Chapter Text
Gaster sits in the passenger seat of Asgore’s pick-up truck, half-way to dozing off again but unable to do so completely through the sheer excitement of finally returning home after just over a week and a half away.
It had been a bit odd to rent a place to spend his heat in with Asgore, after having spent them at Grillby’s home with his help for so long. It had been an absolutely delightful experience though. Though he can’t help but wonder what it would be like to have both Asgore and Grillby there. Perhaps next time?
But with the haze of heat having passed and several days spent not doing much else than sleeping or eating to recover his energy, he’s eager to return home.
He always finds himself missing all of his kids terribly once he’s back to thinking with a clear head rather than a heat addled one.
Granted he partially has himself to blame for their return taking so long, since he kept stealing Asgore away for cuddle sessions whenever he was awake, rather than letting him focus entirely on thoroughly cleaning the rental house. And leaving the place without a thorough cleaning after everything they got up to in the midst of his heat would have just been beyond rude.
“Here we are”, Asgore’s voice rumbles next to him as the car slows down to a stop.
Gaster pries his eye sockets fully open to the sight of the large house that’s been the shared home of the three or two, however you count it, families on the surface.
The sight of it is enough to chase away the remaining drowsiness, replaced instead by relief and joy.
He can hear Asgore’s shout and laughter when he doesn’t even bother opening the door of the car, instead choosing to shortcut outside of it before running to the front door while searching for his keys.
Really he would have liked to shortcut directly inside of the house, but while the return has energized him, he’s still too tired to be using his magic quite that much. He honestly might even regret shortcutting the little he did later, but right now he’s too happy to be home to care.
Finally getting hold of his keys, he quickly unlocks the door and rushes inside, only remembering to slip off his shoes out of habit.
It’s just before dinner time, and he’s delighted to find all of his kids in the living room.
“BABYBONES, MY DEAR LITTLE ONES!
[BABYBONES, MY DEAR LITTLE ONES!]”, he calls out, ambushing Papyrus first with a hug and a multitude of headclicks.
“NYEH HE HE! DAD, WELCOME HOME!”, Papyrus laughs, turning around in his hold so he can return the hug and headclicks with just as much enthusiasm, even going so far as to pick him up and spin him around entirely regardless of the fact he’s still taller than him.
He laughs in joy at the motion, because how can he not when he’s so very happy and proud of how great his son has grown up to be. The Great Papyrus indeed!
Frisk and Asriel scramble up from where they’d been sitting working on a jigsaw puzzle, crying out happily as they rush to meet him where Papyrus sets him down after having had enough of spinning him around left and right.
He leans down to wrap them both in a hug, nuzzling both of their heads.
“HELLO, HELLO MY DEAR LITTLE ONES!
[HELLO, HELLO MY DEAR LITTLE ONES!]”, he greets them, unable to shower them with enough affection to make up for the little under two weeks he’s been gone, but trying his best to do so anyway.
“Dadster!”, Frisk snuggles up to get as close as they physically can, happily rubbing their head back against his skull, the humorous endearment from when they first accepted his declaration of family still going strong years later. They still soak up all the affection like a sponge, even though years of, still ongoing, therapy and being there have made them finally secure in the fact he’s not going anywhere from their life.
“Skeledad!”, the fact Asriel had ended up creating his own endearment in direct mimicry of what Frisk calls Asgore still warms his very SOUL. He never expected for Asriel to call him anything else but Dr. Gaster, but the fact the sweet thing has is all the more precious for it. The young prince, for all that the title is long since moot, has been doing much better too, though even he too still has semi-regular therapy sessions. And reminding him of how much he’s loved never hurts.
Neither of their particular experiences Underground have been easy to deal with, but supporting them has been his honor.
“OH GOODNESS I STILL CANT GET OVER THE FACT HOW FAST YOU TWO HAVE GROWN. WERENT YOU TWO BARELY TO MY RIBCAGE ONLY A WHILE AGO?
[OH GOODNESS I STILL CAN’T GET OVER THE FACT HOW FAST YOU TWO HAVE GROWN. WEREN’T YOU TWO BARELY TO MY RIBCAGE ONLY A WHILE AGO?]”, he gushes, squeezing both of them tighter, because it’s true.
When he’d first been pulled back from the VOID and he’d then in turn managed to restore Asriel by artificially making a new SOUL that matched the exact frequency of Asriel’s previous one, both of them had barely reached his ribcage. But now Frisk comes to just below his shoulders, and Asriel just below his jaw. He’s almost gotten as tall as Undyne, and where Frisk is likely almost done growing, Asriel will no doubt still grow much taller, most likely going past even Toriel, though Asgore’s height would be tough to beat.
Frisk and Asriel snicker, and Sans straight up laughs from where he’s sitting on the sofa.
