Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Breakfast goes by pretty quick, consisting of a couple pieces of toast and some fried eggs. You wash up your dishes and take a quick shower, dressing in some of your nicer clothes for your outing today. It’s a special occasion, so why not look good for it? You decide to wear mainly red, to avoid standing out too much.

After gathering your things and locking the door behind you, you review the route on your phone for where you’ll be going. You haven’t ever been to the Downtown part of the city before, but now is as good a time as any! Especially when a certain store in that area just got an early release of a collectible you’re dying to get your hands on.

The weather’s nice today, making the walk even more pleasant. You take a bus partway, since the city is pretty big on foot, enjoying the chance to cool off a bit before hitting the sidewalks again. You listen to your music through headphones most of the trip there, so you don’t even really register all the strange looks you start getting from passersby as you walk further and further into the red-and-black-decorated metropolitan area.

Finally, you arrive at the shop - a little corner store establishment, where the clerk greets you as you enter. “Welcome i–” They hesitate midway-through their courteous address, right as they catch a glimpse of you. Quickly remembering their manners, they settle for a flustered, “Oh, um, welcome in…!”

You smile at the clerk and wave a bit in response, coming over to the counter. The employee is a type of dog monster, looking at you as if you’re completely out of place here, which you totally are, and their response is completely understandable. This is, after all, Downtown - the area of the city where only monsters live. Of course your presence is a little bamboozling at first.

“Hi!” You greet them in turn, maintaining a friendly smile. “I’m here for the new limited release Code Geass magic-powered Shinkiro figure? I hope they didn’t sell out already…?” You press your hands together in mock prayer, trying to lighten the mood while also genuinely hoping they still have them in stock.

The dog blinks at you, as if suddenly reminded of the fact that they work at a store and have a job to do. They were kind of lost in space as they were staring at you. “Oh…! No, we haven’t sold many of those yet… Only one, in fact. The rest are back there,” They point you in the direction of what you seek, much to your appreciation.

“Thank you!” You chime. Venturing over, you take a moment to appreciate the display the figures are set out on, each of the cool little mechs packaged nicely with the anime’s logo printed on them, with a sign in the middle that also indicates the anime they’re from. ‘Nightmare Frames,’ they’re called in the show, instead of simply ‘mech suits.’

Picking out one of the Shinkiro models in particular, as it’s the coolest in your opinion, you read over the back of the box and its layout of features. The Shinkiro can transform into Fortress Mode, use its Air Glide System to actually hover (via magic), summon its shields (also magic), and use its wrist-mounted Hadron Cannons! Well, those are just harmless laser-pointers, because actual Hadron Cannons are far too dangerous, but still cool!!

More than satisfied with the amount of listed features and the more than reasonable price of such a detailed model, you take it to the front desk and pay for the item. Mission accomplished! Accepting the clerk’s offer for a bag to carry it in, you take your prize and begin making your way home. Not without checking out some local dining on the way, though, because wow was it a long trip here and it’s already lunchtime.

Finding a restaurant that doesn’t look too far above your pay grade (since you already kind of splurged on the special edition model), you wander in and come up to the bar, where a well-dressed fire-elemental monster is standing. He’s practicing a classic bartender activity, wiping down some shot glasses with a small towel.

Like before, you don’t exactly fit in here, receiving many sideways glances from the patrons, wondering why a human just waltzed into a monster establishment. They aren’t fearful or intimidating gazes, just a little confused and curious.The bartender regards you much like the others, his prominently green flame becoming dazzling purple wisps above his head in a really mesmerising display.

You try to avoid staring at his cool coloration as you distract yourself with the menu instead, offering a small “Hello” as you peruse the food options. You end up ordering a burger and fries, and it only takes the bartender - whose name you figure is Grillby, based on the name of the establishment being ‘Grillby’s’ - a few minutes to prepare your food and serve it to you. Maybe he used his fire magic to cook it so fast!

Thanking him for the meal, you enjoy the food thoroughly, as this is your first time having monster food. It’s better than you expected! All monster food is made of pure magic - you’ve heard that your body won’t even produce any waste from it, and the effect of eating it is immediate. It’s also difficult to overeat monster food, since your soul can store it as magic instead of your body storing it as fat, and most people’s capacity for magic is actually pretty high.

Humans forgot how to use magic long ago, but that doesn’t mean your souls have changed much since then. You’ve heard that humans are far more powerful than monsters because of the difference between your souls, but you’re not interested in finding out if that’s true or not. You’d never hurt anyone, even if they wanted you to, and especially not a monster. They get villainized enough as it is, just like any minority group, but worse.

Finally, at the end of your meal, you pay for your food and thank Grillby again for his service, complimenting the meal as well. His flames flicker for a moment, and you swear his voice projects straight into your mind as he softly says, “Have a nice day.” Smiling widely, you wish him the same, gathering your things and heading out the door.

Back on your way home after your pleasant trip to Downtown, you take a recommended shortcut from your navigation app to head through an alleyway. Unfortunately, it’s here that your fun comes to an end. Out from behind a corner emerges a youngish-looking aquatic monster, maybe in his twenties, strolling your direction as he plays around with a butterfly knife in one webbed hand, the other hand in his hoodie’s pocket.

As you go to simply walk around him, another monster emerges, this one scarecrow-esque and bulky in build, blocking your path rather obviously with the poise of a club bouncer. Beginning to grow nervous, you turn around. Sure enough, there’s another - a tall burning-rope monster, glaring harshly down at you.

“Heard you’ve been galavanting around town,” the aquatic monster twirls the knife around more, deftly avoiding cutting himself with its sharp, shimmering blade as it dances in the air. He comes to a stop a short distance in front of you, monologuing, “You know what I heard about humans? Apparently, they’re supposed to be real scary - able to take down a monster no sweat.”

You swallow past the lump forming in your throat, afraid of where this is going, your back pressed against the alley wall. He flips the knife closed, holding it in that position for a moment. “You don’t seem so tough, though, do ya, little human? All alone, in a place like this.” He cocks his head to the side as he comes to stand right in front of you. With nowhere to run to, you hold your ground, silently fearing the worst.

In an instant, the blade is flipped open again and pointed at your jugular, the boy wielding it musing, “What possessed you to come to the monster side of the city, eh?” Keeping the knife pointed at you, his gaze travels down to the paper bag you’re holding with your expensive collectible in it.

He looks back up at you, surmising, “You came here for a fucking shopping trip? Seriously?” He laughs mockingly. “What an idiot. We’ll have to teach you how things work around here.” Casually, he tosses the knife aside, adding, “We’ll teach you that monsters are stronger than humans.”

Before you even have time to think of trying to escape, you’re taking a punch to the gut from the bulky scarecrow guy, making you hunch over and sputter, resisting the urge to throw up your lunch. It had more kick to it than a normal punch, though - it was amplified by magic, if you had to guess. Something you have no idea how to defend yourself against.

At the very least, you manage to keep a vice grip on the bag with your collectible in it as they proceed to wail on you, determined to hold onto the thing you came here for in the first place. If these guys rough you up a little out of spite for what humans did to them a long time ago, so be it, but at least you’ll still have gotten what you wanted out of the ordeal.

No such luck, though, it seems. The flaming-rope monster grabs your very flammable bag, burning your hand a bit as you’re forced to pull away on reflex. He then throws it on the cement ground, letting the fire quickly spread and begin consuming the product within, ruining any value it may have had.

Even if, as a human, you may somehow be stronger than these monsters - you refuse to hurt anyone, ever, regardless of circumstances. You’ll hold on to your pacifism if it’s the last thing you do… And today might be the true test of that, as these three monsters seem intent on killing you, or at least coming very close to doing so.

You eventually end up on the ground, continuing to take hits from magical and physical attacks as they trash-talk you all the while. Finally, after what feels like hours, a bystander calls out aggressively to the gang, making them quickly scatter, leaving you battered and bruised on the cold stone ground.

Thankfully, the stranger comes over to check on you. A ray of hope in a pretty awful situation. You sluggishly manage to look up at them, seeing a skeleton crouched over you examining your injuries. He seems to be part of the Royal Guard, if his uniform is any indication. Your wandering gaze lingers on the two prominent scars he has above and below his left eye socket.

“YOU ARE BADLY HURT, HUMAN.” Nice opener, Captain Obvious. He doesn’t miss the deadpan stare you shoot him as he continues, “I CAN TAKE YOU TO A HOSPITAL, BUT YOU MUST SWEAR NOT TO TELL THE HUMAN AUTHORITIES ABOUT THIS INCIDENT. IT WOULD CAUSE PROBLEMS FOR US. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”

You nod your consent, not eager to start any political scandals, or - stars forbid - any racial crusades. You’re at least aware of how tense it’s been between monsters and humans, with lots of animosity on both sides, just waiting for an excuse to villainise the other and start a war. No thank you. You just want to live in peace in an equal world.

The skeleton reads your expression, gauging how truthful you’re being. “...ALRIGHT.” He decides you’re trustworthy enough, it seems. “GIVE ME YOUR PHONE.” Or not? He holds out his hand for the device, clarifying, “YOU SEEM LIKE A DECENT HUMAN, SO I WON’T BREAK IT. I’M JUST TAKING IT FOR NOW.”

Oh, that makes sense. He’s making sure you can’t call the cops or anything in case you’re lying. Struggling to move through all the pain you’re in, you take out your phone and hand it over to him without a fuss. He seems pleased by your cooperation, giving you a respectful nod as he moves to scoop up your damaged body into his lanky arms.

It’s certainly not the most comfortable experience in your current condition, but you don’t resist as he hoists you up bridal-style and begins striding down the alley-way, back in the direction of Downtown. If he took you to a human hospital, there’d be too many questions - too much risk…

So he takes you to a monster hospital instead. More of a clinic, really… but details aside, he shifts you in his arms as he has to reach out to let himself in through the front door… Or is it the back door? You enter directly into what seems to be the inner workings of the facility, with no check-in desk or waiting area, just exam rooms and labs.

“GASTER!” The already-loud monster raises his voice even more, making you wince a bit from the harsh volume. “A HUMAN GOT ATTACKED! THEY NEED TREATMENT!” You hear some shuffling in another room, and a monster soon emerges, dressed in a lab coat. You can’t make out much else, really, on account of your vision starting to blur.

As a matter of fact, you feel really cold all of a sudden. You feel like you’re floating as your consciousness starts dripping away, your eyelids like lead as it gets harder and harder to keep them open. Your swiftly dulling senses barely register as you’re rushed to a room, set on a bed, and administered emergency care, passing out completely somewhere in between.

…

Your head is killing you when you wake up. It feels like your brain is trying to explode out of your skull, pushing harshly against the back of your eyes. The pain is made even worse as you open them to a harsh light above you, stinging your unadjusted pupils. Turning your head to the side, you find that you’re laying in a bed, covered by white sheets, in what appears to be a hospital room.

Your memory is foggy on why you’re here, but you definitely feel like you took a serious beating. You straighten your head back up to the ceiling and turn to the other side, idly curious what you might find. Unfortunately for you, you’re caught completely off guard and startled way more than you should be by the presence of another person in your room with you.

Well, a monster, to be exact. A doctor, it seems. The doctor that took you in. You can hear your elevated heart-rate on the monitor by your bed, beeping rapidly as the monster in the lab coat just blinks at you, unimpressed by your reaction. His reddish-violet eye-lights return to the clip-board in his hands, writing something down in his notes.

You can see that he has holes in the palms of his hands, and that they appear somewhat skeletal. Somewhat. Like his face - he has eye-sockets, but no nose hole. His mouth is actually closed, unlike a skeleton’s would be, with their usual lack of lips. He’s definitely similar, but not quite a skeleton monster.

After getting a little too caught up in his unique appearance, you hurry out, “Um… Sorry…” You feel the need to apologize for potentially coming off as being scared of him because he’s a monster, and also for staring. “I just didn’t expect to see someone else in here…” He doesn’t look up at you as you continue, using your good hand to adjust the bed so you can sit up and face him better. “Why… am I here, exactly…?”

At that, he stops writing, his gaze flickering back up to you. As he tilts his head up, you can see the deep, dark circles under his eye-sockets. He must be exhausted… “You were attacked,” he states simply, crossing his arms as he decides not to elaborate further. He doesn’t need to, though, as your memory starts coming back with that.

You hum, remembering your situation now. Rolling your head back to rest it against the pillow, you visibly wince at the spike in your migraine from doing so. The doctor, who you barely manage to remember is called Gaster, gets up and comes over to your bedside, checking your vitals on the monitor.

“You were reduced to only four HP,” he explains, “and I am not accustomed to treating humans. Some damage was magical, some was physical… It is more difficult to heal both at once.” He sighs, clearly a bit irritated at having to deal with your rough condition out of the blue.

“...Sorry,” you repeat your earlier apology, this time in a more general sense. You feel bad that you’ve inconvenienced him with your care. Even as every inch of you, in and out, is aching something fierce, you know this isn’t just your problem to deal with. If it got out that a human was almost killed by a group of monsters, it could start another war. You’d rather die than let that happen.

“...” The pale, tired doctor says nothing, reaching into one of his pockets to pull out an item. Holding it out for you, he offers, “Here.” Curiously, you take the small, wrapped item with your unburnt hand, looking at it for a moment. It’s… a cheeseburger? He must see your confused face, since he states, “Eat it.”

Yeah, you know what food is. You’re just confused why the first thing he’s doing when you just woke up is telling you to eat something. But, well, you’re certainly not opposed to the idea - you must have been out for quite a while, because you’re starving. Unwrapping the item, you find that it is indeed a meaty burger.

Grateful for his generosity, you take a bite, instantly realizing why he gave you this first-thing as you immediately feel marginally better. Eyes lighting up, remembering this taste, you dig in, each bite easing some of the immense pain you’re in. When you quickly finish, your attention returns to the doctor, mildly embarrassed at just how eagerly you consumed that burger, wrapper in hand as you look over the edge of the bed to find a small trash can there, dropping it in.

Finding that you have a bit more energy now, you ask with some confidence, minding to keep your volume low to avoid making your headache worse, “Was that burger from Grillby’s?” You did eat at the restaurant just before being attacked, and it tastes exactly the same. You’d be shocked if it were from anywhere else.

Your question surprises the skeletal monster, his sockets going wide at hearing that name from you. Who would’ve guessed that a human could recognize the exact restaurant that a monster-food item came from? “...Yes,” he responds lightly, flabbergasted. “How did you know that?”

“I went there earlier on my way back home,” You explain. “It was a really nice place, and the food was really good.” You smile, remembering, “Grillby even told me to ‘have a nice day’ as I left. I get the feeling he rarely speaks, so it felt really special, but maybe that’s just me.”

“...” The doctor, who you’re realizing is rather tall actually, as you have to crane your neck up to look at him next to you, even from the raised bed, seems deep in thought for a few moments. You take the opportunity to glance at his nametag, reading, ‘Dr. W.D. Gaster.’ You wonder what the W.D. stands for.

Idly fidgeting with your hands a bit in the silence, you end up visibly wincing as you brush over an especially bad burn. Dr. Gaster notices your discomfort and remembers something, regaining his composure as he says, “Given that I do not have access to your medical records, I could not administer any medications until you awoke and could inform me of any potential allergies you may have.”

Oh! Of course. Appreciating his foresight in the matter, you inform him, “No, I don’t have any allergies.” Taking that as permission, he starts prepping a needle with some kind of clear teal-ish solution. You swear it’s glowing a little… You wonder what it is. Painkiller? Antibiotics? Or maybe some special kind of magic solution. Probably that last option.

“Good.” He states, flicking the air out of the needle before he sets it down for a moment, asking the follow-up question, “Is there anyone that will be concerned if you do not contact them before tomorrow?” That’s… an interesting question. But you suppose it would be bad if anyone thought you were kidnapped or something and reported you missing.

Thinking for a moment, you carefully respond, “Probably not anyone today or tomorrow, but definitely my work at some point. And a few of my friends after a few days, if I don’t at least message them something.” This really is quite a predicament, since you can’t exactly walk out like this, and telling your friends where you’re being treated would raise red flags too…

The skeletal monster hums, taking something out of his other jacket pocket for you. It’s your cell phone. “Message them, then. Something vague, so they won’t ask too many questions. Tell them they will not see you for at least a week - potentially up to a month.” Up to a month? Yeesh, that’s a brutal time frame. Your work’s gonna hate this. You might even get fired… But there’s nothing you can do about it now.

Biting the bullet, you message your boss that you spontaneously can’t come in for the next week to a month. You can also see, based on the time on your phone, that it’s the middle of the night right now, so you were out cold for quite a while. Was Dr. Gaster waiting here this whole time for you to wake up…?

You glance over at him. He’s hovering a bit, arms crossed, probably waiting for you to message everyone you need to so he can inject whatever that solution was into you. You know some of the stronger variety of normal painkillers can knock you on your ass, so he probably wants to wait in case you pass out afterwards. Or maybe he knows you’ll pass out afterwards.

Hurrying through your fabricated excuse for disappearing for a bit, you just copy-paste it to everyone relevant and quickly send it to them all before holding your phone back out to the doctor. “There, at least they won’t report me missing.” You set the device down on the tray next to the needle for him to do whatever with.

“Very good,” he commends the effort, picking up the needle once more as his eye-lights go to the crook of your arm. Understanding what he needs from you, you hold out your straightened elbow, unsurprised when his free hand comes to hold your arm up from below and steady it for the injection. For a skeleton-esque monster, you expected him to be cold to the touch, but he’s actually warm.

“This will sting,” he warns you, before carefully plunging the needle into your vein. It does indeed sting, but not nearly as bad as the pain you’re already in. The fluid he injects brings a warm feeling to your arm, traveling up into the rest of your body with your blood flow. It’s nice and relaxing, melting the pain away as your body feels like it’s relaxing deeper into the bed, your eyes closing automatically.

…

It isn’t long before the human does, in fact, pass out again, leaving Gaster to go about the rest of their treatment while they’re unconscious. He sets them up with an IV, feeding green magic directly into their body to help their soul recover from the damage it took, as well as help their physical wounds heal faster. It’ll still take time, but this is the best he can do.

Besides that, he’s curious about something. Ever since they arrived, he’s had this strange sort of feeling about them… Particularly when treating their wounds, before. The way that their blood sometimes just barely broke the surface of some of their injuries… It interested him to a perplexing degree. He can’t comprehend this strange feeling…

He’s never really had too much interest in humans before. In the past, they were his enemies, but he didn’t hate all humans for the actions of some. Then, humans were his imprisoners, sealed in the underground by seven powerful mages - which, again, were just hateful individuals. He’d gladly have killed them, but surely they’ve all died from their naturally short lifespans already. Pity - that would have been some good fun.

Now, humans are practically his neighbors, living in two halves of the same city, separated by a narrow mixing zone in the middle. He’s neutral, really - the past is the past. The present situation is tense, but nothing’s happened… yet. He’s definitely on his guard in terms of political affairs, trying desperately to avoid the seemingly inevitable fallout - like with this human here, and their rather unique situation.

This human… whom he feels this strange affinity towards. Perhaps not the human themself, but certainly the blood in their veins. He has to know what this unnatural fascination is. Why is his body reacting like this? So he’ll take a blood sample or two to test it. Gathering the supplies he’ll need, he injects the extractor into the opposite arm from the IV, attaching the tube and watching intently as it begins collecting.

He observes the base of the vial as a small wellspring of deep red fluid bursts forth, filling the container in little pulses as their heart pumps the blood along at a steady pace. It’s hypnotic, almost, as he can’t seem to look away from the pure life essence filling the vial. Once it has enough stored in it, he carefully removes the little flask, deciding to just take the one for now, as he’s feeling too impatient to wait for another.

He has to know why he’s so worked up about this - it just doesn’t make sense. Soon it will, once he has a chance to study it and experiment. But first, finishing with proper procedure, he removes the extractor and bandages the area, leaving the room with the sample in hand. He ensures that the exam room is locked from the outside, just in case the human wakes up and somehow manages to try to run, unlikely as that is.

He takes the sample to his lab, flipping on the lights to see his equipment just as he left it - covering every square inch of every countertop in the room. Science is his specialty, not tidying. If the machine fits, that’s where it sits. Hoarding issues aside, he just wants to ensure nobody will see him doing this, locking the door behind him before taking a seat at his desk.

Carefully opening the tube, his body immediately gives a reaction to the raw, exposed substance. His mouth opens further to let in more of the intoxicating smell, his saliva gathering, while his canines grow out into harsh fangs at the prospect of something tasty. But he’s never felt this way towards blood before… Is it the magic he injected making it appeal so strongly to his senses?

…No. It has to be because of his affliction. After a long time in the underground, searching and studying tirelessly for a way to break the barrier, Gaster’s final conclusion was that it was hopeless. So hopeless, in fact, that he decided, willingly, to fall into his own creation. The end result was far from ideal.

He was stuck in a place between time, inhabited only by emptiness. It was a far worse fate than death. Sometimes, he could listen through the veil between worlds, eavesdropping on reality. And after a long, long time, a certain human child - accompanied by a flower - freed him from the Void.

His erasure hadn’t come without repercussions - his magic had undergone changes from being in the Void for so long. Once he was free, he found himself with far more of an appetite than before, compensating for the increase in magical energy it takes to maintain his physical form.

Ever since being brought back to reality with everyone, he’s been eating as much magic-dense food as he can and drinking concentrated magical serums to keep his hunger at bay. But it never goes away. He’s always, always craving more. Magic alone is never enough.

And this, this smell, this blood… It smells better than anything he’s ever smelled before. He can’t stop himself from finding out what it tastes like, his hand automatically bringing the vial to his mouth as he samples the contents. Quickly, though, a sample turns into a mouthful, and in short order he’s consumed the entirety of it.

It’s unbelievable how potent it is - even such a small amount, and his appetite has already faded. He feels better, too - more awake, less exhausted, less stressed. This is what his body was seeking all along. Blood. Is it human blood specifically, he wonders, or just blood in general?

Either way, he has an immobile, cooperative human in his care right now… And while he feels no animosity towards them, it’s just too good of an opportunity to pass up, given the circumstances. They’ll have to be here for at least a week, up to a month, for their current injuries. Maybe he could… run some tests, while they’re here. Mundane little experiments, just during their necessary care period.

…This could prove to be rather interesting.

Chapter Text

The next day, you wake up without a pounding headache, so that’s a plus. What sucks, though, is how sluggish you feel, having to really put up a good fight with gravity in just the effort it takes to walk to the bathroom, taking your newfound glowing-green IV drip with you. Thankfully, there’s a bathtub, because, frankly, you don’t know if you’d have the energy to stand up for the whole duration of a shower.

Running some warm water in the tub and using the facilities in the meantime, you realize only now that all you’ve been wearing this whole time is a hospital gown. It makes sense that you had to be stripped so your wounds could be treated, and you’re sure it was a purely professional exchange, but it’s still embarrassing to think of being seen naked by someone… How long did that royal guardsman stick around? Did he see you naked, too?

Instead of thinking about that further, you work on removing your bandages and cleaning up a bit before slipping into the bath, melting into the warm embrace of the clean water with an audible sigh. You’re surprised at how little pain you’re in, honestly, considering the amount of bruising and scabbing you can still see on your body. The damage is definitely not as bad as you thought it would be…

Maybe it’s got something to do with why you’re so drowsy. Thinking back, could it have been that injection the doctor gave you? You definitely remember passing out immediately after that, so that’s probably exactly it. It was light blue-ish… If you remember correctly from an article you read on the subject of magic types, that color indicates ‘patience.’ It promotes rest and recovery.

