Some Only Understand Lv

by UndynesSpear

Summary:

You watched the monster in fascination, not noticing how long you had stood there watching him passionately work. You shifted slightly, trying to get comfortable against the table and accidentally knocked the heavy album to the floor. You felt the tiny hairs on your skin stand up in fear at the loud noise in the silent room. You watched the monster in fear as he paused, calmly setting down his pen before standing and then he was looming over you, bright violet eye lights burning into your eyes as he appeared unnervingly close to your face, causing you to stumble and press yourself against the wall, the monster easily following, not giving you an inch. His hands carefully trapped you against the wall, boxing you in between his massive arms.

“H̸̢̹̙̞̽̍̒m̵̢̛͕̣̟̌̓͑̍m̸̛̳̞̹̞̻̃̊̄͂͒͠m̵̛̟̠̟̄̌̿̅͘,̷̝͕̱̃ͅͅ ̸̿̑̐̅͜ṋ̶͔̲̼̖̗̎̇̽̚͘͠ọ̵͒w̶̎͑̓͐̑͜,̴̰̬͇͈̔͑̈́̈́̄̑̕͜ ̶̪͚̰̹̋h̷͚͉̐͛̓͊́̕͜ͅọ̷̡̔̅̕̚w̸͍͓̓̒ ̶̡̰̼̻̗͒̒d̷̰̞̠͌͗i̶͎̹͒̿̋́d̸͓̙̖̩̹̆͆̿̿͘̕ ̸̰̟͈̌̍̈̐͊͌͜͝ẏ̶̡̞̰͑̾͐͘o̴̢̩͖͖̝̦͐͆͊͜ŭ̶̹̩̔͝ ̴̧̡͖͍̝͗̀̅g̵̢̯̭̿̅̿̅͜ë̷̙͔͖̘́̂̚ͅt̸̖̬̑͠͠ ̵̢̈̀̆̾͐̑̋ỉ̷̙̣̀̑͐̉̈́̈́ņ̸̞̗̹͈̜̓̈́͜͠,̴̢͈̫̩͊̽ ̸̹̠͚͖̑͋̎͑͗͠m̴͓̤̺̻̆̓͋́̚y̷͕̩̽̌͊̒͂̕͜͠ ̶͇͚̖͔̯̲̆̈̚Ḑ̴̡̼͉̟̊̅͒͌ě̸̼͉̯͇̿͒̽͆̑̚͜ͅä̸̛̭̮̘̯̤̜̪́̾̉r̶̬̬͖̹̭͙͕̽͐́͝?̸̱̺̖̱̱͓̿́̇̚

Notes:

Please don't hurt me!
Guys I had an idea and I went with it.
Not sure how often this will be updated but I do have a for sure plot in mind for this one.

Chapter 1: A-Voided

    You whimpered as you gently palpated your ankle, with teary eyes you looked up the incline you has slipped down. If you hadn’t messed up your ankle when you slipped you probably could have made it back up it with just some minor difficulty. You huffed and stretched your leg out, untying the laces on your hiking boots. At least you had worn sensible clothing and shoes, unlike some of the other people on the tour. You thought with some bitterness as you went about lacing the injured foot tight so hopefully you would be at least able to walk, it was going to be a while before the group noticed you were missing. You grit your teeth as you drew the laces tight across your ankle, not quite managing to stifle the small cry of pain.

 

    You leaned back on your pack, you skull throbbing in time with your injured ankle. At least the view was pretty, and the underground doesn’t have wild animals and monsters don’t attack humans. Yeah, turns out the stuff of some people’s nightmares would sooner give you the food out of their mouths than ever harm a human. Trapped underground for so long monsters learned to appreciate life, HoPe was at an all-time low but instead of driving them to madness like it would have humans, they grew even closer, becoming more like a very very large family. You rubbed your forehead absently, the throbbing easing a bit in your skull. You wished you had a family like that, you had a few friends but you felt like they could take you or leave you. You didn’t really understand, you shared a lot of common interests, usually went along with their schemes, and when you didn’t you left them to it with an amused grin. They invited you over, but not as often as they hung out without you, you had to admit, it stung a bit, but you let it go. You moved to start fresh in a way, far enough away to where you didn’t know anyone, but close enough for your friends and family to visit once in a while.

 

    You opened your phone, already knowing there was no service this far below the surface and with all the magic in the air is scambled those sorts of signals and you hadn’t gotten an undernet card for your phone to allow it to connect to the grid powered by the CORE. They were so fucking expensive, mostly because if you weren’t a tourist you were a scientist of some sort studying the CORE otherwise humans weren’t allowed down here. The scientists could definitely afford the cards, not that they needed to, you were sure they got them from the government at the taxpayers expense (i/e you). You selected a playlist as you tested you ankle, which gave an immediate twang of pain. Okay, guess I’ll chill here. You rooted around in a pocket of your bag for a granola bar and some water, taking a couple bites and some small sips just in case.

 

    A couple hours pass as you hum along to the songs on your phone, listening to the gentle rushing of the waterfalls around you, hearing them crash somewhere far below. You were glad you had just slid from one plateau to another and not to your watery demise. You were close enough to the path you were sure someone would notice you or you them, you still glanced up periodically, just in case. You weren’t really surprised no one from the group had noticed you were gone yet, you had come alone and were walking towards the back, wanting to take in the sights and not lose your footing, you rolled your eyes at yourself. You had moved to Mt. Ebott due to the low rent costs bluntly. Ironically it was tourism hotspot but no one actually wanted to live there, and its not because of the mass volumes of people. Its because most of the population of this town and the surrounding area were monster kind. Humans were still mistrustful racists, fearful of what they don’t understand while sticking their heads in the sand, refusing to try.

 

    A kind Nice Cream man who set up his cart near you building had given you the tour voucher, after asking if you lived here or just visiting. He said it was a really nice tour run by one of his friends BP. You had found the cat monster relatable frankly, his dry, self-deprecating humor, though making others uncomfortable, had made you chuckle a few times which made him grin at you a few times. You had talked with him when the group paused in a particular room or area to allow people to explore or take pictures. He complained about the fact that he was tsill trapped under here working for the same shitty hunk of metal as he was before, but now he had to walk fucking miles on his aching paws every day! You had told him you bet his partner appreciated how fit it probably kept him. The cat monster had stuttered and blushed, managing to stammer out that he was single and not sure if he wanted to mingle yet. You had ribbed him a bit further telling him you had found monster blushes super cute.

 

    BP had sworn he had lost one of his few remaining lives Mettaton hadn’t wrung out of him prior to the barrier shattering when the cute human girl had started talking to him. He was sure he would mess it up, but then she had complimented his body and called him cute and he just melted. It had left him in a daze through the rest of the tour, as they entered the throne room he darted his eyes around looking for you, his whiskers drooping as the last few humans filtered through the grand archway. Where were you? Maybe you were just laging behind, he would just go check really quick, humans spent fucking forever in the stupid throne room after oohing and ahhhing at the Judgement Hall, not realizing how many brutal murders had taken place there recently and even years before the barrier had been errected. Who knows? Humans are fucking sick, kill each other fo fun, some might even get off on the thought. BP shuddered as he stepped back into the creepy hall after informing the group he would be right back and to stay in the room, he glanced up at the stained glass windows, somehow giving the room the illusion of warm sunlight coming through the glass. He felt nothing but the weight of years of icy death clinging to the room as he bravely marched through in search of the pretty human with the warm smile.

 

    You stood gingerly on your ankle, the rest and binding making it bearable but not to the point where you would be able to climb back up the path. You huffed after looking up at the incline behind you before shuffling towards the edge of the plateau, seeing nothing but water spray and darkness you sighed, resigned to waiting for help when you heard and odd sound behind you. Almost like, a door opening? You turned carefully to see, well, an open door, not sure what else you expected. Other than the fact it seemed to open into the small clifface you slipped down. You firmed your lips into the classic nope face as the darkness inside almost seemed to reach towards you, so dark it seemed to go on forever, vantablack, void black. The longer you stood frozen the less fear you seemed to feel, something felt familiar about it. Your shoulders finally relaxed and you took a step closer, a small prick of light seemed to appear in the void of the doorway. You squinted and a whole fucking room popped into existance on the other side of the door like some goddamn Room of Requirement or something.

 

    You felt a throb in your twisted ankle as your surprise caused you to take a hasty step backwards. You shook your head at yourself and stepped forwards again carefully, slowly peering through the doorway. A sparse white and gray octagonal room, about 50 feet in diameter, high ceilings. Windows high up on the walls, blinding light filtering in, but it somehow felt cold despite its cheery light. There were scraps of classic blue drafting paper and sheets of scribbled notes strewn about the surfaces, some torn or shredded, balled and crushed, others were kept pristine. You wandered carefully into the room, picking up on of the few mildly crumpled blueprints near your feet. You screwed up your face as you smoothed it out, twisting it until it appeared right side up, it was some sort of machine, sketches of gears in the margins as a vague cube shape with tubes had been viciously crossed out with black ink, harsh contrast to the white ink used on the rest of the plans. Notes had been made in the margins, some scribbled over by the black in. Some seemed almost typed to the page with how precise the letters where, the more legible pieces appeared to have been written in that odd wingdings font.

 

    You shrugged, placing the paper on a nearby desk as you glanced through, Using wingdings makes sense, You thought, most people can’t read that font at a glance . You shifted through a few more papers, not finding much of interest or clues as to the owner of this room. You saw a bed, immaculately made and very large, much like most of the furniture around here, confirming it to be a monster’s room. Monster’s had been surprised when the came out from the underground to find humans had shrunk in their eyes. Apparently humans used to be about the same height as most monsters, the royal scientist had a theory that it was the lack of magic in the atmosphere after the past zealots had used all the humans had to seal the monsters away. Many humans had died that day, monsters weren’t the only ones who survived on magic. The Children of Dust had claimed not only monster lives that day to fuel their own cruel agenda but innocent human mages as well.

 

    Humans were quick to point fingers after the news of the children slain after having fallen into the underground, others were quick to point out we sent our children to die every day for less. You paused as you came to a photo album on the bedside table, the only other spot of color in the room besides the drafting paper. It was a deep royal purple, the delta rune emblazoned in gold foil in the front. The cover was worn in a few spots, no doubt where hands had touched it fondly over the years. You carefully opened the large book, taking in each photo of a smiling face or familiar location of the underground, there were a few of the surface it seemed from a long time ago, the photos faded in black and white. You didn’t recognize any of the faces in particular as you carefully looked through the book, you didn’t imagine you would as some of these photos were rather old and you had only been in town for a short while. As you were about to flip to the last few pages you heard the sound of a door opening again, this time it was more of a slow creep, the harsh coldness that the light gave you seemed to brush around you as the door opened fully.

 

    You jumped and turned, hands paused in front of you as you waited to see who would come through the door. You heard sharp, careful measured footsteps, followed by the odd drip sound. A large shape appeared in the doorway, the door itself seeming to stretch to accommodate the large frame of the monster. You subconsciously took another step back, pressing yourself against the table. You weren’t really afraid, monsters were nice after all, this one was just so huge! You felt like you needed to make space for them in the massive room, considering you were technically trespassing. They stepped into the light through the door and wandered over to a desk nearby, not seeming to notice your still form across the room. A pair of bone-white disembodied hands closed the door behind them. Your eyes were wide as you took in his , decidedly, form. He was tall, maybe rivalled the King himself, but he seemed thin and fit where the King had major Dad-bod going on, not that you had a preference. Why the fuck does it matter what I think about their bodies , where the hell did that thought come from? You flushed deeply as you continued to take in the monster across from you, still seemingly unaware of your presence. He wore a black lab coat, slacks and loafers, his turtleneck sweater a dove gray and looking as soft as a feather, your fingers itched to feel the material to confirm your suspicions.

 

    He finally collapsed in a chair in front of his drafting table, shoving his face in his hands, the back of his head was smooth and white, he seemed to melt a little in place as he sighed deeply, the sound oddly slightly distorted but gave a hint to the deep voice you’re sure he had. He rubbed his face a few times in frustration before sitting up, the hands from before grabbing blank paper, fountain pens and inks from various spots around the room blindly. You mentally shrugged, you could understand organized chaos, it was something your mother never understand however, and still bothered you about even now that you lived on your own. You watched the monster in fascination, not noticing how long you had stood there watching him passionately work. You shifted slightly, trying to get comfortable against the table and accidentally knocked the heavy album to the floor.

 

    You felt the tiny hairs on your skin stand up in fear at the loud noise in the silent room. You watched the monster in fear as he paused, calmly setting down his pen before standing and then he was looming over you, bright violet eyelights burning into your eyes as he appeared unnervingly close to your face, causing you to stumble and press yourself against the wall, the monster easily following, not giving you an inch. His hands carefully trapped you against the wall, boxing you in between his massive arms.

 

    “H̸̢̹̙̞̽̍̒m̵̢̛͕̣̟̌̓͑̍m̸̛̳̞̹̞̻̃̊̄͂͒͠m̵̛̟̠̟̄̌̿̅͘,̷̝͕̱̃ͅͅ ̸̿̑̐̅͜ṋ̶͔̲̼̖̗̎̇̽̚͘͠ọ̵͒w̶̎͑̓͐̑͜,̴̰̬͇͈̔͑̈́̈́̄̑̕͜ ̶̪͚̰̹̋h̷͚͉̐͛̓͊́̕͜ͅọ̷̡̔̅̕̚w̸͍͓̓̒ ̶̡̰̼̻̗͒̒d̷̰̞̠͌͗i̶͎̹͒̿̋́d̸͓̙̖̩̹̆͆̿̿͘̕ ̸̰̟͈̌̍̈̐͊͌͜͝ẏ̶̡̞̰͑̾͐͘o̴̢̩͖͖̝̦͐͆͊͜ŭ̶̹̩̔͝ ̴̧̡͖͍̝͗̀̅g̵̢̯̭̿̅̿̅͜ë̷̙͔͖̘́̂̚ͅt̸̖̬̑͠͠ ̵̢̈̀̆̾͐̑̋ỉ̷̙̣̀̑͐̉̈́̈́ņ̸̞̗̹͈̜̓̈́͜͠,̴̢͈̫̩͊̽ ̸̹̠͚͖̑͋̎͑͗͠m̴͓̤̺̻̆̓͋́̚y̷͕̩̽̌͊̒͂̕͜͠ ̶͇͚̖͔̯̲̆̈̚Ḑ̴̡̼͉̟̊̅͒͌ě̸̼͉̯͇̿͒̽͆̑̚͜ͅä̸̛̭̮̘̯̤̜̪́̾̉r̶̬̬͖̹̭͙͕̽͐́͝?̸̱̺̖̱̱͓̿́̇̚ ” You flinched slightly, his deep voice growly and hard to understand. You peered into the eyelights an inch from your face, they didn’t seem particularly menacing. You tried to speak and cleared your throat, he leaded back a bit, either to avoid your spit or give you some room as you hadn’t screamed or tried to run away. He found it odd you had been in his presence for so long and he hadn’t noticed you, he assumed you must have been in the room before he had arrived. You had held still for a very long time, and it didn’t seem to be out of fear. He took a subtle scenting of the human woman in front of him, and his eyelights expanded slightly. He took a  deeper breath, resisting his urge to taste your skin to get a better idea of what he was smelling. Most of his scent glands per se were in his mouth, unlike most monsters who had a nose so he got most of his scent information from taste. But he knew most humans found it rude so he sniffed, trying to be subtle.

 

    “Um, I’m sorry for uh basically being in your house.” You took in more of the monster’s features now that he seemed preoccupied with something by your neck. “I uh fell down a small cliff and hurt my ankle, I was waiting for the tour group to come back through to rescue me but then this door appeared and opened for me. I’m really sorry for just wandering in, I assume this is your room? I’m really sorry, I’ll leave.” You stammered out as his eyelights sharpened on your face again, the grin on his face becoming less sharp and becoming a bit more relaxed.

 

    "̸̲̜̚T̴͕̻̊͑è̸͓͌l̴̖͝ļ̷͉̀̓ ̸̼̚m̴̛̻̻ḗ̶̥,̸̮̠̊ ̵͓̥͝m̷̢̈́̇y̶̟͙͐̉ ̷̦̔͘D̵̦̓e̵̩͐a̵͔͗r̵͈͌,̷̪ ̴̰̌̏w̷̲̋ḥ̴̠̌a̷̜͎͐̾t̵͚̍̂ ̶͎́y̶̟̔e̴͓̱͌̂a̷̪̠͝r̶̯̿͋ ̶͔̈́͒i̷͈̓̑s̸̱̝̈́̔ ̵̟̥͊ȋ̴̯t̵̬͆͝?̶̻̯̄̊"̵̮̹͆̊ He was a bit easier to understand this time, especially since he was far enough back that you could read his lips, allowing you to properly take in his features. “Uh, August of 2019.” He leaned back farther, his mouth almost completely closing in shock. The whole right side of his face looked like it had slightly melted downwards though it didn’t seem to affect his expressions. A crack ran up from his eye socket on his right and down on the opposite side, the violet of his eye lights dimmed to a more pure white, his grin seemed permanent, like he could never quite close his mouth much like the skeleton-like monster he seemed to be. His skeletal grin was slightly turned down in a contemplative frown as he stood up to his full towering height, a disembodied skeletal hand with a hole through the center appeared to rub his chin in thought. His attached hands slide from the wall, one being offered to you from where you had slid to the ground. You eyed the hand, skeletal with a hole through the hand much like the ones still floating about the room. You took it and were surprised to feel a gentle warmth much like any human hand. He gently pulled you to your feet, "̴H̵m̴m̸,̵ ̶i̵t̷ ̴h̶a̸s̵ ̷b̴e̵e̶n̸ ̶a̴ ̴l̴o̴n̸g̴ ̴t̸i̴m̵e̶ ̸s̴i̸n̷c̴e̴  I̷ '̴v̸e̵ ̵h̶a̵d̸ ̸c̶o̸m̸p̷a̴n̴y̶,̵ ̶d̶o̶ ̵f̷o̶r̴g̷i̶v̵e̶ ̶m̷e̴,̶ ̷m̸y̷ ̴D̶e̴a̵r̸.̵ ̴I̶ ̷a̷p̸p̷e̴a̷r̷ ̷t̴o̵ ̴h̵a̵v̷e̷ ̷f̸o̵r̵g̸o̷t̵t̴e̵n̷ ̷m̷y̵ ̵m̸a̶n̶n̴e̴r̸s̷.̶"̶ He gently shook the hand that was still grasped in his large one. “I am Doctor Wingdings Gaster, pleasure to meet you, my Dear.” His smile was charming, a bit crooked at the corner where it was slightly drooped but it seemed to add to his character in a way. He gently pulled his hand away before folding his arms behind his back. “If I had known I was going to be having such a lovely guest like yourself I would have tidied up, I apologize.”

 

    You knew you had to be tomato red, phew, this monster knew how to turn you into a puddle in fear and with charm, very dangerous. You introduced yourself awkwardly and apologized again for breaking into his room on accident. He waved away your concerns with slick grin, “Now my Dear, I’m never one to turn away a beautiful lady from my bedroom.” He said with a teasing grin after he noticed your blush, just embarrassing you further causing you to growl at him, getting more annoyed as you realized you’re standing right next to the massive bed in question.

 

    “Seriously Dr. Gaster, I’m starting to doubt the phd, never met a doctor so crude.” That wasn’t true at all, doctors were huge perverts no matter what field you work in, most just knew how to behave like normal people. He let out a deep laugh at your expression before gliding across the room, his smoky whiskey-like scent following him to a small bar cart as he poured an amber liquid from a crystal decanter before wandering towards the small sitting area. He gave you a friendly smile from one of the chairs, gesturing with a hand toward the other. You sighed, acting put upon before limping slightly across the room to take a seat, having to hop awkwardly into the large chair a bit, much to his amusement. You scowled at him, rubbing your sore ankle slightly, still bound in your boots, wow, it was going to hurt when you took that off. Gaster frowned as he saw you rubbing at your injured leg, from what he remembered humans took direct damage to body parts instead of through the soul outside an encounter. He fished around in his lab coat, now where.. Aha! He pulled a small brightly wrapped sucker from his lab coat and offered it to you. You looked at him quizzically. “Is is Monster Candy, it will help with your ankle.” You nodded at him, having seen the absurdly expensive monster treat in a local grocery store back in your old town.

 

    “Thank you,” you said quietly, taking the cady from him, flushing slightly as his warm fingers brushed yours. You unwrapped the deep violet candy and popped it in your mouth, fiddling with the stick as it slowly dissolved in your mouth, leaving a fizzing feeling behind which travelled towards your ankle, sending a gentle warmth through it causing you to sigh in relief. He smiled at you gently, crossing his legs at the knee as he took a careful sip of his tumbler, humming at the taste. Once the candy had fully dissolved you pocketed the stick and absently took a small sip from the tumbler, the whiskey about as smooth as you expected, if not more so, warmth settling in your stomach as it faded from your now healed ankle. “So again, sorry for barging in, I don’t usually wander into random people’s homes.” You refused to look up from your glass. He chuckled smoothly, his finger gently tracing the rim of his glass, making it sing.

 

    “Come now, my Dear, all is forgiven, I honestly don’t mind, I haven’t had company of any sort for many years.” You finally looked up at him to see a warm smile, arms folded in his lap while two disembodied hands grasped his glass carefully as he regarded you. You flushed again under his stare, not many guys like him wanted to spend any amount of time with a woman like you. He was charming intelligence wrapped in fine clothing and you were, well, you. That wasn’t really your thing, too much pressure to be someone else, you didn’t mind chatting with him but it wasn’t going further than that. Bit conceited, thinking he’d be into you at all. Shut up intrusive thoughts, you’re an asshole. “Ten G for your thoughts, quite the expression you have there.” Your eyes flicked towards his, hearing the humor in his voice. He was grinning smugly at you, enjoying how flustered he seemed to make you.

 

    Something about you, this human woman who just walked in to his personal hell like she was calling upon an old friend, made him want to learn more. He was fascinated and somehow he knew it wasn’t just because he hadn’t seen another soul in decades. At first he thought you were another cruel trick from his fractured mind, and then he was horrified when he realized you were real , the implications . Part of him was horrified at the thought you would be doomed to a life trapped in this hell with him, if you knew what sort of disgusting creature you shared conversation with you would be clawing through the walls to escape. The other part of him however selfishly sobbed in relief, he wasn’t alone anymore, and from what little time he had spent with you so far he felt his teeth ready to sink in and keep you here with him. Luckily his mind hadn’t completely left him and he knew you would never willingly stay with a horrid creature man like himself. After all the things he’s done, hiding behind the King’s hastily made decrees, pretending it was for the good of monster kind when it was really just to satisfy his own sick sense of curiosity. At least two decent things had come out of his misdeeds, he absently touched the hole in his left hand, smiling fondly thinking of a short skeleton who had his own propensity for bad jokes but he fortunately had a clear moral compass and a lanky babybones with his insatiable curiosity tempered with kindness, He must be grown by now…

 

    You grinned at the large monster as he himself seemed to become lost in thought, just after teasing you about it, you know what they say about stones in glass houses. He had a small smile on his face, at least they were pleasant thoughts. “Ah, nothing much really,” You said quickly, his grin turned sly once more as he surfaced from his own thoughts. “What about you? You got lost there too!” He snickered softly, leaning back from you, placing a fist under his jaw, regarding you from his lidded eyes. Oh no, he has a smoulder, fuck . You thought back to an old public speaking trick when you wanted to avoid looking someone in the eye, just look at their ear instead, nothing sexy about an ear right? That should keep you safe from the strangely attractive skeleton monster’s looks. You stop as your gaze reaches the side of his tilted head, you are a fucking idiot, skeleton monsters don’t have goddamn ears. Welp, I’m out of ideas, guess I’ll just get smouldered to death, worse ways to go to be honest.

 

    Gaster watched you struggle with your thoughts, since he didn’t have a subtle way of scenting you like most monsters had it was hard to tell exactly what had you so flustered but he could guess. “I was just thinking of some… friends I haven’t seen in a very long time.” You smiled at him, it felt like the long forgotten rays of sunshine he had once felt on his bones, made him feel whole again. “So, am I right to assume the barrier is no more?” Your face screwed up cutely in minor confusion as you pondered his question before seeming to remember he had said he hadn’t seen anyone else in a long time. “Uh, yeah, some kid named Frisk helped take it down I think about six years ago now.” You had never met the ambassador, they had hardly left their adoptive mother’s sight once they had come to the surface. Gaster seemed a bit at a loss after you answered his question, looking off towards his desk littered with his notes and plans. He wasn’t quite sure what he was feeling, decades of his life dedicated to that task and a single human child had managed to do it in so little time. He remembered meeting Frisk recently, or maybe it was thousands of years ago, he was never quite sure anymore. The kid had spoken in broken Hands to him, insisting that they would find a way to free him from the prison of his own making.

 

    He had shook his head sadly at the child, who’s eyes burned with the bright crimson of Determination. He had once thought Determination was the answer, if the monsters could somehow recreate Determination he was sure it could overpower the magic in the barrier. But just as he had completed the machine, he had made a costly mistake, ending up tossed into the emptiest part of the void. He had been lost there, wandering aimlessly in the emptiness until he found a gray door. Frisk had signed a few more words that Gaster couldn’t quite understand with finality before dashing back through the door with a cheerful wave. The monster had honestly thought the child some hallucination, throwing more of his mistakes in his face, he knew he deserved it, after all he had done. He wasn’t sure how to feel knowing the child was real.

 

    You frowned at the defeated look on the doctor’s face, opening your mouth to say something you heard the squeak of a door and the faint roar of rushing water. Gaster blinked and came back to himself at the sound, though quiet, was utterly deafening in the silent room. He peered off behind himself at the ajar gray door, having appeared on the opposite wall from the one he entered through. He stared at the door a moment longer before standing, offering his hand to you again, helping you stand. “Well, my Dear, it appears our time is up.” He wanted to smooth the little furrow that appeared between your brow but refrained, he was sure you found his ruined visage repulsive anyway. From what he remembered of humans, most were concerned with physical beauty, admittedly some could see the beauty of the soul but it was too much to hope that you would be one of those humans.

 

    No, he would not force his cursed existence upon you, it wasn’t often the void allowed something to leave . The void was greedy, it wanted to swallow everything , it rarely gave anything up without a vicious fight, and even then you never truly won. Gaster refrained from touching his chest where his mangled and cracked soul resided, his eye lights dimming slightly. Even if you were one of those rare humans who saw a person's soul before their physical appearance you would never want the blighted scraps left in his chest. “I truly thank you for staying a while. It was nice having someone to speak with.” At the end of the day, Gaster was only a man, a weak man. He gently pressed his mouth to the back of your still captive hand in a kiss, giving you a wink when you blushed and stuttered before returning to his full height, making you crane your neck with how close he stood.

 

    “Ah, n-no problem Dr. Gaster, I could visit m-maybe if you like?” You then frowned, realizing it might be difficult for you to get back down here, and even if you did manage via the tour group again they would be awfully suspicious if you disappear each time you came for a trip. There was a very narrow chance you would be able to safely navigate the underground, especially since it was so empty these last few years. Gaster chuckled warmly, one of his sockets closed in a teasing grin.

 

    “Of course I would never say no to a gorgeous woman, but atlas , you might find it difficult to map out my location.” You let out a surprised snort of laughter at the terrible puns, his eye lights seemed to sparkle as you laughed. The rushing of the waterfalls grew louder, the door opening further the closer you walked. “Wingdings, those were fucking awful.” His booming laugh filled the room as you both paused at the door. He smiled gently down at you, he raised his hand, poised to lay it against your cheek. You held your breath, eyes wide. The roar of the waterfalls grew louder as he leaned close, shifting his hand from your cheek to your hair- You blinked, hearing a somewhat familiar voice calling your name.

 

    Turning towards the door, Gaster’s hand slipped from your hair regretfully. A small sense of shame filled him as you glanced toward the wide open door, of course you had someone. Gaster could hear the worry in the males voice and something dark in him growled , a part he silenced with years of his mistakes and shame. You turned back to the tall monster sadly, “I really will visit, it might be difficult, but I’ll come back.” You lips quirked in a flirty grin, “Or, maybe you could visit me sometime.” A delicate flush spread over your face, almost like you couldn’t believe you said that (you really couldn’t). You darted forward quickly and wrapped your arms around the waist of the monster, your face pressing into the absurdly soft sweater he wore under his lab coat. Gaster’s many hands froze, hovering over the body of the human woman now pressed against him, her tiny face pressed just below his sternum. He smells so good, okay let go creepy, he isn't even hugging you back, probably wondering why this gross human infant is touching him. And then you felt his arms come around your carefully, you buried your face in his chest as yours erupted in flames. “You know, that shade of red on your face reminds me of a bartender I used to know.” The rumbling of his voice pleasant against your ear. You made a weird grunting sound and pushed away from the man, looking like you were trying not to smile, face two shades darker than before.

 

    “Ugh, I’m leaving.” Gaster let out another deep laugh as you stalked through the door, easily hearing BP calling for you, sounding like he was about to pass by where you slipped. You glanced back, Gaster waved, shooting you a smoldering wink as the door swung shut.

Chapter 2: Dishes Fate

Summary:

You finish the tour, learn a bit more about the war, and how the barrier came to be.

Notes:

Thanks for all the support you guys! I really appreciate it!

Also I drew Gaster
https://undynesspear.tumblr.com/post/186833190711/its-okay-he-just-wants-to-e

    Gaster’s smile slipped from his face as the door closed, his hands dropping to his sides, his whole form drooping slightly. He closed his eyes for a moment, the silence of the void deafening, morso now that you had left, taking with you the life, the touch he had been starved of for decades. It was almost cruel, he still wasn’t quite sure if his own mind had conjured you to stave off his loneliness or not, honestly he had lost his mind long before becoming one with the void, so there was no saving that. He opened his eyes as he turned towards his bed, he no longer required sleep, but it broke up the monotony and gave him a sense of time passing.

 

    As he reached his bedside, he started to remove his coat when his foot nudged something lying on the floor. He paused, glancing down, seeing the album you knocked off the table earlier when he cornered you. One of his many conjured hands carefully lifted the album and placed it back on the nightstand. Gaster stroked a finger down the page it was open to, it was one of the last photos he ever took. He gently pulled the old photo from its place amongst the others, his mouth turned down in a small frown, his eyes drooped.

 

    He gazed fondly at the stocky-looking skeleton, clothed in black basketball shorts, a plain white tee, and a sky blue hoodie, the wool-lined hood pulled up over his round skull, eyelights turned up in laughter, his natural grin spread wide in delight while he was holding a smaller skeleton who had an enraged expression on his face. The expression on the youngest skeleton’s face made him chuckle fondly. The smaller skeleton was dressed in a red parka, the hood was down and lined with dark brown fur, he wore red earmuffs (which honestly just made it harder for him to hear and did nothing for warmth), the collar of his orange turtleneck poked out, a bit too big for him yet.

 

    Gaster sighed, his form becoming increasingly viscous the more he dwelled on his failures, all his failures. He placed the photo back where it belonged with a bitter smile before gently closing the album, sending one of his many hands to place it with the others on the bookshelf across the room. Turning back towards his desk he paused mid-stride, his head snapped to the side, looking at the wall where you had left ten minutes ago. The door was still there.

 

    “Glad you didn’t get hurt too bad, buddy.” You smiled at the cat monster as you both walked along the path through the underground, BP was still kind enough to tell you about the rooms as you passed, though you’re sure to was the last thing he wanted to do. Having to say the same shit every day was enough to drive anyone batty. 

 

    “Yeah, I’m lucky it was just a little sprain, its much better now. I just figured it was better I stay there and wait for someone so i didn’t get lost.” He nodded with you in agreement, his paws loosely tucked in the front pockets of his jeans. He reached into his back pocket and fished out a square box. He tapped out a slim cigarette-like object, pausing as he caught your eye. “Mind if I smoke?” You shake your head and he lit the end, exhaling a greenish smoke which smelled vaguely herbal, not a bad smell to be honest  unlike human cigarettes. “Boss’d declaw me if he found out I was havin’ a ‘nip on the job, even if the bastard is the one who sells ‘em.” You caught the label on the front of the carton as he stashed it away again; “ MTT BRAND CATNIPETTES” .

 

    You absently listened to BP as he complaned more about his boss, you didn’t have to listen too closely as it was mostly a rehash from before. You pondered the man you met in the strange white room, you hoped you could see him again someday. You rubbed your chest absently, you felt a coldness forming, like when you drink a slushie too fast. You really weren’t a hugger, so you’re not sure what made you want to wrap your arms around a perfect stranger, except. He didn’t feel like a stranger, he felt like someone you had known for years and had just seen him again after he had been gone for a long time, he felt familiar . The way he had squeezed you back had felt safe and genuine and not as stiff and awkward it should have been.

 

    Surely he was glad you were gone, dirt-covered, creepy, chubby human girl feeling him up, you’d be looking for a door to shove you through too. Regardless of his insistence you were welcome in his room (home?), you were sure he was just being polite. You glanced back the way you came, as if he would suddenly appear. “Hey, buddy?” You looked back at BP absently as he tossed the butt of his smoke on the ground before stomping it out with his paw, not indicating the action of bare embers on his pads painful. “You lookin’ for someone?” Your brow creased slightly and you tilted your head.

 

    “No, why?” His ear twitched slightly as he looked at you a bit skeptically. “Well, ya haven’t gone a minute without checking behind you like someones gonna grab ya.” You opened your mouth to deny when he continued, “Also I asked you about five minutes ago what you thought of the Echo Flowers and you just said ‘uh huh’.” You flushed deeply and faced him fully, he had a slight smirk curling his lip, arms crossed as he waited for your response.

 

    “Ah well… Okay I met someone.” Bp felt himself deflate internally as he watched you fidget under his scrutiny, a cute flush staining your face as you seemed to want to look anywhere else but directly at him. Ah, whoever it is, is one lucky fuck. He admired the way the deep red of the lava lighting the large cavern made your hair glitter a deep firey ruby, and gave your cheeks and even rosier glow as you stalled for time. The cat monster was patient, and curious of course, who ever heard of a cat monster who wasn’t the curious sort. Though he will admit he was usually too curious for his own good, which is why the whiskers on the left side his face were a bit haggard compared to the right side. Stuck his nose in at the wrong time, though he felt this was a pretty safe mystery to solve, even if his soul felt stomped on. He started to tap his foot and raised a brow at you when you finally looked at him. “After I fell, I uh saw a gray door on the face of the cliff. I may have accidentally broken into his house.” You looked back at the cat monster to see both his brows raised.

 

    “Well, the door opened on its own when I got closer. I hadn’t been in there long when a really tall male monster came through another door on the other side of the room.” BP leaned against the cave wall after pressing the elevator button. “Sooooo, you just wandered around this guys house and he we okay with that? I mean, we monsters are pretty friendly but uh, a B and E is still a thing.” You twisted your hands as you stepped into the elevator.

 

    “I know, he seemed really surprised I was there. And not just the ‘ oh, a random human female is in my room without my prior knowledge ’ sort of way. He didn’t seem to know what to say when I told him the door just seemed to open for me.” You readjusted your bun, still overheated from the trip through Hotland. “I told him I would leave immediately and I apologized but he said he didn’t mind at all, but I feel like he was maybe trying to placate the clearly insane human who broke into his house.” BP chuckled as he jabbed a button on the panel blindly.

 

    “So, did this guy give ya a name or somethin?” He leaned back against the metal wall as you braced your hands against the rail, the elevator smoothly climbing the floors. You nodded, remembering the odd name, if anyone else had given it to you you would think it was a joke.

 

    “Uh, Gaster I think, Doctor Wingdings Gaster.” The cat monsters face screwed up in confusion, there were very few monsters he didn’t know, and even fewer he didn’t even know their name and that one was odd enough he would have remembered it. Especially if the monster was a doctor like you said. Maybe he was a doctor under Dr. Alphys?

 

    “Huh, not often I don’t recognize a name, what's he look like?” You paused as a soft ding announce your arrival to the next floor. The door slid open and you followed the cat monster into the much cooler hallway. “Um, like I said, really tall, maybe King Asgore tall.” BP whistled, standing at 6’3 himself, he was one of the shorter monsters, that would put the guy at almost eight feet tall. “Yeah, I barely come up to the bottom of his ribs.” You hurried on before he could question how you know that, “He had on a black lab coat and slacks with a dove gray turtleneck sweater. I think he was some sort of skeleton monster? He had a crack from each of his sockets going opposite directions and perfect holes in his palms.” BP made a face, imagining holes in his own palms. “He was really well spoken, and kind.” You flushed again, remembering the feeling of his arms around you. “I don’t think he's left that place in a  long time, he didn’t seem to know the barrier was broken, or even what year it was.”

 

    “Really?” BP paused outside the second elevator, you looked around absently. “Well, maybe he's one of those really old powerful monsters.” You gave him a questioning glance as the door slid shut on the second elevator and he punched another button. “It sounds like he might be a Boss Monster, they're usually much larger than any of the other monsters and live much longer. It's very possible he just lost track of time, easy to do when you can live for millenia.” Your eyes widened in surprise, you knew monsters could live for a long time having been trapped underground for as long as they were but this was something else. “I still don’t remember any gray door or house around there, but who knows, maybe he kept it hidden with magic usually and somehow you managed to see it, not unusual for more private monsters.” The doors slid open again and you paused, the chill in your chest increased slightly as you stepped into the sunny-looking hallway. High arched ceilings with stained glass windows depicting the Delta Rune let in cold, filtered light, elegant columns lined the pale yellow walls and checkered, polished floors.

 

    BP noticed as you went silent and followed suit, he took in your furrowed brow and the downward bend in your lips and you stared at one of the windows. Most humans would be gushing about the beautiful architecture and gorgeous stained glass and how impressive it was that monsters had built something so beautiful. As if monsters hadn’t been here longer than humans and would still be after humans were gone. You were one of the few he had seen have a proper reaction to what was essentially the execution site of many innocent souls, human and monster. The silence of the hall was always oppressing, heavy and thick, the weight of sins crawling on your back, every ounce of LoVe earned a lead weight on your soul. He watched as you stood tall but respectfully silent. “What… is this room?” Your voice was hushed but easily heard.

