11:30 . . .

"Sans," Papyrus whispered to him. He saw how wiped out his brother was, but everything happened so fast. They never even had a chance to tell Frisk what would be happening in Evolution. It was Sans' responsibility as her husband to tell her. "Sans?" Yet, his brother was out like a light. Whatever fight he endured, it had taken a lot of strength.

Finally, Sans started to stir.

"Sans, you still need to explain evolution to . . ." Papyrus watched as Sans started to drift off to sleep. He tried to shake him awake again. "You only have until midnight of your first day of evolution to explain. If you don't, she's not going to understand what's going on and you can't . . ." He tried to wake him again, but it just was no use.

Papyrus moved over to the other side and tried to wake up Frisk. "Um. Frisk?" He knew she wasn't sister anymore, that wasn't where she fit. For now, so as not to startle her, he'd just call her by her name. "Frisk?" Frisk wasn't moving either. "For goodness sake." He picked up Frisk and took her away from the bed. He would have to get her some cocoa to wake her up and explain as best he could.

Frisk blinked awake as she smelled cocoa underneath her nose. Soul food. She started to drink it right away.

"Easy, easy. Goodness, look at your clothes. They are all shredded to bits." Papyrus tisked. "Horrible. I wish you two could tell someone what happened."

Soul food. Frisk tried to concentrate on Papyrus. She saw his rounded teeth, but she was swaying back and forth. "Papyrus?"

"Ah, good. Some functionality now, good." Papyrus gave her more cocoa. "We are almost out of time, Frisk, and I must explain to you how evolution works. Now." Her outfit. Torn to shreds. Her eyes. So weak, almost lifeless. Papyrus reached out for her and gave her a hug. "It will be okay. No worries." He felt Frisk tighten her grip on him as he held her cocoa.

"It was horrible. The feeling," Frisk said breathlessly. "Like I was being ripped apart. I couldn't feel the difference between the hurt in my body, or the hurt on my soul."

"There, there, it's all right now," Papyrus insisted. "It's all gone."

"It's never gone. Someone's always after me," Frisk said looking toward him. Somehow, she had ended up being rocked back and forth in his lap like a child. "Why is it always me?"

"I don't know. Special people will have good and bad things happen because they are special I suppose," Papyrus said. He gave her back her cocoa. "I wish I had a blanket for you, you must be freezing. Hardly anything's covered, it's all in strips."

Frisk didn't care. She just leaned in deeper into his embrace.

"No one should be after you. You're right, it isn't fair." Papyrus stroked her hair. "It will all end one day though. Like a bad storm that finally passed outside." Then, Papyrus remembered what he was supposed to be doing. "I need to talk to you about evolution. Sans is going to take it as easy as he can, following the rules the way they must be followed, but making sure he does follow them. If not, he could lose evolution. That would not be good."

"Uh . . . huh." Frisk's understanding was slow. "Okay."

"Well, good. Sans already changed a few little things on you since he didn't want to overwhelm you," Papyrus said. "However, you are going to change who you are each day with him. In other words, ACT. You are going to ACT each twenty four hours as a different kind of 'person', until you two come to a consensus of what and who you are together."

" . . . okay." Frisk was good at ACTing.

"Sans believes that the Lover day will be the hardest for you, but the Luster will be an easier day. And of course, Neutral will be the easiest days of all," Papyrus said. "However, I don't think that's true. I know that humans are more 'loose' but I don't think you gave him the right impression with your um . . . Seven Minutes in Heaven shpiel."

Oh. "Yeah, well, I didn't want to make it awkward."

"Oh. Well? Heh. Did you?" Papyrus asked. "Often? Are you that . . ."

Was she that what?

"Is . . . my goodness, why is this so hard to say to you?" Papyrus asked. "Jealousy? No. Hm. Anyway." He shook his head. "The ending of your marriage announcement, Sans picked as Neutral, so that it wouldn't be so bad. Just simple pajamas and sleep. Well, that's what it was supposed to be. Tomorrow is Lover, and the next day is Luster, moving back around to friend again. It is all a very big ACT though."

"ACT lover and luster?" Frisk's throat still felt scratchy from all the screaming she had done.

"Yes. You will need to ACT too. Sans believes you have more trouble expressing affection than sexual things, so he will try to take over the ACT tomorrow. My goodness, why do I feel like punishing myself for talking about this?"

"Papyrus?" Frisk was trying to put it together. "We are doing an ACT of lover tomorrow, and then an ACT of Luster?" Kay. Um? "How do you ACT out luster?"

"Oh, it's sickening. I mean." Papyrus groaned. "Oh dear, I feared that." He rubbed his skull which was now sweating. "Monsters can go from enemy to best friend in a day."

"Yes."

"We know how to switch things quickly."

"Yes."

"Sans is going to switch things quickly on you. As soon as the hour strikes midnight," Papyrus said. "He's going to be a little more slower on the lover side ACT though because he believes you are more of a Seven Minutes in Heaven loosey goosey human girl and I don't."

" . . . what um?" Frisk was getting it now. "What exactly are we doing on Luster days?"

