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Gaster’s lab coat fluttered in the chilly wind as he stepped off the Riverboat. Not that he could feel the chills, of course, but even if he was blind, the cold of Snowdin town would be evident by the crunch of snow beneath his feet.
Giving a curt nod to the Riverperson, he made his way down the pathway. The lights strung up on every building glittered in a rainbow of hues on the snow. The scientist shut his eyes to block out a particularly bright reflection from a house that was positively covered, every inch, in the multicoloured lights.
Really, now, was that really necessary? It was bad enough that they lived in a saturated world of white that he swore was going to make him blind someday, but now they had to light up every building like a goddamn… he couldn’t think of the right analogy.
His train of pessimism came to an end as the tree at the center of town came into view. The ornaments, the gifts scattered below it… how could he forget? He pulled up his watch to his face. Dammit! He had promised to come home an hour earlier to celebrate, but had gotten held up with a malfunction with the CORE. It was a quick fix, but he had dived into his studies to find out why the malfunction had occurred, and then lost track of time.
Forgetting all his previous grumpiness, Gaster’s step turned into a dash down to his house, where he knew his two sons would be waiting impatiently. So frantic was his run that he almost missed the bear trap in front of his house, which metal jaws snapped firmly onto his beloved lab coat, only a hair lengths away from where his foot might have been. That was… odd. Looking up from his torn lab coat, the area in front of his house was positively armed to the brink with traps and spikes and oh dear, is that a flamethrower?
Gaster took a deep breath, willing himself the patience to deal with Papyrus later, then tucked his clipboard into his purse. He lept into action, ducking under the swinging blades and jumping over the spinning saws and just barely dodged the darts at the door. One of them lodged itself into his turtleneck, thankfully beneath his ribcage so it didn’t strike any bones. Just when he thought he was safe, he nearly got a faceful of fire.
The scientist shoved the door open, coat singed and ripped. In the brief second where he had entered the house, the shift from cold to warm air made his glasses fog up, and before he could wipe them clean, he had stepped into the classic rope around the foot trap, and suddenly was dangling upside down, his glasses clattering to the ground.
Swaying in the air, he groaned wearily as Papyrus’s blurry face came into view.
“MERRY GYFTMAS!” He piped up happily, flapping his arms in excitement.
“you look like you need a pick-me-up,” Sans added, and even without his glasses, Gaster could tell the 12 year old was grinning smugly. “or should i say, a--”
“PUT ME DOWN,” Gaster said, with as much calm as he could muster. Sans shrugged, a gleeful look in his eyes.
“if you say so,” He handed something Gaster couldn’t quite make out to his younger brother.
“OKIE DOKIE!” Papyrus reached up and-- SLAM! Gaster tumbled to the floor. He was lucky enough not to land on his glasses, and he promptly put them on to fix the two of them in a glare. Unfortunately, neither of them seemed phased, and were both giggling uncontrollably.
“PAPYRUS. THIS IS. THE FIFTH TIME. THIS HAS HAPPENED THIS YEAR,” The scientist told him sternly. “I THOUGHT I HAD EXPLICITLY TOLD YOU. NO SETTING UP DANGEROUS TRAPS. WITHOUT MY SUPERVISION.”
The seven year old batted his eyes innocently at his father.
“SANS SAID I COULD DO IT!” He said, immediately throwing his brother under the bus. Gaster’s sharp gaze shifted to Sans, who, unlike Papyrus, had the decency to look a little sheepish now that the blame fell upon him.
“what can i say, pops?” He shrugged. “consider it justice for showin’ up late. plus, look at this guy, how can i say no to a face like that?” He gestured to his little brother, who was intentionally sparkling his eyes to make himself look as cute as possible.
Gaster glanced between the two of them and sighed, rubbing the sides of his forehead.
“FINE. I WILL. LET THIS OCCURRENCE SLIDE. JUST THIS ONCE. AS AN APOLOGY. FOR BEING LATE,” He agreed finally. “I DO HOPE THAT MY GYFTMAS PRESENT. IS A NEW LAB COAT. THIS IS. THE TWELFTH ONE YOU HAVE RUINED.”
“WELL, WHY DON’T WE GO FIND OUT?” Papyrus was now jumping up and down in happiness. “WHAT ARE WE STANDING AROUND HERE FOR?!”
“you guys are, i’m not,” Sans was already standing outside, interestingly standing on top of of the axe swinging mechanism. Gaster squinted at him.
“SANS. GET DOWN FROM THERE,” He turned to Papyrus. “WE’RE GOING OUT THE BACK.”
After a bit of kerfuffle, they were all kneeling around the Gyftmas tree. Normally, gift unwrapping would be a community gesture, but the event had taken place earlier in the day, and now, all that was left were five gifts.
One was addressed from Sans to Papyrus. Inside was a full set of action figures, originally from the dump, but cleaned and repainted to pristine shine. There was also a puzzle book he bought from the library for Papyrus to own. Sans had somehow wrapped the gift in the shape of a sock, so Papyrus had let out an offended shriek upon seeing it, leaving Sans in a fit of lafter and Gaster stifling chuckles.
Papyrus’s gift to Sans was a pair of handknit, gigantic socks with stars speckled all over them, and a pair of binoculars. On the binoculars was etched the words “sans + PAPYRUS FOREVER” Sans put the socks on immediately and joked that he wouldn’t stop wearing them until next Gyftmas.
Gaster’s gifts to both of them were a book of Astrology and Quantum Physics for Sans and a book of Applied Mechanics with an addendum Gaster added on the functions of the CORE. Sans broke his careless exterior to flap through the pages, stars in his 12 year old eyes. Papyrus’s eyes were immediately glued to the book, taking notes on every page.
Finally, there was the two brothers’ gift to their father. A turtleneck, a new one to replace the endless supply of plain black ones. Originally a plain red one, Papyrus and Sans had worked together to stitch Gyftmassy patterns onto it (and flames, at Papyrus’s insistence). Additionally, because Papyrus took the artistic lead on the turtleneck, Sans had bought a 2 G mug that had the words “world’s most scientist”. The word “amazing” had been scribbled out with a sharpie.
“YOUR BLACK TURTLENECKS ARE BORING,” Papyrus explained proudly. “WE THOUGHT WE MIGHT SPRUCE UP YOUR WARDROBE.”
“i saw this mug in the dump sale and immediately thought of you,” Sans added cheekily. Gaster glanced over the gift items, warmth sparking in his chest for his sons. The turtleneck drooped in his hands as he ran a thumb over the chaotic designs. At the bottom of the mug, he noticed the chemical formula for the magical pattern for happiness. Gaster looked up at his sons and smiled.
“THANK YOU. I LOVE THEM,” He hugged the turtleneck to his chest.
“uh oh, he’s emoting, never seen that before,” Sans elbowed his brother slyly, who giggled. Gaster rolled his eyes and pulled the two of them into a hug. It truly was a Merry Gyftmas.