“you saw them just a couple weeks ago. you’ve had years to get over that fact old man”, Sans points out.
“AND ALAS, I FEAR I NEVER SHALL! F'R WHO IST AM I, IF ROBBED OF FATHERHOODS DELIGHTS?
[AND ALAS, I FEAR I NEVER SHALL! F'R WHO IS’T AM I, IF ROBBED OF FATHERHOOD’S DELIGHTS?]”, he releases Frisk and Asriel to theatrically clutch at his ribcage through the jacket he couldn’t bother to take off, raising one hand to rest the back of it against his skull, the very picture of a dramatic faint caught mid motion.
The following silence lasts for barely a few seconds, before the entire living room is lost in a mixture of cackling, slightly confused ‘NYEH HE HEs’, and eventually, wheezing laughter.
“shakespearean? seriously?”, Sans wheezes out, trying to get his laughter under control.
He himself is struggling to stop shaking from it, even as he makes his way over to his oldest son to capture him in a hug and place a headclick against his skull.
“BUT OF COURSE. GRILLBY AND I MANAGED TO BE QUITE THE THESPIANS BACK IN OUR SCHOOL YEARS. A SHAME NO RECORDING OF IT EXIST.
[BUT OF COURSE. GRILLBY AND I MANAGED TO BE QUITE THE THESPIANS BACK IN OUR SCHOOL YEARS. A SHAME NO RECORDING OF IT EXIST.]”, he snickers.
“stars, i swear the list of hijinks you two have apparently gotten up to is never ending. then again, grilbs is apparently a massive enabler when it comes to you”, he chuckles, still breathing heavily from the long laughing fit Gaster had unleashed upon the room.
He snorts.
“THAT HE IS, THAT HE IS.
[THAT HE IS, THAT HE IS.]”, Gaster agrees, straightening out of the hug.
Sans has never been much for overt affection, preferring more subtle ways of showing it.
“Frisk, Asriel, Papyrus would you come help- Oh! Hello Gaster, I see you and Asgore managed to get back just in time for dinner. But really, you couldn’t even stop to take your jacket off? Well at least you still remembered to take off your shoes”, Toriel peeks in from hallway, a teasing smile coming to her face at the sight of him still in his outside wear.
He can’t help but laugh.
“AND WAIT HALF A MINUTE LONGER TO SEE MY CHILDREN WHEN IVE BEEN AWAY FOR ALMOST TWO WEEKS? NEVER.
[AND WAIT HALF A MINUTE LONGER TO SEE MY CHILDREN WHEN I’VE BEEN AWAY FOR ALMOST TWO WEEKS? NEVER.]”, he declares with a grin.
Toriel giggles in response.
“Well, I’m sorry to inform you but I simply must steal three of them away for a little bit. Dinner is almost ready and the table needs to be set”, she says.
Gaster sighs dramatically.
“HOW CRUEL OF YOU. BUT VERY WELL, I SUPPOSE I CAN LET YOU BORROW THEM. I DO STILL NEED TO TAKE THIS JACKET OFF AS YOU SO KINDLY POINTED OUT- AND HELP BRING MY OWN STUFF IN.
[HOW CRUEL OF YOU. BUT VERY WELL, I SUPPOSE I CAN LET YOU BORROW THEM. I DO STILL NEED TO TAKE THIS JACKET OFF AS YOU SO KINDLY POINTED OUT- AND HELP BRING MY OWN STUFF IN.]”, he allows, much to the room’s amusement.
“just abandoned king fluffybuns to unpack the car by himself huh?”, Sans playfully accuses.
“GUILTY AS CHARGED.
[GUILTY AS CHARGED.]”, he admits with an entirely unapologetic shrug, unleashing another fit of laughter upon the group, this time with the addition of Toriel’s giggles, though Papyrus slaps a hand over his eye sockets instead.
I mean really, if he can’t wait long enough to take his jacket off, what did they expect?
“OH MY GOD. DAD!!! GO HELP ASGORE, WE WILL HELP MISS TORIEL SET THE TABLE!”, Papyrus ushers him back into the hallway and towards the foyer to the accompaniment of the others laughter.
He’s laughing himself, though he doesn’t protest.
Asgore laughs too, at the sight of Papyrus ushering him back out the door.
“I CANT BELIEVE THIS. KICKED OUT BY MY OWN BABYBONES!
[I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS. KICKED OUT BY MY OWN BABYBONES!]”, he jests, as Papyrus pushes him out the door the second he has his shoes back on.
“STOP BEING DRAMATIC AND GO HELP KING-DAD, DAD! UGH, UNBELIEVABLE!”, Papyrus huffs as he turns around and disappears into the dining room to help Frisk and Asriel with setting the table.
