A/N: My headcanon Sans is overworked single-parent big bro. But he's loved fiercely and without apology. (And to anyone who celebrates it, happy grateful-day!)

"is this a joke?" Sans says slowly, "cause i think i missed the funny part."

Tori's face, if anything, only reaches new levels of Earnest and Sincere. "Of course it isn't, Sans! I'm serious!"

And that really only serves to confuse the small skeleton more. She watches as he tries to find his footing behind the armor of a perpetual grin. "if it's so serious then why are you askin' me? we both know—"

"We both know that you have more know-how in this matter than you care to admit," she says right over him, not unkindly, while he freezes in his tracks and stares at her from across the table with wide eyes. "Things are still—difficult—between Asgore and myself, and you're the only other friend I have with any experience in child rearing. Who else would I go to for advice?"

"wh—no, that's… look, tori, i was just a kid. i screwed up all the time, i had no clue what i was doing—"

"And yet you managed to raise a remarkably wonderful boy, all on your own."

He blinks a few times, owlishly, and his fingers curl a bit around the cup of tea he's let get cold. If there's one person he would think deserving of all the praise and all the love in the world, it's Papyrus. And if there's one thing he'll allow himself to be proud of, it's his brother. A moment later, sure enough,

"he's awesome," Sans finally says, the beginning of something pleased creeping into the corners of his smile, a flush tinting his cheekbones pale blue. It's like a dam breaking, and Toriel beams back.

"So if I ever have any questions," she hedges, and Sans rubs the back of his head.

"well, yeah, of course i'll try to help out. but i really don't think you're gonna need me for this. you're a great mom—the kid loves you."

He says it so frankly and with such warmth that Toriel wants to kiss him. If he were within arm's reach, she just might have. As it is, she reaches for his hand and covers it with her own. And she wants to tell him that he's every bit as 'awesome' as the little brother he spent an entire childhood caring for; and she wants to tell him that the proof of it is in Papyrus, in how he is so purely the product of unconditional love and support, in how he looks at Sans like Sans is responsible for hanging the moon in the sky at night.

All she ends up saying is, "Thank you."

And he grins at her; someone who's never heard it before, and has never once needed to.

"any time."