MAYEM: The Sinner In Me Pt. 5
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“Well we’re having it in that cave with smiley, right? He can’t get there.”
--
“Oh, right!” Kid said. “...we should be sure to warn Smiley first, though. I don’t think he’s used to a bunch of people.”
--
“Yeah, good idea. Now might be a good time to write down who we’re inviting so we don’t forget too.” He said, writing down Smiley first, as well as making a note that having it in his cave would be nice.
“The boys, Voidkid, Alphys, uh…”
--
“The grandpa gaster,” Kid said after a moment. “He seemed nice.”
--
“Right, right.” Goop said, writing him down.
… He kept thinking of Twitchy, and how that bastard would have loved this shit. But he swallowed those thoughts down as best he could.
“We could offer it to those two that lived together? Although they’ll probably turn it down.”
--
Kid had thought about them, but… hadn’t really mentioned it.
He nodded slowly all the same.
“...yeah, we might as well. Since, uh, we still haven’t repaired their wall.” … “Or their tv.”
--
“They said they didn’t want us to.” Goop said with a shrug, even as he wrote them down. “Can’t say I blame them though. Both of them seemed pretty shaken up. But we don’t have to go there to invite them, y’know?”
--
Kid nodded. “Yeah. Maybe Sans will pick up again, ha.”
“Ask him to not do acronyms.”
--
He smirked, “Yeah.”
Goop tried to think of anyone else. “... There was that really tall guy, but… I don’t think he’d ever leave his kids.”
--
Kid nodded.
“And I don’t think he’d fit in the cave, either. But if the cave doesn’t work out, that’d be a neat place to show people.”
--
“.... When all of this is over we should head back there. Do some research.” Goop said, looking at Kid. “It seemed like the most bizarre world we’ve been to.”
…
“Well, save for the dog one. Oh! We should invite that Gaster!”
--
Kid’s eyes lit up and he clapped. “Yes! He’d love that! ...fuck, what if he’s not on that world anymore?”
He was talking about the stranded skeletal Gaster, not the dog one.
--
“Shit I hope he is. He seemed really happy there.” Goop said, writing the name down. “We should take him some allergy medication too.”
--
“I mean, he seemed pretty happy to have someone other than dogs to talk to,” Kid said, “But yeah, in case he wants to hop back and forth, we should definitely get him allergy medicine.”
--
“Yeah. If he did manage to finish the machine I hope he’s alright. Or maybe left the coordinates to where he was going. That way we could find him.”
--
Kid nodded again, “Yeah, maybe… hopefully Dogster knows where he went, or something.”
“...I’m having trouble thinking of others.”
--
“Same. I think that’s all of them?”
The ones that were still alive and didn’t want to kill them anyway.
That was a depressing thought.
--
“...wait, nope,” Kid said. “Little-you. We’re bringing little-you along.”
--
“Little me?” Goop blinked, having to think a moment to realize who Kid was talking about.
“... Oh, the one you wanted to go see?”
He actually hadn’t talked to that one at all.
“Not afraid of fucking up his timeline or anything if he sees me?” He smirked.
--
“Will you behave yourself?” Kid asked, before snorting. “No, I think mainly what we’ll end up ruining is his impression of me as a responsible guardian creature.”
--
“That depends, which one of me?”
Goop gave him a shit-eating grin.
--
“You know exactly which one, asshole.”
--
He laughed. “I’ll behave. Anything I shouldn’t say to him?”
Goop had listened in on their conversation, but he hadn’t been there for what had really happened.
--
Kid sighed and shook his head.
“...I don’t know, just… go easy on him, I guess?”
--
He raised a brow. “Go easy on him? What’d ya mean? I’m not gonna interrogate him or anything.”
--
“You’re already hard on yourself all the time, you know?” Kid said. “I just don’t want you… being hard on him like that somehow.”
--
Goop blinked, then smiled a little.
