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findmeabowlofundertale · 3 months

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PART 8.2 COMING YOUR WAY

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I bestow upon you Gaster content. Enjoy!!!

_ _ _ _

Gaster was nothing but anxious for the next 24 hours. Despite everything he had told Asteri, it wasn’t so easy to apply personally. It was very, very difficult to reconcile something that he had been told for so very, very long with what he knew to be actual truth.

‘Garbage noise’

This will help her work, he reminded himself. She won’t say such things.

But what if she was angry that he hadn’t done it during that first teleport, to calm her down? What if she felt lied to? What if she said the same thing as—?

No, no, stop that. She wouldn’t. She won’t.

What would he say, though? How would he even begin to introduce this?

He rubbed his hands over his head. You had to get over this some time, especially if you want skeleton history to be preserved before you die and your people finally go extinct.

He scoffed inwardly. Right, like he was going to die any time soon. That was part of the problem,

Who better than a linguist to record and study something like this?

But she isn’t just a linguist, she is my friend, and I’m doing this for her.

He sighed as he laid in bed, having actually gone home after work like he had promised. Tomorrow, he would look over the yellow one again, run some more tests, remind the workers about safety rails, do some maintenance on the CORE, send Alphys those blueprints she asked for, eat lunch at some point, go to the donut shop, and then go to Asteri’s.

And tell her… this.

He didn’t feel any better about it.

⁂

It was only a few minutes’ tesser to Asteri’s house from New Home. Actually, it was instantaneous (unless you were a beam of light), but it felt like a few minutes of travel. He stepped out from the darkness, a box tucked under his arm, and stood there in the green-blue grass for a moment to take a deep breath.

Something smelled delicious.

As he approached the house, Gaster reminded himself that he didn’t need to get right to it. They could enjoy whatever smelled so good first.

…Except that he really wished he could get right to it, so this could be over with already rather than weigh on him.

He knocked, and a moment later the door opened to reveal a happy looking shapeshifter. Her smile was contagious.

“Heeeey! Long time no see, Gaster,” she joked. “Come on in!”

“Hello, Asteri,” he greeted in return with a pair of blue hands, then stepped inside and toed his shoes off. “I brought dessert.”

She had already stepped back into the kitchen (and his blue hands had followed her to sign), but she turned to look. “Ohh, is that what’s in the box? What is it?”

He followed her into the other room and set it on an empty area of the counter to open once he had. Inside was a small, simple cake with light, off-white frosting.

Asteri gasped in excitement. “Is this the lemon cake from the donut shop‽” All it took was a nod for her to practically tackle him. “YES!! Thank you!!! How did you know I’ve been wanting to try it?”

After he had recovered his balance, he grinned crookedly and shrugged. “You gave it the most longing stare I have ever seen a person give a pastry, last time we were there.” Her cheeks flushed, but she grinned anyway. “And you always pick lemon donuts, so I thought you would enjoy a lemon cake.”

“You thought correctly!” She gave the cake another appreciative look and then giggled in anticipation before turning back to the stove. “Aww, thanks for getting that, Gaster. That was so nice of you. It seems lemon… is the theme of the night.” She shot him a sly glance over her shoulder.

His head tilted in confusion, eyelights a pale orange for just a moment, then his sockets widened in realization. That was the smell! He now looked just as excited as she had a moment ago.

“You made youvarlakia??”

“I did!” she confirmed with a laugh. “Wow, how did you know the spelli— Oh. Right. Duh.”

He giggled— a fact that never failed to amuse Asteri, he could tell. “One of the many benefits of being able to read speech.”

She shook her head. “What I wouldn’t give to be able to do that.”

“Heh.” Right. Text magic. This whole conversation. But it didn’t have to happen yet.

“Hey what do you think my font would be if I were a skeleton?”

The question startled him out of his thoughts. “Pardon?”

“Ah! Uh!” Her face flushed with magic. “Actually after saying it out loud it feels like one of those things you don’t ask! I’m sorry.”

Gaster shook his head. “No, that is alright. I was lost in thought, is all. I admit that it is an… unorthodox question, but your curiosity is understandable. I am not offended.”