And then there’s your IV, which is clearly also a magic solution, based on how it glows. Green is ‘kindness.’ It must be aiding in your recovery as well, hence why you left the needle in your arm and took the whole apparatus with you, despite how awkward it can be to work around. It’s in the crook of the arm on the side of your burnt hand, anyway, so it isn’t much more inconvenient to avoid bending that elbow too much.

After what feels like mere brief moments of lounging comfortably in the bath, you catch yourself starting to nod off, registering how the water has dropped quite a few degrees. Did it really cool off that fast…? No… You must have been in here for longer than you realized. That magic painkiller is some seriously strong stuff, making you space out like that.

Forcing yourself up, you drain the tub, waiting for it to finish emptying before using the shower head to rinse it out. Wouldn’t want your dead skin cells to leave a ring around the water line, especially with how long you were probably in there. With that done, you return the shower head to its mount and towel off, finding a shelf with extra gowns so you can put on a clean one.

Some of your wounds could probably use to be wrapped again, but they’re already scabbed over anyway, and you lack the energy to dig around for the necessary bandaging wrap. Instead, you return to your relatively-comfortable bed, and end up going right back to sleep without even really meaning to.

…

When you wake up again, you stretch out your limbs with a big yawn, feeling super well-rested. It must be the middle of the day by now, which would normally have you regretting that you overslept and wasted time that could have been spent more productively, but today you really needed it.

Looking around your little clinic room, you’re not very surprised to see the presence of Dr. Gaster again, lounging in a guest chair, perusing his notes. “Good morning,” you smile, to which he doesn’t really react, simply looking up at you over the top of his reading glasses, which are held onto his face via… magic? As far as you can tell, they’re just floating there. It’s kinda cool.

Besides his glasses, though, you notice something else. His eye lights… Yesterday, they were a reddish purple, but now they’re a deep, more blue-toned violet - far more vibrant. They’re really pretty… He raises an eyebrow at your silent staring, so you decide to voice curiously, “Your eye color changed…”

Your observation seems to surprise him, based on the subtle way his eye-sockets widen, before he quickly hides that reaction with a downward glance back at his paperwork. “Yes, well, that happens sometimes.” He regains his composure quickly as he calmly states, “I suppose humans don’t experience that phenomenon?”

“...No,” you respond in short, confused as to why he’s clearly lying to you about something so insignificant. Shrugging, you decide to make some small-talk on the topic, “Sometimes humans have heterochromia, where each eye is a different color, but they don’t ever just change overnight.” Realizing that might come off as rude, you quickly add, “They’re beautiful, by the way! Your eyes.” Shit, was that weird to say?

The doctor glances upward again, as if skeptical of your truthfulness, raising an eyebrow in doubt. Your reaction, though, tells him all he needs to know, as your cheeks flush a bit and you backpedal to change the topic. “Did you get some sleep? I see the dark circles under your eyes have cleared up.” And you look really good when you’re not so worn out- wait no, shut up brain! Why are you like this!

A small, amused puff of air escapes his mouth, the hint of a smile on his lips. He comments, “You seem more concerned about my wellbeing than your own… How interesting.” He’s right. Now that you think about it, you have been pretty complacent about this whole ordeal, haven’t you? Maybe it was the concussion and the drowsiness from the pain meds - you were kind of out of it before.

But now that you’re more awake and realizing your position, you have to make a conscious effort not to freak out. Remembering that message you sent to everyone about being MIA for a couple weeks, your boss comes to mind, and your job. Your eyes dart immediately to the place where you left your phone, and it’s graciously still sitting there.

Swiping your phone from the counter, you quickly navigate to your text thread with your boss, anxiety spiking through the roof for your potential loss of work over this. You don’t even register Dr. Gaster in your mind anymore - simply observing you - as you carefully read through your employer’s response to your vague, sudden absence, sifting through all the professionalism in her wording to glean how screwed you are.

…Your heart sinks when you see it. [[Due to company policy on unannounced absences, your inability to work for the next week or more will constitute no-call no-shows, enough of which result in termination.]] Tears gather in the corners of your eyes, making it a bit harder to read the last bit, [[Your last paycheck should arrive within the next week. Have a nice day.]]

Have a nice day? Have a nice day?? Yesterday didn’t even suck this bad, and you almost died! The last time you had to find a new job, it took you six months of constantly applying everywhere before someone finally hired you, and you didn’t have to worry about rent back then. This time? In this economy? You’ll go broke, you’ll get evicted, lose everything, be homeless, all alone…

Your brain keeps feeding you all the worst-case-scenarios on autopilot. Being instantly overtaken by unrestrained tears, you sob into your shaking hands at the prospect of your life crashing and burning. On the far edge of your senses, you register a fast beeping sound on a monitor, but your stress-addled mind can’t comprehend what that might mean right now, instead focusing on how doomed you are and how hopeless everything is.

Feeling a hand on your shoulder, you hear a concerned voice cut through your spinning senses, “Human…” You aren’t exactly lucid enough to respond, your breathing spiraling out of control as your head starts swimming in nausea. “Human, calm down, it’s alright,” you feel another hand on your other shoulder, and a sense of warmth starts emanating into you, a small green glow entering the sides of your vision.

Slowly, you start recovering, breathing more steadily as your heart rate comes back down. With the lack of any other option, you use the thin blanket on your bed to clean your dripping face, sniffling and blinking rapidly to clear your senses. Once you’re composed enough, the doctor backs away, his magic fading now that the panic attack has subsided.

Looking up at him, vision still a bit hazy, you blubber out, “Thank you,” knowing that you would’ve been in that awful state for at least half an hour had he not helped you with his magic. It’s a massive insecurity of yours to have to rely on other people for financial needs, putting you in a lose-lose position unless you can find new work, and fast.

“...What was the issue?” The doctor asks softly, returning to his seat. He removes his glasses, folds them, and puts them aside, crossing one leg over the other as he waits patiently for your response, eyes lingering on your expression. He seemed a bit distant before, but now he’s being very considerate of your fragile mental state.

You take a second to clear your nose and throat, gladly taking the offer of a box of tissues by a floating pair of magical hands, which also then carefully take the bedsheet that got snotted on. Once you’re ready, you explain, “I got fired. Apparently, you can’t spontaneously announce a multi-week absence when you were already scheduled shifts for those weeks.” You’re obviously being sarcastic, trying to lighten the mood a bit, in a small way.

Gaster maintains his professional demeanor as he surmises, “It must be difficult to find a new place of employment on the human side of the city?” You nod, confirming his theory for the root of the issue. “...” He thinks for a moment, gaze downcast in careful deliberation. After a considerable pause, he says something insane, “You can work for me, then.”

“What…?” You have to assume you heard him wrong. A monster, hiring a human? That’s crazy. “No, you don’t have to do that,” You wave your hands dismissively, as if what he’s offering you is impossible. It’s certainly unheard of, at least. What would other monsters think about a human working in their part of town? Wouldn’t that cause problems?

“It would not be an issue,” he insists, crossing his arms as if he’s unwilling to hear any further argument on the matter. “If you would like, you are free to work here at the clinic. Monster biology is really not all that complex - I could teach it to you in a matter of weeks. If you do not feel that you are capable of treating patients, you could just be a receptionist instead.”

“Or,” he adds, “If you are so inclined, perhaps you could even work at the lab as a fellow researcher.” Lab? Researcher? Your confusion must be obvious, because he clarifies, “The royal laboratory.” He raises an eyebrow and tilts his head to the side, slowly asking, “Do you… really not know who I am?”

“...Should I…?” You respond, even more confused than before. Suddenly, he bursts out laughing, startling you a bit. Is he someone super important or something? Oh no, is he one of the monster nobility?? And, oh god, you kind of hit on him before, didn’t you? You wanna melt into the ground and disappear.

He must notice your mortified expression, because he composes himself enough to say, “No, no, sorry, it isn’t that big of a deal…” He fails to suppress his amused grin, reasoning, “It is just, ordinarily, everyone is so intimidated by me that they would never say such a thing. It caught me off guard.” He’s… not really all that intimidating, in your opinion. Why would anyone be afraid of a doctor? Does he give the monster equivalent of prostate exams or something?

Clearing his throat, he finally regains his composure, stating, “Allow me to formally introduce myself.” He stands and gives a small, ceremonious bow. “Doctor W.D. Gaster, Royal Scientist.” Your eyes go wide as he sits back down, further amused by your reaction. You may not know much about specific politics, but you do at least know what that title means.

Everything makes sense now. The lab rooms you caught a glimpse of when you were brought in - those weren’t just for clinical tests, those are for science. And of course others would find him intimidating - he reports directly to the King. If you disrespect him, you might as well be disrespecting the King of monsterkind. That’s reason enough to be careful what you say and do in his presence.

That being said… You’re a little disillusioned to the whole ‘intimidation factor’ after seeing him laugh so energetically at your statement of bewilderment before. What’s he gonna do, sentence you to death after saving your life? He seems pretty harmless. Besides, he’s been nothing but kind to you, all things considered. You don’t get the feeling that he’s a bad guy.

After you’ve had long enough for the info to sink in, Dr. Gaster gets your attention again, saying, “Please, just call me Gaster, though. My full title is too formal. Even Asgore only calls me Gaster.” Asgore…? Wait, did he just call the King by only his first name??? They must really be close!

“...Okay,” you say, still flabbergasted by this entire turn of events. “Um,” you have his attention, his posture open and receptive, so you decide to ask the lingering question, “What does the W.D. stand for?” He hums, grabbing a mug off the counter next to him to take a sip of its contents. You hadn’t even noticed that it was there before.

“Wingdings,” He states simply. “It is my natural font - something like an accent. Skeletons all have a primary and secondary font, and I tend to speak in my secondary font for the convenience of others. It is difficult to understand me when I speak in Wingdings. Only a few individuals have learned its intricacies.”

That’s piqued your interest. It’s kind of like an accent, huh? You can definitely think of a few strong accents that can be difficult to decipher, like a strong Scottish dialect. Carefully, not wanting to be too annoyingly insistent or anything, you ask softly, “Can I hear it?”

With a small grin, as if he had fully expected you to ask, Gaster says, “I SUPPOSE I CAN INDULGE THAT REQUEST.” His syllables sound odd, like dial-up tones, but there’s definitely a pattern to it. “NOT THAT YOU WILL UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM SAYING, BUT SO BE IT.” Really though, how does he make those noises?

Once you’re sure he’s finished showing off his special dialect, you say, “Wow,” in plain awe. Smiling, you admit, “That’s pretty cool, actually… How would I go about learning to understand it?” At that, he picks up the clipboard with his notes and holds it out to show you. A little confused, you take a look at it, and blink at the expanse of small, detailed images that seem to constitute letters on the paper.

“Learning the written form would be a good start,” he says, pulling the clipboard back and tucking it under his arm. “I can make a translation rubric for you along with your breakfast…” He glances at his watch and quickly amends, “Lunch.” With that, he opens the door, looking back at you as he adds, “Do not wander the facilities,” before he vanishes into the hallway, the door slowly swinging closed behind him.

…To be nosy, or not to be… That is the question.

After more than merely half a second of thought, you decide against wandering outside your room just yet. You’d rather not get on Gaster’s bad side, and it’s probably all just medical or scientific equipment out there that you wouldn’t understand anyway. Guess you’ll just have to entertain yourself with what’s inside your little room. Shouldn’t be too hard to do!

Your phone is definitely an option to kill time, but you try not to make a habit of getting absorbed in that thing for too long - and besides, you don’t really wanna deal with all the various responses you’ve gotten to your ‘I’m spontaneously disappearing!’ message just yet… You’ve only barely just mentally recovered from being fired, and hired immediately after, so you don’t want to have to deal with any potential drama about your situation right now.

Instead, you’ll check out the room in more depth, while being mindful not to overstress your healing body. What’s in these drawers? Bandaging, syringes, gauze, blood-drawing equipment… Okay, so the storage areas are boring, not a huge surprise there. Checking out one last cabinet, because why not, you find, to your surprise, the rest of your things.

…Now, are you perhaps overthinking this, or did he put your stuff here on purpose to test your snoopiness? It would be understandable if he’s hesitant to 100% trust a human not to go through his stuff… But really, what would this prove other than idle curiosity to look around? It’s not like you messed with anything. You’re probably overthinking it.

Shrugging, you get your bag out and set it on the counter, making sure nothing fell out of it on the trip here, when you were carried by that Royal Guardsman. Actually, it makes sense a Royal Guardsman would take you to the Royal Scientist - they probably know each other somehow. Musing aside - thankfully, all your personal belongings are still there;... Even the melted remains of the minifigure you bought…

What a sad sight. The beautiful form of a perfect nightmare frame mech, half-charred and drippy in parts where the plastic melted and resolidified. Alas, it’s ruined. It seems that Zero lost the fight for good this time… The least you can do is give it a proper burial later. For now, you’ll leave it in your bag and attend to your boredom while you wait for food.

Speaking of sustenance, what was Gaster drinking earlier? He left his mug here. With a glance into the cup at the dark liquid and a whiff of the strong scent, you easily deduce that it’s coffee. Cold coffee, by now… Would he mind if you finished it off? …Probably not, right? You’re sure he’s got more, fresh coffee by now anyway…

Yeah, it should be fine. Shotgunning what little is left, you hum in pleasant surprise at the sweetness of the beverage. How much sugar did he pack into this thing? It tastes like vanilla flavoring was added, too. How fancy! It tastes good though, so you’re definitely not complaining!

With some immediate-acting magic wakefulness juice in your system, you feel more energized than ever. Maybe you’ll keep looking around some more… What treasures lie undiscovered within your reach? Putting the mug back down, you catch sight of Gaster’s reading glasses on the counter. Seems he left those behind, too…

………

After some thought, yeah, you’re definitely putting those on. Who can blame you for being curious? You’ve never seen magical glasses that float in front of your face before! And sure enough, holding them up to your eye level with your hands below to catch them if they fall, they do just hover in place there. Even when you carefully move your head from side to side, they follow your movements perfectly. Cool!

Of course, at that exact moment, the door opens, and your reflexes aren’t quick enough to prevent your mischief from being revealed. Gaster, holding a plate with some lasagna, just blinks at you as he enters, letting the sound of the door closing fill the awkward silence in the room. You shamefully, carefully remove the spectacles, placing them slowly back on the counter where you got them from.

“...Well?” He asks, slowly shaking his head with the undeniable hint of a smile. “How did the experimentation go while I was gone?” He places the plate of food on the counter and takes his glasses, dramatically pushing them up the ridge between his eyes as he looks down at you, amused by your antics with his eyebrows raised. “Learn anything useful about lenses?”

“Um, sorry,” you shy away from his gaze, feeling like a kid that got caught messing with their parents’ stuff. “I just, uh, liked the way they floated in front of your face. Magic is really cool… Sorry…” You sit back on the edge of your bed, deflated. Your nose reminds you of the lasagna that was placed on your side table, so you grab the plate, cut a piece off the side, and stick a big bite in your mouth.

Quickly, your eyes light up at the taste, forgetting the shame of your childish antics that Gaster wasn’t even really upset about to begin with. This is really good…! You’re not sure if Gaster made this in the time he was gone (unlikely, unless magic lasagna is way quicker to prepare), or if this is leftovers, or what - but wherever this came from, it’s amazing!

“Heh,” you hear Gaster chuckle a bit at your reaction to the food, watching you intently from across the room. Your face heats up a bit in response, distracting yourself with more of the tasty tomato-sauce pasta. “I will inform Papyrus that you enjoyed it,” he says with a sense of pride. You wonder who that is, but you can’t ask currently with your mouth full of noodles. Maybe he’s a professional cook or something.

“That aside,” he says, “It is unfortunate…” He walks across the room before you hear him open a cabinet in the corner, your eyes fixed on your plate of food as you prepare another forkful. “You did not even find the clothes I left here for you.” Your gaze is swiftly drawn up by that, over to the open storage cabinet, with a folded outfit stored neatly inside. You then can’t help but notice the smug look on Gaster’s face as he comments,

“I suppose I will give you passing marks regardless, however, out of solidarity for your interest in magic.” Passing marks…? So he was testing you?! You swallow your food and open your mouth, but you aren’t even sure what to say to that. No words come out - you just gape at him, flustered. You can’t believe your crack theory was actually right!

Since you’re rendered speechless, he continues, placing his hands knuckle-first on his hips as he explains, “Monsters tend to be mischievous, and thus not a hundred-percent likely to follow rules.” He gestures to you with a smile. “You do not seem to be completely straight-laced, either - but you do follow rules within reason, of course. That is very good.”

You blink at his assessment. Is he… complimenting you? Based on the look he’s giving you, he sure is - or, at the very least, he considers it a compliment. You once again feel a bit flustered by his honesty, voicing a small “Thank you,” before stuffing more lasagna into your mouth, obviously failing to keep your embarrassment under wraps. Damit… Why’s he have to be so freaking charming?

“Mm,” he hums in response, strolling away from the cabinet with clothes in it, which he leaves open for you. “I will leave for now. I trust that you will not get up to too many shenanigans in my absence.” You watch him as he moves to the door, waving a bit with as much of a smile as you can manage with lasagna in your mouth.

Once he leaves, you finish your brunch quickly, exempt from the potential burden of eating too quickly since it’s just made of magic. After that, you take the outfit that was left for you and head to the bathroom to try it on, addressing the necessity of removing the IV first as you carefully pull it out and set the line and needle on the counter.

Before getting dressed, though, you opt to take a shower. Your bath last night was nice and relaxing, but it didn’t really make you feel 100% clean. Now that you have the energy to move around more and stand up for longer, you’re definitely up for a good wash. Easily slipping out of your medical gown and setting it aside, you adjust the knobs for hot and cold in the shower.

Once the water is the right temperature, you step in, relishing in the flow of the warmth. Using the soaps pre-stocked in the shower, you give yourself a good rinse, cautious around your bruises and small, scabbed cuts. Your burnt hand doesn’t hurt as much as it did before, but it’s still a bit sensitive on spots, so you work around that as well.

Once you’re finished, you towel off and assess the clothing that was so generously provided for you. The underwear is pretty standard - nothing of note there. The bottom is a pair of black sweatpants, which are super comfy and well-fitting. Gaster must’ve checked the size of your damaged clothes when he had to remove them to bandage you - which is still really embarrassing…

But you’re glad they’re more comfortable than anything - you hate wearing stuffy, ill-fitting clothing, unless it’s for a special event and makes you look nice. If it’s for a convention, you’ll gladly wear some somewhat uncomfortable cosplay, for example. Not a fur-suit, though - you’d roast in one of those things. That aside, you continue your little self-dress-up game, checking your appearance in the bathroom mirror after slipping on the top.

It’s also a good fit for you - a bit baggy, just like you like it. It’s an ornate, flowy red dress-top, albeit not too feminine in particular. It looks really nice - like something you’d wear on a casual date maybe. The way the fabric dances when you move is almost like flames twirling… They remind you of that bartender, Grillby, with his dazzling green and purple wisps. You’d like to go to that restaurant again sometime, after you’ve recovered.

Monsters really do love their reds and blacks, don’t they? Golden accents, too, when applicable. It seems to be the kingdom’s adopted aesthetic, on a whole. Some people call it edgy, and maybe it kind of is, but it still looks nice when done right. Personally, you like it! And it’s not like monsters don’t use any other colors - it’s just a trend of black and red, not a rule.

Now that you’re all fresh and dressed, it’s time to… Well, time to be underwhelmed, basically. You’re still confined to this room, after all, and your only entertainment at this point is your phone. You might as well check the messages from everyone to see what kind of fallout you’ll have to deal with for your disappearance…

The excuse you ended up using on the spot was ‘I lost my wallet and, due to some kind of clerical error with the police station that picked it up, they shipped it off to some other state, and I have to go there to get it back in person.’ It was the first story that popped into your head at the time which fit the strict criteria that had to be met.

Your friends both have similar concerns for you, each of them commenting on how [The police better be covering the full cost of your travel]] or [[I will punch a cop in the face if they don’t reimburse you.]] These two have been your best friends since forever. Each of you shares at least a couple interests or hobbies in common with each other, so it’s a strong bond between the three of you.

They always know how to cheer you up - especially with the ‘punch a cop’ comment - not that she actually would, but the sentiment of being protective of you is nice. You message each of them back, starting with Jane, who sent the aforementioned message. [[Yeah, they’re covering it. No need to break out the big guns just yet, lol]]

Next, you type up a response for Hector, the more patient one of the three of you, albeit still with the same concern for your financial wellbeing. Yeah, about that… You break it to Hector first, figuring he’ll be calmer about it than Jane would be. [[The trip is paid for. But on the topic of money… I got fired. Too sudden of an absence. :( ]]

You bite the inside of your bottom lip. It doesn’t seem like either of your friends are online at the moment, probably because it’s midday and they’re busy at work. In the meantime, you check the messages from your dad, who absolutely blew up your inbox. He sent a new text every hour, on the hour, for a few hours straight, worried about how you’ve been doing and how well you’ve been eating since moving out. At the bottom of the stream, he finally ended with, [[I hope you’re okay.]]

With a sad smile, you carefully word your message to him to assuage his fears. [[I’m doing fine. The move went well; I’m settled and I’ve been working consistently.]] You frown, sighing as you decide you shouldn’t hide it from him, [[My job fired me over this, though. I’m sorry.]] You know he won’t blame you for losing your job or anything, but you feel bad nonetheless.

He let you live with him, rent-free, until you were well and ready to move out. Ever since your mom died when you were young, he’s raised you as a single father, giving you as much space or compassion as you needed at various stages of your childhood. In truth, your dad’s been your best friend for basically your entire life, only ever having small, insignificant arguments that ended with an apology afterwards each time.

[[I’ll figure it out,]] you add, not wanting him to assume you’re trying to move back in with him for even longer. He was fine with you staying, but you became insecure about your own capabilities as an adult the longer you relied on his kindness. You started paying him rent as soon as you got a job, and then you moved once you’d saved up enough. Now you stay in contact through text, and you’re as close as ever. You still know you can tell him anything…

…But not the truth, at the moment. You don’t want anyone else getting involved with the situation you’re in - it could be dangerous, if that gang that attacked you intends on finishing the job. At least Gaster is letting you stay at the clinic for now… Oh! That reminds you! It slipped your mind because of how crazy it is. You erase the part that said ‘I’ll figure it out’ and instead put [[I already got hired somewhere else though, so don’t worry!]] That should put him at ease.

Hitting send on that one, you lean back against the raised headrest of your bed, laying clothed above the sheets, the blanket having been taken to be washed. While your family and friends are busy and can’t chat at the moment, what can you get up to for passing the time…? Webcomics, maybe? You know you’ve been dragging your feet on reading ‘I’m the Grim Reaper’ recently… Now’s as good a time as any while you’re just chilling alone.

Chapter Text

After an hour or so of getting in some good, quality comic-reading, you get up to stretch a bit. It’s not healthy to just stay in bed all day! While you’re up, you notice a little notebook on the table that you’re sure wasn’t there earlier when you were snooping around. Picking it up, you don’t see any labeling on the outside, so you open it to check inside.

It’s… a translator. The Wingdings translator Gaster promised you! It totally slipped your mind. He said he’d bring it with your brunch, and you must’ve completely missed it. There’s a rubric on the first page, covering a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and even special symbols. It covers everything you could possibly think of - from punctuation and math, to octothorpes and asterisks.

This is a bit much, honestly… Gaster left a note, in plain text, that ‘learning lowercase is unnecessary’ though, since apparently he ‘speaks in all uppercase’ when he uses Wingdings. You wonder if that’s also the case with that other skeleton you met - the Royal Guard who rescued you. His tone was pretty loud by default, so maybe that’s what speaking in uppercase vs. lowercase implies.