 

    “The Judgement Hall.” He quietly padded up next to you, the opaqueness of the stained glass only letting in a blur of harsh golden light. You nodded and looked around a moment longer, pausing in the middle of the room you saw a deep groove slashed into the ground, as if a large knife or sword had been drug across it. You touched it softly, finding it unnaturally cold, you drew your fingers back and stood, eyeing what you assumed to be the exit, massive door parted slightly, murmured conversation drifting through. “C’mon, this place is depressing.” He shoved his hands back in his pockets and hunched over again, padding towards the open doors with trepidation. Mettaton was gonna skin his tail for being so behind, regardless of the reason, even if a human fell into the lava pit Anakin Skywalker style he would still be expected to be done on time.

 

    You looked back one last time before following the frazzled cat through the massive ornate doors, the hall seemed to dim with shadows even with the cold light shining through the windows. You gave a shiver and followed through the doors into a throne room, golden flowers covered the mossy floor, the same stone floor from the hall continued here, peeking through the moss at regular intervals. The air was still tense in here but much less oppressive, felt more like shame. The light peeking through the windows here felt a bit more sunny and less harsh, you could faintly hear birdsong, though you couldn’t pinpoint it, the ceilings disappearing into darkness high above your small human form.

 

    You saw BP off scolding some sullen teenagers who had ignored both signs and royal purple velvet rope asking them to please stay off the thrones. They didn’t look very sorry but thought better of arguing after seeing the slightly unhinged expression on the lean monster. He clapped his paws together to get everyone's attention, which honestly did a much better job than you thought it would, considering the plush fur covering them. “Thank you for your patience everyone, we have one last place to see and then that will be the end of our tour today, don’t forget to visit the gift shop! Not that you have any choice not to .” He muttered that part softly as he turned towards the doors behind the thrones, leading the group out, a few tourists lingering hoping to get a few last photos. The last room you all came too was dark, you froze it was almost like the darkness from the doorway before Gaster’s room came into view.

 

    Then you realized it was just the natural darkness of the underground after having been in the odd light of the palace it was a rough transition. You blinked a few times to get some of the rocky surroundings into view. You saw a circle of light a ways up a decently steep path, you assumed that was the exit to the surface, BP paused and held up a paw. Your group paused and the Cat monster spoke. “Long ago seven human mages were manipulated into trapping their friends, family, and innocent monsters and humans underground. Hatred had ruled the time, greedy human monarchs who refused to listen to reason sought to gain monster lands for themselves, but they lacked the ability to fight monsters on even footing. Human mages were few and far between at the time, human birth rates were abysmal due to prejudice against the healing magic of monsters. So, they stole them . Mage children stolen in the night from their parents and raised to one day erect the barrier that trapped us all underground.” His voice echoes ominously throughout the cavern, the group was silent for once, even the teenagers who had been nothing but trouble stood listening intently. BP may sure hate his job, but the guy had stage presence.

 

    “The magic was a dark magic, it used the very souls’ desires to power the barrier, each soul adding many years to the longevity of the barrier. Not all humans had agreed to the greedy king’s plan, most were infuriated, but those who tried to fight back… Well, anyway, the king had taken many years finding the exact spell he needed to trap us forever and he just happened to have the exact number of souls he needed. Any less than seven and the spell would eventually run out of power, but with one soul of each of the seven major human magics would ensure we would all perish.

 

    “Finally the King had us backed into a corner, his brainwashed mages’ souls free from their bodies, all magics playing their scores harmonizing for the finale, but there was one missing. As each soul formed the barrier we could feel the air becoming thicker, a few of the boss monsters, including the king and queen, tried to halt the barrier but were deflected by the minor trait mages. The king could not figure out what the holdup was, the barrier should be a solid white, not the flashing mess of color before them. Through the battlefield from far off human mages and troops fell under a rain of blood red knives, the Determination trait child mage charged desperately through the field, hacking and slashing their way towards the barrier, much to the horror of the King and Queen of Monsters. The child stopped before them and started slamming their knives into the barely formed barrier, forming larger and larger bladed weapons even as the monsters and trapped humans begged the child to run they didn’t stop, even as they were pelted with magic and physical weapons.” The silence was thick in the crowd, no one even shifting a toe from here they all stood enraptured in the guide’s story.

 

    “As the child’s soul left their body for the last time the human king roared in victory, surely he had won, all the souls would go to strengthening the barrier and he would have his land and riches, trapping monsters under the mountain, long after he turned to dust in his grave. However he forgot, he was dealing with a Determined soul, and Determined souls only do what Determined souls want  to do. A massive miscalculation on the human king’s part, the soul flashed crimson and charged at the barrier. Monsters and humans alike watched as the soul forced its way inside the barrier and dug in, glowing brighter and brighter as the barrier dimmed to a faded silver, even less powerful than when just two souls had joined. The king had screamed in rage, the remaining few human mages under his control slaughtered and monsters still outside the barrier who couldn’t or wouldn’t run.

 

    “In the end, the barrier still held and some saw the child’s sacrifice as meaningless, but it really wasn’t, in the end, that power, Determination, is what allowed Frisk to shatter the remains of the barrier, freeing us all. This, is where that all happened, our confinement and our freedom.” he silently turned and started the slow walk up the incline. Everyone stood transfixed a moment longer, that cat could tell a story when he tried. Everyone slowly looked around and carefully followed the guide up the path, most not realizing it wasn’t just monsters who had been trapped underground. At least no one stupidly asked why no humans had been underground when the barrier had been broken. You followed the group slowly, this room felt like forgiveness and hope. You smiled as you walked up the path, hopeful you would see Gaster again.

 

    Gaster paused, hand frozen above the knob to the door, it was different than usual, the color was the same but the design of the door was different. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what lay beyond, surely it was more void. But what if it wasn’t ? He wasn’t sure which answer scared him more.`He held his breath as he twisted the knob, it wouldn’t budge, he wasn’t sure whether he was relieved or disappointed. He released the knob and stepped back, the door naturally staying in place as most doors do. He decided to ignore it for now and get back to work.

 

    Sitting at his desk he shuffled through his papers, trying to find the one he had been working on before you had shown up. He still didn’t understand how you were able to enter and exit the void so easily. Even those gifted with void magic like himself found it to be like walking on the ocean floor with a boulder in your arms, slow and oppressive, but you breezed through the passages unknowingly like you were taking a stroll down the street. Gaster himself didn’t have as hard of a time as some even before he became one with the void, it was more like treading thigh-high water, he could move faster but it was a bit messy and left ripples. Ripples attracted predators most would rather not meet, himself included, especially in his weakened state as he was. After his mishap he ended up with shards of the void splintered throughout his soul, giving it it’s shattered appearance. His soul was whole per se, he should know after all the years hes spent trying to figure out where he went wrong, the shards of void embedded in it keep him trapped in this space, the void likes to remain whole after all.

 

    He sighed, uttery distracted since you left, your scent lingered throughout his room, his jaws parted slightly as he breathed deeply, your rich scent sticking to the back of his throat. There was no way he would be getting any work done anytime soon, he already caught himself turning towards the door you had exited through, which offered him another puzzle. Why was the door still there? They only existed when they had a purpose and as soon as you left it should have vanished in between blinks of his sockets. He had tried many ways to get the doors to stay, but even if he refused to blink or look away the door would not budge much like this one.

It was… v̶͍̈́e̶͎̎r̵͇͓̓ỷ̶̡̎ I̴̬̜͇͔͙̟̖͚̍̈̿͋̓͗̎̐̚͠ņ̴̛͕̬̟̲͈̝̞̬͓̠̯͖̈́̍̂̾̅̂͐̓̇̽̚̕͜ͅt̴̡̨̨̘̠̘͚̯͕̆̀̀̍͌͌̂͒̊̔̒̎͆̕ͅͅe̷̻̟̤͍̾̔̇̇̔̄͗͑̒̑̍͠r̶̡͈̻̝̣̘͚̘̃̌̚e̶̹͚̖̼̝͇̿̍̒͋̽̅́̉͝͝s̷̛̛̤̫̎̂ţ̴̭̯͍̬̰̺̣̌i̸̩̮͍̻͚̘̹̝͓̘͍̙͉͙̓́̒̾͌̓̏͊͛͆̌̐̚͘͠n̴̜̻̟̠̙̟͔̝̆̋͊̒̅͐̀̐̒͑̕̚g̶̢̨̧͙̣̱͔͉̯̗̠̭̙̼͐͒̓̐͊̆̅̎͒̈́̂̇̈́͊̚.

    Your eyes took a moment to adjust to the late afternoon sun glittering over the ridge of the hills in the distance. When they did your breath caught in your chest, it was gorgeous , you went silent as you stopped near the edge of the outcropping. You could see all the way down to the city in the center of the natural valley, lights twinkling, holding the border of the dark forests at bay. “Nice view innit?” You turned your head towards BP who had another smoke in between him jaws. He exhaled a cloud of that same greenish smoke as he perched on a boulder nearby. You nodded mutely, sitting down at the edge to dangle your feet, the next plateau was ten feet below so you weren’t worried about falling. “Man, you’d think you had enough of hanging out near cliffs today, heh.” You snorted at his tasteless joke, gving him a hard side-eye, which honestly was a lot less intimidating than planned when your stomach gave a massive growl. The cat monster let out a wheezing laugh, punctuated by a cough, he tossed the butt on the gound and stomped it out, offering you a hand up. “My shift is about over, you wanna grab a bite to eat in town after I lock up?”

 

    He easily pulled you to your feet, not sure why you were surprised, you knew monsters were insanely strong, even the children could lift at least their own weight. You almost didn’t want to let his paw go, it was just as soft as it looked, but again, creepy human alert. You dusted off your pants and followed the man around the side of the cave entrance where a well-worn path led down into a garishly painted shack, proclaiming it to be the ‘ MTT BRAND GIFTORIUM’ , the shack was precariously crammed on the ledge, impeding the exit path, forcing you to either jump to your death off the side of a mountain or enter the gift shop. BP watched the masses shuffle in the small shop, seemingly unaware a stiff breeze might send the whole thing off the cliff. You planned to walk straight through the rickety nightmare, most of the things being advertised seemingly having nothing to do with the tour and everything to do with Mettaton, the owner of the business. As you were about to enter the store, BP snagged your wrist and let the door shut heavily before he slapped a padlock on the outside. You looked at him concernedly for a moment. “Don’t worry, theres an employee exit.” You didn’t get creep vbes from the cat monster but this wasn’t looking too hot to be honest. What employee exit? There was just a fucking cliff unless it was back up the path somehwere.

 

    He tugged your wrist and pulled you up the path a bit further before stepping between two boulders that camouflaged another dimly lit path that went inside a small tunnel-like cave that led around the obstructed path. It started off narrow but opened up some into a small room with a gate at each end, latched with a chain and padlock. He unlocked each, allowing you to pass through before locking it behind him, You popped out a bit down the path from the shop and waited out front with him while the tour group filtered out, weighed down by excessive amounts of MTT Brand Swag. They chattered animatedly between themselves as they passed you both by, giving the monster a friendly wave as they passed, heading down into the parking lot.

 

    BP checked the store and let out the clerk, an odd, jellyfish-like monster with beady eyes and large lips named Jerry, you took an immediate dislike to him and decided to wait for BP by your car. He soon met you by your car, having changed out of his uniform into worn faded jeans and an olive green tee, it looked good against his coppery fur, the setting sun highlighting the golden tones in his fur. He pulled a pair of black aviator sunglasses from his pocket and slid them up his nose, the glasses having small clips to keep them on his face via his fur. “Hey, thanks for waiting, I know a place just up the road if you don’t mind monster food?” You shook your head, your wallet wouldn’t be happy for the rest of the week but you could eat sandwiches for a couple days.

 

    “Sure, I can drive us over if you want?” He chuckled and shrugged, tucking his paws in the front pockets of his jeans, scuffing as paw against the ground. “Well, I don’t mind driving but, honestly my car is a dumpster fire on wheels.” He pointed across the lot in the back, dumpster fire was an understatement, poor thing looked like it needed to be taken out back and shot. You looked back at the cat monster in horror and he just shrugged sheepishly. “Hey, don’t judge, Mettaton pays us shit wages.” You held up your hands in non-judgement and unlocked the car.

 

    “C’mon, I’m starving.” Your stomach took the que to growl again, making the monster bark out a laugh as he slid into your passenger seat. You huffed and follwoed suit, buckling in before starting the car. “Alright, where we goin?” BP slid the sunglasses back into the neck of his shirt as you pulled onto the forested road leading from the mountain.

 

    “Its not too far from here, got some great burgers, fries, and drinks.” You nodded, sounded good to you, a good burger and fries was the way to your heart. You don’t drink often but maybe you’d have one, not often you went to a monster restaurant. As you come to the main road he directed you towards the monster part of town, a few moments later you entered the parking lot of the restaurant and stepped out, BP waited for you by the door and held it for you. You stepped inside and shivered at the delicious warmth, something about excessive heat always relaxed you which is why you were sad you hadn’t paid much attention to Hotland. Admittedly you had good reason to be distracted but still, it was the part of the tour you had really looked forward to.

 

    BP took in your gobsmacked expression as you laid eyes on the bartender and snorted, a tall man made of golden red flames stood pouring a martini for a statuesque female dog monster who yipped her thanks and sauntered off back to a table full of other canine monsters. The fire elemental wore a crisp white long-sleeved button up shirt, rolled up his forearms to three-quarter sleeves. He wore a starched, dark royal blue pinstriped vest, neatly laid over ironed black slacks. The flames on his head gave the impression of wavy coiffed hair dancing in the wind. A pair of rectangle frameless glasses sat perched on his face, small differences in color or shape giving the impression of where his features lie. BP nudged you as you just stood staring in the doorway getting a few chuckles from patrons as you flushed in embarrassment. You both sat quietly near the left side of the bar on a pair of stools and the cat monster held up a friendly paw to the fire elemental who silently gilded over and paused in front of you bowing slightly, before looking up at you then returning to his full height, a bit shorter than Gaster but man was he tall.

 

    “Hello, welcome to Grillby’s, I am Grillby, what can I get you?”   And his voice fit him well, it was deep and rumbling like logs turning over in the fire. You absently rubbed your chest, the aching cold was gone and replaced by a burning warmth. You cleared your throat, “Hi- Uh, could I get a burger and fries, and maybe a glass of water for now? BP says you make a great burger and fries.” You were a bit flustered and spoke quickly, trying to fight down the flush on your face, Grillby smiled gently at the praise and bowed again, eyes flickering to your hand where it covered your sternum for a moment. “Oh sorry my chest has been feeling weird for a couple hours, don’t mind me.” He nodded and turned, taking your companions order before disappearing in the back. You saw flames erupt from under the door and raised your brows.

 

    BP snickered from his spot next to you on his stool. “ Showoff. ” he muttered quietly, obviously not meaning for you to hear. “looks like you really light his fire, kid.” You jumped at the deep voice from the stool next to you. A short skeleton monster clothed in a blue hoodie, plain white tee, black basketball shorts and pink… house slippers? Sat perched on the stool beside you, bottle of ketchup gripped firmly in his hand as he eyed you with a wide grin and a wink. He threw out a hand towards you for a shake. “nice ta meetcha kid, names sans, sans the skeleton, put er there, don’t ya know how to greet a new pal?” You blinked before putting your hand in his, something about this monster seemed familiar. Just as BP yelled “NO-” a loud PFBLLLLLLTTTTTTTTTTTT! Rang out through the resturant sending the patrons into a fit of laughter. You blinked again and saw a small whoopie cushion taped to his hand.

 

    BP sighed heavily, “heh, gets em every time, never gets old.” Sans wiped a ‘tear’ from his socket and leaned his skull on his fist. “so, never seen grillbz get to fired up before, come here often?” You shake your head and was about to reply when a plate was softly set in front of you. You smiled up at the fiery bartender and thanked him for the food he nodded and retreated to the back presumably to get BP’s food. He returned a moment later and set the plate down in front of your friend before picking up a glass or two along the bar and placing them in a bussing tray. You watched him work while you ate, having to concentrate on not making inappropriate noises, this was the best burger you had ever eaten, you would gladly eat sandwiches for most the month if you could just have one of these burgers as often as possible.

 

    Sans left you alone while you ate, especially when the noises you made tinted his cheeks blue and caused Grillby to shift a bit uncomfortably in place, a deep red staining his face as he tried to ignore the sounds you made. It was hard, a pretty human woman like you didn’t wander into his restaurant often, it was too bad you came with BP, he saw the way the cat monster looked at you. He would be content if you just came and ate his food once in a while, and if you were dating the cat monster that would be almost as often as Sans. Hopefully you were better about paying your tab than the lazy skeleton though, he thought without venom, honestly he didn’t care if you paid he just liked watching you enjoy his food, there's very few people who enjoyed his food with such enthusiasm. Sans caught Grillby’s eye before looking over at you as you chewed your last bite of burger.

 

    “so kid, you seein anyone?” You paused in your chewing and almost spit it out in surprise. You looked over at the skeleton next to you and raised a brow after glancing at BP who seemed to be following your train of thought. “Why, you interested, Bone-boy?” Sans sputtered and snorted before letting out a laugh. “heh, sorry kid, this old bag of bones aint good for no one, ‘specially not a pretty soul like yours heh. nah, just curious.” You looked at the skeleton skeptically and he started to sweat (?) before you responded, deciding to ignore the compliment.

 

    “Nah, been a few years.” You shrugged absently and finished chewing your bite, following it with a swallow of water, not noticing the bartender hanging on to your every word, having been polishing the same glass for the past five minutes. “Something comes along, sure, but I’m not particularly intentionally looking, guess I’m leaving it up to fate.” You shrug again before looking back at Sans who was grinning like you just told him you paid his bar tab and then some. You narrowed your eyes, he looked suspicious, like he was plotting. He stood from his stool, you imagine he was about your height of 5’7 and casually strolled over to stand beside BP who’s expression mirrored yours. Glancing over you saw Gribby had narrowed his eyes and was watching the skeleton carefully.

 

    “Hey kid, knock-knock.” You frowned slightly, “Uh. who’s there?” He winked at you and placed a hand on the cat monster’s shoulder who started to somehow visibly sweat, monster physiology is so weird. “Dishes.”

 

    “Dishes who?” You barely finished your response when he and your companion popped from existence. You gasped and gaped at the almost empty stool, a small crumpled bar napkin was placed in the center of the stool, you carefully picked it up and noticed some writing on the opposite side. “ dishes fate. ”

Notes:

Now what could he mean?

~*~

Hey guys! I'm mostly done moving but I will still be taking it easy from updating for a bit, I am soooooo tired. There will be updates, but they will either be shorter chapters or a bit longer between updates, lemme know what you think. (US)

Chapter 3: When Is A Door, Not A Door?

Summary:

Didn't even pay his tab.

    You gave the offending napkin a grunt of embarrassed annoyance as you crumpled it and tossed it on the bartop. Grillby casually scooped it up and snorted, cinders flying from his nose in amusement as he read the lazily scrawled punch line. “Can you get me a whiskey sour, please?” You said from where you face was planted next to your empty plate. You heard a deep chuckle and felt a heavy heat pass by as he scooped up your plate wordlessly and headed to the back. You sighed and scrunched your face in annoyance at the skeleton’s antics. Guy thinks hes a real fuckin’ comic- no, no way. You sat up as you heard the gentle clink of a glass being set on the bar next to you, pulling it closer you looked up at the bartender hesitantly.

 

    “Grillby…” He seemed to raise a brow at you in question. “Is his name Sans as in Comic Sans?” A grin split his face, dazzling you for a moment before you scowled and started downing your drink. The bartender crackled as you scowled into your drink, he gave you a pitying look as he took your soon emptied glass and swiftly replaced it with a full one. You smiled at him gratefully. As you went to lift it from the bar your fingers brushed the fire elementals and the warmth in your chest became a small inferno, it wasn’t unpleasant, but it was sudden. He seemed to feel something too and pulled his fingers back in surprise. He looked at his sparking fingertips to your face and hummed, giving you a wink over his glasses and a heated grin as he sauntered down the bar. You gaped after the fire monster a moment and then quickly gulped your second drink, is it hot in here?

 

    BP growled at the shorter skeleton as they appeared in the parking lot of his job, next to his rust bucket. He tugged his shirt out of Sans’ grasp, fishing around in his pocket for pack and lighter. Sans chuckled at the frustrated cat monster. “So what the hell was that about you shitty bag of bones?” Smoke curled from between his fangs in a sneer as he regarded the skeleton who shoved his hands casually in the pockets of his sky blue sweatshirt. He leaned against a nearby flicking lamppost and shrugged, his right socket closing in a mocking wink. “those two got a spark, she's gotta good soul, grillbz deserves someone like her.” The cat monster sighed and regarded him a moment before speaking.

 

    “You wanna know how long ago I met her?” Sans lazily trained his eyelights on the monster in mild interest from where he had his phalange extended towards a stray firefly. “This morning, she was a random human in my stupid tour group.” Sans’ brow furrowed in confusion, feeling like he knew you somehow, he figured maybe he met you once like a long time ago or you were someones’ cousin, “Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, I get that same familiar feeling from her.” BP took another drag and exhaled, smoke spiraling into the dark of the sky. “She uh fell and hurt her ankle,” he looked guiltily to the side for not noticing she was missing for as long as he did. “Said she met someone down there, I didn’t know him but she said he was really nice, gave her some candy to fix her ankle.”

 

    “what was his name? Tibia-honest, ‘m surprised you didn’t know em, bp.” BP nodded absently, looking down to the exit of the empty lot, where the miniscule light of the old lamps didn’t reach. He frowned as he tried to remember, everytime he thought he had it, it slipped away, oily and viscous. “Uh, it was and odd name, sec, I think it started with a ‘G’? I dunno, she said he was some sort of doctor and that he was old, like maybe Asgore old?” Sans whistled, he couldn’t really think of a monster that old unless… “not talkin about gerson, right?” BP was already shaking his head. “Nah, nah, she said this guy was real tall and dressed nice.” His eye sockets went dark as he thought, who else was tall, male, a doctor, name starts with a G- no. nonononononononono.

 

    Sweat gathered on his skull, eyelights tiny as Sans forced himself to ask, “did, uh, did she say what kinda monster he was?” BP paused and frowned, looking at Sans, connecting the dots at the same time. “Yeah a…. Skeleton monster.” The two silently stared at each other for a moment, there's no way she met paps down there, he was at one of those meetings with undyne today... “uh, well, i gotta get goin’, paps will be home soon, good seein’ ya, bp.” BP just nodded cautiously, Sans looked away and vanished. “What the fuuuuuuuuck.” The cat lit another smoke before harshly wrenching open the perpetually stuck door of his shit car and climbed inside, deciding to just head home for the night.

 

    You scowled at the bartop, how the shit did you get left here alone, what the hell was with Sans kidnapping your companion, now you just looked like some sad human female, alone at the bar, a monster bar. Sure there were some humans around and no one looked bothered by your presence, some looked at you with sympathy others just curiosity. At least the bartender was cute. You saw some flames flare out of the corner of your eye and turned your head to see the bartender turned away from you staring intently at the wall of liquor bottles, seeming a bit flustered. “Ah, shit, said that outloud did I? Oh well, I’ll stand by it.” He seemed to glance at you carefully over his shoulder, a magenta glow across his face. You eyed the last of your drink and grinned when he slid you a water carefully, his long fingers caressing the glass, the length of his fingers and the way he used his hands reminded you of someone… You shrugged it off, sober you would hopefully remember. “Thanks, sorry they dumped me here.” You looked down, tracing a bead of condensation down the glass with your finger. At least you drove, probably a good thing the fire monster gave you some water, you really didn’t want to have to order an Uber for the very short drive home. You supposed you could probably walk fine, you’d be sober enough by then and the monster district was super safe, though (racist) humans tended to avoid it. “ You’re not pathetic. Sans is… ” You flushed, of course you said that part too, nothing worse that someone hearing raw self-criticism when not hidden in a clever joke. “ ... Sans . ” He said his name the second time with such fond loathing, like a parent talking about a troublesome child, it caused you to snort, laughter peeling out of you loudly. You wiped some tears from your eyes as Grillby waited for you to finish, a small smile on his face. The longer you looked at and spoke with the fire elemental the easier it was to understand his deep crackling voice, reminisce of a forest fire, deep and rumbling but hard to distinguish from the other sounds from the bar. The more you spoke with him he seemed to remind you of someone you just couldn’t quite grasp- grasp? Gras- gas gasser, no… Gast- a monster tripped, gently jostling you from behind, knocking the name from your brain.

 

    You leaned a bit far forward, already perched precariously on your stool, the more you drink the less you sat in chairs and more perched on them, leaning forward on your elbows, the surprise of the sudden forward movement added to the accidental push causing you to shove your drink over the counter, the glass smashing against the floor near Grillby’s feet, having gone ignored as he grabbed your arms to stop you going headfirst over the counter. You face was pressed gently into his chest, shielding you from the shards of glass. The bar was silent except for the faint music playing from the jukebox in the corner. The monster in question was of course, Jerry . Everyone turned and glared at the monster, normally indifferent bartender included, Jerry knew he was banned from his bar. He tried to stammer an apology while you were pressed against the firm chest of the bartender who was glaring down the shorter monster. The other patrons looked away, Grillby rarely threw his weight around per se, but when he did… Well, you’d really have to piss him off.

 

    You flushed, inhaling to ask him to put you down when his burnt hickory smell tickled your nose, causing you to sigh instead of actually speak. Grillby opened his mouth to actually tell off the ugly squid monster when he felt your cool breath whisper against his jaw, your body relaxing against him even in the awkward position he still had you tapped in. He stammered an apology to you as he helped you sit back in your stool, hands awkwardly fluttering around you, Jerry having scurried out the door under the watch of some very irritated looking dog monsters. You flushed, glad he seemed to not notice your weird smelling of his shirt and at the worried sparks flying off the pyre that was his hair, his brow wrinkled in concern. You giggled and patted his hand after he slid you a new glass of water to replace your shattered one. A small pulse of warmth surged up your arm and settled in your chest at the contact. “Thanks for the catch Hotstuff, really know how to sweep a girl off her feet.” Ugh, super smooth, well Gaster didn’t seem to mind. Wait, who? You let the thought go in favor of grinning at the small flush of the bartender’s face. He ran a hand through the flames at the top of his head with a chuckle, looking away a moment before giving you a wink, “ Anytime, gorgeous. ” Either your face was on fire or the flames he produced were casting a redder glow than usual, either way, you were flattered.

 

    A few patrons around the bar exchanged pleasantly surprised glances and murmurs, Grillby never seemed to engage anyone except Sans, but well, like he said Sans was Sans , kinda hard to ignore the guy if he didn’t want to be ignored. Even more so that it was a human and he willing touched you, as one of the few monsters left alive who had fought in the war against the humans they figured he probably had a dislike or even hate for humans. He had seemed to avoid directly speaking with Frisk, almost like he didn’t trust them adding merit to their assumptions, but by the way he spoke with you made them all rethink their stances. I mean sure, they could ask, but how do you ask one of the oldest, strongest, boss monsters if he's basically a racist? Especially with how kind and helpful he’s been to everyone, always lending an ear or word of advice to all who spent time in his bar, whether they paid or not, it would be a real kick to the soul. The former guards Dogamy and Dogaressa cooed softly at the exchange between the bartender and the human female, “Awww, remember when we were two pups in love, Darling?” The female monster nuzzled her husband, “We still are two pups in love, Sweetness!” The two monsters smooched each other much to the annoyance of the rest of the group, though they were very used to the two monster’s constant PDA. The patrons slowly left the bartender and the human alone, figuring they would find everything out eventually, especially if Sans was meddling.

 

    Grillby felt the tension slide from his shoulders as the former guards went back to their games and cups, he wasn’t sure why they had been staring but it made the space between his shoulder blades itch uncomfortably. He noted you checking your watch absently and sliding your empty water glass to his side of the bar which he took gently from your fingertips. You rummaged in your small bag a moment before pulling out a handful of golden coins, more than enough to pay for your tab, not that he was going to take your money anyway. You held them out to the fire monster, obviously trying to pay. He crossed his arms and gave you a cocked brow, it was easier to distinguish his features from the blinding fire that was his being the longer you talked with him, a lot of his expression was body language. You waited a moment longer as he stared you down, not budging from his relaxed spot on the other side of the counter, as if he could stand there all night and not take your G. You growled at his nonsense and set it down on the bar and turned away before he could try and shove it back into your hands. “Use it to pay off some of Sans’ tab if its too much still after mine and BP’s meals, but I’m paying you, you stubborn ball of hot air.” You heard a quiet chuckle behind you and the scrape of coins on the counter as he picked up each one carefully and set them gently in the old register on the wall with the liquor bottles. You smile to yourself, glancing back at the bartender with satisfaction as he made no further move to argue with you.

 

    As you stood to leave, he stopped you, “ Leaving? ” You turned and smiled, nodding, throwing your bag over your shoulder, it really was a small purse but you really didn’t like calling it  that for some reason, maybe because then you would have to finally admit you were an adult. “Yeah, I’ll probably just walk, it's not too far from here, is it okay if I leave my car here? It's the green one, you can’t miss it.” Your eyes twinkled as you said that, reminding him vaguely of someone else whose eyes glittered when they thought they had said or done something clever, he could vaguely recall their height but his mind was fuzzy on the details, oh well, he was over a thousand years old, he was allowed to forget a person or two, though he was sure it would come to him eventually. Grillby seemed like he wanted to say something to you and you waited patiently. “ If you don’t mind waiting a bit longer, I’d be happy to take you home. ” You cocked a hip at him, still feeling a bit saucy from the well, sauce. “I bet you would , Firefly.” He put his hands on his hips, giving you an exasperated look, honestly the guy earned every G you handed over for putting up with your lame ass. You giggled, his posture softening almost immediately, “Really though, I appreciate that, but I’m sure you’re busy…” Your protests died off as he walked calmly towards his front window and flipped the sign to ‘Closed’. Crossing his admittedly large arms over his broad chest, his whole posture said ‘try and argue’. You looked around the bar, noticing the sudden lack of noise, and patrons, seems the bar had emptied while you chatted with the bartender.

 

    You jaw clicked shut audibly and you just sighed, going to grab your jacket and noting he already had it in his hands, holding it open for you. You paused, flushing slightly, turning to slip your arms through, feeling his warm hands brush the tops of your arms as he gently tugged it over your shoulders. Your scent slapped him in the face again as you flipped your hair out from underneath the back of your jacket, he felt his maw fill with lava-like magic, his sharp canine teeth itching to plant themselves in your fleshy neck, leaving behind his mark.  He felt his fingers try to sharpen into claws, a bestial form he hadn’t seen in years, he even felt the telltale itch at two distinct points on his forehead, he blinked hard suddenly realizing he was subconsciously crowding you, lurking over you like a lion on a gazelle, or rather a lion on a lioness . He felt his soul cool in disgust at his behavior, he wasn’t like that anymore, he was a simple bar owner, he had everything he wanted, good food, bad laughs, great friends, and he was happy! ...Right?

 

    Luckily you had been fiddling with the zip of your jacket and hadn’t noticed the suddenly hulking inferno elemental all but drooling down your neck, losing control of his magic like some little pyre going through their first heat. Though you wouldn’t know it, Grillby had an incredibly sensitive nose, he found most smells overpowering and unpleasant so he usually just burned any odors before they could reach his nose, but he could never burn your scent out of his nose, even if he wanted to, it was rich and decadent, though he was surprisingly having trouble actually placing the exact smell, but it was very… you . His instincts were yelling for him to press you against him, getting as much of your scent on him as possible- oh, you were speaking to him. “So uh, yeah its most of a mile that way,” you pointed down the road leading away from town, stars glittering in the spaces where the streetlamps couldn’t reach.

 

    He placed a gentle hand on your back, leading you down the steps as he locked the door behind you. He turned towards you and offered his elbow with a cheeky grin, you snorted and hesitated a moment before grabbing his arm and grinning up at him. He chuckled and led you down the street, listening to you as you talked about your trip underground. He frowned as you reached the part after you had tested your ankle for the second time and you faltered in your story, standing in your entryway, closing the door behind him absentmindedly. “Huh, uh I know I met someone down there, but I can't quite… That's really weird.” He noted you were absently rubbing your chest again, right above where your… soul...was… He saw the strain on your face, a small flash of color, no magic , flickered in your eyes as you tried to force the memory, the color intensifying and settling on a very familiar shade, Now where have I seen that color magic before ? You grit your teeth as you mentally clenched your teeth into the oily memory fighting to stay hidden in the corners of your mind, it wasn’t so much about remembering now, but more like every time you tried it slipped further away. You had a feeling this person was very important and someone you shouldn’t forget, you made them a promise, you didn’t always keep your promises, but you tried and you felt this one was very important. A flash of a skeletal hand, a hole bored cleanly through the palm caressing your cheek. Flinty iolite eyes flashing, then they were a softer, richer purple, eyes crinkling in the corner in laughter at something you said. His voice smoky and deep from disuse, making you shiver even now, the way his body felt pressed against you, the brush of his soft sweater on your cheek. And the way he looked at you, like you were the sun and he was taking his first trip to the surface.

 

    Grillby pondered a moment as he studied you, your soul seemed to pulse in your chest, polluted color flashing dully between your bones under your skin, outside pulling your soul out himself he wouldn’t know what your trait was without Sans, the Judge. Though some insisted he should have been Sans the Jester, but having basically raised the skeleton as his own along with Papyrus after promising his old friend... Friend. That word didn’t sound quite right, and he did always have trouble remembering anything about the person he made the promise to, but he could remember the promise as if he had spoken the words moments ago. He startled as you let out a gasp, your eyes clearing back to their normal shade, muttering to yourself you hauled ass upstairs, digging through a desk drawer in what appeared to be a spare bedroom turned office. You yanked out a half torn sheet of scrap paper and a jumbo sharpie, it seemed you just grabbed the first two writing objects you could lay your hands on. He strode forward carefully, coming up behind you and silently peeking over your shoulder, wanting to speak your name but decided to not distract you. You drew a few odd symbols, spaced out like words and letters in a sentence.

 

    The letters seemed to almost distort in front of his eyes, something about them tickled something in his mind, like he once knew how to read them. You fiddled with your phone, grunting annoyedly as you tapped something on the screen, looking between the screen and your scribbled symbols you grinned, picking up the rejected marker and scribbling a letter below each symbol, easily filling in repeated letters before dropping the marker and picking up the page with a satisfied smile. “I knew I would remember that name, not sure how I could forget a guy like him.” You chuckled, eyes sparkling, Grillby felt a small flame of jealousy lick at his soul. You turned towards the bartender suddenly, “Uh, sorry for running off like that I knew I wouldn’t remember it if I didn’t write it down, he used a LOT of this funny font for his notes, ha, I didn’t realize he shares his name with the font, that must be how that's what stuck in my head.” He cocked his head at you and gestured towards the paper. “Oh, right, so his name is Doctor Wingdings Gaster, I think he's pretty old for a monster, dunno if you know him, not calling you old or anything,” You continued to talk about him a bit more, looking down at the page before finally looking up to see Grillby standing there with a particular look on his face.

 

    “Uh, Grillby?” His eyes were narrowed, looking at the letters you had scrawled across the page, his face screwed up in concentration. He finally blinked as you waved the paper in front of his face, a few wisps of fire dancing away from the general shape of his hair as he jerked his gazed back up to yours, realizing he was looming over you and crowding your space again. “ Sounds… Familiar. ” You nodded, he still had a not quite with us expression on his face but you decided to let it go, absentmindedly folding the paper in your hand into quarters and placing it back on your desk. You seemed to realize you had basically forced the poor man into your home and to listen to your crazy story, you probably hit your head and you’re lying at the bottom of that drop in Waterfall almost dead. You casually pinched the back of your hand and winced, Nope, I’m awake. So now not only am I breaking and entering I am now technically a kidnapper. Though looking over at the fire monster you were pretty sure he wouldn’t go anywhere he didn’t want to go, especially if it’s a lone human female harassing him.

 

    “So uh, yeah, we sat and talked for a bit, he wanted to know about the surface.” Grillby cocked his head in a questioning manner. “Oh, yeah I thought it was odd too that he didn’t know but I asked BP and he thinks he might be one of those really old boss monsters, and maybe just lost track of time? He said sometimes the really old ones can sleep for years at a time so…” You trailed off and flushed realizing you were probably human-splaining monster biology to a damn monster that was most likely older than you. “Sorry, you know all this stuff of course, its new to me, didn’t have a lot of monsters where I’m from. I guess he met the ambassador once though? He said he remembered him, was surprised they actually managed to break the barrier.” You rubbed your arm absently, glancing around the bedroom-converted-office you were glad you had gone on a cleaning binge last weekend and there weren’t random scrap pages hanging from the lamps. Grillby tapped his chin with a finger, trying to sift through his vast catalogue of memories, the man you were describing was sounding more and more familiar as you spoke. He could almost see the ghost of a fixed grin, a crisp black lab coat fluttering in the icy breeze blowing through the door to his bar- and he zoned out again. He shook his head and gave you a sheepish smile.

 

    “ Sorry, was trying to remember. ” You smiled and nodded, fiddling with the ends of your hair, “So, sorry for making you walk me home and listen to my crazy story, sounds less real the more I talk about it.” You laughed awkwardly, still half-convinced you imagined the whole thing. He followed you back down the stairs, you still nervously twisting your hair in your fingers. He gently pulled your fingers away from your hair and smiled at you. “ I don’t think you’re crazy .” You flushed deeply at his warm tone. “Well, regardless, doubt you wanna hang out here all night- er, morning?” The clock on your wall reflected 3:32AM and you winced at the fire elemental. He just chuckled, giving your fingers a small squeeze before letting go, opening your front door. “ Can’t complain, definitely spent nights worse ways, ” He paused, turning back to you one last time. “ Not every day a pretty woman leads you right into her bedroom .” You heard a deep rumbling laugh as the door closed on your flushed expression.