Gaster snickers as he goes over to where Asgore’s just pulled the last of their luggage out of the car.
“I see you have been forced into helping me after all”, Asgore muses.
“AS IF ITS A CHORE. I SIMPLY HAD TO GO REUNITE WITH THE KIDS FIRST- LEAVING IT BE FOR EVEN A MOMENT LONGER WOULD HAVE BEEN A CRIME WITH HOW LONG WE WERE GONE.
[AS IF IT’S A CHORE. I SIMPLY HAD TO GO REUNITE WITH THE KIDS FIRST- LEAVING IT BE FOR EVEN A MOMENT LONGER WOULD HAVE BEEN A CRIME WITH HOW LONG WE WERE GONE.]”, he says, nuzzling Asgore back when he leans down to do so.
“We weren’t gone for even two weeks”, Asgore chuckles.
“AND THATS ALMOST TWO WEEKS TOO MUCH.
[AND THAT’S ALMOST TWO WEEKS TOO MUCH.]”, he states, though he’s mostly joking. As much as a part of him wants to spend all his time with the kids, doesn't ever want to let them out of his sight, he would never wish to crowd them.
Besides, if he did that, he wouldn’t get almost anything done science-wise.
“Never change your priorities my dear”, Asgore laughs fondly.
Together they carry all the suitcases and bags inside. In the end Asgore handles the majority of them, though he uses blue magic to help out at least a bit, even if it’s yet more magic he perhaps shouldn’t yet use. But it’s not nearly as taxing as shortcutting at least.
With Toriel already announcing dinner to be ready, they leave most of the unpacking for later.
The dinner itself is a lively affair. Both Asgore and him are eager to catch up with what’s been going on with everyone else while they’ve been gone, and the others are just as eager to share. Frisk has a group assignment coming up fairly soon, while Asriel has continued to ace all of his exams. Sans and Alphys catch him up on what’s been going on at the lab. Papyrus spins a grand tale of his continued culinary aspirations. Teaching is the same as ever for Toriel, though she gushes about some of her student’s projects. Mostly about the ones involving puns, much to his and Sans delight and Papyrus chagrin. Undyne’s happy to report that patrolling with the rest of the former Royal Guard to help keep peace and resolve incidents has been utterly boring.
He does his best to sign along his speech for Undyne’s benefit, but admittedly he’s a bit busy eating his fill between words. Toriel is a good cook, and his appetite is still ravenous after the heat. Thankfully the others are more than happy to help clarify for her when she gets confused, due to still struggling a bit with the way his font impacts his pronunciation.
Frisk and Asriel are the ones to side-track them from completing unpacking by pulling both him and Asgore to join them in completing the 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle, custom made with Asgore, Toriel and now Asriel’s larger hands in mind, they’d started earlier that day.
Seeing as there’s absolutely no rush to unpack, they’re both all too happy to oblige.
The jigsaw puzzle turns into several rounds of Canasta, and then Cheat as Sans and Papyrus join them after helping with cleaning up the dinner table.
And when Toriel, Alphys and Undyne seem eager to join too, they make the executive decision to change course towards party games, and eventually, movies.
And when the inability to agree on whose sitting next to whom and where lasts, they solve it by turning the majority of the living room into a massive pillow-fort. With a padded surface for a ‘floor’, they’re able to arrange themselves so that no-one has to give up sitting, or laying as is more so the case here, next to the people they want.
Truly, whoever first invented the pillow-fort was a genius. It’s so cozy and comfortable.
Safe. Especially after bad nights when his room feels too open.
He finds himself in the middle of it all, surrounded on all sides either by his children or Asgore. The only way he could possibly think to make this any better would be if Grillby was there as well.
Well, they’ll just have to do this all again and invite him next time.
He vaguely recalls Toriel, Undyne and Alphys exiting the pillow-fort at some point as the evening turns into night, and not returning after that.
Him, Asgore and the kids simply keep going until they fall asleep right there in the living room.
Chapter Text
After the initial excitement of their return, things quickly return to normalcy.
Well, almost.
For some reason the drowsiness that normally plagues him right after heat doesn’t seem to entirely go away, and in fact, after a bit seems to get worse, driving him to sleep away most of the day. And even stranger, he starts feeling cold almost everywhere, but his torso on the other hand feels warm, indicating some sort of issue with his temperature regulation.
He tries to simply wait it out, so long as there isn’t any other sign of illness it’s more likely than not that his body will eventually correct the issue on its own. So, while bothersome, it’s not something to get too worried about.
Sans is the one who pushes him to have Alphys take a look one evening when returning from picking up Frisk after work.