“Oh, good,” Asteri breathed in relief. “Me and my big mouth.”

He leaned on the counter and watched as she finished what she was doing.

“Hm, literally.”

His brows furrowed in confusion. “Hm?”

“I have a big mouth.”

He frowned. “I hardly think your mouth is particularly—”

“No, no, it’s not self-derision. Check this out.”

She turned her head to him and opened her mouth what he thought was all the way, but then it stretched even farther open. His eye sockets widened. She had more teeth than he thought.

After a second she closed her mouth again and chuckled. “Don’t look so alarmed. This is like when you suddenly detached your hand that one time.” She laughed. “Nothing brings people closer than surprise biology lessons!”

They looked at each other then, both realizing the unfortunate choice of words but unsure whether to comment on it. A beat passed.

“I-I mean like what I just did or that conversation about your jaw—”

“Right, yes, that is what I assumed…”

Asteri cleared her throat and gestured to a cupboard with her head. “Grab some bowls, would you?”

He reached up for them. “Yes. Where are your spoons?”

“Already on the table.”

They sat down with their soup, and Asteri brought over a basket of loaf of bread that she had cut into slices. “Tell me if it’s better with the bread.”

“I cannot imagine how it could taste better than did last time,” Gaster remarked gleefully, rubbing his hands together.

She beamed. It always felt nice when someone enjoyed your cooking. “I hope you enjoy it as much as before.”

He very much did, if his expression after the first bite was anything to go by. “Mm!” Dipping the bread into the soup produced a similar response. “Delicious. Perfect bread for the soup. Thank you for making this, Asteri.”

“No problem. I know you enjoyed it last time, so…” She shrugged one wing-shoulder. “I wanted to make something you would like since you were coming over. And as thanks.”

It was thoughtful enough to melt his expression and light his eyes deep blue. Was it just because that was their natural color, or was it affection? She wasn’t a skeleton, so she didn’t know. “Thank you,” he signed emphatically.

“It was my pleasure.” And it really was. “So, about what you said yesterday!”

Gaster started sweating while Asteri leaned forward over the table, eager. “Right…”

“You said you had something to say on my theory that other kinds of monsters could sense text magic. What is it? I could use anything right now. Even the tiniest idea of how to test for it!”

Well, this was it. He fidgeted with his spoon, eyes slowly alternating between pink and purple. Asteri noticed and manifested a hand to flip through her notebook, which was sitting on the table near her (she always kept it nearby) and checked something. Presumably what she had written about the meanings of his eye colors. After scanning a page, she watched him, now more unsure. He took a deep breath. This was for her. And for the sake of his people’s history. It needed to be recorded.

“Your theory does not need to be tested,” was how he decided to begin.

She cocked her head in confused surprise, then squinted in mild suspicion. “How do you know?”

Deep breath. “Because some monsters could understand ciphers, while others could not.”

Silence, then confusion. She took another bite of her soup. “Explain.”

“Ciphers were… fickle. Words were spelled the same; it was the alphabet, the shape of the words that changed.”

At this, her eyes widened in the beginnings of understanding. “So pronunciation didn’t change…!”

“It would seem that way, yes. However…”

She looked up from writing. He looked away.

“Other skeletons could not inherently read ciphers. Because the sound of words and the shape of them are so entwined, they could not understand a spoken cipher unless they learned to read it. But it was more difficult than simple memorization. As I said, shape and pronunciation were entwined, so although the letters should be pronounced the same, they… are not quite. At least, not to other skeletons.

“Yet, some monsters had very little issue understanding ciphers, despite not being able to see the shape of the words. Others, however, could not make sense of them. There seemed no pattern to who understood and who did not. The simple fact that some could not understand a cipher, however, is proof: other monsters have an awareness, albeit subconscious, of text magic.”

Asteri’s mouth hung open. Then, she broke into a grin. “That’s- That’s phenomenal! It means my theory is— I have to write this down!!!”

