Sans was okay. With that revelation, Papyrus could breath freely. Not that he even needed to breath, lungs were lacking in skeletons, but still. Sans was alright. He survived.

Gentle skeleton fingers ran a hand over the red fabric, calming himself. Everything was good. His other hand felt cold against his brothers, ivory bones pressed firmly, never wanting to let go.

He never expected to be here. In a hospital, soft curtains fluttering through the wind from the open window. Their room lacked any other patients, somehow managing to snag a completely empty room without anyone else to bother them. Humming heat crawled in through the summer air, as if trying to comfort the cold, barren atmosphere within the confines of the hospital. Papyrus made sure to visit as much as possible, to keep his brother company.

"Toriel has been yelling a lot at Asgore, recently," Papyrus finished explaining, looking back at Sans. "So it's a good thing we're both out of the house, I guess. Frisk has been having sleepovers at Monster Kids to avoid the phone calls. I don't know what they're about."

"Oh."

Papyrus shrugged his shoulders softly. There wasn't much to talk about. Ever since one night shortly after Sans' injury, she suddenly got really mad at Asgore. He doesn't know why. Just as if her anger was suddenly activated again. They had passed their differences before, hadn't they? So what happened now?

"Do you like the hospital food?" Papyrus asked, refusing to let go of his brothers hand.

Sans shook his head. "Nah, it's not as good as your food."

The fact that his brother, the man Papyrus loved so dearly, had almost died was terrifying. He did care about Undyne before, but this... this was too far. How much had she descended into her own mad claims to where she would summon an attack on his Mother?

The things his parents said whirled in his mind, snipping away at his already fragile belief in Undyne. Had she ever cared for him, or was he simply company to boost herself? His parents had been right all along, hadn't they? They were just looking out for him and Sans, he should have listened.

But Undyne always seemed to care, and when she realized she had gotten stubborn on something, she'd always apologize...

Then Papyrus would glance over at the bandages on his brothers chest and the thoughts burned away into something more ugly. These feelings were new, an inkly dark mess compared to his usual emotions. It felt... new. Gross. More confusing than ever before. Different thoughts than the usual would make whispers, giving him doubts he's never had to face before. Maybe, just maybe, Undyne did that... on purpose.

No, no. Papyrus shook away the thoughts. She hurt Sans, yes, but everyone had some good inside of them! Papyrus knew it.

Or did he?

"Maybe Tori's just going through some things right now," Sans said, "There's a lot of stress going around with everything that's happened, she might'a just been taking it out on poor 'Gorey."

That was a fact Papyrus couldn't deny. Everyone's been tense ever since the incident. It's calmed down since then, but it still had been a rollercoaster, twisting and turning emotions left and right. Undyne, a person they assumed to be their friend, now could never go near or interact with them again, which likely took Alphys out of the mix as they were practically joined at the hip. If Toriel was frustrated with the occurrence, and ended up taking it out on Asgore, he couldn't blame her. After all, he had taken his sudden fear of losing Sans out on Undyne with a firm punch.

The image flashed through Papyrus' mind, making him absentmindedly squeezing Sans' hand tighter. Undyne, crouched against his stained red kitchen floor, clutching her broken nose. He never knew he had the capabilities to do something like that. Even now, he could feel the impact, the scales bruising upon the force.

He did that.

"Hello!" Jandle hummed, tapping lightly against the door. "Sorry we're late, sweeties!"

Papyrus managed to squeeze in some alone time with Sans, so he didn't find any anger towards the interruption. Instead, he found joy, despite the way Sans' hand tensed against his own. Papyrus loved his parents. Who didn't? They were everything one could aspire to be. Eloquent, soft spoken, talented, admired. He wanted to be like them one day.

"We brought some food," Gaster said, holding up a basket. "We know hospital food is bothersome, so Jandle made some for you both."

"Oh, thank you!" Papyrus said, "At this point I should make you guys some food to thank you for all of the food you've given us!"

"No, don't think about that! We're you parents, we're supposed to be doing things like this."

They sat down in some extra chairs, setting down the basket of food onto the blankets next to Sans. Papyrus watched the way they held hands, glancing down at his own joined hand. They were siblings, just like Sans and Papyrus.

"Your Mother and I are siblings. Who's to say you and Sans couldn't get together?"

Was it possible? Papyrus never did consider it before, his dreams were just that. Dreams. Simple, almost pathetic dreams that would never even brush close to reality. Yet, now... It was closer than ever before. A reality, one he never expected.