“jeez dad. you were snoozing away in that blanket pile when i left for the day hours ago, and it looks like you haven’t even moved while i was gone. you know i like naps as much or more as the next guy, but for you this is getting pretty weird. pretty sure you should have alph take a look at this point”, he tells him as they step into the living room.
Gaster gives a reluctantly agreeing grumble from the veritable cocoon of blankets he’s made on the sofa.
He’d been trying to work from home for the past week, if he was coming under the weather as he had been suspecting, it would be incredibly irresponsible of him to go in and potentially spread it.
Emphasis on tried.
And it looks like he’ll have to go to the lab regardless, for an entirely different reason.
He extracts himself from the pile of blankets with a groan.
“AT THIS POINT IM FORCED TO AGREE. IS SHE STILL AT THE LAB?
[AT THIS POINT IM FORCED TO AGREE. IS SHE STILL AT THE LAB?]”, he sighs, immediately deciding to grab one of the blankets from the now empty cocoon to wrap around his shoulders.
“yeah, i can let her know you’re coming in and need her to take a look?”, Sans confirms.
“PLEASE. I KNOW YOU JUST GOT BACK BUT WOULD YOU MIND DRIVING ME THERE? I SHOULD NOT BE SHORTCUTTING IN THIS STATE.
[PLEASE. I KNOW YOU JUST GOT BACK BUT WOULD YOU MIND DRIVING ME THERE? I SHOULD NOT BE SHORTCUTTING IN THIS STATE.]”, he requests.
“sure thing dad. sorry kiddo, i know i said i’d take a look at that group project with you but it looks like we’ll have to raincheck”, Sans apologizes.
Frisk just shakes their head, quickly signing: <Don’t worry about it. I can come with you and we can discuss it while Alphys is taking a look at Dad.>
“thanks kid. i’ll go start the car back up and text alph”, Sans tells them as he shortcuts out of the house.
Gaster follows Frisk into the foyer, reluctantly folding the blanket up and putting it in his inventory so he can put on his jacket. He also grabs a pair of his winter gloves to try and keep his hands even a bit warmer. Frisk just throws on their jacket and doesn’t even close it, grabbing a hold of his gloved hand and gently pulling him outside.
Sans is already in the driver’s seat of their SUV and has backed their car out of the small parking area by their house, necessitated by the fact the entire household put together owns four different cars. Asgore’s pick-up truck, Toriel’s van, the convertible he purchased for Papyrus after he got his license and the SUV that’s mainly used by Sans and Alphys, and occasionally himself, to drive up Mt. Ebott so they can get to the lab when no-one else is able to give them a lift.
And the tricycle Sans sometimes uses to get around purely for the faces of the passerbys.
They do try to carpool as much as they can, even if a lot of cars – theirs included – run on hydrogen or electricity these days it’s still good to save on resources when they can, but it’s not always possible.
Sans opens up the car doors for them, and once they’re all buckled in, he starts driving.
“alph said she’ll be waiting for us, sounded relieved you’re finally letting her take a look at you”, he informs them as he pulls up to the intersection for their cul-de-sac and sets course towards Mt. Ebott.
Gaster just makes a small sound of acknowledgement.
While there is a small health center for monsters on the surface, they’re chronically overworked despite a multitude of volunteering helpers, due to a still very limited number of truly qualified monsters. And the more well-equipped facilities are still within Mt. Ebott itself. Safer to still have it there rather than the surface, just in case. It’s because of that both he and Alphys essentially function as the family doctors most of the time and handle most of it in the medical sector of the lab that’s back to being in full operation alongside the rest of the building. They’ve even gone to help out in both the Underground Monster Hospital and the surface Monster Health Center on many occasions when they’ve needed additional hands, or people with more experience and knowledge on niche situations.
He wishes catastrophically extensive injuries weren’t a part of his unique qualifications. The nights after being called to help because of it are always bad. He doesn’t want to remember all the reasons he’s so familiar with them.
Thankfully the drive isn’t that long. They’re not situated directly at the base of Mt. Ebott but it isn’t far from their home, it’s why most of the time he just shortcuts to the lab.
He still almost manages to doze off by the time Sans parks the car in the small parking lot that’s been built next to the entrance and exit to the Underground, because Frisk has to shake him to make him realize they’ve arrived. Even if he’s masking it pretty well, he can tell Sans is seriously concerned.
The slow walk through New Home, not to be confused with New Old Home on the surface – never change Asgore – is mostly quiet, though Sans makes the effort to reply to Frisk’s telling of their day with a multitude of puns, and even if he’s too tired to really join in, they do make him laugh.
Hotland feels far more bearable than usual to step into, it’s almost a relief really, but sadly they don’t stay there for long, taking the elevator that brings them to almost right outside the Lab.
He grimaces as they step into the air-conditioned Lab and he goes right back to feeling too cold everywhere but his ribcage.
