Chapter Text
Papyrus slipped into the completely normal kitchen and pulled out his phone.
>BROTHER!!
>CALL TEXT
It rang for exactly three seconds before Papyrus’s brother picked up.
“SANS!!” Papyrus exclaimed.
“whassup?” Sans responded lazily. Like he does for everything. Responds lazily.
“DO WE KNOW A ‘BALANCE??’”
“uhh… dunno. do we?”
“I DON’T THINK SO???”
“m’kay. why?”
“WELL…” Papyrus stared at the babybones on the couch intensely. “I FOUND A BABY, A SERIF TYPE, ON OUR FRONT PORCH A FEW MINUTES AGO AND THE NOTE ON THE BASKET SAID ‘FROM BALANCE.’”
Sans was silent.
“do ya think…?”
“NOT REALLY. HE DOESN’T SEEM THE TYPE TO, UH. DO THAT.”
Sans chuckled. “you’re right, bro. seems unlikely. whatcha planin’ to do with the kid?”
“UM…”
Papyrus had always wanted children…
“don’t tell me you’re gonna keep it.”
“SANS…”
“no. paps, no .”
“WHY NOT? I AM TWENTY FIVE AND I HAVE BEEN TAKING CARE OF BOTH OF US SINCE I WAS SEVENTEEN!! AND I KNOW I HAVE NOT REALLY TOLD YOU ABOUT THIS BUT I’VE ALWAYS WANTED A CHILD AND I HAVE BEEN LOOKING INTO IT FOR A WHILE NOW AND I STARTED VOLUNTEERING AT THE AFTER SCHOOL CARE IN THE MONSTER-HUMAN SCHOOL IN TOWN AND I WAS GOING TO GO TO THE ORPHANAGE TO SEE IF I LIKED ANY OF THE KIDS AND I’VE BEEN READING A LOT OF PARENTING BOOKS AND–-”
“paps, calm down. okay. i get it. you really want a kid.”
“I DO. I REALLY, REALLY DO, SANS.”
Sans heaved in a big, staticky breath. “’kay. do whatever you want, ’s not my life. just keep in mind, i’m not helpin’ you and i doubt anyone else would, either. ’m done with kids, you were more than enough for me.”
That… well, the cruel words stung a bit, but Papyrus was used to it by now. He didn’t really expect Sans to be that enthusiastic about Papyrus’s decision to raise a child, but at least he didn’t actively discourage it like Papyrus suspected he would!
“OKAY! HAVE FUN AT YOUR COMEDY CLUB TOUR!!!”
“bye, bro. love ya.”
“I LOVE YOU TOO, BROTHER!!”
And Sans hung up. Papyrus stared at his brother’s contact for a moment before turning to the living room.
Papyrus carefully walked over to the babybones. They couldn’t be less than a year old, maybe even nine months.
“Hello, Baby,” Papyrus whispered. They were sound asleep, not making a peep.
“My Name Is Papyrus. I’ll Be Taking Care Of You.” Papyrus gently took the babybone’s hand.
The baby’s sockets slowly opened, revealing fuzzy yellow eyelights.
“Hello,” Papyrus cooed.
And the baby started crying.
Big, magic-laced tears that made the baby’s entire body scrunch up in distress.
“Oh, Baby, Baby Shhh…” Papyrus soothed, picking them up and rocking them a bit.
The tiny thing quieted down and stared up at Papyrus, big yellow eyelights and even bigger Sherif-type eyes housing them.
Papyrus fell in love.
Papyrus heard a crash from the living room.
The room Papyrus’s babybones was in.
Papyrus dropped the dishes back into the sink and sprinted to his babybones, where he saw them…
“OHMYASGORE YOU’RE STANDING !!!” Papyrus squealed. His baby was standing !!
Papyrus rushed over and picked the babybones up, spinning them around.
“YOU DID IT!! YOU DID IT AND YOU DIDN’T EVEN NEED MY HELP! OH MY ASGORE THIS IS AMAZING!!” then what Papyrus had just said sunk in and he quickly added: “NOT THAT IF YOU DID NEED MY HELP I WOULD BE ANY LESS PROUD, BABYBONES!! THAT STATEMENT WAS COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY AND PROMOTES A POOR WAY TO LOOK AT NEEDING HELP. I AM VERY PROUD OF YOU FOR STANDING ALL BY YOURSELF, BUT YOU CAN ALWAYS LEAN ON ME FOR SUPPORT, OKAY?”
