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Papyrus shot up out of bed like a rocket.
It was still much too early for most people, but that didn't matter to him. Today was the day!
And it was going to be a great day no matter what!
He still had a few hours to kill before he needed to catch the bus into town. Rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet he thought about what to do.
It was daunting to have that sort of freedom.
It had only been a few months on the surface but he couldn't help but fall into old patterns more often than not.
But not today!
Shaking with excitement he quickly got dressed in tidy slacks and a neon green crop top, covered by a soft work-casual coat and a light scarf.
He raced down the stairs as quietly as he could and started making breakfast for Sans so he would have something to eat once he woke up.
The surface was amazing!
There were so many options to make for breakfast and lunch and dinner - the shops had so much variety!
Papyrus made himself the same thing he always preferred for breakfast. But it was nice having it so readily available now! The bowl of oats waited patiently as he prepared Sans’s meal.
He made Sans some fresh pasta. His brother insisted he loved it when he made it, so there was really no reason not to.
He heard a shuffling outside the door. Striding over, he opened the back door in curiosity. The small white dog bound inside cheerfully.
Leaving muddy paw prints in his wake.
‘Honestly!’ Papyrus tutted as the small dog dashed around the kitchen in what seemed to be a valiant attempt to spread the mess as far as possible.
In an attempt to at least contain the disaster zone, Papyrus made a dash to close the door leading to the rest of the house before the dog could get any further.
With an exaggerated sigh, as the dog continued to practically bounce off the walls, Papyrus opened a bag of the high protein dog food in the fridge that he had made, following the careful online instruction of what was best for dogs! Putting it in a bowl, he placed it on the floor.
The small dog made a beeline for it and began to eat happily.
Papyrus felt a surge of success at that.
The dog never had any reservations about letting Papyrus know exactly what he thought about the food he gave him.
Papyrus wished he got more feedback like that if he was perfectly honest.
But still, the dog ate the food he had made with gusto and a level of honesty that made Papyrus feel proud of this latest batch of dog food.
He’d make a note of the recipe he had used for next time.
After the dog had finished he trotted over to the basket in the corner, where he curled up. Not to sleep however, it became apparent. But so as to keep a comfortable eye on Papyrus as he cleaned up the mess all over the kitchen floor.
‘I assume you aren't going to be helping with this.’ Papyrus grumbled mildly as he mopped up the kitchen.
‘Where do you even go at night? I know for a fact you were locked inside the house last night. You were hogging my bed last night, and I don't remember letting you out my room, let alone out the house!’
The dog gave a lazy tail wag.
With a small huff Papyrus bent down by the basket and gently wiped the remaining mud off the white dog's paws.
The dog rolled over in his basket and his tail whacked against the sides as Papyrus did so, the steady beat a comforting drum.
He gave the dog a decisive pat on the head before standing back up and making his way over to the breakfast table. Sitting down he finally started eating his oats.
And for a moment the world was calm.
He could hear birds singing outside the window and the occasional car in the distance.
Living so far outside the city had not been what he had originally planned, but Sans had loved the old house near the woods, and Papyrus did agree it was much nicer staying up late looking at the stars rather than at light pollution.
But it was still an awful way out of the way, and the public transportation system was somewhat inefficient and time-consuming at such distances. Which did make his work rather difficult.
Fortunately, that would very soon not be a problem!
The calm was broken by an unsuppressible sound of joy.
‘Nyeh!’ Papyrus giggled to himself.
Looking at the time, Papyrus stood up and washed his bowl.
He placed an extra plate over the top of Sans’s dish to keep it unexposed until he woke up, and went to grab his things to leave.
It was going to be a very long bus trip, but he was so excited!
Papyrus stepped off the bus a few blocks away from his destination and started walking. It had just hit nine a.m. and he was booked in for the first available time at nine-thirty.
He arrived outside the testing station with twenty minutes to spare.
Making his way over to the desk, where a tired-looking human was typing something slowly into her computer he spoke up.
“Hello! I have an appointment for a learner's test this morning!”
The human looked up at him. Eyes going wide in surprise and there was a long moment of silence.
Papyrus waited patiently for the human to recover. This was unfortunately not a new reaction, and in all honesty not even one he could call bad when compared to how some humans had reacted to the monster's return during the last few months.
He decided to break the silence first with some light humour, “Don't worry human! I am not a human skeleton if that is your concern - even if my appearance may resemble one somewhat! I am no symbol of the inevitability of death. I am quite cuddly if anything!”
Papyrus smiled brightly to try and put the human at ease.
The human gaped for a moment more before she seemed to pull herself together. Not quite looking at Papyrus, and with a slightly glassy look in her eyes, she finally spoke.
“I'm sorry, what did you say you were here for?”
“I have an appointment for a learner's test this morning!” Papyrus said brightly.
“Right right…” the woman said, eyes drifting back to the computer screen.
“The first appointment of the day is for a Mr Papyrus?”
