Also this fic has inspired another one! Its in the Underswap universe and its really cute so far, go give it and its author some love! https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12665165/1/Skeletons-Snow-and-Sneaky-Devils

I'll stop apologizing one day for being late but today is not that day. You guys just keep being so supportive it really means so much. Really, all the reviews make me smile and just...knowing you guys enjoy it. Thank you So Im doing pretty well on my freelance work so Im quitting my job at Best Buy - last day is in two weeks! What this means for this story is that I won't get to write at work on those tiny post it notes anymore. If I keep up on my freelance and working on my portfolio I still should be able to put time into the story. It might be a tad slower though? We're nearing the end, though, only six or seven chapters left, and I'm really excited to see it all come together! If any of you are interested in supporting me through this whole no stable job thing, I do have a patreon and ko-fi set up (both /KaylaMitchell) but feel absolutely no pressure or obligation. I honestly think I'll be okay for a few months and your guys' support just through AO3 is more than enough to keep me writing. I want to keep making something worth it for you! speaking of that, i feel like this chapter kinda goes all quick at the end. Sorrrry.

Chapter Text

Life just seemed determined to never give Grillby a break.

Ever since the boys started school he knew that, one day, he would inevitably get a call from the administration about them. However, months had passed by now and since Sans and Papyrus seemed adjusted to school life, Grillby had grown complacent, forgetting those fears.

Only for them to come crashing back today when the phone rang at the bar.

An ‘incident’, that’s how the principal put it, involving both boys. No details beyond that, though she made sure to note that there were no serious injuries.

No serious injuries.

Not ‘no injuries’.

It was fortunate that the Dogi were at the restaurant for lunch. They immediately picked up on Grillby’s distress as he stood there motionless, piecing together what he had just been told and what he needed to do next. The couple helped him close down early and did what they could to assure him that everything was probably alright. He grabbed some monster candy on the way out anyways, just in case.

Grillby wasn’t sure how he got to the school, but the next moment he was aware was in front of the doors. They burst open as he looked around, desperate to find the principal’s office. Instead, his attention was drawn to three figures huddled in the hallway: Mrs. Snowdrake, soothing her son, who was sobbing uncontrollably into her chest. Next to them sat the cousin, whose damp feathers suggested recent tears as well.

That wasn’t nearly as worrisome as the bandage peaking out under his sunglasses, or the makeshift sling now supporting his wing.

Grillby swallowed, hoping to keep the nausea down.

As he rushed into the principal’s office, he almost missed Mrs. Snowdrake looking up and glaring at him as he passed. Fortunately he didn’t have the time to confront her and whatever animosity she was now harboring against him.

The principal, a stout plant monster, was waiting, seated calmly at her desk - too calmly, Grillby thought, all things considered. The room around him reeked of propriety and order, every item in a very specific spot. Papyrus would probably love it.

Except he wasn’t here. Neither was Sans.

“Please have a seat, Mr. Grillby,” The principal instructed.

He didn’t even move from the doorway. Couldn’t move. Not when his boys weren’t there. Why weren’t they there!?

She read him like an open book. “The nurse is still looking at them, but they were fine when I saw them. Just a few scratches.”

Grillby wondered what a ‘few scratches’ meant to someone who didn’t consider a broken arm a ‘serious injury’. It took a lot of focus to not worry about all the possible conditions the two could be in.

“Please, sit,” She implored, a bit more forcefully this time. He could tell by her gaze that she understood his concern, she just didn’t share it.

Being stubborn would only make this take longer, make him wait longer before he could check on the children, so he begrudgingly took a seat across from the desk. The chair squeaked along the clean floor as he leaned his weight onto it.

“I know we discussed this briefly over the phone, but to recap: there has been an incident,” She began. “Everyone is telling a different story so we don’t know how it started, but...we do know that it ended with your son, Sans, attacking two other students.”

Grillby winced. As much as he’d like to believe that there was some sort of mix up, that Sans wasn’t involved in this at all, he knew better. By now he was all too familiar with how violent the boy could be if pushed too much. Painfully so. If he really was driven to attack someone though, he had to have a good reason. He knew he wouldn't expel any energy if he wasn’t properly motivated.

“We have a very strict policy here on offensive magic use. Normally we would suspend the offender...but we’re willing to make an exception this time,” She explained. “A warning and two weeks of detention. We’ll also start counseling if he shows anymore violent tendencies - but I have faith that that won’t be necessary.”

Grillby nodded, grateful for the leniency, although he knew Sans would probably prefer getting kicked out. He’d asked multiple times now if he could quit school and - well now, honestly, Grillby wouldn’t be surprised if getting suspended had been his goal this whole time. He was about to be disappointed then.

