Title: Realizations
Genre: Romance/Friendship/Humor
Rating: K+
Pairing: Papyrus/Reader
Warnings:
Disclaimer: I don't own Undertale
Summery: It's been many years since their failed first 'date' and Papyrus realizes that it isn't just his human friend who has been holding onto their love for him, but that he has fallen in love with them as well.

Realizations

Papyrus has been acting strange, you realize to yourself over a course of several strange incidents involving one of your oldest friends. As you tend to your garden dutifully, you ponder what could make the loud and bright skeleton so soft spoken and hesitant. When you had last seen him, you had opened your arms for him to hug you, something Papyrus always did whenever he came to visit you or you visit him, and instead of hugging you tightly the tall skeleton had froze. When you had asked what was wrong, Papyrus had just laughed it off before hugging you for half a second and then pulling away like you burned him.

While confused and a bit hurt at being shoved away like that, you tired to ignore that and continue on with hanging out with your best friend, but it only got worse. When you made dinner he just ate the spaghetti as quickly as possible but wouldn't meet eyes with you and even when he did his usual of helping you dry the dishes while you wash them, he wasn't his normal talkative self. Even as you finished washing the dishes and just watched Papyrus continuously dry an already dried dish, you could see that he was seemingly thinking hard about something from the look on his face. You lifted your hand and put it on his arm, ready to tell him that he didn't have to dry that dish anymore when you seemingly spooked him and caused him to drop the plate. The shattering of the plate and the realization that your hand was still on his arm bones made Papyrus pulled back with his cheeks a bright pink (something that you still even to this day weren't sure how that worked) in embarrassment and sweat nervously.

He exclaimed that his phone was ringing (it wasn't) and that Sans was calling him (he wasn't) and that he had to go. Papyrus had then opened your front door with enough force to knock some pictures off the wall before running out said door.

So here you are now, working on your garden thinking about why Papyrus had acted so strangely when you suddenly heard shuffling behind you. Without even looking away from your plants, you spoke,

"Hello Sans." You had grown used to his sneaking up behind you. In fact, you knew that the only reason why you had heard him was probably because he wanted you to.

"Hey." He didn't say anything at first and you let him keep quiet, knowing he'd speak when he was ready. "You saw my brother the other day didn't you?"

"Yeah," You finally stood up from where you were kneeling in the dirt and brushed it off your legs and turned to face Sans. The perpetually grinning skeleton stood there with his hands in his pockets. "Did I do something to upset him? He was acting very strange when he came by to visit the other day."

"Ah," Sans smile lessened a bit as rubbed his face in what you've come to realize as a sheepish habit. "That's my fault."

You raised an eyebrow at his less than forthcoming answer.

"Oh? How so?"

"Well," Sans shifted nervously and it made you wonder just what Sans had did that it actually made the normally laid back skeleton act like this. "He was talking about you and whatever you had done together and I was teasing him about the two of you and ah, one thing led to another and I told him that everything that you two have been doing sounds like dates."

"Ooooh." You let out a sympathic little moan. "He didn't take it well did he?"

"Nope. He freaked and started over thinking everything that you two have done together and kept saying that it hadn't worked out the first time and that he hadn't gotten feelings for you then…and then I kinda made it worse."

"Oh no."

"Yep. I asked him if he was sure he doesn't have feelings for you now and he freaked out even more. He started listing things off about you that he liked and then ran around saying that you're his ideal partner."

You could feel your cheeks burning and rubbed at them getting dirt on them and getting a knowing look from Sans.

"S-so, why hasn't he come right out and said it? It doesn't seem like Papyrus to not say it right away."

Sans shrugged, closing his eyes and rocking back on his heels slightly.

"He's under the impression that once he's turned you down that he's not allowed to ask you out…even though you obviously wouldn't mind." Sans gave a snicker and leered at you.

Even with your cheeks bright red, you gave him the best glare you could (It wasn't very effective).

"Doesn't he realize that it's perfectly natural for feelings to change over time?"

The short skeleton just shrugged.

"You know my brother, when it comes to things like this he's a bit of a…bonehead."