And the big yellow eyelights staring up at Papyrus paired with the small little nod the babybones gave him made everything worth it.
Papyrus looked over the room, remembering the crashing that had drawing Papyrus to the room in the first place. There was a vase (a plastic one, thankfully) on the floor with some fake flowers spilling out of it.
Papyrus chuckled, “WERE YOU TRYING TO GET THE FLOWERS, BABYBONES?”
He booped the baby on their nose, eliciting the babybones to flap their tiny little arms around.
"Papa," Papyrus repeated.
"Puuuh," the babybones tried.
"P-ah-p-ah."
"Puhp."
"You're So Close, Babybones! P-ah-p-AH," Papyrus smiled.
"Paap!" the babybones smiled back.
"P-ah-p-AH," Papyrus tickled the babybone's side, elicting a giggle.
"Paap!" the baby said again.
"P-ah-p-AH!" Papyrus repeated, tickling the babybones more.
"Eee hee hee!!" the babybones laughed.
"I Think That's Enough For Today, Babybones. Let's Get Some Food, Hm?" Papyrus smiled and picked the babybones up, walking to the kitchen.
Maybe Papyrus's babybones would never call him Papa, or Mama, or any other form of parental nicknames.
Maybe that was okay.
Papyrus heaved in a deep breath and plopped down on the couch after saying goodbye and thank you to the babysitter. He had just gone to a mothers’ group and had gotten into an argument with one of the mothers about single parenting. The strange thing about it was that she was always really supportive of the human single mothers, offering to help out at any chance.
Papyrus didn’t know, he was probably reading too much into it.
(He ignored how she had often singled out and ridiculed Papyrus before then, and how she expressed her feelings on the Monster-Human schools popping up around both the Greater Kingdom and the Ebbot Kingdom.)
Papyrus felt a tiny hand on his arm and turned his head to look at his babybones.
“Paap bluh gun,” the babybones said. Papyrus smiled and picked them up.
“How Was The Babysitter Today, Babybones?” he asked.
“Nu! Wan paap day!!” the babybones bounced up and down, reaching their little arms up and patting Papyrus on the face.
Papyrus felt tears gather in the corners of his eyes. "...I Wanted You Today, Too, Babybones."
It was the baby’s first birthday, and Papyrus was freaking out. There were many things in Skeleton culture that happened on a babybones’ first birthday.
Papyrus was not prepared.
Well, sure, he had everything he needed. The font book, the special gifts and the not special gifts, he had everything planned! He just…
He was scared, he supposed. He was scared of his little babybones growing up, because it was–-in comparison to raising a child who could express feelings and emotions–- easier .
Papyrus really, truly didn’t want to mess this up. He loved his baby with all of his SOUL.
It really didn’t help that Sans had refused to show up, either.
From the floor, where the babybones’s play area was set up, the little baby started babbling.
“Paap un or!!” And just like that, Papyrus’s worries melted away. The babybones had started babbling earlier than other children, according to the doctors Papyrus had seen and parent groups he had started following and going to.
(Papyrus often felt smug when the other parents offered him support in raising his babybones, but then he would feel guilty immediately after. Sans had expressed his boundaries, it didn’t matter that Papyrus felt like he was drowning without his big brother.)
Thankfully, one of the mothers from a parent group Papyrus went to often had decided to come help him. She would be coming over in a few minutes and Papyrus was infinitely grateful for her. Her name was Mrs. Snow and she had a teenage son with her husband, Mr. Snow.
There was a knock on the door and Papyrus sprinted over to it, opening it to see Mrs. Snow with her son, Snowdrake. Two big reasons Papyrus had accepted Mrs. Snow to help him with his babybones’s first birthday was that, one, she was a monster as well, and two, her culture also had certain naming ceremonies.
“MRS. SNOW, SNOWDRAKE! OH, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COMING OVER!!!” Papyrus greeted.