Alright, so you’ll tackle A-Z first. That, and some simple punctuation, seems like a good place to start. After you’re in a good way, you can throw in numbers and less common symbols, like ‘equals’ or ‘less than,’ or that little squiggly thing, placed on the top left of a keyboard, that you don’t know the name of.

You were also left with an erasable gel pen, clipped onto the blinding of the notebook, so you utilize that to begin your studies. Writing sentences is probably a good way to memorize it, right? The next page is blank, so, using the code, you transcribe the symbols to write out a popular sentence which contains every letter in the alphabet: [THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG.]

Well, that took about ten minutes to write once. A miserable pace, for sure, but that’s just a skill issue for now. You’ll improve! With time and practice, your success is surely inevitable! So you keep at it, writing the same sentence a few times until you’ve covered the first page. Turning the page, you’re surprised to find that it’s already written on in Wingdings.

Oh! So half of the notebook is for writing, half is for reading? Two methods of learning in one. Flipping through, you confirm this, seeing as every odd page is blank and every even page is filled in, with enough room between lines for you to write the translation as you go. You have to say, you appreciate the varied teaching approach.

Carefully tearing out the page with the decoder, you set it aside for reference. The first page you translate says, ["THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG"] You stop there for a moment, cracking up at the fact that he used the exact same famous sentence you did - assuming Gaster wrote this himself, of course. Regardless, it continues, [IS A TYPE OF SENTENCE KNOWN AS A PANGRAM.] Oh, you didn’t know that!

It keeps going, and you’re rather interested to see what else it covers. [OTHER PANGRAMS INCLUDE: "SPHINX OF BLACK QUARTZ, JUDGE MY VOW," "AMAZINGLY FEW DISCOTHEQUES PROVIDE JUKEBOXES," AND "BACK IN JUNE WE DELIVERED OXYGEN EQUIPMENT OF THE SAME SIZE." INTERESTING, AREN'T THEY?] They are interesting!

On the next page, which is blank again, you decide to write a reply to the page you just translated, as if responding to a pen pal. Excitedly, your eyes dart between the page and the translator as you gradually write, [HERE'S A FUN FACT FOR YOU! DID YOU KNOW THAT CHINCHILLAS SHOULDN'T GET WET?] You’re sharing your own obscure knowledge, if not just for something to write about then maybe to show off a little.

With plenty of blank page space left, you keep going, filling the entire space. [THEY AVOID WATER AS MUCH AS THEY CAN, AND USUALLY CLEAN THEMSELVES IN SUPER-FINE SILICA DUST, BECAUSE THE AMOUNT OF HAIRS THEY HAVE PER FOLLICLE (IN THE HUNDREDS!) RENDERS THEIR FUR TOO DENSE TO DRY OUT VERY EASILY, LEAVING THEM VULNERABLE TO FUNGAL INFECTIONS IF YOU GIVE THEM A WATER BATH.]

Moving on to the next page, you translate and read, [IF ONE WERE TO CONCENTRATE ENOUGH ENERGY IN ONE PLACE, IT WOULD CREATE A SPECIAL TYPE OF BLACK HOLE CALLED A KUGELBLITZ.] Astronomy, eh? This should be fun…! You happily continue.

[THIS THEORETICAL POINT IN SPACETIME WOULD BE HOTTER THAN THE KNOWN UNIVERSE WAS A MERE] You squint at the next bit, checking the translator for the symbols that are new to you. They’re numbers, and equation signs. Must be a big number. You love big numbers! [5.4e-44 SECONDS AFTER 'THE BIG BANG.']

Wow, it’s an inverted big number - a super small number. It’s a decimal, followed by 43 zeroes, followed by 54. Damn… You’ll have to respond in kind with some big math! [THE AMOUNT OF DIFFERENT WAYS A SET CAN BE ORGANIZED INTO IS CALCULATED VIA THE FACTORIAL OF THE QUANTITY OF DIGITS, REPRESENTED AS '!'.]

Now for the good part! [A DECK OF CARDS, FOR EXAMPLE, WOULD BE '52!' WHICH IS 52*51*50*49... ETC. THE RESULTING NUMBER - THE AMOUNT OF DIFFERENT WAYS A DECK OF 52 CARDS CAN BE ORGANIZED - IS 8.07e+67. THAT'S MORE THAN THE AMOUNT OF ATOMS THAT MAKE UP THE PLANET EARTH (1.33e+50).]

The next text begins, [QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT] Woah, this one’s about Quantum Physics? You love it, even if you don’t yet understand it. Smiling, you continue reading, mostly without needing to look at the guide at this point. [IS THE STATE WHERE TWO PARTICLES SHARE THE EXACT SAME STATE OF EXISTENCE. SAME POLARIZATION, SAME SPIN...]

You jot all of this down under the original text as you go, [AND THEY WILL ALWAYS BE THE SAME. EVEN IF YOU WERE TO ALTER ONE, THE OTHER WOULD CHANGE INSTANTANEOUSLY TO REFLECT IT, REGARDLESS OF HOW FAR APART THEY MAY BE.] Really? That’s a weird thing to imagine being real. It just sounds so fantastical… But then, so does magic, but that’s real, too. Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction.

You finish off by reading the last line, [A CERTAIN HUMAN SCHOLAR CALLED THIS PHENOMENON 'SPOOKY ACTION AT A DISTANCE.'] “Pfft–” You crack up at that. Spooky action at a distance? What a funny thing to call such a complicated property of theoretical physics. Sometimes, scientists really are bad at naming things. But is that really so bad when you get funny names, too?

Well, you don’t really know any complicated rocket science or anything of the sort to follow that up with, but you’ll really dig deep for your best encyclopedic knowledge of random obscure facts! [THE PLATYPUS IS THE ONLY MAMMAL THAT LAYS EGGS, SECRETES MILK FROM ITS ENTIRE STOMACH, HAS FUR THAT REACTS UNDER UV LIGHT, AND POSSESSES A VENOMOUS SPUR WITH TOXINS SO POTENT, SOME PEOPLE STILL FEEL PAIN DECADES AFTER BEING STUNG.]

With that, you move on to the next page, reading, [IF A STAR WERE TO HAVE EXOTIC MATTER IN ITS MAKEUP, AND WAS VERY CLOSE IN DENSITY AND SIZE TO ITS SCHWARZSCHILD RADIUS, IT COULD AVOID BECOMING A TRADITIONAL BLACK HOLE.] More space stuff, eh? You wonder if he’s got a thing for astronomy. If so, living in the underground, where stars aren’t visible, must have been extra harsh. You’re glad monsters can have the surface, too, now.

Continuing to read, [IT WOULD INSTEAD EXIST IN AN EXTREME STATE INSIDE WHICH THERE WOULD BE ZERO GRAVITATIONAL INFLUENCE. THUS, THIS CONCEPTUAL ENTITY IS KNOWN AS A 'GRAVITATIONAL VACUUM STAR,' OR SIMPLY 'GRAVISTAR.'] No gravity… So you’d just float inside one of these things? That sounds like fun - if it were even remotely possible to get inside of one, if they even exist in the first place. It’s fun to think about, at least.

And while you’re thinking about it, your attention is drawn by the sound of knocking at your door. Closing the small notebook, you announce, “Come in,” looking over to the door as it opens. To your surprise, it isn’t Gaster this time, instead being faced with the Royal Guardsman that rescued you! You recognize the scars across his left eye socket right away, being different from Gaster’s alternating up and down scars across both his sockets.

He’s not in uniform this time, though. Seems like he’s off-duty right now. He closes the door behind him as he stands at his full height, which is pretty close to Gaster’s - they’re both really tall, definitely at least a head’s height over you. “HUMAN,” he starts, making sure he has your full focus. “I CAME TO GIVE YOU THESE.”

From seemingly an alternate dimension, the skeleton produces a stack of textbooks, thumping them down onto the counter next to you. You blink at the pile of books, reading a few of the spines to see what the topics are. Chemistry, magic, physics, souls, algebra, mechanics, engineering… Wow, that’s a vast span of subjects.

You look back up at the skeleton, who’s just standing there watching you. A bit awkwardly, you say, “Um, thank you… For these, and for saving me before.” You smile at him gratefully. He hums, crossing his arms. Although he keeps a fairly neutral expression, he seems pleased to have been commended, his resting glare softening a bit.

“JUST DOING MY JOB,” he says, his chest puffing up with a sense of pride. “WHEN I FIND THE MONSTERS THAT DARED DO THIS IN DOWNTOWN, I’LL SHOW THEM FAR WORSE PAIN THAN WHAT THEY GAVE YOU.” That’s… reassuring…? Sounds like they’ll be brought to justice, at least. After being pummeled, probably.

Another smile finds its way onto your lips as you’re reminded of your friend Jane, who always makes play-threats for your sake. This guy kind of resembles her in attitude, though with the key difference that he seems more likely to follow through. Since he’s here, you decide to ask, “What’s your name?” He rescued you, and he seems nice under his rough exterior, so you’d like to get to know him better, if you can.

“...” He raises an eyebrow, as though what you said was strange of you to ask. Regardless, he responds, “PAPYRUS.” Next, it’s his turn to ask you a question. “DID YOU SAY SOMETHING TO GASTER? IT LOOKS LIKE HE ACTUALLY SLEPT FOR ONCE, SOMEHOW. IT’S PREPOSTEROUS. WHAT DID YOU DO?” He squints suspiciously at you, making this feel more like an interrogation than a conversation.

Putting up your hands in surrender to his accusations, you defend, “No, I didn’t do anything! I’m just as in the dark as you are!” He gives a dubious hum. You continue, “I noticed he looked worn out before, but I wasn’t gonna just lecture someone I didn’t know about their personal health… That’d be pretty rude, wouldn’t it? Unless you’re a doctor, I guess. Then that’s… kind of your job.”

“...RIGHT…” he says with a hint of doubt. “WELL, ANYWAY, WHATEVER YOU DID OR DIDN’T DO, IT IMPROVED HIS HEALTH. IF IT MEANS THE ROYAL SCIENTIST DOES HIS JOB BETTER, KEEP DOING WHAT YOU DID.” But you really didn’t do anything… Oh well, as long as he doesn’t think you did anything weird.

He seems glad to see Gaster doing better. You wonder… “Are you and Gaster friends?” Seems likely, considering this is the first place he brought you after he saved you. And they must be at least somewhat close, for him to call him just ‘Gaster’ with no ‘Dr.’ title.

Papyrus places his hands on his hips as he states, “HE’S MY FATHER.” Oh. Ohhh! That explains the familiarity, and the concern for his well-being! And the fact that they’re both skeletons… Well, at least mostly, in Gaster’s case. Still…! Papyrus makes a face as he watches your reaction, cracking a bit of a grin as he asks, “HAD YOU REALLY NOT ASSUMED WE WERE RELATED?”

Busted. “No, um, I mean, it would be rude to assume two monsters are related just because they’re the same race…” It just hadn’t crossed your mind at all. Papyrus can obviously tell you’re lying, and seems greatly amused by your act. “...Fine,” you admit, “I’m not so good with faces, okay? Even if it’s obvious to everyone else, I can’t tell if there are similarities or not.”

His grin fades a bit at that, harsh gaze softening again at your honesty. He crosses his arms once more, which seems to be his default posture, as he “HMPH”s you. “THAT ASIDE, YOU ARE A RATHER STRANGE HUMAN.” You blink at that, wonder what exactly he means by ‘strange.’

He emphasizes his point by gesturing to you with a hand as he dictates, “HERE YOU ARE, SITTING IN FRONT OF A MONSTER THAT COULD EASILY KILL YOU, AND YOU’RE COMPLETELY CALM. FRIENDLY, EVEN.” He guesses, “OR IS THAT JUST BECAUSE I ‘SAVED’ YOU? IF WE HAD MET IN THE UNDERGROUND INSTEAD OF HERE ON THE SURFACE, YOU WOULD BE A CORPSE ALREADY, HUMAN.”

You can see past his tough-guy act. He clearly cares, even if he pretends he doesn’t. “But we aren’t in the underground,” you contest, “And you did save me. Even if you hadn’t saved me, though, I would have been nice to you.” You smile. “You remind me of one of my best friends.” You copy his posture, crossing your arms with a dubious look as you spill, “I can tell you’re secretly nice, Mr. Tough Royal Guardsman.”

“WHA-?!” Got ‘em. Your revenge for his comment before is complete - now he’s flustered, and you’re the one grinning. The slight dusting of red on his cheeks is cute as he puts on his gruff attitude again and says, “YES, WELL, SINCE I AM APPARENTLY SO NICE, GOOD LUCK FINDING YOUR WAY TO THE KITCHEN WITHOUT ME GUIDING YOU THERE.”

He strides on his long legs over to the door, opening it and stepping halfway through as he speaks back to you over his shoulder, “DINNER IS THERE, BY THE WAY. GOODBYE, HUMAN.” The door is half-slammed shut behind him after that. Touchy…

Still, you don’t think he was as angry as he acted like he was. Sometimes Jane acts that way, and she always tells you afterwards that she wasn’t even that annoyed, she just lashes out subconsciously to get some space, she thinks. You can respect it. They’re both used to acting tough as a sort of coping mechanism probably, so it’s not their fault entirely. That’s how you like to see it, anyway.

Once his heavy footfalls are no longer in earshot, you get up out of bed and stretch a bit. Food does sound good about now. Checking the time, you see that it’s gotten pretty late… Guess you got lost in studying Wingdings. But, the font, not Gaster. Though, also kind of Gaster? Assuming he wrote the parts for you to translate, you’ve gleaned a few of his interests, you think.

Gently opening your door, you step cautiously out into the hallway. Papyrus basically implied it’s fine for you to wander around on your own, right? Hopefully so, because you don’t want it to seem like you’re trying to run away, but you definitely don’t want to miss dinner, either. If he’s not going to lead you there, you’ll just find your own way to the kitchen.

Stepping down the corridor, you peek through the windows on some of the closed doors along the way. Seems like this is just the medical side of the facility. There must be a living wing or something connected somewhere… Continuing further on, you look for something like section-splitting doors, like an ‘employees only’ section or something similar.

This place really is a maze, though. Guess you didn’t realize how vast this building is when you were brought in through the back door half-conscious… You keep walking, taking turns, opening doors that don’t have windows and aren’t locked, walking more… But no luck.

There’s no signs or anything indicating where you are or where anything else is, so you’re searching in the dark here. Thankfully not literally, since there are lights that turn on automatically whenever you approach a new area. You wonder if they’re magical or normal motion-detecting lights.

Sighing, you decide to just go back to your room, defeated. Backtracking, taking opposite turns of what you did to get where you are, you look for your room. But… unfortunately, now you’re hopelessly lost. You went too deep, and finding your way back is impossible. All the hallways look the same, all the doors look the same, it all blends together in a sea of sterile white. It doesn’t help that there are multiple floors, too.

It’s definitely been an hour by now since you left your room. Ugh, you’re starting to feel tired from walking so much. Combined with your growling stomach, you’re starting to think you were wrong about Papyrus being nice. He cares, sure, but that doesn’t mean he’s nice. God, you just wanna go home… The familiar scent of your own bed sounds heavenly. You could boil some water and have a cup ramen before bed… Man, that sounds good.

But that isn’t your current reality. Finally, just wanting to sit down more than anything, you enter an unlocked room and take a seat, sinking into the padded surface like putty. You’re careful not to touch any of the expensive-looking equipment on the desk, scooting the chair back so you won’t be tempted to rest on the cluttered surface.

Instead, you melt against the backrest, glad to finally give your sore legs and feet a chance to recover from the impromptu hike. It’s not too difficult to get comfortable, since it’s a nice fancy desk chair, leaning back as you push against it, putting you at a nice incline to take a break. The incline and cushioning is so nice, in fact, that you end up drifting off to sleep while sitting there…

…

After checking on the human and giving them some food and study material, Gaster went about his usual business, studying various things and developing new technologies for the betterment of monsterkind. Everyday stuff, really. Occasionally, he’d view the camera feed to the human’s room, making sure they were doing alright throughout the afternoon.

Sometimes, they could be seen wearing a smile while writing or translating Wingdings in the journal he had left them with. What an interesting human… Perhaps he should give them more study material, on diverse subjects, to see what sticks. That would be worth experimenting with.

Seeing as he’s too caught up in his work right now, Gaster instead calls Papyrus to facilitate this. “Bring the human a good stack of textbooks on numerous subjects,” He types coding into a console as he speaks, the phone on speaker in one of his floating hands. “Oh, and feed them, as well. It’s been awhile since they ate, I think. Don’t worry about me, though. I’ll make time to eat later.” No he won’t.

But Papyrus doesn’t call him out on the eating issue, instead just saying “YES, SIR,” before ending the call. It’s so exhausting trying to get Gaster to take care of himself… Whenever the man does eventually get hungry enough to seek out food, he’s always starving.

Papyrus has seen it far too many times - Gaster will go a whole day without eating, then scarf down an entire one of his lasagnas in one go, ravenously. It’s nice to see his father so enthusiastic about eating the food he made, but it’s concerning how unhealthy his eating habits are - not to mention his atrocious, non-existent sleep schedule.

As someone who takes very rigorous steps to make sure his body is in peak condition, it’s especially frustrating to Papyrus how little Gaster cares. He prefers his work to his own health, and, sometimes, it even eclipses his regard for his own children. Definitely frustrating.

Which is why it’s so weird. Right after he brought that human into the clinic, the next day, Gaster actually seemed well-rested. It’s impossible, really. Infeasible. Even when he does get exhausted enough to pass out, he usually wakes up before getting a full rest anyway, leaving him only half-recovered at best.

That human had to have done something. But what could they accomplish that Papyrus or Sans couldn’t? They’ve been trying to get Gaster to take care of himself ever since he came back to reality from the Void. His condition’s been either stagnant or in a slow decline ever since then, despite their best efforts. So what worked? What method could have possibly gotten through that thick skull of his?

…Is it possible… that the human… seduced him…? Somehow…? No. There’s no way. Gaster doesn’t viscerally hate humans like some monsters do, but he definitely isn’t into them either. Right? Papyrus’ head continues to swim with doubts the whole time he goes about collecting textbooks, raiding the library of all its most technical subjects.

On one hand, the human might be a genius, to have appealed to Gaster somehow. In that case, these textbooks will be right up their alley. On the other hand, they might just be a brainless pretty face, and these could be incomprehensible for them. Either way, he was asked to get them study material, so that’s what he’s doing.

Walking right by the checkout desk with the textbooks visibly in tow, the monster working as the clerk says nothing, too intimidated by The Great Royal Guard Papyrus to say anything about his lack of following proper library checkout procedure. Suits Papyrus just fine - he’s not in the mood for interruptions right now.

He drives to the lab, parks, heads inside, and gives the human their textbooks, transporting them straight from the car to the room with his magic. After gleaning nothing of their methods for convincing Gaster, he huffs off, quickly informing them that there’s food available in the kitchen before abandoning them to the maze-like halls of the Royal Lab.

…

Gaster, trusting that Papyrus completed his assigned task, continues to focus on his work, forgetting about the human for a while. He actually feels fully awake for once without drowning in coffee, so he’s able to really dive into his studies, getting a good amount of work done compared to usual. That human’s blood was a real miracle food, huh?

Briefly remembering the human, he takes a moment to check the monitor feed for their room, expecting to find them asleep by now. Rather contrary to his expectations, the human isn’t even present in their room. But maybe they’re just in the bathroom, which lacks any cameras - because of course there wouldn’t be any cameras in a bathroom, he’s not a heathen.

Rewinding the footage, he searches for the time the human went into the other room. It goes back about an hour, concerningly, before the human can be seen in the main room again. Pressing play, he sees Papyrus leave rather saltily, which is typical of the taller brother. That aside, he focuses on the human, watching as, unfortunately, they leave their room entirely, going into the facility at large instead of the adjacent bathroom facilities.

Oh boy. Pinching the bridge of where he would have a nose under his glasses, Gaster sighs heavily at the disruption this provides to his work. Double-checking the footage, he can tell that Papyrus didn’t bring them anything to eat. That must be why they left. He’ll have to chastise the younger brother later, after he deals with the missing human issue.

Bringing up the whole surveillance array for that area and rewinding the footage back to when the human left their room, he pieces together the path they took, following their movements until, finally, after backtracking a bit, they come to rest in a random lab room, having gotten hopelessly lost before giving up their search for the kitchen or their own room.

So that’s where he goes. Leaving everything in a state where it probably won’t explode in his absence, he navigates directly to the room where the human stopped, opening the door carefully so as not to startle them. Actually, it seems like they’re asleep… He quietly closes the door and comes over to them, confirming that they’ve indeed drifted off in the chair they sat in.

Well, it’s understandable. He’s fallen asleep in that chair a couple times, himself. It’s one of the more comfortable ones to fall asleep in, at least. He’s a bit conflicted on whether he should wake them or not… They seem so peacefully adrift. Their chest slowly rising and falling, their heart beating steadily…

With his keen senses, he can hear the pulse. That blood that did such wonders for him… It’s just under the surface, flowing freely in their arteries and veins. He craves it… It tasted so good… What would it taste like straight from the source…? His body wants to find out, his fangs growing sharper in anticipation, his hands reaching out…

He snaps a hand up to cover his mouth, horrified at his own thoughts. He’s drooling. He’s never lost control of his thoughts like this… What’s happening? It’s frightening, feeling like he isn’t fully in control of himself. Taking a step back, his gaze lingers on the sleeping human - the source of this inner turmoil. He can’t be around them right now, not while he’s this hungry.

Sneaking back out without waking them, he heads across the hall to sketch out a map back to their room, notating in quick scrawl that he’ll bring them something later. Hesitantly, on second thought, it should be a while yet before they wake up, so he adds the path to the kitchen as well, writing that they’re free to seek out food on their own if he doesn’t bring them anything in time.

Leaving the map where the human will easily find it, Gaster then treks to the kitchen. He has to find something to eat. Something that isn’t blood. He can’t just feed on this human until they die… He’ll have to take small blood draws over time, when he can control his impulses. The urge he had to bite into their soft, fragile flesh just then was almost overwhelming. He really needs to be careful about managing this, or…

Or something unpleasant might happen.

…

Blinking your eyes open, you sit in the reclined desk chair, a bit stunned at what just happened. The sound of the door opening had just barely awoken you, but you were too comfortable to care, continuing to rest. While your eyes were still closed, you heard footsteps approach you and stop. You heard breathing, a bit strained, then a small sound of shock and the breathing paused. Then, the footsteps left in a bit of a hurry, and the door was closed quietly again.

What the hell was that??? You were half-asleep during the ordeal, so it didn’t really register as weird to you at the time, but now that you’re more awake, it’s definitely strange. Who was that, even? Gaster? Papyrus? It could have just been some random employee at this facility… You’re super thankful they didn’t actually do anything, but it definitely sounded like they wanted to.

What did they even want to do…? You know monsters aren’t motivated in the same ways as humans, so you can’t even be sure if it was sexual… Maybe they wanted to devour you? Pfft, yeah right, like that would… happen… Well, humans have done it to other humans, though… Cannibalism is definitely not unheard of…

Regardless of the intentions, that was scary. You really wanna get back to your room now. Once you’re mostly sure that person won’t be in the area anymore, you sneak out of the room, glancing each way down the hall. Catching your attention is a piece of paper on the floor. Cautiously getting closer, you lean over and pick it up, keeping an eye on your surroundings as you investigate it.

It’s a map. Oh. It leads back to your room, and to the kitchen… You were startled before, but now you’re just confused. Did the person who crept on you leave this here? Their handwriting is awful, but just legible enough to read. Of course, you don’t know anyone’s handwriting whose this could be, so that’s not exactly a helpful lead in finding your culprit. At least the map is nice.

