Sunlight littered in through the window, casting a hue upon the ripe strawberries Papyrus was cutting. Red fabric from his scarf rustled as he moved, stepping to the side to add them on top of the crepes.

They weren't very pretty. Some parts looked like rubber, other parts looked as dark as his black socks he wore. Some were even runny, undercooked. Papyrus sighed, shaking his skull. It'd have to do.

His cooking wasn't very good, he would admit that. Papyrus was a confident young man, and he knew when to call defeat. Cooking was one of those times. Yes, he did enjoy it, but what he produced was not exactly what he would call 'perfection'. He was trying to improve, but there weren't many ways to improve. Undyne was worse than he was, she had led him down a path of stoves turned too high and tomatoes smashed to shreds. Only after the barrier broke did Papyrus learn that Undyne had taught him wrong information, and now most of his time cooking was dedicated to unlearning everything she taught him, and figuring out how things are and are not supposed to be handled in the culinary world.

Toriel was a terrific help, but she had too many responsibilities to teach him full time. Such as today, it was a Monday, so both her and Frisk would be out of the house and at school. That left Papyrus in charge of making Sans' and his own breakfast. The house felt sickly empty, nothing but the light buzz of the morning reports on the T.V to help give it a sense of life.

It would be a shame to waste this food, especially when money wasn't great. A crepe gurgled, bubbles popping. If it could somehow be salvaged, he didn't know how.

Undyne was a dear friend of his, but her tendency to overdo things was one he understood quite well. With good intention, of course, but it extended into the fields of talent she had no hand inside of. Papyrus didn't mind cooking with Undyne, it was fun, although sometimes dangerous. He simply wished that she hadn't told him her word was fact, and that this was how all chefs prepared their meals. It certainly put him back a good way in his learning.

The plate was shoved to the side, the strawberry container pressing closed. Breakfast would have to be a fruit salad, then.

Thoughts dwindled around within Papyrus' head, circling like vultures, ready to pick away at his mental state. Sometimes, he just wished he was able to flick away his problems. Life has always been a little difficult. Money never really made sense to Papyrus until he had gotten to the surface, when the problems of having no jobs really hit how difficult life could become. He never knew the full extent because Sans always kept it from him, but he sometimes understood enough to usher Sans to bed when he really needed it.

Sans. The tall skeleton dragged his gaze from his brothers room, looking back down at the abysmal creation in front of him. Papyrus knew his brother was stubborn to accept help, and liked to take care of others at his own expense. It was nothing new. Sans was too scared to ask for a hand, so Papyrus often stepped in whenever he could to offer it without directly telling Sans. He took up a job as soon as he could to help pay for food, claiming it was because he got bored at home. Partially true, as he did become bored at home without his brother, but also because he saw how hard Sans worked. The story of his phone was a complete lie, though. He had dropped it down the sink, and due to how cheap it was, it was destroyed from the water. Sans didn't need to know that.

He wasn't afraid to admit they were struggling. Plenty of monsters were, and it was a part of life. While Sans retreated onto himself to try and fix it alone, Papyrus willingly reached out for help. There shouldn't be any shame in admitting one needs help, especially under their circumstances. They weren't dead poor, and still could put food on the table, so they weren't in a terrible place. But it wasn't a good one, not compared to where they were before. It was just bad enough to be noticeable.

Their parents arriving was probably the best thing that could have happened. It gave them a chance to take a step back and spend quality time with family, to reunite! The idea made him giddy, Papyrus finding his feet happily sweeping him throughout the kitchen.

Finding his parents was something he never expected to happen, but nevertheless was excited to meet. He always assumed they had died in the war, much like the other orphans they had encountered in their days Underground. Never did he anticipate to come home and find them, but he wasn't complaining. He had parents!

Looking at the sheet to his right, he couldn't stop his daydreams. Ideas covered the paper entirely, detailing possible ideas for the newly met family to bond. Papyrus was too excited to stay still. He had parents!

Both a Mom and a Dad, eager to bond just like himself. Jandle and Gaster, two skeletons that had them years ago, but had been left because of Sans. Sans had assumed they were dead, and never came back due to that. It made sense. He just wondered what spooked Sans into up and running like that.

It didn't matter, as they were reunited now. Sans was a little distant, no doubt untrusting in the new appearances. But monsters couldn't live without love, which made trusting monsters so much more easier. If their parents had ill intent towards them, they would have never said anything in the store. They wanted to reconnect, much like Papyrus did. Sans would come around, he always did when it came to his brother.

Knocking sounded from the door, drawing the skeletons attention away. Right, he had mentioned they should come the next morning. It was far too early to be job hunting, he'd have to wait until later to look for openings. He contemplated going to Sans' room to wake him up before he shook the idea away. His brother really needed some sleep.

"Hello again! Nyeh heh!" Papyrus said when he saw his parents on the other side of the door.

"Hello again dear!" Jandle said.

"Were we too early?" Gaster questioned, "We didn't mean to intrude on your morning."

"Of course not, come in!"

The two drifted inside, both of their moves careful, almost having a divine, silky touch to them. It was amazing to watch them move, such as it was to hear them speak.

"Sorry about the smell, I was trying to make crepes," Papyrus said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I turned the heat on too high, and - well, you can see the results."

