Sizzling bacon. A comfort food. Sans remembered the statement from so long ago that Jandle had made, just when he was learning what stars were, did she tell him about it.

"I've found that breakfast food is a good comfort food, it's meant to remind you of the possibilities of a day," Jandle had hummed, rubbing a cloth against Sans' cheek. "I always make breakfast food whenever I feel like someone needs to be comforted, honey."

And now he could hear Jandle making it, a murmured discussion between her and Gaster hushed, but consistent. Looks like they were trying to figure out what to do now that the truth was spilled.

It was a silent car ride home. Papyrus looked like he constantly wanted to run, but was too shocked but to sit there. His hands trembled the whole ride. Sans held onto one of them, though he was unsure if it was for Papyrus' feeling of safety, or his own comfort. Perhaps both.

"I don't... I can't..." Papyrus had whispered when they finally entered Sans' room at home. Fully decorated now. He pressed his back against the door, as if acting like a barricade between Sans and his parents. "They..."

"Killed him. Yeah."

Sans rubbed his hands together awkwardly. He's been holding Paps hand a lot today. Now his hands felt cold. That was always a difference in their magic. Papyrus' magic was more warmer, while Sans' was a cooler touch.

Just seeing Papyrus like this made all these years of guilt crash down onto Sans again. He shouldn't have ever lied. Things would be different. Things would be...

But everyone would be dead. They killed Grillby because Sans spilled the news in front of him. Maybe, if he had told Toriel and Frisk years ago, they wouldn't have come home with their parents in tow. They wouldn't have uttered his name, and none of this would have happened.

Sans chuckled emptily. Yeah right. This was bound to happen. No matter what, they would have found him and Papyrus. One way or another. The world was small when money was tight. And they had an eternity to look. 

"Why are you laughing?" Papyrus asked, "They - they killed him! They killed an innocent man and our parents are murderers!"

"Fuck, sorry bro, I just..." Sans paused his movements. "Sorry."

He felt awful. Grillby was dead because of him. He shouldn't have left. He knew he'd get in trouble. Yet he did. The one time he decided to rebel after his agreement with his Mother, and now a friend was dead. And how did Sans cope? By laughing and pretending he didn't care.

Sans felt like he was going to throw up. Again. He had done so before they climbed into the car. Jandle, a Mother first, checked his forehead to see if he was coming down with a fever. He hadn't thrown up when he saw his first murder, so she was worried it could be a rising illness. Thus why they were both sent to his room, Sans to rest and Papyrus to make sure he was fine.

Papyrus let his shoulders sag, shuffling to the bed and sitting down next to Sans.

"This is why you were uncomfortable all this time around them, wasn't it?" Papyrus asked quietly.

"Yeah." Sans said.

"How long have you..." He glanced over. "How did you find out? And when?"

"It was the night I ran away. I stayed up and snuck out of my room." The sizzling bacon quieted, but their parents conversation didn't. "I saw them killing someone in our basement. Some drunk dude they picked up off of the streets. And it wasn't just them, they had this whole group of people with masks and shit and... they're the leaders of the Sunny Family Cult."

"The one's on the news?" Papyrus asked.

"Yeah."

"Shit. Shit."

This was the first time he ever heard Papyrus cuss in a while, much less like this. Not like Paps didn't have a damn good reason to cuss.

"I ran, and they almost caught me a few times, but - fuck, I mean, I got away for all of these years! So I thought we were safe. Then one day I come back home and their in our fucking kitchen!" Sans said, throwing up his hands. "So I started trying my best to get them away more, or try to gather evidence so they can get behind bars, because one testimony from a man about seeing a murder when he was a child wouldn't fucking stand, then... ugh. It just never worked out. They got into my head. So I gave up."

Papyrus fiddled with his hands before glancing over at Sans again. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want you to know, I just... at first, when you were growing up, I didn't want you to find out because they were gone and I didn't think they'd find us. Then they found us, and I was considering telling you, but you were so happy... I couldn't ruin that. So I tried to quietly push them away, but that didn't fucking work at all. The Undyne happened and..."

