Who Says You're the One in Control?

Happy Break Time!

Sans groaned. "i seriously think you hate me." He grumbled.

"Nonsense! I'm only doing this because I love you, brother!" Papyrus grinned as he turned around. He walked as confidently backwards as he did forwards. Must be the long legs. "If we can get you more in shape, perhaps you'll be more capable of taking a hit!"

Sans groaned. Already done with this 'feild trip', he stopped walking and flopped on his face. Half out of laziness, half to annoy Papyrus. "welp. i'm dead now. RIP." He grinned at the ground.

"SANS! GET UP!!" Papyrus yelled, running over to him and trying to pull him to his feet. "We haven't even started the warm up!"

"come on, bro. i don't wanna do this." Sans complained as he stood up.

"And I don't want to attend your funeral! So let's get started!" Papyrus had a point there. Sans sighed and followed his brother through the forest until they got to a small clearing near the wall of the cave. "Now, let me see a normal attack!" 

Sans tossed out a half baked attempt at an attack. It fizzled to the ground in a pathetic display. Even Sans had to admit it was awful. It had horrible distance, and it was terribly slow and weak. "okay, th-that was pretty bad."

"Pretty bad? No, Sans. Your attempt at quiche is 'pretty bad'. The mess in your room is 'pretty bad'. That, was absolutely horrendous." He sighed.

"yeah. sorry." Sans averted his gaze.

"You're better than this." Papyrus said in his motherly, concerned voice. He even put his hand on Sans shoulder. "Your magic is so much stronger than mine, too."

"except the magic holding me together." Sans forced the grin to stay on his face. Not really sure if it was lightening the mood, or making things more tense. Either way, dropping his smile would be admitting how he really felt, and once he did, it could take a while to get a good grin to stay on his face again.

"We can change that." Papyrus looked so sure of himself. Sans gave a noncommittal shrug. Everything suddenly seemed more interesting to look at than Papyrus. "Let's start with something easy! A blue attack!"

That made Sans stand up straighter. He was great at blue. "alright. just blue?"

"Well, yes. I think blue.." Papyrus dropped in the middle of his sentence. The magical weight of gravity suddenly overbearing. Sans grinned wide. "Sans, I..." Sans changed the direction of his brother's gravity, slamming him into the wall. "SANS!" Papyrus looked beyond done with his brother. "YOU CAN PUT ME DOWN NOW!"

"sorry, bro." Sans was laughing. His brother, standing perpendicular to the floor of the cave, was stomping his foot in frustration. "i didn't mean to drive you up the wall."

"OH MY GOD STOP!"

"you gotta admit, im great at blue." He gave an open shrug. "even if my tactics are a little off the wall."

"I'LL BE LEVEL WITH YOU," Papyrus crossed his arms. "I REGRET TRYING TO HELP YOU AT ALL!"

Sans couldn't tell if Papyrus realized the pun he had just made or not. Either way, it was the highlight of his day.

Sans dropped Papyrus to the ground with little thought of how he would land. The taller skeleton ended up a pile of limbs, but quickly scrambled to his feet with an exasperated sigh. "As expected, you're still amazing with blue attacks."

"i'm short. how else would i get things that are out of my reach." Sans couldn't imagine what it would be like if he couldn't use his magic to reach things. He imagined he would hate it though.

"You can use blue on items?"

"well, y-yeah. it's gravity. once you get the equation down, it's easy." Had Papyrus really never known that? Looking back, Sans never really used magic when his brother was around. All he had to do was ask his bro, and the taller skeleton was willing to drop anything he was doing to help Sans out.

"What else can you do with your magic?" Papyrus was more intrigued, now. Usually, even the mention of an equation was enough to change the subject. Papyrus wasn't book smart, and talking to Sans about math or science usually ended up with him getting frustrated.

Sans shoved his hands in his pockets. "i mostly just use it for practical things."

"Battle is practical, Sans." Papyrus scolded.

"why? i mean, when's the last time a human came down here? a hundred... two hundred years?" Sans turned his body away from Papyrus. He tried so hard to support his brother, but this was one thing they hadn't ever seen eye to eye on.

"Just because you haven't seen one yet, doesn't mean you never will, Sans." Papyrus had that flat tone of annoyance that made Sans flinch.

Sans liked annoying Papyrus, but this was different. This wasn't the high pitched yell he would expect after a bad pun. This was the tone of an incoming argument. If Sans wasn't careful with his words, the possibility of them coming out of the forest on good terms was small.

"i know." Sans decided to give up. He hated fighting. Especially with Papyrus. Usually, he would end up feeling worse for fighting than he would have if he had just allowed Papyrus to win. "but with you here, i don't need to know how to fight."

There was silence for a second. Wow, who knew shoes had this much detail? He could hear Papyrus getting closer. The hand on his shoulder confirmed that suspicion, as his brother turned him around.

"As much as I would love to protect you from everything," Papyrus kneeled. "I have the feeling there will be a time where you're going to fall through the cracks. I can't be there forever."

Sans couldn't keep back the scoff that escaped. How pathetic could he get? Expecting his younger brother to protect him. He shrunk into his jacket more. He really was a piece of shit.

"Sans..." Snapping into attention, Sans saw his brother's eyebrows furrowed in concern. "You have that look again."

"what look?" Sans forced his grin to widen.

"The one I keep asking about. I don't like it. What's wrong?" Why was Papyrus so observant? "If theres a problem, you can tell me." He seemed ready to beg at this point.

"nah, bro. i'm fine. really." Yet he wasn't able to meet his brother's gaze.

Papyrus searched his face for a while longer. Half expecting him to cry, it seemed. Finally, he pulled him into a hug.

"Alright. I believe you." Papyrus always was one to give the benefit of the doubt. Even if all evidence was against it. Sans hugged back, feeling a sense of dread at how gullible his brother was, and guilt for using that weakness now.

"ok. so, teach me how to fight." Sans said when he finally pulled away.

"Really??? You'll train with me?? WOWIE!" Papyrus smiled wide. His eyes sparkling.

"yeah. teach me how to keep you safe. that way we can fill up all the cracks so neither of us fall." He knew it would never get that far, but the sentiment was good enough for now. In truth, this training regiment probably wouldn't even last a month.