random handplates gaster headcanons GO
was around 15ish when the war happened. hed barely had that coat for a month before it ended up saving his life. he wonders now if his parents gave it to him because they knew the end was near, and wanted to show love however they could. it keeps him up at night.
lived with the dreemurrs when monsters were first sealed underground. the sealed room in the dreemurr home was his bedroom & study (both in the ruins and in new home — he moved with them). he moved out when he got his doctorate and wanted to start a life of his own — the dreemurrs helped him find the perfect place, and gave him a key to their house so he could stop by anytime.
driving makes him EXTREMELY anxious. he has his license (which is a miracle considering papyrus was his teacher) but REFUSES to drive unless absolutely necessary, and is dead silent while doing so (hes locked in on trying not to wrap the car around a telephone pole). he usually walks wherever he needs to go, but hes (eventually) comfortable in a car as long as someone else is driving.
used to paint as a hobby, during the little free time he allowed himself. he was actually very good at it, and gave several pieces as gifts to the dreemurrs and alphys. the brothers would later find a pile of paintings in what would become papyrus’s closet, though the artist’s signature was mysteriously absent. his creativity would later be passed down to papyrus (painting and puzzle making) and sans (music).
always wanted to write another book, as he thoroughly enjoyed the writing process for his first one, but he never actually started.
the dreemurrs actually thought he was selective mute for the first little while of knowing him — he would sign here and there, usually to ask a question, but was otherwise dead silent. he only really started speaking after a while of living with them in the ruins. (he felt like a burden on them, so his instinct was to be quiet and small and out of the way, just like hed been taught to as a child, but as he started to realize that they genuinely enjoyed his company, he slowly came out of his shell.)
actually had somewhat of a friendship with grillby pre-shattering. they werent close, per se, but grillby would walk him home when he stayed to closing and would bring him food the next morning if he knew gaster would be hungover. in exchange, gaster tipped well, helped clean up at closing time, and nudged asgore to give grillby a bit more funding for the diner. he also tutored grillbys daughter fuku as a favour. later on, sans would become close with grillby, who would repeat the behaviours hed once done for gaster, internally questioning why this felt so familiar.
post-toriel-leaving, he helped asgore get ready for most formal events. he tied his tie, helped to brush out his hair & ears, and gave him several once-overs to make sure everything was in order. asgore constantly tried not to think about how similar gaster acted to toriel.
did not expect to become as close to alphys as he did. at most, he expected them to become a dynamic duo in their work — lo and behold, they ended up getting drunk and playing video games, binging entire anime series in one night, writing entire dissertations on the symbolism (that of course never left alphys’s personal laptop), and sleeping cuddled up together on many, many occasions. she was his first close relationship outside of the dreemurrs.
babysat the dreemurr kids on many occasions, and eventually got… not comfortable with radic, but familiar with them. he could turn his back on them for a second without immediately feeling an anxiety attack start brewing, at least. asriel, on the other hand, he was about as close with as he could get — asriel often slept on his lap and rode on his shoulders. gaster also tutored both of the dreemurr kids when they needed it.
related to above: he once passed out on the couch while watching the dreemurr kids, and woke up to both of them sleeping on top of him. as much as he wanted to move radic, he didnt want to risk waking them up and making things awkward — clearly they had at least a somewhat positive opinion of him if theyre willing to sleep on him, and hed rather not jeapordize that — so he let it be. asgore and toriel came home a little while later and saw him half-asleep like this — toriel managed to snap an adorable picture before he could move and later got it framed. he tries not to think about it.
despite not being a medical doctor, he tried to cure radics mystery disease when they were dying, at request of the dreemurrs. during a late-night shift, the two of them actually had quite a deep conversation. its better saved for a fic.