But was Sans open to that idea? That was the rejection Papyrus feared the most. Without his brother, he didn't have much. Would they end up splitting apart, growing distant? Papyrus didn't think he'd be able to handle that.

In the end, though, if Sans chose that, Papyrus would respect it. The pain would be horrible, but it would make Sans happy, so Papyrus would oblige.

"You two look so cute holding hands!" Jandle said.

Papyrus' face flushed, caught off guard by the sudden attack of trying to set them up. Sans jerked his hand away so fast after the statement that it made Papyrus want to cry. Was his brother really disgusted about the idea of dating him that much?

"We're glad you got a good room, though, to be honest, we might have snuck in a few extra dollars on the top to get you this."

The fact that their parents had paid for the room was one that didn't sit well with Sans, Papyrus could tell. Despite his jokes, and simple, lazy attitude, Sans was pretty shy for a grown up. He found himself embarrassed when thrown into the spotlight, and hated when attention was given to his own needs. Having new people that had scared him as a child wasn't a great start, but with their constant attention and gifts, it could easily wear down Sans. He was independent, and always had been, so he never knew how to ask for help, and often found himself ashamed when he was in that situation. Sans would take sometime warming up to them, and Papyrus was fine with that.

"I also know it gets rather boring in hospitals," Gaster hummed, dragging open a bag he had been carrying, "So I brought some books for you. I saw you were into a certain comic, so I bought some from the series, and I also bought some stories about stars."

Sans' eye sockets popped wider than Papyrus had ever seen when the books title had been presented to him. He looked like a new puppy would, shy, but had a bouncing energy to himself, wanting to lunge and grab the book. After a moment, he blinked away into his usual static expression, turning towards the fluttering curtains.

"Nah, 'm good. I got Paps for company."

Papyrus accepted the book despite his brothers statement, setting it onto the table. Sans would read it later, hopefully.

His gaze occasionally found itself to where Sans' own lay limp, missing the addictive feeling of simple hand holding contact. Thoughts, dark and brooding, held under the surface of his usual, happy encounters. Not fully shown, not making themselves known, simply waiting.

"Oh, dear, silly me," Jandle sighed, looking down into the basket of food she prepared with a click of her teeth. "I forgot to bring utensils. I was just so excited to see my dear boys that I wanted to leave quickly. I'll have to go get some from the cafeteria. Papyrus, would you like to come with me?"

"Sure!" Papyrus said.

Sans made a squeak of complaint, reaching out his hand towards Papyrus, but halted for some reason. Papyrus wanted to ask about it, he really did, but Sans never talked about those things.

Just once, would Papyrus like Sans to break down his barriers, and let him in. But, in turn, Papyrus had to break down his own walls. And he couldn't force Sans to do something he himself couldn't do.

