The Time Before (Undertale)

38 ~ Fifth Soul

As time went on, the design for their space-folding machine took shape. Several months passed. Sans turned twenty two, and Papyrus eight. Papyrus was now a full two inches taller than Sans.

The prank wars in the lab continued, and, as Sans was generally more friendly towards the other employees, he managed to recruit a few allies. Of course, that just meant more targets for Gaster, but everyone knew what they were getting into when they shook Sans' hand.

To be honest, Sans was really enjoying himself at the True Lab. This kind of "science-y stuff," as Papyrus said it, was what he had grown up doing, and the fact that he wasn't the test subject made it that much better. And although he still disagreed with Gaster in that Gaster couldn't just go give him a degree, he did like the fact that people listened to him, that he was one of the most respected "doctors" in the lab.

When Sans and Papyrus moved to Snowdin, it was right after Christmas. Now, having lived there for just under a year, Christmas was coming up again.

However, having been confined to the hotel for most of their days in New Home, as well as the holiday being more of a local tradition, meant that Papyrus knew nothing about it.

When he learned, he was adamant that they celebrate it.

So Gaster went ahead and got some Christmas lights, and he and Sans decorated the house, and the three of them found a nice tree, brought it home, and decorated it.

As the number of days leading up to Christmas got smaller, it was hard not to be swept up in Papyrus's enthusiasm. Sans had long ago been told Santa was just Asgore in a suit, but he still found himself anticipating the Bossmonster's arrival.

When Christmas Day came, it was met with much joy, mainly expressed through the form of Papyrus's gleeful laughter. He was completely satisfied with the assortment of toys he had received, regardless of the fact that he didn't know of their real origin.

Gaster had gotten Sans a book of jokes and pranks- but before giving it to Sans, he had gone through it and marked out all the best pranks. There were also notes in the margins on how to do this or that better, or additions to the pranks. On seeing the way Sans' grin stretched upwards when he unwrapped the present, Gaster remarked on his own inevitable doom.

For a while, Papyrus played on the living room floor with his new toys. Then he looked up at Gaster. "Dad?"

Gaster smiled. It still felt strange and new to have Papyrus calling him that, still filled him with joy. "Yeah?"

"Didn't Santa bring anything for you?"

That gave Gaster a moment's pause. What did he say? He couldn't tell Papyrus that Santa was really just Asgore. And, much as he knew he deserved to be, he wasn't going to tell Papyrus that he was on the 'naughty list.' That would lead to questions, ones he didn't exactly have answers to.

"Well... Papyrus..." He paused. "... Are you happy?"

"Yes! Of course!"

"Sans? What about you?"

Sans just nodded.

Gaster looked back at Papyrus. "There. You see? Santa brought me exactly what I wanted." And Gaster realized that was the absolute truth, pure and simple.

Papyrus had been more than satisfied with that.

~o0o~

Sans had just dropped Papyrus off at school-- he was in third grade now.

Sans was on his way to the lab. They were almost ready to start building the space-folding machine; there were just a few more details that needed to be finalized.