 

    You stood staring at the door long after Grillby had left, flush slowly fading. Sure, he may be a man of few words, but when he does speak… The flush returned to your face as you finally reached forward to flip the deadbolt. You groaned as you walked into you kitchen, filling a glass with water and grabbing some painkillers from the familiar bottle in your cupboard. You were fine now, but knew you were gonna have one bitch of a headache tomorrow if you didn’t start the preemptive care now. Sitting down heavily in the dim light offered by the vent hood above your stove. You went over the day carefully in your mind as you finished your glass of water, you yawned and eyed the clock on the stove before setting your used glass in the sink and heading back upstairs, pulling off your layers as you went. You paused by the office, looking at the piece of paper sitting on the desk where you left it. You stepped into the room and grasped the paper, unfolding it to look at your hastily scribbled letters spelling out the doctor’s name. You could remember each detail of your impromptu visitation with the monster now, you scrubbed your eyes, likely smearing what was left of your eyeliner into a dark smudge. Why couldn’t I remember before? I mean no one's memory is that bad. You made a face, suddenly recalling the numerous times you had completely forgotten a name after having just heard it. Okay, maybe not super unusual, but I didn’t just forget his name… You gave yourself a mental shrug, no use thinking about it now, you remembered eventually, you’d think about it tomorrow, you were still too drunk for this. You placed the paper in your top drawer and left the room, walking to your bedroom door at the end of the hall. You tugged on a pair of your favorite sleep shorts and a black tank top, you scrubbed the smeared make up from your face with a couple wipes and wrestled your hair into a messy bun. You collapsed into bed with a huff, the room still slightly spinning from the lack of sleep and amount of alcohol consumed, your eyes finally slid shut and a moment later the quiet creak of a door opening whispered through the room.

 

    Grillby closed the door to his bar gently, flipping the deadbolt he hummed, grabbing a rag from behind the counter to finish wiping down the tables. He paused halfway through, slumping into one of the booths, dim lamp above his head overpowered by the deep flush overtaking his face. He groaned and rubbed a hand across his face as he remembered your expression as the door swung shut. Why did he say that? He had acted like such a blithering fool around you, he was very unlike himself today, he was much too forward with you and owes you a sincere apology the next time he saw you, if he ever saw you again. His skull made a soft thunk and a whoosh of fire as he let it hit the table, arms dangling off the sides, rag still clutched in his left fist. You probably thought he was some creep with an ulterior motive, why did he insist on walking you home? He could have called you a Mettacar. His eyes went a bit soft around the edges as he remembered the way you spoke, you made even mundane stories like trips to the store seem interesting, and your laugh , he could listen to it all day. It would be quite the change from Sans’ constant puns and deep chuckle and the meandering chatter of the other interchangeable barflies. It was nice having a new pretty face around.

 

    Sitting up he sighed, rubbing a small scorch mark from the table where he had exhaled in frustration. Regardless you probably wouldn’t want to want anything to do with him if you knew how old he really was, or what he really was. He finished the tables and stood by the stairs that lead up to his private apartment, giving one last glance around the bar he nodded and flicked off the lights, taking the short flight of stairs two steps at a time. Closing the door behind himself, he sighed and removed his shoes, his flames leaving a kaleidoscope of reds and yellows across the walls as he moved in the dark room. He removed his bow-tie and carefully folded it on his dresser, vest soon following but hung on a hanger for cleaning later. He removed the rest of his attire, slipping on some black pinstripe pajamas he slipped into bed, cool sheets quickly warming against his flames. He carefully removed his glasses and set them on his nightstand, the red numbers glowing 4:17am. He grunted and closed his eyes, quickly drifting off his flames banking to a slight ember as sleep overtook him.

Notes:

Hey guys! So I don't have much experience writing Grillby, hope he came out okay.

But if it sucked, thats cool too.

Hate Mail:
UndynesSpear.tumblr.com

Chapter 4: When it's Ajar

Summary:

C̷̢̪̹̥̣̞̖̻̹̪͇͇̤̤͔̓r̵̭͑̐̀̓̇̈̏̇̈̄͌͝e̸̡͉̗͙̫̹̅͂̽͑́̈̊͝͝ĕ̷̡͎̦͉̺͙̣̺͂̈́̿͒̽͊͛̈̀͗̒̉͝ę̵̳͉̲̤̤̹̆͂̓̿̽̋̓̀͂̆͑̈́͝͝é̴̛̹͎͎̹̟͈͐̉͌̊̓̿̈́͒̉͜͝͝͝͝a̸̛͚̗̺̺͖̜̲̺͕̒̾̅͋̎͗k̸̘͕͈̤̗̲͛̒̌̍͐̈̃͐̑͆͝ͅ-̵̛̦̤͔͉̠̗̯̪̟͔̗̭̬̅̍̾̿̈́͊̅̌̈̀̀͜!̷̨̜̦̻̰̘͖͖͓͉̫̏͆̈́̅͒̍̐̀̾̆̈̑

          Gaster paused in his mumblings as he scribbled on yet another sheet of paper, sketches of the fixed door, measurements, changes (no matter how small) had been meticulously recorded in his overly perfect handwriting, the familiar symbols flowing from his fountain pen as easily as any other letters. Something had distracted him, what was it? Not much in his silent purgatory he called his bedroom ever interested him anymore, the void was getting… monotonous. (I know, big shocker). Most would imagine the void to be endless, stretching out in every direction and dimension, and would be correct, but how much is there really to explore if none if it actually exists? No walls to reach, no floor to stand on, no sky to touch, except for his room and the beasts that hid from his senses it was empty. He was forgetting again, now what… He turned to look around his room, eyes alighting on the gray door you had disappeared into, his eyelights brightened as he remembered your smiling face and hummed, striding towards the door. He pressed a palm to the door gently, as if afraid it would suddenly vanish under his touch. A warm hum filled his soul and he looked down in surprise as a faint white glow sputtered from between his ribs like a dying star.

 

    Jerking the collar of his sweater away from his neck, his teeth parted in wonder, his soul hadn’t moved in years and he had never seen it light up like that in his whole life, even before his final trip into the void. Before he could study it in the mirror he saw it dim and still, he frowned, his excitement evaporating like a Moldsmall in Hotland. He looked back towards the door with a sigh before sitting back at his desk, shifting through the papers, his many free-floating hands bringing him various test tubes and papers, a few books, except his… clumsy hand. That abomination he swore had five left thumbs, it dropped everything - THUNK! Gaster growled as a heavy tomb bashed him on the top of his skull, narrowly missing one of the cracks and landing in front of him, shattering beakers and ruining pages of work. He turned with a rage, narrowing his gaze on the mal-formed hand, spazzing awkwardly in the air seeming to notice his attention it zoomed off to crash in the corner, falling behind his bed. He sighed and another hand came by to rub his skull, he shouldn’t blame the poor thing, it was a part of him after all that was damaged by the void, though he did remember the fourth hand always being a bit more clumsy than the rest. He gave a mental shrug and turned back to the mess at hand.

 

    Hands started carefully gathering glass and tossing it into a small metal bin to be tossed into the void for disposal later, another set of hands lifted the book carefully and another came with a rag to dab it clean. Worn gold script caught his attention and the hands instinctively brought the book closer, still cleaning it gently. He took the thick, worn tomb carefully and read the title with a snort. “The Dating Rulebook”. He flipped through it with a chuckle, the pages falling open to the chapter about knowing when you’ve met your soulmate. He chuckled again remembering a friend giving him a lecture with the book in hand.

 

    “Oh come now, Gaster, it has a wider source of information than just romancing a partner!” Gaster had looked at the monster holding the book out to him and rolled his eyes, turning back to the scattered pages on his desk. “Don’t give me that you ol’ sick-in-the-mud, I’m serious! I thought you were one of those fancy “Men of Science”!” Gaster could feel the stare boring down on him from the other monster in the room, it wasn’t one of anger, but disappointment and everyone knows that stings the worst.

 

    He sighed heavily before dropping his shoulders and carefully setting down the pages on his desk, back into the chaos he turned towards his friend and King and smiled serenely. “You are correct My King, I apologize for not listening before, please what is the relevant information.” Asgore frowned at the tall monster and his insincere expression, everyone thought him a fool for all the kindness in his poor soul but he was very perceptive and knew when a close friend was full of it. He drew up his height, suddenly looking every ounce the king he was and thrust the book into the scientists’ ribs who caught it with an ‘oof’ and a startled expression. Asgore leaned down slightly, “Do not patronize me, Gaster, I may be your friend first, but I am still your king .” Gaster’s jaw clicked shut at the glint of crimson magic deep in the King’s eyes and bowed his head slightly in difference, holding the gilded book carefully. 

 

    Asgore gave him a heavy pat on the shoulder and pulled him into a large hug, Gaster wincing as his bones creaked in protest. “I love you, Uncle Dings, but sometimes you’re such a bonehead .” Gaster leveled the large goat monster with an unimpressed look as he guwaffed loudly, leaving the room humming a faint tune cheerily. Asgore’s impression of his son Asriel was almost creepily accurate. As the door swung closed he thumbed the gold-leafed cover and opened the book with a put-upon sigh, “ Chapter One: So You Want A Datemate… sigh… .” It was going to be a long night.

 

    Turns out the book was full of helpful information, even if some was a bit dated by now. He was a bit ashamed of how he had reacted at the time, he often took Asgore’s kindness as naivety, his softer approach making him seem younger than the skeleton monster though he had him beat by ten years. He hummed, absently flipping through the pages landing on the chapter titled “ Chapter Fourteen: Soulmates.” He paused as his eyes snagged on the word Soulmate , he trailed a finger down the page in curiosity, this had been one of the more useful passages, rife with information if you knew how to read between the lines. And sometimes the book was very pain with it’s wording, like multiple people had penned the book, each having their own forms of narration. He had to admit the tone usually fit the subject very well, each voice filling you with the confidence to get what you set out to do done. Too bad he never learned of the actual author(s), regardless, he would have liked to read more of their works, they had a very interesting view on souls and romantic relationships. Honestly some of the chapters had made him blush, they were very… descriptive. He cleared his throat and skimmed the page a bit less nonchalantly than before, a violet flush staining his cheekbones, the feel of your soft frame pressed against his , the page beneath his finger almost tore. Lifting his finger he smoothed the spot carefully, pausing as a paragraph caught his eye.

 

    “ ...you may find yourself constantly thinking of the person(s) when they’re not around, may even feel the absence of their presence in your Soul, it had been described as cold like a direct hit from an Ice Cap’s magic to the center of your Soul. When you see them again, or even sometimes think about them, don’t be embarrassed if your soul decides to show off a bit, it happens to everyone! Your Soul is just excited to see it’s counterpart(s) and wants to show it in the only way it knows how, by glowing like a tiny star in your chest and doing it’s best impression of a disco ball on fire! Due to monster/human physiology some may be more visible than others and that is okay! Ways you can…” Gaster’s finger froze and he blinked slowly, he was generally a pretty well-spoken monster, having given many speeches and lectures, some rehearsed some were very impromptu and he had never had a lull in conversation or said something unintentionally. Many monsters, if they remembered him, would agree they had never heard the scientist at a loss for words or without an eloquent, charismatic response to any question, no matter how rude or awkward, he always came across confident and self-assured. He stared blankly at the wall across from him, book held limply in his hands, an electric buzz lighting up his body, he wasn’t sure if it was fear or elation. For the first time he wasn’t sure about anything, he had just met his Soulmate, and he may never see you again.

 

    He sat in stunned silence, hands having disappeared in surprise, various beakers and books crashing to the ground behind him and he didn’t even flinch, eye sockets wide, form more solid than it had been in decades. He finally blinked and skimmed the rest of the chapter, nodding to himself, hands slowly appearing again to sweep up debris. He stood decisively and placed the book squarely on the desk, he turned and chuckled, pressing a hand to his chest, his soul fluttering under his hand as he looked at the door. He walked forward and pressed his hand against the door again, his soul heating under his hand, humming. His eyes alit with comprehension and grasped the doorknob carefully, holding his breath. Click.

 

    The door easily swung open, revealing a familiar pitch blackness of the void and his soul dropped to the bottom of his ribs, until he saw the soft glow of moonlight through the crack in the window coverings revealing a decent-sized bedroom done in grays and blacks, the occasional teal or lime green accent peeking from the edges. The bed was small compared to his but appeared to be the right size for the adult human currently resting in it. He hesitated, almost convinced he was dreaming and the second he set foot over the threshold he would wake, trapped in that white room again without-. His hand squeezed the doorknob dangerously, he could hear the metal groaning under his ministrations and let it go as he saw you stir, and he knew it was you as the room was absolutely soaked in your scent, even with his poor sense of smell he could tell that much. You sighed and turned over, quickly falling back asleep, he released the breath he had been holding and cautiously took a step forward into your room.

 

    As Gaster stood fully in your room he felt like he almost had to hunch with how low the ceilings were in comparison to the endless stretch of the void. Before he knew it he was towering over you as you slept, a small smile stretching across your face as you cuddled a pillow to the side of your face, legs gently tangled in the sheets as though tangled with the legs of a lover. Gaster had never been a jealous man, no woman having truly captivated him for him to care about such things, but he would be dusted if he denied being jealous of your pillow right now. Your hair shifted to the side, exposing your neck as you tilted your head further up on your pillow, the delicious strip of flesh exposed to him made him miss the slight glow at the front of your sternum as you twisted your torso more towards the mattress, your soul encouraging your sleeping body closer to the monster now a hair away from touching you.

 

    He wanted to touch you so bad, feel your soft skin against his fingers again, your strangely warm hair, like spider’s silk cascading down your shoulders to rest at your waist, obvious hair-tie indentations adding to the waves instead of distracting. He hummed softly, sockets lidded as he watched you, eyes wandering back to your exposed neck and he felt something dark in him growl, his jaws parted as he inhaled slightly, he rumbled happily at your calming scent but wait. There was something else… His gaze narrowed and he pressed his tongue to the side of your neck, his hands placed on either side of you, caging you in. It was faint, smoky, tasted like fire and… Gaster growled against your neck, he could feel his soul burning in response to another male having touched you and smelling like that . Well, that wouldn’t do, he would just have to remove the offenders smell from your body and replace it, with his own . 

 

    A deep voice growled against your neck, breath so cold it burned, freezing the wet spots on your neck left there by a tingling tongue. You moaned softly and turned your neck more towards the mouth, you felt very sharp teeth press gently against your neck and you panted, hugging the bundle in your arms closer to you. You felt the weight of someone very large settled over your legs, not quite pinning you but the presence was very obvious. You hummed, the fuzzy quality of your thoughts led you to believe you were most likely still asleep and you were very content to see how this dream plays out. It wasn’t often you lucid dreamed but when you did, you enjoyed every second. You felt large hands placed on either side of your head as he leaned over you, smell of fine whiskey washing over you as you turned more into the press of his mouth on your neck, wishing for more contact. You whined as he chuckled against your skin, pressing his hips against you.

 

    “H̶̲̰͖̩͆̕ĕ̸̹̥̄̐̾l̶̯̣̓͋̃̊l̶͚͎͋͑͘ò̴̲̮͔͔͠,̵̛̜̤̌̀̒ ̷̯̈́͂m̸͉̮͇͐y̴͚͍̜͍͐̓̚ ̸̪͍̯̫́͝D̸̻̄̔͆̓e̷̢̻͉̝̒̈́a̴̲̱̋̊̅͜͝r̴̺̣͛͝,̷̯̂̓ ̸̡̯͎̜̄͊̈̇d̴̛͔͙͕i̶̙͇̤͂̌̑͜d̴̝͝ͅͅ ̶̢̻̰̘̾̀̓͊y̵̹̎͒ỏ̸̰̰̼͆̕͝ù̵̮̞̭̥ ̸͖͎̈́m̸̛̖̩̰̔̕i̶̠̓̄̈́s̷͓̮͕̏s̵̭̱͙͂͛̒̍͜ ̸̢̛̬͚m̷̢͓̩͂̚ẻ̶̝̥̞̉͘?̷̼̈́̒̿” Your hands twitched around the pillow in your grasp, his voice was just as deep and rich as you remember, the static in his voice adding to the dark rumble. You hummed and turned your body more in his direction, eyes still closed, your imagination doing most of the work, no need to wake up and ruin the illusion. “Hmmm, in your dreams…” You felt his smile stretch at your rough response, your voice coming out more fogged with sleep than you planned, but it was a dream, who cares what dream Gaster thinks. "̵̩̼̕Õ̸̳̠n̷̯̈́͝ḷ̸̨̒ẙ̸̡ ̵̳͗͌ḙ̵͕̉v̸̛̯̫e̴̮̦̚ȓ̴̜̰y̶̖̳̏ ̵̣̹͝n̵̞̍͝i̵̖̊g̵͚͛h̵̻̀͝t̷̼͂,̴̫̪̇̚ ̸̲̞D̷̘̣̈ẹ̴̰̇a̶̛̜͇r̶̮͓̆e̷̖͝s̶͔͍͆t̸͚̙͆.̶̡͛"̶̟̂ You snorted, dream Gaster was much cheesier than the one you met underground, at least you had a vivid imagination, which you were very willing to put to work. Normally you would be a bit embarrassed to be having a dream like this about someone you just met, but hey, don’t look a gift skeleton monster in the mouth right? You finally opened your eyes to see him poised above you with lidded sockets, a dim violet glowing in the depths as he regarded you, gently carding his fingers through your hair. “Its only been a few hours, numbskull.” His smile spread as your eyes slid shut again. “Hmm, you are quite entertaining when you think you’re dreaming.”

 

    Wait. What? Your eyes shot open fully, darting to the monster leaning over you, cheshire grin on his face. “I’m… shit.” You brought a hand up and rubbed your face. You were awake . You didn’t even bother pinching yourself, no way could you conjure something quite this bizarre. “So, I know I said you could visit, but…. Five in the morning?” He smiled, still running fingers through your hair. You had no idea how amazing it was that he was here, he did feel a little guilty now that he was released from the void he only wanted to lie here and touch you, but that was a normal thing to feel with a new soulmate bond. So pretty and small, he never thought he would have a mate, much less one so tiny, he was a very large monster, he was very aware, and in more ways than one. He hummed, his fingers now raking a bit along your scalp, the violet in his eyelights deepening slightly. You flushed, realizing just exactly how he had been touching you and still was.

 

    “I apologize for being so forward, my Dear, you see, I never expected for my soulmate to literally walk in my front door.” You blinked wide eyes up at the monster above you. His what? “Interesting fact, soulmate isn’t just a romantic term, they truly exist. Tell me, have you felt a coldness in your chest since you left my home.” You nodded vaguely, getting caught up in his questioning. “Hmm, did you find yourself looking for someone as if expecting them to be right beside you?” You nodded again slowly, “Tell me, my Dear, how do you feel now that I’m here?” The glacial coldness in your chest was gone, replaced with a tingling coolness more like peppermint on your tongue, with an underlying warmth, slowly burning hotter where his bones were pressed to your skin. You opened your mouth to reply but flushed instead, choosing to look anywhere but his face. “Ah where did all that fire go?”

 

    You looked up at him with annoyance, “Gonna go up the bottom of your pelvis in a moment, bone boy.” He laughed a deep belly laugh, head leaned back as his jaws parted, revealing the sharp points of his teeth. The way he had previously smiled and spoke had caused his lips to subtly cover the pointed edges of his teeth, they added an air of danger to the monster. Wiping a tear from his eye, he gave you a panty-melting grin and said, “ Don’t threaten me with a good time, Dearest. ” He gave you a devilish smirk as he gripped your hair and tilted your head back to look down into your eyes. He almost purred at the way your eyelids fluttered of their own accord, good, he wouldn’t have to be too gentle with you. Soon you would be screaming his name to the heavens and stars he couldn’t wait to have you under him wanting, begging for him to take you. Well, more than you were currently, though this was a pretty good place to start, your eyes trained on his face, pupils dilated in desire. Pressed this close to you there was no way, even with his poor sense of smell, he could miss the smell of your desire soaking those sinfully revealing shorts you were wearing, your nipples poking through the thin tank top you wore. His tongue clicked behind his teeth in anticipation of tasting your sweet skin again.

 

    You placed a hand on his chest to hold him back, drawing much needed oxygen back into your lungs, this man knew how to play you like a piano. “Woah there Doctor Love, why don’t you back this up for the dumb humans present ignorant of what I’m assuming is kind of a monster thing.” Gaster huffed, almost looking like he was pouting but of course he was much too dignified for that. He sat back, back to running his fingers through your hair, gently detangling it. He almost seemed a bit doped-up to you, the way his eyelights were fuzzy and his speech was slipping a bit back into the static hum when you met him. “ Hmm, well I have a very good book on the matter, but I can at least explain what it means. Well, the humans had a few things right, soulmates are the being(s) made for you, some have multiple partners but if a boss monster is involved, like myself, then there is usually a monogamous relationship as most boss monsters are too dominant to accept their partner dividing romantic attention or affection between them and another. I am not so barbaric, but I must admit I may be a bit unbearable for a while around other males. Instincts are where monsters and humans differ here, especially in such an unusual pairing as us. ” You raised a brow, you knew what he was doing, subtly mentioning a relationship between you two to subconsciously plant the thought in your head. He pressed on, unbothered by your expression, “ Monsters are civil creatures, but much like humans we were not always so, we had baser forms, things closer to the boogeyman stories about monsters humans came up with to scare their children. When it comes to our Soulmates, our very soul demands we connect with them in any and every way we can, and the more powerful the monster the stronger those urges are. Take myself for example, letting myself into your room and your bed without so much as a “Hello.” I am of course appalled by my actions, as a civilized monster of my standing this is quite inappropriate of me. ” He frowned and leaned back, disentangling his fingers from your hair and you frowned to match him, the spot in your chest cooled unhappily at the loss of contact, as he went to pull his hand away and stand you grasped it impulsively and he paused, looking down at you curiously where you had his fingers trapped between yours.

 

    “ Though you must be pretty powerful yourself for that tiny thread of a bond to allow me to leave that place. ” You looked up sharply from where you had been examining his hand. “Allow you to… You were trapped in that room?!” You face screwed up in confusion, you had seen him enter from another door, which you admit could have just been another part of the building he was trapped in, and why didn’t he just leave with you when the door opened? “ I can see the questions on your face, a long time ago I had an unfortunate accident in an experiment, messing with things I had no business even thinking about doing but there I was. The resulting implosion more or less sent me to the space between spaces, it is called The Void. Its is cold, dark, and empty, the only thing allowing me to survive that abrupt shift in my make up was the sheer power of my soul as a boss monster. If I had one speck less magic in my body than I did that that moment I would have been dusted across time and space, though I obviously did not come out unscathed. I did not always have these rugged scars, ” he gestured to the cracks running from either socket with a cheesy wink, trying to remove the frown from your face as he explained himself. “So, how were you trapped exactly?” He slipped his hand gently from your grasp and tipped your chin up towards him.

 

    “ So curious, I’m getting there, Dearest, please humor an old man and his ramblings. ” You rolled your eyes and stuck the tip of your tongue out at him in a childish manner. “ Use it or lose it, my Dear. ” He said with a sharp grin, sockets lidded, the deep violet light glowing steadily in the darkened room. “ Now stop distracting me or I shall never finish this boorish tale. ” You heaved a very put-upon sigh and waited. He chuckled, “ from the implosion I had taken direct damage to my soul, pieces of the very void sharded into my soul, theoretically making me one with the void, and the void my Dear is a very selfish place, it doesn’t like giving up anything delivered into it, myself included. ” He paused, allowing you to absorb the information before he continued, “ There are very few times the void produces an exit to the correct timeline and it never lets me pass the doorway, most of my visitors come to me. If you can count a single human child and then an adult human woman as visitors. ” Your head spun with all the information, and he considered this the basics? “ In any case enough about that for now, that is probably quite the nugget of information I have given you to digest. ” His hand had gone back to playing with the ends of your hair.

 

    Your eyes finally snagged on what was previously the door to your closet, the wood was now a dove gray but otherwise the door looked normal. It looked exactly like the one you had seen on the side of that clifface underground. “So the void gave you a door to my room, because we’re soulmates?” You said flatly, he hummed, “ Do not sound so excited, My Dear. ” He deadpanned in response. You gently smacked him in the chest with the back of your hand, “Watch it, Skeletor, you technically just broke into my house.” He leveled you with a pointed look. “ At least you said I could visit... ” You flushed and looked away from him, he had a point. “Well, I didn’t climb into your bed while you were sleeping and start molesting you.” He gave you a sleazy grin, bringing your hand to his mouth, “ Oh, you could jump my bones anytime you want, Dearest… ” His tongue snaked from his mouth and made a lewd motion between your fingers, causing you to swallow hard. His eyelights smoldered like twin violet embers in his lidded sockets as his too-sharp teeth nipped at your fingertips.

 

    You felt the apex of your thighs dampen further with arousal as he continued to assault your hand with his tongue and teeth. He worked his way down the palm of your hand to your wrist, forearm, shoulder, neck- You parted your thighs as he settled himself over you, leaving a sizeable mark on your neck from his attentions much to his satisfaction. His instincts urged him to break skin, to make it more permanent but he reasoned that was rushing things a bit. Though the rational part of his mind was quickly being browbeaten by the part drowning in your scent and the feel of your clothed core pressed hotly against his pelvis, causing magic to swirl around his pelvic bone in anticipation. You moaned and pressed your chest further into his hand as he thumbed a nipple through your top, he ground his hips against your core in response. You locked your legs around his hips and held him against you, feeling a large hardness there that had nothing to do with the fact he was a skeleton and everything to do with the fact he was a male skeleton. Holy shit, hes huge. You bit your lip and your eyelids fluttered in anticipation, you were going to be deliciously sore.

 

    Gaster growled against your neck and pressed his hips against you firmly, tweaking your nipple between his rough fingertips. His other hand snaked back into your hair to pull you up towards him as he finally pressed his mouth to yours. You found the bone under your lips to be pliable and just a bit rough compared to the softness of human lips. You wrapped your arms up around his neck, right hand gently grasping the space where his skull met his vertebrae, left gripping his shoulder through his clothes. He nipped your bottom lip, demanding entrance and you grinned against his mouth before returning the bite, if a bit harder. He growled again playfully and tweaked your nipple as you felt a third hand gently rake bone fingers under the edge of your top, pulling it up slightly on its journey to your other breast. You moaned again and ground your hips against his and he pressed you harder into your mattress in response.

 

    Gaster was pleased to have such a willing mate under him, you tasted so sweet to him, any touch you laid on him made his soul feel light as a feather. He didn’t realize how painfully cold the void had left him all these years until he felt the fiery warmth of your soul glowing under your delicate skin, burning behind the bones so similar yet so different from his own. He heard the click of a door opening behind him but refused to turn as his soul turned to lead in his chest, no, it couldn’t take this from him, it couldn’t make him go back he wouldn’t go back he can’t - You squealed under him in pleasure as another pair of summoned hands reached under you and grasped your ass, hauling you against the large monster as he broke your kiss to savagely bite your neck. You panted as you felt him tongue the small wounds he made in your neck, you felt a rumble in his chest and he laid you down, quickly divesting you of what little clothes you had, an extra pair of his hands removing his jacket, sweater, and unbuckled his pants. He kissed his way down your body, sharp teeth and dexterous tongue playing with your nipples as you gasped at the icy sensation of his tongue.

 

    His right hand ventured to the apex of your thighs and he groaned in satisfaction as your wetness coated his fingers with his careful exploration. You shamelessly let your thighs part with a moan as he found your soaked entrance. He carefully slid a slender finger inside you tight wetness, and about came undone as you clenched around him with a pleasured cry. Oh how you would feel stretched around his cock, magic pooled in his mouth in anticipation, he wondered absently if you would even be able to handle his knot during his heats. That thought made him add two more fingers to your clenching sex much to your surprised pleasure and his satisfaction. He nipped at your thighs with his sharp teeth causing you to jump before he pressed hsi cold mouth to your lower lips, still twisting and thrusting his fingers deep in your sex.

 

    He heard your gasp and felt your small hands grasp his skull as he tasted you, his senses drowned and consumed with your aroused heat, he needed more. He tongued the small bud above your entrance and was rewarded with a pleased choking sound from you splayed under him. He repeated the motion and was rewarded with a thrust of your hips, which he promptly halted with a pair of summoned hands, much to your voiced annoyance. He chuckled against your clit and you gasped at the vibrations produced, weakly trying to lift your hips. You froze as you felt his sharp teeth press against you for a moment before rapidly flicking the tip of his icy tongue against your engorged bud, the fingers inside you mimicking the speed. You gasped and cried out his name, his only response was to press harder with his tongue and twisting his fingers until you saw stars, a white-hot orgasm ripping through you. He growled in satisfaction, greedily licking up any traces of your arousal.

 

    You watched through blurry eyes as he rose back over you, eyelights glowing fuzzily in the dark, the same color as the large cock resting against your belly. You were a tiny bit concerned but mostly aroused at the sight, your thighs shifted against the sheets of your bed in want, still slick from Gaster’s ministrations. He took in the sight of you staring at his member with desire, he expected some hesitation but you gave off nothing but the scent of hot arousal. “ Are you ready, Dearest? Please, if you are not ready I will stop, but I fear once we begin… ” His eyelights raked your body as a starved expression crossed his face, causing your core to clench in anticipation. You might regret this later, you eyed the girth of his cock, but you were too fucking horny to care. You nodded readily and a predatory grin spread across his face, he gripped his member firmly, violet light spilling across the bones of his hand, shining clearly through the absent palms. He drug the tip slowly up and down your slit, coating it in your wetness, his expression becoming almost desperate as you parted your thighs further and whined.

 

    You moaned loudly as he pressed the thick head of his arousal into your entrance, he felt even bigger than you expected, not quite as cold as his tongue, and you loved it . Your thighs fell apart in lax pleasure as he pressed more of his length inside you, the texture firm but malleable, filling all the spaces inside you. It took Gaster all the willpower he had left to not hilt you in one go after feeling how hot and tight you were, pleasure and arousal were pouring off you in waves. He had been concerned at first you wouldn’t be able to accommodate him, but with that wrecked expression you had on your face they were swiftly assuaged and replaced with burning arousal. “ Like it a bit rough, do you, Dear? ” He punctuated the question with a firm thrust of his hips, causing you to gasp in pleasure at the sudden stretch. He thumbed your clit and you jerked under him moaning loudly, trying to press yourself down harder on his cock. He obliged you, wedging more of of himself inside you, bottoming out against your cervix. He groaned in pleasure, dragging himself out of you before thrusting home, slamming against your cervix. “Oh fuck !” You cried as he increased his pace, hands pulling your hips against his savagely, the tips of his fingers biting into your soft flesh.

 

    His teeth gripped the juncture between your neck and shoulder firmly as he started thrusting deep and hard, your walls clamping around him along with your thighs, your hands were pinned to the bed with one of his summoned ones while another palmed your breasts roughly. “ Cum for me, Dearest, scream my  n a m e. ” Gaster’s voice dropping to a deep guttural growl as his teeth clamped down, popping cleanly through your skin sending shards of white-hot pleasure down your spine. You came hard around his thick cock, screaming his name, he grunted against your neck as he came, filling you with an icy rush, causing you to shiver under him as pleasant tingles drug out your mind-shattering orgasm. You whined as you felt his cock disappear from inside you and his teeth slide from your neck, tingling under the cooling touch of his tongue. You suddenly felt wiped, a spot in your chest radiating warmth and contentment, Gaster purred against you, releasing your hands and pulling you against him softly. You grimaced at the feeling of cum leaking from between your thighs, hoping that the birth control you were on was working well, it had been a long time since so impulsively sleeping with someone. At least it wasn’t disapointing, you mused as your eyes fought sleep, you weren’t sure about the whole soulmate thing, but at least you knew the sex was good missing something .

 

    Gaster listened quietly to your heartbeat in the silent room as you fell asleep in his arms, he stared shell-shocked at the wall in front of him. His face aflame with embarrassment as his mind turned over every moment from his opening the door to you snoring softly against his chest. In the void he had plenty of time to think about anything and everything, he had even entertained the fantasy of how he would woo his potential mate, flowers, dinner, a walk through Waterfall, no funny business until the third date. He was a gentleman after all, he glanced down at your bare skin, tracing a few bruise marks from his overzealous hands with a grimace, that plan was shot to hell. Of course he couldn’t touch anything without staining it. He lifted his hands from your body, you didn’t deserve a cursed being such as him darkening your life, look at how roughly he had treated you, so small and dainty. Fate had given him a mate and he treats you like a toy for his pleasure. His soul warmed as you whimpered at the loss of contact and wove your arms under his ribs with a sigh as he placed his hands over your back, pulling your comforter over you both. He wasn’t sure why you wanted to cuddle an old frozen bag of bones like him, but he would cherish it until you decided to move away, surely in the morning you would see what a horrible mistake you made and demand he leave, but for now he would allow himself this.

Notes:

*gasp* Gaster! You seducer-man you!

Thank you so much for all your support you guys, it really means a lot!

Hate Mail:
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Chapter 5: Heart and Soul of the Problem

Summary:

Gasters can't have panic!

 

Gasters can have a little panic.

    Grillby woke up… agitated. He frowned at himself in the mirror as he dressed for the morning, fingers fumbling awkwardly over the usually almost mechanical movements of tying his usual tie. His brow furrowed as he looked over the rest of his appearance, alighting immediately on his rumpled shirt; buttons misaligned, vest inside out and creased awkwardly as if he hadn’t ironed his whole outfit the night before as usual. He didn’t even bother looking down at his slacks, assuming they were just as sad-looking as the rest of the outfit. He sighed and sat heavily on the edge of his bed, rubbing his face with his hands, scrubbing them through the mess of tangled flames on top of his head. The flames that made up his body had fascinated humans when they came to the surface, he constantly dodged human hands gracefully as they tried to touch his flames or stars forbid grab them. He winced, sure he could choose to become more of a gaseous being than magmatically solid, but it wasn’t worth the mental concentration it would take him to keep only certain portions of himself like his hands solid, not to mention his clothes would catch fire and fall to the ground.

 

    He scrubbed his head harder as magenta tinged his cheekbones, sparks shooting off due to friction. His body felt… hot. He usually ran at a cool 102 F, otherwise he may melt or even burn some of his guests just by standing too close, but he felt much warmer than that and couldn’t seem to regulate his temperature. Something was making the flames crawl across his arms with anxiety and irritation, looking at the clock he squinted before sliding on his glasses, he hadn’t slept. There was still a few hours before he needed to finish his prep from last night, but he really needed a walk. Maybe the cool morning air would clear his head and calm his soul which seemed ready to leave out the door, with or without him. He gave his sorry appearance a sad glance and swiped a long, brown woolen coat, the length managing to sweep around mid-calf instead of above the knee human-made jackets, humans not used to beings as tall as monsters. He threw it around his shoulders along with a forest green plaid scarf. He didn’t feel the cold nearly as much as some other monsters and humans, but it was a convenient way to hide his dishevelled appearance from any curious early birds. Closing and locking the door behind him, he cautiously followed the tugging in his soul down the street.

 

    You felt cold, no freezing, you shivered violently as you woke, blinking into the inky blackness. You frowned and rubbed your face with your hands- wait. How could you see your hands if it was so dark? You sat up in alarm, nothing but solid blackness beneath you, replacing the bedroom you knew you fell asleep in. You stood and looked around, nothing but black emptiness for as far as your puny human senses could gather. You almost called out, like every damn cliche there was) but heard a rumbling snarl in the not-so-distant distance and snapped your jaw shut. You looked around (totally not starting to panic), you hadn’t been afraid of the dark in years but this was a whole new level of dark- advanced darkness. You held in a snort and the hysterical laughter to follow, it was a totally normal thing to joke when you’re standing in the middle of a goddamn- ...void. You blinked and it took everything in you not to groan, that would make way too much sense. It didn’t take much for you to figure out where you were, you always were proud of how clever you could be, not that it seemed to do much for you at this moment. The real question was why.

 

    You rubbed your arms, annoyed, you looked down at your outfit, the tanktop and shorts you wore to bed. That's it, after this you were sleeping in layers, damn the heatstroke, if you were going to start waking up in the void it was worth it. That is, if you figured out how to leave, you turned in place your feet not making a sound against the floor. You saw no walls, no ceiling, but heard plenty and it was really starting to freak you out. You couldn’t compare the noises to any living or inanimate thing you could conjure with your admittedly vast imagination. You gave yourself a careful pinch on your arm, yep, not dreaming . Why couldn’t you just be dreaming? A particularly vicious snarl echoed closer off to your left and you head jerked towards the sound causing a twinge of icy pain to echo the one settling in your soul. You grunted and pressed a hand to your neck, flushing when you realized it was the bite Gaster had given you last night.

 

    A cool throb tugged at the center of your chest, you rubbed the spot, it seemed to pull you away from the growling and you were happy to follow. “Gaster?” You called quietly, well, tried to call quietly. Your voice was like a thunderous boom in your ears and you flinched, noticing the growls had silenced. That can't be good. Sure enough you heard something- or somethings- rumbling straight for you. Nothing was revealed to you in the ocean of blackness but you weren’t going to wait around for it. The breath in your lungs froze along with your soul as it tugged you insistently further away. You started sprinting, not your strong suit but holy shit whatever it was sounded huge, and hungry . 

 

    You ran for what felt like hours, lungs burning for air, legs sore and shaking but the clamouring behind you never seemed to stop, the rumbling only seeming to slowly get louder and closer. The soul in your chest was an icy anchor in your chest as you felt it spurring you on, the pulls getting more and more aggressive as time passed. You wondered absently if you were actually in hell, forever being chased by something that seems to only be growing closer as you barely stay one step ahead of it. Which of course was the perfect time for you to trip over absolutely nothing . A small shriek left your chapped lips as you slammed into the inky darkness designed the floor. You groaned and clutched your nose gingerly, wiping a small amount of blood away, not broken luckily. You clawed your way to your feet only for your legs to give out, the undetermined amount of time you spent running had done a number on them. You made a desperate sound as the snarls screeched in your ears, looking back, your eyes were saucers, you almost couldn’t make sense of what you were seeing. A massive half-skeltal reptile breached the ‘floor’ of the void like a whale through the ocean, the floor shattered oddly silently as the creature let out a massive shriek when it caught sight of you. Sickly green eyelights glowed in the depths of its ravaged sockets, shattered pieces of void reflecting the light, strips of ragged mummified flesh hanging over its narrow, fishlike skull and jaws as viscous dark red liquid dripped from its skeletal jaws and many rows of stained teeth. It almost seemed to smile as its eyelights narrowed in on you, its movements predatory and slow as it clawed its way towards you with gangly limbs, almost seeming to not belong to the prehistoric rotting creature in front of you.

