Chapter Text
Papyrus knocks on his brother’s door.
“SANS? ARE YOU IN THERE?”
No reply.
“SANS? HOW IS THE SPAGHETTI?.”
Silence.
Papyrus enters the room; it’s empty. The spaghetti he left under the door is untouched.
So where is Sans?
The quiet sound of a door opening and closing. Sans slipped out of the house, almost silently, not even saying he was leaving. Papyrus, panicking over the water bubbling up and over the pot, was only barely aware of it.
Sans has gone to Grillby’s, of course. Again.
It’s a regular habit of his, by now.
But he usually at least tries the spaghetti before he goes. Has he given up on that, too?
And... Papyrus has really been trying so very hard to make it taste good. This time, he’s sure he’s improved, just a little. If Sans doesn’t like it, why can’t he just say so?
Papyrus laughs a little, softly. Telling the truth is never Sans’s preferred course of action. It hasn’t been for a long time.
Papyrus picks up the plate full of almost-cold spaghetti, and heads back down to the kitchen. As he walks, he considers going after his brother, to bring him back from Grillby’s. He’s done it before, after all.
But, at Grillby’s, Sans has friends. People who like him. People he can joke with. And perhaps that was the real reason Sans went, just now. (It’s a nice thought, at least.)
It would be unbelievably selfish of Papyrus to take that away from him yet again. (He’s done it before.)
Even if the alternative is sitting alone in an empty house.
Entering the kitchen, he transfers the spaghetti to a container. He puts the plate in the sink, and the container into the refrigerator, to sit alongside countless others. It’s a veritable museum of uneaten failures. (And who’s the real failure, the hapless creations or the one who created them?)
His own plate is still on the bench. It’s probably cold, too.
Well, that’s alright. Even if it’s cold, there’s nothing better than eating food made with your own hard work!
...except for having someone else eat food made with your hard work. But Papyrus knows (no matter how much he pretends he doesn’t) that he will have to work harder, if he ever wants that to happen.
He sits down on the couch, places his spaghetti on the table in front of it. There’s a good MTT episode on tonight. It’ll be a nice distraction.
It’s getting late.
He should really go and retrieve Sans from Grillby’s.
But...
Sans smiling, looking the closest to happy he’s been since then. That last time, he was visibly disappointed when Papyrus showed up to bring him home.
Papyrus decides that it’s better if he waits, just a little longer.
After all, he knows his brother can take care of himself.