Soup temporarily abandoned, she pulled her notebook in front of her and began writing frantically. Gaster anxiously chewed on a piece of bread. Maybe this could be the end of it.

After several moments, she looked back up and tapped her pen against her chin. “I wonder if it will count as a valid test despite being a secondhand account…” It wasn’t as if there were any other skeletons she could ask to learn a cipher and speak it. She looked to him curiously. “Hey, why didn’t you mention this when we talked about fonts before?”

Gaster was very still. “…It is not a secondhand account.”

“No, no, I know! But since you weren’t the one speaking the cipher, it would… be…”

He had just held her gaze, knowing it was inevitable now, and when she trailed off he knew she had begun to put it together. Her eyebrows furrowed, eyelights darting around the table as she tried to work it out.

“Your… Is that why you…? No, you said it wasn’t a…”

It would be kinder to save her the trouble. He sighed and lowered his gaze. “When one’s natural font is a cipher, it is very, very difficult to learn to speak other fonts. No one knew why. But when you realize from a young age that no one can understand you… you become very reluctant to speak.”

Asteri stared at him. Was he implying what she thought he was implying? “Gaster…?”

At this, his eyes closed and he wrapped his arms around himself, seeming to shrink as he did so. “People know me as W.D. Gaster. I have gone by Gaster since I was a young man; it was easier to introduce myself like that, in sign, than with my given name and raise countless questions and unsolicited opinions. But, W.D. is short for…” The pause felt impossibly long. “…Wingdings.” He sighed, resigned. “A cipher.”

There, it was out. It was done.

Besides the inherent weight and meaningfulness of finally learning her friend’s given name, the actual word “wingdings” as the name of a font meant nothing to her until he clarified: it was a cipher. He spoke a cipher. He couldn’t learn other fonts. That was why he was so cagey about the topic back then, too. That was why he signed. That was why she had heard him laugh and hum and a million other little noises, but never speak. Dozens of questions raced through her mind and she tried in vain to sort them into “appropriate” and “inappropriate” as they came. Instead, she had to take a few moments.

“Wingdings,” she said at last, voice soft as she tested it out.

Eyes still closed, his expression contorted into a mixture of relief and pain.

She stood from her chair and came around the table to kneel in front of him, then laid a wing on his arm.

“Gaster. Hey…”

He peeked through one eye at her. She gave him a reassuring smile.

“I’m not going to bombard you with questions about your font. Or bug you to speak it for me. I can see how anxious this made you, but you shared all of that anyway. For me? Just so I would know my theory was true?” Her expression softened even more somehow, admiration and gratitude and respect and affection and appreciation all reflected in her eyes, and she squeezed his hands. “You are… my dear friend. I won’t ask you to do something that makes you so clearly uncomfortable.”

Both eyes opened, and he turned to her more fully in his chair. The yellow glow of his eyes had been replaced by a mixture of green and indigo. Together, the colors reminded her a little of her wings. He offered a small, tentative smile.

“Thank you, Asteri. You are kind, and a good friend.”

Her smile grew. “I don’t feel like it, a lot of times, but… I try.”

He shifted in his chair again, still hunched over but now turned all of the way toward her. “I have not heard my name spoken since I became the Royal Scientist. It was strange… nice… to hear it spoken with no ill intent.” Asteri’s expression soured at his description of how he had been accustomed to hearing his name called. She went to speak, angry on his behalf, but he signed first. “If you like… you can use it.”

Her eyes blew wide. “Your first name?”

He nodded.

“Wingdings?” she asked, tentative, in case she had somehow misunderstood.

Another nod.

She lit up in a beaming smile. “I’m honored, G-! Uh. That’ll take some getting used to. Wingdings. Wingdings.” A giggle bubbled up from her. “Wingdings. It suits you, you know.”

And how could he not smile in turn, be filled with warmth, when she said his name with such genuine affection? When there was no malice, no correction, no disappointment, only delight? Perhaps… there was no need to keep any of it from her. Still, the thought made him uneasy. Though, this was nervousness, not anxiety. After this, she would not judge him. He would do it.

“Would you like to know a secret about your name?”

