Sans went downstairs and grinned at the absolutely ordinary image of Papyrus happily wearing an oversized apron and beaming in the kitchen.

“what’d you pull off, paps?” he asked as he made his way down.

“KING ASGORE SET ME A CULINARY CHALLENGE, AND I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WAS SUCCESSFUL!” Papyrus said and Sans chuckled.

“what’d you make?” he prodded.

“PEPPERMINT TEA!” Papyrus stated proudly. “IT IS APPARENTLY EXTREMELY POPULAR! ALMOST AS POPULAR AS I AM!”

This was the best. Sans sat at the table and got Papyrus talking, occasionally prodding Papyrus into speaking more, telling him all about his day and his adventures with learning how to brew tea from Asgore. He was otherwise quiet and just listened.

“SANS? WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?” Papyrus asked out of the blue.

“huh? nothing’s wrong,” Sans said.

“YOU’RE BEING WEIRD,” Papyrus said. “AND BY THAT I MEAN YOU’RE BEING NORMAL. YOU HAVEN’T MADE A SINGLE PUN OR JOKE THE ENTIRE TIME I’VE BEEN TELLING YOU ABOUT MY DAY. NOT EVEN WHEN I ACCIDENTALLY ALMOST MADE A PUN. COMPLETELY BY ACCIDENT.”

Damn it, Papyrus was having one of his observant moments again. And he’d completely missed Papyrus setting him up for a joke.

Maybe Sans was being a little obvious.

He almost did his usual of blowing Papyrus off, of making a joke and distracting him.

But as he met his brother’s eyes, his gut churned. Trust. Concern. Less obvious, but still visible, love and care. Frisk’s words about the ticking time bomb echoed in his mind. He still felt raw from the day. Vulnerable, even if the source of the vulnerability wasn’t exactly here.

Papyrus was an adult now, too, even if Sans had maybe not encouraged him to grow out of his childhood as much as he maybe should have.

Memories and thoughts lashed at him. The sexual temptations were easier to push aside while talking to Papyrus, so it was the rest of the nonsense that was ripping at him now. Fear and pain churned in his chest. Uncertainty.

“... SANS?” Papyrus asked, the concern on his face growing.

For months, he’d been struggling with the ethics of the situation with Frisk. Quietly struggling, never letting anyone have any idea even of the nature of the problem. And now, he had a new struggle - his mind had been changed in ways that were kind of terrifying. Overwhelming pleasure wasn’t exactly an accepted argument in ethics, so the fact that how he felt about things was so vastly changed… didn’t that mean something was wrong?

He felt like he could barely remember the objections that had plagued him, torn him apart, just this morning. Barely understand them. Should he just accept the changes in how he felt? Should he try to favor how he’d felt before having his mind twisted from possibly literally mind-breaking sensations?

Maybe he needed to be reminded of why it was wrong? Or… hell, he had no idea.

That was the problem, really. He just… didn’t know.

He looked up at Papyrus again. Papyrus, who was always trying so hard to be there for Sans, who wanted to help, who Sans kept blowing off.

Maybe his opinion about Frisk wasn’t the only thing that should change.

“maybe i am having a little trouble with something,” Sans admitted, looking down at the table.

“WHAT IS IT? I’M SURE THE GREAT PAPYRUS CAN HELP!” Papyrus declared.

“heh. maybe. i’m kinda dealing with a moral dilemma,” Sans said.

“I AM THE BEST AT THOSE!” Papyrus said. “THEY’RE LIKE PUZZLES BUT FOR KNOWING WHAT’S RIGHT!”

That… actually wasn’t wrong. Sans wasn’t going to admit what he’d been up to, but if he twisted it a bit, changed things around…

“there’s an interesting pair of people that are in a strange situation, and i don’t know what they should do,” Sans said. “the guy had some messed up experiences. it changed his personality completely. a lot of people would say he’s broken and needs to heal, to go back to what he was, but he disagrees. he likes the way he is, even though he’s… really screwed up in the head. like seriously, papyrus, it’s kind of disturbing. but he says he’s happy.”

“IS HE HURTING ANYONE?” Papyrus asked.

“... no,” Sans said.

Weird to say that, considering what had broken them in the first place, but it was true.

“SO YOU HAVE A WEIRD FRIEND,” Papyrus said. “THIS IS NORMAL. CONTINUE TO THE MORAL DILEMMA!”

Sans snorted at that.

“now, the girl, she’s smart and has a great sense of humor,” Sans said and Papyrus gave him a dubious look. “she’s friends with the guy and cares about him. but, part of what makes him messed up is that he’s decided that he’s completely her slave, sort of. that she owns him, that he’ll obey anything she says. he’d ki- er, hurt himself without hesitation if she wanted him to, paps. he’d hurt others. she doesn’t want him to, so they’re safe, but… it’s messed up.”

“THAT IS CONCERNING. HE SHOULD NOT WANT TO HURT ANYONE.”