 

    Your breath was caught in your throat as you mind still tried to make sense of the grotesque creature in front of you. You would never call this thing a monster, monsters had never been so terrifying. Its eyes almost seemed to swirl, a toxic yellow glowing between poisonous green swirls, the rusty red liquid dripping from its maw in tar-like strands, silently falling to the floor. It was about fifty feet away when your brain started working again, ruuuuuuuuuun . The brief halt and subsequent second dose of adrenaline did wonders for making your legs obey you. You yelped and started booking it, your soul almost being pulled from your chest as it yanked you away from the beast. A ground-shaking roar of displeasure followed as the beast registered its prey making a  getaway. Your steps faltered as you heard the beast presumably crash beneath the surface of the floor like the breach of a skeletal whale, followed by an excited screech. Holy shit, help help help- But obviously, nobody came.

 

    Grillby closed the door to the bar a bit harder than he intended when he walked back through the door about an hour later. The cool morning air doing nothing to unfrazzle his head or calm his soul, it had pulled him back down the street to a familiar apartment, yours, all the way up to the door before he flushed and realized where he was. That was… embarrassing , how awkward would that be if you had caught him blazing on your doorstep like some obsessive creep. He tugged at his already loose collar, strands of flames falling in his face from the top of his head. You seemed to have a kinder look on monsters and he would really hate to ruin something like that. He knew humans didn’t always feel that deep connection to another like monsters did, and usually it was only when they were soulmates with a monster did they understand. Though even that was a rare occurrence, what would be the odds of a human having a monster soulmate and not outright rejecting it? Well, he was only a bartender but he knew the odds were abysmally low. He cleared his throat as his cheeks pinked, not that he should assume you would even want a monster him for a soulmate in the first place. He was inferring an awful lot about you from the few hours you had spent together, most of which when he was on the clock and you were a pretty customer.

 

    He had to admit he hadn’t expected the icy shard of jealousy to lodge its way in his soul when you had talked about that other monster. He never thought himself the jealous type, not anymore, he sighed and rolled his shoulders, but it had also been years since anyone had grabbed his attention so thoroughly as you. He wasn’t a fool, ignoring obvious signs, but he also had to face the facts. He was old, stuck in his ways, what could you possibly find interesting about him? Could he even keep up with you? From what little time he had spent he could already see he would be staring at your back most of the time as you charged ahead in life. He wondered what kind of soul you had that drove you, so many traits would fit you so perfectly, but, he was biased. He sat heavily at the rarely used stool tucked behind his bar as he looked over the gleaming surfaces. He really owed Sans for getting the bar above the surface, he didn’t try to ask how, he knew Sans would evade the question as easily as he dodges work. He grunted and eyed the tubs of garnish he still needed to prepare, he wasn’t one to shirk his duties, especially when it came to his bar but something someone kept drawing his attention towards the door, closed sign still flipped for another couple hours. He pointedly turned away from the strangely accusatory door and got to work.

 

Forty-five minutes later he frowned at the scorched pile of limes and the smoldering cutting board, knife in hand red hot. He sighed in frustration, clamping his jaw shut as a jet of flame escaped instead of the usual heated air. This… this was not working. Every tick of the clock on the wall seemed to drive his shoulders up around his head, something was really agitating him, every few moments his gaze would be dragged towards the front door. He gave up trying not to think about you ages ago, found he messed up more when he tried to force himself to focus. Which made sense, all of his prep was basically muscle memory, no thoughts needed so why the hell was he torching everything in the nearby vicinity? He tossed another batch of wasted ingredients into a bin, there were recipes that could have used roasted ingredients but these were absolutely scorched. Grumbling he reached into the bin under the counter and started again, maybe third times the charm?

 

    You don’t know how you kept dodging the fissures in the floor where the beast surfaced to try and snap at your ankles. Sound traveled oddly in the void, sometimes echoing and sometimes flat and muffled, the crack of the creature’s bone-finned tail on the glassy surface of the void was like nails on a chalkboard. Your face screwed up in distaste at the harsh sound. You grunted as your soul yanked you suddenly to the left and you heard the skittering of the beast’s claws on the floor as it whipped around to follow your sudden movement. You were about to give up honestly, you were very out of shape, I mean of course you didn’t want to be torn to little frowny shreds by this thing , but you were honestly running out of choices. It's not like you could FIGHT- Ping! Your soul exploded from your chest with a tug and swung your body to face the beast charging you.

 

*???

*LV ???

*HP: ???/???

*ATK: 999 DEF:999

*Thinks you look tasty.

 

Your face paled, an encounter? You couldn’t survive this! And with matching horror you realized, this beast was a monster. Encounters could only occur when a monster or magically inclined human were involved, so by process of elimination this must be a monster. You looked over the beast who had halted thirty feet away when the encounter started, it honestly looked like some sort of awful failed experiment. Mottled, mismatched flesh of varying textures, extra or misplaced limbs, even its jaws seemed to come from two different monsters. You had never seen something so big, not even the king of monsters was so massive as this beast who stood over fifteen feet tall before you. It hissed through its grinning maw of stained needle-like teeth as it seemed to be waiting for you. How polite . You thought bitterly as you frantically thought through your options, a menu appeared in front of you and you clicked through the options, not questioning much right now in your need to survive. 

 

*You

*LV 1

*HP: 100/100

*ATK: 0 DEF: 0

*Is sleeping with a sword under her pillow from now on.

 

    You snorted, of course that would be your flavor text, not very helpful. What should be concerning you is how you can find humor after seeing zero attack and defence. What the fuck were you supposed to do? You always did think it would be cool to be a character in a video game, but this, this was just unfair. This was like some cruel trick by the game devs, tossing a noob in the end game area, right in the boss’ lair, but there would be no respawn for you.

 

    You looked around, hoping by some miracle there would be a weapon, you didn’t even care if it was some jank ass stick, it was better than your bare fists, which you were sure would do nothing against the hulking bone beast in front of you. The constant dripping of petrichor falling from its jaws like strings up rusty drool doing nothing to give you confidence. Its finned tail lashed from side to side like a cat as it waited impatiently to rip you limb from limb. Obviously you were going to prevent that to the best of your ability, but, yknow, is is gonna be tough. It growled in impatience as it saw you looking around, trying to stave off the inevitable, at least in it’s mind your fate was already sealed.

 

    Your gaze finally caught on a shard of shattered void-floor. It was a decent size, small enough to wrap your hand around one end, with jagged spikes running up the sides like thorns. You grimaced and eyed the beast before bending down and snatching it off the ground, which happened to be a huge mistake as you felt the jagged obsidian-like surface cut your hand. You hissed through your teeth but didn’t drop your improvised blade, instead ripping the bottom hem of you tanktop and making a handle which started slowly staining red from the cuts on you hand. Your hand started to throb and sting viciously as you took up a defensive position.

 

    The beast seemed to pause, then a cacophony of laughter rang in your ears, harsh and discordant, making your ears ring. You glared at the beast in front of you refusing to flinch, you never flinched when kids mocked you in school, why would you let a giant grotesque beast make you flinch? 

 

*Improvised Dagger equipped

*ATK +10

*When life gives you nothing, use nothing.

 

    Oh gross, was that a fucking pun? You were so not in the fucking mood right now, especially after seeing it only gave you ten attack. What the hell was that going to do against that thing? You didn’t have shit to defend yourself with, your feet getting cut on the smaller shards of void scattered across the ground. You could honestly say this isn’t how you ever imagined spending a morning, you hadn’t even had a moment to figure out why you were here. You winced and shook your foot, trying to shake out some of the shards, which was your second example of fighting a losing battle.

 

*FIGHT     *ACT

*ITEM         * MERCY

 

    The mercy option was grayed out and unselectable, not that you figured it was much of an option to begin with. The beast could feel you coming to a decision and a hiss of noxious, rotted air escaped its jaws with a grin. Act did not offer you great options either; *Talk, *Submit, *Call for help. Talking really wasn’t going to do much, you definitely aren’t going to submit, spending eternity in this thing’s belly was not one of your life’s goals. Calling for help you didn’t think was going to be effective in the void. No one could hear you in here, Gaster was back in your room as far as you knew, who knows maybe he was the one who pulled you here.

 

          Your lips twisted, that didn't seem like something he would do, but you weren't so naive to think you knew him well at all. " What's wrong, human? Take your turn, then you will submit to me and let us become one. ” Your posture dropped along with your expression with the bored tone the beast used. “You can eat my ass, you corpse pile.” It tilted its head as if to answer but you punctuated your sentence with a slashing motion of the dagger towards the beast, the fight option being selected in your frustration. You blinked as a crescent of light slashed towards the beast, cleanly slicing off its remaining horn. The beast paused before letting out a horrid screech, it slammed a large claw into the ground, eyes blazing. “ You little WRETCH! I’ve never met such a disrespectful one such as you in my life! ” Rusty icor poured from the stump, splashing thickly down its face and neck. It dug deep furrows in the glassy surface of the void and hissed, small tears in the void appearing around it. “My turn you willful child, we shall teach you your place, and don’t think I won't enjoy it. ” You swallowed thickly as your soul stood in front of you like the most fragile shield in the world, this was going to hurt.

 

    Gaster awoke with some confusion, the ceiling was much too close and not the shade of blinding white he was used to, it seemed a bit off, the lighting much dimmer than usual and he actually felt rested. He blinked slowly and looked to the side to see warm yellow light peeking through the window coverings, a wispy shadow interrupting the light periodically in a casual manner, gently swaying, almost like… branches… He sat up abruptly and looked around the room, he wasn’t in the void he was here with… He looked down beside himself to see your form curled on your side in sleep, he swept your hair away from your face and smiled at your even breaths but it quickly turned to a frown as he saw the bite marks he left you. They… they didn’t look well. Sickly black tentacles of his magic extended from each mark left by his teeth, it almost seemed to pulse with venom. You grunted in your sleep, soul flashing under your clothing and flesh along with your eyes beneath your lids as your brow furrowed. He watched as the tentacles seemed to recede before spreading twice as far as you whimpered in your sleep. What the hell had he done to you? He thought back to last night and his face rewashed of any color he had regained through the partial bond.

 

    It had sent a barrage of random bullets in your direction, a chaotic mix of arrows, pellets, seeds, and water droplets had assaulted you, you had luckily dodged most, a few arrows changed direction and surprised you, clipping your soul as you were too slow to react. You hissed as your chest throbbed. “You hit like a whimsum!” The creature hissed in irritation as you took another slash at it, scoring the side of its ribs as its awkward limbs hindered it. It screeched and opened its gaping maw, multiple sets of jaws parting as a sickly green glow gathered deep in its rotting gullet, its claws dug in as a deep rumble caused the broken shards to rattle at your feet. “Oh shit.” Time seemed to slow as the jaws split down the center the green light a small sun at the back of the beasts throat as it prepared to fire it at you and your too tiny soul. You could feel the heat against your skin and then-

 

    Your body was rejecting his magic, it was too tainted, he could see your magic trying to surround it like an infection in response. Gaster swallowed thickly, his soul felt like it was being torn apart for the second time, he knew better, he really did, and he still let the heat of the moment get the best of him. He was resigning a poor innocent woman to this, this will leave you with horrid scars if it doesn't outright kill you. He felt sick, his sins crawling on his back and wrapping around his emaciated soul, this was his karma, he would literally poison his soulmate with his love. He truly was too poisonous to love, his very soul toxic to the touch, even his soulmate was not immune, a partially completed bond wouldn’t normally be so vicious. 

 

    Your soul yanked you to the side, the beam barely missing your arm. You grasped your chest with one hand, the other grasping the dagger which dug freshly into your hand in your terror. You stared wide-eyed off to the side a moment as the beast roared in anger, “ Accept your fate, I see that you are not weak, quite commendable for a human. ” It’s tail made aggressive slicing motions through the air in some awkward combination of a cat and a shark. “ You only make this harder on yourself, I was willing to forgive you coming in here smelling like another male but then you fight me, why ?” You blinked in confusion at the beast.

 

    How could he be so foolish, it was like that buffoon Alphys to make a mistake like this, not he. Gaster shook his head, he should have accounted for all the factors, he knew he hadn’t been thinking clearly but he knew better than to get wrapped up in emotion. You were human and less likely to be open with your feelings, especially after one night. He was not a whole monster, pieces of the shards of the very void itself were filling the missing spaces, poisoning his magic and therefore tainting the bond as it required an exchange of magic. You had no LoVe and he had…. Well. It made him, along with his prior Boss Monster and Royal title the dominant one magically, though you seemed to be holding your own for now even without the uncompleted second step of him ingesting some of your magic and he chalked that up to your human-ness. He felt a surge of pride as he watched the venom grow and pause, shadows flickering along your collarbone. Your lips turned down slightly and your brow twitched, Gaster eyed the shoulder opposite his bite. It would only need to be a small cut, hopefully your soul would sense his intent and accept him. It wasn’t something you could force, he would just have to hope a small piece of your soul would be willing to become part of his as he wanted one of the few remaining pieces of his wanted to become part of yours. He frowned, well, that is what it was supposed to be doing, intent was everything when it came to souls and it seems last night the emotions he so desperately tried to keep in check manifested in the most unfortunate of ways. He leaned forward and rested a small bone scalpel at the side of your neck.

 

    You flinched as you felt a tiny sting at your neck and then a familiar soothing tingling coolness, you absently rubbed the area but the feeling seemed to persist. Something about it made it hard to concentrate on the beast in front of you who seemed to have frozen. It started looking around, confused, almost seeming to dismiss you, its bone spines clattering in agitation. You suddenly felt dizzy, and cold, much colder than you had been feeling, it had been getting worse but with all the movement you had somehow managed to ignore it. It was crawling up your legs, your hips- you jiggle your leg and some feeling came back, but the pins and needles were quickly returning. You grunted as it turned to warmth, starting ta your toes, that wasn’t good, why were you so cold? Was it the void? You looked down at the puddle of dark liquid glimmering by your feet, eyes blurry you blinked and it was gone- oh, that wasn’t good. You didn’t dare lift your foot to see the damage, it must be bad for there to have been that much blood, the void was draining you, and you could feel the beast’s gaze upon you.

 

    It wasn’t working. Gaster was panicking, he was frozen in fear over your body, your temperature had started to drop rapidly, his part of the bond wasn’t important, it was your other bond that was missing. Gaster stood and roared in anger at himself and the situation, slamming a fist through the wall like it was sand. He growled, his rational brain fighting with his instincts at how to proceed, he needed to find your other intended and rip him to pieces get him here to help you. You skin was already fair but it was starting to gray, it crawling up your legs slowly, the tips of your fingers. He scraped a hand over the top of his skull, how was he supposed to find the other? He looked around your room, he had a scent to go off of, assuming you didn’t just let random males near you, but it wasn’t enough. It would take entirely too long for him to find a man who smells like wood smoke, especially since he had no idea if he was even lived nearby. Gaster didn’t even have any idea where he was besides the obvious, rifling through a few small drawers that looked to contain important documents led him to believe he was in a small town. The bills were hand addressed instead of printed like a larger company would do, this was good news, he next just needed to find some evidence of the man. Gaster released the accidentally crushed letter in his hand, hoping it wasn’t something too important. He inhaled slowly and exhaled just as slowly, acting irrationally will not help you.

 

    After a few more minutes of looking through your things he surmised you hadn’t known this man long at all. It was a possibility you had even just met, that was… perfectly ideal. It would be easier to be the favored mate, he already had initiated the bond first- he shook his head, frustrated that the bond was already clouding his stupid monster brain. There wouldn’t be a bond if he couldn’t find the other male. He shifted a few papers on your desk and froze when his eyelights caught a familiar set of letters. He tugged a piece of paper free and was surprised to see his own name written in his dialect with a clearly unpracticed but confident hand, but what really drew his attention was the extremely small scorch mark in the corner. This was excellent, a magic signature he could follow no problem, skeleton monsters were rather gifted when it came to sensing magic and souls unlike the other species of monsters who relied on the usual five senses. Though he wasn’t so far gone to not realize the damage to his soul (the organ he uses to sense magic and souls) was damaged, therefore not as effective as it once was. He concentrated, holding his hand over the small scorch mark, violet magic sparked and gathered in the hole of his palm, it was worth a try.

 

    Sans jerked awake as his brother shook him, “Sans, Wake Up.” Sans blinked the sleep from his eyes, arms still lax on the bed though his brother was holding the rest of his upper body off the bed by his tshirt, wads of the material gathered to pull him closer to his brother’s face. “SOMETHING IS WRONG.” Ah, he thought his brother had been a bit quiet, turns out he had just been that deep in the pillows. “sup, bro? get a grip will ya?” His brother screamed and shook him so hard he swore he felt his skull spin around. “c’mon paps, it's not like you to be so rattled .” Papyrus gripped his skull firmly and fully covered his mouth. “SANS SHUT UP.” Sans’ sockets widened in surprise, pupils pinpricks. “I Am Sorry Brother, I Seriously Feel Something Wrong. I Feel A Human Soul.” Sans patted his brother’s arm sadly to let him go. This wasn’t the first time Papyrus had woken him up like this in a panic, years of diligently using his Soul Sense underground had left Papyrus hardwired to react the second he senses one, and his range was massive. Once on the surface Papyrus had trouble sleeping, he was used to being on full alert, senses stretched to almost every corner of the underground, senses dulled to familiar presence so it was fairly quiet for him. However the surface was a whole new beast, there were a lot more humans on the surface of course, therefore racism, speciesism, whatever you want to call it was an unfortunate regular occurrence and therefore violence… and death… 

 

    His brother felt the souls shatter on a metaphysical level, it had worn him down, Sans had come home from work one day to find his brother a wrecked and sobbing mess. A hospital had burnt down in the next town over, it wasn’t an accident, so many innocent souls were crushed. After that he had taken his brother to the king and queen, begging for a solution, what they came up with, wasn’t ideal, but it was what was best. They were sent back underground so Papyrus could relearn how to close himself off from the stimuli. It had taken longer than either brother had liked, especially Papyrus. Sans had been disappointed for his brother, he hadn’t cared how long it took, just that Papyrus took all the time he needed. Papyrus however was angry and impatient. He was angry at how pathetic he was, couldn’t stop doing magic, that was usually the opposite problem. This had never been a problem before, quite the opposite, with every increase in his magic pool the wider his senses could stretch and did stretch. No one questioned when he consumed massive amounts of food compared to Sans’ meager meals. The magic he was pushing out required massive amounts of fuel, but everyone just saw a large skeleton monster so it made sense for him to need more food. He finally found the best way to control his sense was to focus on one person close to him to limit the range. It wasn’t the best fix, but it worked well most days, but when he slept, well, he couldn’t really control his magic.

 

    “wha’s wrong with it, bro? did another human fall down?” Sans was wiping the sleep from his eyes, noticing the sparkling orange tears gathering in his sockets. “NO SANS, THIS ONE CAN STILL BE SAVED. I NEED YOUR HELP, I KEEP TRYING TO ASK IT WHERE IT IS, BUT IT WONT RESPOND SANS, THEY ALWAYS RESPOND!” Sans sat up, “well, ya can’t make a soul do anythin’ it doesn’t wanna do, bro. ‘specially a human one.” Papyrus was already shaking his head. “JUST TRY, PLEASE?” Sans sighed and rubbed his skull, it wouldn’t hurt, who knows, maybe someone did need some help but didn’t know how to ask. Wasn’t like it hadn’t happened before, not that he could have done anything about it then either. Concentrating, he frowned, that couldn’t be right, wasn’t that human the one from Grillby’s? Papyrus nodded in satisfaction at the troubled look on Sans’ face, “SEE! IT WILL NOT TELL ME WHERE IT IS BUT I CAN TELL IT IS NOT FAR.” The soul Sans sensed hovering over the other, draining the life from it is what made his sockets go dark. “i’ll be right back bro, i’ll take care of it.” A moment later Sans vanished from bed, leaving a worried Papyrus behind.

 

    Sans appeared at the front door just as Gaster was working his way out, paper grasped in hand, looking much worse for wear. He paused at the shorter skeleton before him in the doorway of his mate’s home, appearing with dark sockets. Gaster swallowed thickly, he would recognize that faded blue jacket anywhere. “Sa-” He grunted as a bone slammed him in the stomach. “how did you crawl out of that hole?” He tried to look up but another bone came and threw him to his knees. “why her? why now ?” each question was punctuated with a whack of a bone on his body. Gaster silently bore it, covering only his skull, letting Sans break bone after bone over his body. Sans finally slowed and stopped with huge puffs of breath before Gaster stood, brushing off the splinters, completely physically unaffected by the abuse. Sans’ face darkened further, it was the same as always, he could never leave a scratch on him. Sans choked as he was lifted by his throat to level with burning violet eyelights.

 

    “ My mate is dying, Sans, you can vent your grievances on me later. I need to find the owner of this magic .” Gaster shoved the paper into the choking skeleton’s face. Sans’ watering sockets focused on the paper, particularly the scorch mark on the edge. Oh, Sans knew that magic well, but he needed to know why he needed that particular person. He pried Gaster’s hand off his neck and dropped to the floor, rubbing the bruises left by the tight grip. Yeah, fun fact, bones can bruise. “what do ya want with ‘em?” Gaster slowly closed his sockets for patience, he did not have time for the usual five-million questions Sans usually pestered him with. Some things truly did not change, no matter how much time had passed. “ I do not have time for this, Sans, she will perish if I do not find her other mate .” Gaster looked to the side, “ I am… I am too damaged to support the bond on my own. It was foolish of me to even consider- I- I should have controlled myself- ” Sans watched with an odd mix of horror and fascination as before his eyes Gaster started to melt and stammer, very unlike the scientist he was familiar with. That man was cold and collected, all about answers and numbers, not emotion and vulnerability. Maybe time really did change people. Sans had been sure he was dead, but apparently not, he did look different from before. About the same height, but he didn’t stand as tall or proud, his sweater and coat were rumpled along with his slacks, like he had slept in them. The cracks in his skull were a new addition, along with a slight droop to his right eye which all seemed to be permanent new features instead of a physical demonstration of his current mood like the dripping seemed to be.

 

    “...lemme see her first. how bad is it?” Gaster opened his mouth to respond but Sans disappeared in a smattering of blue magic particles. He looked at the closet door with a grimace, he had developed it seemed a bit of entamaphobia, it had taken him ten minutes just to have a summoned hand open the door to your room so he could find your other mate. He decided it was best to just wait here, he couldn’t waste that kind of time and there was no way he would actually be able to Take a Walk through the void, the very thought made him ill and shake in the hands. “shit ‘dings, you’re killing her! humans aint supposed to get that cold or lose that much magic!” Sans groaned and rubbed his skull, “man, she’s really gonna hate me later for this one.” Grabbing Gaster by the arm he vanished with him before he could let out a shout of alarm.

 

    Grillby started in alarm at the pair of monsters who appeared in front of him just as he was about to turn the closed sign to open. Sans steadied Gaster as he doubled over gasping in rapid breaths, he could feel the teeth- ripping, shredding, the claws, the eyes- warmth. He raised his head, it was him , how, how did he not recognize that magic? How did he forget his own best friend. Sans watched in shock as Grillby pulled Gaster up into his arms, Gaster clawing at him and mumbling between gasps. Grillby sat back in surprise and shock. “ Are- are you serious? ” Gaster nodded, Grillby ran a harried hand through the flames on top of his head, “ Knew I shouldn’t have left. ” What little form Gaster had regained reduced back into thick black ooze. “ Well? Take me to her you fools! ” Agitated flames sparked from the elemental’s head. “ Wingdings do pull yourself together, that will not help her. ” The skeleton pulled himself up off the floor with a great degree of embarrassment. The last time he had seen Grillby had been the morning before he was scattered across the void, and they had a fight. It wasn’t unusual, they had fights and disagreements before, it's what made the conversations interesting. This fight however was rather explosive on both accounts, they both had gone too far, said things you can’t really take back. Gaster had instantly regretted it all the moment he had strode out the door, but his stupid pride had made him continue on with his day instead of apologizing. He had many years to regret his decision.

 

    Grillby was in shock, he was back, he couldn’t believe it, he had waited many years to apologize, how could he forget? He shook his head, he could figure this out later, if he didn’t act, you would die, and it would be all his fault. He groaned internally, Wingdings would never forgive him if that were the case. He felt Sans grip his sleeve and then his bar vanished, replaced by your bedroom, your sleeping form lying tucked in. He strode forward and frowned, inhaling deeply, his lips pulled back from his teeth in a snarl as he smelled sex, magic and a scent that wasn’t his own drenching your body. He closed his eyes hard and refocused, your magic was being swallowed by the bond, it sensing the emaciated condition of one of it’s partnered souls so your soul was trying to help repair it. Your soul was strong, but it looked like you had been trying all night and failing. Your skin was graying, a sign of magic deprivation, and he doubted you had much to begin with. Gaster should not have initiated the bond, Grillby understood what most likely happened, but still. “ Sans, get out. ” Sans shifted his weight, eyeing Gaster with suspicion who was hovering over Grillby as he examined you. Sans didn’t really have an attachment to you personally, he tried to avoid all that business with humans, couldn’t trust them, no matter how pure their souls seemed. He did however, care deeply for Grillby, and you were his mate, even if that sorry excuse for a skeleton was part of the deal. Sans really would have to find out how Gaster managed to escape the void. “ Sans. ” Sans jumped at the growl leaving Grillby’s mouth, well, he would find out later. Grillby laid a hand against your cheek and your flesh shuddered against his touch, body moving closer to his warmth and magic. Unlike Gaster, he was not an emaciated skeleton monster and had the magic to spare.

 

    The beast was laid down next to your shuddering body, it almost sounded regretful, “ It is unfortunate that our time is coming to an end, ” You just shivered against its chest and forelegs, thoughts drifted away like sand under the crush of ocean waves. “ Just go to sleep, human, it will be over soon. ” Something about that didn’t sound right, but your body was so heavy, even breathing seemed like a chore, you had never been so tired, or dizzy, or cold….. “ That's it, just... give… in... ”

Notes:

Hey guys, thank you so much for all the kind words and support! Sorry I have been gone so long but I would never want to give you guys a shit, half-assed chapter, just for the sake up updating. Just the regular shit chapter you all expect!
Work has been tough, a lot has happened, I'm trying to get a few chapters ahead in everything so the updates can be a bit more regular, but i just got word that another person has quit at the ER where I work so i may not be having much time to write. I figured I should at least make myself sit down and finish this one for all of you who have been so patient. Thanks everyone for reading!

You guys are seriously the best!

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Chapter 6: Death Warmed Over

Notes:

Hey everyone! Sorry I was gone for so long, it's been quite the year for all of us!

Please mind the updated tags and enjoy!

    Gaster grumbled to himself as he walked past his home and into town, it would do him no good to go home while in this foul mood, to see more of his failures . His expression was thunderous, even as hidden as his face was in the scarf wrapped around his neck. The scarf was poorly made, pattern uneven, or completely ignored in some spots, the length of the scarf was almost alarming but perfect for someone of his height once looped around his neck a few times. The colors were hideous, clashing where they were knotted together, it was quite the eyesore, and yet couldn’t quite bring himself to replace it with something more appropriate.

 

    Today was not a good day to wear this scarf. Monsters parted around the scientist, some choosing to walk on the other side of the street, sensing the snaps of magic his soul was letting off in warning. No one messed with an angry boss monster, especially that one. Many of the residents of the underground found the royal scientist terrifying. There were too many stories of horrific experiments regarding souls, and not just human ones. Things gone wrong, people who looked at him sideways disappearing, of course it was all rumour. Hope was starting to run a bit low, the older monsters not being able to handle the strain, even some younger ones were having trouble coping. ‘Safety’ rails and guards had been posted around Waterfall and Hotland after a few too many monsters ‘fell’ to their demise.

 

    He didn’t even hesitate as he almost crushed the handle of a familiar establishment’s door, nor when he almost fractured the frame again closing the door behind himself. He single-mindedly approached his seat at the end of the bar, only to find it occupied. He watched the shoulders of the unfortunate monster tense, feeling the pressure of an annoyed boss monster’s magic behind them.

 

    The dog guard turned and paled, whining, Gaster just stared them down, the dog flinched and scurried from the bar, much like the rest of the patrons who were sober enough to sense the danger. Gaster assumed his seat, glaring at the remains of the previous occupant’s meal, disgusting .

 

    A pair of long-fingered hands appeared to take away the dishes, flames gently weaving to form them, he always had found fire calming to watch. Even at its most destructive, it was graceful and serene, even as its whispers turned to screams and roars- a small tumbler filled with an amber drink was placed in front of him by those same hands. He silently took the glass and stared down into it before taking a drink, finishing it within a few moments. “ Work difficult today? ”

 

    Gaster grunted and looked up at the bartender with a sneer. “ As if you would know much about work being difficult. ” The second glass was set down with no less care than before, but more firmly.

 

    Grillby stared down into those glaring sockets unflinchingly, this wasn’t the first time Gaster went looking for a fight and he was sure it wouldn’t be the last. Though he never managed to find a fight with him, Grillby usually managed to get him to calm down and head home for the night, for their sake. His eyes flickered to the picture he kept under the bar of three smiling faces. He sighed internally as one of the faces in the picture scowled at him from across the bartop, it was better Gaster was here when he was like this.

 

    Gaster grunted and finally looked away from the stoic inferno elemental, he wasn’t sure why he always tried to goad the other monster into a fight when he was frustrated. Probably because he was the only one besides the King himself who could give him any sort of challenge, anyone who was still alive at least, boss monsters were usually rather tough after all. Back in the days of the wars Gaster had heard rumor of the Inferno Demon who could tear through enemy lines whether he was directing troops through one of his many clever plans, or taking matters into his own claws, the battlefield was left razed and ruined in his wake. Gaster had been back in the castle, devising defense strategy for the king, queen, and the citizens they had under their care, so had not met the monster until many years later, long after they had been defeated and trapped underground.

 

    Gaster had been disappointed at what the notorious boss monster had been reduced to; a soft spoken, mild-mannered bartender, subservient . It had made his lip curl when he realized who had placed a drink in front of him those years prior. “ What happened? ” Gaster sipped his drink as he came back to the present, staring down into the dregs a moment longer before calmly placing the glass on the bar for Grillby to take.

 

    “ It failed, again. ” Grillby hummed and replaced the glass gently with a fresh one.

 

    “ I’m sure you will find the solution .” He ran a rag over his side of the bar, “ You always do. ” Gaster shoved the glass, again empty back across the bar, Grillby smoothly snatching the glass from the air before it could shatter on the ground.

 

    “ It’s not that simple . ” He growled, not looking at the perturbed bartender in front of him as he scraped a hand over his skull, fingers blindly tangled in a particularly poorly knitted portion of the scarf. “ I have looked over the numbers again and again, there is nothing strong enough to make it work. Well… nothing I can get my hands on. ” His sockets narrowed in almost fevered looking obsession.

 

    Grillby really didn’t like it when he got that look on his face, Gaster was his closest friend, but the man was a few test tubes short of a chemistry set. Not that Grillby had any room to judge. “ Not yet at least... ” His slender fingers tapped on the bar in thought as he stared blindly at the bottles lining the shelves behind the elemental. Grillby's hands slowed with trepidation as he watched the scientist's eyes turn cold and flinty, then blank and calculating.

 

          A sinister smile, empty of any warmth, just full of cold satisfaction crawled across his face as his fingers ceased their tapping on the bar. If his species of monster could actually sweat, Grillby was sure he would need a rag or two. "Gaster." He said, trying to break what appeared to be an unsavory train of thought in the scientist's mind. "Think this through. I dont know what you have planned, but-" Gaster hummed, cold indigo eyelights pinned the bartender in place. Grillby internally grimaced as Gaster sat ramrod straight in the barstool, trying to stare him down. Grillby refused to look away, dominance games were considered unnecessary and outdated, but it was hard to break millennia old habits.

 

    " Some of us arent content to be failures. " Gaster spit out the world like venom and Grillby fought not to flinch. He couldn’t, something in his soul screamed at him to break whatever train of thought was going on in Gaster’s skull. That look on his face told him that whatever he was planning was going to hurt a lot of people. 

 

    “ Think this through-” Grillby’s set down his rag and reached across the bar, but Gaster coldly leaned out of reach, as if he wasn’t even there.

 

    “ Oh, I have. ” Gaster stood from the bar, tossing some gold down, excessive, in amount and dramatics, coins scattered everywhere but Grillby did not break eye contact with the skeleton monster. Gaster huffed as the fire monster didn’t respond beyond his white hot glare, literally and figuratively. “ Many things have been made very clear to me this evening- ”

 

    “ DO YOU GIVE A STARSDAMNED SHIT ABOUT ANYONE BUT YOURSELF? SHE WOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOU! ” Gaster’s sockets widened at the roar leaving the open maw of the raging inferno in front of him. Grillby had grown taller and broader, pushing at the limits of his clothing, flames singing the magically reinforced fabric. Feathered ash flaked off his arms where he leaned over the bar, tangible claws scraped the bartop as he gripped it in fury.

 

    “ You have always been selfish Wingdings Gaster, you never think of others, just your damn results. ” Grillby almost snapped his precious bartop in two when Gaster just returned his roars with a cold expression.

 

    “ As I said, many things have been made clear to me this evening, especially that some should keep their smoke to themselves. ” Grillby narrowed his eyes, Gaster was being truly unreasonable tonight. If he had to, he would pick a fight with the skeleton if it would keep him away from the children. It wasn’t the first time he and the scientist had fought and Grillby feared it wouldn’t be the last.

 

    Gaster sniffed at the lack of response and strode out the front door. The flame monster sighed and scrubbed a hand through his hair in frustration, the argument bringing up bad memories. He remembered the fury when he had discovered exactly what the skeleton monster had actually been up to in his lab after their last disagreement.

 

When it had occurred he had already grown suspicious, the children had come walking by his bar, bandaged with their heads down more than once. One day he had appeared and blocked Sans’ path, the small skeleton had been so out of it he had just softly walked into Grillby’s form. The second he made contact he yelped and jumped back, only to fall to the ground with a yelp of pain. After questioning the child gently for a moment he surmised they were training wounds.

 

    Though he did not approve of Gaster’s methods he could not intervene as the wounds were all minor and fixed with a piece of candy, though after the first time Sans had refused any more of the healing candy saying something about his brother learning green magic. Grillby had been impressed, Papyrus was quite young to have learned such a difficult skill, he must have gotten it from his mother, such a kind woman.

 

    Verdana’s specialty was green magic, she was a gifted healer during the war, some even said she was more powerful than the queen in that aspect at the time. Some said she could stretch her magic for miles, bathing friend in warm green magic and drowning foe in a cloud of sweetly noxious vapor that drug them peacefully into their final slumber. She had been so excited to be a mother, Grillby doubted Papyrus remembered her, but he was sure Sans did as he had asked to see Grillby’s photos that included her from the war days almost every time he stopped by. Grillby had told Sans to just keep the photo but he had quickly shook his head, tiny skull almost spinning around on his spinal column and disappeared out the door shouting something about meeting Gaster at the lab.

Once when Sans was a bit older he had tried to quickly pass in front of Grillby’s bar, which immediately drew Grillby’s attention, Sans never did anything quickly, even as a child, no matter how angry Gaster got Sans only ever did anything at his own pace.Stepping in front of the child Grillby tapped his polished loafer on the snowy ground, waiting for Sans to look up and acknowledge him. Sans took longer than usual to tilt his head back, and when he did he angled the right side of his face away from the light the elemental was putting off. The tapping of his foot stopped as he caught sight of freshly stained bandages, the small scuff of grit and snow under his shoe was the only warning Sans had before the hood was gently but firmly pulled back from his skull.

 

He felt a wash of extreme heat and flinched, sockets slamming shut at the explosion of light and fury on the other monster’s face. A few younger monsters around town had joked about feeling spring coming on as the heat from Grillby’s fury radiated through town, the older monsters however had paled and pulled their kids inside, knowing exactly what the sudden onset of heat meant.

 

    Sans had swallowed thickly and flinched when he saw the clawed hand made of fire reach towards him, flames like feathers cloaking the usually bare-looking arm. Steam hissed sharply when he gently laid his hand on the younger monster’s jacket, evaporating the small accumulation of water instantaneously. “ Where is your brother? ”

 

    Sans fought to flinch at the deep tone, and still refused to look up, especially with the boss monster’s soul flaring like that. Instead he carefully shifted his arms, reaching up to unzip his jacket, revealing a smaller skeleton, sleeping with orange tears tracking down his face, small hands glowing green even in his sleep through the holes in the palms-

 

    Grillby had to turn away not to crush something or vomit, he didn’t know which was going to happen, first Sans’ eye , now Papyrus’ hands . Grillby had never been so angry and disgusted . It was one thing to do something to oneself, it was another to do that to children. They weren’t even his .

 

Verdana would be infuriated, she would never have forgiven Gaster for even raising his voice to them, much less this horrific display. What Sans uttered next about broke him. “‘s ok misser grillby. i made him sleep, he… he won’t remember...” He sniffed, “couldn’t do much then, but it was better than…” He reached up and touched the stained bandage covering his socket. A sharp CRACK was heard and the tree near the bar was, well, no longer near the bar. Sans flinched again and stumbled back, trembling, logically he knew the monster wasn’t mad at him but he wasn’t sure why he was mad.

 

“ Sans. Where is your Uncle? ” Sans swallowed heavily and pulled his brother closer to his chest who squirmed at being squished so tightly to his brother’s ribs under the large blue jacket, still a few sizes too big.

 

    “...lab…” Grillby nodded, feathered flames falling from his body, glittering to black ash before reaching the trampled snowy ground beneath clawed toes and shredded clothing.

 

    “ Go home, Sans, I need to speak with your Uncle .” Sans nodded quickly, but stopped as it made his already abused skull throb, instead started walking toward his house, refusing to look back as he felt the infuriated boss monster disappear with a whirl of heat and discarded golden flames in the shape of feathers.

 

    Gaster paused before the reams of data in front of him, looking down at the results as they continued printing off, sheet after sheet. He hummed as he lifted a section closer to the massive machine and read a few of the numbers and symbols, frowning and made a small note on one of the several clipboards hovering around him held in disembodied pairs of skeletal hands.