Papyrus seemed to humph "Nowhere near any penetration."

"Sure as hell not penetration!"

Hm? Frisk saw Sans at her side, he teleported her back up to their room, and then he went back down. She knew he did.

He was yelling in monster downstairs.

"Mine, not yours, mine, not yours!" Sans shouted in monster toward Papyrus. He had been sound asleep, but as soon as he realized Frisk wasn't beside him, he headed downstairs to find Papyrus with her, talking to her with her still ripped to pieces pajamas on, showing more than it covered, with Frisk in his lap, and Frisk asking him what they were doing on Luster days! "Frisk Shades is mine, you got it?! You do not get to have Luster days with her, that's mine!"

"Easy, Sans!" Papyrus demanded. "And-and don't be so demanding of that!"

"So demanding of it?" Sans took a step forward. "Not to want to share my woman? I'm not sharing her anymore!" She almost got ripped apart by the power of eight other monsters. He just got her back from Asriel. And now he had to worry about his own brother? "This can't be happening. It was supposed to be sister for you." He grabbed his skull. "I married her, Lover and Luster are mine!"

"I am not trying to take her away!" Papyrus shouted back. "I am trying to tell you that Lover will be easier than Luster because when you cleaned her mouth of residue, she was-"

"I don't want to hear it!" Not that word, not that word. No. No.

"Damn it, Sans, you don't get it!" Papyrus pointed to his watch. "You never explained anything to her, and look at the time?"

"It didn't mean that you get to weasel your way into this."

"You want friendship? You want a loving relationship? Or do you just want to touch the poor human?" Papyrus growled at him. "Frisk is not an object like that, get your instincts under control. I told you not to get rid of that 1% from Asriel and this is why. The events of the night, it didn't help either."

"Really? Watching her getting eight other husbands?" Sans voice was so gravelly it could barely be understood. "Watching her get fucked by eight other monsters, taking away the little energy she had from me, and not knowing if I could even free her from them before I died? Sure, it was an 'event of the night'."

"Really?" Papyrus questioned. "Sans, I didn't know. Nobody knew, you just came home and laid down with her."

"But you can't ever do that, she's mine to lay down with!"

"Oh goodness, that's why you are going looney," Papyrus said. "You lost her, reclaimed her, and vanquished eight husbands in one night? You are definitely not yourself. I recommend asking royalty for a delay."

"Yeah, you would like that, wouldn't you?" Sans growled at him. "So you could up and take my wife away from me too!"

"Sans, I'm not trying to take her away!"

"There'll never be penetration by you, only me!"

"Not yet there won't, not even close to that, I would not allow it!" Papyrus shouted back. He tried to cover his mouth.

Sans pointed at him accusingly. "See? See?!"

"No, it's not that way," Papyrus said, trying to remain calm. "I know what I am to Frisk now, and it is nothing close to some affectionate lover."

Not a lover? A luster? "You can't be her Luster, you can't, you can't, she's my wife!"

"No, Sans." Papyrus had completely settled down himself. "A little girl, on a log, her mother and sister being hurt and only being able to hear the screams. Before she looked for death as an escape, there's only one thing she wanted. It was not a brother." He sighed. "I bonded to her as a father."

Sans stopped his tirade. That reveal about made him lose his balance, as well as his overreaction.

"I'm . . . papa Papyrus."

"Oh." Sans closed his eye lids, trying to think. "Of course. Sorry. I."

"It's okay. Pulling her from that many husbands, I understand," Papyrus said. "However? I do not want to talk about anything else concerning her in that . . . manner."

That's why Papyrus kept going a little nuts on him. "Yeah, no. Dads don't like to hear about that stuff with their daughters." Ooh. That was weird. His blood brother had bonded energy to Frisk as a father. His brother was his father-in-law. Only in a monsters world.

"Yes. So. Just don't." Papyrus was trying to say something as he looked at the time. "Don't touch my daughter."

Ooh. Sans closed his eye lids, trying to remain calm. Not good. Sister would have been fine, but father, while Sans was married and wanting more? Fuuuuuck. "Uh. Not gonna do anything I don't have ta, Pap. But. She could become more than a friend. That's what evolution is for. Remember?"

"Your instinct is simply high with all the infusion confusion that just happened," Papyrus said.
Goodness, you thought I was . . ." He shuddered. "No, you are neutral, so don't touch her. It'll just ruin everything. ACT, but don't do anything else."

This was Sans' chance to see if Frisk was more than just a friend. To get their infusion down low, but the ACTing high, to see if anything sparked between them. "Are you telling me not to touch my wife?"

"Yes. Clearly the whole marriage was a mistake," Papyrus pointed out. "You're neutral. Just friends. We'll find a contract, get it fixed, and everything will be fine. Monsters went for years just ACTing. It'll be fine."

"I'm in her bloodstream," Sans reminded him. "I am always going to be connected to her."

"Well. Then. Just. Protect her I suppose."

"Protect her?"