Following the instructions, you really hope you’re not being led into a trap, traversing the winding halls, with the map as your guide, to visit the kitchen for a much-needed meal. Thankfully, it does seem to have been an accurate path that was drawn up, since you can see through the windowed doors that the room beyond them is, indeed, the kitchen.

Hesitating before opening the doors, you can also see Gaster in there. You wonder what he’s up to… Probably eating, obviously, but you wonder what, exactly. It couldn’t hurt to spy a bit, could it? Crouching down to be just eye-level with the bottom of the gated windows, you watch the doctor as he goes about preparing a meal. A rather unhealthy meal, you might add… This man might be hopeless, it seems.

Chapter Text

Seeing as Gaster is currently making something that can barely be considered food, you feel the need to step in. Trying not to enter too loudly, but also loud enough to let your presence be known, you step into the kitchen / dining hall, waving with a small “Hi.” He doesn’t turn to look at you, but he definitely registers your presence, simply humming in response to your greeting.

You head over to the fridge, gauging what ingredients are at hand here, while glancing over at what Gaster’s making a few meters away on the stovetop. “Is that…” You squint, confirming your suspicions as you spot the can to the side and can clearly read the label. “...a can of SPAM, in a skillet?”

“Mm,” he responds, again without looking at you. “So it seems.” Is he feeling ashamed at being caught making something so inedible? The fact that he’s avoiding looking at you is a bit obvious… Regardless, you pluck a few things from the fridge, moving on to raiding the pantry for the utensils and whatnot that you’ll need.

As you move marginally closer to Gaster’s general vicinity, he quickly plates his not-food and goes to sit down with it. Weird… Maybe he’s more antisocial than you took him for. Or maybe… Could it be that he’s the one that snuck up on you in that lab room…? With how nice he’s been to you so far, you don’t want to believe it’d be him, but it’s not impossible, considering how awkward he’s acting now…

Actually, thinking about it some more, doesn’t it make no sense for it to have been him? If he wanted to eat you or whatever, he could’ve easily done it by now. There’d be no reason for him to have kept you alive and well for this long. Thinking of it that way, it sets you more at ease as you mix together a few eggs and a splash of milk in a cup.

Once the mixture is made, you heat up a frying pan and pour it in, waiting for it to cook enough to be flippable. When it is, you do so, expertly sending the flat egg concoction through the air and catching it on its other side. With the now cooked side on top, you add some cheese to the mid-section, watching it gradually melt as the other side cooks.

The first one finished, you tactfully plate it, folding it over to close the now completed cheese omelet. While that one cools, you make another, plating it separately from the first. Grabbing both plates, you head over to where Gaster sat, watching the sad display of him eating cooked SPAM and nothing else. At least it’s cooked, but it’s still too plain to be considered healthy by any means.

So you set down the plate with the first omelet in front of him. Finally, this gets him to look up at you, his eye-sockets wide in surprise. Swiftly, though, he looks back down. You swear you saw his eye-lights narrow for a second… And…

You sit down across from him with your own food, leaning down to get a better look at his eyes. He glances up at you for a moment, and you catch a glimpse that confirms your suspicions. Carefully, as he already seems on-edge, you broach, “Um… Are you okay? Your eyes are that more reddish color again…” This time, you definitely see his ovular pupils constrict, sharpened at the top and bottom like an animal’s.

His breathing is shaky, labored, uneven. Like… in that lab room… But he doesn’t seem creepy - he seems like he’s in pain. Was it him all along, and you had the wrong idea about what happened? Maybe he came in, thought about waking you, and had some sort of personal health crisis. It would explain why he left a map for you…

Too shaken to even answer you, Gaster slowly stands up, grabbing both plates with unsteady hands as he silently goes to leave. You reach out for him with a soft, “Hey,” worried about what Papyrus said. He tends not to take very good care of himself… Maybe you can help? Somehow…? It’s better than ignoring it, especially when he’s suffering right in front of you like this.

Right as you grab the back of his coat to stop him from walking away completely, your whole reality shifts in an instant. Your back is suddenly pressed against the table, your arms pinned on either side of your head. A second later, the sound of plates shattering on the tile floor follows, as you look up into the wild eyes of the scientist above you.

Something definitely snapped. You can tell he isn’t all there - something changed inside of him, took control of him. The way he’s hovering above you, looking at you like you’re prey beneath him… Like you’re a meal to be devoured. His pupils are completely red, shaking slightly in his sockets as what little self-control he has left holds him back from going any further.

His mouth parts open as he takes in fast, deep breaths, showing off the long, sharp fangs he’s sporting at the moment. It all suddenly clicks for you as you quietly say, “Are you… a vampire?” Gaster visibly hesitates, his eyes rapidly dilating and constricting as he fights for his senses against his powerful instincts.

“You’re in pain…” you mutter to him, reaching out a hand - which he releases his grip on - to carefully cup his cheek. This seems to calm him down a bit as he watches you, eyes less shaky and more focused. You take a calming breath as you carefully word, “You already saved my life… both literally, and financially… So…”

You take your other hand out from under his as well, using it to pull down the side of your shirt to reveal your neck, leaning your head the other way to further emphasize your point. “If I can save you in return, then go ahead. Just try not to kill me, okay?” You smile at him, trying to make the offer and request as lighthearted as possible.

Honestly, you can’t say you aren’t scared right now, but it’s okay. From everything you’ve seen so far, you’ve decided to trust Doctor Gaster. He’s a science nerd, like you, and absolutely hopeless in certain regards. You want to believe you can help him without dying in the process. Not that you’re really in a position to escape, anyway, even if you wanted to. He’d probably let you go if you helped him calm down, but then he’d keep suffering all alone…

Seeing anyone suffer is the last thing you want. And with your neck fully open to him, it’s too much for him to resist anymore. Slowly, seeing as you’re a willing participant in this, he leans down to the nape of your neck, bearing his fangs to your soft, supple skin. Carefully, he tests the pliability a bit, gauging how much force to use, before fully biting down all at once, piercing deeply into your inner shoulder.

It hurts like hell, of course, but you do your best not to thrash from the pain, instead managing to just squirm uncomfortably. You can hear, clear as day, as Gaster starts drinking your blood, right next to your ear - also making a few satisfied noises between swallowing. As he continues, your pain starts to fade, mercifully replaced with a different sort of feeling. It’s almost… pleasurable. You wonder if he’s put some kind of magic into you to induce this sense of euphoria while he eats from you… It’s probably an involuntary reflex.

You were squirming from the pain before, but now you’re squirming from the other feeling wrapping around you. It’s sweet, like honey, and oh so intoxicating. You find yourself wrapping your free arm around Gaster, hugging him closer as you feel him carefully pull his fangs from your neck. He licks over the punctures a couple times, ensuring they have a chance to stop bleeding before he fully recedes, hovering over you again like before.

This time, however, his eyes are a deep violet, his bloodlust completely satisfied as he gazes down at you, seemingly worried about you from the look on his face. You show him you’re okay by leaning up and planting a small, chaste kiss on his cheek, sighing as you flop back onto the table with your arms spread out, body still tingling all over.

All that proves to him, though, is how not okay you are. He backs away off the table and scoops you up into his arms bridal-style, carrying you back in the direction of your room with long, steady strides. The whole way there, neither of you says a word, even as he opens the door with a summoned hand and places you in your bed, covering you up with a new set of sheets.

As he walks to another part of the room to set up another magic IV for you, you call after him, “No… Please… Don’t go…” You reach out rather pathetically to him, unable to reach him to stop him. He turns and raises an eyebrow at you, but doesn’t go anywhere else. You guess that’s good enough…

“Is there anything in particular that you need?” he asks, bringing over the IV setup with the rolling stand as he prompts for you to give him your arm. You pick up on his prompting and do as he asks, letting him prep and inject you with the small needle at the crook of your arm to help you heal faster.

“...Hungry…” you say, still a bit out of it. Gaster gently face-palms, muttering something like ‘Of course’ as he realizes you weren’t able to eat the omelet you made for yourself in the cafeteria. While the omelet you made did sound good at the time, now you’re craving something else entirely.

“You had some of me…” you start, and he raises an eyebrow, wondering where you’re going with this as he pulls up a chair to sit beside your bed. “...So, y’know… Can I have some of you?” He spit-takes, obviously having not expected that to be where you were going with that line of logic.

“Do you even realize what you’re asking…?!” he responds, panicked a bit with a purple tint on his cheeks. “You know skeletons aren’t exactly like humans, right? And I’m not even exactly a skeleton?” You nod, a goofy smile plastered across your face. He’s not completely a skeleton, because he’s also a vampire. Surely there’s something to work with, and you’re more than willing to do so.

He dips his head and sighs into the hole in his palm, shaking his head lightly. “My magic must have had some sort of effect on you…” He takes his hand away from his face, demanding, “Sleep it off. If that doesn’t fix it, I will find a way to reverse the effects myself.” With that, he uses his magic to summon a bag of chips. Well, they’re actually Chisps, the monster brand of chips, but it doesn’t make a difference to you.

You gladly take the bag, opening it and digging in, continuing to talk between handfuls of crisps. “But… You made me feel so good… It isn’t fair if I don’t do the same…” You pout a bit, upset that he won’t let you return what your hazy mind considers a ‘favor’ from before. It definitely felt like one… Even just remembering it is getting you worked up all over again.

“Nh…” Gaster blushes more as he watches you squirm under the sheets, turning away as he contests, trying to appeal to your drunken-like state’s questionable logic, “I… felt good, too. During what happened… So we are already even.” He’ll probably regret admitting that later, but at least for the moment, it settles your mood down.

“Oh,” you say. “Good, then.” You flop your head back against the pillow, finishing off the snack bag in quick order, which Gaster then takes from you to deposit in the trash. Knowing that Gaster hasn’t left your side, since you can still hear his quiet breathing in the otherwise silent room, you easily drift off to sleep, having already been exhausted to begin with…

…

When you finally slowly wake up, you feel extra well-rested. Maybe it’s the IV that was put back in overnight, but you feel a lot better, stretching out under the sheets as you suddenly realize you’re still in your clothes from yesterday. Blinking, you look over, seeing Gaster, asleep, with his head resting on his hand and his elbow on the counter, still sitting in the same chair as last night.

Last night… It’s coming back to you. You went to the kitchen to make food, ended up making some for Gaster too, and got pounced on by him, then let him suck your blood. Then you… Oh god. The things you said to him were… Oh jeez… How embarrassing… Your face is burning up just thinking about it.

At least he didn’t let you do anything to him last night - that would have been truly mortifying. He’s a perfect gentleman, though, it seems, as he didn’t take advantage of you in your inebriated state, instead instructing you to sleep it off and staying by your bedside as you did. You smile at his cute, sleeping face. You were right - he’s a good man, and a good doctor. You don’t really have any qualms with the choice you made. It was worth helping him like you did.

…You wonder if Papyrus was right, in a way, about you helping Gaster before, too. It’s fully possible that Gaster may have taken the opportunity to draw some of your blood while you were conked out the first day you got here. Maybe that’s why he recovered suddenly, despite not taking care of himself. You’ve heard that drinking blood can heal vampires, at least in legend, so it’s feasible that may have been what happened.

If so… While that’s definitely a breach of some kind of medical or moral code, if it kept him from just outright attacking you before, then it was the better option for sure. You just wish he’d told you… You could’ve worked something out before it got to the point of him torturing himself. But you suppose that’s part of the ‘not taking care of himself’ problem, isn’t it?

Then you’ll just have to do something to fix that, especially if you’re the only one who can. It seemed like Papyrus had been trying, too, and just not succeeding. It can definitely be a tricky issue, trying to get someone to take care of themself… And Gaster’s done so much for you - this is the least you could do for him in return.

Reaching over, you’re tempted to pet the top of his head, since he’s just so cute and vulnerable when he’s asleep like this… But you refrain. Instead, you grab one of the textbooks that were given to you, flipping it open quietly to begin looking it over. This is some pretty technical stuff… But nothing you can’t handle, with enough determination and time.

…

It’s an hour or two before Gaster finally starts to stir awake. Guess he likes to sleep in, given the chance. His limbs stretch out as he gives a big yawn, showing off the smaller, yes still sharp, version of his fangs. He then blinks, looking at you with hazy eye-lights, still half-asleep. You smile and give him a small wave over your textbook, already halfway through the thing by now. “Goodmorning, sunshine,” you tease a bit, keeping the mood light to show that you’re fine after last night.

He blinks again, the clarity of his eye-lights sharpening each time until he’s awake enough to suddenly remember. “I’m sorry,” he rushes out, hurriedly checking on your IV and complexion to make sure you’re doing alright. “Last night was… I… I didn’t mean to…” He seems frustrated with himself, unable to find the words to properly convey his regret at hurting you, as far as he sees it.

“It’s okay,” you assure him, marking your place in the massive textbook and setting it aside. He still seems worried despite your assertion, so you restate, “I’m fine, Gaster. It’s alright, really. Look,” you decide to stand up to show him that you’ve recovered, doing a few little hops in place to really hammer the point home, since you don’t falter or stumble while doing so. You sit back down on the edge of the bed afterwards, facing him.

Still, even being sure you aren’t seriously hurt, he isn’t sure what to say, a guilty look on his face and a subtle purple hue on his cheeks with his gaze downcast. You explain, “I asked you to, remember? I wanted to help you, and I’m glad I did. It isn’t fun seeing you in pain like you were… Papyrus was even worried, too.”

The mention of Papyrus definitely gets his attention, his eyes drawing upward to look at you. You continue, “He didn’t say that exact string of words, but he definitely meant it. He noticed that you got better after I arrived, and asked me to keep doing whatever I had done to help you. I’m guessing you drew some of my blood while I was asleep, before?”

He opens his mouth to apologize, but you keep going, not giving him the chance. “Which I’ve decided I’m okay with, by the way. It kept you from attacking me, right?” The look he gives you confirms that you were right. “You could have just done that from the get-go, so I’m glad you took the alternative route, even if you were secretive about it.”

You ask, with genuine curiosity, “How have you been managing your vampirism up to now? Do you get blood bags sometimes from human hospitals? Is it awhile between shipments, and that’s why you drew some from me? Or do you just prefer it fresh? Or…?” You finally give him a chance to respond, wondering how he got into this predicament.

He takes in and lets out a shaky breath, his entire ruse laid bare. No use in lying anymore. With his hands clasped together and his mood dour, he begins, “I haven’t.” What…? He hasn’t… been managing his vampirism? Like, at all? Oh. Oh. “You were the first human I’ve been in close vicinity to ever since I… became like this.” So he wasn’t like this before…

“I…” His voice gets shakier as he goes on, “It didn’t used to be this bad…” He thinks for a moment, rephrasing, “...No. It was. Even when I was able to use monster food to keep from starving, I was always hungry for more. I just didn’t know what I was hungry for… until you were brought here… I’m sorry,” he apologies yet again. “I thought I could control it… I…”

“Hey,” you say, placing your hand on top of his reassuringly. “You don’t have to do it all alone, you know. You can ask others for help. You can ask me for help.” Your words seem to reach him for a moment, looking at you with a glimmer of hope, but then his expression turns dark as he remembers something.

“...The last time I relied on others for help…” he says, melancholic, “...they all died because of me.” Your eyes widen a bit, though you doubt the true depth to which he’s responsible for whatever happened. “I used to have lab assistants,” he regails. “They helped me with my experiments. One experiment, though, I made a miscalculation, and… All of us died because of me.”

He… what? He died, too? “It was because of my status as a boss monster, I suspect, that I was able to be recovered from the place I was sent to after my death.” You’re not sure what a ‘boss monster’ is, but that’s a question for later. “It was an awful place, empty and dead, where space and time had no meaning. I was there for… so very long. It was after being pulled from there that I gained this affliction.”

“So there it is,” he concludes, looking you squarely in the eyes. His gaze is certainly like that of a dead man… It hurts your heart to see him like this. “I just… don’t want to cause issues for the rest of monsterkind. If my existence is a burden… I’d rather return to the Void.” Looking at him right now, you can tell he’s serious, and that’s what’s really scary to you.

“No,” you say, emphatically denying his words. “You’re not a burden on anyone. Needing help sometimes isn’t the same as being a burden. I’m sure those lab assistants… knew what they were risking.” You linger on that a moment before you add, “And so do I.”

You speak with conviction as you state, “I knew there was a chance you could have killed me last night, but I took the risk anyway and asked you to bite me. I offered because I care about you. I don’t want you to be in pain, physical or otherwise. So bite me whenever you need to.” He gazes at you in a stunned silence, his eyes not looking so dead anymore after your impassioned little speech.

“And…” You decide to address the things you said after he brought you back to your room, a blush forming at the mere thought. With your own eyes downcast now, your hands idly fidgeting with each other, you detail, “I may have been out of it last night, and I appreciate your discretion in shutting me down, but… It wasn’t entirely your magic making me say that…”

Finally, you spit it out, “I don’t… not have a thing for you… so… Sorry if that’s awkward.” When time keeps on passing and you don’t hear anything in response to your confession, you hazard a look up at him, afraid that he might be upset. Instead, you see that his entire face is deep purple in embarrassment. Woah.

“Nobody…” he speaks in a low tone, clearly a bit shell-shocked from your admission of ‘having a thing for him.’ “Nobody has ever regarded me that way before…” He… What? Pardon? He can see your confusion and rephrases, “Nobody has ever confessed such feelings for me before. It’s… difficult to process, honestly.”

You give him a sideways look, wondering aloud, “But Papyrus told me you’re his father…? Is he adopted? Or was there not a formal relationship involved…?” You can’t really picture Gaster as the type of guy to just sleep around, but maybe he was more wild in his younger years? Since monster lifespans are, like, ten times as long as humans’, he’s probably in his mid-hundreds. You’re sure he could have changed significantly in that time.

“Ohhh,” he can understand your confusion now, clarifying, “I made both of my sons with science, actually. No partner was involved in any way.” Both… So he has two sons, apparently. You’ve only met Papyrus so far. You wonder what the other brother is like… But the much more pressing matter is that he made them with science???

“It was rather easy, actually.” he says, “I was making artificial weapons with limited sentience to function as battle drones, cloned from part of my own magical signature. Two of them ended up developing into children. I suspect it was because of the experimental introduction of further soul essence to the- You know what,” he catches himself mid-rant. “That isn’t important right now…”

You actually were kind of interested to hear how his sons were made, but you also appreciate the re-focusing. He stands up, still facing you as he phrases, “I will have to… consider what you’ve said, more thoroughly. Nobody has ever been so kind to me, even after I told them the truth…” He mutters the last part, mostly to himself.

He strolls over to the door, stating to you, “I will make you a proper breakfast today, to make up for last night. I will bring it here when it is finished.” He then opens the door, ready to step through - but before he can leave, you get in a few words first, making him pause and look back at you.

Crossing your arms like Papyrus, you insist, “You’d better make enough for yourself, too, or I won’t count it towards making up for anything.” He turns back to the door, and you can see from the side as he rolls his eye-lights at that - but you can also see the hint of a smile, too. Feeling good about how that went overall, you remain in bed and patiently await the meal you were promised, returning to your studies in the meantime as Gaster leaves you to it.

…

A bit later, just as he said he would, Gaster brings you breakfast. Unlike his singular can of fried SPAM last night, it’s actually real food this time. Carried by an array of floating hands are plates with pancakes, eggs, bacon, hash browns, a couple cups of orange juice, and ketchup and syrup on the side… It’s a full spread. Honestly, it’s a bit too much, but it’s a good size for sharing, like you demanded that he make it. Very good.

Using one of the rolling metal trays for medical equipment, the food is set out between both of you, you sitting on the edge of the bed and him in a pulled-up chair again. Seems like you’ll be sharing all the dishes… You’ll make sure you don’t take too much of anything that he seems to favor. You could always cut everything in half, but you’re not picky, so you’ll let him have whatever he wants more of, since it doesn’t seem like he eats very often.

Grabbing one of the provided forks, you first sample some of the eggs. They’re really good! Super fluffy, and they melt in your mouth. Is everything else this good, too? You take a bite of the bacon, finding it pleasantly crunchy, but not burnt. The hashbrowns are much the same. The pancakes, after you add some syrup to the top, are also really soft, with just the right amount of crispy on the edges.

With how little he takes care of himself from what you’ve heard, you’re surprised to find that he’s such a good cook. “It’s really good,” you commend him on his culinary skills. As you continue to dig in, you notice a distinct lack of Gaster touching any of the food himself… Swallowing your previous bite, you voice, “You should have some, too.”

Gaster hums, glancing down at the spread contemplatively. He picks up his fork and pokes at the eggs a bit, but doesn’t actually take any of them. You give him a look, and he says, “For once, I find myself lacking hunger…” Ohh… That makes sense actually. Vampires in legend tend to stay pretty well-fed on just a bit of blood every couple days… It tracks that he’s not interested in normal food anymore.

But still. “You can eat, though, can’t you? It’s good to enjoy a tasty meal at least once or twice a day, even if you aren’t hungry. You can’t overeat monster food anyway, right? It’s just magic. What’s the harm?” He can’t deny your logic there, humming again as he skewers a piece of egg with some ketchup on it. Finally, he decides to just try it, and he does indeed seem to end up enjoying it.

After that, both of you eat in mutual silence until all the plates are empty. He ends up eating most of the pancakes, along with a frankly ludicrous amount of syrup, so you suppose he’s got a sweet tooth. Makes sense, since his coffee was very not-coffee-flavored. Regardless, it was all really good, so you had no qualms focusing more on the stuff he didn’t prefer.

“That was… pleasant,” he comments, gathering up all the dishes and sides he brought in as he stands and returns the chair to its place across the room. Aw, he’s leaving already? You wanted to talk about some of the stuff you’ve been studying… He sees your disappointed look, and explains, “I have vital, time-sensitive work that I must attend to. Whenever I am free, I will come…” He hesitates, finding some logical reason to have to come see you, “...to discuss your studies with you.”

You can tell by the little blush on his face that, maybe, just maybe, he enjoys having some company? “Mhm,” you respond simply, accepting his motive, for now, as purely academic. He did say he’d consider your confession, but for now it’s fine to take things as slow as they need to be. You’ve only known each other for a few days, even though, in that time, you’ve learned so much about each other…

Either way, you’re strapped in for the ride, ready for whatever turbulence it might bring.

Chapter Text

After Gaster returns to his work, you strike up some conversation with your family and friends, giving them vague details about what you’ve been up to. Without telling them too much, you let them know that you’re figuring things out and are doing just fine. Your bruises do seem to be starting to fade, so maybe you can go out soon… You’re patient, though - you can wait until you’re fully recovered for that. Wouldn’t want to be seen walking out of Downtown with bruises…

…

Later, as he said he would, Gaster comes to visit again, bringing lunch for you with him. He didn’t bring anything for himself, citing that he still isn’t hungry, but you don’t chastise him this time, instead just shrugging. At least he ate something earlier. While you gratefully eat the sandwiches he made for you, he reads over your notes in the Wingdings journal.

You watch as he cracks a grin a couple times while reading the segments you wrote. They weren’t as scientific as what he wrote, but he still seems to find them entertaining, much to your delight. After reading it all, he says, “I see no errors that went uncorrected. Good job.” You smile at the praise. After that, he asks, “Also, what is a chinchilla, and what is a platypus? Beyond what you described here.”

Oh, yeah, it would be pretty unlikely he’d know what those look like, huh? Using your phone, you pull up a couple images online, showing him each of the aforementioned creatures. “...I see,” he says after closely examining the photos. Sitting back into his chair, he muses, “There truly are some fascinating forms of life on this planet, aren’t there?”