 

    Today had been a good day, he was finally getting somewhere with part of his research, he had a small snag but that in the end sorted itself out. Gaster chuckled darkly to himself, he had to give the boy some credit, that blaster had definitely been unexpected. He had to wonder what other talents his dear nephew had been withholding.

 

    Now Papyrus was a good child, outside the incessant chatter rattling from his jaws at all hours, though that was easily remedied with some firm words, he did whatever Gaster asked of him. Even when he knew it would hurt, unlike his coward of a brother. Gaster never did understand how his sister could have created a being so utterly sloth-like and selfish as Sans.

 

    He did not enjoy bringing the child pain, but he really must learn his place here, set an example for his little brother, not the other way around. The monster groaned and rubbed his skull, though Sans did put up a decent fight for a child. That was probably the only thing about him that was even remotely close to his sister in any way. His capacity for magic was what could potentially be one of the largest in the underground if not the entire magic community if properly trained. He scowled, knowing that would be a monumental undertaking if today was any indication, but not impossible.

 

    Sans was easily controlled, once you knew which bones to bend, well, knew whos bones to bend. Gaster hummed as he read the data in front of him, the other monsters just didn’t understand what kind of position he was in, sometimes what seemed harsh was necessary in their world and unfortunately the children had to learn that as well. His eyes glazed over, mindlessly scanning the data, resisting the urge to scratch at the bandages on his chest.

 

    The impromptu punishment for Sans not complying with what would have been a mildly invasive procedure earlier, was for his brother to go first. Which was not well-received by the elder brother if his outburst of hollow arguments and childish sniveling were any indication. Papyrus had been brave, gently trying to disentangle himself from his brother, sensing his uncle’s patience running very thin with his brother. He had finally slipped his brother’s hold and climbed onto the table when Sans had thrown himself at their guardian.

 

    Papyrus hadn’t even had time to tell Sans no when the blow came, Gaster had backhanded Sans blindly with one of his many summoned hands as his attached hands were busy. The force of the blow to Sans’ skull threw his small body across the room, his right socket cracking against the table edge. Papyrus had gasped as a soul-splitting cry had torn from his brother’s throat on contact with the steel countertop, he didn’t see the flicker of shock and regret that flashed across Gaster’s face before it hardened again. “ Papyrus. Lie down. ”

 

    The small skeleton stiffened with fear, not quite tearing his gaze from the trembling form of his brother. Something was leaking from around where he held his hand against the damaged socket, something the color of- “ Papyrus. ” His sockets jerked up towards the hard face of his uncle, Sans had told him many times his uncle was not as nice as he pretended to be but Papyrus hadn’t believed him. Not until now.

 

    Papyrus mechanically laid upon the metal table, bands of blue magic settled over his extremities and the familiar weight was not as calming as it used to be. What he found a bit disconcerting were the various hands his uncle could summon carrying around many knives he was told were called scalpels and some serrated ones as well called saws.

 

    It confused him, was he sick? Did he need surgery? Was that why Sans was so concerned? Was he scared for him? Papyrus smiled, it was no worry! He had enough bravery for the both of them! He was sure he would be cured in no time. He tried to ask his uncle a few questions as to why he needed surgery but he had just been told to be quiet.

 

    He tried to turn his head to find Sans, his cries had quieted, hopefully Gaster would apologize, but a pair of hands gently but firmly planted his skull back facing forward. “ Do hold still, Papyrus. ” Papyrus swallowed at the cold edge to his uncle’s voice, something was very wrong.

 

    “UM. UNCLE?” The small skeleton flinched as something metal was set down harshly on a tray behind his head.

 

    He could feel tears gather at the corner of his eyes but asked anyway, “WILL YOU PLEASE HEAL SANS? andnothithimanymoreplease.” Papyrus trembled as he waited for his uncle to reply. He heard the scuff of his uncle's polished loafers as he slowly rounded the table. Gaster didn't say anything or acknowledge that he even spoke until he looked down at the small skeleton with a smile brittle as spun sugar, scalpel in hand.

 

    “ Papyrus, you know I don’t humor foolish questions .” Papyrus felt his soul drop to the bottom of his ribs at the empty tone his uncle used. He felt orange tears track down his cheekbones, trailing into his mouth, the taste bitter. “ Your brother decided to test my patience, and quite recklessly, might I add. He brought this on himself, now I will hear no more of this, you must be quiet so I can be as exact as possible. I assume you don’t wish to be missing limbs? ” The chuckle his uncle gave was dry and cold.

 

    Utter terror crawled across the face of the young skeleton, surely his uncle must be pulling one of his japes, right? A whimper left his jaws and he saw Gaster freeze, he clenched his jaw shut and tried to stifle his tears, Gaster continued, doing his usual exam, forever adding endless notes on his clipboards. Papyrus had always wondered if his summoned hands got tired always writing like that but knew this was definitely a bad time to ask. After some time Gaster seemed to be satisfied with his extensive exam and nodded to himself.

 

    “ Alright, we are about to begin the procedure. Papyrus. Prepare yourself. ” The room dimmed and his soul trembled in his chest before being pulled free. He really hated how his uncle looked during an encounter, he always looked so scary. The pressure of his soul was enough to make many monsters dust on the spot, chances were if you got into an encounter with Gaster, you were dead, or about to be.

 

    Sans stood on trembling legs, the magical pressure from his uncle’s soul would normally be enough to send him to the back wall, but something was giving him the strength to stand. With every wave of pressure that washed over him he heard a small ping and felt a slight acidic burn over his exposed bone. That was of course his uncle’s magic. 

 

    Sans heard it was like his mother’s but he could not fathom how. His uncle’s magic was a noxious, rusted, violet, glowing sickly in the encounter-darkened room, seemingly trying to snuff out the white and pale orange magic his brother’s soul was giving off. So tiny and frail, cowering almost in the small gap allowed by the toxic cloud that was his uncle’s soul.

 

    Sans’ phalanges scraped harshly over a table surface as he tried to force himself forward, like wading through water-logged sand, he barely progressed. He moved in slow-motion compared to Gaster who had picked up a power drill, Sans’ sockets blew wide in horror as he saw Gaster lower it to the palm of his brother’s hand. The scream of horrible pain wrenched from his brother’s jaws jolted him from his shock, he gasped as blue tinted tears poured from his eyes.

 

    Something nasty twisted in Sans’ chest, something dark, something empty and voracious, something that returns everything you fed it, with interest. He grunted as his right socket sputtered before dying, spitting out more liquid onto the lab floor. Another horrible scream had him jerking his undamaged socket back towards the table where Gaster was torturing his brother. He had started on the other hand and was now hovering over his brother’s soul, glowing violet scalpel in hand.

 

    Sans screamed and threw a hand out towards Gaster, a wet tearing sound filled the lab and Sans felt something dark and powerful looming above him, heat gathered and with the sound of a thousand turbines discharging a bright white-blue beam crackling with violet lightning threw Gaster against the wall opposite the table. The doctor laid stunned, face crushed against the cold steel wall of the lab for hours, by the time he regained his faculties both of his nephews had disappeared.

 

    Gaster shook his head it didn’t matter, he had accomplished mostly what he set out to do, at least something was going according to plan- he set the papers down as one of the monitors off to the side beeped for his attention. Frowning he casually strode over, it was unusual for the monitor to have anything unusual to indicate, not after he fixed that problem in the reactor room. Lost a few men to that, but what can you do, the only way to find the leak was for them to well, look for it. Well, if there was another problem it was no matter, he could throw on another quick fix, he was that much closer to completing his project the Combustible Object RecyclEr or CORE as the King liked to call it. Gaster had argued that the anagram was not viable, but the king had just laughed and agreed that spelling and grammar were his wife’s strong suit, but that all the letters were there.

 

    Looking at the monitor he frowned, it wasn’t indicating a temperature issue in the reactor chamber, but outside the lab itself. He hummed and tapped the screen a few times to look at the diagnostics screen, there shouldn’t be any significant temperature changes outside, he hadn't even added new equipment to the molten lake below in a few years at least. The diagnostics screen reported all sensors functioning normally but the temperature was starting to rise high enough that more screens were lighting up with caution signs. That was… troubling.

 

    The doors behind him slid open and he heard the quick steps of his lab assistant Devi “Uh, Dr. Gaster? The screens are making the not good sound.” Gaster inhaled through his teeth calmingly before turning towards his half-wit of an aide, trying to school his expression. The tall, nervous-looking monster stood hunched by the door, wringing his whip-like tail between his viciously clawed hands.

 

    “ Yes, Devi you half wit, I am aware. I need to know the cause of the alarm. Now, unless you know the problem I shall go investigate .” Gaster pushed past the stammering monster and strode through the door, ignoring the pleading calls behind him as he descended the stairs. As he reached the bottom steps he heard a few more of his useless assistants calling out to him as he walked the halls to the lobby of the lab.

 

    Hairy growled in annoyance as he watched his boss duck and weave through the halls. The rabbit monster knew he was using that weird magic of his to avoid them, luckily he knew where the skeleton monster was headed and hopefully he would reach him in time or he was afraid none of them would survive. A few minutes later and a few risky jumps down some flights of stairs landed him in the lobby as Gaster reached the front door. He gasped in lungfuls of air, this was embarrassing, had his years spent in the lab made him so out of shape? He shook himself and with a cough croaked towards his boss; “Don’t! Dr. Gaster its-” As the boss monster turned towards him the world erupted in flames.

 

    Gaster choked as a clawed hand wreathed in fire slammed him to the ground, heat and smog stinging his sockets. They watered as he tried to see the blurry shape above him writhing in animalistic fury. Something was being roared at him but the sound of his soul screaming and his own choking drowned it out until he was lifted and thrown back down. “ IF YOU EVER LAY A SINGLE FINGER ON THOSE BOYS AGAIN, I WILL BURN THAT FETED LUMP OF MAGIC YOU CALL A SOUL AND THAT HUSK OF A BODY TO DUST . ”

 

    Gaster groaned as a flame-coated fist smashed against the side of his skull as he tried to stand, his summoned hands being incinerated left and right as he tried to shield himself from the furious monster. His magic could barely form under the intense pressure of Grillby’s rage and the blow from Sans earlier had damaged him more than he liked to admit. He just laid there in the rubble from the lobby of the lab, the rough red rock floor of Hotland gritty and sharp under his abused bones.

 

    He had once again underestimated someone and his price was his pride and the marrow leaking out of his body is sparkling rivulets shining in the flames of the monster hissing above him. “ Speak, pyre-fodder. ” Gaster physically recoiled at the callous and empty tone Grillby used like it was a blow to his soul, what was that cracking sound ?

 

    “ i... understand .” He finally rasped out, wincing at the submissive casing of his words. He was beaten, Grillby could crush his soul like fragile glass and he would not raise a hand to stop him. He watched as the flames receded- or was that just the dark closing in again to smother him?

 

    Grillby stared down at the pile of scorched clothing and bones, and felt his rage drain from his body and replaced with something much more familiar, shame. He didn’t mean to go this far, Gaster’s sockets were bruised and leaking marrow along with his slack jaw. Parts of his clothing had been burned away to reveal his scorched sternum. Grillby frowned and leaned closer, seeing sparking violet magic in a radiating pattern. Touching the spot and hissing, he could feel his sins crawling on his back. He felt his flames stifle and Gaster let out a shuddering breath. He shouldn’t have taken as much damage as he did. * Check.

 

*Doctor Wingdings Gaster

*HP 1(6665)/6666

*His sins are crawling across his back.

 

    Grillby gave a calming inhale through his nose before he leaned down and gathered the unconscious scientist. Curse his softness, he sucked his teeth and made the silent trek home, the weight of the monster in his arms inconsequential. 

 

    Afterwards Gaster was better , he was by no means a changed man, he just seemed to have more patience and the burns he suffered took plenty of time to remind him of his sins. Everyone knew who had given him the burns, the people of the town either sympathetic or smug, he finally got what he deserved. Anyone who went to speak with Grillby about what happened would get the silent treatment or were promptly removed from his bar.

 

    Grillby sighed and resumed wiping the smudges away on the counters along with the memories, the boys were older now and could defend themselves against Gaster. And if not… Grillby gave a sinister smile at his reflection in the polished bartop, well, Grillby was not above re-scorching those bones. His smirk turned to a horrified frown as an explosion rocked the ground beneath his feet, he could hear further off explosions outside the bar.

 

    He abandoned his cleaning and ran outside, he could hear monsters screaming and running down the street away from the road to Hotland. He quickly made his way to the lab, his hand on the door and then nothing. He had the sensation of falling, heat coming from below him, so much heat-

 

    Grillby blinked as he stared up at the ceiling of his bedroom, feeling like he had an odd dream but couldn’t quite dredge it up. He started his day like normal, opened his bar, greeted his usual patrons and woke his adopted children, Sans and Papyrus. As he watched them race around the bar, eventually going outside to bother the others in town. Glancing through the windows of his bar throughout the day he couldn’t help feeling like he had forgotten something. He shrugged, life was decent here now, the CORE had been on for a few years now and the lights never flickered anymore, the children were happy and that’s all he could really ask for.

 

    Grillby concentrated as he drug his mind from the swamp of his past, trying to wipe the dark memories from the front of his mind, thinking about such things would most certainly not help you.

 

    Gaster stood off to the side stiffly, a few hands floating about nervously, wanting to do something but knowing he would only hinder. Grillby had to hand it to you, you had a strong soul and a strong will to live but it could only get you so far, unfortunately Determination was not a core trait of yours it appeared.

 

    Gaster tapped a foot on the ground as he muttered, mind flashing through and discarding solutions just as fast. He could tell you weren’t completely there, physically sure, but mentally you were some… where… else…

 

Creeeeeeeak.

 

    Grillby looked to Gaster as he heard a door creak open somewhere in the room. He had never seen the monster so terrified as he looked towards what Grillby assumed was your closet. He peered in, wondering what had the doctor so scared and saw only inky darkness. It seemed to have hands, ones hidden in the shadows, ready to pull you in to join them in the silence. It gave him a shiver, as a fire elemental he didn’t have to deal much with complete darkness and found this rather unsettling. “ Gaster?” He questioned softly, still heating you with his magic.

 

    The skeleton monster startled and darker his sockets back towards the fire elemental a bit nervously, “ I Know Where She Is .” Grillby looked down at you splayed on your bed skeptically. When he looked back up Gaster seems to have steeled himself, glaring into the almost mockingly dark closet. Grillby looked up at the monster concerned, he had been gone a long time, maybe he wasn’t at his full faculties.

 

    “ Oh Do Not Give Me That Look, Mister Pyre. I Am… Fairly… Sane. But My Magic Is Quite Polluted With Void .” Gaster donned his black lab coat and set his jaw in a hard line. “ And Much Like Myself, The Void is Very greedy .” Grillby hardly had time to reach out a hand as Gaster stepped into the closet and vanished, swallowed by the inky dark hands of the void. The door snapped closed neatly after his departure.

 

    Gaster opened his eyes and flinched, the white hexagonal room he had in the void was laid out before him, exactly as he had left it, with one addition. A new door. Black with gold inlaid, unusual for the void. As he reached his hand forward to open it, it opened on its own, his sockets widened as he heard a familiar roar. Looking more closely at the door he paled, if possible for a skeleton monster, and rushed through the door, inky blackness enveloping his form like a second skin.

 

    It was silent except for a soft faint pulse in your ears, your own, you couldn’t move, you were too cold. Your bleary eyes watched the beast above you, waiting patiently, you were angry and sure the small pinch between your brows belied it. Suddenly the noxious eye lights left you, jerking somewhere to the side with the rest of the head. A deep rumbling growl rattled its exposed ribcage, tattered flesh rippling with the air movement. It stood over you, tail lashing as it waited for whatever other amalgamation of horror was headed your way.

 

    It came slow at first, your breaths coming easier in your lungs, feeling returning to your fingers and toes, tunnel vision widening. As you heard the scuff of a shoe on the other side of the hulking monster you tried to sit up. “ Stay There, Dearest, I Will Be With You In A Moment .” Tears sprung to your eyes, he did come to save you. “ You Have Something Of Mine, Beast. ” A rumbling growl sounded above you which turned to a dark chuckle.

 

    “ Something of yours? You have become quite humorous in your time away. Everything here is mine .” The beast said smugly. “ Even pure little souls like this one- well, not completely pure. Not anymore, just couldn’t keep your hands to yourself, Doctor! ” A chorus of harsh laughter left the multiple chattering jaws of the creature that was still standing over you. “ Come now! No sour faces! We are willing to share, you are us after all. ” The laughter rang again, echoing harshly in the oddly thick, but it was less mocking and more bitter.

 

    “ Why should you go free while we continue to pay the price? ” The beast’s tone became more discordant and uneven as it ranted, fin-like tail lashing above you like a reaper’s scythe. “ Why are you rewarded? ” Gaster watched passively as the beast raged, speaking of things it doesn’t know. The creature roared and swiped at the skeleton in front of it. “ After everything you have done, everything you will do- “ Gaster stepped back, nothing he had not heard before. “ Everything she will do. ” It said viciously. “ We can see it all, and it will be allllll yourrrrr faulllllllt. ” It slammed a claw into Gaster’s stomach and pinned him down, jaws splitting down the middle as sickly light coalesced in its mangled throat.

 

    Gaster grunted, she ? Was it talking about you? The terrified looking human trapped under the hulking beast? He scoffed as best he could with a massive weight holding him down. You had not a single Lv, how could you even harm a fly? He grunted and threw a hand forward, two horned dragon skulls burst from the ground, and fired twin black-cored beams of crackling violet light directly into the gaping maw before him.

 

    The beast choked, plumes of noxious smoke threaded with lightning spewed from its mouth and sockets. Blindly the beast screeched and swiped at the floating blasters who were snickering and dodging the blind swipes, zapping the appendages when they got too close. Gaster rolled his eyes, of course those two showed up to help. He groaned as the claw pinning him twisted slightly, shards of void digging into his spine.

 

    You stared with wide eyes at the scene in front of you, you had never particularly felt weak, not until you had been faced with something like this . Now you understood why humans had used the term ‘monster’ the way they did prior to the monsterfolk’s emergence from the underground. Though Gaster was pinned, he only seemed mildly inconvenienced, the weird canid skulls zipping through the void, blasting and snapping at the giant beast as if trying to lure it off their master. The beast was smarter than they gave it credit for and did not remove his glow from Gaster’s torso, if anything it doubled down if the groan pressed from Gaster gave any indication.

 

    You struggled to sit up as warmth slowly infused your limbs, feeling like drinking a cup of warm soup after being out in the snow. You flexed your fingers and toes, you were still a bit lightheaded but manage to stand. The world spun a bit, but as you focused on the scene in front of you, you noticed a text box at the bottom of your vision:

 

*He can’t do this alone.

 

    You grit your teeth as you had to dodge a swipe of the beast’s tail as it sailed close to your head in agitation. You had to admit, though Gaster appeared to be holding his own, he was starting to visibly sweat. But what in the actual hell were you supposed to do? I mean yeah, you sliced off a horn but then you had basically died! This wasn’t some game you could try again and again, this was it as far as you were concerned.

 

    A small tug in your chest whispered coldly ‘ coward’. Oh, great, your own soul was bullying you now. “Fine! What the fuck do I do then, genius?” You felt batshit insane literally talking to yourself, but this whole situation went sideways days ago. Your soul was silent but you sighed, you already knew the answer; your hand slammed down on the FIGHT option and once again, the void around you got impossibly darker.

 

*You are filled with BRAVERY.

Notes:

Phew, the ending for this one was tough. Apologize for any mistakes, no beta, we die like Zagreus.

Cool Dump: undynesspear.tumblr.com

Chapter 7: Soul Defender

Summary:

You kick some ass
Someone else has a bad time

Notes:

*You find the next chapter sitting on a desk
*It looks like it got in a fight with the author and lost
*You decide to take it with you

    Papyrus tossed and turned in bed, his brother had been gone for hours, the soft ping of the soul still rattling around in his head. He scowled and grunted, giving up all pretense of sleep. Neatly, but aggressively, he tossed his duvet off his legs as he sat up in bed. He knew his brother was a lazy bones, but this length of time was just concerning.

 

    It wasn’t good to leave a soul in distress for so long, though his brother thought him naive, Papyrus also knew Sans didn’t like humans. ‘Didn’t like’ being an admittedly generous term for his brother’s feelings about them, Sans generally hated most humans. Papyrus has tried on multiple occasions to find out why, but Sans would just deflect and cite his friendship with Frisk saying he liked the human just fine.

 

    The younger of the skeleton brothers rubbed his face with his hands, the soft scraping doing nothing to wipe his annoyance away. Papyrus had accepted long ago his brother was a coward, only taking responsibility when he was cornered. It was an unsightly trait of his brother’s, not very great at all in his opinion, but everyone has their faults and Sans’, like most people’s, greatest strength was also his greatest weakness.

 

    Papyrus snorted as he stood from bed, the irony of his thoughts weren’t lost on him, he was after all on his way to poke his nonexistent nose where it doesn’t belong. Greatest weakness indeed.

 

    Ten minutes later the skeleton was headed out the door, locking it behind himself; he paused and took a deep breath to focus, trying to pin-point the distressed call of the human soul. A moment later he strode down the street, setting a brisk pace, scarf fluttering in the chill breeze. Sometimes when you want something done right, you need to do it yourself.

 

    He swiftly arrived at an average human apartment complex, as he approached he paused in surprise as he felt not only his brother’s magic but Grillby’s as well. Just as he reached up to knock, his brother appeared before him, getting a rap on his skull for the trouble.

 

    “ow, paps? what are you doing here? i told you to wait at home.” Papyrus frowned down at his brother, throwing his hands on his hips. Sans seemed sweatier than usual, his eyelights pinpricks of panic. Papyrus narrowed his sockets, his brother’s magic was erratic, spiking off his soul in agitation.

 

    “BROTHER I SENSE THIS TASK MAY BE TOO GREAT FOR YOU ALONE, I AM HERE TO OFFER MY ASSISTANCE.” Sans sputtered, eyelights darting nervously from Papyrus’ sharp gaze and back again.

 

    “uh, that’s, that’s great paps, uh, but it’s all under control.” Sans shrunk even deeper into his jacket as Papyrus’ forced grin slid into an annoyed frown. Sans hated when his brother made that expression, it made him look like Gaster.

 

    “SANS.” He looked down as Papyrus tapped a foot in exasperation. “I DO NOT BELIEVE YOU. MOVE ASIDE.” Papyrus went to grasp the door handle when Sans grabbed his wrist in a firm grip.

 

    “ no. ” The taller skeleton took in his brother’s stony expression with a glare. He looked pointedly at the hand on his wrist, when Sans continued to give him an empty-socketed stare Papyrus grit his teeth in irritation.

 

    “JUST BECAUSE YOU HATE HUMANS, DOESN'T MEAN I DO.” Sans let out a choked sound, his grip loosening in shock as his brother’s blunt statement. Papyrus jerked his arm out of the lax grip as the door swung open to reveal an exhausted fire monster.

 

    “ Boys, stars above! Shut the fuck up. Get inside. ” Grillby pointed a vaguely-clawed finger inside the apartment in irritation. The two skeletons hurried inside silently, shrinking away from the annoyed elemental. “ I will not have you two making a scene. ”

 

    “sorry, grillbz.” Papyrus echoed his brother’s apology, following the older monster as he swiftly headed towards a room at the back. Papyrus appeared in the bedroom of a human female who was currently shivering and apparently unconscious, cradled in Grillby’s arms. Grillby gave hushed apologies to the shivering form which slowly subsided upon contact with the monster.

 

    A ping snapped against his soul, reminding the younger skeleton why he had traveled across town on foot so early in the morning. He approached carefully, something telling him not to move too quickly. He blinked and narrowed his eyes on the human, performing a Check.

 

*??????

*Human ( Mage)

*MP 0/1000

*Trait: N/A

*Ability: ??????????

*Is trying to be BRAVE for him.

*Can't do this alone.

 

    Grillby didn’t pay much attention to the younger of the two brothers, his mind solely on the human in his arms and his slowly depleting magic stores. His mind raced, knowing what would most likely occur if his magic ran out before Gaster returned from wherever he disappeared to. The fire monster couldn’t believe his horrible luck, he finds the one meant for him, along with reuniting with his best friend and they both might be taken soon. Grillby startled as Papyrus cautiously leaned into view, gently grasping one of your hands, seeming to understand the situation. “Who Is She?”

 

    Grillby paused, staring down at your face, noting the determined pinch of your brows, “ I hope I get the chance to learn. Papyrus, this is my Soulmate, along with… Gaster’s. ” Grillby carefully watched the skeleton’s expression, almost missing the flash of utter fury cross his features before melting into excited optimism.

 

    “HOW WONDERFUL! I AM SO HAPPY YOU FOUND HER, GRILLBY!” Sans stared agape from behind at his brother so casually dismissing the mention of Gaster. Sans had hoped Papyrus had been too young to remember their horrible uncle, but unfortunately this didn’t seem to be the case.

 

    Grillby cautiously watched Papyrus a moment longer but he did genuinely seem happy for him. “ Thank you, Papyrus. I just wish I had the knowledge to help her. Her stats seem to have stabilized but her soul is weak.”

 

    Papyrus, after a moment of pondering and sifting through information rolling around in his skull, he snapped his gloved fingers in triumph, he could actually help you! His brother was not the only one who could see the special stats of humans and monsters after all, he knew exactly what you needed. He felt the orange magic swell and churn in his chest, his over-production of magic would be quite advantageous in this endeavor.

 

    “I BELIEVE I CAN HELP! THE HUMAN IS SUFFERING FROM SOUL ATROPHY. WHICH IS A VERY SCARY NAME, BUT IT IS QUITE EASY TO FIX. HER SOUL SIMPLY NEEDS TO LEARN HOW TO USE MAGIC, LIKE GUIDING A MONSTER STILL IN STRIPES. OR PUTTING A NEW BATTERY IN A CAR.” He noticed Grillby’s startled look as he regurgitated information, "THOUGH OBVIOUSLY THERE ARE SOME DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MONSTERS AND HUMANS SO THIS MAY NOT WORK THE EXACT SAME WAY. NO BOOKS I FOUND EVER MENTIONED HUMANS SPECIFICALLY." He frowned slightly, you were colder than he expected and there was a weird magic mixing with yours. No matter, he could help! His sockets closed as he concentrated, letting out a startled gasp as your soul took immediate hold of the offered magic. For a human who never used magic before, your soul sure took to it like a moldsmall to dancing.

 

    His bones shuddered, it felt as if a huge pressure had been taken off his soul as you spooled the magic in your own. He felt his brother lurking in alarm, knowing he could see the rapid decline and increase in the respective magic levels.

 

    After what felt like hours, but he knew to be seconds, Papyrus felt your soul reach its limit, he groaned softly, releasing your hand and collapsing onto the unused half of the bed. He smiled as his sockets slowly slid shut, his task complete. He was ready for his first full night of sleep in years, but did a final Check before succumbing.

 

*MP 1000/1000

*Trait: BRAVERY 100%

*Ability: Adaptability: Soul of Bravery

*Trait Ability:

*Hero

*Is grateful for the help.

*Smells like ho-

 

    “paps!” Sans ran to his brother’s side, it had happened too fast, the human’s soul pulsed in triumph, he however felt nothing but rage. Papyrus once again underestimated a human! How many times did he have to watch his brother suffer at the hands of the human race. He thought it might be okay, that you might be okay but Sans could see the sins crawling across your back-

 

    Grillby looked up sharply at Sans’ cry, the older brother cradling the exhausted body of his brother. Shortly Sans turned a white-hot glare on the human cradled in the fire monster’s arms. Your color had returned and your posture relaxed even with Gaster’s magic still swirling under your skin. “move, grillby.”

 

    Sans had never seen such a cold look on the older monster’s face. “ Sans-“ The skeleton monster didn’t let him continue, pulling him into an encounter. Sans looked down at the flavor text and swallowed thickly.

 

*You feel like you’re going to have a bad time.

 

    “ Human, I grow weary of your incessant struggles. Let us play this final game and be done with it. You both will submit to me.” Your hands clenched nervously and you startled as the feeling of soft leather covering your hands. Looking down, a text box appeared.

 

*Newly equipped:

*Tough Glove No hardened hearts will stop you! +5 ATK

*MTT Brand Styleoshes +5 style +5 functionality +5 DEF, 100% fabulous.

* Royal Guard’s Scarf He believes in you! +5 confidence.

 

    You goggled at the new clothes, cherry red, used, but kept in immaculate condition. You rubbed the scarf between your gloved fingers and smiled, you felt warm, maybe… you could do this.

 

    The beast watched on, unimpressed, new clothing wasn’t going to make a difference. They absently watched the annoying zipping creatures as they helped Gaster to his feet. He coughed a few times, rubbing at his chest, the beast snorted, pathetic monster. Expecting a frail, magicless human to help him, who would want to do anything to help him? Gaster was the closest thing to a true monster the beast had ever witnessed.

 

*??? blocks your way.

    “ Sans. This is your only warning. Do not do this. You don’t understand-“ Sans slashed a hand through the air, cutting off a man he viewed as one of his closest friends if not a father. Grillby betrayed him and Papyrus for a fucking human, Sans snorted, maybe they had been in cahoots the whole time with Gaster. Violet bled into his vision, a sense of calm washing through him, icy and dark.

 

    “i understand more than ya think, grillby old pal. ” Grillby sighed in annoyance before setting you gently to the side and standing. Like uncle, like nephew. He mused, some lessons were tough ones, as the skeleton in front of him was sure to soon learn. However, perhaps Grillby had grown soft in the past fifty years, as Gaster had previously accused him, he still believed Sans could be reasoned with. After what Gaster had done to him and his brother, Grillby would rather not have to use violence against the skeleton, but he would defend you with his entire soul.

 

    “ Papyrus is fine, Sans. Better than fine, perhaps, when was the last time he slept? ” Sans looked at Grillby in confusion, the question throwing him off-kilter. Sans looked down at his brother, the monochrome effect of the encounter doing nothing to hide the suddenly obvious dark circles under his brother's sockets. His head swiveled back to Grillby, a stricken look painted across pale bone.

 

    Grillby just shook his head in disappointment at the older of the brothers. “I am disappointed in you Sans, for multiple reasons. I thought I raised you better than this. How absorbed you are with yourself and Gaster, how blind you are to those around you, your blatant all-consuming hatred of humans-” Grillby gestures to your form resting on the bed, fists clenched. “You are so ready to hate humans when monsters have treated you so much worse. The only crime this woman has committed was being the mate of someone you hate. She however is also the mate of someone you, if I may be so bold, have a great deal of affection for. I know you are the Judge, Sans, but you were never appointed Jury or Executioner.”

 

    Sans remained silent, sweat dripping down his skull as Grillby continued, “ I may need to speak with Asgore on your appalling behavior today. Attempting to attack an innocent human and monster in the presence of a Royal Guard and a Royal General, that does not bode well for you.Your mother would be disappointed in you. ” With that final jab Grillby slammed a fist against the barrier that encompassed the encounter, causing it to shatter, color rushing back into the room as a text box appeared.

 

* Grillby spared you.

*You have a lot to think about.

 

    Sans looked around himself in shocked bewilderment, he had never seen a being, monster or human, shatter an encounter before. Grillby snorted at Sans’ expression, crackles of embers floating upwards from his cooling flames. He heard some soft crunching, like autumn leaves, under his foot and looked down. He grimaced at the scorched wood, charcoal flaking away from the floor at his feet. He felt his flames pink in embarrassment, already mentally calculating the cost to fix your floor.

 

    Sans was having trouble connecting the furious inferno from a moment ago with the sputtering flame worrying over some flooring. “grillbz…” Grillby paused in his fretting and cocked his head towards Sans in question. “i’m… sorry.” Grillby sighed and rested a hand on his hip.

 

    “ I’m sure you believe that. What exactly are you sorry for, hm? ” Sans’ teeth parted as if to answer, but slid shut silently as he looked to the side, rubbing the back of his skull. “ Indeed. Do not apologize just because you think it is what the other wants to hear. Did I really raise you so poorly? ” Sans fought not to flinch. Grillby shook his head, he wasn’t even angry anymore, just tired. Sans’ eyelights moved over your form passively, trying to ignore how his brother was now enveloped in your arms, his skull cradled against your chest protectively though you both were out cold. He grimaced at the weird feeling the image stirred in his soul, he gently tugged his brother from your arms with use of his blue magic and some coaxing from Grillby. Your brow wrinkled in annoyance, but you settled when Grillby laid his hand in yours. You pressed it against your cheek and sighed, a small pinch still between your brows.

 

    “see ya around, grillbz.” The fire monster just sighed, watching the skeleton monster once again avoid the problem. He walked the elder brother to the door, silently watching as he disappeared down the steps, a snoring Papyrus floating idly behind him. He returned to your side, watching the expressions play across your face, he really did hope he got to know you, he hoped they all did.

 

    “ You do not have to do this, Dear One, I am quite capable- “ You leveled the half-crushed skeleton with a dry look. “ I admit I am not quite as spry as I once was, but I can at least take care of this. ” The twin skulls supporting the skeleton rolled their eyes at his bravado. They understood at a base level trying to impress a mate, but this was just foolish and prideful. As he went to open his mouth again the cyan-eyed skull butted him in the stomach, silencing him.

 

    You yelped as a noxious green laser fired near your foot, the beasts’ maw smoking still from the earlier attack by the smaller skulls under Gaster’s control. “ I will not miss again, I have never met such an infuriating pair. Take your turn, human. ” Glaring at the beast you surveyed your options.

 

*Smells like bones.

*Preparing your special attack -3.

*FIGHT     *ACT

*ITEM         * MERCY

 

    You chewed your lip in consideration, you peered sheepishly over at Gaster, who stared at you blankly before understanding dawned across his features. “ Oh I do apologize, Dear One. You are I am sure wondering where your new abilities came from. My Dear Nephew appears to have let you borrow his magic, such a kind boy. ” It was your turn to stare blankly at the monster, ignoring the put upon sigh by the beast in front of you. “ Ah, this means his abilities are now yours, the options you see physically are mere suggestions, magic varies from user to user. ” Gaster’s mind raced at the implications, his own mate, a Mage! He felt his soul twitch erratically in excitement.

 

    You tried calling to Gaster a few times, but he just muttered to himself with a slightly manic grin on his face… that… wasn’t concerning at all. The twin skulls looked at each other in exasperation before abandoning their summoner to join you facing the beast. The orange eyed skull let out a small chuckle that vaguely reminded you of a friendly Skeletor, the blue eyed one huffing a deeper laugh, seeming to share a joke you weren’t a part of. You huffed at the skulls, feeling annoyed and they both headbutted you good-naturedly. “Okay, let’s do this.”

 

    Your soul once again emerged from your chest, but it looked… odd . Even the skulls turned to sniff at your soul, backing up when it snapped an arc of magic at them. Wow, your soul had just gained more attitude it seems in addition to a snazzy new orange sheen. The blue eyed skull nosed you in the back, urging you forward towards the beast as if to tell you to quit stalling, your soul humming in impatience.

 

    “ Enough! If you will not accept my gracious offer of first move, I shall begin- “ The beast loosed a cacophony of screeching roars and raised a claw, bringing it down in your direction. Before you could register what was happening you were moving swiftly forward, propelled by your soul. Duck! You dipped your head and felt the tips of its claws graze the top of your head, snagging a few hairs but nothing else. Left! You leapt to the side as a beam of light grazed the edge of your loose tank top. You could feel terror clogging your throat as you dodged each blow by the rotting beast, scraping by each time by a millimeter.

 

    Punch! Your arm jerked up as you stepped into your punch, cracking the beast solidly in the jaw as it took a snap at you. You winced and expected to feel pain, but it wasn’t your skull that hit the glossy floor of the void with a crack. You blinked in shock, the beast also seeming to take a moment before picking itself up off the floor.

 

*??? is taking you more seriously now.

*Special attack is still being prepared -2.

 

    Focus! This time you had stepped back before another beam had connected, and jumped over a tail swipe. The movements were coming a bit easier, the urging of your soul being less of a pull and more a quiet reminder in the back of you mind as you dipped and dodged. You jumped higher and moved swifter as you started to trust your newfound abilities, much to your opponent’s fury.

 

    Gaster watched in rapt fascination as your soul-self zipped around deftly, acting more like the magic it was than the solid self you thought you were at the moment. He stared hard at your soul, trying to understand the odd abilities it seemed to possess. It was not unusual for a monster to lend magic to another, but for you to seemingly borrow abilities and skill from the magic doner was quite astounding. Your jumps grew higher, higher than any normal human of your stature could expect to do, almost like you were rejecting gravity. Your punches and kicks sparked orange where they connected with the creature before you.

 

    Normally Gaster would not approve of you fighting, but this thing was not a monster, it was a perversion of his soul, and he was… ashamed. He was still weak from his time in the void, and summoning two blasters has about drained what little magic he had siphoned off of you last night. He was a terrible mate, unable to even assist you beyond adding a few minor inconveniences to the beast.

 

    You grunted, wiping a smear of blood from your lip as you picked yourself up off the floor for what felt like the thousandth time. “Why are you doing this? Why did you bring me here?!” The beast swiped at you again and huffed in annoyance.

 

    “ We? You think we brought you here? Where do you think we are, child? You brought us here.” The beast chuckled darkly. “ We are inside your soul. ” Your shock and confusion caused you to stumble, only to be narrowly yanked back by your soul. You looked around to see Gaster with a glowing violet hand outstretched towards you, panting and oddly sweating. “ DO NOT INTERRUPT, WINGDINGS. ” You gasped as he was thrown to the side with a tail swipe to the ribs, only to be snatched from the air by the orange-eyed skull and set on the ground.

 

    You tore your eyes away from Gaster’s prone form and turned back towards your opponent, “What… what do you mean by that?” It growled in annoyance.

 

    “You let us in. Through that one’s poor attempt to claim you. This,” the beast used one of its claws to gesture at your person, “is your soul’s way of defending itself against us.” Your mind raced to make comparisons. “Little soul i do wish you would give in and give us what we want, we have been so patient. Let us become one.” 

