This was written nearly a year ago. It was inspired by child skeleton bros, and magic au's. First Undertale fanfiction. Crossposted to tumblr and Ao3.
Disclaimer: I only own this ficlet. The characters and game are copyright to Toby Fox.

The young skeleton frowned as he failed once again to properly strike the practice target with his magic. Papyrus had been at it for a while now and being too tired to continue for the day, his small shoulders slumped while his gaze drifted to the ground. The boy had been told practice makes perfect, and he'd been doing just that. So why, he wondered, why he wasn't landing each bone on its mark perfectly…

A surprise hand gently landed on his head, causing him to look up suddenly- saddened expression and all. Papyrus was met with the sight of his brother, giving him one of his laid back smiles that held a bit of pride in it. "You did much better today, Pap. At this rate, you'll have it perfected in no time."

The words forced a small yet hopeful smile on the skeletons face, strengthening faded optimism and pushing forth a little more confidence in the boy. After all, Sans was already much better with his attacks than Papyrus himself was with his own, and Sans might have known more puns than the child thought had existed, could be messy(and a lazy bones to boot) but Sans had always been honest with him. Leaving the practice area for the day, his smile and excitement grew as he chatted with his brother.

After all, Sans would never lie to him.