“We all understand that Sans and his brother have come from...troubled pasts. We’ll always do our best to accommodate their special needs,” The principal assured.

Oh. That explained the lesser punishment. They were still under the assumption that the boys had been abused and felt bad for them. Grillby wasn’t going to correct her, especially when he still wasn’t a hundred percent sure it wasn’t true. Just because Dr. Gaster existed didn’t mean he hadn’t been abusive. Grillby still had no explanation for Sans’ abysmal stats, why they had seemed unfamiliar with the concept of school and playing with other kids their age. And yet he trusted his story. He trusted in Sans.

The principal thanked him for coming in and gave him permission to leave, letting him know where the infirmary was. Grillby didn’t need to be told twice. He bolted to the door, barely able to control his pace to a brisk walk. This time no one was in the hallway to distract him as he went along. Good, that would have likely ended in disaster anyways. When he reached his destination he stopped, taking in a deep breath, before throwing the door open. He knew he wasn’t prepared for whatever was on the other side, but he doubted he would ever be.

The infirmary came into view, and Grillby realized just how not prepared he really was.

There wasn’t a nurse in sight but, thank the stars above, his boys were, still dressed in their outdoor gear and seated on two cots next to each other. At first glance they didn’t seem to have any physical injuries, or at least nothing to the extent the child in the hallway had. Grillby would have felt relieved if their mental states weren’t so obvious.

Sans looked dead on his feet, body covered in a layer of sweat, struggling to keep himself upright. On the other hand, Papyrus was as still as a statue, staring off at nothing while he clung onto something in both gloved hands. As Grillby neared, he could see clearly what it was, and his stomach dropped: the tattered remnants of the boy’s blanket.

No, Grillby hadn’t been prepared for this at all.

The initial shock wore off quickly, replaced with a parental instinct he couldn’t ignore. The brothers needed to recuperate, and this was by far not the suitable environment for that.

He approached the cots, earning a delayed reaction from Sans. The young skeleton looked up at him with dull eyelights and a genuine smile, almost like he was actually happy to see him. “...oh...hi grillbz…watcha doin’...here…?”

There was no question; Sans was incredibly out of it. Grillby felt himself tense. Barely a few weeks had passed since Sans recovered from his previous bout of magical exhaustion, and yet now he was dangerously close again. At least Grillby was better equipped to deal with it this time.

“...’snot like...we’re doin’ a fire drill today…” the boy slurred, laughing weakly at his own pun. The chuckles died slowly as his sockets threatened to close.

Grillby quickly grabbed his shoulders, snapping his fingers in front of the child’s eyes. “Stay with me.”

He felt a small relief as Sans’ pupils focused ever so slightly. Reaching into his pocket, he retrieved the monster candy and was able to get Sans to eat it. Hopefully the magic within would help restore his depleted levels.

Once he was sure Sans wasn’t going to nod off again, he moved on to Papyrus. The younger brother hadn’t moved since Grillby got there, aside from his fingers twitching almost imperceptibly. This was going to be a much harder issue to tackle, one too delicate to do here.

“Papyrus,” Grillby said softly. “I’m going to pick you up and take you home, okay?”

Nothing.

Grillby did his best not to let his anxiety rise. Papyrus had gone nonverbal and reclusive several times before, especially in the last month. Even then, though, he always made sure to communicate something, even if it was just that he wanted to be left alone for awhile. This was worse, much worse, and he knew Papyrus’ heart - this was definitely something out of the child’s control. Papyrus hated worrying other people. He’d always come back from a nonverbal period and make sure he hadn’t made Grillby or Sans sad.

But they couldn’t stay here. He needed the familiar safety of home to help Papyrus.

Grillby cautiously reached forward and touched Papyrus’ arm. Again, nothing. But it wasn’t any sign of discomfort, at least. Taking this as a go ahead, he gently picked the boy up, cradling him. Still no response, not even a lean or an attempt to latching on for support. Papyrus simply let himself be held, having no sense of agency at all.

They needed to get home quick.

He turned to Sans, ready to ask the boy if he would be able to walk, only to stop in surprise. The child had his arms up expectantly, ready to be hoisted up, loopy grin still on his face.

Grillby hesitated. “...why don’t you get on my back instead.”

Sans nodded, clambering up his back clumsily, wrapping his arms around his neck. It took only a few moments before he started to press himself against the elemental, hold relaxing. Of course. Warmth wasn’t exactly the best thing when you were battling sleep. Grillby couldn’t have him passing out now, though. Not in this condition.

Grillby started walking out of the school, not bothering to let anyone know that he was taking them, when he had an idea. “...Sans, why don’t you tell me a joke?”

Sans stirred a bit. “...uh...heh...ok. what do...do you call a parking space with...more than one octopus?”

“I don’t know. What?”

“an octopied area.”

