Chapter Text
What a day.
What a day what a day what a day what a-
Papyrus' mind looped that thought over and over as he stepped inside the warm house. Normally, The Great Papyrus wouldn't be so exhausted. He's not lazy, for crying out loud! But today, he was... feeling a bit rough, to say the least.
Surely, it was nothing to worry about. It was just a day of puzzling social interactions that he had no idea how to navigate correctly... and having to deal with the rejection that comes from that. The rejection is the hardest part, honestly. But it's okay. Papyrus is used to being rejected.
With an unusually quiet sigh, Papyrus let himself sink into the ugly green sofa. They really needed to replace it. Maybe someday.
...
The house is too quiet.
thump thump thump
Oh, thank goodness. Sans is home.
Papyrus' tired face brightened at that realisation. Maybe he could help him out. Sans was an expert at being tired, so it couldn't hurt.
"SANS!" Papyrus couldn't even muster up the energy to reach his full natural volume. "SANS!"
A chubby skeleton head peeked out of Sans' bedroom. "hey, pap."
"HELLO." There was Papyrus, sprawled out on the sofa, his head thrown against the backrest and his arms sprawled to the sides. "COULD YOU COME DOWN, PLEASE?"
"um, sure." Sans' voice was gentler than usual. Papyrus knew what that meant. It's a good thing he can help him, then.
Instead of using a shortcut, Sans opted to carefully tread down the stairs, not taking his worried eye sockets off his overwhelmed brother for a second.
"hard day, huh?"
Papyrus nodded. Sans sat next to him tentatively.
"wanna talk about it?"
"NUH UH."
"ok..." Sans fidgeted with the drawstrings of his gym shorts, not making eye contact. A lack of eye contact between the brothers wasn't necessarily a bad thing, not to them. Sometimes it's nice to not have to look at someone in the eyes. Besides... eye contact hurts. They don't know why, but it does. Or maybe it's just that uncomfortable. Either way, it's nice that they don't need to look at each other.
Papyrus' eye sockets lidded a little. The tension and stress from the previous few hours started to melt away with his brother next to him. But as soothing as Sans' mere presence is to him, there is one thing about Sans that always helped Papyrus relax even more.
"HEY, SANS?"
"yeah?"
"CAN YOU JUST... TALK?"
"talk? like, uh, make jokes?"
"NO, NOT THAT. I MEAN, TALK ABOUT ANYTHING. LIKE YOU CAN TALK ABOUT STARS, OR BOOKS YOU'VE READ, OR JUST HOW YOUR DAY'S BEEN..."
Sans blinked and furrowed his bone brows, turning to get a good look at his brother. "are you ok, bro?"
Papyrus didn't move from his position, but Sans could tell he was pleading just by the way he spoke. "PLEASE... I JUST WANT TO HEAR YOUR VOICE."
"...ok." Sans looked away, slightly awkwardly. It's been a while since Papyrus got like... this... But Sans would do anything for his brother. So if he wants him to talk, then he'll talk.
"so, uh... i was thinking lately, y'know, about cats and the history of 'em. or maybe i could say 'hiss'tory, heh. so, a long time ago..."
Papyrus' eye sockets got heavier and heavier the longer he listened to Sans talk. Normally he would fight it, but he's too exhausted to care. All he needed to hear right now is Sans' deep, soft-spoken voice.
It's funny. Sans' voice is the complete opposite of Papyrus'. Papyrus loves his own voice, sure. His loud, clear, confident tenor voice perfectly encapsulated his incredible personality. It's a voice that literally screamed The Great Papyrus. He's an uppercaser, always clear and concise.
Sans' voice, on the other hand, is a lot calmer. Quieter. He mumbles sometimes. He has a slight accent that gets stronger when he's more animated. In everyday life, he plays it up to sound a little louder and goofier than his natural voice. Almost as if he's putting on an act. But when he lets his guard down... When he drops the act for a while... His natural voice is as smooth as butter. Mumbly and soft, yes. But it's one of the most relaxing sounds Papyrus has ever come across. He'd slur his words sometimes, maybe even stutter a little. It's definitely rather monotone when he's not in a goofy mood. And the accent is still there, slipping out when he says certain words. All of those little elements are what makes Sans' voice just so uniquely... Sans. It's the exact voice Papyrus needed to hear.
Perhaps the best part of Sans' voice is, despite everything else, despite his monotone, quiet, mumbly self... Papyrus could tell when Sans talks with love. He didn't need to raise his voice or force himself to put more expression into his tone for him to know that. It's flat, but it's not a cold kind of flat. In fact, it's incredibly warm, like he's somehow pouring love into every syllable every time he talks this way to him. Papyrus had never heard Sans talk that way to anyone else.
No bones about it. Papyrus loves Sans' voice. It's just one of the many many things that makes him the best brother ever for him.
The tension is completely gone now. Now, Papyrus can just sit back and listen to Sans talk about a topic that doesn't actually interest him much at all. But he knows Sans loves talking about it, and to him. And that outpouring of love is exactly what Papyrus needs right now.
KEEP TALKING, SANS...