You woke up with a start, unsure of why you were up. Then the rumbling came again, causing you to grope desperately for your stuff under your pillow…

Wait...

Didn’t Sans say Papy snored? You didn’t think it would be this bad!

You had forgotten the sleep muff on the table, and you really didn’t want to get up…

Grumbing, you squinted and stumbled out of bed, eyes darting about in darkness.

“Ow!” Great, now you’ve stubbed your toe. Well, on the other hand, you found the muff.

Shoving it onto your ears (you could still hear Papy, but he was a little quieter), you shuffled towards what you hoped was the door that led to the hallway. How has he not woken himself up with that? Actually, maybe you should go check on him…

You turned what felt like the doorknob and scrubbed your eyes at the sudden light from the hallway nightlights as the door opened. The carpeted floor was cold on your bare feet. Guess they must be saving on heating the whole house, you thought as you padded to the railing. Sans was sprawled on the couch in what must be an uncomfortable position, what with his skull facedown on the floor and body contorted so his right arm was pinned down.

You tiptoed back to the next door with a small smile, mentally cooing at the oversized cyan cat pajamas Sans wore. They were so precious! You just wanted to knead his sappy, sleepy face! The flames seemed to be gone, so you gently turned the doorknob, found it unlocked, and slipped in.

Inside was an air mattress with a snoring skeleton, a trash? tornado? next to a yellow dog bed, a single battered side table/nightstand with a shut down computer on it, and socks scattered all over the flame-edge rug and floor. On second thought, maybe you shouldn’t have entered his room…

Before you could beat a hasty retreat, however, the skeleton in question snuffled, before abruptly opening his eyesockets and honing in on you frozen in front of the door.

“what are you doing in my room?!” Papy yipped, falling onto the floor limbs splayed.

“Uh, I can explain-” You squeaked, before he sighed, closing his eyesockets. When he opened them again, the surprise (and slight fear, which you knew would be important later) in his eyes/eyelights was gone, replaced with a bone-deep weariness.

“sorry, uh, nevermind that. was there something you wanted?” He yawned.

“Well, uh, first of all I wanted to check up on you over all of that… noise.” You mumbled, fidgeting. Papy snorted, scratching at his fibula. “yeah, okay. ‘m fine though; ‘s always been like that.”

“And also I had a few questions…”

He raised an eyebrow that he didn’t have. “...that couldn’t wait ‘til morning?”

“You woke me up first!” You pouted exaggeratedly. “I’m pretty sure you owe me for that!”

“fine, fine, shoot.” Papy propped himself on gangly elbows.

“So, uh, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m… not in my world anymore, right?”

“yeah, uh, ‘m sure you’ve figured out it’s my fault. it seems you haven’t seen monsters before-”

“Monsters? But-” He shushed you with a glance.

“dunno what ‘constructs’ are supposed to be in your world, but five years ago our human ambassador, chara, fell down from ebott mountain. they freed us monsterkind from our entrapment by the barrier, though we’re not quite sure how, given that we only had six human souls and neither our queen or former king are dead.”

Upon noticing your confused expression, he elaborated.

“right, to break the barrier takes seven disembodied human souls and to cross it takes one boss monster and one human soul. right now chara lives with asgore, the former king (there’s a bit of a story there, but i’ll get to it later), up the valley, which is closer to the mountain than where we are, the outskirts of ebott town.”

“So, okay, what… are monsters?”

“biology time, eh? monsters are composed of dust and their SOUL, which itself is made of hope, love, and compassion. they can come in any shape, size, or form, from spoopy skeletons like us to the moldsmals of the ruins or grillby’s fire ant-wisp things.”

“So… how… do you eat? Breathe? Sleep? Are you anatomically correct (not that I would know, but)? Can you spawn by dropping bones?” Your eyes lit up as you grabbed his shirt. He started to sweat as well, but in an orange hue.

“woah, slow down. magic, and we still need energy, y’know, magic, we’re alive, of course we sleep, and what the heck?”

“Oh, then nevermind. Guess I’ll hafta find out for myself.” Sleepiness washed over you as the hour hit you. “Right, so I’ll get out of your hair- wait, no, I, uh… I’m gonna go now!”

He chuckled. “hey, uh, didn’t really introduce m’self properly, but better late than never i guess. i’m papyrus, papyrus the skeleton.”

“Nighty-night, Paps.” You closed the door and made your way back to Sans’ room. Sinking into bed, you quickly dozed off...