"Yes, I mean, when she leaves make sure no one else ever touches her," Papyrus demanded. "No one should. She's been hurt so many times in her life. She needs hugs and sympathy, not someone crawling all over her. Trying to do things. She should just be happy and laughing, never crying," he smiled. "Making jokes, kicking back. Good friends. That's all she needs is just good friends. Not, not others just running over her and hurting her, or anyone coming close to doing anything rude and crude."

"All that stuff that just happened might be affecting your energy too," Sans warned him. "Cause um. I mean. If there's something there with someone as great and fun as Frisk?" And he really did think there was. "Hells to the yes, Pap, I'm going for it."

"What?!" Papyrus looked shocked. "You have to let her go!"

"Uh. Later? Doesn't happen overnight," Sans pointed out. "Maybe. If there is? Maybe, she won't want to leave for good?"

"Oh no you don't, you aren't wiggling out of helping her, and taking advantage of her in the process!" Papyrus demanded. "First thing tomorrow, we are starting to look for historical events that may have led to contracts that could help Frisk!"

Gaw. Damn it. "ACT of lover starts soon," Sans said to his brother. "So, nothing can happen."

"That's good to hear," Papyrus said confidently. "I knew as my brother you would respect my daughter."

Huh? "Wait. I mean. I'm going to try and score a kiss, but it's not a Luster night."

"Try to what?" Papyrus scoffed. "Sans, no! No, no, no, what did we just go over?" He gestured to himself. "Your energy is neutral. My energy is what connected, not yours. Don't do anything like that."

"I'm not trying to get with her yet, I just want to try a-"

"No, absolutely not, Sans!"

"Asriel got to kiss her. He got to kiss her every day. I want to try a kiss." Even if it was ACT, he still wanted to feel it.

"Frisk is not a sampling, kissing machine!" Papyrus yelled at him. "Absolutely not. ACT. ACT. ACT. You can get through evolution with complete ACTing, that's the way it was made! All these instinctive emotions running through you are very high and confusing."

"I'm not the only one with high emotions right now," Sans muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm gonna eventually try to touch my wife. Everyone does," Sans told him. "Hell, we even made a plan to try and get to-"

"Oh no, that plan?" Papyrus grabbed his skull. "No, no, no. All wrong, all wrong. We are being so selfish. We know she'll be gone within a year or so once we find a workable contract, making anything like that was so wrong."

Damn this. "I'm going to bed now. Did you explain how we're supposed to ACT? It's almost midnight."

"Yes, yes," Papyrus insisted. "She needs to change."

"I know."

"What she is wearing is way too revealing to be pressing up against next to in bed for only a Neutral and Lover night."

"Couldn't. Be. Helped." Sans was tired, too tired. He almost died. He was still tired, but when Frisk was missing, he woke his ass up. Adrenaline only went so far though. "Life was at stake."

"Yes. Yes, that's true," Papyrus said. "It was very dangerous. Until someone can explain correctly the King and Queen have put up their own barrier after the other was taken down."

Barriers down, up, their own? "Uh. Just, we good and safe?"

"Yes."

"Kay. That's all I need to know." With the thought of Papyrus trying to take Frisk away dying down, his whole body was getting ready to collapse again. Eight husbands. Eight. Losing her to eight, and then gaining her back. How many monsters did what he and Undyne had to do in one night?

He went back to bed, where Frisk had curled back up. Eight husbands. Vanquished in a single night. He didn't know where those human monsters came from. How many more there were. If they were coming after Frisk again or not.

All he knew was that there was a barrier to keep others out, and Frisk was cold. Sans loved his brother, but he . . . wanted to try and see if there was something with Frisk too. He warmed up the covers, and brought her over closer to him again. He felt her funny breath tickling his neck bone.

Brotherly blood love. Strongest thing in the world. I gotta be loyal. Even if I am married to her, I can ACT until I can pull her out of this thing.

"Jattehoon?" Frisk woke up briefly, her eyes fluttering awake. "Are you okay?"

If Sans had a heart it would be beating off the scale right now. He forgot for a second he taught her that word. "F-fine."

"Are you sure?" she asked. She was still so tired. "It didn't sound good with Papyrus. I didn't do something, did I?"

Papyrus' fatherly energy bonding devotion. Can't, I can't. It's. "Nothing." He touched her jaw. Perfect excuse. No, I can't. No, that bond can't be stronger than mine with him! I've known Papyrus all our life, he'll deal, he can. "Get, rest, Frisk."

"Okay. But, tomorrow I ACT as lover, right?" Frisk asked. "Then Luster? How do I ACT Luster?"

"You'll. Just. Follow my lead," Sans said.

"Alright, Jattehoon," Frisk said, almost back asleep. "Is there some special monster word I should use for those days?"

"No." Stop it. Quench it. Work it out with Papyrus first. "Jattehoon is plenty from you." He closed his eye lids. "It's all I need to hear."

There was no telling exactly what was real. Not with all of that going on. What if Papyrus was right, she bonded with his energy and not Sans? That she was just a friend, and that intense battle was messing with his head? But what if she was destined to be more. What if she was supposed to be Frisk the Skeleton and live with him for the rest of their lives?

Evolution.

Evolution would work out the truth.