 

    You exhaustedly looked up at the beast, you felt like you had been fighting for hours- your eye snagged on a glimmer behind the partially-skeletal ribcage of your opponent. You frowned, your soul gave an excited thump when you saw it but that didn't mean you knew what you were looking at. You tilted your head and stepped to the side to get a better look, accidentally dodging another beam. You jumped forward, advancing on the beast, eyes fixated on the glimmer winking in and out of sight as you almost disregarded the danger. Your soul yanked you this way and that as you deftly leapt through the displaced void-surface.

 

    “ What are you doing, human? Finally accepting our offer? ” The beast sounded unsure as you approached, your face oddly blank. It’s various eyelights fixated nervously on your form, your behavior was becoming concerning. It rustled and rattled it’s wings, pivoting as it observed you, not that your soul’s behavior had been like anything it had experienced previously. Not even that- the beast froze for a moment and that is when you seized your chance and lunged forward, thrusting your arm into the chest cavity, your hand grazed the small crystalline object only to be thrown back violently.

 

    Gaster grunted from his place on the floor, he pressed a hand to his chest, the small tingle fading as quickly as it came on. He winced as he watched you being thrown back by the beast only for you to get caught by the blue-eyed blaster and tossed back into the fray. He watched as you determinedly dashed toward the beast, arm outstretched, what were you doing? You once again shoved a hand through the lower ribs of the beast who cried out in pain as you seemed to grasp something for a moment. Gaster frowned as the tingle started again in his chest, more noticeable than before.

 

    You growled in annoyance as you were once again tossed back, you almost had it that time. You weren't exactly sure what that was per se, but your soul really wanted you to grab it. “ Keep your hands off of me, human! We will not let you have it! ” The beast took another desperate swipe at you. You grunted and vaulted off a void-fragment and came down hard with an axe-kick to the offending arm. Orange sparks exploded under your heel, a loud snap cracked through the air, punctuating the deafening silence of the void. The beast shrieked as the bones in their arm snapped under your kick.

 

    You had once again almost reached the chest cavity when you were snatched from the air by a furred claw. The breath was squeezed from your lungs as the beast held you fast, it held you in front of it’s open maw, putrid magic coalescing to fry you alive. You struggled violently, there was no way you would survive a blast at point-blank range. Just as the beast was about to fire its lower jaw was slammed into the top by one of the blasters and you were falling with a sound very similar to the beast’s breath-attack going off near you.

 

    You landed roughly on the severed hand of the beast that had held you just moment’s before, the ragged end where it had been attached to the arm was left burned and smoking. You looked up to see that once again the blasters had caused the beast to swallow its own blast, if the smoke pouring from the sockets on the beast were any indication.

 

*Now’s your chance.

*Special Attack Ready: Bone-man Army

 

    You gasped as you felt raw power fill your limbs, the boots, scarf and gloves burned a bright orange, flakes of ash flying off with your movement. Seems like this will also be your last attack, better make it a good one. You took off towards the beast, easily moving twice as fast as before, bones erupting from the surface of the void to give you a boost. The beast seemed to look behind you in horror as you approached, and you smiled, leaping into the air to land on the orange-eyed skull who flew upward, clearing the massive wave of giant bones that had followed in your wake. The beast had no way to dodge, they were too fast- thousands of bones slammed into its form. You then held out a hand and the jaws of the orange-eyed blaster split, a fiery orange beam shot from it’s mouth, almost splitting the beast in two.

 

    Gaster watched, eyesockets wide at the display of power, Papyrus’ special attack was truly something to behold, he had never seen a monster able to summon this many bullets before, special attack or not. He knew your wielding of the magic was basic as it was borrowed but to imagine this was not even close to the full extent of his nephew’s ability. He was suitably impressed, on both your ability as well as how capable Papyrus must be.

 

    You approached the collapsed and broken form of the beast, it tried to move away from you, snarling and snapping the jaws that still worked. “ GET AWAY! YOU CAN NOT TAKE IT! THIS IS NOT THE END, YOU CANNOT SAVE HIM, HE IS ALREADY- ” The beast screamed as you pulled the object from its chest and finally went silent, collapsing like a macabre puppet with cut strings. You turned the object this way and that, it was a sliver of purple crystal. You gently rubbed your thumb over the surface, it felt slightly warm to the touch. You jumped as a hand landed on your shoulder, Gaster calling your name.

 

    “ Dearest, I do greatly adore your touch, but not so rough please. ” You frowned in confusion at the monster. “ You are holding a shard of my soul after all. ” He murmured with a small flush. Recognition flashed in your eyes and you pinked slightly.

 

    “Shit, I’m sorry- wait, what?” You looked at the small glimmering shard in your hand, a soft purple glow pulsing rhythmically, almost like a… heart… beat. Your eyes widened. “Gaster, why did that thing have this? Why is it in my soul? How- I- I don't even know what to ask anymore.” He carefully pulled you against his chest, not sure if you would welcome his touch.

 

    “ I have much to explain to you, Dearest, I am not the man I once was. Admittedly I do not believe it to be a bad thing, I was quite the beast myself before I was lost, and then found.” He smiled down at you, “ However I do not believe this is the place to have this conversation. ” He chuckled dryly, which ended in a concerning cough and wheeze. “ The creature was right, however, we are indeed in your soul currently. Your conscious has been sent as a sort of antibody to the threat of- of the intruder in your soul. Now that the threat is gone you should wake up naturally. ” Almost as though he had spoken it into being you felt your eyes sliding shut against your will, “ Do not worry, I will follow you shortly Dearest… ”

 

    You groaned as you slowly awoke, it was warm, way too warm. You kicked slightly at the blankets covering you and instead met a solid body which let out a grunt before a cautious calling of your name. You frowned, still drowsy, the voice sounded familiar but it wasn’t Gaster- Your eyes flew open as memories filtered in through the haze of sleep. You shot up, almost colliding skulls with… Grillby?

 

    Cool hands grasped your face, you looked up to see Gaster looming over you, concern wrinkling his brow. “ Dearest, are you alright? ” You blinked a few times and nodded. You frowned as you took in Gaster’s dishevled appearance.

 

    “Oh. It wasnt a dream, was it?” You already knew the answer and Gaster seemed to understand, instead giving you a tight smile.

 

    “ What happened, Wingdings? ” You stiffened at the deep voice rumbling against your body, having already forgotten the other monster in the room. He didn’t seem too keen on releasing you any time soon, even if you felt strong enough to even try to save any dignity you had left. Gaster sighed, looking up from you at the fire monster before taking a seat on the edge of your bed.

 

    “ Honestly I barely have a grasp on it myself, the short of it being the piece of myself I offered to her was… tainted from my time in the void. ” He had looked down at his hands while he had said this, he sighed and lifted his violet eyelights towards you. “ I do owe you an apology, I figure things may have moved too fast and that is solely my fault. ” Your brow wrinkled in annoyance. “ You have done nothing but help me and I have grievously harmed you and disrespected you in your own home. I have failed you and that is unforgivable. ” You blinked, lips parted. Gaster stood from where he was seated and quickly summarized what had apparently occurred inside your very soul.

 

    “ Mr. Pyre, I have also failed you on that front, though by now I’m sure you expect my failures. ” You glanced up at Grillby whos hands had tensed where they rested against your left arm and thigh throughout the story. He looked annoyed, a pinch between his brows and a sour twist of his lips was obvious to you close as you were, and the fact you felt the temperature rise a few degrees.

 

    “ Wingdings, stop being so dramatic, the world does not revolve around you." Grillby sighed, nudging you as Gaster avoided your gazes. You frowned at him confused, he raised his brows and jerked his chin at Gaster, giving you a meaningful squeeze. Your face cleared as you got the gist of Grillby's hints.

 

               You stood on wobbly legs with Grillby's help, sighing you stood before Gaster, who was perched on the edge of the recliner in your room, looking at the ground. "Wingdings…" You saw him shift as you said his name. "Look at me." You saw him close his eyes and pause before sitting up and looking you straight in the eye.

 

              You couldn't help but blush, he cut quite the imposing figure when he tried. "Wingdings, I may not really understand what happened here today for a long while, but, I don't believe you meant to hurt me." He was already shaking his head.

 

              " Oh stars above, I would never wish to harm a single hair on that head but I have regardless- " You cut him off by placing a finger against his lips.

 

               "We can figure this out together. Also, I'm not one to be coerced, if I don’t want to be." You gave him a coy look, Gaster's face flushing a deep violet and he stammered and Grillby crackled as you leaned down (not far, considering sitting down he could almost look you in the eye) and hugged his skull to your chest. "I may not really know what I'm getting into, but I feel in my soul this isn't a mistake. You're stuck with me, Bonehead."

 

              Gaster melted into your embrace, his long limbs slowly found their way around your waist as he tucked his skull under your chin silently. "Grillby, um, not to be rude, but um, why are you in my house?" You felt the fire monster grow still from his position behind you as well as the skeleton currently wrapping his arms around you.

 

               Both monsters were saved from answering when there was a loud knock at your front door. "EBOTT POLICE DEPARTMENT, OPEN UP!" You jumped as the raspy voice boomed from the other end of your apartment..

 

               "What the hell? Why are the cops here?" You grumbled in annoyance, the two monsters who flinched at the thunderous look on your face. You disentangle yourself from Gaster who tried his best to keep you in his arms."Wingdings let me go, it's the police." He slowly dropped his hands in confusion.

 

               " Human peace guards." Grillby supplied as you made your way through the apartment, " I am going to assume a noise complaint was filed." Grillby sighed again and ran a hand through the flames on his head. " We seem to bring her nothing but trouble. " The fire monster stood, shoulders slumped and headed towards the front where he could hear you speaking with an officer, hopefully he could help smooth things over.

 

                "-ah, there's no fire officer, I'm sorry for the inconvenience, had some friends over and one is a fire monster you see so maybe someone saw his reflection in the window?" Grillby rounded the corner to see you tiredly explaining to the officer.

 

                 "A fire monster?" Grillby walked more confidently to the door as he recognized the voice on the other side.

 

                "Uh, yeah, his name is Grillby? Owns the restaurant a few blocks over?" You explained to the officer, her sharp yellow eyes looking you over suspiciously, it seemed like she didn't believe you, or maybe she just didn't know him.

 

               You turned as you felt a gentle heat at your back, the fire monster loomed behind you, clothes wrinkled and a bit… singed? " Hello Officer Shoal, how are you this evening? " Your eyes flickered between the two, obviously they did know each other, something in your chest burned as they silently seemed to communicate.

 

                "Hello, Mr. Pyre, sorry to disturb you, we had a complaint come in about noise and then a possible fire but I see now the caller was mistaken." You were a bit annoyed at having been basically ignored once Grillby walked up. "I will leave you and your… friend to your… whatever you were doing but keep it down or I'll come back with a citation." The red-haired monster made her way back to her cruiser with a backwards wave and a dry chuckle. You turned to Grillby to ask what that was about but he had covered his fuschia face with his hand. Was he blushing?

 

                " As tactless as usual, Undyne…" You could barely hear him as he mumbled. He just turned and walked away from the still open door. You frowned and shut the door, following him to your living room where you found Gaster inspecting your collection of video game memorabilia, acting as if he had not been eavesdropping.

 

                "Did you know her, Grillby?" Gaster turned with interest at the accusatory tone in your voice and the fire monster’s pink flames. 

 

               " Yes, Mr. Pyre, did you? " Grillby looked at Gaster exasperatedly as he egged you on. Grillby held up his hands in defense.

 

               " Of course! She was the captain of the Royal Guard before we came to the surface! She is very close with Papyrus." Papyrus… That name sounded familiar… Your eyes brightened in remembrance, odd annoyance forgotten with his familiarity with the police officer. You turned to face Gaster.

 

             "Papyrus is your nephew, right?" Gaster nodded at your question, watching Grillby deflate with relief as you turned your sharp gaze to Gaster.

 

               " Yes, Dearest, he is the one who leant you his magic. " You smiled as you thought about the positive feelings the magic had given you, your soul warming with the residual magic. You hummed and touched the spot on your chest above your soul, the brief warmth feeling nothing like the raw potential of before.

 

               It was hard to believe your life had changed so drastically so quickly. Your brain was a constant static of questions, all seeming to wash into a tide of silent roaring in your ears.

 

                Gaster frowned as your eyes seemed to glaze over, skin becoming pale, he gently pressed between your shoulder blades with a summoned hand, " Why don't you sit down, Dearest, I'm sure you're still exhausted. "

 

                 You blinked and the static cleared, sitting would be good. Gaster was right, you were feeling a bit lightheaded. "Yeah, I am, thanks." He helped you sit in one of the recliners in the room and a hand brought you some water. You thanked him again and sipped the water, sighing. "I have a lot of questions."

 

                Gaster nodded understandingly, " I would be concerned if you didn't. " Gaster shared a long, unreadable look with Grillby. " I am happy to answer everything I can. " You smiled dryly at him.

 

               "What the fuck was all of that?” Gaster stiffened slightly and looked nervously off to the side, trying to find a way to save face. He only had a guess, but it was an educated one.

 

                “ I… Frankly I can only make conjecture and speculation but as I told you before, I shouldn't be able to exist in this reality by all logic of my understanding of what happened to me all those years ago. " You pursed your lips as he clearly stalled for time. " I would be better be able to understand what occurred if I could get into my old lab." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, knowing that even if it still existed the elder of his two nephews would destroy anything of use to Gaster. He his fingers away from his face in a dismissive gesture. " I can always start from scratch. " You swiftly gave up on getting an answer from him, you were too tired for this anyway.

 

               "Is he always like this?" You asked Grillby who was rubbing his temples as Gaster rattled on. He gave an affirmative grunt. Grillby stood slowly to his full height and sighed, looking down at you.

 

               " Are you hungry?" You blinked up at him and nodded slowly. " May I use your kitchen? I'll make us some…" He looked at the clock on the far wall. " ...Dinner? " He shook his head and looked back down at you. You were sure you both were the mirror of exhaustion. You nodded and pointed to the other room, just in case he hadn't seen it earlier.

 

     "Thanks, Grillby. Let me know if you want help." As Grillby left the room, you stood and sat on the end of the couch Grillby had vacated and listened to Gaster mumble about various questions and theories. "Wingdings." The skeleton paused and looked towards you, savoring his name on your lips. He blinked as he noticed you had taken Grillby’s spot on the couch. You gestured for him to come sit beside you. He did so, puzzled but without complaint.

 

     You felt like an asshole not thinking about it sooner as you saw the fine tremor in the skeleton’s hands, and his eyelights as he walked towards you. The nervous glances around the room, you weren't the only one terrified.

 

      Holding your arms open Gaster leaned in, embracing you, lifting you to sit on his lap, wrapping you in his long arms, pulling you against his larger frame. "I'm not mad at you, Wingdings." He stiffened in your arms, "Even if you're the worst being on the planet as you say, I don't think I could ever hate you." He pressed himself further into your embrace, hiding his face in your hair as you talked, stroking the side of his skull. "It's okay, we will figure it all out together. You're not alone anymore, I'm here now and I'm not going anywhere."

Notes:

This chapter kicked my ass, I rewrote it like 30 times and I'm still not sure I'm happy with it, there's a lot going on here haha
Still, hope it was the update you all hoped for! Until next time!

Chapter 8: Eggcellent Conversation

Summary:

In which you eat some good food and get more shit dropped in your lap.

Notes:

*You open your new box of cereal
*The prize inside is this chapter
*You ask for a refund from the manufacturer

    You sighed, looking at yourself in the mirror, swiftly fogging with steam from your shower. Gaster had urged you to take a shower while Grillby cooked, saying that the fire monster would be fine and didn’t need help. You scowled until Grillby leaned around the corner and agreed, saying it should be about done by the time you finish showering. You did feel better though, your head a bit more level. Everything was still surreal, but you figured answers would come with time.

 

    You tied your hair up in a towel, it would still be damp by the time you were done with your routine but it was better than standing there for over an hour drying it. You pulled on your outfit for the day, an oversized galaxy hoodie and some black leggings with mesh stars by the ankles, showing peeks of your skin. It was a little warm for the season, but your still fresh memories of the void (or manifest of the void?) in your soul chilled you to the bone.

 

    You didn't bother with make up, though you considered it strongly, it didn’t matter they had already seen you at your worst, at least now you were fully clothed. You had been embarrassed to realize what exactly you had been wearing when you went to the door to talk to the police, no wonder she thought you and Grillby- You groaned and covered your face with your sleeves, warmth flooding your cheeks.

 

    After a few moments you pulled your hands away from your face and ran your wrists under the faucet with the temperature set to cool. You dried your hands and pulled the towel free, your hair flopping awkwardly in your face. You quickly yanked a brush through your hair, noting a few bristles missing align with some hair after your aggressive treatment. You give it one final brush through and push it behind your shoulders, leaving it down would dry it fast anyway.

 

    You open the door and promptly walk into a  warm chest, smelling of woodsmoke and fresh baked bread. “Oof!” Your arms came around his waist for support, losing your balance a bit. Warm arms encircled you instinctively, small hisses sounding where your damp hair touched bare flame. “Oh, shit, sorry Grillby.” He smoothly allowed you to step back slightly as you regained your balance.

 

    “ Is there a reason you have chosen not to dry your hair?” You blinked at him, sure that wasn’t why he had come up here.

 

    “Oh, um, well my hair is really thick and it takes a long time to dry so I towel-dried it and I’m just going to let it air-dry I guess. I didn’t want the food you made to get cold.” Grillby was smiling at you as if you had said something cute but naive. 

 

    “ No need to worry, I’m decent at keeping the food warm. ” He held up a hand and you saw waves of heated air shimmer above his palm. You rolled your eyes at yourself and laughed. “ But I still appreciate the sentiment.”

 

    “Sorry, lame excuse, but I forget about all that stuff way easier than I should be able to haha.” Grillby chuckled, he touched a strand of your hair and it dried under his touch, falling in a gentle curl. 

 

    “ Do you mind if I dry your hair for you? I heard humans tend to fall ill if they have damp hair. ” Your face pinked, and you shook your head, you didn't need to correct him and say it was usually only if you were sleeping in it. He smiled and lifted his hands, stepping close to you. The first push of his warm hands through your hair made you jump at the small hiss the contact water made with his flames. By the third pass you were melting against his chest at the pleasant scrape of his fingers across your scalp.

 

          It was soothing, along with the warm hum coming from his soul, you felt like you were laying in the sun, a lover caressing your hair. You sighed in contentment against the fire monster’s chest.

 

         Grillby was in awe as your silky strands flowed through his fingers, leaning back against the opposite wall as you leaned into him. As he gently dried your hair he slowly detangled it and laid it in silky waves. He was glad you allowed his poor pretense to touch you. He really was concerned about your wet hair, but knew you were at low risk for getting ill inside a heated home. But he couldn't quite curb his selfish desire to touch you and if it meant drying your hair, so be it.

 

           He felt a little less nervous about revealing that you were also his soulmate as you actively pursued his touch when he would experimentally pull away. You shivered against him when his fingers wandered a bit lower than necessary on your neck. Your pulse jumping in your neck, Grillby swallowed his instincts to see what other noises you could make and instead smoothed your hair into place and spoke. " There you are, much better. "

 

          You blinked blearily as Grillby stepped away from you, withdrawing his hands. You frowned in confusion for a moment and then flushed, you had been a little too into the hair drying. "Thank you, sorry, I always get a bit sleepy when my hair is played with." Grillby gave you a knowing look and you flushed deeper but he left it at that, letting you know the food should be ready.

 

           Gaster looked up from his cup of coffee as you appeared in the kitchen, followed by a fire monster subconsciously watching your every move. He definitely didn't miss the flush across your cheeks nor the fact your hair was glittering softly with the residue of fire magic Grillby had used to dry your hair. Gaster chuckled silently into his cup, amused.

 

          You walked into the kitchen, very aware of Grillby behind you, the heat telling you he was standing a bit closer than usual. You spotted Gaster at the table drinking coffee from one of your favorite mugs, black with a few simple constellations across it. "Hey, my bathroom is free if you want to shower, I left some clothes in there that might fit you, if you need them."

 

          Gaster smiled warmly from his place at the table and stood, he moved towards you and leaned down to give you a kiss on the top of your head, his breath cold and minty against your heated skin. "Thank you for the consideration my Dear, I fear however I am a bit too large for human clothing. Do not worry, I have some spare clothing in my storage. " Your brow furrowed and then you remembered about the storage box system monsters brought with them to the surface. A way to digitize physical items via magic and store them like a file on your phone for easy movement. You of course couldn't afford such a thing but you would love to see it used. Maybe Gaster would let you mess around with his storage later. Gaster saw the twinkle of interest in your eye when he mentioned the storage. “ I could explain them for you later if you would like, I imagine you haven’t seen many.” You shook your head as you took a seat at the table.

 

    “No! I haven’t, you and Grillby are probably the only monsters I really know at all. I mean I met BP and Sans but that's kinda it.” Gaster nodded in acknowledgement, trying not to feel satisfied at your lack of contact with other monsters, even if most had been male. He was amicable to sharing you with his longtime friend, but anyone else was out of the question. “I’ll let you shower, um, its the door just past my room on the opposite side.

 

    “Thank you Dearest, please begin eating without me. Mr. Pyre is quite capable at keeping the food fresh so do not be concerned it will go cold in my absence.” Grillby waved him off and he headed towards the bathroom, admittedly looking forward to his first shower in over a decade.

 

    Grillby shortly set a plate in front of you, a delicious wedge of quiche was set in front of you, a small garnish off to the side, steam rising from the surface. Your mouth watered immediately, you saw pieces of mushroom, bacon, onion, and spinach peaking through the fluffy egg and cheese mixture making up the body of the quiche.

 

    Grillby watched your reaction carefully, he hadn’t known if you liked quiche but it was pretty much all you had that he was able to make with what was left in your fridge and cupboards. He was pleased to see you almost bounce in your seat in excitement, he resisted trying to feed you himself and instead offered you the fork which you almost snatched from his hand. Taking a small bite, the flaky crust easily breaks under your fork as it cuts through the quiche like butter. You hummed in enjoyment, this was officially the best quiche you had ever eaten. “Grillby this is so good!” You hummed again as you took another bite. “I love quiche and yours is the best.” He smiled and turned back to the kitchen to cut himself a piece, he would get one for Gaster in a bit.

 

    “ I will take that as high praise then. ” He sat adjacent to you, his piece was a bit larger than yours you noted. You mentally shrugged, he was a larger monster after all. “ Hm, this is indeed one of my better quiches but not the best I’ve made. ” You made a sound of disagreement.

 

    “Grillby this is seriously the best one I’ve ever had, if it was any better I would die.” He paused in his eating to watch you animatedly compliment his cooking. He felt his flames pink at your sincere compliments, and the healthy glow on your face, it seems the extra magic he had infused in the quiche was taking effect.

 

    “ If you die, how would you be able to eat more of my food? ” You grinned at him playing along, the amused smirk on his face offsetting the flashes of pink across his cheeks.

 

    You sighed, taking another bite and attempting not to moan, “You got me there, guess I’ll have to see if Wingdings is alright with me having another partner, coz I can’t imagine letting anyone else have you, if only for your skills in the kitchen.” You winked at him teasingly and he flush deepened at your declaration, unaware of how close you were to hitting on the truth. Instead he looked at you dryly, he could have some fun with this.

 

    “ I’m wounded, you just want me for my hands. ” He looked at you slyly out the corner of his glasses,  “I do admit, they are good hands. ” Your mouth went dry at the soft purr in his voice. You felt your face flush at his innuendo, this was your own fault, you started it after all. He just took another bite as though he hadn’t just hit on you. He finished his plate and then stood, gathering your plate as you blinked trying not to combust. “ Would you like another piece? ” You nodded readily, it really was very good. “ Wingdings should be down soon. ” You stood absently as Grillby dished up seconds for the both of you and a plate for Gaster.

 

    Collecting the coffee cup Gaster was using, you dumped out the remains and rinsed the cup. Grillby gestured towards the freshly-brewed carafe on your stove and you filled the cup ¾ the way full with coffee and then paused. Grillby pushed a carton of cream towards you and you held it above the cup, and added a one second pour. You hummed, there was something else he liked… you looked around the kitchen and opened your fridge.

 

       Grillby watched in interest as you rocked on your heels while looking around in the fridge. Soulmates were odd things, you knowing instinctively how Gaster liked his coffee was a sign your bond was strengthening. He couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous, even if he was the one dragging his feet here. He was sure Gaster had left the two of you alone to give Grillby an easy opportunity.

 

    You returned with your prize and he felt his brow raise at the bottle of caramel syrup clutched in your hands proudly. You then absolutely destroyed that cup with caramel sauce. Grillby felt a little green at how much sugar you were pouring into the cup. The liquid was almost overflowing with how much syrup was in the cup by the time you finished. You gave it a careful stir and sipped some off the top so it didn’t spill when you carried it to the table. You made a face at the weird extreme bitterness and sweetness going to war in your mouth, you still didn’t have a taste for coffee and doubted you ever would.

 

    As you set the cup down next to the plate Gaster walked into the room, in a similar outfit as before but his sweater was a soft lavender and he wasn’t wearing his jacket. He took a seat and picked up his cup, peering into it with interest. He took a careful sip and after a moment a longer one. “Thank you, Dearest, it's perfect.” He wasn’t lying, no one else had ever made his coffee correctly for him in his life but you had nailed it on the first try, he felt his cheekbones tint violet in mild embarrassment of his hidden sweet tooth.

 

    “How was the shower?” Gaster hummed as he took a bite of the quiche and another sip of his coffee. You tried not to inhale this piece like the first, but failed miserably.

 

    “Wonderful, it has been a long time since I enjoyed such a luxury. ” You smiled sympathetically but let him continue his meal in peace. “ As usual, wonderful meal, Mr. Pyre. ” Grillby nodded his head in acceptance of the complement. “ I do wish to apologize for you losing a day of sales to help me.” You swallowed your last bite of food and looked from Gaster then to Grillby in concern. Grillby waved it away, looking at Gaster pointedly.

 

    “ I am not worried, I stay open more days than I’m closed, they will understand, money is not an issue over one day. This was more important.” Gaster nodded in acceptance, knowing any future attempts to apologize would only insult him.

 

    “Grillby, I am so sorry for taking you away from work.” Grillby looked to Gaster in exasperation as if to say Now look what you did . Grillby shook his head as he looked at you.

 

    “ Like I said, this was more important to me .” He smiled warmly at you but used a tone that booked no argument. You sighed and stood, gathering your plate. You walked around the table to gather the others’, Gaster asking you for another piece. You kissed him on the cheek and walked by Grillby kissing him on the cheek as well absentmindedly as he thanked you for taking his plate.

 

    Gaster covered his smirk with his hand as the fire monster froze in shock, the flames making up his upper body erupting into magenta. He absently touched his cheek as you hummed in the kitchen, cleaning up the dishes. You brought Gaster another slice, he grabbed your hand as you went to walk away and kissed your wrist, his cool breath tickling you. You giggled and pulled your hand back as he chuckled at your reaction. “So I hear I may have some competition .” You and Grillby froze and looked back at Gaster. “ I fear you may steal her heart with this cooking of yours, Mr. Pyre. I do say you have excellent taste in Monsters, My Dear.” 

 

    You laughed Gaster off and headed back into the kitchen so he didn’t see the slight look of wistfulness cross your face as you thought about how natural it felt to sit and share a meal with the two men. Resigned, but still sad you couldn’t be with both of them, surely Grillby had his own soulmate out there somewhere. You were content to have Gaster, he seemed like a decent man so far, and he treated you gently. Though you didn’t miss how Gaster also seemed a bit more animated around the fire monster, they were longtime friends after all.

 

    “I see you have not told her yet.” Gaster said mildly before taking another neat bite of the quiche. He saw Grillby wilt slightly from over his fork, confirming he had not taken the chance to do so.

 

    “ It… doesn’t feel like the best time…” Gaster placed down his knife and fork neatly on the plate. He folded his hands in front of him and leveled Grillby with a patient look.

 

    “If you wait until you’re ready or ‘for the best time’ you will find it passing you long by, along with her. She is human, who is to say if she will have a normal human lifespan or not? Any information on that has been lost along with my lab and previous life. ” Grillby leaned forward and combed his hands through the flames on the top of his head, remembering the feel of your hair flowing like water through his fingers. “ I do not feel that this will end in failure on your part. ” Gaster smirked. “ Her scent suggested she was quite interested in you.” He hadn’t just kissed your wrist to fluster you, though it had been a desirable additional outcome, he also wanted to confirm that you would be open to accepting Grillby as your soulmate as well. He didn’t want to interfere with yours and Grillby’s relationship (or lack thereof) but he would give a push if he had to, Gaster did enjoy meddling more than he would ever admit.

 

    “ Fine, I will tell her at the next somewhat appropriate time .” Gaster nodded approvingly, ignoring Grillby’s vaguely haggard expression at being hounded. “ Just do not be upset when she enjoys my company more than yours, as you said, a way to a woman’s heart is her stomach. ” Gaster chuckled at Grillby’s playful expression.

 

    “Or her mind, Mr. Pyre.” He chuckled, remembering the questions constantly brewing behind your eyes. He would be so lucky to have a mate with an inquisitive mind.

 

    You re-entered the dining room to the deep chuckles of the two monsters, you looked between the two quizzically, somehow knowing they had been talking about you. They both looked at you innocently when they noticed you standing by the table looking at them suspiciously. “Mhmmm…” 

 

    “ Thank you for doing the dishes. Wingdings was about to do them. ” You waved away the gratitude, it was only natural to clean up after someone cooked. You also looked at Gaster who was giving Grillby a look.

    “Oh, yeah, I’m sure he was.” Gaster looked at you with wide sockets and held up his hands innocently, standing up to take care of his own plate and mug as if to off-set your accusations. As you took Gaster’s place at the table you missed the meaningful look he gave Grillby behind you. “Thanks again for cooking, Grillby.” He nodded with a smile before sitting up a bit straighter.

 

    “ I realize I neglected to tell you earlier why I’m here, I’m sure my presence must seem… unexpected. ” You frowned slightly, at first it had, but the feeling quickly faded. “ I believe Wingdings had a discussion with you regarding monsters, correct? ” Your brow twitched, trying to figure out what exactly he was referring to in particular.

 

    “Some… stuff, sure, but which part exactly?” You combed over your recent discussions with Gaster about monsters but was coming up a bit short, not sure which he was referring to. Your eyes flicked up to the waving flames that made up Grillby’s hair, they were a little more active than usual, a few small sparks flying off the tips. He laced his finger together when he noticed you watching him fiddle with the cuffs of his shirt nervously.

 

    “ The part about Soulmates. ” Your expression cleared and you nodded in understanding, still not sure what this discussion was going to be about. Maybe it was one of those weird dad discussions like ‘If you hurt my kid, you’ll wish you hadn’t been born’ sort of thing. You didn’t really get that feeling though, Grillby seemed nervous. Maybe it was the other discussion, that he was going to try and break you two up. Your brain flashed through the possibilities in the few seconds between Grillby’s sentences, you were starting to feel nervous. “ Do you recall that generally Boss monsters have a singular mate? ” You nodded again, slowly, you had no idea where he was going with this. “ Generally Boss monsters are a bit more aggressive and territorial due to the larger concentration of magic in their bodies or accumulated Lv, therefore a relationship involving more than two people is not usually possible. However in some cases Boss monsters have been known to willingly share a mate with a close friend or relation in the event of more than one Soulmate being involved.” Grillby paused to make sure you were still with him.

 

    The pinch between your brow meant you were listening but still trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. You could almost guess what he was getting at, but you didn’t want to make some weird assumption and alienate him. “ Pardon me for my bluntness, but this is one of those situations. ” He called your name and your heart beat faster as you absorbed what he was saying, “ You are my Soulmate. ” You blinked silently for a moment, sure you had heard him wrong.

 

    Grillby held his breath subconsciously as you blinked owlishly in surprise, you didn’t seem repulsed or angry, just surprised. That was better than most ways you could have reacted. He watched you process the bomb he had just dropped, you seemed to be thinking carefully.

 

    You remembered the set of questions Gaster had asked you when he had appeared in your room earlier, a slight flush to your cheeks as you remembered what followed said conversation. You mentally shook those thoughts away and went down the list of questions and found yourself answering much the same way as you had to Gaster as Grillby.

 

    Grillby watched as you relaxed, feeling his own posture relaxing as you gave him a shy smile. “I um, well, I guess that's what you and Wingdings were talking about earlier huh?” It was Grillby’s turn to flush slightly, it was pretty obvious looking back on it, he nodded and cleared his throat awkwardly.

 

    “ I understand this is quite a lot to drop on you with everything else that has happened over the past couple of days so I urge you to take your time and consider this carefully. If you find a partnership with me undesirable, I will not bother you again.” He tried to keep a neutral tone, he would respect your decision seeing as how you originally probably weren’t given the choice to decline Gaster. Grillby knew that no matter how much Gaster had changed, he still had some bad habits and manipulation was one of them. Only Gaster would have manipulate his own soulmate into falling for him, Grillby rolled his eyes internally.

 

    “What do you mean? What decision is there to make? I’m your Soulmate right?” Grillby tried not to show his frustration with the confirmation that you had most likely not actually been asked if you wanted to be in a partnership with Gaster. He knew you would misunderstand his frustration so he tried to keep it from his voice as well.

 

    “ This is true, but you are under absolutely no obligation to accept me or Wingdings. ” He watched your hand flutter to the place where Gaster had previously attempted a mating mark only to find the skin smooth and unmarred. “ The marks only stay when both sides consent to the bond. ” Your eyes widened and you sputtered, starting to panic, had you already rejected Gaster? “ Your soul most likely rejected the full bonding attempt to protect itself from the corruption, it is not something you consciously decided. I’m sure Wingdings was aware this would happen once he gained his senses, he is feeling quite… Embarrassed by his behavior. ” You nodded slowly, Gaster having expressed the latter to you earlier.

 

    “So this…” You waved your hand in the direction of the kitchen to encompass the two monsters, “Is up to me?” Grillby nodded easily. “That's not fair though.” Grillby opened his mouth but you held up a hand, “To a degree I understand why you would leave it up to me, but to be frank I have no issues with the thought, but I have no plans to get married or whatever the monster equivalent is here for a while yet. Soulmates or not, you two will have to prove to me that this is a good idea, just like any other men.” You sighed and ran a hand through your hair. “Wingdings? You can stop stalling and come in here.”

 

    Gaster glided silently around the corner to take the other chair. “I take it Mr. Pyre has finally told you?” You and Grillby shared a look and rolled your eyes.

 

      "-As if he wasn't waiting right around the corner..." You murmured. Grillby chuckled and Gaster narrowed his sockets, declining to react. "Yes, Wingdings, he did." You blew out a breath and sat back a bit in the chair. Your life was such a mess, you just had to laugh or you were afraid you would start crying.

 

       "So uh, like I said, I'm willing to go with the flow and see what happens, but regardless we have some other stuff to discuss, Wingdings you can stay here at my place if you want to, unless you would rather stay with your nephews…?" Gaster smiled gently at you though you noticed the slight flinch around his eyes when you mentioned his family.

 

       "You are too kind, Dearest, I will graciously have to take you up on your offer. Do not worry, I will obtain work to help support you and the household. " Gaster tapped his chin in thought. " I will have to speak with the king and see if there is a way for me to regain my position, or at least similar work." You blinked, the king? As in the King of Monsters? 

 

       "...you worked for the king?" Gaster looked across at you in confusion before his expression cleared and he waved a hand.

 

       "Apologies, Dearest, I was the Royal Scientist to King Asgore and Queen Toriel before my… accident. " You blinked owlishly, you knew Gaster was smart, but he was The Royal Scientist? You were impressed.

 

       "Oh, wow, that's really impressive." Gaster preened under your honest praise. "I hope you can get your job back, that would be great for you. Though I do want to be clear, I do not expect you to do more than your half, I don't need to be 'taken care of' financially, I have a good job. So please take the time you need, I know this has been a lot for you too." The skeleton monster's expression softened as you spoke, his hand raised and he gently stroked your cheek.

 

       "Like I said, you are much too kind a soul for me, Dearest. " You blushed at the fond look he gave you, his usually stoic expression absent from his face. " Regarding why I feel I would not be welcome at my nephews' home… I was not a proper guardian to them, I was blinded by many things in the past, I was quite the tyrant, if I could I would make it up to them, but I feel it would be quite impossible."

 

        Grillby sighed and looked at Gaster over his glasses; " It will indeed be difficult, Sans does not look favorably upon Wingdings. " Grillby omitted the conversation with Sans earlier, feeling that would do nothing but sow negative feelings, especially if you found out how close the elder brother had come to slaughtering you in front of the fire monster. He would just have to keep Sans away from you and Gaster, if Sans ever set foot in his bar again.

 

        You nodded, "Well maybe it's something that can be worked at? I'm sure this," you gestured at Gaster, "is going to surprise a few more people." Grillby groaned and nodded.

 

       "I was quite a different monster then, some- most, may not be joyus about my return." He looked off to the side and back to Grillby. Grillby knew more about what to expect, Gaster was correct, he was not a man of many friends but one of many enemies. He was once again reminded of how you were being dragged into this and how maybe it wasn't the best idea to form a relationship with you while it was unknown how Gaster would be treated once confirmed alive by the monster population.

 

        " Perhaps… we hold off on any serious commitment here. At least until we see how Wingdings' return is received. " Grillby looked at you over his glasses, " Neither of us would like to involve you in unnecessary… political matters. " You frowned.

 

       "Why would that affect me?" Gaster and Grillby shared a look.

 

        "Guilt by association my Dear. Most monsters would see our relationship for what it is, but not all." Grillby leaned forward with an uncomfortable expression on his face.

 

         " Most humans would vilify you for one: having monsters as romantic partners, two: that this is a polyamorous relationship, and three: your partners have high standing in the monster monarchy, one of which has committed numerous felonies and has yet to be tried. " You blinked, surprised that Grillby also held a position of power, you were curious but you wouldn’t pry- " I am the former General of the Royal Army. " He said bluntly. He seemed uncomfortable after stating it.

 

         You blew out a breath, "Okay, yeah, I get it." You let your head drop to your arms that were resting on the table in front of you. "Can we maybe put a pin in all this, I'm exhausted." Gaster hummed an agreement. 