Alphys is waiting for them there just like she promised, greeting them with a slightly nervous hello and joining them as they move to the medical sector, unlocking the doors with her keycard.
“I’m g-glad you finally came in to take a look. I was g-getting worried”, she says as they walk.
“APOLOGIES. I WAS HOPING IT WOULD RESOLVE ITSELF.
[APOLOGIES. I WAS HOPING IT WOULD RESOLVE ITSELF.]”, he sighs while signing it out of habit as he has nothing currently in his hands.
“It’s f-fine! I u-understand, and a-at least you didn’t try to self-diagnose the issue”, she rambles.
He probably would have tried if he wasn’t so tired to be honest, but he’s not going to admit that. Even though he knows it’s exceptionally bad practice and one of his worse habits.
He got far too used to having to do so because there were so few of them with sufficient medical degrees or knowledge left right after the war.
“HAS EVERYONE BEEN MANAGING WELL WITH THEIR PROJECTS?
[HAS EVERYONE BEEN MANAGING WELL WITH THEIR PROJECTS?]”, he asks instead to redirect the conversation.
Alphys narrows her eyes in suspicion as she pauses, though seems to allow the redirection in the end.
“Yes, there hasn’t been a-an issue a bit of teamwork hasn’t been able to solve. Though we d-do look forward t-to having you back here. N-neither me or Sans are really the t-type to l-lead o-others”, she supplies.
Gaster nods. It’s good to hear that they haven’t encountered any major issues during his absence.
Seeing the Lab fall to disuse after he accidentally erased himself had been truly saddening.
“HOPEFULLY WE CAN SOLVE THIS QUICKLY. I ALSO LOOK FORWARD TO RETURNING TO WORK.
[HOPEFULLY WE CAN SOLVE THIS QUICKLY. I ALSO LOOK FORWARD TO RETURNING TO WORK.]”, he says as they arrive in the room they use for any check-ups for the family.
Alphys nods.
“R-right. If you’ll just sit down, we can start figuring out what’s wrong”, she agrees.
He nods in agreement, reluctantly removing his jacket and gloves even as the cool air makes him shiver. Sans and Frisk settle into the corner of the room, presumably to discuss Frisk’s project while they wait for them to be done.
He would have expected for them to wait outside or in one of the lounges with softer chairs, but it looks like he’s ended up worrying them a bit more than he assumed if they want to stay in the room. Not that he’s about to deny them, if something comes up he doesn’t wish for them to overhear, he can just ask them to give him the privacy then.
And it’s not like he’s ever really been shy about his body or it’s scars. The worst are impossible to hide anyway.
He sits down across from Alphys next to the table as she powers on one of the tablets to type into and look up his medical record as needed.
“Okay. I already know you’ve clearly been a lot more tired than usual, and you look like you actually feel cold, but are there other symptoms? Is the coldness localized or general?”, she asks, the nervous stutter leaving her voice as she focuses on the task at hand.
“NONE, WHICH IS THE BAFFLING PART. IT'S ALMOST GENERAL, I FEEL IT EVERYWHERE BUT MY RIBCAGE WHICH INSTEAD FEELS TOO WARM.
[NONE, WHICH IS THE BAFFLING PART. IT’S ALMOST GENERAL, I FEEL IT EVERYWHERE BUT MY RIBCAGE WHICH INSTEAD FEELS TOO WARM.]”, he explains.
Alphys frowns, clearly just as confused as he is. With how long he’s been feeling like this, his body really should have already fought off any disease making him sick, or he should have additional symptoms that would indicate towards it, even if they were minor.
But there’s no real sign as to why he is so tired, or why his body is failing to self-regulate his temperature the way it is.
“That is certainly odd. Maybe your STATS can give us at least some kind of clue”, she mumbles, placing the tablet down so she can grab the scanner.
He rolls up his sleeve in anticipation, letting her attach the sensors to his radius and ulna.
It takes a few minutes where he focuses on breathing and keeping himself as calm as possible, before the scanner let’s out a series of beeps to indicate it’s done.
“HP is fine… ATK is lower than your usual range… DEF is higher? Magic density is a bit above normal…overall magic levels are-“, she mutters under her breath before suddenly squeaking, “- WAY TOO LOW!? Oh my god, how??? With how much you’ve been resting your magic reserves should be almost full, not at the percentages where most start experiencing the first symptoms of MD! I mean it explains the exhaustion but still-!”
Gaster stares at her stunned, as she quickly scans the rest of the result, back to muttering under her breath.
What?
He’s been so tired he’s used barely any magic after his heat calmed down. Alphys is correct, with how much he’s rested, and eaten for that matter, his magic reserves should be almost full, not depleted.