“You make it sound like you’re not also from this planet,” you snark, grinning. He just rolls his eye-lights at that, knowing that you understood what he meant. On the topic of Wingdings, though, “I’m pretty used to the written form, now. I didn’t even need to check the guide for most of the last couple pages.” You follow that up with a lilt of hope in your tone, “Maybe I’m ready to learn how to understand the spoken form?”

“Oh,” he puts the notebook aside as he grins and states, “I THINK YOU WILL FIND THAT YOU CAN PIECE TOGETHER MOST OF IT BY NOW.” You blink, surprised that you actually understood the majority of that. Turns out all you had to do was learn the written form, and your brain just naturally learned the spoken form at the same time somehow? Odd, but apparently that’s how it works!

“It wasn’t even that hard to learn,” you comment, baffled in regards to something… “If it’s so easy, why don’t more people learn it? Especially those close to you. It’s easier for you to talk in Wingdings, isn’t it? You said that how you normally talk is your secondary font, so isn’t it like speaking in a second language all the time…?”

“Yes, well,” he laments, closing his eyes for a moment in emphasis. “If everyone thought the way you do, the world would certainly be a better place than it is. Unfortunately,” you can hear the tangible annoyance in his tone as he describes, “Most individuals take a cursory glance at my font and immediately decide that it would be too much of a bother, or too complicated somehow.” Without even giving it a try? Harsh…

He shrugs. “I have spoken this way for a very, very long time - I am used to using this more common font to accommodate everyone. Besides, the only individuals I personally know who understand Wingdings are my sons. And, now, you, I suppose.” He lightly gestures to you with a small smile, appreciative of the effort you’ve put in, that so few others are even willing to consider.

“Well,” you offer, smiling, “feel free to speak in Wingdings around me if you want to. The noises you can make are cool to listen to… I wish I could replicate them and speak in Wingdings with you, but I don’t think my vocal cords are up to the task…” You’re honestly a bit jealous of monsters, in general. Their bodies can be unique shapes, they can use magic so easily, their lifespans are way longer… You’d love to become one, if that were even remotely possible - but you know it isn’t, so, oh well.

“Sans and Papyrus can speak it,” he says, and you perk up a bit. Papyrus is the son you’ve met - so Sans is the other one’s name, then. Gaster leans the side of his head into one of his hands, propping his elbow up on the counter as he regails wistfully, “We used to use it as our own ‘secret code,’ since nobody else knew it but us.”

He smiles as he recalls, “Sans spoke in lowercase, so even if anyone somehow happened to know uppercase, his words were still foreign to them. He really liked confusing people with it, since it sounded like we were speaking similar but different languages to each other.” You make an amused puff of air at that, guessing that Gaster’s probably talking about when Sans and Papyrus were kids. Sounds like something kids would find fun.

After finishing another bite of your second breakfast sandwich, you ask, “What’s Sans like? Besides pranking people with Wingdings…” Which is super funny to you - but that’s beside the point. You’re curious about the brother you haven’t met. You watch Gaster’s expression as he goes into thinking mode, internally debating something before he gives you an answer. You take another bite as you patiently await his verdict.

Finally, he says, “Why don’t you come meet him?” You pause, mid-chewing, caught off guard by the sudden invitation. You go meet him? Where…? You slowly keep chewing, eyebrow raised, as he describes, “We could have dinner at the house tonight, if you’d like.” You almost choke, drawing his concern immediately as he jumps up to help. You swiftly wave a hand that you’re alright, sputtering a bit and taking a quick swig of water.

Once he’s sure you’re alright, he sits back down and softly adds, “That way you could observe their mannerisms more closely, and perhaps you could tell Papyrus that you… well… finally managed to make me take better care of myself, I suppose. Just… do not mention my affliction. They might try to help in ways that are… potentially not so morally upstanding…” He grimaces, explaining, “They got very used to how it was in the underground.”

“I see…” you respond to his comment about their morality. It’s the case with plenty of monsters that they had to fight to survive, so it’s a recovery process for them to get used to peace again. You understand. In regards to the invitation to dinner, however, you smile, voicing, “Of course!” You’d love to have dinner with him and his family!

Plus, like he said, it’ll be a great opportunity to see what the brothers are like outside of a business setting. Maybe Papyrus will be less grumpy. And since you intend to stay by Gaster’s side until he figures something out with his vampirism, it’ll be good to know his family. If there’s ever an emergency here at the lab - or anywhere in Downtown, really - you’ll know who to call. Especially if it pertains to the scientist himself.

Meanwhile, Gaster seems a bit taken aback by your enthusiasm, having not really seen it as that big of a deal in his mind. Regardless of understanding why or not, he’s glad to see that you’re looking forward to it. ‘You really are strange, aren’t you? In an endearing way,’ is the sort of look he gives you. You wear your strangeness with pride - you’d rather be peculiar and happy than normal and miserable.

Moving on, Gaster continues with the reason he’s here (at least according to him), helping you go over your understanding so far of the content in the textbook you started working on this morning. He tells you that your comprehension of the material is pretty solid - advanced, even, compared to most. “What field of study did you pursue in school?” he asks, clearly assuming that you must have gone to college.

“...I didn’t,” you say, disappointedly. Considering your learning skills, he’s surprised by this. You tell him, “I graduated high school, but just barely. I learned all the content super easily, sure, but I was always really bad at getting anything done once I got home, so my grades weren’t very good. Unless I have a personal interest in something, I have to be in the right environment, or else I’m terrible at remembering that I even have work to do.”

“Also,” you inform him, oozing with saltiness, “College in this part of the world is a huge scam. They saddle you with massive student debts, charge you an outrageous amount for every single textbook, make you pay living expenses on campus… And to top it all off? Having a degree doesn’t even mean that you can get hired anywhere nowadays. You might still end up working minimum wage, paying those loans for the rest of your life.” You take a drink from your cup of water, huffing through your nose at how ridiculous it all is. Human society is a mess.

“...I see,” he states, clearly unsurprised to hear about how humans are still finding ways to ruin each other's lives. Branching off of that last bit, though, he says, “You were already hired, you know - to work here at the lab, in whatever capacity you are capable and willing to pursue.”

You hum, curious what his point is, taking another small sip of water as he continues. “So, feel free to pursue whatever studies you want to, without the burden of debt or grades.” With the full weight of your own small yet substantial amount of freedom hitting you, you smile brightly at him. You’re free to learn at your own pace here, without repercussions or discouragement. “As long as your understanding of something is correct, what else matters?”

You slowly put your water cup down, looking at him with stars in your eyes, as if the statement he just made was something amazing and beautiful. Really, it was just a perfectly logical sentiment - one you’ve held for as long as you can remember, and that you’ve always thought nobody else agreed with. Finally, your brain catches up, and you at first mutter, “Exactly…” Then more loudly announce, “Exactly!!”

You throw your hands up as you rant, “Grades shouldn’t be used to determine your knowledge on a subject! All they show is how good you are at following the same boring old procedure over and over instead of really innovating…! Every time I found a new, easier method for solving a math problem in school, my teacher would just tell me to use the method they were teaching the class instead!”

Considering how much this affected you in school, it’s a really passionate opinion you hold. Gaster just listens in fascination as you rave, “Even in high school, where everyone’s starting to learn to drive and get jobs, some of the assignments they gave out were so… So… Infantilizing! It was insulting! The way they’d phrase a question, or use cartoony illustrations - like you’re a damn child - was just insane!”

“Hmm,” Gaster hums, picking his head up from his hand to sit up straight, commenting, “Your educators disrespected your intelligence. Each person learns and matures at a different rate. You did not belong in those classes, with those sorts of dampers on you. You deserved more freedom from the start.” He gazes at you sympathetically, and you finally feel understood for once.

Your two best friends were both average, middle-grade students, following the system without questioning it, like most people do. You couldn’t exactly go to them and vent about how frustrated you were with the system that did them no wrong… Really, you were afraid that maybe, somehow, you were the problem… But hearing Gaster back you up on this is working to liberate that weight from you.

“The education system you have described to me is fundamentally broken,” he continues. “To give children grades based on their completion of menial tasks… It is more akin to rating their obedience than it is to gauging their mental growth or problem-solving skills. To even discourage diverse methods… That is the antithesis of true teaching. What a corrupted establishment…” He’s clearly irked that such a thing exists, angry on your behalf for the learning deficit it put you through.

“Heh…” You can’t help but lightly laugh a bit at how impassioned he is about the small perceived injustice. It really is a breath of fresh air to have someone to bounce these opinions with. “Well, it’s not the root of all evil or anything,” you assure him, since he may be demonizing it a bit too much in his head, from just the negative descriptions you’ve given him. “It’s just that I had a bad time with it, is all. I appreciate your input, though.” You smile brightly at him.

Noticing the shift in your mood, Gaster calms his righteous fury, glad to see that it isn’t a trauma point for you as it had perhaps seemed to be. “That aside,” he moves on, “You will probably be wanting a different outfit to wear after sleeping in that, hm?” You nod, realizing that you’d like to take a shower and change before dinner. “I actually had Sans arrange that outfit for you,” He gestures to what you’re wearing now. “How does it fit? Should I specify any size adjustments? Stylistic changes?”

You respond with a smile, “It’s great, actually! Thank you!” Sheepishly, you say, ”I’ll make sure to pay you back for anything you end up spending on me…” You feel a bit guilty that you have to rely on the goodwill of Gaster, and Sans and Papyrus by extension as his occasional helpers (whom you’ll be sure to thank as well), so you’ll keep a mental bill of how much you probably owe him over time.

“Unnecessary,” he states, crossing his arms. You go to refute him, but he lays out, “I receive copious funding from the King, including allowance for any related expenses, such as patient care.” Patients aren’t generally given free new clothing to wear… He can tell you’re still unsure, insisting, “I will not hear any objections,” putting his metaphorical foot down on the matter.

Damn, he’s more stubborn than you expected. If he’s gonna be that way, you’ll just have to find other ways to pay him back, then. You suppose last night’s ‘exchange’ can count as one of those ways… You wonder if the quality of your blood can make a difference in how it tastes…? Like, can your diet change its flavor? Or its viscosity? Maybe the iron content would make a difference? What about the plasma?

Clearly seeing you internally debate alternatives, Gaster rolls his eye-lights at your stubbornness on the matter. Hesitantly, you surrender, “Fine…” As long as he lets you help him, at least. It’s always been a hangup of yours, to need to feel like you’re even with everyone - no debts left unpaid - otherwise you might feel like a burden… And that feeling really is awful. As long as you can do something for him, that feeling will be staved off.

“Good,” he states, satisfied with your acquittal. Standing, he says, “I’ll let Sans know that what he got last time was a good choice. Until he can get you new apparel, you are free to do whatever you like in the facilities as I go about my work. I am sure you will not interfere with anything important.” He seems to really trust you now… It makes you happy that he does. “I’ll make you a more complete map, in case you get lost again.” He then mumbles grumpily, “Which Papyrus was supposed to prevent…”

“I’d appreciate that,” you lament, remembering the last time you went wandering around without directions not-so-long-ago. Apparently Papyrus was supposed to show you the way, as he had mentioned, but you’d pushed too many buttons at the time and he stormed off instead. You’ll have to be more careful with your teasing in the future. After making the expanded map for you on some note paper, Gaster takes his leave, his lab coat flowing behind him as he gracefully steps through the door.

…Having discussed that one textbook with him before, it’s still lingering on your mind, so you’ll go back to consuming that. The topic is physics, and it’s really interesting stuff! Like how gravity isn’t a force - it’s just the natural course of matter following the curvature of space-time. If a ball suspended in the air were, for instance, to follow a straight line on the surface of a cone, it would appear to curve down and fall from an outside perspective, as a natural result of that topology. Really fun stuff!

…

As you read, absorbing more highly nerdy information, you eventually get a hankering for a snack. So, marking your spot and grabbing your map, you head the direction of the kitchen. The vast hallways of the lab are quiet, per usual… Is this whole huge place really just for Gaster…? Maybe the other floors are for other monsters? You didn’t go into any of the elevators to see how truly big this place is, but there’s definitely at least a few more floors, to warrant the use of elevators to begin with.

…Oh, what’s the harm in checking? Gaster did say you can have free roam of the place, and your snackage can wait. Stepping up to one of the elevator doors, you find that there’s a pin pad, requiring a four-digit numeric code to access it. Is it just this one elevator, or do all of them have codes…? Either way, since you’re here, why not at least try the obvious, just for shits and giggles if nothing else.

You enter the incredibly unsecure code that surely nobody would ever use for something truly private: [1234]. Astonishingly, it actually works…?? You mutter, “Seriously…?” as the doors slide open for you, allowing you to step inside and check out the interior. There’s a whole big grid of buttons for tons of floors, all the way up to 66! Damn, you didn’t realize this place was that big! It must be one of the tallest buildings in Downtown, easily classifying as a skyscraper.

Interestingly, one of the floor buttons is glowing, while the rest are blacked out. Specifically, floor two. Also of interest is that the floor you’re on right now is apparently a basement floor… One of six. That explains why you haven’t seen any windows. And what’s with the repetition of six…? Is it supposed to be Satanic and edgy or something? Wouldn’t surprise you if so, considering the general monster aesthetic. And hey, the Satanic principles aren’t actually all that bad, even. Doesn’t bother you.

Honestly, you’re not so sure about going to any of the different floors, considering that they are password locked - even if one of them happened to be super stupidly obvious. Although, on the other hand, you have been pretty cooped up in just your little room with limited exploration… Oh what the hell? Gaster’s already keeping you here anyway, you might as well go wherever you can within the confines of your metaphorical birdcage. What are they gonna do, report you to the Royal Scientist?

Pressing the button for the second floor, you wait patiently as the elevator takes you up, the slight increase in anti-weight against your legs reminding you of some of your lingering soreness. You’re still not fully recovered, and it kind of hurts just a bit all over at once… Must be from the magic attacks. They did do damage directly to your soul… You’ve never seen a soul in person, but from what you’ve seen online, they’re literally heart-shaped, which is pretty cheesy - yet apparently real somehow. You’ll believe it when you see it.

The elevator ride slowly comes to a stop, arriving at your destination with a pleasant ‘ding.’ The doors then open, and you look out into the space beyond cautiously, ducking behind the wall a bit. You’re surprised to find a giant layout of monitors on the wall, with a large desk below, sporting the keyboard and mouse for the whole system. Seeing no one in the room, you step forward, ogling the monitors as you look at their displays.

One shows statistics for some kind of diagnostic, another shows some chemistry equations… There’s a picture open on one of the screens, showing a happy, affectionate couple of reptilian monsters - one being a yellow lizard woman, and the other a blue aquatic woman. The yellow one, much shorter in stature than her partner, sports a lab coat and a pair of comically-thick round spectacles. So she’s a scientist or doctor, then? Either way, seems like this is probably her setup.

On further inspection, some of the monitors show camera feeds for this floor. Looking through them, you see a wide variety of machinery and whatnot scattered about the various rooms on display… In one room, you even see a robot - generally human in build - with very sharp features, and glamorous high-set, high-heeled boots. Two eyes are vertically arranged on one side of their face, implying that there are two more hiding under the bangs covering the other half.

You’re surprised a bit as the robot’s head moves, having not expected them to look right at the camera, boring their gaze into you through the screen. It’s almost like they can see you… But surely not… Right? Their staring makes you hesitate and consider getting back in the elevator, but before you fully commit to leaving, the robot’s attention moves elsewhere, as another figure can be seen moving in the room.

It’s the yellow reptilian woman you saw in the picture. It seems that she does indeed work here, mostly as a mechanic by the looks of it. She starts performing a checkup on the robot, saying something to them, but you can’t hear through the screen. After the robot speaks to her, she pauses what she’s doing and slowly drags her own gaze to the camera, sending a brief shiver down your spine as you’re sure now that you’ve been detected somehow.

Maybe the robot has really good senses and heard you from however many rooms away? Regardless, they definitely know you’re here, as the scientist woman does something on her cell phone for a moment before you hear over the computer’s speakers, “Hello…? Dr. Gaster…?” She… thinks you’re Gaster? You relax a bit as she continues, “That p-project you had me start working on isn’t anywhere near finished yet. Did you need something? Lose your soldering gun again?”

Awkwardly, you stand there, not knowing how to respond, even if you wanted to. After a few moments of silence, you see the robot say something to her and she exits whatever app she had open on her phone, instead opting to call Gaster directly as you see her open her contacts. Uh oh… Panicking a bit, you quickly look over the desk, finding a button that looks like it’s connected to an intercom system. Pressing it, you speak into the little mic, “Um! Please don’t call Gaster…!”

The monster woman looks at you through the camera dubiously, obviously not recognizing your voice. How could she? She’s never met you before. She swiftly reopens the app she used before and speaks to you again, “Who is this…? How did you get into my office? And how do you know Dr. G-Gaster?” She really emphasized his title there. Guess it must be weird that you didn’t use it? But he told you it didn’t really matter, so…

“I’m, uh,” you struggle to think of a word to summarize your relation to Gaster… “A friend,” you settle on, a bit unsure of that assessment. You do get along pretty well, but you’ve only known him for a couple days, and you’re sort of his prisoner… Oh well, better not to unpack all the baggage with the random scientist you just intruded upon. ‘Friend’ should hopefully suffice for now.

“I noticed that contemplative pause,” the lizard woman comments, giving you an unimpressed look, one hand resting on her hip as she shifts her posture to face the camera more. The robot beside her just watches the show in entertained fascination. “Who are you, really? Come here and let me s-see you in person. I’m sure you can piece together the way here from the camera feeds. Try to leave, and I’ll t-trigger the alarm. You have five minutes.” With that ultimatum laid out, she visibly closes the app, essentially hanging up on you and ending the conversation.

Left a little stunned from what just went down, it takes you a second to remember her words and start trying to figure out the way to the room she’s in. After a stressful minute or so of connecting the paths in your mind, you plot out a mental map to the room she’s in, making your way there as quickly as you can. Your legs ache as you take long, hurried strides, but you really can’t afford to be the cause for any kind of alarm going off. That would just be too much. You’ve been enough of a bother as it is…

So, being as ready for this as you’ll ever be, you slowly push open the door to the fated room, hearing a robotic hum as you present yourself for the two to see. They both seem surprised to see that you’re human more than anything, gazes lingering on your general features as you let the door automatically close behind you. Once they’re over the initial shock, the scientist points a screw-driver at you, squinting behind her thick spectacles as she interrogates, “How the hell did you get in here? Into the building? Onto my f-floor? Hmm?”

Frankly, you don’t feel very threatened by the small tool, but you put your hands halfway up in surrender anyway, showing that you mean no harm. Being completely honest, you admit, “I got hurt by some thugs a couple days ago. A Royal Guard named Papyrus saved me, and brought me here to Gaster, who's been helping me recover. You could call him to confirm this, if you want, but, uh…” Your gaze travels around the room as you guiltily say, “I don’t think he wagered on me guessing any of the floor codes for the elevators… Yours was just, um… I didn’t think it would really work… Sorry…”

The lizard woman’s face softens as you explain your predicament, slowly lowering her improvised weapon and placing it on a metal tray. When you get to the part about her floor code, her face goes red all of a sudden. Going on the defensive, she waves her arms, insisting, “I-I-It was just easier to r-remember for my friends if it was s-something simple…! I-I would’ve made it more s-secure if I was the only one who e-ever came here…!”

You blink at her sudden bashful outburst, not sure what to even say to that. You definitely don’t feel any hostile energy from her anymore, at least… You lower your arms as she regains her composure, making a small “Ahem” and pushing her glasses up her snoot. “So you’re under Dr. Gaster’s care,” she reiterates, and you nod. “Fine. I’ll believe you. There’s no way you could have gotten in the building w-without setting off the alarms if you were lying. You don’t seem like a professional criminal or anything…” You’re glad to be off the hook, smiling and giving her a small nod of gratitude.

“You’re a fun one, daaarrrling,” the robot says, drawing your attention as they cross one leg over the other, lounging on a small couch segment. “I’m Mettaton,” they introduce themself. “Of television fame~” One of their four eyes winks at you, making you blush a bit from the gesture. This robot is rather attractive, after all… Not that the gesture implies anything beyond being platonic, but receiving attention from someone attractive is still flustering, in a way.

“Oh,” The scientist speaks again, waving, “Don’t mind him. He’s always a flirt. It’s in his programming.” She smiles over at him, and you think you see him hide a grimace under his practiced smile. “Which!” You’re a bit startled by the sudden shift in tone, looking back at the scientist as she continues, “Is why he’s here! I’m treating him to remove the programming that he doesn’t prefer. It’s tricky, since numerous glitches have scrambled the code, but I’ve been working on it over time.”

Mettaton gives her a more genuine smile at that, and it warms your heart to see, even if you don’t really know either of these people very much. On the topic of which, you ask with a small smile, facing the mechanic, “What’s your name, by the way?” She makes a small humming noise, realizing that she never introduced herself. Instead of telling you, she simply puffs out her chest and points proudly to her nametag, which you lean down a bit to read, [Dr. Alphys, Royal Scientist β]. You voice an “Ooo” of admiration, straightening back up. “So you’re also a Royal Scientist? How many are there?”

The question seems to put her in a bit of a salty mood, grabbing a cord to plug her phone into a port on the back of Mettaton’s neck as she answers, “One, ordinarily. When Dr. Gaster disappeared, I was a-appointed to the position. Then, when he, well, came back, since he was never technically f-fired, he was also still the Royal Scientist. Therefore, we share the title now. He’s the primary Royal S-Scientist, though, so he gets more recognition for the position…”

After a moment, you say, “I see.” You can understand why that might upset her, if she’s proud of holding the title and feels underappreciated now. “Well,” you start, your tone sympathetic, “If it’s of any condolence, I don’t think Gaster really values the ‘recognition’ very highly. He said it’s mostly just people being intimidated by the title… So…” you slowly begin, unsure, but voice the idea anyway, “Maybe he’d be willing to trade the primary and secondary titles with you? If you asked him?”

Alphys looks at you, pausing what she was doing, as the light hits her specks just right and all you see is the glare on the lenses in front of her eyes. After a second, she looks back at her work, typing coding on her phone as she voices, “Maybe…” She starts slowly shaking her head, though, as she explains further, “It’s not his choice, though. It’s King Asgore’s. Dr. Gaster’s accolades are just too much greater than mine…” His scientific achievements are greater than hers, huh? You wonder what all he’s done…

Regardless, you carefully give her a supportive pat on the shoulder. Optimistically, you proclaim, “You’ll just have to invent something super cool! Maybe the King will promote you if you impress him?” She hums at your assessment, forming the hint of a smile as she works. “You made this body for Mettaton here, didn’t you?” You guess, and she nods. “To me, that’s already mind boggling! No human has ever made something so impressive in the robotics field. Not even close.”

“Mettaton’s actually a…” Alphys goes to say something, but Mettaton holds up a finger to his lips, making her stop before she can finish the statement. “...He’s a self-writing AI,” she says, obviously covering for something. Hey, it’s none of your business, so you won’t pry. “He wrote most of his own programming, so I can’t take 100% credit for his personality. I definitely made his body, though!” She beams, proud of her design. “Even after he’s had me make some changes, it’s still my best work yet.”

“Alphys, dear,” Mettaton states, “Are you quite focused on that descrambling?” He tilts his head to one side, running a finger idly along the wire connected to the back of his neck. He’s wearing a smile, yet also clearly trying to give a bit of a hint for her to focus more on her work instead of talking to you on the side. You pick up on his meaning, bowing your head a bit in apology for taking up his mechanic’s precious focus.

“It’s been nice,” you say, giving a small, polite wave as you back up towards the door. “But I’ve gotta get going. It won’t be good if Gaster can’t find me anywhere… Sorry again for just breaking in,” you hold your hands together in an apologetic gesture. Alphys turns and gives you a bit of a wave goodbye.