 

         " I apologize that this is as complicated as it is. " You waved a hand blindly.

 

         "It is what it is, Grillby." You sat up and set your chin on your hand and looked at him. "I do have a question for you though." He tilted his head and sat up a bit straighter. "Why does my bedroom floor look like someone tried to start a fire?" The flames at the top of his head shot up, sparks crackling. You watched the flames across his face bleed into magenta.

 

        " I um… Unfortunately I lost control of my emotions for a moment. I will have that repaired as soon as possible. " You snickered as he picked at a spot on the table awkwardly.

 

         "I'm just teasing you, but yeah, I'd appreciate it getting fixed before my landlord notices." The flush on his face subsided some. That did bring some questions to mind, you wondered if it was hard for him to control his flames. That must be annoying if so, having to worry about accidentally starting a fire. Not really thinking about what you were doing, you took his hand that was resting on the table and watched the flames slowly roll across his form.

 

        The texture of his flames was odd, feeling almost like fine feathers. His form had some give to it, like a body made from flesh, magic was wild.

 

         Grillby stared silently with wide eyes as you stroked his arm and admired his flames. With every casual touch you gave him he felt his whole being burn with warmth. He saw no fear in your gaze, just wonder and curiosity.

 

          "Dearest, perhaps you should have asked Grillby if you could fondle his appendages." You froze in your examination and looked up at Grillby like deer in the headlights. You yanked your hands away, face linking in embarrassment. You glared at Gaster,

 

        "Why do you have to always make it sound like I'm doing something weird? You doctors are all the same, perverts." Gaster held a hand to his chest as if you had insulted him.

 

        " I am not the one fondling the poor man." You made a sound of annoyance before looking back at Grillby.

 

         "I'm sorry Grillby, that was rude of me. I'm sure you get enough of humans ogling you." Grillby pushed his arm back towards you and smiled.

 

         "I don't mind if you look, I find skin just as fascinating." He held out his hand to you and you shyly placed yours in his. You noticed Gaster staring at your joined hands intently and you offered your other one to the skeleton monster. His eyelights alight in interest and he grasped your hand, gently poking at your skin, feeling the bones that lay underneath.

 

          You shivered as they both gently caressed your skin, after a while they released your hands as you let out a massive yawn. "What time is it?" Grillby hummed and flipped his right hand towards himself to check and made a grimace. "That late, huh? Well I'm glad it's still the weekend so I can sleep in… are you staying the night, Grillby? I know you probably have to open tomorrow…" 

 

           He smiled regretfully and stood. " Unfortunately I must retire home, I'm sure if I stayed closed two days in a row I would have quite the riot on my hands. " He chuckled, but you had the feeling he wasn't kidding. You felt a small pang of sadness in your soul at the thought of him leaving, but you knew he had his own life, just like you.

 

         He must have seen the moment of sadness cross your features, " You are always welcome to come by, your meal is on the house of course, I happen to know the owner. " He gave you a wink and you giggled. He hesitated but held open his arms to you. You smiled and walked into his embrace, relishing in the sun-like heat he gave off.

 

         "Okay, we’ll stop by later, please get some sleep, and thank you again for everything." You felt the press of lips on the top of your head.

 

           " Of course, call me if you need anything." He handed you a business card from his back pocket with his personal and work numbers. You took the card and entered the number into your phone, sending a text to him so he had your number. Grillby shook Gaster’s hand and headed out the door, you made a face at the pink bleeding into the dark sky, signaling dawn. Closing the door as Grillby strode around the corner, you led Wingdings to your room, where you fell asleep, cradled against his chest.

 

           Grillby sighed and fished around in his jacket pocket, sighing in relief when he found a small metal case. Flipping it open he carefully retrieved a slim cigarette and set it between his lips, the end lighting with a thought. He inhaled a plume of smoke and blew it out, this was going to be a long day. He strode down the street at a decent pace, hopefully he would arrive home in time to open the bar.

Notes:

Lotta talking, but lets get this plot movin'!

Thanks so much for reading and all the great reviews, I read each and every one! You guys are awesome.

Chapter 9: A Touch Of Fire And Ice

Summary:

You go and bother Grillby at work.

Notes:

*You find the chapter next to a bottle of conditioner.
*The chapter is growing out its pages.
*The chapter seems very thick and luxurious.

Grillby rested his forehead against the fridge in the kitchen of his bar, if he could cry, he probably would. An embossed letter, carefully opened, was held loosely in the grasp of his fingers. It's not as if he didn’t know it would be coming, but he hoped they would give it a couple more days. He leaned back and pinched his brow, scranning the contents of the letter again, the wording was pretty water-tight. Grumbling as he heard the bell over his door chime for the second time today, he set the letter aside, it wasn’t something that needed to be dealt with right now, he had customers to serve after all.

 

You awoke with a stretch and a groan, you slept great. You grunted, you felt an arm around your lower abdomen tighten its hold and suddenly your bladder was twice as full. “Wingdings~” You whined and he hummed, his teeth pressed to the side of your neck. "I know you haven't been around humans much, but we have to use the bathroom in the morning and you squeezing me isn't helping."

 

           " Terribly sorry, Dearest ." He reluctantly released you. You padded down the hall with a yawn. After finishing in the bathroom, you went back to your room and crawled back into bed. You moved Gasters arms as he laid on his side where you left him. He peeked open his good socket and smiled softly as you wound your arms around his waist and buried your face in his soft sweater.

 

"We should get up, it's 11:30 and I told Grillby we would stop by for lunch." Gaster hummed. "I need to go shopping anyway, I don't have enough food in general for a human woman and a big boss monster." 

 

Gaster felt guilt creep into his splintered soul, he imagined food wasn't cheap on the surface, just like underground. He would have to go speak with Asgore sooner than he would like, but he was going to take responsibility. Asgore was a reasonable monster, hopefully his fears would be unfounded. "At least wince you're with me the monster food won't be so expensive…" Gaster looked down in confusion, leaning back to see your face.

 

" Are you saying there's a tax on food? " Gaster looked mildly disturbed at the thought. You sighed before replying.

 

"Yeah, I mean it makes sense, humans don't need monster food to live and it isn't produced on as massive of a scale as human food is now. So to prevent asshole humans from cleaning out monster groceries there is a huge tax on monster-specific consumables if you are a human." Gaster hummed in thought.

 

" I see, humans outnumber monsters that greatly now, do they?" You nodded hesitantly and grabbed your phone off the nightstand and quickly Googled a mostly accurate estimate for human to monster ratio. You handed the phone to Gaster who at first was a bit confused but read the screen. " Stars how your species has grown, you all breed like rabbit monsters. " 

 

"Well we had to do something, after all the bloodshed and death, what's left?" Gaster let out a bark of laughter.

 

" Indeed, nothing more arousing than imprisoning an entire species under a stuffy mountain to get in the mood to copulate. " His dry delivery made you snort. " I shall ready the coffin for our mating rituals, would you care to stab me a bit first? " You looked at him in shock.

 

"Wingdings! Not before I sacrifice a small child on the full moon of the fourth month!" Gaster let out a throaty laugh, who knew the doctor had such a dark sense of humor? “I think I still have some golden flower tea in the cabinet above the stove, I can make some of that while you shower if you want.” Gaster smiled down at you, you loved when he smiled like that, it broke the smooth mask of indifference he usually wore.

 

“ Thank you, Dearest, ” He gave you a kiss at the corner of your jaw, the small hairs stood up on the back of your neck and you fought a shiver. You were only half successful as you saw a sly smile stretch across his face, eyes narrowed in knowing. Face flushing, you gently but firmly push against his chest and he chuckled lowly, not helping the situation. He rose from the bed at your urging and headed to the door behind you. You gave a stretch and looked over in confusion as you hadn’t heard him exit the room.

 

Gaster stood in front of the door hesitantly, his shoulders stiff. Your brows wrinkled and then your face cleared, you silently stood and stepped around the monster, opening the door to reveal the hallway. You felt him calm behind you as you stepped out of the way, he silently left the room, face blank. You frowned as he passed you, but decided to leave it alone and instead adjust a few of your behaviors. Sometimes passive support and consideration was better. Everyone had their way to deal with trauma, especially something so fresh. You were sure Gaster was incredibly frustrated, considering that was the intent you were getting from the room down the hall, luckily you had left that door open.

 

Entering the kitchen you stretched a bit to reach the cupboard you needed, you weren’t short by any means but they always put these damn things up so high! You finally yanked it open with your fingertips and poked the box off the shelf with a wooden spoon. You held up your prize proudly, giving a hearty huzzah! You spiked the box on the counter, knowing the box was tougher- you picked it up to see the corner a bit crunched from your major-league victory. You looked around, half expecting Gaster to have been at the table the whole time, he was sadistic enough to watch you struggle. Finding yourself alone you chuckled to yourself, grabbing the kettle from under the kitchen counter, you filled it with water and turned it on.

 

By the time Gaster entered the kitchen you had two cups ready and freshly filled. You had added a few spoons of sugar after diluting your tea according to human instructions. You knew the tea was going to be unbearably sour otherwise, apparently for monsters it was a sweet tea, and similar to english breakfast tea in body. Gaster had eyed you curiously as you had mixed in the sugar, thinking you must like very sweet things. It didn't seem to line up with what he did know about you, but he shrugged, he was not one to talk, he also added a spoon.

 

You took a sip of your tea and promptly made a face, the tea tasted weak and overpoweringly sweet. “ Are you okay, Dearest? ” You looked down into the buttercup-colored liquid and glared like it had insulted your mother. “ That was quite a bit of sugar you added, have you not had the tea before? It is quite sweet by itself. ” You looked across at Gaster in confusion.

 

“No, I've had it before, but it was really sour, like lemon juice. I thought it was only sweet for monsters?” His face blanked as he thought for a moment and then his expression brightened.

 

“ Ah! I had forgotten that fact! Well, that is true, the tea is incredibly sour to humans, possibly as a deterrent much like the sales tax imposed on goods, but it is pleasantly sweet to monsters and mages . ” You jolted slightly, eyes widening.

 

“I- what?” He titled his head at your confusion, his cup frozen in his hands halfway between the table and his mouth.

 

" Did you forget? Humans can't use magic, you are clearly not a Monster… " You waved a hand at him in annoyance of his mocking tone and sat back in your chair for a moment.

 

"I… can use magic…" Gaster waited patiently, "I am a… mage ?" He nodded. "...the tea…" He replaced your cup, dumping yours into his and giving you a half cup of the full potency tea.

 

You sipped it carefully and your eyes widened, this tea tasted amazing! "Huh. Are there, uh, any weird changes I might need to be aware of?" Gaster shook his head slowly. You weren’t sure you would be able to tell, even if you did have some side effects. Everything still felt a bit off, almost like you were still dreaming, your head was fuzzy.

 

" I do not believe so, but frankly I did not spend much time around human mages. The Queen may know something however. " He tapped his chin thoughtfully. " Once I meet with the king I shall ask her if she can point me in the correct direction. " You hummed in agreement, finishing your tea.

 

Half an hour later you stood at the door as Gaster slipped his arms through a long black coat. "Are you sure you're okay with going out?" Gaster reached out with a soft smile and stroked your hair.

 

" Of course, you do not need to worry so much. " You sighed and smiled back, you didn't feel Gaster was taking the time he needed, but it wasn't your place. You would just be there if he faltered.

 

"Alright, it's not too far so we can easily walk there." You opened the door to your apartment and let Gaster through first, locking it behind you. You smiled as you looked back at the monster to see him staring unbrokenly at the sky, endless blue stretching for miles.

 

After a few moments you gently took his hand, his squeezing around yours in mild surprise before pulling his gaze from the heavens. " Sorry, Dearest, it has been a long time. " You leaned into him when you both hit the ground floor.

 

"Don't apologize, I couldn't even imagine what that would be like." Gaster smiled but said nothing further as you traveled down the street other than to occasionally inquire about the functionality of certain buildings or human-made objects you passed.

 

" Interesting! They have automated the harvesting process have they?" Gaster had been curious about a few stores you had passed, one of which being a fabric store.

 

"Yeah, and machines also take care of weaving the fabrics themselves, it's not so much a manual, time-consuming process like it used to be." Gaster nodded, filing away the many advancements in human technology he had already witnessed on the short stroll through town.

 

Soon enough you reached a familiar restaurant with a familiar sign. Grillby's. You grasped the handle of the door but paused when you felt Gaster almost freeze in place. "It doesn't look too busy right now." He looked down at you in silent embarrassment, this tiny human woman was being so accommodating and patient while he froze up at the thought of seeing so many familiar faces.

 

" I- " You gently placed your hands on either side of his jaw and pulled him down to your height gently.

 

"Wingdings, I’m okay, take your time." You gently pressed your lips to his mouth and he sighed, the tension leaving his shoulders. "Ready?" He nodded and stood, straightening his jacket along with his expression.

 

Grillby turned from the bar and yawned quietly under the guise of straightening the bottles of liquor lining the shelves. He was so tired, he hadn't pulled an all-nighter since the boys were kids and had been ill with the flu.

 

The bell above the front door jingles, signaling another customer. Grillby subtly wiped his face and turned around, breaks didn't pay the bills.

 

Grillby turned and felt his soul jerk at the sight of you and Gaster sitting at the bar behind him. You had a wide grin on your face and Gaster looked vaguely uncomfortable, the bar's patrons more interested in the boss monster than the human for once.

 

Grillby gave a lukewarm stare around the room, most of the patrons getting the hint and quieting down or suddenly finding the grain of the wood in the table extra interesting today.

 

"Hey Grillby, long time no see." He snorted at your comment. Gaster gave a tepid smile at his nod. "How's work going?" He lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "That good huh? Well sorry for stopping in and ruining the peace and quiet." Grillby grinned at your joke. It was nice seeing you back to your vibrant self.

 

"You get a break soon?" Grillby just gave you a rueful smile and shook his head.

 

" I'll take a break when there's a lull. " You crossed your arms, frankly the elemental looked like he was about to drop where he stood, subtly propped against the counter behind him. 

 

His flames were less active, burning a bit dimmer than they had when you first met him. You felt guilty, he was having to work a full shift, exhausted because of you.

 

"Can I help at all, Grillby? And don't just brush me off, I know you're a strong, independent, fire monster who needs no human, but you look exhausted and I feel bad." Grillby chuckled, even more so due to the lost look on Gaster's face. Memes hadn't really been a thing the last time Gaster had been up walking around after all.

 

" Fine, if you want to help so badly, I have some dishes in the back that need washing. " You pouted at being delegated to the back, but complied, you did ask if he needed help.

 

You followed the fire monster to the back, Gaster trying not to fidget as you vanished behind the swinging door, the eyes of everyone at the bar digging into his spine uncomfortably. He selfishly hoped you would be back soon, he was perhaps not as ready as he thought to face the music.

 

Grillby actually had an industrial dishwasher, luckily for him it was something you already knew how to operate. You started organizing bins, placing dishes in each rack, lining up a few so you would just have to hop back and forth to switch loads. You were mildly surprised that it wasn't some magic thing and just human technology. It did allow him to touch as little water as possible though.

 

You walked back to the front with a bin of glasses and Grillby took them from you with a tired smile. " Thank you. "

 

"Can I show Wingdings the dishwasher?" Grillby cocked his head but nodded. Gaster also looked perplexed as you led him to the back.

 

" What in Angel's name is a dishwasher ? " You heard Grillby try to stifle a snort as the door closed behind you. A few patrons close enough to hear were also choking a bit to hear the boss monster say something so innocuous in such an incredulous tone as he was led around by a human girl. A few were even wondering if they had mistaken the monster for someone else.

 

You had been correct in Gaster's interest in the machine. " Ingenious! And you have one of these in your home ?" You nodded.

 

"Yeah, mine is for residential use so it's much smaller and less efficient than this." He stroked his chin and watched in rapt attention as you slid a bin inside, waited a few minutes and pulled out perfectly clean glasses.

 

Grillby entered the back with a few dirty glasses and watched in amusement as Gaster pulled the lever and waited for the cycle to be over. Once the glasses were clean he pulled it back up and grabbed one, inspecting it carefully. " Marvelous! This would put the Woshua family out of business for sure. " You laughed and took the glass from him.

 

"Yeah, I heard they used to do most of the cleaning underground, up here though they have a very successful dry cleaning and upholstery repair business." Gaster nodded along thoughtfully. "Though we can do a lot with machines, some stains won't yield to anything but magic haha."

 

" Thank you for helping with the cleaning, what can I make you for lunch? " You jumped slightly and Gaster just turned slowly, hands clasped behind his back. He felt something in his soul twist pleasantly at seeing you both in his kitchen, Gaster looking much more like his old self than he did yesterday.

 

"No problem, let me know if you need me to do anything else, I do owe you." Grillby was already waving you away.

 

" I did what I did willingly, you owe me no debt. " He walked to the fridge and started pulling a few things out. " You still haven't told me what you would like me to make you. " Gaster remained silent, Grillby already knew his order by heart.

 

"Oh um, can I have a burger and fries with a stairfait? I’ve been craving one since I woke up.” Grillby smiled and got to work, pulling out the remaining ingredients for yours and Gaster’s meal.

 

“ Dearest, you can’t just survive on greasy food like that, Grillby can make anything you want .” Grillby swiftly turned towards the grill top and traced a finger around the edge, heating the magic-conducting metal to the optimal temperature. He was not going to get involved with the landmine Gaster had just stepped in. Just because you know certain things about your mate, it doesn’t mean you should bring them up.

 

“I can't see why you’re single. Such a charming man. Grillby, I want a double cheeseburger, add bacon .” Grillby rolled his eyes but nodded to let you know he heard you. He walked to the fridge and grabbed a human hamburger patty and some turkey bacon. Too much magic would make you sick.

 

“ You do know too much monster food can make you ill, correct? ” You glared at the taller monster, his sockets narrowed in a sneer. “ And bacon, really, Dearest? You don’t even like bacon on your burgers. ”

 

“So can too much human food, at least I know what a flashlight is.” Gaster opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by Grillby stepping between you two, shoving a plate into each of your hands. You both offered a quiet ‘thank you…’ Grillby rolled his eyes, his flames twirling around the top of his head in mild annoyance.

 

Sometimes it was glaringly obvious that Gaster had more of an impact on his nephew’s personality than he thought. Grillby had heard Papyrus make those same comments to Sans many an evening, though Sans was much more passive than you about the topic.

 

Grillby sighed in exasperation as you got a mischievous twinkle in your eye as you lifted your burger. You looked to Gaster who was already watching you with cool indifference. You then proceeded to open your mouth as wide as possible and took a massive bite of the burger. It was… not an attractive look, especially as your cheeks bulged with the amount of food you crammed in them. You chewed obnoxiously at Gaster who just looked at you with indifference.

 

" What an attractive and mature mate I have. What would I ever do if someone stole you away? " You sniffed at him hautly as you swallowed your food before replying.

 

"Prob go back to using those extra hands at night, I dunno. Maybe I'll just live with Grillby then, at least he can cook." Gaster narrowed his eyes at your blasé response.

 

Grillby had to swallow his grin, you really were unphased by Gaster's prickliness. He just shook his head, " No sex in my kitchen, it's an OSHA violation. " Both you and Gaster looked up at the fire elemental. Gaster deadpan and you with a slightly flushed face.

 

"Well, you know what they day Grillby, if it's too hot get outta the kitchen." You then winked at him, Gaster groaned at your bad pun. Grillby just shook his head in amusement as he headed back out to the bar.

 

" I need to check on the patrons, I'll be right- " He went to leave but found his arm being grabbed by a small hand. He peered down in surprise to see you looking up at him in annoyance.

 

"Grillby, you need a break, you look exhausted. I think they can wait while you take a small break." He smiled down at you ruefully.

 

" In a moment it'll be fine- " He felt many hands supporting his back and forcing him into the chair you abandoned. 

 

"Thanks, Wingdings." Grillvy blinked owlishly as you toed up your hair and washed your hands. You and Gaster as a team was dangerous. "Now what can I make for you , hotstuff?" 

 

Gaster stood and perused the fridge, followed by the pantry before bringing you everything to make a sandwich, but the contents seemed to be every spicy pepper known to man. Some you didn't recognize in bright colors, one even had a skull on the skin. You looked at Gaster incredulously but he just stared back blankly. "Alright, one Atomic Heat Sandwich coming right up."

 

They both watched in interest as you pulled on some gloves from a seldom-used box in one of the drawers and got to work.

 

You tried to not think too much as you made the sandwich, and leaned away a bit, the peppers were so spicy it was making your eyes water. You stared at the completed sandwich in front of you a moment before reaching for the bowl of fries Gaster had fished from the fryer for you. You proceeded to then dump every powdered form of spicy pepper you could find into the bowl along with some salt. You tossed it a few times and then plated it with a habanero ketchup. You turned with a smile and set it down in front of the stunned fire monster.

 

"I uh, hope it's what you wanted." Grillby stared at the food set before him, he couldn't remember the last time someone had cooked for him. "I'll go see if anyone needs a refill. Filling cups can't be that hard." You stepped out into the bar.

 

" Are you going to eat? I know it's to your exact tastes. " Gaster said from the doorway as he kept an eye on you, a few monsters coming up and asking for refills, helpfully pointing out the correct bottles to you and paying in exact change.

 

Grillby silently picked up the sandwich and began to eat, the Contentment and Mirth you infused with the food filling his soul with warmth.

 

You carefully reached up the shelves and pulled down a shimmering teal bottle, the liquid inside reminding you of sunlight shining through the sea. You checked the label and chuckled as the name ' Deep Sea Whiskey ' glittered back at you in gold script.

 

"So it's two shots of that and fill the rest with the tea from that jug over there." You nodded your understanding and filled the duck monsters order. To be honest the drink looked like murky pond water with some glitter in it. You slid it across the bar and the duck monster thanked you heartily and took a long sip, "Oh! That's good! Grillby better be careful, he might be out of a job!" You shook your head as he laughed and wandered back to his table. You set the money in the register carefully but jumped when a booming voice called from the front door.

 

"HUMAN? IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU ON YOUR FEET!" You turned your head to the door and saw a tall skeleton monster wearing a familiar outfit. "BUT WHY ARE YOU WORKING IN THIS GREASE TRAP?"

 

"...Papyrus?" You knew for a fact you had never seen Papyrus before a day in your life, but the bit of magic you borrowed in your soul wouldn't let you mistake him for anyone else. A grin split his skull at you saying his name, even as hesitantly as you had.

 

"YES! IT IS GREAT TO MEET YOU! GRILLBY HAS TOLD ME WONDERFUL THINGS ABOUT YOU! ARE YOU FEELING BETTER?" He had strode quickly to the bar, standing in front of you, looming a bit. You flushed a bit, his dominating presence reminds you of Gaster. However his bright and expressive sockets radiated a warmth that Gaster's could never come close to.

 

"Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good, thanks for your help, I would have been a goner for sure without you." Papyrus suddenly snatched you from the other side and scooped you up in a surprisingly careful hug. 

 

"I AM SO GLAD!" You smiled, Papyrus was much friendlier than the rest of his family. Though his brother has been friendly, if a bit of a schemer.

 

"Are you feeling alright, Papyrus? They told me I borrowed quite a chunk from you." Papyrus just laughed and set you down striking a heroic pose, much to the amusement of the patrons.

 

"OF COURSE, THE GREAT PAPYRUS CAN NOT FEEL ANYTHING BUT GREAT AT ALL TIMES!" You just smiled at him, he did look the picture of monster health, compared to Sans and Gaster who both had dark circles under their eyes.

 

"Great!" A few of the patrons chuckled, “Can I get you anything? I’m giving Grillby a break since he stayed up all night to help me.” Papyrus’ grin widened.

 

“HOW KIND OF YOU! ONCE GRILLBY IS OFF HIS BREAK I WOULD LIKE TO ORDER ONE OF SANS’ USUALS. I DO NOT KNOW WHATS IN IT, NOR DO I WISH TO KNOW.” Papyrus reached into his pocket and pulled out a small stack of G. “HE SENT ME WITH THIS TO PAY SOME OF HIS TAB, WILL YOU LET GRILLBY KNOW?” You nodded and took the significant stack of G, counting out 25 pieces and placing them into the till. You made a note on a piece of paper just in case and left that in the drawer too. “I WOULD USUALLY NOT PURCHASE SUCH UNHEALTHY FOOD, BUT SANS IS MUCH TOO BUSY BEING A COWARD TO PICK IT UP HIMSELF.” Papyrus sighed in annoyance.

 

“What do you mean?” Papyrus flushed as he realized he had spoken so bluntly out loud.

 

“WEL…” He looked around, making sure no one was close enough to listen before leaning in slightly towards you. “Sans and Grillby had a bit of a spat apparently while you and I were indisposed. Sans wouldn’t talk to me until I said I would head right back to your house for an explanation. He finally said he and Grillby had a disagreement about something and that he didn’t want to talk about it.” You frowned as you leaned back from the counter, that was odd. You knew you didn’t know Grillby well by any stretch of the imagination, but it seemed unlikely that he would have that severe of a disagreement with someone. “I TOLD HIM HE DID NOT HAVE TO TELL ME, BUT THAT HE SHOULD TRY AND MAKE UP WITH HIM. HE GINORED ME OF COURSE, BUT DIDN’T PROTEST WHEN I SAID I WAS GOING TO PICK UP LUNCH.”

 

“ Hello, Papyrus. How are you feeling?” You jumped at the smoothe crackle of Grillby’s voice rumbling from directly behind you. “ Thank you for your help last night. ” Papyrus grinned at the fire monster.

 

“NO NEED TO THANK ME, I’M GLAD THE MISTAKE WAS FIXED AND THAT EVERYONE CAME OUT OKAY. I DO WISH TO APPOLOGIZE FOR SANS’ NONSENSE, I HAVE BEEN A GROWN SKELETON FOR MANY YEARS NOW, BUT HE STILL FORGETS SOEMTIMES. I HOPE YOU TWO WILL BE ABLE TO TALK IT OUT.” Grillby bowed his head slightly to the taller skeleton, his hands now resting on your shoulder, subconsciously rubbing small circles into your shoulder blades. 

 

“ I hope so too, Papyrus. Did you need one of the usual? I’ll make you a salad as well. ” Papyrus confirmed his order as you headed to the back to check on Gaster.

 

“Grillby,” The fire elemental paused and looked up at the younger brother with some annoyance. Papyrus held up his hands in innocence, “He knows about her.” Grillby grunted, he knew Papyrus was trying to be helpful, but Grillby had no intentions of running, it would be better for all involved if they didn’t. He wasn’t naive, he knew the fact that Undyne, of all people, was the one who took a domestic disturbance call in a mostly human neighborhood was anything but a coincidence.

 

“ Papyrus. This is my family. The King is not so heartless, he will wait.” Papyrus deflated and took a seat.

 

“I APOLOGIZE, THAT WAS INSENSITIVE OF ME.” Grillby set a glass of milk with a straw in front of the other monster, not saying a word. 

 

You entered the kitchen to see Gaster standing beside one of the windows, his hands folded neatly behind him as he stared out at the city, sun shining through the pane. “Hey.” Gaster looked down as you stepped up beside him and looked out the window as well.

 

“ Hello, Dearest. Did you enjoy playing bartender? ” You snorted at his blase tone.

 

“What are you playing, cold, estranged husband?” He smirked, his arm wound around your waist as you leaned against him. “Better.” He chuckled and kissed the top of your head.

 

You ended up staying and helping Grillby with his bar until close, it was fun to talk to all the different monsters. Some told you stories of the underground, some showed you photos of their grandchildren, and one monster went on for hours about an anime called Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2 and how bad it was. For the most part Gaster remained your shadow, looming behind you silently as you talked or he stayed in the kitchen behind the bar, likely avoiding conversing with the other monsters.

 

" I have something to discuss with you both." You paused after re-tying your hair, looking to Gaster to see if he knew what the sudden serious tone was about. Gaster was seated patiently at the table I'm the kitchen as if he had expected this. You cautiously took a seat as well before looking back to Grillby who had a rather decorative letter in his hand.

 

" Ah, I see. " He may have, but you didn't.

 

"What is it, Grillby?" He looked troubled, and maybe even annoyed as he handed you the letter. After scanning it, you felt the color drain from your face. "What? How- how did they-?"

 

"They have their ways," You frowned, any way you read it, it wasn't good. "If we act rationally, I'm sure things are more likely to go in our favor. They are normally very reasonable people."

 

"Do you get a lawyer? Character witnesses? How do these things go?" Gaster's mouth quirked up at the corner as you spewed questions.

 

" Calm yourself, Dearest, as Mr. Pyre says; the King and Queen are reasonable people. We already discussed the fact that I may be summoned to answer for my past. " Your lips twisted and your brow pinched, he wasn't answering your questions.

 

" Have no fear, I will go with Wingdings and hopefully his punishment will not be too severe. " Your face settled into worried annoyance.

 

"I want to go." Grillby and Gaster shared a silent look and you internally deflated, you felt helpless. "I just have a bad feeling…" Gaster reached over and took your hand, rubbing small circles in the back of it with his thumb.

 

" Dearest I understand how you feel, but I don't wish to draw their attention to you anymore than I already have. I do not want my mistakes to become your burden. " You laced your fingers with his and looked down at the table.

 

"But what if you can't leave?" The pair fell silent, "What if they take you away and I never see you again? Wingdings, I know you said it was bad, I'm… really frustrated." You looked back up at him, "Can't I at least go with you?"

 

" ...I'm sure they'll understand. " Grillby finally said with a sigh, " Once we explain the situation. " Gaster gave him a look across the table, going unseen by you as you stared at him in surprise, not expecting them to actually let you go. Gaster did not look happy, but Grillby found he had trouble saying no to you. Especially when you were being reasonable about it.

 

"I know I probably can't be in the room while everything is going on, but thanks for letting me go, I feel a little better." You then seemed to realize something and sighed, looking back at Gaster. "Sorry, this isn't about me." Gaster shook his head and smiled at you.

 

" It may be selfish of me, but I feel better knowing you will be there. " You smiled.

 

"I think you're allowed to be a little selfish." Grillby snorted.

 

" I do believe that is his middle name. " Gaster, to his credit, looked unashamed.

 

" And I bet you would just be heartbroken getting our dear one to yourself, hmm? " Grillby narrowed his gaze on Gaster. 

 

" I hope you enjoy prison food." Gaster smirked and leaned back in his seat.

 

" Better than what you serve ." Your brows raised.

 

"Wow, get a room." Both monsters turned to give you dry looks. "I'm just saying, you guys need to bone-" those gazes swiftly switched to withering at your unintentional pun.

 

" You're staying home."

 

"Nooooooo, I'm sorry- let me goooooo-" You stood and threw yourself at Gaster who held you at bay with his many extra hands. Gaster eventually caved and let you hug his skull to your chest while you kissed the top of it repeatedly, a faint violet hue staining his cheeks as he silently enjoyed the attention. Grillby watched on enviously as Gaster gloated silently across the table.

 

Standing with a sigh, Grillby looked at the clock above the door, and it read later than expected. He was not looking forward to tomorrow, none of them were. " Dearest I do believe Mr. Pyre needs to rest, we have imposed long enough. "

 

" Its rather late, I would not mind the company there is plenty of room. " Grillby said a bit too casually.

 

"If you're sure it won't be a bother." Gaster rolled his eyelight, the two of you were about as subtle as a brick through a window.

 

Fifteen minutes later you left the small bathroom upstairs in a borrowed sweater of Grillbys to sleep in, teeth minty fresh from the human toothbrushing set Grillby happened to have. You walked down the small hallway to the living room which led to the bedroom in the back. 

 

You curiously glanced in the living room, a soft glow flickering across the wall next to you. You paused in the doorway as you found Grillby laying on the sofa with a blanket and pillow. You frowned, you didn't mean to kick him from his bed. You wanted to say something but felt awkward and continued down the hall quietly.

 

Gaster glanced up from the book he borrowed from one of the many shelves around the room as you entered. You had a wrinkle in your brow and a frown on your face. " Hmm? " You finally looked at him as you slowly made your way to the frankly massive bed he lay on. You quickly (placatingly) smiled at him and shook your head. " Why were you frowning? " You smiled again and waved your hand.

 

"Oh, nothing, I didn't realize we would be kicking Grillby from his own bed. I feel bad and I wanted to say something about it, but-" You fidgited at the edge of the bed, the pinch between your brows reappearing.

 

" But you feel that would seem ungrateful. " You looked up at him and away, he assumed that meant he was correct. Gaster sighed and placed the book gently on the table next to the bed as he sat up.

 

You looked up at Gaster as he stood from the bed, looking vaguely amused which made you narrow your eyes in suspicion as he went to leave the room. "Leave him alone, I think he's already asleep-" You hissed as he walked through the doorway. Gaster just waved you away, closing the door behind him partially. You frowned , guess you would have to wait for him to come back.

 

Grillby covered his face with his hands, magenta flames peeking out from under them. When you appeared in the doorway to the living room he almost scorched the blanket covering him. He knew letting you borrow his favorite sweater was a risk but he almost dusted with how cute you were standing there. He had been relieved when you left, but also regretful he hadn't at least said goodnight to you.

 

" Hmmm. " Grillbys hands slid from his face as Gaster loomed over him, magenta hue fading. " Any particular reason you have chosen to sleep on the davenport like a spouse being punished? " Grillby stared up at him for a moment.

" Any particular reason you're standing over me speaking like an old man? " Gaster rolled his eyelights, he knew his vocabulary was a bit dated.

 

" Twenty years being trapped in a place outside reality makes updating one's vocabulary with the latest slang rather difficult. " It was Grillby's turn to roll his eyes; Gaster's vocabulary had been considered dated even before that. " However, insulting me will not allow you to avoid the question. "

 

Grillby ran a hand through the flames on the top of his head as he sat up. " Why would I not sleep on the couch, you two are my guests-" Gaster crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway, like he had many times before and looked down his face at him as though he had said something particularly stupid.

 

" I figured I was at least considered a bit more than a guest, and I'm sure she feels the same. " Grillby just stared at him, unable to tell from his blank expression if it was a joke or not. Gaster finally threw up his hands and walked away, snapping his fingers. Grillby stared after him for a moment before a pair of disembodied hands pushed him to his feet and shoved the pillow into his hands. His face pinked again, did that mean that you- The hands once again prodded him, one pointing down to his room.

 

You laid in the middle of the bed, worried that you had made Gaster mad at you somehow. You covered your eyes with your arm and huffed in distress, feeling the sweater ride up a bit high on your thighs but not worrying about it.

 

You lie there for a few minutes sifting through the day when the sound of someone stepping into the room reached your ears. You sat up and looked towards the door, seeing Grillby frozen, staring at you, magenta flames highlighting his cheeks and ears. You glanced down, finding his gaze fixed where the hem was riding up enough to show the edge of your panties. You felt a small thrill roll through you at his attention, you didn't mind that he was staring. Your eyes snagged on the pillow that was held loosely in his grasp.

 

You scooted back and patted the spot next to you, seeing Gaster coming up behind him. Gaster casually stepped around him much to the fire monster’s confusion. " Well are you going to stand there all day, Mr. Pyre? Come to bed. " 

 

Grillby swallowed heavily, action luckily having gone unnoticed by you two. You, his human soulmate and Gaster his best friend both waiting for him to come to bed. He felt his eyes sting slightly before blinking it away. As he reached the edge of the bed you took the pillow from his hand and laid it beside yours, Gaster having slid into bed behind you. " You're crowding him, Dearest. " Gaster looped an arm around your waist and pulled you back a bit against him.

 

You squawked, pulling the hem of your shirt down to hopefully cover your underwear. It was one thing for a bit of it to peek out and another for a full up the skirt look per se. "Wingdings you ass, stop! Whatever bullshit you're on better stop or I'll-" You had turned to scold him some more but a shiver passed down your spine as a pleasant heat pressed against your back.

 

"You know he only does that to rile you up. His favorite pastime is being obnoxious." You felt his voice rumble against your spine and you almost melted. You felt your face flush as his hand found purchase on your hip, a bit lower than where Wingdings rested his arm.

 

"Yeah, I'm starting to think it's a kink thing for him." Gaster just rolled his eyelights. "And now he's trying to act like I'm being weird."

 

" Hmm,yes, narcissistic people tend to gaslight those around them to protect themselves. " You were hyper aware of every move Grillby made, your eyelids fluttered when he laid his head down behind you and his warm breath washed across the back of your neck.

 

Where Gaster was cold, Grillby was hot, the two extremes were making you a bit flustered. " How rude, I simply made room in the bed for you and now I am being made into a sexual deviant. Perhaps I should sleep on the couch instead." 

 

" I mean, you can if you want but you'll miss out on the kisses." Grillby had to hold in a snort at Gasters expression. He looked like someone ruined a book for him. "It's okay, I'm sure Grillby will take your share of the kisses." His face burst into magenta again, you couldn't just say something like that!

 

You snickered internally, Gaster looked like a kid who dropped his ice cream and Grillby was a flushing mess behind you. " What a brat you are. " You blinked as Gaster loomed over you. " Pitting us against each other. I think some punishment is due. " You didn't like that look in his socket. 

 

"Keep your hands to yourself, Dr. Love-" Gaster reached towards you and you tried to squirm away, pressing the back of your body flush with Grillby's front.

 

" Oh, and you were so brave a moment ago. What happened? " Your face flushed, being pressed between two very attractive men had your brain short-circuiting.

 

"You awful man." Gaster just laughed loudly and leaned forward. You shrunk back and felt Grillby's grip on your hip tighten.

 

" Careful- " Grillby flushed at the growling tone his voice had taken on, but stars, you had been grinding yourself against him in a bid to get away from Gaster. Accidental or not, he was starting to become deeply affected.

 

You froze at the deep rumble coming from his chest as Grillby warned you, his deep voice making the hair stand up on your arms and the back of your neck. You couldn't help the rush of warmth that settled in your core. You gasped when Gasters lips met your throat, your hips jerking back into Grillbys in surprise.

 

Grillby groaned and banded his arm across your hips, pulling you closer, stars this was torture. Gaster caught his eye and smirked when you grasped the back of his skull as he nipped at your neck.