And he hadn’t even noticed it.
Frowning, he tries to summon a small bone.
!
Bad idea bad idea bad idea-!
He grunts in discomfort as his SOUL immediately protests even the attempt at expending even a small part of his low reserves, actually making him dizzy.
“W-whoa!”, the scanner clatters onto the table as Alphys drops it in her hurry to jump out of her seat to steady him as he sways forward on the chair.
Frisk and Sans both call out in concern, and after a moment Sans is there, the phalanges of his hand uneasily resting on his spine.
He can hear Frisk quickly following, stopping just behind them.
“Oh boy, um, Frisk, Sans can you get him lying down on the bed? I’m going to grab a couple of IS magic drips to give him so we can get his magic levels back up”, Alphys instructs, a touch of panic making her voice go much higher than usual despite otherwise keeping her composure.
“Got it-!”, Frisk responds, going around Sans and coming next to Alphys so they can take her place in supporting him.
He can feel Sans trying to turn his SOUL blue, as well as the increased alarm in his magic when it doesn’t work.
“oookay, gotta do this the manual way, no biggie, c’mon, you take one side i’ll take the other, one, two, three- heeup!”, Sans voice wavers as he has Frisk assist him in getting him on his feet, and together they keep him from falling over as he unsteadily walks between them over to the infirmary bed.
Even with Frisk keeping him from just collapsing onto it entirely, laying down on it is still far less than graceful.
Alphys returns, hanging the IS bags from the pole next to the bed before ushering Sans and Frisk to back up so she can hop on a chair. Quickly apologizing, not that it’s really needed as far as he’s concerned, Sans and Frisk are family and besides, they’ve all glimpsed his SOUL before, he’s still sorry for scaring them so badly with the state he was in when they recovered him from the VOID, she reaches to push up the sweater he’s wearing so she can access his SOUL inside his ribcage.
And then promptly freezes in place.
“alphys?”, Sans questions, fear tainting his usually jovial voice.
Gaster tries to focus on her face hovering above him, dizziness slowly receding.
She looks completely gobsmacked.
“Um. I think I see the… cause?”, she squeaks.
“eh?”, Sans utters at the same time Frisk demands to know what’s wrong.
He’d really like to know what on earth it is too, when it has her so shocked and confused but… elated?
Alphys looks him dead in the eye sockets as she asks: “Why didn’t you tell me you were carrying soullings?”
…
HUH!?
“EXCUSE ME, I'M WHAT!?
[EXCUSE ME, I’M WHAT!?]”, he coughs out, completely taken aback.
“say wHAT!?”, Sans and Frisk’s voices get mixed together as they shout in surprise and confusion respectively.
“You weren’t aware!?”, Alphys screeches.
“ABSOLUTELY NOT!
[ABSOLUTELY NOT!]”, he stutters out, still reeling from the news.
“How- Wait no, not the most pressing concern, I’m hooking you up to the magic drips first, oh my goodness this explains way too much- okay hold on-“, Alphys mutters as she slips the drip lines under the collar of his sweater and between two of his ribs, before reaching her hands inside his ribcage to insert them into his SOUL.
It’s far from comfortable, but she’s careful and precise, holding his SOUL with a hand wrapped in healing magic, and the whole thing is over in a handful of seconds.
She opens the drip feed, and the slow trickle of magic into his SOUL quickly chases away any previous discomfort.
Alphys sighs heavily as she lets herself relax, taking a deep breath as she sits down for the moment.
“Okay. How, on earth, did you not know, you, were, carrying!? You’ve had Sans and Papyrus!!!”, she demands, unable to comprehend how he had managed to be unaware of this.
Which…
Is completely fair.
He’s struggling to wrap his mind around that too.
But what it really comes down to, is stupidly simple.
“I NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH TEMPERATURE REGULATION BEFORE BECAUSE I WAS EITHER ALREADY DRESSED EXTRA WARMLY BECAUSE I KNEW I NEEDED TO SAVE AS MUCH MAGIC AS POSSIBLE OR I HAD GRILLBY ALL BUT GLUED TO MY SIDE FOR THE WHOLE DURATION. IT'S A BIT HARD TO GET COLD WITH A FIRE ELEMENTAL AROUND YOU NEARLY 24/7. AND THE ONLY TIME I'VE EXPERIENCED MAGIC DEPLETION DUE TO CARRYING WAS AT THE VERY END WITH SANS, AND I WAS EXPECTING THAT TO HAPPEN NEAR THE END.