Outside, a bird chirped. Sans took a glance at the window. Unlike his last room, which was only on the mere second floor, this one was all the way on the third floor, and did not contain enough materials to make any sort of latter down. His parents had though ahead. Well, now he could use magic to teleport himself, but they knew that too. No doubt they likely developed some sort of countermeasure to that by now, though.

"She was right." Papyrus straightened, an expression of horror covering his face. "She was right and I strangled her and... she was tricked by Mom and Dad to hurt you and I attacked her and almost killed her -"

"I don't think our parents meant for her to hurt us, from what I've picked up, I think they wanted her to hurt Jandle. It really was just an accident I got hurt. Undyne's resolve was stronger than they thought, so she hadn't attacked them, but I just ended up walking into that shit. And Undyne didn't know they were killers, I hadn't told her. She would'a attacked them immediately if she knew."

"Because Undyne is a good person who just... makes some mistakes," Papyrus said. "We ruined her life."

"No, our parents did. They knew it was a mistake but they framed her anyways. Riled her up on purpose. And they're the ones who gave me that file on Asgore's past that Toriel found, and I wouldn't doubt that they were the ones who gave the idea for her to take over as Queen."

"They're a part of a cult and they - they're the Royal Scientist and head of the Royal Guard, and they're Royal Advisors? We can't... we couldn't have ever gotten away, they're... they run the monster population!" Papyrus grasped at his scarf, pulling at it. "They're going to hurt us, hurt you, and I..."

"Bro, they ain't gonna do that." Sans pressed his shoulder up against him, trying to offer a little comfort. "They're obsessed with us. Literally. It's why I didn't take you and run once I got some money from them. Because they'd hunt us down again no matter what. And they'd find us."

"... You should have told me, but I understand."

"No, don't say that. I should'a told ya at the very least. Look where I've gotten us now. Grillby's dead, and..." Sans choked on his words. "Fuck man, he's dead because I freaked out. I should'a dragged you away and told you privately, I shouldn't have left the house I... I got a man killed."

His breaths were ragged as he coped with that fact. Everything just seemed to happen at once recently. His friends basically disappeared, his brother went crazy, and now he knew how fucked up Sans had made the situation.

"Don't say that, it's our parents, they're... they killed him and I... I almost did," Papyrus whispered, "Oh my Toby Fox, I almost killed Grillby. I didn't want to stop, I-I -"

"Paps, look at me!"

Sans grasped at his cheekbones, turning his face towards him. Papyrus stared in silence, eye sockets brimming with tears.

"Fuck, bro, this is... this is all my fault, I left you alone with them even though I knew they were crazy manipulators," Sans said, barely holding back his own tears. "I'm the reason this all happened. I freaked out and secluded myself, which meant they got into your head without me there to protect you, I'm so fucking sorry."

"That wasn't your fault! Sans, I shouldn't have kissed you, I made you uncomfortable, you had every right to run away. I should have just listened to your signs about how much you didn't trust them instead of bringing them around everywhere, I -"

"No, bro, I'm the one who forced myself onto you! I initiated the kiss because of my own fucked up feelings and made you feel too scared to stop it."

"I liked it."

Papyrus had looked away when he said that. But his voice was clear, no hesitation.

"You..."

"I kissed you back because I liked it. Loved it. Did you..." Papyrus seemed to force his head back, but once his gaze landed on Sans, he seemed more confident with looking over now, "Like it too?"

Sans covered his face. "Yeah. I liked it a lot. It's why I kissed you. I love ya more than a brother should."

"Looks like that makes two of us."

Sans laughed, just as empty as before. His hands slide down his face, resting on his lap. "How long?"

"At the very least eight years. You?"