“oh, he doesn’t,” Sans said. “he’d be really upset about it if she asked him to do that, he’s actually really nice. it’s just the way his screwed-up-ness is. when i say he’ll do anything she asks, i mean anything. and he’s in love with her, and wants to be hers. not in a normal romance way, because that’s something between equals, but in a… loving pet sort of way. a tool, something that belongs to her. and all the normal stuff that goes with a romantic relationship, except the equals part. what should she do?”

Papyrus looked confused for a moment.

“WHAT DOES SHE WANT TO DO?” he asked.

“uh,” Sans said. “sometimes she isn’t sure. she wants to do what’s right, that’s the most important thing. but, other than that, she, uh, i mean, wouldn’t you want to have someone loyal like that, who’d do anything for you?”

“KIND OF LIKE FRISK,” Papyrus said, to which Sans barely resisted obviously flinching.

Frisk’s devotion wasn’t really subtle. Maybe Sans had also been kind of dumb to not think that the others would have clued in, at least a little, to the nature of the situation.

“er, yeah, kinda,” Sans said with a cough.

“FRISK IS THE BEST!” Papyrus said. “SO THE GIRL KNOWS SOMEONE LIKE FRISK, WHO IS MAYBE TOO LOYAL BUT IS GOOD. AND SHE LOVES FRISK BACK. HER FRISK, I MEAN.”

Sans did flinch at that.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“maybe, a little, she isn’t really sure how she feels yet,” Sans said awkwardly.

“THEN SHE NEEDS TO DECIDE IF SHE LOVES HER FRISK,” Papyrus said, utterly oblivious as he lashed at Sans’ heart. “BECAUSE IF SHE IS A GOOD PERSON WHO WON’T ASK HER FRISK TO DO BAD THINGS, AND SHE LOVES HER FRISK, THEN I DON’T SEE WHERE THE MORAL DILEMMA IS.”

Maybe they were getting sidetracked. His previous issues weren’t just about the relationship itself.

“but, he’s screwed up in the head in honestly disturbing ways,” Sans said. “shouldn’t his friends’ priority be to help him get better?”

“YOU SAID HE LIKED BEING LIKE THIS, THOUGH,” Papyrus said.

“yeah,” Sans said.

“IF HE WANTS TO BE LIKE THIS, AND HE IS HAPPY, AND HE ISN’T HURTING ANYONE, THEN HE ISN’T BROKEN. HE IS JUST WEIRD,” Papyrus said.

That made sense, but… Frisk was really screwed up, though.

And yet…

The memory of how their devotion to him felt flooded through his mind. The contentment, the peace, the sense of certainty and fulfillment, the stability. How good it felt, no matter how insane it was.

The memory came, too, of how they were almost downright hostile towards him as they spoke of how they didn’t want to change. Of how they would beg and plead with him to let them stay this way, even if he had a magic button that could forcibly heal them.

Not broken, and just weird, huh…?

“that’s fair, i guess,” Sans said. “but, ok, even aside from trying to get him to be less… mentally disturbing… the idea of a relationship is maybe a problem. we’re not talking about a normal relationship here. we’re talking about basically slavery.”

“IF THE GUY GETS BETTER AND DOESN’T WANT TO BE A SLAVE ANYMORE, WILL SHE LET HIM LEAVE?” Papyrus asked.

“obviously, yeah,” Sans said.

“THEN IT ISN’T SLAVERY,” Papyrus pointed out.

Which… okay, which was a reasonable point.

“but… isn’t being with him like that, sort of romantically, isn’t that encouraging him to be this way?”

Papyrus looked confused again.

“ENCOURAGING HIM TO BE THIS WAY? DO YOU MEAN MAKING HIM HAPPY?”

That… was not how Sans had been looking at things.

“uh. maybe, i dunno,” Sans said awkwardly.

“AGAIN, I AM NOT SEEING THE MORAL DILEMMA HERE,” Papyrus said. “ARE YOU SAYING THAT BECAUSE HE ISN’T NORMAL, HE SHOULDN’T BE HAPPY UNTIL HE IS ‘FIXED’ AND BECOMES NORMAL?”

“no, no, definitely not,” Sans said.

“THEN YOU MUST EXPLAIN IT BETTER BECAUSE I DON’T UNDERSTAND,” Papyrus pointed out.

Sans found himself at a loss for words.

“it’s mostly that the situation is messed up, that he shouldn’t be that way?” Sans tried.

“BUT HE IS THAT WAY,” Papyrus said. “AND HE DOESN’T WANT TO BE NORMAL. HE LIKES THE WAY HE IS. SO HE SHOULD STAY THAT WAY IF HE WANTS.”

“er, isn’t she sort of taking advantage of him, though, if she goes along with this?” Sans tried again.

“IS SHE DOING IT BECAUSE SHE CARES ABOUT HIM OR BECAUSE SHE WANTS A SLAVE?” Papyrus asked.

“it’s all tangled,” Sans said. “she does care about him. but she can’t stop herself from liking all the extra benefits, too. like, the fact that she has someone she can trust with absolutely anything. even her worst secrets.”