By now, she had pulled her food over to the chair closest to him and sat there, turned more to face him, rather than stay knelt down or return to sitting across the table. “My name?”

Gaster took a bite of soup— it was quite cool, now— and nodded. “The reason it stuck out to me when we first met is because it reminded me of the font Aster.”

“I remember you telling me that,” she said, unsure if he had forgotten that or if this was leading into something else.

He wrung his hands and took a deep breath, but despite his nervousness there was a little excitement as well, the slight pull of a smile as he stared down at his hands.

“𝐀-𝐀𝐀𝐀𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬… 𝐭𝐡-𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐍𝐧𝐥𝐲. 𝐎𝐭𝐡-𝐭𝐡𝐄𝐫 𝐟𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐧𝐭… 𝐈 𝐰-𝐰𝐖𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚-𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐛𝐥𝐞... 𝐭-𝐭𝐨. 𝐋𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧.”

Asteri lit up like a lightbulb, eyes as big as dinner plates and smile so wide it actually did split her face. That was his voice. That was her friend’s voice!!! It was a little raspy, and higher pitched than she would have expected— not that it was shrill or anything— but it was his.

“But it is difficult,” he added quickly, returning to signing. “I am out of practice, and my sentences are full of ellipses and hyphens and doubled or tripled letters, it is all very improper, and—”

Asteri reached out and stilled his hands, scooting her chair until they were knee-to-knee. She moved her head closer, forcing him to look at her. “Hey,” she said softly. “It sounded great. Improper? G- Wingdings.” She squeezed his hands, and he looked at her with wide eyes. “Do you judge Alphys for stammering?”

“No…”

“Do you get angry at me for pausing to think?”

“Of course not.”

“Then please,” she whispered, encouragement in her eyes. “Please, be kinder to yourself.”

He stared back at her, the most vulnerable she had ever seen him look.

“You have a lovely voice.”

That broke him. She had no idea skeletons could cry. But his eye sockets welled up with tears anyway, a broken noise escaping him. Immediately, she stood and tugged him into a hug. He wrapped his arms around her, hesitant at first, but then, as she wound her tail behind his back and pulled him closer, he pressed his face into the shoulder of her wing. He didn’t lift his head, but a moment later blue hands appeared in her line of vision.

“You truly think so…?”

“Of course,” she answered immediately, rubbing his back with her tail. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“I am just… self-conscious.” She felt him sigh, and he pulled away, eye sockets a little red around the edges, but otherwise showing no more signs of tears. Still, he didn’t quite look at her. “I was told I sounded like static.” He turned his head away, like it physically hurt. Like he was embarrassed. “…Garbage noise.”

That immediately set her on edge, and she all but growled, the very notion offensive to her. The grip of her wings on his upper arms tightened. “Who said that to you‽ I’ll show them garbage noise— The sound they make when I halve their HP!”

Gaster blushed. Goodness knows why, but he did. “Asteri…”

“No, no, I absolutely will FIGHT someone! Nobody should talk to you like that! Who just says that to someone‽ When I get my tail on them, they’re not just getting beat up, first they’re getting a lecture on having some goddamn manners—!”

“𝐀-𝐀-𝐀𝐬𝐓-𝐭𝐞𝐑-𝐫𝐢. That got her attention, and her head swiveled instantly to look down at him. He was grimacing. He had wanted to get her name right, but ended up stuttering even worse.

“𝐀𝐬𝐭- 𝐀𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐑𝐢,” he tried again. Better, somewhat. But signing was still easier. He sighed good-naturedly at her and shook his head with a small, appreciative smile. “Even if I wanted you to do that, everyone who ever said those things is long dead.”

Asteri paled. “Oh.”

“But the sentiment is appreciated. Also…” He tilted his head curiously. “...You have spikes.”

She whipped her head downward to see that she did, indeed, have a couple small spikes on each shoulder. With her tail she felt around her face. Yep, spikes there too. Jaw, mostly.

