew what to say.
Toriel caught onto what was happening, standing up, crossing her arms in front of her chest, "Better yet, how about we have a talk where you won't be distracted." As she said the last word, she made a small gesture towards Papyrus.
The younger skeleton's eyes quickly morphed from lost to guilty as he sunk more behind the couch.
Sans squeezed his eye-sockets shut, regretting even getting out of bed this morning. He let out a breath, before quietly mumbling an, "okay."
Toriel stood up, walking away, Sans having been through this enough to know just to follow and not ask questions.
Papyrus sat on the couch, waiting. He heard their feet go up stairs, before he heard a door shut. He silently got up from the couch, tip-toeing down the hall, then up the stairs. He walked by the bedroom doors silently, before he heard muffled voices coming from the bathroom door. He walked up to it, placing his feet to the side of the door to make sure it would be impossible for the boss monster to possibly see his feet from under the door. He leaned his body to the side, putting his head against the door to hear the conversation inside.
The goat monsters voice seemed stern, almost a bit harsh, "Sans, I've had it up to here with you." Papyrus could only assume she made a gesture with that statement. "This is not the kind of behavior I expect from you. I hope you know that."
There was a pause. A moment of silence that could have been either a nod from Sans, or him just not doing anything at all.
The woman then went on. "Now, would you like to explain yourself?" Papyrus could only feel bad for the look he was imagining her giving to his sibling. "What did that child do to deserve that?"
Silence.
"Sans, answer me. I didn't bring you in here for you to stare at a wall." She sounded very impatient and short with him.
"i..." There was another pause, "i don't know how to explain it without hurting you..."
Papyrus heard Toriel exhale annoyed, "Try me."
"no, i-..." He heard his brother's fake laugh, "i can't do that to you."
There was a sudden bang. It sounded like someone hitting the counter. "Sans!" Toriel yelled, "I am NOT in the mood for playing games."
"i'm not playin--"
"You have been driving me absolutely crazy! What is it that is so important that I can't know?!" Papyrus could hear her heavy, aggravated, breaths through the door.
His brother refused to respond, remaining silent.
"I don't know who you think you are, or how you think this world works, but I will not tolerate you hurting an innocent child. Do you understand me?" She huffed, "If you will not defend yourself, I have no choice but to put the blame on you. I expect you to stop this pointless aggressiveness towards my child, and for you to apologize."
"got it." His brother responded. Papyrus could sense the slight irritation in his voice, but it seemed to slip by Toriel as she didn't start ranting his figurative ear off about respect.
There was a pause before Toriel said in a calm, but firm tone, her pitch dropping slightly, "I would think you'd care a little more about the person who let you see the stars."
That one part at the end even made Papyrus coil back. Maybe she didn't understand what the stars meant to both of them, but Papyrus knew exactly why his brother adored them so much.
They reminded him of his fallen mother.
At that point, Papyrus knew she might as well have shot an arrow through Sans if she was going to bring that up in such a negative light.
Papyrus suddenly heard the woman coming closer to the door. He quickly jogged back, sliding down the banister before heading into the kitchen. He quickly opened the fridge, pouring himself a glass of milk, then sat down and pretended that he had been there the whole time.
He made it, barely, as nearly an instant later, Toriel walked by.
"WHY, HELLO, YOUR MAJESTY!" Papyrus called to her cheerfully, "DID MY BROTHER EXPLAIN HIMSELF?" He asked, already knowing the answer was no, but he played dumb to his knowledge.
Toriel sighed, "I'm afraid not, he didn't seem to want to say anything." Toriel blew some fur out of her face before she spoke again, "I just have to now assume what I did before. That Frisk is telling the truth and didn't do anything to provoke him."
Papyrus glanced to the side, "OH... OKAY!" He said, still playing his part as if he was some actor and the kitchen was his stage, "MAYBE I CAN HAVE A TALK WITH HIM WHEN HE COMES DOWN."
Toriel blinked, "...How did you know we were upstairs?"
"WELL, YOU SEE YOUR MAJESTY," he began, "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WITH MY GREAT HEARING COULD HEAR YOU TWO WALKING UP THE STAIRS." He said, putting a proud hand to his chest.
Toriel laughed a little at the skeleton's charisma, "I suppose that makes sense." She began walking away, before she stopped, "Also, I would rather have you not comfort him if he comes to you looking for it."
Papyrus gave her a curious look, "WHY NOT?"