[I NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH TEMPERATURE REGULATION BEFORE BECAUSE I WAS EITHER ALREADY DRESSED EXTRA WARMLY BECAUSE I KNEW I NEEDED TO SAVE AS MUCH MAGIC AS POSSIBLE OR I HAD GRILLBY ALL BUT GLUED TO MY SIDE FOR THE WHOLE DURATION. IT’S A BIT HARD TO GET COLD WITH A FIRE ELEMENTAL AROUND YOU NEARLY 24/7. AND THE ONLY TIME I’VE EXPERIENCED MAGIC DEPLETION DUE TO CARRYING WAS AT THE VERY END WITH SANS, AND I WAS EXPECTING THAT TO HAPPEN NEAR THE END.]”, he explains.
All three of them stare at him with varying levels of disbelief.
“Okay but still, how did you not notice sparking a soulling!? And, wait a minute, what do you mean you were expecting to experience MD near the end of you carrying Sans!?”, Alphys is still decidedly confused. And mildly horrified.
“because in his hastiness to get me, apparently, he had the brilliant idea to have me all by himself”, Sans drones out sarcastically.
Alphys snaps her head around to stare at Sans incredulously. And then turns her head back to give him the same stare albeit this time it looks like she’s actually questioning his sanity.
“THE RISKS WERE PERFECTLY CALCULATED AND ACCOUNTED FOR, I ONLY ALLOWED FOR A ONE PRECENT MARGIN OF ERROR.
[THE RISKS WERE PERFECTLY CALCULATED AND ACCOUNTED FOR, I ONLY ALLOWED FOR A ONE PRECENT MARGIN OF ERROR.]”, he defends, having been through this exact line of questioning in the direct aftermath of the slightly premature emergence of his oldest.
“and of course you still hit it. why do you think grilbs was glued to you when you were carrying pap?”, Sans snarks.
There’s no actual anger to it of course.
“PERFECTLY. ACCOUNTED FOR.
[PERFECTLY. ACCOUNTED FOR.]”, he repeats because this a hill he has and will die on. Even if he also acknowledges asking for someone to be a donor would have been a safer choice.
It was reckless he knows. But the only remaining skeleton besides him had just Fallen Down and he didn’t want to be the last-
There’s a reason he immediately took Grillby up on the offer to be the SOUL donor for Papyrus.
Alphys looks completely done.
“Is that why the reproduction section of our biology books got the update that basically just amounted to telling us ‘while it’s technically possible to have a soulling on your own, don’t try it, you’ll die’?”, she asks.
“yep”, Sans gleefully confirms.
Alphys buries her head in her hands.
“Oh my god…”, she groans.
Frisk pulls on Sans’ sleeve to get his attention.
<Can I get an explanation? I’m a bit confused on what’s this about and why it’s apparently a big deal? I can figure out a little bit from the context but…>, they sign unsurely.
“right. still haven’t gotten the human schools to agree to add even a basic explanation on how monster reproduction works to their curriculum”, Sans sighs.
“okay so, crash course on ‘monster reproduction and why what dad did with having me is permanently on the record of things he will never live down and why the fact he was apparently unaware of the fact he was carrying is kind of unbelievable’. course title pending”, Sans waves his hand as Frisk giggle-snorts.
“how exactly they go about it varies from monster to monster with our wide range of differing anatomies, but regardless of it, there’s two things needed for us to reproduce: intent, and a whole lot of magic. first, magic: the amount of magic required over a pretty long period of time is why monsters can’t, or rather, aren’t supposed to be able to, reproduce without the help of at least one other monster. it’s also why twins and especially triplets are exceedingly rare. but because dad over there is a statistical anomaly and especially so in the magic department…”, Sans trails off.
“I CALCULATED THAT IF I WAS EXTREMELY FRUGAL WITH MAGIC USAGE AND ADHERED TO A STRICT SLEEPING SCHEDULE AND A DIET OF HIGH CALORIE FOODS, I SHOULD REGENERATE MAGIC AT A RATE EQUAL OR JUST BELOW WHAT PROVIDING FOR A SOULLING WOULD CONSUME.
[I CALCULATED THAT IF I WAS EXTREMELY FRUGAL WITH MAGIC USAGE AND ADHERED TO A STRICT SLEEPING SCHEDULE AND A DIET OF HIGH CALORIE FOODS, I SHOULD REGENERATE MAGIC AT A RATE EQUAL OR JUST BELOW WHAT PROVIDING FOR A SOULLING WOULD CONSUME.]”, Gaster picks up the explanation because the amount of concerned insults for his intelligence over the whole debacle aside, he really hadn’t gone in without first considering how possible it would be in the first place.
“of course, him actually being able to completely adhere to said schedule was another thing entirely, which is why towards the end of it he started to run into a major, rather than a minor, md issue, and why i ended up emerging a bit earlier than souls normally do. and why we both spent my first week in the underground monster hospital. would have been longer, but grilbs apparently managed to convince them to bail him out early in exchange for looking after both of us until dad could do it himself”, Sans finishes the first part of the explanation with a shrug.