“Get back safe,” she says, quickly getting back to her work before Mettaton feels too neglected again. “Oh, and the code for Gaster’s lab floor is 2149. You’ll need it to get back in.” The way she said that 2149 is the code to his lab floor leads you to believe he has other floors as well… He really is spoiled by the King, isn’t he? Well, he did say they’re friends, after all. So, holding that number in your head, you take your leave - returning to the elevator, and back to the basement floor you came up from.

Resuming your course to the kitchen, you smile, remembering the encounter with the reptile-scientist and the TV-star fondly. You’ll have to find out what exactly Mettaton does on TV… But that can wait for after you get some snacks. For now, it’s time to: finally raid the kitchen!

Chapter Text

After acquiring your bounty of snacks - a couple small fruits and some toast with jam - you decide that you don’t really feel like going back to your room just yet… Instead, you’ll try to find Gaster and see what he’s up to. With a map on hand, you can perform a methodical search until you run into him. And if you don’t - or if you just get tired like last time - you can always go right back to your room.

So off you go, plotting a path as you munch on your late-lunch early-dinner morsels. Luckily, with a real strategy at play this time, you actually locate your target! It only takes ten or so minutes of strolling at a languid pace and looking through lab-room windows to find the reclusive scientist, going about his duties. He doesn’t seem too busy, just sifting through data tables, so you gently knock on the door to get his attention.

Without removing his focus from his work, Gaster calls out, “Come in.” You step back a bit in surprise as the door opens inwards on its own. On further inspection, entering the room and looking back at the door as it’s closed again, you see that one of Gaster’s magical hands did the task for him. How convenient! You wonder just how much those hands are truly capable of…

Immediately derailing yourself from that particular track of thought, you force your mind elsewhere. You greet him with a “Hi” as you come over and take a cursory glance over his work. It’s all written in Wingdings, so it takes you a second of honing in to discern that it’s all chemistry equations. You never delved too deeply into chemistry before, but you’re definitely interested. Maybe that can be next, after you finish the physics textbook.

Since he’s still working, you find a place to sit and chill. You choose a spot on the floor against a cabinet, since there’s only one chair in this room and Gaster’s currently using it… Sure, you could go get one from another room and bring it in here, but you’re content with just lounging where you are.

Time passes in comfortable silence, with Gaster formulating chemistry processes, and you making quick work of your pilfered snacks, after which you get your phone out from the pocket you’d stored it in. You exchange a few messages with your friends, lamenting the fact that you can’t hang out with them yet for another… maybe a week or so? The timeline’s pretty unclear.

Regardless, at least you’re able to spend time with someone, even if he’s working at the moment. You look over at Gaster, curious if he’s still on those formulas, only to see that he’s now working on the actual chemistry itself. Across the room is a vast collection of apparatuses, some of which are now operating with various fluids and gases traveling through them.

You watch the process with fascination as you try to glean even a portion of what its overall function could be - but alas, you’re stumped on this one. Without any knowledge of the complex reactions and compounds involved, you have no clue what Gaster could be making right now with this veritable Rube Goldberg machine of glass tubing and flasks.

A few of Gaster’s magic hands adjust drip valves and heat sinks as needed, ensuring the process is very well-controlled. You end up whistling automatically at how impressive his focus is, inevitably drawing his attention as you realize your reflexive mistake too late. “Sorry…!” You put your hands up a bit in guilt. “I didn’t mean to distract you… I just find your control of all of this very skillful.”

“Skillful, hm?” He hums, his eyebrows raised as he gives a small smile from your comment. “Well, thank you for saying so.” He returns his line of sight to his work, though continues talking with you simultaneously. “My magic is like an extension of myself, so it is perhaps less impressive than it seems. I have always had so many hands, so controlling them is second nature…”

“It’s still really impressive!” You counterargue, saying, “You still have to think about what each hand is doing! Most people can’t even pat their head and rub their stomach at the same time, so trust me, this,” Gaster glances over as you gesture to his whole chemistry setup and the various hands making micro-adjustments to it, “is super crazy. It’s insane even. ‘Multitasking’ doesn’t even do it justice.”

“Hmm,” he considers your words for a moment. You can see the smile on his face from the side. “Perhaps,” is all he ends up saying in response, but you can tell the compliment made it through. “Do you know what all of this chemistry is for?” he poses the question, glancing over as you shake your head ‘no.’ He smiles again as he states, “Energy drinks.” You blink at that, which seems to have been the exact response he expected as he chuckles lightly.

“Some monsters in the community have been wanting something akin to what humans call ‘Five Hour Energy,’ or whathaveyou.” He waves off the specific brand name, focusing more on what matters. “In essence, they want something low-volume, with enough caffeine to keep them alert. Since not all monsters can consume human nutrition products, I am attempting to create one that can offer a suitable equivalence.”

“Ohh,” you understand what he’s describing completely, nodding at his explanation. So he’s trying to refine a magical-food version of an energy stimulant, for monsters who don’t like coffee, or who don’t want all the extra liquid filler content that comes in most caffeinated beverages. Makes sense. You ask, “Is the process going well?”

“As well as it can,” he says, shrugging a bit. “These things are almost always slow. It requires an immense amount of patience and dedication. The field is not fit for everyone.” You hum briefly, agreeing with the sentiment. Some people may hold interest initially, but give up when things don’t pay off immediately.

“If one does follow and complete the processes, however,” Gaster continues, cracking a smile again as he says, “It may interest you to know that one can even convert normal cotton balls into edible cotton candy.” That does pique your interest! You wonder how complicated that setup would be…

“Perhaps I could even show you later, if you’d like,” he offers, and you perk up immediately at the prospect. “To prove that I am not lying, if nothing else.” Psh, yeah, you doubt he’d lie about anything scientific. He’s not the type, from what you’ve seen. Regardless, you give an enthusiastic hum of approval to the idea of running that experiment with him in the future.

“How much micromanaging would that project entail?” You wonder aloud, more as musing to yourself than as a question for Gaster. Since his use of his magic hands in making such adjustments comes to mind, though, you do end up asking absentmindedly, “Just how many hands can you summon…? And how fine is their motor control…?”

It came out before you even thought about it that deeply. Once it’s put into words, though, you realize how that may have come across, glancing hesitantly over at Gaster as you catch the amused look he gives you. Damit, he definitely picked up on the double entendre…! Your face heats up as he states, in a lightly teasing tone, “Oh, about ten or so.” Holy– “But only for the most intricate of tasks, of course.”

You’re gonna melt into the floor. It’s too much. You didn’t even really mean to take it there, but then for his response to be so smooth… It has your mind desperately reeling. “Um,” you try to recover from the embarrassment, digging for whatever words will come to the surface. “I bet that comes in really handy sometimes…?” A pun was the first thing that came to mind. You hope he doesn’t hate puns.

“Ppfft–” Gaster cracks up immediately at that, covering his mouth with one of his hands. Oh. So he likes puns, then. Very good. “Heheh, yes,” he says, recovering quickly from the sudden shift in the vibe. “I can certainly always count on them, can’t I?” He emphasizes the pun by summoning a few hands, floating in a row, each with a different sequential number of bony digits held up.

Now it’s your turn to snicker. Even though that was honestly terrible, it still strikes your funny bone in this situation. “You really are a jack of all trades, huh?” You describe, “You’re a doctor, a chemist, an astronomer… you can cook, write, make dad puns…” You look at him in genuine admiration, joking a bit, “What next? Are you also secretly really good at gaming or something? I wouldn’t be surprised if you were just skilled in everything at this point.”

Gaster just hums at that, not commenting on his gaming abilities. Instead of giving you any kind of response, he actually grows rather quiet, opting to focus more on his work again. From the view you have of his face from the side, you can see the hint of a purple blush on his face… He must not get genuine compliments that he can’t disagree with very often. But you’re fine with just returning to a comfortable silence, the only sound being that of the air running through the vents in the ceiling.

…Eventually, you excuse yourself, exchanging a short farewell, with Gaster saying he’ll come retrieve you for dinner when the time rolls around. When you get back to your room, you find a new set of clothes on your bed. They’re unceremoniously dumped in a heap, but that doesn’t bother you one bit! You’re just glad to have something to change into.

So the next thing you do, logically, is shower. You clean yourself up and put your dirty clothes aside, lounging around in just a towel for a bit so you can dry off thoroughly before changing into the new outfit. There’s basic undergarments, of course - a black shirt, sort of gothic in design - and a long, flowy red skirt that reaches down to your ankles.

You also find a pair of short-heeled boots - more for fashion than for function - the brims of which only go up to your shins. The heels even make a delightful ‘click’ as you walk! You love clicky heels! They tend not to be very comfortable over time, but for an event where you’re mostly sitting, they’re definitely worth it.

Next, you decide to hunt down some bandaging and cover up the bite marks on your neck (for obvious reason), as well as a few of your uglier bruises and scrapes that are still in the process of healing. You’re not a professional at wrapping bandages or anything, but you manage to do a decent enough job that they stay on and aren’t too tight.

After getting ready, you chill and read for a bit, finishing up the physics textbook after another hour or so. It was certainly a thick volume! You’re proud that you were able to finish it in just a day - since it’s been practically all you were doing in your free time… Well now you can do other stuff! Like… Hmm…

More Wingdings practice! You’ve still got all those notes Gaster wrote that you could read through. You don’t really even need the translation card anymore, except for special symbols and the less common punctuations. You keep it in reach as you sit with the booklet open and don’t even bother to write anything down anymore, reading it at a decent enough pace to just maintain it all in your head.

Maybe half an hour later - you’re not completely sure, since you get pretty absorbed in the sciencey stuff Gaster wrote in Wingdings for you (included in which was quasars and gamma ray bursts) - the scientist himself knocks on your door, here to retrieve you for the family dinner you were invited to.

As he leads you through the facility, you start to feel a bit nervous about the whole affair. Is it going to be weird for Papyrus and Sans if you’re there? Papyrus doesn’t really seem to have strong feelings about the fact that you’re human, but you don’t know enough about Sans to determine if he has any trauma or hatred…

Gaster’s voice breaks you out of your thoughts as he assures you, “It will be fine.” You notice that you’ve come to one of the elevators, and that Gaster already put in a code and you’re now both waiting for the cabin to arrive. He adds, “They will both be civil. I know I mentioned their tendency toward the not-so-legal at times, but that only applies to extreme situations. Generally, they are rather tame - if a bit standoffish.”

“Oh–” You realize he has the wrong idea about why you’re nervous, so you explain, “No, um, I’m not worried about them being rude or whatever. I’m just hoping that me being a human doesn’t end up bothering them… Specifically Sans, since I haven’t met him yet. What if I make him uncomfortable…?” You fidget with your hands a bit, imagining the worst case scenario.

The elevator dings and the doors open, so both of you step in. Gaster hums as he pushes the button for the ground-level floor, commenting, “That certainly won’t be of concern. Sans is already friends with a human, after all.” You blink in surprise. It’s rare for humans and monsters to mingle, let alone be friends. How did that happen…?

Seeing your intrigue on the subject, Gaster continues without you even having to ask, filling the silence of the elevator ride. “The human child that eventually liberated the underground - Frisk - was sure to make friends with all the monsters they came across. Sans denies that they are exactly ‘friends,’ but he does clearly have a soft spot for them. He does not say no to their requests to play video games together or whatnot - though he does often prank them in the process.”

You smile, with an amused puff of air at the ‘prank’ comment. You remember he said Sans used to enjoy confusing people by speaking Wingdings. By the sounds of it, he must be pretty into humor. Sounds innocent enough. A moment later, your ride comes to a stop, and the doors open to let you continue on your way out through the lobby, which is empty at this time of night. Gaster finishes with, “Frisk was one of the first individuals - monster or human - to ever show him kindness. As long as you do the same, there should be no conflict.”

You hum at his assessment, thanking him as he holds the door open for you. With your main worry out of the way, you instead take in the cool afternoon air that welcomes you outside, enjoying the light breeze that flows by. Maybe it’s an effect of all the ambient magic, or just that there are less cars, but the air in this part of the city is a lot cleaner than where you live. It’s extra apparent after being cooped up in a giant basement for days on end, really striking you just how much you’ve missed going outside.

“...I apologize,” Gaster draws your attention as he suddenly offers an apology, though you’re not sure for what. At your confusion, he clarifies, “For keeping you trapped inside this whole time. I should have given you more freedom…” He really seems to feel guilty about it, both of you just lingering right outside the building on the sidewalk. This late, there aren’t really many people out and about, so it’s not like you’re in anyone’s way, at least.

“It’s okay,” you insist, offering him a reassuring smile. “At least I wasn’t bored. I got to spend time with you, or use my phone, or read to pass the time. It’s not like any real captor would have given me even that much freedom! I consider it more of a free hotel stay.” You highlight the silver lining for him, to make sure he doesn’t blame himself too much. For good measure, you also add, “I forgive you.”

He doesn’t say anything, instead just reading your expression for a moment before giving a nod. He then continues leading the way, ensuring that you stay on the sidewalk the whole way instead of taking any back alleys. Probably a good call. Eventually, after a quiet couple of minutes, he speaks up and says, “I will take you home after dinner.”

You do a double-take at his out-of-the-blue statement. “What?” You voice your confusion. “But… I’m not healed yet…” You’ve been operating under the caution of not being seen leaving Downtown with injuries, since it might start a scandal, which could devolve into further hostilities and increase bigotry. Isn’t that still an important factor? Wouldn’t it be too much of a risk to go home now, covered in bandages?

“I admit that I… wasn’t entirely forthright with you,” his stride slows to a stop, as he once again holds a look of guilt for his actions. “When I told you that you must stay at the facility for the duration of your healing… That was a lie. It would actually be a rather simple task to personally teleport you home…” Woah- He can teleport?! That’s honestly more shocking to you than his admission of lying…

Still, you pause and listen to what he has to say as he decides to be entirely honest with you, giving him a chance to lay it all out before you comment on the matter. “I wanted to make you stay because I intended on conducting more research with your blood in secret… It was a selfish decision.” He seems irritated, clearly at himself, holding his hands up and looking down at them as he says, “This… thing that I’ve become… has adversely affected my rationality.”

“So,” he looks back up at you, an unsure expression on his face. “If you feel that your decision to stay was made under duress, or if you don’t trust me anymore… I can take you home and deliver your things to you. You can be free of this entire mess… And you can live a normal life.” …Is this part of why he invited you to dinner? So he could give you this way out, assuming you were stockholm’d or something when you told him you’d stay and help him?

Well now you’re kind of annoyed. You huff, telling him, “I made my decision with perfect clarity and plenty of forethought. I know that I want to help you. My offer wasn’t just to get you to let me go, or anything like that. I’m kind of offended you’d think as much,” you’re brutally honest, and it clearly kind of stings him to hear, reinforcing his existing self-loathing.

After another, much lighter huff, though, you add, in a softer tone, “You probably can’t believe that anyone would willingly want to be in the kind of position I’m in, but remember,” you smile a bit to lighten the mood. “I’m a huge nerd, and we’re never normal.” You hold out your hand to him, which he seems perplexed about. You say, “I’ll stay as long as you’ll have me. So don’t doubt my resolve to help you, okay?”

His brows draw together as a small smile forms on his face, a tiny puff of amused air escaping him as he takes your hand in a handshake of solidarity. “I understand,” he says. “And I’m sorry for doubting your decision. I won’t question your determination further.” After the handshake, you smile at him, glad that you’ve come to an agreement.

Then you reach out, and you abruptly flick him on the forehead. He blinks at you a few times, flabbergasted, as you smile fiendishly and say, “That’s for making me miss time I could have spent with my friends by making me stay in the lab.” You start walking ahead of him in the direction you were headed before, commenting magnanimously, “We’re even now.”

“...Pff–” Gaster can’t help but chuckle at that, taking a few long steps to catch up with you and continue leading the way, now in much higher spirits. It was a bit rough, sure, but you’re glad you had that talk. Now you know he’s finally being completely honest with you, and he knows you’re resolved in your mission to help him.

A few minutes of idle chat later and you arrive at your destination - a two-story house, decorated with red lights and a skull-and-cross-bones pirate flag. Gaster opens the door for you and invites you in, entering after you as you stand by the doorway and take the place in. The carpet is a zig-zag pattern, and the walls are painted a deep red. There’s a living room, a kitchen - and between them, a table, with a single rock on a plate set out in the middle.

After Gaster tells you you’re free to look around a bit or be seated while he makes dinner, you take him up on that first offer, lingering further on the interesting details of this place. You see a staircase leading up to the second floor, where all the bedrooms and the bathroom must be. While monsters don’t need to use toilets, they still tend to have a room with a shower or bathtub at least.

Matter of fact, on that train of thought, you realize that you, yourself, haven’t had to use a toilet for a significant amount of time since being at the lab. Is it because you’ve only eaten magic food while you’ve been there? That’s… honestly a really nice benefit. You wonder if it has any health ramifications… You’ll look it up later.

For now, you check out the living room. There’s a wide couch across from a TV, and a side table with a joke book on it. You open up the joke book, and inside it, interestingly, is another book. This one’s a Quantum Physics book. Even more interested now, you open the Quantum Physics book, inside which is another joke book. Just to be sure of the pattern here, you go a layer deeper, and sure enough, you find another Quantum Physics book.

You snort at the magic nesting books, understanding the joke enough to appreciate the humor. Closing the book(s), you move on to the next thing that catches your eye - a sock on the floor, by the TV, with a series of notes attached to it… The notes read:

[SANS! PICK UP YOUR DAMN SOCK!]

[ok.]

[DON’T PUT IT BACK DOWN! MOVE IT!]

[ok.]

[YOU MOVED IT TWO INCHES!! MOVE IT TO YOUR ROOM!!]

[ok.]

[AND DON’T BRING IT BACK!]

[ok.]

[WHY IS IT STILL HERE?!]

[didn’t you just say not to bring it back to my room?]

[UGH! FORGET IT!!]

Huh. So that’s what their fonts look like… And from the way they interacted through these notes, you feel like you’ve learned a bit more about the brothers from this. Sans is definitely a prankster, alright - finding the funniest way to avoid something as simple as putting his sock away… He probably left the Quantum joke book out, too, if you had to guess.

But that’s enough snooping for now. Instead of sitting at the table and waiting, though, you peak into the kitchen and offer, “Want some help?” Right after you ask, however, you see the numerous floating hands going about their duties, and Gaster just glances over at you with an amused look. You smile and put your hands up in defeat. Looks like he’s more than got it covered, so you’ll leave him to it.

Sitting down, you get a better look at the plated rock on the table. There’s a few pieces of sprinkles on it… but other than that, it’s just a plain, gray rock. Huh. Well, moving on from the mystery of the rock, you get out your phone to do some quick research on if there are any negative aspects to only eating magic food as a human.

From the info you find - which is rather limited due to most humans being unwilling to try magic food - you see one particular person, who used themself as a research subject of sorts, and only ate monster food for an entire month. It was apparently meant more-so to garner clout than for science, since they posted daily videos with clickbait thumbnails making obnoxious faces…

But they didn’t actually suffer any consequences, even after being checked up on by a real doctor, so it seems pretty compelling. And hey, you even know a doctor! Although he’s more of a doctor of monsters than humans… Still, he could always check your basic vitals if things seem awry - so honestly, you don’t mind eating just magic food from now on.

If you’re gonna spend most of your time in Downtown, it’ll be a lot easier to eat locally than to pack meals. Also, you’d rather not find yourself in a position where you need to use a toilet and can’t find one, since they’re pretty uncommon in monster establishments… So it’s better overall if you don’t eat non-magical food anymore. Most common foods have magical versions anyway, so your diet can still be varied.

Closing out your web browser, since that was all you needed to search, you send a few messages to your friends that you might finally be able to hang out sooner than expected. It’s pretty late, but all three of you are semi-nocturnal, so each of them responds excitedly. The conversation moves to the group chat where you all discuss what day you could potentially have a group anime night, and what you’d watch together.

A few minutes into messaging, you almost don’t even notice as Papyrus descends the stairs and strides past you into the kitchen, soon emerging with tableware to set out. You make sure you’re not in his way as he sets out plates, silverware, and cups on the four cardinal sides of the table, not saying a word as he goes about his job seriously.

Once he’s done, he sits down across from you, stating simply, “HELLO,” as he then takes out his phone and proceeds to ignore you. Eh, you don’t really mind if he isn’t terribly sociable - as long as there aren’t any problems between you, that’s all that really matters. So you go back to messaging your friends, suggesting a few good anime to watch.

Moments later, you perk up a bit, surprised, as you get the notification of a message from a new number. Confused and curious, you open the message, which just reads, [[You.]] You raise an eyebrow at the message, moving to type a response, but you aren’t quite quick enough as another message follows almost instantly in its wake. [[Yes, you. Human sitting across from me. It is I, Papyrus.]]

Your gaze slowly moves up from your phone to the skeleton sitting across from you, whom you find is also looking at you in return. There’s no fucking way. How. The next message explains exactly how, [[I brute-forced every number sequentially until I found yours. It isn’t that difficult, really.]] What??? Is this guy a genius, or a fool? He could’ve just asked you for your number! This is insane!

Again, before you can even formulate a response (holy shit this guy types fast!), another text comes through. [[Gaster doesn’t need to hear this.]] Oh? You raise an eyebrow at him suspiciously, and he types, [[You shouldn’t be here.]] You deadpan at him, but he swiftly adds, [[You’re still in danger being here in Downtown. I haven’t caught your assailants yet.]] Oh… It’s kind of sweet that he cares, so you smile over at him.

[[I don’t need a dead human on my hands. I have enough work already.]] Oh. Ouch. Well, that certainly detracts from the perceived wholesomeness of the sentiment. [[You should go home and not return here. Your presence might also put Gaster and us at risk.]] Your eyes widen a bit in realization. He’s right… Fraternizing with humans might put Gaster and his family at risk of attack from bigot extremists…

But still, you… Resolved, you finally type, [[I want to stay. If you don’t want me to come to this house anymore, then fine, but I’m staying by Gaster’s side until he doesn’t want me there anymore. I’m going to help him however I can. If you want, you can even use me as bait to lure out any threats.]] Besides, Gaster told you he can teleport, so you doubt any low-level thugs could get the drop on him that easily.

Papyrus carefully and silently reads your message, taking in a deep breath and letting out a long sigh afterwards. He glares over at you with a stern look - which is practically how he always looks - but this time he seems to be gauging your willpower, so you stand your ground under his harsh gaze. Finally, he looks down and types, before sending one last message. [[I’ll call on you if I need you as bait, then. Just stay out of sight as much as you can otherwise.]]

That’s… pretty much his way of saying you can stay. You put your phone down and smile at him again, to which he turns his head away and huffs. What a tsundere… Shortly after that lovely exchange, a rather portly skeleton in a black hoodie saunters down the stairs, hands stuffed deep in his pockets and eye-sockets mostly closed as though he’s about to pass out, as he comes to the table to sit in one of the chairs next to you.

The light-gray fur lining his hoodie floofs up for a moment, before settling back down. Must be his magic… You see a gold tooth among his many sharp, shark-like fangs, as well as a gold chain under his jacket. A few seconds after he sits down, he speaks naturally in a low volume, saying, “knock knock.”

You smile at that, liking the idea of introducing yourself with a joke, assuming that’s what he’s doing. Playing along, of course, you respond, “Who’s there?” You’re curious what his setup will be.

With a grin, he says, “who.” You catch Papyrus rolling his eyes - which really is him rolling his entire head, since he doesn’t have eye-lights - at his brother’s antics. You’re still smiling, though, eager to hear the whole joke. Papyrus just tunes you both out by going back on his phone.