Sans chuckled again. Somehow, this was more pitiful than the last few laughs. "Nine. I think. We could have been dating for all of this time and we danced around it like some high school drama. Fuck."

"Oh my..." Now it was Papyrus' turn to cover his face. "I can't believe we went this long without even - we're idiots."

"Agreed."

They sat in a more comfortable silence than the one they drove home inside of, but not by much. There was still everything weighing in on their minds that dampened the mood.

"What can we do now?" Papyrus asked.

"Not much. They... they got inside of my head too, lately. I made a promise with Jandle that I'd bond with and stop fighting them if she stopped hurting my friends, so I gotta keep that up. And they got into your head, so... what did they even say that made ya act like that?"

"Mom... Dad... they said I had to protect you. That I was supposed to... every time I thought differently the image of you bleeding out from that spear pops up into my head. I mean, I'm still not fully over Undyne hurting you, but I just... Mom told me a lot of things. I don't deserve to be near you, I-I almost drugged you. She has this magic medicine for skeletons that knocks us out. I almost drugged you under the stupid guise of protecting you, and..."

"Nah, Paps, I - okay, yeah that's really weird," Sans said, "But I know it ain't really yer fault because our parents did this. They manipulated us. Both of us."

It was when they separated, Sans realized, that their parents got inside of their heads. When the two were vulnerable. That's why they both had such drops in their mental states. Because they lost the main supporter within their lives. And it was why they were picking up now, because they were finally back together with their true emotions.

"I'm... I'm sorry, I attacked Grillby because I just got so mad when he asked you out, and I almost drugged you and... I know Mom got into my head, but still, those weren't good actions," Papyrus said.

"And I'm sorry I didn't warn anyone about them, I let dangerous people into our house without even a single hint..."

Their conversation was cut off by the rattle of a doorknob. Sans' room didn't have a lock on the inside, only the outside. It was the first thing he noticed when he woke up in here for the first time. It opened, slowly, as if anticipating an attack. In peaked Gaster, with the warm smile on his face he usually carried.

"Hey, you two, I heard Sans might be feeling sick, is everything alright?" Gaster asked carefully. Likely testing the waters of Papyrus' emotional reaction.

"Fine," Sans said.

"Ah, good, that's good," Gaster said, "I'm assuming Sans told you everything."

"... He did," Papyrus said quietly.

"That's good, too, so we don't have to explain as much to what's been happening over the years," Gaster said, "But we do this for a reason, Papyrus, my Sundrop. You and your brother are the most important things to us. We will never hurt you. We hurt people who will try to hurt you guys. You attacked Grillby because he was hurting Sans, right?"

"I didn't mean to, he was... I-I..." Papyrus said.

"It's alright. You did something good. Grillby was flirting with someone who was yours and you protected your family. I would have done the same."

"Can you just... not?" Sans asked his Father, "Paps just found out you guys kill people and saw the dusting himself. He needs time to process this. Please... Dad. Please."

Gaster paused at the word. The very word Sans had refused to call him for so long. "We can do it over dinner tonight. Your Mother is going to bring up some food in a bit. But, do know since the two of you did leave the house without telling us and put yourselves at risk, you both are grounded for today."

"We're..." Sans blinked. "Grounded? As in... thirty year old men... grounded?"

"Yes."

Uh. Um. Okay. Sans glanced over at Papyrus, who looked very, very confused. Sans couldn't blame him. Not the response he was expecting from his parents. He figured they'd try to manipulate them until they were both crying and asking for forgiveness, or simply chain them up. But grounded?

"You both are to stay in here until dinner, so we can discuss what we need to then," Gaster said. "Don't worry, you guys can go onto the T.V, we're not going to ground you harshly."

Sans wrapped his arms around his legs and pushed them against his chest. An hour ago, he watched his Father murder a friend of his. Now his Father was grounding him.

Sans pressed a hand against his teeth suddenly. The reminder of blood made him sick again. "Can I go throw up in a bathroom?"