“THAT SOUNDS HEALTHY,” Papyrus said and Sans flinched a little again. “HE LOVES HER AND IS HAPPY THE WAY HE IS. SHE CARES ABOUT HIM AND WANTS TO BE WITH HIM FOR GOOD REASONS. I DON’T SEE A MORAL DILEMMA, SANS.”

Okay, this was not going the way he expected it to.

“but, look, she wants to make sure he can have an actually good future, too,” Sans said.

Papyrus paused and looked thoughtful for a moment.

“EVEN IF PEOPLE AREN’T NORMAL, IF THEY’RE HAPPY WITH WHO THEY ARE, THEY’RE FINE THE WAY THEY ARE,” he said. “THEY DON’T NEED TO CHANGE THEMSELVES TO BE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE WANT. EVEN IF IT’S BECAUSE THEY’RE BROKEN.

“MAYBE HE WILL STAY THE WAY HE IS, AND IF HE STAYS HAPPY, THEN THAT IS GOOD. OR, MAYBE HE WILL BE HAPPY WHILE HE IS WITH HER AND SOMEDAY HE WILL CHANGE. AND THEN MAYBE HE WILL WANT SOMETHING ELSE. AS LONG AS SHE IS OKAY WITH THIS AND DOESN’T STOP HIM, THAT IS GOOD, TOO.”

Was… that really a solution to his dilemma? To just accept Frisk as they were now, and make sure they know that if they do ever change, that he’d support and encourage them in their healing? Support them in breaking away, whenever or however it came?

“heh. you were right, papyrus,” Sans said with a smile. “you are the best at these.”

“I STILL DON’T SEE THE DILEMMA,” Papyrus said, looking confused.

Weirdly, the thought hurt, though. He was strong enough for that, right? He wanted to believe he was the sort of person that would let Frisk go. Strange that the idea of letting them go hurt so much when he was trying to decide if he was going to accept them in the first place.

Maybe that ship had sailed and what he needed to accept was his reality.

“‘cause you’re smarter than i am sometimes, that’s all,” Sans said, a twisting pain in his chest.

Months. He’d been struggling with this for months. He’d been pushing Frisk away, making them suffer with loneliness and uncertainty and fear, making himself lonely and all twisted up… and for what?

A five minute conversation with his brother was all it took.

God, he was an idiot sometimes.

“THIS IS TRUE,” Papyrus agreed.

It’s not that Sans didn’t know that talking to people about things was important. Being too close to things, it was so easy to miss the obvious. He’d have given others that advice in an instant.

But him? No, he had to do everything on his own, come up with his own answers. Who knew what other obvious things he’d missed?

With the explorations of the spacetime fissure, he had Alphys, Frisk, and possibly Flowey. Not even Alphys knew the size of it, how extensive it was, or almost anything about its nature, other than that there was weird stuff with it letting them see alternate timelines. Even without a scientific background, they might realize something, think of something he’d missed.

Maybe he could have even gone back home, if he’d trusted Alphys with everything from the beginning. She didn’t even know for sure that other worlds existed - he’d only spoken to her about it as hypotheticals.

And with his present situation…

He’d been so confident that anyone else would condemn him for being with Frisk under the circumstances, but obviously he’d been completely off base with Papyrus. And with that perspective… the others might actually think it was okay, too. Okay, not the killing bit, most people would have a hard time with that depth of masochism, but the sex and stuff… maybe it wasn’t actually that bad.

And he’d been deliberately hiding it. Again. He looked up at Papyrus, who was giving him a concerned look again. He’d conspired to get Papyrus pulled away today so he couldn’t ask any awkward questions, by someone else who was chosen to avoid questions.

Secrets and lies, to cover up secrets and lies, all so that he could fail to handle his own problems.

“... SANS?” Papyrus asked.

Sans pulled himself to his feet, feeling somehow both relieved and like he was creaking with age. He made his way to the door.

“you helped a lot, papyrus,” he said softly. “i have one last question for ya.”

“ASK AWAY!” Papyrus said cheerfully.

“do you think frisk is ever going to be okay?” Sans asked.

“YOU ARE NOT MAKING MUCH SENSE TODAY, SANS,” Papyrus said. “FRISK IS AMAZING ALREADY. THEY DO LIKE PUNS TOO MUCH AND LISTEN TO YOU TOO MUCH, BUT EVERYONE HAS FLAWS. EXCEPT ME. THEY DO SEEM SAD SOMETIMES AND THAT IS A PROBLEM, BUT THEY ARE ALWAYS HAPPY TO SEE US. SO WE SHOULD HANG OUT MORE.”

“yeah,” Sans said, heading back to his room. “yeah, papyrus. you’re right, as usual.”

“ANYTIME, BROTHER!” Papyrus said, but the cheer sounded a little artificial.

Papyrus was still worried about him, but well, that was reasonable.

Sans really had a lot to think about.