So, with a nod, he turned around to follow his Mother.

~~~~~~

Sans honestly couldn't think it would become worse. Before had already been bad. His parents had manipulated everyone in a lulling sense of comfort, easily pulling them left and right like puppets on strings. This was far worse. Sans was trapped on a bed, forced to do nothing but recover, while his parents practically ran everything. They paid for it, controlled what room Sans ended up inside of, and probably even controlled what doctors appeared. Even if he tried to get help from the Doctors, they might have simply gotten some doctors who wouldn't be swayed by Sans' words.

What was worse, though, was when Papyrus left him alone with their Father. Did the world simply hate him this much, as to twist and turn even the slight moment of happiness he had against him?

"You should really read the book, Starlight," Gaster hummed, "It's very good. Has some details that most other studies don't cover."

Sans remained silent, lightly pressing his teeth together. There wasn't much to be done here. Undyne, his only hope, was gone. Alphys, too, would likely disappear. That only left so few friends Sans could cling to, but even they were soaked up to his parents sob story. Toriel loved them, Asgore trusted them, as did everyone else. Slowly, but surely, they were chipping away at Sans' hope, and he still didn't know their plan! It was maddening!

"Did you guys plan that with Undyne?" Sans asked, turning back towards him. "It feels like you did."

"Do you really think we would have driven Undyne as to stab you?" Gaster tilted his head, "Starlight, of course not. If we did want to kill you, we would have done so, but we don't. We love you, both of you. We warned you both before, Undyne is unstable. She has too much magic and not enough control." He tapped his fingers together, looking rather frustrated at the outcome of this situation. "Why do you think we were so quick as to make sure she lost her job? We didn't want any of that to happen."

Turning away, he scowled. As much as he'd love to pin it all onto his parents, it wouldn't make sense for them to try and twist Undyne as a murderer of him. They've been spending a lot of time with him and Papyrus, it would be wasted time to just off them without getting whatever they wanted. If they simply wanted death for the two, they had the capabilities to get rid of them. Additionally, they could have left him to bleed out, instead of paying for his bills and getting pretty qualified doctors. Controlled doctors, probably, but over qualified nevertheless.

There went his only idea. Undyne did say his Mom was 'taunting' her, and she probably was, so this was just a mistake. Did they even anticipate her suddenly grabbing a weapon? Maybe she was -

No, no. They did this. Undyne said Jandle was taunting her, so she was clearly set up. Right? Yes, that seemed like the most logical explanation.

Sans knew rationally, this might not be the case, but his hope and desperation to further separate himself from his parents kept him clinging to the explanation. They were just too... real. Parent like. They cared for Sans and Papyrus, fed them, took them out, asked about their lives, and it was too similar to how real parents were that it made his head spin. Sans simply couldn't make them the villains, they had such real compassion and love that they were scarily similar to him and Papyrus.

"Now that we got that out of the way," Gaster said, "Why don't we talk about something far more important."

"The cult?" Sans asked.

"No, no, not that. It's rather your obvious romantic attraction to your brother."

Sans choked on his breath, gripping the blankets harshly. No, no, they did not just -

"Calm down," Gaster said.

"Calm down? I am calm, perfectly calm, because my cultist of a Father who killed people when his kid was asleep goes and suggests I want to fuck my own brother!"

His voice, loud, rang throughout the room. Once the words left his mouth, he instantly found his soul filled with fear and regret. He just snapped at Gaster. Sans, bedbound and injured from a previous attack, just snapped at a powerful man who had every possible reason to kill him.

"I..." Sans trailed off, voice quiet and shaking.

Gaster, humming softly, tilted his body back in the plastic seat. "Oh, Sans, my Starlight. You've been so stressed lately, it's clear that you needed a break from everything. I might ask for an extension for your stay, so you can keep clear of your toxic environment for awhile longer."

Sans didn't anticipate that response. He expected Gaster to simply attack him for snapping, or to do something like threaten him. That didn't seem like much of a reply at all.

Until Sans realized what he meant. Gaster was implying a 'grounding' of sense. He'd keep Sans in the hospital longer than needed, keep him stuck in bed, stuck in the white walls, unable to see much of other people but what Gaster would allow. Trapped under his parents watch, constantly and closely watched.

"What, no!" Sans said, leaning forward in the bed. "You can't do that, can you?"

"If we request a longer stay for health watch, for concerns or such, they could keep you for up to a good number of months long past your recovery," Gaster said, "So yes, we could if we so desired."

Oh. Sans just screwed up. His soul squeezed in his chest from the pain. Would his stay really last that long, just because he broke just one time?

"Or," Gaster dragged out, scooting the chair forward to the bed. "I'll give you another option. I've noticed we haven't had many chances to bond with you, Starlight. And your Mother and I would like to change that. Here's our offer." He crossed his arms, pushing a finger against his own cheekbone. "Spend a day with us. Just one of us. Doing whatever we choose."

"You're blackmailing me into... bonding with you?" Sans asked.

"We've been trying for awhile, and you've always deflected our attempts," Gaster explained.

This was rather straightforward as well. They usually weren't this straightforward, to this degree anyway. Were they planning something? Well, they always were, that wasn't a very good question to ponder, but still. It was sudden and rather unexpected. Sans didn't know what they were trying to do.

"So you just want me to hang out with you?" Sans asked, "That's... What's your motive?"

"I just said, we do wish to simply hangout with you and your brother. Family bonding is rather important to us."

Sans grumbled an agreement to his terms. He didn't have the energy to even fight back against their consistent urge to be within the presence of their dear children. He'd have to admit defeat, again, in this situation. He could fight elsewhere, but they've been bearing down so much on him with their attention and lavish presents that he needed to take a step back and regain some sense of control.

Undyne.

That's what made Sans snap his attention back to a more positive outlook. Undyne. She knew. Sure, she couldn't go near them, but she still knew. There was a chance. They could help, from the outside, out of the control of his parents. He could alert her, tell her everything. Undyne needed to know what she was fighting at this point, and since his parents would no longer be talking to her, she wouldn't be manipulated or under the threat of control. Sans could text her, share everything. Get help from someone else. He would have to trust her and Alphys, let them get more people's help while he tried to get evidence from the inside. It could work.

It might just work.