#normal now

What got them in the business was, essentially, W.D. Gaster made them to be his successors, more or less. From the first moment of consciousness all the way up to the present the brothers knew what they were made as and for, which really heavily influences the way that AU works (at least in regards to them, although Gaster actually influenced most of the other characters' lives as well, but I won't get into that lol)

If, perhaps, Gaster and his own upbringing had been different, or he'd "disappeared" much much earlier in the plot, it's possible the brother's could've gotten into a life like that through some other means! Or perhaps they'd never been connected to organized crime at all, orphaned very young with no memory of their "father", struggling to get by and ultimately winding up in organized crime and show business, building their rep and "family" over the years, until being able to have something more serious and sustainable, all the while maintaining their momentum in the spotlight as well.

The MASK thing, I got such strong visuals for that, but it might be wildly different from your own, they looked a little like ultron/birds??? Black steel with red or gold eyes, Papyrus's of course being more narrow and pointed, Sans's more blocky. Anyway.

As for a manager/insert/romance element, I wouldn't say that's a bad idea at all!!! It'd be great for someone who writes that sort of thing, and just as a character aside, it'd be super fun to have a manager who wasn't in the know abt their crime lives at all but constantly exasperated with their, especially Papyrus's, slipperiness, perhaps could also be Mettaton if angling it more just Standard AU stuff??

But otherwise, as like a self insert type of character for a /papyrus fic, it would be SO intriguing to watch how things unfold over the course of the story, plus, it's still a fell-mafia based world, so of course there's tons of room for drama, angst, hurt/comfort, ACTION!!! OUGH !! It's cool!!!

What an interesting interesting idea, man, I'm gunna see if I can sketch out some ideas or smth bc I haven't so many visuals for how the brothers present depending on when they're being Celebrities vs Crime Bosses...