“Good grief,” she muttered as she melted back to normal, quite embarrassed. “I haven’t shifted from getting emotional since I was in stripes…”

Gaster chuckled softly, face still a little warm. “Your protectiveness is appreciated. But ultimately unneeded.” The conversation might as well go this way. “Should it come to it, I can handle myself in a FIGHT.”

Heat spread through her face once again. “I-I’m sure, but I mean… um. Well.” She shifted her weight awkwardly. How to say that she wanted to defend him, to protect him? How to acknowledge that he surely didn’t actually need her help, considering what he had told her about fighting in the war, but…

“You shouldn’t have to.” She cleared her throat. “Y-You don’t like to FIGHT, right? Even Alphys and I have gone a couple turns. But the way you talk, I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t want you to ever have to again. If someone hurt you, o-or intended to, I would… I would… gladly...”

She met his eyes again, and they were that mixture of blue and green again, but now even brighter. And bluer. The way he looked at her, she felt like she knew that that deep blue wasn’t there only as his own color. It was as warm as his gaze, as affectionate and grateful as his smile. One arm reached up from where he sat, slowly, toward her head.

“𝐀𝐬𝐓-𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢…”

She leaned into his hand, bending down as it guided her to him. It all felt so… natural. And when he leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers, his eyes falling closed, she didn’t question it. This was normal. This was right.

“𝐓𝐡-𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐲-𝐲𝐨𝐮.”

She didn’t feel hurried to answer, just took her time to feel the moment. With her eyes closed, it felt like time didn’t pass.

“I want to take care of you,” she whispered. It didn’t feel so strange to say right then, when they were like that. She thought she saw pink through her eyelids.

𝐈𝐭-𝐈𝐭𝐭’𝐬… 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐰-𝐚𝐰𝐟𝐅𝐟𝐟𝐮-𝐟𝐮𝐥. 𝐣-𝐉𝐨𝐛,” he answered, as close to a whisper as he could.

“I don’t think so, Wingdings. Not when you take care of me too.”

His fingers curled in the straps of her shirt on her shoulders, whole body seeming to be trying to resist curling inward, and he slowly pulled away. They opened their eyes, and he looked up at her with a mixture of affection and sadness that she couldn’t place. She didn’t understand.

“One more secret…” he signed. She slowly sat back down, watching him closely. “You can tell me anything,” she promised.

He took a deep breath.

“I have not aged since the beginning of the war.” His arms wrapped around himself again as his expression pinched, pained. “I have outlived so, so many friends. And I will outlive even more.” His eyelights met hers. Here went everything.

“I am a Boss Monster.”

It felt like her world dropped out from under her. A Boss Monster… She thought the only ones were… So that was why he….

“I understand if you are upset that I kept this from you," he signed stiffly. "But there is no one—”

“You must be so lonely,” Asteri whispered, voice quavering. Gaster stared at her, stunned into silence. “That’s such a long time, that’s such a… and there’s no more…”

It felt like she might cry.

His expression fell from the brave one he had put on. “𝐈-♓︎-𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐒,” he whispered back in admission. “It is. There is no one left, except the king. But he is not the same…” His jaw trembled. “𝐈 𝐚-𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐦… ✌︎-𝐀𝐥𝐰⬥︎-𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲⬧︎𝐒 ♋︎-𝐚𝐥-𝐚𝐋𝐎𝐧𝐞.”

She shook her head and leaned forward again, wings covering his hands, a determined look on her face.

“You have me. For as long as I’m here, Wingdings,” she promised. “And afterward, too, when I’m just the magic in the air, come here and see me in the stars. I’ll be there. And you won’t ever be alone.”

At this rate they were both going to cry. They moved, as if on some unheard cue, into another embrace. No words were needed this time. They just hugged, bent forward in their seats, until it felt okay again. Until they had gotten each other’s shoulders wet and their backs hurt from leaning at a weird angle. Until their SOULs felt calm.

...Until Asteri mumbled, “Do you wanna skip the rest of dinner and eat that whole lemon cake with me?”

And Gaster laughed and pulled away. “I would love that.”

“And we can watch a movie in the living room, with all my blankets.”

“Yes, please.”