Diving right in, you ask, “Who who?” You get a feeling you may already know where this is going. Regardless of its predictability to an extent, you still enjoy the concept of these kinds of jokes. Sometimes the punchline can vary a bit, too, so they’re not entirely one-to-one.

In dramatic fashion, the skeleton’s eye-sockets both open, revealing one dark and empty side, and one glowing, bright-red, hollow-circular eye-light on the other. He looks at you cheekily as he says, “i thought you were a human, not an owl.”

“Pfft-” You chuckle a bit at that, admiring the fact that he used an actually good knock-knock joke instead of any of the many slop ones - at least in your opinion. “Nice to meet you,” you get a bit more real for a second, still smiling as you hold out your hand for a proper introduction. “You’re Sans, right?”

The vibe shifts drastically, and you can instantly feel that something is wrong all of a sudden. Glancing over at Papyrus, you can see that he isn’t moving - at all. Like he’s frozen completely. He’s not even breathing. You can’t hear Gaster in the kitchen anymore, either. You can tell that the only ones in this moment, at this time, are you and the skeleton sitting beside you.

“listen,” He deadpans, dropping the act, as he gets serious with you now. “i don’t intend to make friendly with you, got it?” He doesn’t wait for you to respond before continuing, “i’m only allowing you to be here right now because gaster invited you. but if him or the boss,” He gestures to Papyrus, “ever get hurt because’a you?”

You feel a tangible chill in the atmosphere as he threatens, “pal…” He speaks extra slowly to emphasize the severity of his words, his eye-light boring into you as he ensures that you know, “ y o u ’ l l‎ ‎ b e‎ ‎ d e a d‎ ‎ w h e r e‎ ‎ y o u‎ ‎ s t a n d . ”

…So much for being a harmless joker.

Chapter Text

Following the shenanigans with Sans, time resumes its normal course and he shakes your hand, as if nothing at all had happened in that split second that only you two shared. You’re… definitely not feeling very welcomed… But at least you and Papyrus have a truce, of sorts.

Stressful greetings aside, it isn’t long before Gaster finishes cooking everything, bringing it all out and setting it in the middle of the table for everyone to take however much of each thing they want. Sans hangs back, while Papyrus helps himself to the first couple scoops of everything - literally taking the exact same amount of each thing, as much as he can.

Scanning the array of dishes, you observe: stuffing, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes - with the choice between gravy or sour cream - green bean casserole, a pumpkin pie– Okay, what is this, a holiday banquet?! This is crazy overkill for a simple dinner…! You’re so stunned by the sheer choice overload that you barely even register as Gaster sits down beside you.

“heh,” Sans seems amused by your reaction to the insane food spread, chuckling as he says, “you’ve clearly never seen the old man cook, huh? he always goes overboard like this.” Gaster rolls his eye-lights at the ‘old man’ comment, though he isn’t really that upset by it, serving himself next as Sans continues to wait, intending to go last it seems.

Gaster takes mostly from the stuffing and pumpkin pie, though he does also take a little bit of everything else. He’s slightly pickier, but not by much. Notably, he doesn’t take as much food as Papyrus did, which seems to be rather surprising to the younger skeleton. Guess he isn’t very hungry… Which, again, to Papyrus, is absolutely dumbfounding. Sans even seems a bit surprised by it, despite his more laid-back attitude (besides from when he threatened you).

They don’t say anything about it, though, and your turn comes next. Following the Royal Guardsman’s example, you opt to take a little of everything, sampling the full variety of the miniature feast. Papyrus gives a look of approval and a small nod at your choice of rationing, respecting your decision to do as he did and vary your diet.

Unlike the rest of you, Sans only takes from one item - specifically, the mashed potatoes. That’s literally all he takes. That, and a bunch of sour cream to put on top of it. That’s it. Well, it’s not your place to judge his diet - if he’s super picky, or just doesn’t feel like having anything else, that’s his business.

But it is of concern to Gaster, it seems - as his father - who speaks up, “Sans…” You can hear the exasperation in his voice. “Please take more than one thing.” A couple of Gaster’s summoned hands offer the casserole to the shorter skeleton, which he promptly shoes away in response, dismissing their hovering concern.

“psh, who’re you to lecture me on my health?” Sans points his spoon at Gaster’s not-so-populated plate, prompting, “what, you on some kinda diet now? usually you scarf down food like you’ve been starving.” Sans makes a devious face as he leans forward, looking at Gaster as he says, “or are ya just trying to look all proper for your new human friend…?”

Gaster shoots Sans an unimpressed look. “No,” he looks down at his plate and skewers a deviled egg with his fork, picking it up and just looking at it for a second as he says, “I am just… feeling better than I have been lately.” He puts the whole egg-half in his mouth, chewing on it as Sans hums speculatively.

“mmm. and is that ‘cuzza your new human friend…?” Sans grins and raises his eyebrows suggestively, clearly getting at something with this line of questioning. You shyly take a bite of stuffing, feeling like it’s better if Gaster answers that… The scientist returns the accusation with a glare.

He swallows the egg in his mouth before emphasizing, “Not in the way you’re implying.” With a huff, he casually fabricates a white lie to satiate their suspicion, “They simply convinced me to eat meals more regularly, so I didn’t neglect lunch today. Is that so difficult to believe?” He indulges in a bite of the pie to calm his irritation, and Papyrus is the next to pipe in.

“YES,” The other brother says, siding with his sibling. “IT IS A BIT HARD TO BELIEVE. WE TELL YOU TO TAKE BETTER CARE OF YOURSELF AND YOU GIVE US EMPTY PROMISES, BUT SOME RANDOM HUMAN MANAGES TO CONVINCE YOU WHEN WE COULDN’T? WHAT ELSE WOULD WE ASSUME?”

They’re talking about you as if you’re thin air - like you’re not sitting right here at the same table and hearing all of this. The brothers seem more focused on their beef with their father than with you, though. “You are not at my lab 24/7, Papyrus,” Gaster retorts, reasoning, “The human happens to be able to remind me to eat directly. And it is easier to prepare a meal for two than for one.”

“’cuz we have jobs,” Sans adds to the argument, and you can feel tensions rising. Nobody’s having fun right now. “’course we can’t be at your lab 24/7 like you are. hell, you even sleep there most of the time! we barely see you, g!” The quiet-spoken shorter skeleton raises his voice just slightly as he gets heated.

Making a frustrated gesture, Sans throws his hands up as he says, “your damn eyes are even a different color now! we don’t know what kind’a mad science you’re up to down there! the last thing you built in the underground killed you for fuck’s sake!”

A line just got crossed, and everyone’s keenly aware of it. Nobody makes a sound after that, not even daring to breathe too deeply. Sans realizes that what he just said wasn’t okay, but it’s too late to go back now. He just lets what he said linger, his skull gradually getting sweaty in his nervous state.

“ENOUGH.” Gaster eventually speaks, using Wingdings instead of his usual, better-understood font. His eye-sockets are dark with the current mood, his tone low and a bit threatening. His syllables warble and pop like static as he states, “THIS ISN’T AN INTERROGATION. IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WITH MY CHOICES, YOU CAN DISCUSS THEM WITH ME, PERSONALLY. NOT HERE. NOT NOW.”

It isn’t a request. It’s clear that he’s done with this conversation, and the brothers are both silent, nodding their understanding. “GOOD,” he states. He closes his sockets as he comments, “I’M GLAD YOU UNDERSTAND.” He then sighs, his eye-lights returning the next time he opens his eyes, as he goes back to picking at the food on his plate, moving on from the issue.

“i’m… uh…” Sans is covered in sweat by now, practically breaking down under his own anxiety. “gonna go eat in my room. bye.” He picks up his plate and stiffly leaves, retreating from the situation entirely. Papyrus just silently takes a bite of his own food, before also standing up a few seconds later.

“I, TOO, WILL BE RETIRING FOR THE EVENING,” He announces his choice to leave, bowing out of the awkward lingering atmosphere. Before he leaves, though, he faces you and bids, “GOODNIGHT, HUMAN.” He then bows slightly, on ceremony. What a gentleman!

Since it'll probably get pretty difficult to keep referring to you as just ‘human’ going forwards, what with other humans existing and all - especially the one who saved monsterkind from the underground - you tell him with a smile, “I go by Nyx.” It’s alright with you if he doesn’t use your name, but you at least want him to know it, in case he needs it.

“GOODNIGHT, THEN, NYX,” he amends, taking a small bow once more before adding sheepishly, “AND I AM… SORRY FOR ASSUMING.” He directs it at both you and Gaster, glancing over at the latter, who gives him a small nod of acknowledgement. “GOODNIGHT, GASTER,” he makes one final farewell before heading upstairs with his meal.

Well… Now it’s just you and Gaster, alone at the table. You look over at him, seeing that he’s visibly more fatigued than before. That must have been exhausting… He sighs once again, telling you, in his more normalized font, “I’m sorry this went so poorly… I thought I knew them better than this– But I suppose having disappeared from their lives for so long took a heavy toll. It’s astonishing that they even welcomed me back as they did…”

He’s clearly blaming himself for this in some roundabout way, so you reassure him, “They welcomed you back because they clearly care about you. Why else would they try to get you to take better care of yourself?” You reach out and put a comforting hand on his arm, reasoning, “They’re probably just frustrated because they feel like they failed somehow - because they couldn’t be the ones to help you.”

“That’s how it feels to me, at least,” you admit that you might not be 100% right, since you kind of still only barely know them. You take your hand back to idly move a couple things around on your plate, adding, “They’re both very proud monsters, from what I’ve seen.” Gaster gives a thoughtful hum, considering your take on things. You pivot, “But hey, we don’t have to linger on it if you don’t want to.” You offer a comforting smile. “We can just… hang out?”

Gaster responds to your optimism with a small smile of his own, and an amused exhale. “You are a breath of fresh air,” he comments. You don’t really know how to react to the compliment, distracting your mind slightly with a small bite of food to avoid becoming a complete blushing mess from his sudden shift in attitude. He’s extra cute when he’s being nice…

“You said you go by… Nyx?” He echoes from before, catching you completely off-guard as you nearly inhale the food in your mouth, managing just barely not to as you swallow it quickly instead. You nod to him, lightly coughing a couple times, drinking some water to recover. You know you mentioned it to Papyrus, but to hear it brought up out of the blue by Gaster…

“It’s a nice name,” he says, and you feel your face heat up more. He then offers, with a hint of guilt, “I apologize for never asking. I have no excuse, really…” He looks back down at his plate and pokes around with his fork, speculating, “...I was just preoccupied, I suppose. Other things on my mind… But I should have asked, regardless.” He looks back over at you with a soft, regretful gaze.

He looks… very tired. Emotionally and physically. You gently say, “Hey, it’s alright… I could have just told you at any time, but it never really came up. No big deal,” you declare the last bit with some confidence, ensuring he knows it’s nothing to feel bad about. Considering how worn-out he is, you decide to ask, “Wanna just skip dinner? You’re not really very hungry, are you? And I had some snacks not too long ago, so those can tide me over.”

“Hmm,” Gaster considers your suggestion, stating, “My appetite is… moderate to low.” He carefully lays his fork down, giving one last look over the items on his plate before making up his mind. He stands and stretches, his joints audibly popping (via magic, you guess). “I must at least put the leftovers away,” he informs you, and you’re quick to volunteer to help.

Before he can even summon his numerous hands, you grab a couple dishes and head to the kitchen, not waiting for a chance for him to say no. He doesn’t seem off-put by your enthusiasm, though. Quite the opposite - he seems to find your initiative charming. So, once he shows you where the tupperware is, you go about helping him get everything put away, and all the dishes cleaned up.

Tonight was definitely touch-and-go at parts, but it’s not the worst dinner you’ve ever attended. Your mom’s side of the family is a real nightmare… That aside, this wasn’t all bad. You had fun! It’s come down to you and Gaster finishing up in the kitchen, so the topic arrives of, “You said before that you can teleport? I heard that correctly?” You ask a bit jokingly, though also out of genuine curiosity.

“Indeed I did,” he states, glancing over at you as you clean the dishes and he dries and puts them away (since he knows where everything goes). “It’s a rare ability among monsters,” he explains. “It takes an immense amount of magic and concentration, but since skeleton monsters in particular have such low body mass, we tend to pick up on it much easier than most others. Once we’ve mastered it, we can even take one other person with us in the process. Never more than one, though.”

“That’s incredibly cool.” You nerd out a bit, saying, “Most humans have given up on the prospect of teleportation technology ever being invented on a practical scale. The most they’ve been able to do is teleport one singular microscopic particle - which is galaxies away from anything useful, of course. So the concept is mostly reserved for sci-fi.” You ask, “I know it’s magic and all, but how does it work, exactly?”

“Well,” Gaster begins, happy to provide a science lecture upon request, even though you’ve just finished with all the dishes and are now simply standing together in the kitchen, leaning against the wall or the countertop as you chat. “It functions on a principle similar to Quantum Entanglement. It links your particle makeup with that of the air wherever your destination is.”

“It’s very important that you link with air, to avoid appearing inside of a wall, or halfway into the ground,” he underlines the significance of that bit. Sounds like that must be the most important part of the learning process - avoiding undesired outcomes. You definitely don’t wanna know what the worst-case-scenario would be… You’ve seen enough sci-fi to have a few guesses on the subject, and none of them are pretty.

“Once that link is formed,” he continues, “The second step is to connect those segments of spacetime, forming a sort of shortcut to the destination,” He talks with his hands a bit as he tells you how it works. “Then, one can simply step through that shortcut - literally by walking forwards - and appear elsewhere. Up to a few kilometers or so away, perhaps.”

He sounds a bit uncertain about the range, musing, “I’ve never really tested the outer limits of the power… In my time, it has served mostly as a convenience of going from home to work quickly.” He shrugs. “Maybe one could even make it to the moon - if it wouldn’t end in tragedy, since there’s so little atmosphere…” You laugh a bit at that, since the comment was clearly made in jest.

On a serious note, he clarifies, “In reality, though, it takes exponentially more magic the further one teleports, so a hard limit does exist - far prior to the moon, unfortunately.” Aww, tragic… Not really, though. It’s still just as cool, even at relatively shorter ranges.

“Only Boss Monsters would be able to use the ability’s full potential,” he states, “And the distance one could achieve would be overkill for most purposes. Normal travel methods that don’t require magic would just be far more practical over long distances, considering the drain that teleporting demands, especially on non-Boss monsters.”

If it takes a ton of magic to teleport, maybe that’s a good enough reason to have not offered it as a service to you before… You’re surprised that he is offering, now. You don’t want to be a burden, especially when he’s already so exhausted… There must be an alternative.

So, mustering up some courage, you offer, “Um… If teleporting me home is gonna take up a ton of your magic… I could just… stay…? If that’s not a problem, of course.” Not wanting to sound too pushy, you quickly also provide the alternatives of, “Or I could just walk home! Or back to the lab. Or… find a hotel or something.” You’re still pretty awkward with this kind of thing…

Despite your awkwardness, however, Gaster smiles as he says, “You staying would not be a problem.” He then hums, grinning as he reminds you, “Neither, however, would teleporting you home be a significant drain on my magic. I am a Boss Monster, myself, after all. Or did you forget?”

You had totally forgotten about that… He did mention that term before, didn’t he? You still aren’t sure what it means, though… So you ask, “What does that entail, exactly…?” Gaster blinks at you, taken aback by hearing that you don’t know what a Boss Monster is. You really are out of the loop…

He makes a hesitant expression, his brows laced together, yet holds a small smile as he voices, “It is… both comforting and concerning, that you insisted so adamantly on helping me, without even knowing what my status as a Boss Monster entails…” Well that’s… both comforting and concerning to hear…? You’ll just take that as a compliment.

Patiently, you wait for an explanation, which he clears his throat a bit before providing. “A Boss Monster is a unique type of monster, only accounting for less than .1% of the population.” Holy damn, it’s a super rare trait? Well now you’re impressed, knowing that he happens to be one out of so few. Especially considering the low population of surviving monsters - there must only be three or four other Boss Monsters alive besides him! That’s extraordinary.

You listen intently as he goes on, “Boss Monsters have significantly stronger souls than other monsters - strong enough to survive, for a time, when severed from their body, whereas all others shatter near instantly.” You know that when he says ‘severed from their body,’ he means when they die. It’s sad to imagine any monsters dying, but… at least Boss Monsters can linger a little longer, it seems.

“As their souls are so much sturdier,” he continues, “Their vitality is far stronger as well. Boss Monsters are nearly immortal,” he states it so casually that you almost miss the batshit insane nature of what he just said. He moves on as if that bit were just another mundane trait, clarifying, “That is to say, Boss Monsters only age once they have children.”

Oh, that… kind of nerfs the ‘immortality,’ then, huh. Still crazy, but their aging isn’t the main relevant bit right now. What he does focus on is the fact that, “Alongside that vitality comes a much greater font of magic. Normal monsters may tire after ten minutes or so of rigorous casting, or after only a couple teleportations. Boss Monsters, however, can last for hours, and teleport rather freely without consequence.”

Woah. You feel like you just got cold water splashed in your face. You’re just… awestruck. So he’s… crazy powerful. Like, he could easily take down any threat posed by other monsters. Hell - he could probably even decimate the city if he wanted to! That’s… a lot to take in.

Gaster observes your reaction to this information tentatively, unsure of how this may have changed your perception of him. Your lack of saying anything seems to be making him a bit anxious, so you finally, quietly voice, “You’re like… a real-life overpowered manga or anime character…”

Gaster instantly reacts, “PFFT–” He breaks out into full-on laughter, doubling over as he finds what you said absolutely hilarious. “HAHAH– That’s absurd–! And yet somehow accurate–!! Heh, heheheh,” He wipes at his eye-sockets, clearing away some of the magic purple tears that formed there from his overblown amusement. You smile at his wholesome reaction, glad that he didn’t find what you said weird or cringe - even if it was a bit corny.

“My fear in thinking that you may have found me more intimidating was unfounded, I see,” he admits. “I’m glad.” He gives you a warm smile, and your heart flutters at the sight. “Back on the original topic of you staying, though,” he diverts back to the most relevant matter at hand. Both of you have just been standing in the kitchen this whole time, after all - not that it’s bothered you in the slightest.

“I’m afraid the couch is a rather poor option for sleeping without ending up sore afterwards…” He informs you of the regrettable state of the obvious first option. He then narrows his sockets and grins a bit, intuiting, “Unless you meant to stay with me tonight? Sharing a room? Would that be the preferred outcome?” He reads you like a book. Not that you’re very subtle… But still.

“I mean…” You definitely blush as you admit, “Yeah…?” Your hands fidget a bit as you say, “We could honestly just share a bed, though, if you wouldn’t mind my company. I’m not gonna make you do anything you don’t want to.” Consent is very important, after all. Consent always comes first.

“Would you truly get any sleep in such a situation, though?” He tilts his head suspiciously as he completely calls you out. All you can do is be honest, slowly shaking your head ‘no.’ “So it would be cruel of me to agree without acknowledging what may or may not happen.” You’re really not sure if this is leading towards consensus or rejection… But you’ll accept his decision either way.

“...” Gaster takes a moment to think, deliberating how best to convey his thoughts on the matter. After a brief pause, he begins, “I have considered your confession of feelings very thoroughly, Nyx.” Hearing him say your name again brings a small, hopeful smile to your face as you hear him out.

“While it is true we haven’t known each other for long… I think compatibility is more important than longevity.” Kind of like how some people believe in ‘love at first sight’ - you don’t always have to know someone for very long to know if you like them or not. That’s basically what he’s saying.

A violet blush begins to form as he further articulates, “...And I believe that I, too, may have a similar interest in you.” Wait… For real?? Excitement bubbles up inside you at his reciprocal confession. “Thus…” He holds out his hand to you, as if offering to seal an informal contract of sorts. “I am willing to give a closer relationship a try.” He looks at you with such hope in his eyes, giving you butterflies again. You don’t hesitate to take his hand, simply holding it as you beam at him.

He’s happy with your choice, also just holding your hand in return. “Then… I suppose…” His blush grows as he says, “We should share my room at the lab, then. For, obvious reasons.” Yeah, of course. If the rooms are all adjacent here at the house… That’d be bad. But then… Oh…! So does that mean…?! He asks the question that’s exploding in your mind right now, “So, would you like to experience teleportation firsthand?” There it is!

“Yes!” You eagerly agree, practically jumping at the idea. What does it feel like? Is it really instantaneous, or is there an intermediate stage? Is it like walking through a short tunnel, or actually just appearing there all at once? You’re dying to find out all of the above. Gaster seems entertained by your innocent enthusiasm, keeping a gentle yet firm grasp on your hand.

“You must not let go of me until we are completely across,” he instructs. So there is an intermediate stage, then? You nod, understanding the warning. You’re not sure what might happen if you did let go, but it’s not like you’re about to stop holding his hand, anyway. It’s nice holding hands like this. Why would you let go?

“...This may be disorienting,” he cautions you, and you hum your acknowledgement. You know it may not be the best feeling in the world having your atoms reassembled in a whole new place all at once, or however that works exactly - but it’s something you want to experience for yourself regardless. If it sucks, then at least you’ll know that it sucks from firsthand experience - not from hearing it from someone else’s account.

“Then, when you’re ready,” Gaster prompts, and you feel a sensation pulse through you, like getting subtly zapped by static electricity, his magic encompassing you. You can tell - he cast the spell. Now the magic is just waiting to activate. “We’ll simply take a few steps forward.” All you have to do is walk forward. Easy! You’ll just be walking forward through a dimensional warp in space-time as a shortcut to another location. Jeez, that mental image is so cool. You’re hyped.

So here you go! You signal to Gaster that you’re ready, and you take the first step forward, with him soon following. As soon as you do, everything goes black. Everything. There’s no light. Not even a minor trace. It’s the blackest black you’ve ever seen - or not seen, because there’s nothing to see. There’s no sound, no scent, no gravity, no warmth or cold - just emptiness all around you, invading all of your senses with eerie stillness.

The only thing you can still feel is Gaster’s hand in yours. He warned you not to let go. Probably because you’d get lost in this empty sea of nothingness. As opposed to faltering, you cling even tighter to his grasp, lacing your fingers through the large, open hole in his palm, which he allows you to do. Mustering all of your focus, despite being unable to sense even the position of your limbs very well - as your kinesthesia is being dulled out, too - you force what feels like the motion of walking forward, to move through this hellscape nowhere plane and get back to reality.

And it works - there goes gravity - as you can feel things like weight again. As soon as you get all of your senses back and can see Gaster, you heave a sigh of relief and tell him honestly, “That was awful.” He hums, taking a moment to make sure you’re okay after that.

“It is convenient,” you confess, observing your new surroundings a bit. It’s certainly a bedroom you find yourself in, only sparsely decorated - not that you really care about that right now. You’re more focused on what you just experienced, adding, “Scary as hell, though.” You shudder at the memory of it.

“ ‘Hell’ is quite accurate,” he says, his gaze growing cold and somber for a moment. He then shakes himself out of whatever spontaneous feeling he was wallowing in for a second, stating, “Let us move on from that, though.” He leads you by your still-attached hands, sitting you both down on the edge of the bed, commenting, “I’ll understand if you don’t want to be teleported again in the future.”

Chapter Text

“Now…” Gaster begins, a small blush persisting on his features as he approaches the topic, “I believe it imperative that we both know all of the biological factors going into this.” You nod, agreeing on the importance of being educated on this topic before any sort of mistakes may be made. “So, I will go first,” he states, taking the initiative in explaining his side of things. He’s probably got the more relevant knowledge, anyway.