You groaned loudly and Sans winked at you as he took a perverse pleasure in how much this situation was worsened by his skeleton puns.

"So," You finally spoke after you wiped the agony of hearing those atrocious sinful puns away. "You came to give me a heads up?" Walking with Sans, you headed toward your house's backdoor.

"Yeah, since out of the two of you, you're more likely to speak up and do something about it. I don't like seeing my brother moping around the house about it and avoiding you. You make him happy and I'm happy if he is." His expression became a bit softer as he walked inside with you, closing the door behind himself.

"Sans…" You smiled back, honestly feeling touched and deeply admiring Sans' love for his brother. Not for the first time, the deep relationship the brothers had made you wish you had your own sibling. Suddenly the sound of the doorbell echoed through the house, making you jump with surprise.

"Ah, that's Papyrus now. I convinced him to come over because I told him you had something very important to talk to him about. Treat my brother right, okay?"

"You what!" You squawked and turned to look at him but the smaller skeleton was gone, teleporting away to who knows where. Sighing aggressively, you go to answer the door before Papyrus broke the doorbell from his nonstop ringing (again).

Opening the door, the tall skeleton, who really wasn't that tall to you anymore, stopped ringing the door bell and grinned widely at you. Papyrus instinctively reached forward to bring you into a hug, but froze like a deer in headlights as he realized what he was doing. He pulled back and rubbed the back of his head with a small grin. Oh no, you're not letting this go. If Papyrus wants a hug, you're not going to deny the chance to hug your favorite skeleton.

Stepping forward and into Papyrus' personal space, you hugged him tightly and refused to let go until he hugged you back like you knew that he originally wanted to. It was a bit awkward, as Papyrus was stubborn and didn't immediately put his arms around you, but you were patient and you could be stubborn as well when the situation needed you to be. Eventually, Papyrus' arms were around you, completing the hug before he tightened it and pulled you even closer. Sighing in content, you rested your chin on his shoulder and just enjoyed the hug. You're honestly not sure how long the two of you stood there, just standing in the door way of your house enjoying a hug, but when Papyrus finally started to pull away, you let him this time.

"F-Friend, Sans said you wanted to talk to me? About something i-important?" Papyrus gulped.

Giving him a comforting smile, you took him by the wrist and gently guided him into your house and closed the door behind you. You continued to lead him into the living room and sat him down at the couch and sat down next to him. Your knee was touching his leg and you could feel him shaking so you set a hand on him in hopes to comfort him, but all it did was make the skeleton shake more and turn bright red.

"Papyrus, I wanted to talk about how you've been acting. How…nervous you've been acting."

"What!" He boomed, laughing his trademark 'Nyeh's, if not a bit forcefully. "The great Papyrus doesn't get nervous!"

You took Papyrus' hand with your own and the skeleton straightened out so quickly at first it was as if you shocked him.

"Pap, I've known you for years now so it's pretty easy to tell when you're nervous or upset or anything of the like. Plus," You hesitated for only a second before looking him in the eyes (or really, eye sockets) and smiling, "I love you. I love you and I know you and I want to be the one you come to when you're nervous or feeling upset and I wish you didn't feel like you had to hide how you're feeling from me."

"….."

Papyrus was dead quiet and just staring at you and it honestly scared you a little.

"Papyrus? Pap, are you okay?"

"Y-Yes, I'm fine! I'm always fine!" To your horror and amazement, it almost sounded and looked like the skeleton was about to start crying.

"What's wrong?" You fussed, moving closer and squeezing his hand. "Please tell me what's wrong."

"It just hurts!" He let out a wail before instantly trying to subdue it. "Is this how you felt when I rejected you all those years ago?"

What?

"What? Papyrus, what are you talking about?"

"You rejecting me! Right now!"

"Wha-No! No I'm not!" You replied, honestly feeling flabbergasted.

"Yes you are! You're giving me the whole 'I-love-you-but-only-in-a-friends-way' like in that movie we watched last week!" Papyrus countered.