Wow.

That was bad.

The jokes continued as they walked home, all of varying quality. Sometimes Sans got himself in a giggle fit and was unable to even finish the set ups. By the end of it there was the punchline ‘you can’t have your kayak and heat it too’, which was at least a fairly clever wordplay. Grillby was much more concerned with keeping him talking, keeping him awake, and this seemed to be doing the trick.

As they neared the house the boy went quiet, and at first Grillby feared he had drifted off, only to feel Sans’ bones stiffen. It was like he was finally aware of what he was doing, whose back he was one, who he was joking with. Grillby sighed inwardly, used to this treatment. It still hurt, but it also proved that Sans was less drowsy than before, and that’s all that mattered. He could bear it if Sans was going to be okay.

When they got home Sans quickly jumped down onto the floor, wobbily getting his bearings. He still looked very tired, but considerably less than he had before. He turned his head, unwilling to make eye contact with Grillby.

“...thanks,” he mumbled.

Well, that was an improvement.

Grillby grabbed another piece of monster candy, which Sans ate with no resistance. It was quiet, Grillby walking over and seating himself and Papyrus onto the couch.

“...i, uh...overdid it again, huh?” Sans said, laughing lightly.

That was sure one way to put it.

“i...i usually take better care of myself. little bit of blue magic here. one shortcut there. maybe a few weak bone attacks if pap wants to practice. start to get out of breath, too sweaty, time to stop. take a nap to get back some energy....okay a lot of naps. dad had medicine if i worked myself too hard, but that didn’t happen much…” He rubbed his arm. “it’s been harder to control myself lately when i get...riled up. but i’m working on it. so don’t worry about me, ok?”

Grillby was shocked at the sudden openness - Sans hadn’t willingly talked about anything like this before, and Grillby struggled to find a reason for why he would decide to do it now. Still, this had to be a good sign right? A step in the right direction. If only Sans didn’t look so scared while he did it.

Grillby couldn’t promise that he wouldn’t worry, though. That seemed nigh impossible now.

Papyrus shifted on the couch, immediately gaining both Sans’ and Grillby’s attention, the former rushing over.

“hey, pap. you ok, bro?”

Papyrus didn’t even acknowledge his brother, curling into a fetal position, keeping his gaze in the middle distance. At least it was some movement. At least it was something.

Grillby looked over to Sans, whose sockets were crease in anxiety. “...what happened today?”

Sans tapped a finger on the couch, like he wasn’t sure where to start. He sighed. “...it was recess. i was just trying to catch some quick z’s, like i usually do. but then i heard pap across the way - hard to not hear him, y’know? something about how he didn’t like the game they were playing, and maybe they could try something else. i figured it wasn’t a big deal, he didn’t really sound upset, but i opened an eye anyways, just in case.” He paused, hands clenching into fists. “...just in time to see those two shove him to the ground. hard.”

Grillby took a breath, already feeling his anger burning inside of him. He looked at Papyrus, noticing scuff marks on his jacket that had escaped his notice before.

“they had his blanket - it musta snagged on a branch - and they started ripping it up and tossing the pieces everywhere. and they were l a u g h i n g .” His eyelights had gone out, smile cold and menacing as he chuckled darkly. “they stopped laughing real quick.”

Flames crackled and popped, but Grillby kept them under control as best he could. He couldn’t explode. At least not now. Maybe later when he was by himself. Preferably outside where he wouldn’t cause any unintended property damage.

It didn’t make any sense. How could anyone do something like this to a sweet boy, his son , just because he was different from them? He just couldn’t understand it, no matter how many times he was brought face to face with the facts. Guilt crept up within. He had known. He had overheard the Snowdrake children and their animosity, although he had never dreamed it would escalate to this. It had been his intention to contact Mrs. Snowdrake but when everything happened with Sans it had slipped his mind, and Papyrus had never mentioned any trouble at school. Then this happened. Stars, he could have prevented this!

No. That wasn’t fair. There was no way of saying that if he had talked to Mrs. Snowdrake it would’ve stopped this from happening. But it might have.

“...i just wanted to scare ‘em off but...heh…” Sans straightened up, his eyelights returning. “i don’t care what you think. i don’t care what anyone thinks. i’d do it again. i’ll never let anyone hurt my brother. ever.”

From Grillby’s limited parenting knowledge, he knew he was supposed to berate Sans for this unnecessary violent behavior, but he couldn’t. Not when he had himself nearly burnt the school down just overhearing ill-will towards Papyrus.

“I’m proud of you.”

Sans froze, looking up at Grillby with wide, confused eyes.

“You did good protecting your brother,” Grillby explained. “But you need to make sure to take care of yourself too.”

Sans just stared at him for a moment, brow ridge furrowing intensely. “....i wasn’t looking for your approval.”