“When monsters copulate,” You try to keep a straight face for this discussion, but that use of that word makes the corners of your lips raise slightly. You keep your composure, though, and listen intently as he continues, “There is generally no chance of any offspring being conceived unless a specific, intentional procedure is followed. Each individual must join their magic together in a particular way, which provides the chance for a child to be conceived.”

He continues, “Obviously, this is not possible between you and I, since humans have lost the ability to use magic over time.” You nod, confirming that you indeed cannot use magic. He then hesitates, adding, “However… Boss Monsters are a special case in this regard.” He explains, a bit awkwardly, “We tend to be very… fertile, in regards to mating.” Good to know…

Now you’re blushing, too, as he summarizes, “It is thus much easier for the usual methods to also sometimes result in pregnancy, between a Boss Monster and a human - whether it be via traditional intercourse, or soul sharing.” You’re not sure what that second one implies, but it sounds interesting. “So… perhaps we don’t go that far, at least for now.”

The ‘at least for now’ bit implies that maybe he wouldn’t mind having kids at some point in the future, if this ends up working out between you two. That seems to be all he had to say on the matter, so you smile softly and say, “I’m fine with anything, as long as it makes you happy.” He places a hand on yours and reciprocates your smile, appreciating your understanding.

Gaster addresses one last matter with you, “Then… is there anything I should know about you? Anything to avoid…? Anything to keep in mind?” He also clarifies, “I, myself, have no further stipulations, besides what was already discussed.” You shake your head ‘no’ - you really are fine with pretty much anything.

“I’ll let you know if anything comes up,” you inform him, “But I’m very open-minded. And…” Your face burns crimson as you divulge, “I… actually liked it, that time you bit me… So… Feel free to do that again, if you want to…” It’s really embarrassing to admit, but if it means he might do it more willingly, you’d rather just be honest about it.

The vampire-skeleton hums, grinning slightly as he poses the question, “Is that the real reason you said we didn’t have to finish dinner?” Well… The reason you used before was also a real reason, but… You don’t deny the allegation. His grin spreads as he slyly says, “I see. So you wanted to be my dinner, then…”

He chuckles lightly at your reaction, your heart racing as you avert your gaze, yet slowly nod. When you look back over at him, his face has gotten closer to yours - your heart skips a beat at the sight, swooning from the smoldering look of desire in his eyes. He’s definitely an expert in riling you up.

“Then…” he makes the lingering statement, before slowly meeting your lips for a small kiss. It then is followed by another, his hand gently holding the side of your face to turn you more towards him as the moment evolves into a passionate, heated exchange. Each of you breathes deeply between kisses, already aroused from all the build-up to this moment.

Submissively, you lay yourself back on the bed, signaling with your eyes for Gaster to follow. He happily complies, hovering over you, propped up on his elbows, as he leans down to kiss you again. His kisses then trail over, gradually, to your neck, where you’re now regretting having put bandaging on.

Conveniently, though, that doesn’t seem to be a problem, as Gaster uses one of his sharp, honed claws to very precisely cut it off, making quick work of that barrier so he can enjoy being closer to the blood circulating beneath your skin. Your shirt does also provide a slight hindrance, but he seems to only be teasing you right now, taking in your scent through his parted maw and nuzzling against your cheek affectionately.

Craving for more, you explore his body with your hands, trying to feel what his true form is like beneath his shirt. You can definitely feel each of his ribs rather distinctly, but there also seems to be a bit more to it than that. Your curiosity is very piqued. Showing some initiative - and a bit of impatience from his slow, delicate attentions - you start trying to unbutton his shirt, but you’re quickly stopped by a magical hand.

“So eager…” He murmurs into your ear, sending a shiver down your spine from his low, sensual tone. He backs off from you enough to take his top off himself, using an array of magical hands to unbutton it all at once before tossing it aside. Your gaze drifts across his form, which is indeed mostly skeletal, though with some parts being a bit more filled in - like he was originally just a skeleton, but some extra material was added on, too.

It’s deeply intriguing… You can even see between the gaps in his ribcage that an inverted, heart-shaped, white glowing soul is housed within, proving without a shadow of a doubt that they’re indeed real. It’s just about the right size to fit your hand around it… You’re tempted to reach for it, assuming it’s probably very sensitive, but instead opt to take off your own shirt in kind - in case he really did want to follow through with the enticing offer of biting you again tonight.

He smiles, taking in your own appearance for a moment before pinning you against the mattress again and kissing you once more. This time, his hands - a couple summoned ones - roam your figure, mapping out the shape of your abdomen, groping at you slightly to determine where you might be more sensitive.

He soon finds the area he was looking for, his hands resting on your breasts with a gentle squeeze, your breath hitching as the ridges of the holes of his palms brush over your already-erect nipples. It’s an edged, but not too sharp sort of sensation, sending a jolt through you as he parts from the deep, long kiss to give you a moment to take in some deeper breaths through your mouth.

With the provided opportunity, you run your hands across his bare chest as well, tracing your finger along the undersides of some of his ribs, making him shiver under your gentle caress. It seems like the inner side is more sensitive than the outer, so you test the waters a bit by dipping your hand down to his sternum and rubbing up under the tip of it.

He groans softly at your touch, his head again falling to the crook of your elbow as his hot breath spills over your exposed neck. This spurs you on further, exploring a bit deeper until you find his soul at your fingertips, the mere grazing of which makes him gasp receptively. You gingerly wrap your fingers around the floating object, rubbing slowly along its smooth surface as Gaster responds by needily groping your chest with a groan.

Just as you’re beginning to wonder how far his knowledge of general human anatomy goes, you feel a pair of magical hands grabbing at the waistband of your long skirt, grabbing both that and your underwear at once as you allow them to remove the articles, leaving you entirely naked on the bed as those same hands start travelling up your legs, pushing your thighs apart as another appears and begins gauging your readiness.

You’ve easily been soaking wet ever since you got here, so his digits slide easily through your folds. He seems entertained by this fact, commenting with an audible grin, “So wet already… I thought it usually takes more than this.” You’re glad he’s so chuffed… In response, you rub extra vigorously on his similarly-slick soul for a couple seconds, enjoying the shuddering moan that escapes him as you do.

“I’m not the only one,” you utter deviously, and earn a few amused chuckles from the monster. He can’t deny you there - his soul has been gradually generating a layer of liquified magic, similar to precum as far as you understand it. There’s no singular point it comes out from, instead slowly oozing out of his entire soul at once and covering your fingers in the transparent, slightly-purple-tinted lubricant.

As you continue rubbing his soul, getting the hang of what pace to set, Gaster carefully inserts one of his digits into you, delicately avoiding using his claw to accidentally scrape you in the process. Once it’s all the way in, he drags it back out, pressing the flat part of his finger against your walls to create more friction, making you squirm and buck against his slow pace, begging for more.

He soon complies, adding another digit to the count as he expertly fingers you, finding just the right spot to make it super effective, while also rubbing his thumb over your extra-sensitive nub. You take labored breaths as he works you up, doing much the same for him. The words find you to say, “You’re really good at this… Ahh…” You lean into his touch, a sweet noise escaping you from the feeling. You’re starting to doubt if he’s really never done this before…

Taking excited breaths of his own (despite not having lungs), Gaster explains with a grin, “The internet is so helpful for such things…” So he looked up how to get humans off…? Damn, he really did ’thoroughly consider’ your confession. That works out well for you - though, now you’re admittedly a bit disappointed that you didn’t think to do the same for him…

“You are also doing rather well– nnhh,” he commends, a moan escaping him as one of your fingers rubbing his soul grazes across the pointed bit at the top. Seems like that’s extra sensitive. Maybe you’ll give him a taste of his own medicine now that you’ve found a weak spot, since he’s been so diligently showing your clit a good time and making your legs periodically shudder.

After observing that the tip was especially susceptible to your touch, you focus a good portion of your attention there, pulling more moans from the scientist as he leans his (really light) body weight into you from above. “Nnh… Haah…” As his chest moves, so does his soul, pressing more firmly into your grasp to invite more sweet friction. He’s like putty in your hands, and a sense of pride wells within you at just how responsive he is to your touch. To be fair, maybe he’s just really, really touch starved… But still.

You’re distracted, suddenly, by a wet feeling on your neck, as Gaster lolls what must be his tongue across your heated flesh, tasting you with his fangs bared and just barely scraping against you. A shudder of hot pleasure runs through you at the thought of being bitten again, bucking your hips against the slow, rhythmic pumping of his fingers inside you.

“Mmh… Please…” You plead for more - just in a general sense - as Gaster ravages your body and mind, his grip on you occasionally tensing as you brush over the tip of his soul over and over. You grow increasingly more aware of the growing pressure in your gut, feeling that your climax is being drawn much closer as this goes on.

With your hand practically dripping in his soul’s discharge, you can also sense that Gaster is getting closer too, feeling the natural pulsing of his magic growing stronger as you rub generously over the tip of the heart-shaped object in your grasp. Each of you works to try to drag this out longer, but each of you also gets quickly impatient, mixing into a semi-restrained, yet needy pace.

“Fffuck… Gaster…” You pant his name, his fingers increasing their pace a bit as you start squeezing your walls tightly around them. Finally, with his own undoing also quickly approaching, Gaster lines up his fangs with the same exact spot where he bit you before, groaning once more as he bites down into your shoulder all at once.

You gasp, your back arching as his magic quickly numbs the pain and leaves only more pleasure in its place. You find the act extremely erotic, gripping his soul a bit tighter in response as your rubbing intensifies, moving your whole hand over its surface at once. Mere moments later, a wave of electric euphoria rushes through you, your inner walls flexing in waves as you cum against his still-moving digits, riding out your orgasm with you while your unrestrained voice spills freely into the room with every breath.

It isn’t long until Gaster experiences much the same, his sultry moans muffled against your neck as you feel waves of pulsating magic erupt onto your hand. You pant laboredly as you continue to trace big circles with your hand across the surface of his soul, spreading his fluids further until you feel his body clearly relax and come down from his orgasm.

Both of you breathing heavily, Gaster slowly retracts his fangs, gently licking over the area to spread his magic and quickly stop the bleeding. Not only are you left drifting in the after-high of your release, you’re also warmly encompassed by the feeling of euphoria from his magic entering you. It seems like he managed to pump less into you than last time, as you don’t get the same intense drunk feeling as before, instead just feeling pleasantly buzzed.

He lies on top of you, ribcage expanding and retracting with the motion of his breathing, as you carefully withdraw your hand from his ribcage. You inspect it curiously, as it drips with his transparent, violet magic. Naturally, you can’t help but wonder what it might taste like. Without even thinking, you bring your slathered hand up to your mouth and lick the whole side of your index finger. The energy-filled substance tingles against your taste buds, almost like pop-rocks in your mouth.

Gaster gets off from atop of you to instead lie next to you, looking over at you with half-lidded sockets and very vibrant electric purple eye-lights. He catches you tasting more of his magic secretion and looks stunned, blinking in surprise at your actions as his face flushes an even deeper ultra-violet. “Wha–” He’s speechless. You see a hint of a smile forming, though, as he slowly shakes his head in disbelief.

“Hm…” You marinate on the flavor for a second, before informing him, “You taste like static and rock candy.” Basically, it’s very sweet, and the TV-fuzz-esque texture is really interesting. He once again doesn’t know what to say to this, relenting to just laugh lightly at the pure absurdity of your actions. Before you get the opportunity to try any more of the substance, a magic hand floats over with a towel and starts cleaning off your hand.

Another is summoned to wipe down Gaster’s inner ribcage - which is practically soaked after his climax - and one more for your lower region. He’s thankfully very gentle about helping you clean up between your legs, avoiding overstimulating you after your recent orgasm, so you gratefully let him do the work there as you take the towel for your hand and do that part yourself.

Once that’s done, you turn to Gaster and smile, rolling over onto your side to face him. He smiles back at you, and you reach out your hand to place it on his cheek, bringing yourself over to him for a brief, chaste kiss. “You’re amazing,” you tell him, to which he simply hums. Seems like he still isn’t very accustomed to receiving compliments… You’ll be sure to rectify that.

“You are great as well,” he says, moving his free hand to gesture with his index finger at your heart, ghosting his phalange across your skin as he traces vaguely around that area on your chest. He softly speaks, “I bet your soul would produce an even better taste than mine…” He gazes through lidded sockets into your eyes, as if asking for future permission to taste you in return.

Fair is fair, after all, and who are you to deny him the same luxury you were afforded? So, with a smile, you provide, “You’re more than welcome to test that theory.” He grins, and you catch a glimpse of his shortened fangs in the expression, internally questioning if he’d potentially be able to bite your soul directly, or if that’d be too risky. The idea definitely excites you in passing, at least.

“I’ll hold you to that, you know,” he promises, threatening you with a good time. You’ll have to take him up on that at some point. For now, you’ll just enjoy some pillowside talk, as the scientist confirms, “You’ve never seen your own soul before, have you?” You shake your head lightly, ‘No.’

Gaster slowly taps his finger against your chest, but doesn’t take any action to call your soul out, as you’ve heard monsters can do. “I wonder what color it is,” he muses, and you hum, curious as well. You’ve seen quizzes online that claim to be able to tell you what color your soul is, but you’ve never trusted any of those to be the most accurate form of test.

“I’m not sure, myself,” you respond, double-checking, “The color corresponds to what sort of person someone is, right?” Gaster seems tempted, for a moment, to give an informational lecture on the nuances of soul color correlations - but he refrains, simply nodding instead. “I mean, my friends always say I’m more trusting than most people, but I dunno…”

The scientist snorts at that, smirking. You’re tempted to flick him on the forehead for that, but you just roll your eyes and smile, continuing, “But… I also have some really strong convictions, and I’m not afraid to speak up about injustice. So that’s already at least three or four of the main traits, isn’t it? How would that work out?”

With you having now willingly prompted the lecture, Gaster’s more than happy to explain, “Colors from various traits can, on rare occasions, actually mix, if each trait is held in similarly powerful regard.” He smiles as he says, “Maybe you’re one of those rare few. Perhaps we’re both manga protagonists.”

“Pfft–” You crack up at his recycled use of your comment from earlier, laughing at the idea of being some kind of main character in a story. If anyone’s got the looks and charisma for the role, it’s him, not you - but you keep that opinion to yourself. Maybe at least you’d make for a good secondary lead, in this theoretical scenario.

“That would definitely be something special,” you say, sighing lightly after your bout of laughter. “Just like you are,” you sneak in the little flirtatious line before stealing one more quick kiss. It catches Gaster a little off guard, but he’s definitely into it. So into it that you can’t help but go back in for another, just to relish in how receptive he is to the affection.

Once you finally back off, he’s totally a hot mess - even more-so than before. How very interesting… Could he perhaps be…? Moving in to test your theory, you prop yourself up a bit and lean over him from the side, stooping down to kiss him yet again as he lays on his back now - then you kiss his cheek, then his jawline, as you trail down to his neck, his head tilting to allow you access as he moans lightly from the touch.

Holy shit. His refractory period really is that short. Well, to be fair, so is yours, but you technically have the biological advantage in that regard - it’s pretty rare, at least for humans with XY chromosomes, to recover their libido so quickly. On top of that, what’s even more surprising and exciting: Gaster, like you, seems to be a switch.

So, with a grin, you take advantage of your newfound position of power to explore more of his body, running your fingers along his ribs again and stirring him up further as he struggles to maintain any form of composure underneath you. “Nyx…” He breathes out your name with a hint of desperation.

His own hands come up to roam your form, lingering around your chest as you gradually feel a growing sense of magic in the area. Something stirs within you, with Gaster beginning to tease at your soul while it’s still inside your body, goading it with his magic. It’s like a distant itch, but not in an uncomfortable way.

Two can play at that game. Trailing kisses down his sternum, you reach under and brush lightly against his sensitive soul, visibly sending a shiver down his spine and working a small almost whine out of him in response. “Nhh–” Gods, his noises really turn you on. Especially when he’s being so submissive.

From your vantage point above him, you catch sight of something you were completely unaware of before, and it makes you pause for a brief moment in curiosity. He hasn’t taken his pants off, so you don’t know 100% what his anatomy looks like below the waist - yet, there’s definitely what seems like two distinct bulges at his groin.

This observation fascinates you, and you can’t help but stare for a few seconds - making Gaster briefly begin to wonder why you’ve stopped - before you slowly advance. You reach out and carefully lay your hand over the area, confirming that you can feel the shape of dual shafts. Once you’ve made contact, he instantly understands why you paused.

He explains, “I didn’t want to overwhelm you, so I didn’t bring attention to those…” You’re still hung up on the fact that there’s two, remaining awestruck as he goes on, “But you’re free to investigate, if you wish. The duality is another Boss Monster trait - at least for males.” Ah, that makes sense. He did mention being ‘very fertile’ before, so this tracks.

Having been granted permission to advance, you work to undress him fully. Summoned hands help you remove his remaining layers, revealing to you the majesty of his twin erect cocks. They’re pretty similar to a human’s - save for the slight ridges along the bottom, and the purple, ethereal glow of the precum beading at the tips. Plus the fact that there are two, of course - one above the other, sitting atop the filled-out center of his pelvis.

Gently, you wrap your hand around his lower member, feeling its soft, yet firm texture. You find it fascinating, using your thumb to spread some of the natural lubricant across the shaft for better friction as you begin to pump him. You feel his magic flare up in response to this, pulsing through his hand into your chest and causing a tugging sensation deep within you.

It’s not painful, per se, but it definitely makes you gasp and hunch over a bit, to which Gaster quickly recoils his hand, sits up slightly, and checks with a worried tone, “Are you alright?? I don’t have to bring your soul out if it’s too unpleasant for you…” You shake your head, taking a deep breath before saying,

“I’m fine, it just felt… unusual. It’s hard to describe, but it wasn’t a negative feeling.” You reassure him with a smile, looking over at him tenderly, appreciative of his concern. “You can keep going. Thanks for asking.” With that settled, you return your attention to what’s right in front of you: two awaiting cocks standing at the ready.

Oh how you wish you could ride them, potentially even both at once - but that’s not on the agenda for tonight. Instead, you’ll settle for your second best idea: slowly lowering your mouth onto one of them, while stroking the other. Gaster practically jumps when he sees you delve onto him, intaking a rather sharp breath through his teeth as you run your tongue along the base of the head.

“Aahh-” He definitely enjoys what you’re doing, despite being caught very off-guard by it. He didn’t expect you to start going down on him, but that’s absolutely what you’re doing. You revel in all the sounds you get out of him, and focus on the feeling of his magic tugging at your chest again - yet much more carefully this time.

You flex your jaw to keep it wide open as you suck in more of his throbbing member, enjoying the sweet taste of his precum as you spread the very same substance around his other shaft at the same time, albeit at a more steady pace. It seems to be taking a significant amount of effort on his end to not buck into your mouth, as his hips just barely twitch every so often, aching for more.

Managing to maintain enough of his focus, the ever-skillful doctor feeds more and more magic into you through his palm, until, gradually, you feel something ethereal - some deep, concentrated part of you - get drawn fully to the surface, emerging from your chest into the space between you. You’re a bit preoccupied at the moment to bother to check what color it is, but you can tell that it’s definitely exposed now.

Then you feel gentle fingertips wrap around it, their touch just barely ghosting over the sensitive little heart, drawing it closer to him while you continue to move your head and your hand over his own extremely-sensitive members. You start to feel what must be his hot breath on your soul, sending a tingling feeling all throughout your body at the unusual sensation.

Gaster waits until your mouth has mostly receded from his shaft - while you instead give the head some special attention - before he lulls out his tongue to drag across your exposed soul. If he were any deeper in your mouth, you would’ve choked. All at once you shudder and moan, overtaken by such a sweet feeling coursing through your very being that you can’t help but gasp and arch your spine. Holy shit, is that how sensitive souls are? You’re already breathless just from one little lick, damn.

But, not to be outdone, you take that as a challenge to take even more of the monster’s cock into your mouth, going as far down as you can manage while consciously suppressing your gag reflex, on guard now against his tactics. You ride him with your mouth, matching the pace with your hand, giving him more of the saccharine friction that he’s so susceptible to.

Your soul is so hyper-sensitive that you even feel the vibration of Gaster’s voice as he continues to make sounds of pleasure, giving you another slow drag of his tongue across the very core of your being, lighting you up with stimulus everywhere at once again in an irresistible sea of sensation. He then seems to take some inspiration from your idea, as he places the tip of your heart-shaped soul in his mouth and sucks, carefully avoiding his fangs in the process.

It feels amazing when he does this, almost making you collapse onto him in a flash of weakness. Holding your position, though, your limbs shudder under the enhanced experience, making you wonder for a second if maybe you should just favor his soul again instead of his cocks, when another pleased groan reminds you that he’s still absolutely enjoying your current attentions.

Keeping at it, bouncing your head and stroking him, you enjoy the literally-sweet taste of his magic in your mouth, continuously being produced at the tip as if to reward you. Your hand is slathered in the substance, enabling it to glide easily across his second shaft, which you’ve allowed your hand to set its own pace for separate from your head-bobbing.

You may be stroking him a bit too well, however, as his mirrored pace of sucking and licking your soul is driving you close to the edge at far too quick a pace. So you take a moment to breathe, wordlessly signaling to Gaster that things were moving too fast. You then continue at a much more languid pace, enjoying the lingering, drawn out ecstasy instead.

He does much the same, tenderly holding your soul and rubbing it lightly as he takes it in and out of his mouth, ravishing it with his tongue as he does, in fact, seem to enjoy your flavor, too. You wonder in passing what you taste like, but that thought is clouded out by another wave of slow, deep euphoria passing over you.

For that, you reward Gaster with an extra deep lick of the ridges along the bottom of his cock, his legs twitching as you push your tongue against the little protrusions. They seem to serve the purpose of discouraging you from retreating - though they don’t really enforce it very strongly, with how well-lubricated they are right now, between your saliva and Gaster’s precum.

Dragging his tongue across a large area of your soul’s surface at once, the pulsing eruption of sweetness that sweeps across you is almost too much - and Gaster can surely tell, because he takes pause midway through. He then lightly sucks the tip of your soul, sending another powerful jolt through you, only to wait again for the wave to recede just barely and repeat the cycle.

He’s edging you, damnit - and it feels indescribably good, but you also want so badly to cum. You can tell he’s close, too, so you deal the decisive blow - literally - as, all at once, you redouble your pace and run your tongue tightly along his ridges again, hearing as his breath hitches in his throat and he’s swiftly pushed over the edge.

Pulsing, his cocks ejaculate in tandem, one filling your mouth and making you quickly swallow its seed, and the other covering the side of your face and the rest of your hand in the magical compound. All the while, he moans loudly into your soul, held in his mouth, as his tongue writhes over its surface and unravels you, too.

Your body and mind are both sent swimming at once, carried by a tsunami wave of crashing sensation, your soul beating strongly over and over as Gaster’s tongue continues to lavish it to the end. Eventually, you both release each other from your respective grasps, panting in a heap from all the exertion you’ve just gone through.

…An unknowable amount of time passes before either of you is able to breathe evenly once more, and Gaster helps you into a more comfortable position lying next to him again. You stare into his glowing eye-lights, feeling your eyelids grow heavy with the urge to sleep, but for now you’re just content to exist here, now, with him.

You barely, slowly begin to notice the tint to the lighting on his face, coming from below, so your gaze drifts down curiously, to see your own soul still hovering outside of your chest. It’s a deep, dark navy - almost black - with a hint of a shift towards teal. You observe, in awe, little electrical sparks of red, like shooting stars across the night-sky backdrop of your soul.

Gaster watches you, watching your soul, with a smile. You give him an amused smile of your own when you notice his staring, snuggling closer up to him, your soul being forced back into your chest in the process. You lay - with your arms around him, and his around you - as both of you easily drift off into a deeply restful sleep together.