Frisk makes a long and quiet ‘oh’ sound in understanding.
<Okay… that makes sense. So if you guys need a lot of magic and intent for it… doesn’t that mean it’s not possible for monsters to get kids accidentally?>, Frisk signs.
“now you’re getting it, and you’re almost right. it’s almost impossible for a monster to end up with a soulling, the monster version of a fetus, on accident the way humans can end up with accidental pregnancy on their hands. there’s a couple ways monsters can try to spark a soulling, though they differ in reliability. the first is basically just, thinking real hard about sparking a soulling while channeling a whole bunch of magic together with someone. that’s what he did with me, minus the together part. it’s a bit unreliable, so you might have to try a bunch of times before it succeeds. the second way involves souls. it’s pretty much the same deal, but done while all involved parties are soul merging, real intimate stuff, which helps in syncing up the different magic frequencies and is thus way more reliable. the catch is that it can be a bit too reliable. as long as there’s a lot of magic involved and even a little bit of intent…”, Sans makes a small nod towards him while gesturing for Frisk to follow the pattern and finish the sentence.
And finish it they do, excitedly signing. <A soulling can spark!>
“bingo. thank you for selecting ‘monster reproduction 101: gaster edition’”, Sans winks at them, causing Frisk to fall into another small fit of laughter.
Alphys let’s out a small snorting laugh herself, as she rubs a tired hand over her eyes.
“Of course, that still doesn’t explain how he didn’t notice a soulling sparking, considering that’s not normally the kind of feeling you just miss.”, she sighs out dryly.
Gaster tries desperately to not react, because at this point he’s finally figured out exactly when it must have happened.
Considering there really can only be one point in time it could have happened without him noticing it.
Sans, of course, doesn’t care about his efforts to keep his face devoid of a reaction and notices it anyway, because he’s always been far too good at reading people’s faces.
“preetty sureee he’s figured out the answer to that one alph”, he drawls.
Alphys squints at him long enough that his cheeks turn green from embarrassment.
“IF WE ABSOLUTELY MUST DISCUSS IT FURTHER THAN IT HAPPENED ABOUT TWO WEEKS I WOULD HIGHLY PREFER YOU AND FRISK LEAVE, SANS.
[IF WE ABSOLUTELY MUST DISCUSS IT FURTHER THAN ‘IT HAPPENED ABOUT TWO WEEKS AGO’ I WOULD HIGHLY PREFER YOU AND FRISK LEAVE, SANS.]”, he grits out.
Alphys stares at him with a mixture of shock, awe and no small amount of curiosity, clearly putting the implications together.
He is not about to discuss what his sex life is like during his heats with his children present thank you very much!
…privately with Alphys, maybe. He knows for a fact she’s just as bad as he can be when the heat gets to him. She and Undyne are not that slick about their escapades. There’s a reason he added extra soundproofing that could be turned on or off at the push of a button to the bedrooms of all of the adults soon after they recovered him from the VOID. And it was definitely not because of him, Asgore or Toriel.
And he supposes it's not like this is a topic they haven't occasionally breached before already. Not since she found out about his anonymous donations of inventions of the non PG-13 variety.
“W-well, perhaps we can save t-that discussion for later. We figured out the reason why you’ve been so under the weather, magic depletion due to you being unaware of the fact you were carrying soullings, which was the whole point of this check up”, Alphys suggests.
“THAT WOULD BE APPRECIATED.
[THAT WOULD BE APPRECIATED.]”, Gaster coughs out, “... YOU SAID SOULLINGS, PLURAL.
[… YOU SAID SOULLINGS, PLURAL.]”
“O-oh, yeah! I can definitely see more than one. Hold on let me double check… 1, 2, 3, 4…”, her voice gets quieter.
…
“QUADRUPLETS!?”, she squawks while Sans imitates a spit take and Frisk yells in excitement.
Ah.
He has a feeling this is going to get added to that record Sans mentioned.
There’s no wiping the overjoyed grin from his face even as Alphys yells about needing to make calculations on how much supplemental magic he’s going to need even with Asgore pitching in once he’s made aware.
He can’t wait to tell Asgore and Grillby.
“FRISK, CAN I RECRUIT YOU AS A PHOTOGRAPHER FOR WHEN WE GET HOME? IM GOING TO NEED A PHOTO OF EVERYONES REACTIONS FOR THE NEW BABYBONES ALBUM!
[FRISK, CAN I RECRUIT YOU AS A PHOTOGRAPHER FOR WHEN WE GET HOME? I’M GOING TO NEED A PHOTO OF EVERYONE’S REACTIONS FOR THE NEW BABYBONES ALBUM!]”