There it was. That familiar rejection.

Grillby did everything he could not to let his hurt show. Steeling himself, he thought of ways to turn the conversation around to something more positive. “...you made them cry.”

That seemed to brighten Sans up. “i did?”

“Even the older one.”

“well that should teach them then.” He nodded a bit, seeming satisfied. Then he looked over at Papyrus again, that worried, helpless face returning.

Grillby could understand the anxiety; Papyrus had never been off quite this badly before. By this point Grillby had hoped Papyrus would have come out of the mood naturally, as he normally did, but at this point there was no indication that that was going to happen anytime soon without some coaxing. It was impossible to tell what to do to help him and Grillby didn’t want to try something without thinking things through first so that he wouldn’t accidentally make it worse. Usually when the boy needed time alone he would go off next to a corner or piece of furniture and hide…

...under his blanket, which was currently still shredded in Papyrus’ fists. Even from the little Grillby could see of the pieces, he could tell there wasn’t enough fabric left to cover his head, much less drape over his whole body like he was accustomed to in these situations. Without this normal coping mechanism it was probably difficult for Papyrus to find a way to calm himself down. Knowing that specific soothing technique was gone forever probably wasn’t helping either.

Grillby felt overwhelmed, old doubts resurfacing. He knew it. He knew he wouldn’t be able to help his children when they needed him most. All the warm feelings in the world meant nothing if you couldn’t solve a problem that was staring you right in the face, actively hurting your child. He lowered his head, unable to bear the sight anymore.

It was then that a new object came into his field of vision, something that had been left haphazardly on the floor.

He suddenly had an idea.

“Papyrus, can I see your blanket?” He asked gently. When Papyrus didn’t answer, he added, “I promise I will give it back.”

Nearly a minute passed, then the boy relaxed his grip on the scraps, holding them out. Grillby reached over slowly, trying not to startle the child as well as give him space in case he changed his mind. That didn’t happen, though, and Grillby was able to take the remains of the blanket with no qualms. Good. That was by far the trickiest part of his plan, and it seemed to be going well so far. Sans watched all this take place with a cautious eye.

Once he was sure Papyrus was still calm, Grillby inspected the strips of cloth in his hand. They were pitiful, really, not at all salvageable as a blanket. But for what Grillby had in mind, the larger piece was perfect.

“Sans,” Grillby said, getting the older brother’s attention. He motioned over to the action figure lying on the ground. Sans looked confused, but grabbed the toy and shuffled over to the edge of the couch all the same.

“The Great Mighty Man is very brave, isn’t he, Papyrus?” Grillby asked, gesturing to the superhero Sans was holding.

The boy’s pupils slowly came into focus, fixed onto his plastic figure. It took a moment, but then he nodded. The smallest nod Grillby had ever seen but still. A nod. Communication. Sans’ breath hitched at the sight, waiting anxiously for whatever would come next as he held the toy out.

“It’s because he has a cape, right?” Grillby continued.

Papyrus seemed to consider this, like it had never crossed his mind before. He nodded again, bigger this time.

“No,” Grillby corrected, causing both Papyrus and Sans to look at him. “Bravery is inside of you. If you are very brave you get to wear a cape. Like this one.” He displayed the larger piece of the blanket which was, for the most part, rectangular in shape. “Can I put it on you?”

Papyrus eyed the offering curiously, like he was seeing the torn blanket in a new light. A nod. Gingerly, Grillby took the ends of the fabric and tied it around Papyrus’ neck, keeping it loose so it wouldn’t feel too constricting. It was a little small, and definitely too ratty to be a proper cape, but it fit all the same.

There was Papyrus. Grillby’s little superhero.

“There we go,” Grillby nodded. “The Great Papyrus.”

Papyrus’ fingers went up to his collarbone, tracing over the folds in the cape’s knot. Eventually he leaned over against Grillby’s side, sighing. Reflexively, Grillby put an arm around the child, rubbing his shoulder. That seemed to help, Papyrus leaning further in.

“...AM I REALLY GREAT?”

His voice was quiet. Unsure. Un-Papyrus.

Stars, how could anyone make a child feel like this?

“of course, pap!” Sans assured, climbing onto the couch and wrapping his brother up in a giant hug. “the greatest!”

The three of them spent most of the afternoon just huddled on the couch, comforting each other, until Papyrus finally let everyone know that he was ready to eat dinner. At one point Grillby caught Sans looking his way, expecting to see resentment or jealousy. Instead, the boy’s eyes were filled with gratitude, wet with unshed tears. He nuzzled against his brother, holding onto him like nothing in the world could keep them apart.

The day had been long and burdened with troubles, but at least it ended on a happy note.

As long as they were with him, Papyrus would always know just how great he really was.