Asteri stood, and offered her tail to pull him up with her. “Do you have comfy clothes? I know there’s nowhere comfortable for you, but… you can stay over, if you want.”

Not that it was a long trip for him to get home, not with teleportation. But she thought that he could use the company.

He shook his head. “I do not. But I can get some.”

“Sure. Or you can borrow some of mine. You’re taller than me, but I have a clothes for in case I need to be bigger for some reason. I’m sure I have pajama pants somewhere… I usually just sleep in a nightgown. It’s easier, since my legs aren’t attached to my hips.”

“𝐎𝐡… 𝐨𝐊𝐀-𝐤𝐚𝐘.”

She beamed. “Okay! You pick the movie, I’ll get pajamas and blankets!”

He nodded, and then she was off. Before going to the living room, Gaster took a moment to appreciate how well this entire evening had gone. How fortunate he was to have met Asteri.

…And how much it would hurt to lose someone dear to him again, one day.

He picked a comedy movie.

Asteri returned dressed in a nightgown with the promised items, and sent Gaster off to change while she got all the blankets set up. When he came back, he was wearing sweatpants that were a few inches too short and a T-shirt that seemed simultaneously too big and too small. She had never seen his forearms bare before. And it was funny to see him in anything other than his usual level of dress. At least he was comfortable.

“Okay, ready?” Asteri asked as he approached. With her tail, she patted the space beside her on the layers of blankets on the floor. He smiled crookedly but came and sat beside her, after which she pulled a bigger, heavier blanket over them, and they leaned back against the pillows she had set against the couch.

“Thank you for this.”

She turned to him. “Thank you for trusting me with all of that.”

He just smiled, softly, rather than explain himself. “You are important to me. You deserve to know.”

Asteri’s eyes crinkled with a warm smile. “You’re important to me too, Wingdings.”

He chuckled and gave her a knowing (though clearly flattered) look. “You just like saying my name, don’t you?”

She blushed. Caught. “I-I do… but if it’s weird I’ll stop!”

Gaster shook his head. “I do not mind. It is… refreshing.”

“It’s a nice name,” she insisted. “And… it sounded like maybe people didn’t say it so nicely, before.”

There was a pause, and he lowered his gaze. “They did not.”

“You don’t have to tell me everything,” Asteri said, despite being achingly curious. “I’ll just say it nicely enough times to make up for it!”

That got him to laugh. “That is decades of people calling me by my first name, including my childhood, which contains countless instances.”

“I guess you’re stuck with me for decades and decades, then,” she said matter-of-factly, crossing her wings best she could.

He laughed again, which spurred her to laugh too.

“𝐈 𝐰-𝐰𝐰𝐎𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞… 𝐓𝐭𝐡𝐡𝐚𝐭.”

Asteri’s smile widened each time he spoke aloud. “You really do have a nice voice,” she murmured.

His cheekbones turned pink and his eyes turned blue. “𝐘𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐦-𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐇𝐭. 𝐍𝐧𝐧-𝐧𝐎𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐬-𝐬𝐬𝐬𝐨. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲-𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐡𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐑𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐟𝐟-𝐟𝐟𝐎𝐧𝐭.”

She propped her head up on her wing and made a face. “I said I wouldn’t ask you to speak it for me, but I am so tempted to say, “Oh yeah?? Bet you’re wrong. Lay it on me.” But I won’t. Just know that that is the attitude I’ve got about it.”

How did he end up with someone who could take his centuries-old insecurities and speak so lightheartedly, yet still with that kind of respect for his boundaries? Incredible. He exhaled an almost-laugh and shook his head. “𝐈 𝐃-𝐝𝐨𝐍𝐧𝐧’𝐭… 𝐃𝐎𝐮-𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐁𝐭… 𝐢𝐭.”

“Oh, and…” Asteri shifted in place little. “I wanted to say: You don’t have to speak aloud if you don’t want to. I mean if you do want to, that’s great! But I hope you don’t think that I expect you to, now that I know you can.”

The look on his face was so genuinely surprised that it almost hurt her to see. He did think that.

“Is it not more convenient than signing? If I practiced, I could probably speak faster. Then you would not have to be looking at me, or my summoned hands, to understand me.”