Papyrus nodded In confirmation.
“Okay, great. Um. Do you have any identification?”
Papyrus nodded again, and carefully took out his shiny new citizenship card that had been issued out to all the monster's just two weeks back. He had been allowed to put the information he had wanted to on the paperwork at the time and it showed in its conspicuous blankness.
“No last name?” the woman said, scanning the card.
“No.”
Shrugging the women made a few notes on to a form before handing the card back.
“You're early.” she said. “the testing stations aren't on yet, but if you take a seat I'll give you a call once everything's going.”
“Thank you!”
Papyrus took a seat on one of the plastic chairs to wait, knees bouncing up and down in anticipation.
After about fifteen minutes the woman motioned him back over. He was out of his seat like a bullet and back in front of her so quickly she physically moved back in her seat.
Papyrus kicked himself mentally, he needed to make a good impression on humans! Not startle them! Still, he smiled and hoped for the best.
“Um. You can head over to the computer in that booth there, the test will be timed on the screen and will automatically stop if you exceed the limit, any questions not answered will count as incorrect. If you get more than three questions wrong during the course of the test, it will also automatically stop and count as a failure. Head over when you’re ready to begin.”
Nodding, Papyrus thanked the woman and made his way to the computer. Eight minutes into the twenty-minute allowance he made his way back over grinning a completely genuine grin and practically bouncing.
Checking her screen, the woman nodded, “Done already? Great.”
Typing for a few moments she turned back to him, “Okay, since you passed we just need to do the eye test and I’ll get you your temporary learner's licence drawn up.”
“Eye test?” Papyrus asked, a sudden stillness overcoming him, that wasn’t noticed by the woman staring back at her screen.
“Yeah, just look into the machine over there and read the lines.” The woman said, gesturing at the object on the counter.
Papyrus shifted to the side and bent down to look into the viewfinder. Immediately he could feel his soul sinking in his chest. The letters were fuzzy around the edges and doubled if he shifted his head slightly. But he thought he could still make them out for the most part.
“Just read the top line.” The woman said.
“...R… H… D? L… R H D L?” Papyrus read out loud, twisting his skull back and forth trying to fit it in an aligned way and hoping for the best. The same letters repeated twice, vanishing and reappearing if he moved his head back and forth. He couldn't tell if it was intentionally doubled or not, or which view was correct!
The woman was silent. “Sorry, could you try to move your... skull slightly back? And try reading it again.”
Papyrus did so.
“Hmmm…”
“Is there a problem?” Papyrus asked.
“I’m not sure, these machines have trouble with humans half the time, now that I think about it. I honestly have no idea if it even works for monsters.” The women looked directly at him, “Especially monsters without eyeballs.”
Scratching the side of her nose absently she added, “Look I’ll pass you since this is kind of a different situation. But when you sit your next test you’re going to need to have your eyes tested again anyway, and seeing as I don’t think this thing is built for monsters I would recommend having your eyes tested professionally by an optometrist or whatever monster equivalent you lot have beforehand. And take the results with you to prevent yourself from being disqualified.”
Papyrus nodded frantically, relief flooding through him.
Five minutes later Papyrus was out the door clutching the temporary licence and joyous in the knowledge that his REAL one would be in the mail later in the week.
Just then, his phone rang.
Fishing it out of his pocket, he answered it quickly, “Hello?”
“Papyrus? I was just wondering where you were. You’re usually here by now.” Came the concerned voice of Asgore.
“OH! Didn’t I tell you, Sire? I was sitting my first driving test this morning! I passed!” Papyrus said, still grinning.
“Oh! That was today? Congratulations.” Asgore said, sounding surprised. Papyrus could hear the sound of flicking pages, “Oh my goodness, so it was - I had it written in and everything. I’ll forget my own head next.”
“I’ll be right in as soon as I catch the bus Sire!”
“Thank you Papyrus, but take your time! There’s no rush this morning.” Asgore made a sudden sound of realisation, “Oh! I just realised! You’re now the first monster to have received any sort of human driving licence. Do you think we should have made it a press event?”
Papyrus made a sound of thought into the receiver as he walked, “Maybe we should have. We do need to further our positive press right now and this does seem like a good opportunity to generate human interest. We could set up an interview later today and still make a smaller story out of it?”
“That sounds like a good plan. Setting up an interview now does grant us more control over the press than if we’d done it at the same time anyway. It would have been nice to send a photographer with you this morning at least, but alas that’s in the past.” Asgore mused as Papyrus waited at the bus stop.
“We can discuss this more once I’m at the office, my bus is almost here.” Papyrus said, glancing closely at the electronic bus schedule, “And there will be further opportunities to take advantage of! I still have my next two driving tests before I’m fully licenced!”
Asgore laughed quietly at the unbridled happiness in Papyrus’s tone at that last statement, “True enough. I’ll speak to you again soon, Ambassador Papyrus.”