“Of course, Papyrus! This is such a momentous occasion and I’m so glad to be a part of it!” Mrs. Snow smiled, putting down her purse. “Snowdrake, say hello!”
Snowdrake looked up from his phone for a moment, just nodding and saying “ice to meet you.”
(Papyrus ignored how that felt like a bullet to his SOUL. I’m okay with Sans not being here , Papyrus reminded himself.)
Mrs. Snow chuckled. “Sorry about that, Papyrus. His dad’s a comedian and he’s been picking up his jokes.”
“NO, I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND, MRS. SNOW!” Papyrus responded distractedly, fixing the table cloth.
"Well," she said, "let's get this show on the road!"
"Pap, I'm fine!" Sunshiney batted Papyrus's hands away from their bowtie shyly.
"I KNOW, I KNOW, BABYBONES. IT'S JUST..." Papyrus trailed off, squishing Sunshiney's face.
"Paaaap!! Stop squishing meee," Sunshiney complained.
Papyrus chuckled and stopped squishing their face. "I'M JUST VERY EXCITED FOR YOU, SUNSHINEY. IT'S YOUR FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! FIRST GRADE!!!"
Sunshiney allowed themself a small smile, their gold eyelights wobbling. "Thanks, Pap."
Papyrus smiled.
"OKAY!! GO ON; YOUR TEACHER'S WAITING. AND REMEMBER! IF YOU NEED ANYTHING, GO TO THE FRONT OFFICE AND CALL ME."
"Okay, Pap." Sunshiney looked from Papyrus to the school building a few times before giving Papyrus a quick hug and running through the doors.
It was his baby's first day of first grade. So much could go wrong.
"Pap?" Sunshiney called.
Papyrus turned from his very normal kitchen counter and looked at his babybones--well, not a babybones anymore. Sunshiney was almost in middle school!
"YES, SHUNSHINEY?" Papyrus kneeled down to be on their level.
"Uhm, well--well, I just, er--"
"Babybones, It's Okay. You Can Tell Me Anything. Swear It On The Truce."
Sunshiney looked at Papyrus, their eyelights wobbling and tears in their sockets.
"Dream!" they forced out, then covered their mouth.
Papyrus took the babybone's hands in his own. "I'm Afraid I Need More Context, Baby."
Sunshiney nodded shakily. "I-I want to be called Dream, please."
Oh.
Papyrus smiled. "Thank You For Telling Me This, Dream. I Know That Situations Like This Can Be Very Nerve Wracking, And You Are So Incredibly Brave For Telling Me This. I Will Support You."
Dream blinked at Papyrus, tears gathering in their eyes.
"Th-thank you, Pap," they said before covering their face in their hands.
Papyrus pulled them into a hug. "You'll Always Be My Little Babybones. I Will Never Leave You."
Dream hiccuped into Papyrus's shirt, moving their hands to grab onto it.
"I Love You, Dream. Forever And Always."
"Mr. Papyrus, we've come back with a diagnosis," the doctor said.
"THANK YOU. WHAT-WHAT IS IT?" Papyrus fidgited, looking from Dream through the window to the doctor in front of him anxiously. Dream was outside in the playground, playing with a few other kids. They were all younger than them.
"As you know, we tested Dream for mental illnesses and neurodivergency. He's been diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder--CPTSD--and anxiety."
CPTSD? Has... has Papyrus's babybones been going through trauma?
How did he not notice?
Papyrus looked at Dream through the rearview mirror.
"DREAM, IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO KNOW?" he asked hesitently.
Dream looked at Papyrus, confusion in their eyelights.
"Er, not particuarly? Why?"
This is important information Dream should know, Papyrus reminded himself.
"THE DOCTOR DIAGNOSED YOU WITH COMPLEX POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER, ANXIETY, AND DEPRESSION TODAY," Papyrus forced out. He watched Dream's expression closely.
"What-what does that mean?" Dream asked quietly.
"IT MEANS... IT MEANS THAT YOU HAVE BEEN GOING THROUGH CONSISTENT TRAUMA AND YOU FEEL QUITE ANXIOUS VERY OFTEN. WE CAN... WE CAN DO RESEARCH ON IT. TOGETHER."
Dream looked down and fidgited with their fingers. "Okay, Pap."