 

Your head was swimming, Gaster biting at your neck and thumbing a nipple through your shirt, and Grillby grinding what felt like molten sin against your ass while he pinned you against him.

 

You yelped as Gaster pulled up your borrowed shirt, Grillby absently lifting his arm to allow Gaster to reach under. You moaned as his hand found your bare nipple. You ground your backside against Grillby and gasped as his warm hand glided over your stomach to the front of your panties. 

 

After a moment to see if you would protest his fingers slid under the fabric, slipping between your soaked folds. Your eyelids fluttered as he found your swollen clit, your hips jerked back into his as he gave an experimental rub. That warmth was on another level.

 

Gaster made a tsk sound, he would have to do something about that fabric blocking his view. 

 

Your eyes flew open at the wet ripping sound near your core and scowled at Gaster who was having an extra hand toss your now destroyed panties in the trash. " I'll buy you new ones, don't glare at me so. " You opened your mouth to rebuke him but only a strangled moan escaped your lips as he unceremoniously thrust two fingers deep inside you.

 

Your hips jerked forward as your eyes flew open in startled pleasure. " Fuck! " Gasters grin slowly widened and his sockets lidded, clearly enjoying himself.

 

" Such naughty language- " He crooked his fingers as Grillby softly rubbed your clit. Your face flushed as you panted, clenching around Gaster's fingers as he stared into your eyes, devouring your expression. " Already this wet? " He murmured lowly.

 

You whined and pressed your hips back into Grillbys who groaned and set his mouth on your neck, pointed teeth pressing into your skin. He ground his hips against your backside, desperately trying to control himself and failing.

 

Your breath caught when Grillby started murmuring in your ear, " You're being such a good girl for us ." He rubbed more firmly at your clit. " So pretty, moaning for me like that. Let's see what other sounds you can make-" Your face flushed deeper, waves of warm arousal washing over you, these men were going to kill you.

 

The fusion of hot and cold on your most intimate parts was driving you mad, your brain was so fogged with lust you whined incoherently as the two men played with your body.

 

Gaster palmed your breast, trying with your nipple as Grillby pulled your head to the side with his free hand to leave further marks along your neck. Your breath came in gasps at the sinful things Grillby murmured in your ear, the contrast from his normal calm and polite demeanor was pleasantly arousing.

 

" Are you still with us, Dearest? " Gaster asked lowly, amusement lacing his tone. Your eyes focused on his face above you, his good eyelight focused intently on you, smirk playing around his mouth. You narrowed your eyes, this was unfair, he seemed unaffected while you fell apart in their arms.

 

You pulled his face down to yours and kissed him, slowly and with the full force of the burning arousal in the pit of your stomach. Gaster melted into the kiss after a moment, allowing you to slowly reach under his sweater and trace your fingers slowly along his ribcage, inching towards the center of his sternum.

 

Simultaneously you pressed back against Grillby, earning a harsh rub to your clit from the fire monster growling filthy promises against your neck. You panted into the kiss with Gaster who simply pulled your mouth back to his, fingers twisting deep inside of you.

 

You gasped and reached up to grasp at the flames atop grillbys head as he ground his clothed length against your ass roughly. "Oh my stars, fuck me please-" You finally whined, giving up any pretext, Gasters fingers making a loud squelching noise as you slowly approached your climax.

 

Both monsters groaned at your desperate cry, hearing you finally beg made it hard to hold back. Grillby and Gaster locked eyes over your shoulder as you squirmed between them. " You heard her, Mr. Pyre. It's not like you to keep a lady waiting. "

 

"Grillby please -" He growled against your neck, needing no further encouragement. You heard the impatient rustling of fabric as Gasters fingers left your folds and then felt Grillby lift your leg, sliding his length between to rub against your lower lips.

 

The warmth was intense, it felt like a fever was racing across his whole body. You reached down in impatience and gripped him where he teased you. He groaned against your ear and thrust forward, snagging on your entrance with the tip. " Fuck- " He growled, angling his hips and pressing forward. Gaster pressed down more firmly on your clit as he felt Grillby slid into you.

 

Your eyes flew open, lips parted as you moaned in pleasure. Gaster kissed the front of your neck, whispering to you how beautiful you looked seated on Grillby's cock. He had to admit, it was quite satisfying seeing you ravished by his longtime friend, now partner. Watching your skin flush and raise with gooseflesh and heat depending which of the monsters was touching where. Gaster was glad his cold touch did not seem to bother you, especially in such sensitive areas.

 

Grillby grabbed your hips and thrust deeper, he couldn't get enough, you felt perfect wrapped around him. He felt his forehead itch along with his shoulder blades but tried to ignore it, he didn't want to accidentally burn you if he lost control.

 

Gaster tapped your lips with a disembodied hand and you opened your mouth. He put two fingers in your mouth for you to coat in saliva, followed by a third. Gaster grit his teeth at the feel of your mouth around his fingers, what he wouldn't do to feel it around his cock.

 

He soon withdrew his hand from your mouth and ventured down between you and Grillby, prodding at your backside with his soaked fingers.

 

You shuddered and groaned, pressing back onto the intruding fingers and Grillby who panted and moaned as you squeezed him. " Dirty girl ." Gaster murmured as he looked down at you with hunger. He wasted no time and slid a finger inside causing you to clench around Grillby again. " I wonder if you can take both of us at the same time? " He inserted another finger and rubbed at your clit with another hand. You whined his name, crying out when Grillby gave a hard thrust as Gaster twisted his fingers inside you.

 

Grillby panted with exertion, you kept clenching around him and he kept brushing up against Gasters fingers inside of you, making you even tighter. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep up, his control was already hanging by a thread-

 

Your hands flew up into Grillbys hair and grabbed onto something that felt like- horns? Causing the fire elemental to increase his speed, almost slamming his hips into yours, forcing Gasters fingers even further inside. You were starting to see stars. " Gonna breed you- fill you with my magic- fuck you'll look so good full of my magic-" You went slack with pleasure at the surprisingly filthy things Grillby growled in your ear. Your soul simmered just below your skin, barely resisting the crooning of Grillby's voice. " Let me see that little soul of yours, Princess, let me help you feel good. "

 

You moaned and absentmindedly touched your sternum, a bony hand laying across yours. " Allow me, Dearest." Gaster murmured lowly before making a heart gesture with his thumb and index finger, then slowly drawing his hand away, your soul slowly emerged from your chest, bathing the room in a pale light. A pale shadow of gold and a slightly brighter purple flashed across the white surface of your soul.

 

Gaster was taken aback, he had seen one other mage soul, and it looked nothing like yours. The other mages soul had been saturated with their trait color, yours looked like a pool of white with the smallest amount of color dropped in. Magic started to bead on the surface and slide towards the tip, dripping off and vanishing before it met the sheets. " Oh Dearest, you are so wet for us, you look so gorgeous like that. "

 

The magic flowed faster down the sides of your soul at his words. Gaster gently reached our and drew his fingers across your soul, bringing it closer to his mouth. Zaps of pleasure raced up your spine. You cried out when his teeth parted and his tongue lapped at the magic dripping off your soul.

 

You tasted like vanilla, sweet and comforting, he couldn't get enough. He pressed his tongue more firmly against the surface, searching for more of your magic.

 

You keened as Gaster started to lick and suck at your soul, you didn't know how much more of this you could take. Between Gasters cool touches and Grillbys hot branding touch, your body couldn't seem to decide who to lean into.

 

Grillbys eyes fixated on your soul in Gasters grasp. You soul was beautiful, looking like pastel stained glass with the morning sun shining through. Shining drops of magic dripped from the surface only to be caught by Gasters attentive tongue. He wanted a taste- he ground deep inside you as he leaned forward to drag his finger across the surface of your soul.

 

You panted, pressed tightly between the two large monsters as they both started to caress your soul. You really couldn't take anymore, the dual temperatures racing across your soul snapped the small strand of control holding your orgasm at bay.

 

You cried out incoherently as you pressed back against the monsters as they fucked you, your soul gushing magic as you came, Grillby following soon after. Grillby roared and sunk his teeth into your neck a rush of molten magic as he came inside you made your head spin as stars blazed across your vision.

 

As you laid there sandwiched between them you felt Gaster gently push your exhausted soul back into your chest, making you sigh at the feeling of warmth and tingling coolness emanating from it. "Ugh, I can't move." Gaster chuckled and stroked your hair, pulling you against him.

 

" ...nor I. " Grillby mumbled quietly with his face in the pillow, magenta flames sparking off his form. Now that his soul had cooled off he was embarrassed by how aggressive he had been.

 

"Grillby leggo, I need to take care of Wingdings-" Grillby grunted but managed to lift his arm as you pressed up against a surprised Gaster.

 

" Dearest, you do not have to- " You pulled Gaster down into a soft kiss and gripped his length after reaching into his pants. You were exhausted, but it didn't feel right in your soul to leave him unsatisfied. Gaster shuddered against you, fighting his instincts to press you down into the mattress and once again have his way with you.

 

You slowly pressed him onto his back as you kissed him and straddled his hips. Gaster looked up at you, eyelight burning you with hunger as his hands traced your curves up and down. You slid back and slid your core against his length slowly. Gaster hissed and gripped your hips, lifting his into yours. "Fuck-" You felt your arms almost give out where they gripped his chest, fingers digging into his soft sweater.

 

Gaster rolled his hips up into yours again just to watch the flush spread across your face and hear the moans leave your lips. "Wingdings~ stop teasing me!" You gasped. Gaster's socket narrowed in satisfaction, hearing that whine in your voice- he had you right where he wanted you.

 

" I'm hardly touching you, Dearest. " You growled at him and tried to finally seat yourself on him only to find yourself on your back with Gaster looking down at you, hand on your throat. " I am willing to be more… hands on however. " You felt your annoyance melt into desire at the weight of the large monster covering you. You always were a sucker for big men. " You look so wonderful with my hand around your throat. " You swallowed convulsively, he wasn't playing fair. " So quiet . " You opened your mouth to rebuke him, but his hand only tightened, not much, but enough to warn.

 

When you stayed silent his eyelight glowed deeper, " So pretty, so obedient, I think I'll let you scream for me ." Air crawled into your lungs by a strangled gasp as Gaster pressed inside you. His hand left your throat only to pin your arms above your head as he set a punishing pace.

 

Gaster growled and leaned over you, angling his hips upward as you cried out for him, moaning and begging for more. You were so perfect, fighting him at every turn and then surrendering to him when you couldn't take it anymore, his soul burned with desire in his chest. Feeling your fragile neck in his hand while you looked up at him with want, it stirred the darker parts of his soul.

 

Your toes curled as his fingers brushed your clit, you tried to press into the hand, to get him to press just a bit harder- but he refused, hand keeping the same teasing pressure no matter how you moved your hips. "Wingdings!" He chuckled and nuzzled the side of your neck.

 

You whined and squirmed, feeling warmth coiling in your lower stomach as he thrust inside you. He gripped your jaw and looked into your eyes, finally rubbing more firmly against your clit. " Scream for me. " 

 

You gasped and screamed his name as your orgasm crashed down on you, making your limbs go taunt as your eyes rolled into the back of your head. Gaster groaned above you finding his own release, leaning down to bite down on your shoulder.

 

A moment later Gaster shifted he weight to the side of you and sighed against your neck, gazing at the marks he and Grillby left behind they may still just be temporary, but it warmed his soul. Contentment swirled in his shattered soul as your hand gently touched his skull affectionately.

 

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired." The monsters both chuckled at your hoarse statement, you hadn't even bothered to open your eyes.

 

" Indeed, we should get some rest ." Gaster hummed his agreement and pulled the sheets up from where they had been discarded behind him.

 

You hummed, pleased,  as the two monsters sandwiched you between them, your soul tiredly swirling in your chest. This was going to be the best sleep of your life because for the first time in your life, you were truly content.

Notes:

Reader having to rotate like a hotdog to keep an even temperature while sleeping

Thanks for reading :D

Chapter 10: Break A Leg (The Judgement of Doctor Wingdings Gaster)

Summary:

Don't do the crime if ya can't do the time.

You stood at the entrance to the Underground. You felt like you swallowed glass and that your stomach was full of angry bees. The sense of awe you had felt standing at the entrance just days ago was now soured by your anxiety.

 

"Everything will be fine, my dear." Gaster had been standing behind you, silently watching the emotions he could feel skittering across his own soul playing across your face. He stroked your hair and rested the hand on your shoulder, looking up at the mountain.

 

He too had mixed feelings standing there, being on the other side for the first time in many many years. He felt a thread of guilt wrap around his soul, though he told you everything would be fine, he couldn't help but feel this might be the last time he saw this side of his home. He was glad he could at least spend it with you.

 

Grillby saw the slump to Gasters shoulders, it was odd seeing the usually stoic monster being so unguarded, it reminded him of the other night when he begged Grillby to help you.

 

Grillby straightened his uniform, though it fit the same as the day he had received it, it felt heavy. No matter how much it made his flames spit and spark, he would wear it if he could help his friend. He would use any means to keep his new family safe.

 

Originally Undyne and Papyrus had been asked to escort Gaster and bring him in for Judgment, Grillby however had uncharacteristically thrown his rank around and managed to get assigned as escort. 

 

"Grillb, you're too close to this… cmon, let me and Paps do it." Undyne had hissed over the phone. Grillby had remained silent, refraining from pointing out the obvious flaw with that logic. "I called to give you a heads up, only coz I respect ya, but Asgore ain't gonna go for it. He already has been really lenient-" She fell silent at the sound of agitated flames and sighed, "Fine- fine. I'll… I'll talk to em. But just think how the others feel, he hurt a lot of people, even you- just… don't let him get away with it, please Grillby."

 

His eyes narrowed as the sun slid over the peaks, making your hair glisten. "Let's go inside." You glanced up at him and then looked up to Gaster.

 

"Ready?" Gaster straightened his spine and his expression, once again becoming an unreadable mask of calm.

 

"Of course." The rest of the walk through the entrance was silent between you, the dread you could feel in your stomach doubled with every step closer.

 

Once inside the doors closed heavily behind you. The silence was oppressive. Gaster silently turned and faced you, leaning down with a melancholy smile on his face. "Dearest, once we leave this room, I am a criminal. You may hear unflattering things about me, many if not all, are true."

 

Gaster watched your face twist as you tried not to immediately rebuke his statement. He appreciated that you were truly listening to him and taking to heart what he said.

 

"I am to be judged for my crimes, and then I am to answer for them. King Asgore is a fair king and was a good friend to me for many years, do not wish him ill no matter how he decides to enact justice. I need you to swear to me you will remain level-headed in this matter." You internally stewed, you knew Wingdings was doing his best to prepare you for the worst as you knew didn't truly grasp the entire situation, but it was hard to not feel like he was treating you like a child. "I do not wish for any of this to end up on yours- or Mr. Pyre's shoulders."

 

"We are doing our best to keep you safe." You looked between the two of them in disbelief.

 

"Grillby, I'm not stupid, based on your getup, which you look great in by the way- you pulled some strings. I may not know jack shit about monster court proceedings, but I hope you're keeping yourself safe. What would I do if you got thrown in prison too?" Gaster sighed and rolled his eyes.

 

"Likely to be thrown in prison as well." Grillby looked at Gaster in annoyance. "Do you think me incorrect?" You tipped your head to the side, a small smile playing around your lips.

 

"Think they'd let us be roommates?" Grillby rolled his eyes, how you two could make jokes at a time like this…

 

"I'll ask for my own room." You gasped in outrage and Gaster feigned hurt.

 

"Mr. Pyre, those are quite the harmful words-" the door at the end of the room creaked open and Papyrus and the guard you vaguely recognized as Undyne strode into the room, a small company of dog guards filed in behind them. "Ah, it seems we are out of time, General Pyre, if you would." Gaster held out his wrists towards Grillby, who's flames dimmed momentarily.

 

Silently Grillby reached forward and encircled Gasters wrists with his hands, a small flare and he let go, manacles of flame now encircling bone. The acidic dread which had slowed its crawl up the back of your throat made a second appearance, mildly bright moment doused in ice cold reality. Gaster stepped forward, head held high, face expressionless, picture of confidence.

 

Grillby followed behind and laid a hand on your lower back, pulling you along beside him. "Formalties." You stayed silent and followed behind Gaster, the time to talk was over.

 

The icy coldness of the forest before Snowdin rushed over you, the brunt of it being mitigated by Gaster's large frame in front of you and the flames of Grillby beside you.

 

The walk was long and silent, and became even worse when the precession entered Snowdin. The homes and businesses lining the main street were filled with the faces of monsters staring out, some fearful, some angry, some curious, but all silent. The only sound being the crunch of snow beneath your feet and the occasional clank of armor from the guards.

 

As you left Snowdin, you glanced behind to see the members of the town joining the precession. It made your heart leap into your throat, something about the growing crowd made you nervous.

 

This pattern continued as you stepped into waterfall, though you did pause at the edge of the cliff where you slid down and met Gaster for the first time. You only stopped for a moment, the place was meaningless to the rest of the precession after all.

 

Finally after hours of walking, hushed whispers at your back, you found yourself facing the door to the Judgment Hall. Undyne and Papyrus stepped forward and pushed the massive stone doors inward, making it look easy with their strength.

 

Grillby seemed to steel himself before leaning down to speak to you lowly; "His trial will take place in the Throne Room, his crimes will be announced in here. Once they have announced his crimes, he along with those involved, will go to the Throne Room to meet with the King and the Judge. You will have to stay here in the Judgement Hall until we are finished."

 

You looked towards Grillby sharply, you were going to wait here alone? "You have to go too?" You hissed. Grillby looked askance at you, "Fine, at least one of us can be there." You pouted internally, but knew you were being a bit unreasonable. You were an outlier with almost nothing to do with Gaster's 'crimes'. Grillby reached for your hand and gave it a warm squeeze before letting go.

 

You all filed into the large hall, the heavy air even more oppressive than when you passed through before. Gaster was escorted to the end of the hall where the doors to the Throne Room were located, Grillby loosely holding his arm.

 

The doors parted and opened to reveal the King and Queen of Monsters, along with a human child holding a potted plant. You frowned- oh that must be Frisk. A moment later a familiar skeleton in basketball shorts and pink fuzzy slippers stepped forward as well.

 

"Sans?" You murmured in confusion. His head turned towards you and he gave you an unreadable expression. His usual smile was gone from his face, sockets cold and unfeeling. Something in your soul shivered, it was almost like you could feel your sins crawling across your back.

 

"Wingdings Gaster, step forward and bow in respect to their majesties: King Asgore, Queen Toriel, and Frisk Dreemur." One of the dog guards called from in front.

 

Gaster bowed his head and made his way forward, gracefully getting to his knees and bowing in difference to the royal family. "Greetings, King Asgore, Queen Toriel, Frisk. I have come to repent for my wrongdoings." 

 

You stared hard at the king and queen, Asgore's face was unreadable, especially so far away. Toriel looked mildly uncomfortable and Frisk looked ecstatic, smiling down at the prostrated monster. You felt sick.

 

"Stand, Wingdings Gaster, your crimes will now be stated before the court." Gaster stood once again and looked straight forward.

 

"Unlawful use of Magic, torture, human and monster cruelty, unlawful experimentation of the soul, child abuse, arson, breaking and entering, theft, battery, perjury, child neglect, homicide, inappropriate disposal of a corpse, abuse of a corpse, use of biological and chemical warfare, cruelty to animals, aggravated assault, forgery, and Treason." You were in shock, you thought Grillby and Gaster had been possibly blowing this whole thing out of proportion, but honestly they had under-sold it. You stared at their backs wide-eyed, your stomach now a roiling churn of acid and terror.

 

Gaster had committed heinous crimes- human war crimes even. You were starting to panic, there was no way he would get out of this with a slap on the wrist- or maybe at all and they knew it. The terror in your gut started to simmer into rage. You chewed on your lips, trying to not do anything to make it worse. You glanced back towards the royal family, but their expressions were unreadable. However Sans was staring straight at you.

 

You looked back at him, it was like he was waiting for you to do so, because an almost sinister grin slowly split across his face as the list of crimes grew. Why? Why was he happy about this? You were having a hard time comparing the vaguely sleepy, goofy skeleton from the bar and this cold, cruel-looking skeleton.

 

"Do you understand the crimes you are accused of?" You jerked your head away from the sinister skeleton and back towards Gaster.

 

"I do." The guard gave a sharp nod at his reply.

 

"The Judgement of Doctor Wingdings Gaster Vs. The Monster Kingdom shall now commence!" You stood frozen as the royal family turned and stepped inside the throne room along with Sans, followed by the guards and Gaster, Grillby bringing up the rear. Neither one glanced behind for you and you felt vaguely hurt, but you understood, you had asked just to be there, you didn't have a right to be.

 

The room slowly emptied, several monsters following the guards inside. You felt yourself pale, only the accused, guards, judge, and injured party was allowed to enter. This did not bode well. The doors of the Throne Room finally closed and the silence was deafening. You remained alone in the middle of the room for several minutes, ignoring the monsters whispering about you off to the side.

 

"Hey, Buddy, whatcha doin here?" You jumped and finally looked away from the door. BP stood a short distance away, hands in his pockets as he looked at you curiously.

 

"Oh- uh, hi BP, Grillby let me come as long as I stayed out of the way." BP cocked his head, one of his ears twitched.

 

"Kind of a weird date idea, but go off I guess." You felt your lip twitch and you let out a dry chuckle, you knew he was trying to lighten the mood, but it just wasn't quite landing.

 

"Yeah, you know, a nice stroll through the neighborhood where your partner grew up before they get thrown in prison is always fun." The whispers around you silenced at your comment, BP even looked stunned.

 

"...why would Grillby get thrown in prison?" You tilted your head to the side.

 

"I'm talking about Wingdings." The whispers started up again, but this time urgent and hissing. BPs ears were flat against his skull as he stared down at you wide eyed

 

"G-gaster is your mate?" You frowned at his low, urgent tone. "S-stop kidding around bud, it's not funny, I know you're a jokester, and you don't know much about monsters-" his tone was overly loud and condescending. Your brow dipped in confusion, why was he talking- you looked around subtly, some monsters looked at you in abject terror, and some looked like they wanted to bury you six feet under. Oh.

 

"Ah, yeah, sorry, forgot where I was." You cleared your throat, "I'm just worried about my friends, you know I joke when I get nervous." The murmurs died down again, but you still felt many pairs of distrustful eyes on you. "Grillby and Papyrus said I didn't have anything to worry about, W- Gaster isn't going to do anything, I should just chill out." BP raised his brows and gave you a small smile of approval at the name-dropping.

 

"Cmon kid, let's grab a seat and wait it out, sometimes this shit takes hours." He patted you on the back and steered you towards an unoccupied part of the room, the murmurs dying down and the gazes finally leaving you.

 

Once you had slid down the wall next to the cat monster he leaned in, suddenly intense. "Thats the monster you met when you fell?" You looked up at BP from where you were brushing dirt from your pants.

 

"...yes?" He looked at you like you told him Frisk was your long lost sibling. 

 

"What the fuuuuuuck." He breathed, fishing a braided cord and chewing on the end, the smell of catnip wafted towards you. "I'd ask you if you knew who he was and what he did but… guess that cats outta the bag, huh." 

 

He propped an elbow up on his knee, "That's rough, buddy." You snorted and his whiskers twitched up at the corner.

 

"Yeah, I'm still processing all this." You drug your hands down your face, mind racing as you tried to think about the possible outcomes.

 

"So… were you bein' serious when you said he wasn't gonna do nothin?" You glanced over at BP who was looking at you from the corner of his eye.

 

"...Yeah, he won't do anything." You tapped your chest above your soul. "He told me he's gonna accept his punishment, but I think it has more to do with me than him actually feeling sorry for what he did. Said he doesn't want shit to come down on me or Grillby." You said that last part almost inaudible, BP whistled.

 

"Yeah that sounds more likely. I heard he was a real bastard back in the day." You nodded, you were figuring that out. It didn't change the way you felt about him, but you did need to understand. "So you here as insurance?" He asked.

 

"What do you mean?" BP flicked an ear and pulled the frayed cord from between his teeth.

 

"Oh right, yer a human, so generally if a monster has a mate, the court rarely rules for execution. Coz what happens to one also happens to the other, basically his death would be yers- and I feel like I shouldn't have told ya that." The color left your face, that definitely should have been something you were told. Earlier. By your mates.

 

"What?" You whispered. BP looked at you apprehensively, his lips tucked inward like he had sucked on a lemon. "Why wouldn't they tell me that?" …it made sense though. It wasn't a bad plan, and it was nice to be able to help even if it was just to manipulate the ruling a bit. Morally it was a bit twisted, but you'd do anything to keep either of them alive. You narrowed your eyes, you had some thinking to do.

 

Gaster held Asgores gaze, back ramrod straight, manacled hands held confidently in front of him. "I commend you on turning yourself in, Dr. Gaster."

 

Gaster remained silent but bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement. Asgore let the rustling of the small crowd settle before continuing. "A few of the victims have prepared statements, the court will hear them now." More nervous shuffling before a hooded monster walked to the front silently, paper gasped in a white-knuckled grip.

 

They looked towards Asgore who kindly smiled and nodded for them to proceed. After a moment of hesitation they reached for their hood and pulled it back, the crowd silent as the monster revealed a face covered in ribbons of scars, scar tissue covering more than half their face, including an eye. "I am Harry Hops, and this was done to me by Dr. Gaster after handing him the wrong mixture. This was the first and only time in six years I had ever made this mistake. He left me on the floor for four hours before someone found me. The damage was so severe from the caustic solution I lost my eye and most of the fur on the right side of my head. In one day, I had lost my livelihood, my eye, and my confidence. The day I fall down is the day I see you go free." His good eye hadn't left Gaster the entire time he spoke, his voice icy. Gaster did recall the day he shattered that container across Harry's face, not one of his finer moments, however if Gaster had not noticed the mistake in time many monsters would have died that day, including both of them.

 

"Thank you Mr. Hops." The rabbit monster finally broke his gaze and made his way back into the crowd, hood being pulled back up. "Next."

 

A small armless lizard monster scrambled up to the front and glared venomously at Gaster. "My name's MK, and you killed my parents." They glared at Gaster, waiting for him to react. Gaster waited patiently for the monster to continue, he really had no idea who the child's parents were. MK ground their teeth when they received no reaction from the doctor and continued. "The star stone mine you had created went right under our home in Waterfall." Gaster's brow pinched, that wasn't what the mine had been for, but unfortunately they had hit a snag and the whole thing had collapsed one day. He had warned the residents, however some had decided to stay, even when he offered to relocate them on his own dime, even when he begged. "It collapsed and my parents died. You didn't care, and now their dust rests at the bottom of Waterfall." When Gaster continued to stare steadily at the monster child, MK started to scream expletives and insults which was quickly silenced by another monster who quickly pulled them into the crowd.

 

"Silence!" Asgore called as MKs angry yelling continued from the back. The lizard monster fell silent, still stewing. "Next statement."

 

After several hours a female deer monster came forward, fine scars littered her visible fur, crisscrossing neatly, giving her fur an almost scale-like appearance. Gaster remembered this monster, poor thing had slipped on the ice in Snowdin Forest and had fallen down a frozen waterfall, her skin having been shredded on the shards of ice as she slid down dust pouring from each slice. Luckily Gaster had been in the area, collecting samples nearby and heard her cries for help. "Dr. Gaster… saved me." He closed his good socket slowly, he hadn't expected anyone here today to say a good word about him.

 

The silence in the Throne Room suddenly made it seem empty as she continued. "He spent 27 hours putting me back together personally. If he hadn't found me the day I fell, I surely would have just been dust in the wind." She wasn't addressing Gaster like the ones before her, she was talking to the gathered crowd. "I was unable to be anesthetized due to my extremely low levels of HoPe after being trapped down there for a few hours. He warned me beforehand that I would be in massive amounts of pain, but that I would likely survive to see my children. I allowed him to administer a paralytic to keep the sutures as even as possible and I felt every single one, but thanks to this monster, I am still alive and have gotten to see my children grow up and have children of their own. Thank you Dr. Gaster."

 

The crowd shifted uncomfortably, not one other monster had come to his defense in that room. Gaster opened his good socket as he felt a tiny hand pressed to his shoulder. The small deer monster looked up at him with her big dark eyes and smiled before whispering to him, "I can see the change in you. Good luck, Dr. Gaster." He held her gaze and she gave him another smile before walking towards the rest of her family, who seemed to have mixed feelings about the exchange.

 

"We have now heard all the testimonials, after a brief deliberation we shall have a ruling, aggrieved are dismissed." The massive stone doors rumbled as the guards pulled them open to allow the crowd to leave, after a moment many shuffling feet filed through, back into the Judgement Hall. Gaster had to stop himself from turning around to look for you, even just a glance. He felt Grillby's hand tense on his arm for a moment before the door closed and Gaster smiled ruefully. Grillby would take good care of you.

 

Your head shot up when the doors opened a few hours later, the crowd from before pouring out. Their expressions were a mixed bag, but most were frowning. You weren't sure if that was a good or bad thing honestly. "Grandma I don't know why you stood up for him, he's a beast." Your eats perked up at the group of deer monsters conversing twenty feet from you and BP.

 

"Dr. Gaster is not a good man, but haven't I tried to teach you all that everyone can be a better person, if they just try, and that man is trying." She smiled and gave her grandchild a hug, she caught your eye over his shoulder and smiled at you. "He's really trying." You flushed, having been caught eavesdropping. It did give you some hope though.

 

Another hour passed without any information, your nails had been chewed to bits, the uneasy feeling in your stomach had been steadily increasing. Most of the room had been emptied of people, the crowd having dispersed, only you BP and a few other monsters in small groups had stayed behind to hear the verdict.

 

Twenty more minutes and the doors opened again, a dog guard looked around the room before waving you all in. Your heart was in your throat and you almost shot to your feet. You hurried inside, the guard giving you a weird look.

 

Gaster and Grillby stood before the King, Queen, Sans, and Frisk silently. Your eyes roved over them both and relaxed when neither looked worse for wear, only a bit tired. You jerkily came to a Halt about 20 feet from them, unsure on what the protocol was.

 

"Ah, come forward my child, it seems we have a few loose ends to tie up." Asgore addressed you, sending your heart into overdrive. "No need to be nervous."

 

You cautiously stepped forward, ending up standing between Gaster and Grillby, both of them taking one of your sweaty hands into theirs. Asgore made a humming sound. "Let me introduce myself and my family, I am King Asgore Dreemur, my wife Queen Toriel," the queen smiled at you, "and our child, Frisk. I have been told you already know Sans here." You glanced at Sans and he looked… bored, but he caught your eye and you saw nothing but contempt.

 

"We have met, yes." Your voice was colder than you had anticipated, but Sans was being weird towards you. You weren't sure what you did to piss him off, but he clearly had a problem with you.

 

"Excellent! Now onto more serious matters, I need to ask you some questions and I need you to answer truthfully." You swallowed hard, bile trying to claw its way up your throat for the millionth time today. "It is nothing difficult or that I don't believe you don't know the answer to, but I need your help to make this a fair ruling." You nodded jerkily, only relaxing when Grillby rubbed soothing circles into the back of your hand.

 

"When and where did you meet Dr. Gaster?" You cleared your throat.

 

"Um, about two days ago I was taking a tour of the underground and slipped off the path in Waterfall and twisted my ankle." Sans made an annoyed sound and Asgore gave him a sharp look. "I sat there for about an hour and heard something behind me, I thought it was maybe a person or something but instead there was just an open door." Asgore nodded for you to continue. "I uh, went inside to see if I could find some help and instead found Wingdings- i mean, he did help me, but well- you know." You finished lamely, feeling like you were rambling.

 

"I see, so he left the Underground with you?" You blinked and then shook your head.

 

"Um, no." You glanced up at Gaster and you saw a small flush to his face. "He uh… came out of my closet?" You heard peals of childish laughter as Frisk doubled over. "... yeah, I have no idea how it works to be honest."

 

"So you went home after the tour and Dr. Gaster was… hiding in your closet?" Asgore seemed like he was trying to believe you, but apparently this was insane even by monster standards.

 

Gaster held up a hand, requesting to speak and Asgore nodded his assent. "For the past several years I was trapped in the void unable to find an exit, however once we had met my soul was able to lock onto hers as a beacon to guide me out." You just nodded vigorously.

 

"What he said." Asgore sat back in his throne and stroked his beard in thought.

 

"I see, but why her soul specifically?" Asgore had an odd glint in his eye as he looked down at Gaster.

 

"Asgore, stop teasing the poor man." Queen Toriel said in exasperation. The fur of Asgore's mane puffed up in embarrassment. "Does he truly need to say it?" Asgore chuckled and scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

 

You felt Gaster's annoyance and squeezed his hand. "No, I suppose not." He sighed, "However, I do need to make an official ruling, and you are to be punished, Wingdings." Asgore stood, along with an annoyed Toriel and giggling Frisk. "Doctor Wingdings Gaster, you have been judged and are found guilty." Your mouth ran dry, Gaster sighed, resigned. "Your punishment is to supply the CoRE with magic for a month straight, your sentencing shall begin immediately."

 

Gaster closed his good socket, Asgore may have thought he was doing him a favor, but Gaster was not the man he once was. His magic levels were abysmal after being sucked dry by the creatures of the void, how he would survive the month like this-

 

"B-but King Asgore he's very-" Gaster barked your name and you went silent looking at him startled, he had never yelled at you before. Asgore looked at you, brow furrowed as if asking you to continue. "...Ah, sorry." You had felt Grillby tense at your outburst but he was back to rubbing soothing circles onto the back of your hand.

 

Gaster had to swallow hard to keep his soul where it belonged when you tried to tell Asgore about his condition, he didn't need pity. "I apologize, Dearest, that was quite inappropriate of me." You squeezed his hand, but staying silent, looking at the ground instead. "I apologize, King Asgore, she is worried I am not as spry as I once was. However I am not a Monster who leaves debts unpaid. I thank you for your fair ruling." Gaster and Grillby bowed to the royal family, making you dip awkwardly since they each held a hand of yours, making Frisk almost pass out from laughing. Queen Toriel scolded them for the behavior and they sobered up, sulkily signing an apology.

 

"As unfortunate as this all was, it was good to meet you, I will leave Mr. Pyre to speak with you about the details." Asgore addressed you as he smiled kindly. "Dr. Gaster I will allow you a moment with your family." Queen Toriel smiled at you sadly and led Frisk away who was giving you a sunny smile and waving. You waved back, Frisk was probably too young to understand what was going on. Sans gave you all a hard stare and followed.

 

Grillby sighed and released Gaster from his bonds once everyone cleared the room. "Wingdings…" Gaster rolled his good eyelight.

 

"I do not need a lecture Mr. Pyre, I made a judgment call. He was more lenient than I thought, being on the surface has softened him greatly." Your lips parted and you looked at Gaster in shock.

 

"But Wingdings you're missing pieces of your soul, you're sick. I wouldn't say a month of giving up your magic is good for anyone, even you. Don't you need magic to survive? Isn't it like blood to you guys?" Gaster opened his mouth to push the issue aside but you continued, "We are allowed to be worried about you, Wingdings. Just because you feel this was more prudent or practical doesn't mean we aren't terrified, you can't see the future as far as I know."

 

Grillby watched Gaster deflate under your glare, dark circles under his sockets glaring in the light from the windows. "I had to use whatever was at my disposal to keep you safe-"

 

"Even if it's your life?" Gaster fell silent at Grillbys annoyed tone. "Dramatic, even for you."

 

"Why didnt you let me tell Asgore?" Gaster sighed again.

 

"Asgore is still king, he cannot be made to look as if he is showing favoritism, especially to someone like me." You groaned.

 

"Is this some political bullshit?" Gaster and Grillby just stared at you pointedly. You threw up your hands, "Sorry for asking!" They rolled their eyes at your dramatics. "So can we visit you or is this a solitary confinement thing?"

 

"We will be allowed to visit him, supervised, once a week." Grillby supplied.

 

"So… no conjugal visits?"

 

"General Pyre, I request immediate execution." Gaster said in a final tone. Grillby palmed his face as you smacked at Gaster, who was looking down at you unaffected. Grillby looked up when your complaints got louder, Gaster now held you by the wrists, "You are weak and your efforts are pathetically ineffectual." You tried kicking at him but he just pushed you further away. Grillby put his face back into his hands.

 

"What's wrong, Grillby?" He heard you call. Gaster hummed before replying.

 

"I assume Mr. Pyre has realized he must put up with you alone until I am released." Grillby heard a solid thud as you finally managed to land a hit on Gaster who chuckled lowly.

 

"Maybe I will also see about a cell next to yours, Wingdings." Gaster's lips turned up in a smug grin as you stared at Grillby in betrayal.

 

"As much as I'd just love to watch you flirt all day, I got a prisoner to escort." Undyne watched as the light atmosphere soured as her attempted joke went over like a lead balloon.

 

Your lips flattened into a thin line, "O-oh, right…" You looked up at Gaster who's expression had smoothed over into a mask of indifference once again. It made your chest hurt to see that expression, he looked tired. "Uh, well, I'll miss you and we'll come visit soon okay?" Gaster leaned down as you opened your arms for a hug. You reached up and kissed his cheekbone.

 

Gaster released you and Grillby took his turn with saying goodbye. They merely stared at each other before extending their hands for a firm handshake which turned into a slightly stiff and awkward hug after a moment. You couldn't help the dumb smile that crossed your face, they were so awkward.

 

Undyne finally took Gaster by the arm after chaining his wrists. She gave you and Grillby a curt nod and started walking him to the door where the royal family along with Sans had left through. Your nails dug into your palms and you opened your mouth impulsively as he walked through, "Wingdings! I- I love you."

 

Gaster spun on his heel, almost throwing Undyne to the floor. His good socket was wide with shock, his teeth parted in wonder as the stone doors closed between you. The silence of the room behind him making the words ring loudly in his skull.

 

Undyne growled, picking herself up off the floor and went to give the old monster a piece of her mind when she saw his expression and sighed instead, brushing off her uniform. "Cmon, Dr. Love, sooner you get down to the CoRe, sooner you'll see her again."

 

Gaster allowed the fish monster to pull him along as the shock of your declaration wore off, his mind began to race, in his soul he knew he would find a way to persevere. He always had, and for you, he always will.

 

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