She looked towards Papyrus in a calm manner, "I believe he might be looking for attention or something and is acting out. But if you don't give him any, then the behavior should stop. Can you do that for me?"
Papyrus eyed the boss monster, before responding with, "YES, YOUR MAJESTY..."
She sent him a grateful smile, "Thank you. I just really want those two to get along." She then walked away into the living room.
As soon as she left, Papyrus' face immediately scrunched. 'Looking for attention'? That was probably one of the farthest assumptions he had ever heard anyone make about his brother. His brother didn't go looking for attention, and never would he do it like that. He was pretty sure Sans didn't even care about attention.
He went back to drinking his milk, still confused by how the woman even got to the assumption.
A few minutes passed before Papyrus heard a floorboard creak.
He looked up to find Sans in the entrance to the kitchen. He never knew how his brother's feet were so silent, that is unless a squeaky floorboard betrayed him as it just had. Sure, skeleton's didn't weigh a lot, in fact they barely weighed anything at all, but even Papyrus made noise when he was moving.
There was a moment of both of them awkwardly staring at each other, before they both spoke at the same time.
"HELLO, BROTHER-"
"'sup, bro-"
They both went back to staring at each other, as if they were waiting for the other person to speak first so they didn't cut each other off again.
"You go-" They both said at the same time, before glaring at each other for once again speaking in unison.
"NO, BROTHER, YOU GO." Papyrus quickly threw in before Sans spoke, breaking the loop of speaking simultaneously.
"nah, you go." Sans returned, not really having anything to say, waving his brother's offer off.
Papyrus sighed, "WELL, IF YOU INSIST, SANS." He started, taking his brother's offer before they started another loop of insisting each other to speak first, "I...UM..."He started to whisper, to avoid Toriel hearing his naturally loud voice, "I may or may not have been eavesdropping on you and Lady Toriel... Are you alright?" He asked, concerned for what was going through his older siblings head, especially at the end.
Papyrus could almost hear the two words echo in his head, right before his brother said it.
"i'm fine." Sans shrugged as he said it, causing Papyrus to furrow his brows at him.
Sans noticed his brother's expression, giving a small laugh, barely audible under his breath. He walked up to his brother, giving him a side hug before shaking his sibling a little playfully, "i know that face, bro. seriously, ya don't gotta worry so much. if i say i'm okay, then i am. 'kay?"
"OKAY, SANS..." Papyrus said, looking down worried.
"hey. don't look so down. i'll get this settled in no time." Sans knelt down, so he could look Papyrus in the face, "i'm sorry for flippin' earlier, i didn't mean to get ya worked up. but, i'll figure it out. me an' the kid just haven't been on the best terms... but that's not up to you to worry 'bout, so i don't want you to." He sent his younger sibling a small smile.
"BUT... I WANT TO HELP..." Papyrus said, glancing to the side.
Sans' smile went bitter-sweet, "i know you do. you always want to. it's a sweet gesture but i don't want you to get involved in this."
Papyrus gulped, "BUT IF I DON'T THEN LADY TORIEL WILL KEEP GETTING MAD AT YOU..."
The smaller being let out a sigh, "don't mind her, she's just worried 'bout her kid, i can deal with someone shoutin' at me a few times."
Papyrus looked at his brother remaining silent, his eyes having a slight distraught look to them as his voice echoed in his mind, But I can't.
Papyrus cared too much, he couldn't stand hearing Sans getting yelled at, especially for something that he was sure his older sibling had a reason for. But, the problem was...
Sans refused to say anything.
It was to the point where Papyrus was sure someone could hold a gun up to his head, and he would still be too stubborn to explain what was going on between him and the human.
Sans sighed, giving his brother a gentle, half, smile. "it'll all turn out fine, you'll see." As he stood up from his knelt down position, he pat his brother's cheek twice then walked to the other side of the table. He sat down in the chair, propping his feet up on it as well, before he leaned back and started doing something on his phone.
Sans' eye-lights glanced at the table, seeing the claw marks from earlier. He paused, looking them over, before he sighed and went back to messing around on his phone, waiting for the kid to get home so he could fake another apology through his teeth to get Toriel off his case for awhile.
Papyrus watched his brother from across the table. He wanted to know what was going on. But, the only way Sans would ever say anything is if he wanted people to know. There wasn't a way to convince him to speak if he didn't want to, he was too bull-headed to do that. So, Papyrus had to find a way to make him want to tell him.
There had to be a way.
There just had to.