"No I am not! I love you Papyrus, I truly do! It honestly was only a crush when we had that first 'date', but the more I got to know you and the longer I spent with you it just grew into me fully loving you." Your cheeks nearly hurt from all the blood flowing to them now and you looked up your hand that was holding Papyrus', and looked at his face.

He was slack jawed in shock and just staring at you.

"You really love me?" His voice was so quiet and it unsettled you a little bit to hear it like that.

"Yes." You answered, trying your best to put your emotions into your words to convey how you felt.

For a moment, Papyrus didn't do anything besides stare at you. But then, all at once, he was grinning so hard that you were sure the guy's skull was gonna crack and his arms were around you and holding you against himself tightly. He didn't stop there though, oh no. In fact, Papyrus stood up while still holding you tightly to his chest and spun around in a circle, causing your swinging feet to crash into a nearby lamp and effectively destroying it. It's okay, it wasn't the best lamp in the world and you were too happy to really care about it.

Once your feet finally touch the ground again, you look at Papyrus and the two of you just grin like loons and clutching at each other and not wanting to let go. Standing on your tippy toes, you surprise a curious Papyrus with a kiss on the cheek bone, making him turn a bright pink. In retaliation, the skeleton nuzzled against your cheek in a way that it most likely would've been a kiss if he had lips. You were more than perfectly content to stay like this for a long time, just soaking in Papyrus' love that you had only daydreamed and on occasioned, had certain types of dreams, about. But of course, Papyrus' face twisted with confusion as he thought of something.

"While I'm happy that you confessed your feelings for me- again, I mean- how did you know that I was feeling love for you as well? I was hiding it so well!"

You wanted to tell Papyrus that no, he really wasn't hiding it so well, but then again, you hadn't known about it until Sans had flat out said it. Then again, it was all Sans fault as he made Papyrus questions his feelings for you and caused him to get flustered. So, in the end, the small skeleton had helped you out so you didn't wanna throw him under the bus.

"Oh, that was my fault." Sans spoke up from where he was suddenly on the couch watching you two with a grin.

"Sans!" Papyrus yelled, scandalized. "You told them about my inner most feelings?! That was supposed to stay a secret between the two of us!"

"Sorry bro, but I did it to help you out." Sans did look apologetic and it caused the taller skeleton to relax a bit. "I knew the two of you had feelings for each other for a while and I decided to wait for a bit but neither of you seemed to make headway with the other. So I figured I'd help." He shrugged and gave a 'what can you do?' sort of look.

Papyrus laughed happily, thanking his brother before turning back to you and gently guiding you to sit on the opposite side of the couch then Sans before saying he yelling he'll be right back and vaulting over said couch and running into the kitchen.

"Hmm, seems like everything worked out well." Sans spoke; not even bothering to lower his voice as the racket that his brother was making in the kitchen was loud enough to cover their conversations.

"Yes, thanks to you." You smiled widely at him. "Thank you again Sans, you're a really great brother, y'know?"

"Heh." He didn't say anything but you could see the light blue dusting his cheek bones enough to know he was blushing and his normal grin take a more pleased look.

Finally, after a couple of minutes of banging around in the kitchen and other questionable sounds coming from there, Papyrus returned, vaulting over the couch like before but this time with a large bowl of popcorn in hand and settling himself between you and his brother.

"Movie marathon!" He shouted, grin wide across his face. "With my two most favorite people- other then myself, of course!"

"Of course." Both you and Sans echo back and all three of you giggle like little kids at it.

As the TV blasts some overly corny movie and the three of you share popcorn, you hold Papyrus' hand the entire time. He smiles at you when you do so and it makes your heart flutter in your chest. By the third movie your head is on his shoulder and you've already found a comfortable way to adjust to it and it doesn't hurt with his hand on your waist. Its many hours later when Sans clicks off the TV. You can barely remember this as you only woke up for a moment when Sans puts a blanket over you and Papyrus. He puts a finger to his grinning lips and you nodded before putting your head back down.

Last thing you remember before finally falling into a peaceful sleep was Papyrus' adorable sleeping face. You sighed in contentment and closed your eyes.

Fin