The two couldn't stop their eye sockets from peaking at the messy kitchen to their left. Evidence of the disaster that took ahold of the kitchen just minutes before.

"Ah, so you get your cooking skills from your Father..." Jandle said lightly.

"Jandle!" Gaster hissed, lightly hitting her shoulder.

Jandle laughed. "I'm only joking, dear! You cook far worse than our son. Need I remind you when you tried to make me an anniversary meal?"

Flustered, her husband looked away. "I know not to mix chemicals that can explode into pancakes because of that. Shush."

"It was still a delicious pancake, honey."

"And a beautiful explosion, I presume? You were fuming more than the stove was."

Jandle let loose another laugh, tilting her skull towards their son. "How about I help you cook breakfast? Gaster can help with more simpler things, like cutting fruit."

"My talents do not enter culinary territory," Gaster said.

"Neither do mine," Papyrus said, "I mean, look at my mess."

"That doesn't mean you can't have fun," Jandle said. She let herself into the kitchen, sweeping aside everything he had messed up into a nearby garbage can. When it was cleared, she cracked her knuckles, looking back at her son. "Come on, let's try again."

Papyrus quickly joined his Mother, who was already pulling out clean bowls and materials to cook with.

"My, you boys certainly have plenty of cooking utensils," Jandle said, "I may cook from time to time, but even I don't recognize some of these things."

"They're not mine, but I do know how to use them," Papyrus said, "They're Toriel's. She tends to cook a lot. She's been trying to teach me how to cook in her freetime."

Jandle pulled a knife from the knife set. "Oh, has she?" Her gaze then focused back onto the utensils. "Ah, wait, I know what these are now. Silly me. I guess my utensils are a better brand, that's all. But tell me about your experience with cooking, Papyrus! I want to hear all about it."

"Nyeh heh, the Great Papyrus isn't very great at cooking," Papyrus admitted, "Like I said, Undyne used to teach me for the Royal Guard, but now that we found out she isn't a great teacher, Toriel's been trying to help me learn how to properly cook. Other than that, I don't have a lot pf experience."

"Why don't I just teach you?" Jandle asked, pouring some flour into a bowl. "Like Mother and son bonding!"

"That sounds like a great idea," Gaster said, "She is a great cook, she cooks homemade food all the time."

"We can do that!" Papyrus scampered over towards his paper, grasping it. "I also have a bunch of other suggestions we can do to spend family time together!"

Gaster was who got the paper first, as he was doing the least work with the newly created crepes. Glancing over, he nodded firmly. "These are great ideas, Papyrus. We could do these."

Papyrus smiled, returning to his stirring. Perfect! Bonding with his parents was a success!

Talk continued during their cooking session, the crepes coming along wonderfully. The conversation dwindled down to talk about the food.

Papyrus was astonished how easy it was to make them right. He just had to keep the burner on a constant temperature, no need to go from low to the highest setting. And he didn't even have to smash the crepes!

"There!" Jandle took a step back. "You're a natural, sweetie! You probably shouldn't listen to people who teach you to cook like that."

"I know, Undyne wasn't really sure how to cook either, she never even tried cooking before she taught me." Papyrus looked at their creations, spreading ketchup onto Sans' own crepes.

A hum of disapproval left Gaster. "Then why would she teach you to cook if she didn't know how?"

Papyrus paused in his movements, butter knife hovering above Sans' crepes. That was a good question. Why did Undyne insist to teach him how to cook if she herself couldn't? She never did try to even learn how to cook to teach him. In fact, she insisted that her way was right, despite never educating herself on how to cook. She burned down her house because of it!

Gaster let his planted seed of doubt stew as he finished cutting the fruit, setting down his knife. "Ah, sorry. I guess I'm asking questions where I shouldn't be. I'm just worried about my precious Sundrop."

"We just want you to be safe and happy, honey," Jandle joined in, leaning over to give Papyrus a kiss on his forehead.

Papyrus smiled at the gesture, having received no family affection from someone other than Sans. It felt nice.

"I meant to ask, where is your brother?" Jandle inquired, looking around.

"Asleep. I would have woken him up when you guys arrived, but he's been having a hard time sleeping."

"How come?" Gaster asked.

"Well, he's been working very hard lately, and he hasn't gotten much sleep from all those shifts. It adds up," Papyrus admitted.

"That's understandable, a lot of monsters have been suffering from the surface," Jandle said, "Oh, wait a moment." She drew out a phone from her pocket, handing it to Papyrus. "We decided to pick you up a phone last night."

Stuttered words left Papyrus as he grabbed the phone, looking at them with eye sockets that looked as wide as the crepes. "You guys just bought me a phone? A new phone? Just like that?"

"We wanted to be able to talk to you!" Jandle said.

"Don't worry about it," Gaster said, "We added in our own numbers if you don't mind."

"Mind?" Papyrus asked, looking down. A high brand phone, it must have cost over two thousand dollars. He never even dreamed of seeing one in real life. "I - this is amazing! I don't mind at all! Thank you!"

Their conversation was cut short by the front door slamming open, Undyne stomping in. "Hey Papyrus, I -"

She paused, looking at the two other skeletons in the kitchen. Whoops, he forgot to tell her about his parents. After all, he didn't have his phone.

"Oh my Toby Fox, Alphys, Papyrus multiplied!" Undyne shouted.