It felt like 48 hours have passed, and Sans began to notice the change in his brother's behavior, it was as if he was trying to keep his mind off of something.
Sans was on his way down the stairs when he came across his brother, who was once again, anxiously pacing in the living room.
Papyrus seemed deep in thought, so reluctantly, Sans called out to him.
"Pap, what are you doing?"
caught off guard, he nearly spooked Papyrus half to death.
"Sans! DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT!"
Showing a sly smile, Sans shrugged.
"Sorry?" Sans offered.
Papyrus let out a frustrated grumble in response
"But seriously, what's on your mind, bro?"
Papyrus glanced at Sans while trying to hide his insecurity.
"Well, it's just, I hadn't heard back from them yet so..."
Sans was half taken aback by this, his brother sounded concerned. None the less, he kept his composure.
"Were you expecting a reply?" Sans asked quietly.
"Would it be strange to say that I was?" Papyrus soon sighed in disappointment.
Sans took a moment to let out a long sigh, releasing the feeling of tension in his bones.
and calmly said, "Papyrus, I checked the mail this morning-"
"YOU DID WHA-"
"and found this"
Sans produced a letter from his pocket and held it in front of his brother, who stared at it dumbfounded.
Papyrus's jaw gaped "sans, is that..."
Sans cut him off with a "Yep" and began waving it around in a taunting manner.
"and I took the liberty of reading it for you" he teased
"SANS! THAT'S AN EVASION OF PRIVACY!"
"So what?"
Papyrus tried to swipe the letter from his brother's grasp.
However, Sans being a boss at dodging and having sharp reflexes, so naturally, Papyrus missed every time.
Only when Papyrus was low on stamina and breathing hard, did Sans surrender and handed his brother the letter.
"here," Sans said, offering the letter with a genuine smile.
Papyrus was all too quick to snatch the letter away from him while blushing in embarrassment.
Sans felt giddy as he savored his brother's reaction.
'he's so cute' Sans thought
but all warm feeling vanished when he noticed his brother's expression suddenly turned pale as he stared anxiously at the letter he's holding.
"What is it, bro? Sans asked, concerned.
Papyrus hesitated as he carefully thought about how to word this, while at the same time, tried to phrase it the best way possible.
"It's nothing Sans, it's just..." his brother's voice got quieter, "It's just..."
then, he released a frustrated sigh.
"Um ...Sans?" Papyrus started
"Hmm?"
"Since you've read the letter, could you maybe read it out loud for me?"
Sans blankly stood there as It took a minute to process this, and then a few extra seconds to figure out how to react.
Then finally, Sans bluntly responded.
"...What?"
Papyrus flushed a deep orange, thoroughly embarrassed of his request. So Naturally, Papyrus tried to explain himself, so as a result, he began to ramble.
"I-i'm JUST NERVOUS, ALRIGHT? I WASN'T EVEN CERTAIN MY LETTER WOULD REACH IT'S DESTINATION!"
Now that just confused Sans even more
'What happened to your confidence?' Sans wondered
"Wait, nervous? Why? What are you so afraid of?" Because Sans couldn't understand the reason why his brother was being so uptight over an anonymous letter writer who has a crush on him.
"Come on, Sans, please!" Papyrus pleaded. "This means a lot to me, and you know it!"
"..."
'How ironic...'
Papyrus handed the letter back to Sans, to which he receives and begins carefully tearing open the envelope. As Sans pulled out the message from its contents, his brother took some distance and made a duck and cover maneuver behind the couch like it was a time bomb ready to explode.
Sans prepared himself and began to read out loud.
"Dear Papyrus,
You have no idea how much your reply meant to me. I was surprised when I got your letter because I honestly expected my feelings to have been rejected by you. So receiving and reading your response was not only a relief but also made me deeply overjoyed to the brink of tears.
You made me happy, so much in fact, that I didn't know how to reply to you.
I suppose what I am trying to say is that you've made me speechless.
I can hardly contain my feelings nor express them well on paper, but more than anything, I wanted you to know that I care about you more than anyone else.
As long as you know that, I would wish for nothing more than your happiness.
Deeply in love,
- Your Penpal"
Silence lingered in the air as the words sunk in. For a brief moment, Sans felt anxious, wondering if he exposed too much. However, when he lifted his gaze from the letter saw Papyrus's expression, it was as if the world around him ceased to exist.
His brother's gaze appeared soft like he could imagine the one behind the letter, desperately trying to reveal their soul through their writing in an attempt to show exactly how much he meant to them.
In turn, Papyrus gently smiles, radiating a tender fondness for that person alone.
Sans became entirely aware of the fact that he had Papyrus practically enchanted.
Sans decided now was the time. He made eye contact with his brother and broke the silence.
"Penpal?" Sans questioned.
And in record time, Papyrus's entire face was furiously flushed as steam started emitting from his skull.
"SHUT UP SANS!" He sounded so embarrassed.
Sans presented the letter to Papyrus with a sheepishly taunting grin
"Sure sounds like this 'Pen pal' of yours is in love with you," Sans teased in a matter-of-factly tone.
Papyrus swiftly swiped the letter from his brother's grasp, while quietly muttering
"Yeah, what of it?" Pap's orange-colored cheeks still just moments away from overheating.
Sans slipped his hands back within the secure confines of his jacket's pockets.
"So, what are you gonna do?"
Papyrus gave the letter a thoughtful expression.
"Well, I'm not sure yet..."
Sans tried to keep his composure and mimicked him in a casual tone, but it came out perplexed.
"Not sure?"
"I mean, their words are nice, so... maybe I will allow my admirer a chance to pursue the great Papyrus!" Papyrus boldly stated.
Sans was shocked at the unexpected turn of events, and very carefully Sans bluntly states:
"But you've just met, and you don't even know them or know what they look like-"
Papyrus squinted his eye-sockets at Sans, seemingly offended.
"Don't you think I already know that Sans?"
There was a pause as Sans processes what's going on
'Was Papyrus considering dating some random admirer he didn't even know?'
His thoughts, however, were temporarily halted when Papyrus's soft voice spoke up again.
"What do you think, Sans?" Flashing an encouraging smile. "They seem nice, will you support me with this endeavor?"
suddenly, Sans could physically feel the weight of his words, yet he felt so conflicted about what to do.
In retrospect, it would probably be best to stop this now before he dug himself too deep into something he couldn't control.
"..."
But, a darker selfish part of him wanted to take this chance with Papyrus, regardless of the consequences.
'Won't this be considered deceiving him?'
As he weighed his options, a memory resurfaces, of the night Sans came home drunk, while babbling about how he'll support him, and although he didn't promise anything, it felt like one.
More or less, It all came down to one question that mattered:
'What do I say?'
Sans looks at his brother for some sort of answer, and he sees how genuinely happy he is.
'He looks happy. Maybe, it's ok?'
In the end, Sans couldn't trust himself to say anything
But regardless, he reluctantly replied:
"What do you want me to say?" Sans asked sheepishly.
And that was when Papyrus noticed something suspiciously familiar, an unreadable expression that seemed to be hiding something, but he didn't comment on it.
"I won't stop you," Sans tells him carefully, quickly breaking eye contact with Papyrus.
Before he knew it, the words were out before he could take them back.
"If you like them that much, go for it."
With words like those, it made Papyrus's soul glow with pure happiness or admiration and, if possible, made him even more radiant.
Sans would later question if what he said influenced his brother's actions.
Because Those letters soon became his guilty pleasure.