She frowned, deeply. “My convenience isn’t the issue, Wingdings. Look me in the eye and tell me you really believe that I value my convenience over your comfort and boundaries.”

He did not look her in the eye. “𝐎-𝐎𝐡…”

“If you prefer signing, then you should. If you want to practice speaking Aster, then you should. But only if it’s what you want.”

A beat passed, and then he smiled slightly and blew a silent laugh through his nasal cavity. “How the tables have turned.” Not long ago, he was the one giving her this kind of talk. He sighed, still smiling that little bit. “𝐈 𝐖𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭-𝐭𝐨… 𝐩𝐫-𝐩𝐑𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭-𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐨-𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐧𝐋𝐲 𝐰-𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐲𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞… 𝐰-𝐖𝐰𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐋-𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐈 𝐍𝐍𝐧… 𝐤𝐧𝐍𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭’𝐬. 𝐒𝐬𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐖.”

Asteri grinned. “Of course I’m willing! And it will stay between us, don’t worry.” The screen on the TV dimmed and caught her attention. “Oh right. Do you want to watch the movie, or talk some more? I’m entirely happy with either one.”

Gaster gave it a moment of thought. “𝐅-𝐟𝐈𝐋𝐦… 𝐭𝐡-𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐍… 𝐭𝐀𝐋𝐤?”

“It’s a plan!” She stretched her tail to grab the remote, hit play, then reached for the box of lemon cake and the two forks that were atop it. “Here. Bo—" She stopped, antennae standing almost straight up as something occurred to her, and she grinned so hard her face hurt. She looked Gaster in the eye, straining not to laugh before she said it.

“BONE appetit.”

He groaned, but he was smiling. She burst into laughter.

“𝐏-𝐏𝐋𝐋𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐇-𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐟𝐟𝐈𝐋𝐦 𝐚-𝐚𝐥𝐑-𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗗𝘆.”

_ _ _ _

YEEEEAAAAH WINGDINGS!! Triple Gaster reveal!!!! (For Asteri anyway. Double reveal for you guys.) I think Gaster probably sounds like that wonky soundbite that plays during Entry 17, but like slightly more… stabilized? Just a little bit. Mostly wonky.

You ever get in that mindset with someone where you’re like, “Welp, guess I’m sharing all my deepest secrets”? Yeah.

THERE’S MORE TO THIS SCENE ACTUALLY. More of their conversation after the movie and the following morning. But this document was SO long and I was like, “I’ll just put it at the beginning of part 9.” But since I had to divide this up I wish I had written it so I could have made this part longer. Oh well!

Also, okay! So! Gaster’s difficultly speaking is NOT meant to be written or read like an actual speech impediment, because it isn’t. His difficultly is shaping his text magic to a different alphabet. It’s like bending a spring, it strains against him. Technically, it's two alphabets-- upper and lowercase. Hence his difficulty with cases. But more on that in the next part!! (And as you saw, he slips into wingdings when he is. very distressed.) Was that one head tap a kiss? Well see that's just part of the fun with such an ambiguous gesture isn't it~ Context and intention are everything, aren't they~?

You know, I love seeing Gaster's less logical side coming up, because he's. actually very emotion-driven, despite his efforts. And it only becomes more of an issue pronounced. (hoo boy does it ever... but That Part isn't for a little while still.)

I love protective Asteri. This man does all sorts of things to her emotional state. Like upsetting her enough to get her to start to shift unconsciously because Protecc. Him being a Boss Monster will literally not deter her whatsoever. (Heh… spoiler….)

OKAY gonna stop rambling now so I can post this! Part 9 will be IN THE WORKS YAAAY

#YAAAAAY EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT #gaster #asteri #seeker writes #⁂ fic #⁂ gaster #⁂#CRYING AND HUGGING AND BEGINNING TO ADDRESS CENTURIES OLD CHILDHOOD TRAUMA #you ever just hug somebody So Tenderly?#‘it’s rotten work’ ‘not to me. not if it’s you’ THIS ONE’S FOR YOU BENANA

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