“Ah. Well. You don’t have to worry about that. He might be me, but he’s not me. I’m sure he’s not done half the dumb shit I have, at least from what I heard.”
“... Sounds like a good kid.”
--
Kid huffed a little, but nodded.
“...yeah. He is. ...all I did was put him somewhere else, though. Being good is all him.”
All Goop.
--
Goop smiled.
It looked a little timid.
… He had been a good kid. It was just…
…
Fighting had fucked him up a lot. It had made him hate more than care. LOVE more than love.
It was too late for him, but he was glad Kid had intervened with another version of himself.
It would be interesting to see how he could have turned out. He didn’t hold any bitterness towards other versions of himself that had a better life, or turned out better, just like he didn’t hate Kid for not hating his own void.
He was happy some didn’t have to go through what he did.
--
Sometimes, Kid did just… want to remind Goop that he wasn’t a bad person.
Hoped it might help Goop believe it more, eventually.
“...anyone else?”
--
Twitchy sprang to mind again.
Goop shook his head. “No one that comes to mind, nah. I think that’s everyone. If we think of more we can write ‘em down.”
--
Kid was a little concerned about that look on Goop’s face. “..Okay, you sure?”
--
His eye bounced over to Kid.
“...”
Goop looked away again. “Was just thinking how Twitchy would have liked it. Maybe when it’s over I’ll go to his world with some cake or something.”
--
...Kid tried to smile.
“...That sounds like a good idea. ...we can… go and tell him about it, too, if you want? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind multiple visits…”
--
Goop found himself nodding even before he really thought about it.
He had never been one to go to graves, or the sites where dust was spread, never the type to mark an anniversary over someone’s death. The guy was dead, there was no bringing him back, and yet still he found himself thinking about him way more than any other Gaster he had run into, aside from Kid of course.
But Kid was right beside him, and even though he ran into multiple versions of the same Gaster, it wasn’t the same.
It had only been three days and still he missed him as though they had been friends for years, and he didn’t know why.
--
…
You didn’t get to choose who affected you.
Case in point was the two of them.
...Goop hadn’t ever had sites of dust to visit, or graves, Kid realized. Kid himself had a whole city block to mourn. Old streets to stare at. He didn’t have the exact site of his parents’ dust, but he had a group that mourned with him. He had that, at least.
Goop never really had. He’d been taken from his parents before their dust could be spread, and hadn’t gotten close to anyone else but Grillby since then, it seemed. And when his world was lost, well…
There weren’t any graves for worlds. Just empty, indefinite spaces where they had once been.
This was the first grave Goop ever had to visit. The first friend Goop had lost who was actually laid to rest somewhere Goop could reach.
“...I think it’ll be good to go visit again,” Kid said, and tried to hold his hand.
--
“Yeah.” Goop said, and held Kid’s hand.
He felt like a baby for getting so worked up over one Gaster. It wasn’t like they hadn’t witnessed plenty others die in more horrible ways, that Goop hadn’t seen even more death back when he was alive.
To him, it felt a little silly to mourn one in particular, even if you had every reason to.
It was just… strange to him.
…
“Do you think we should go back to this world’s Gaster?”
--
“...maybe. ...hopefully Papyrus hasn’t told anyone?”
--
“... Right.” Goop made a face. “... Well, he’s gonna come here eventually. We are hiding in his game closet.”
--
“...yeah. Fair.”
Kid coughed.
“...let’s go and pretend nothing happened.”
--
“Yeah.”
Goop gathered himself up and formed his legs again before offering a hand to Kid to get him to his feet too.
Then he would teleport them back.
--
They teleported back onto the other Gaster’s doorstep, and then Kid knocked on it, a nervous sort of smile on his face before it solidified into something more believable as Gaster opened up the door and let them back in.
He asked how their walk was, and Kid lied breezily. Gaster gave no indication of knowing otherwise.
He set up the TV and couch for them to stay the night, and instructed them on where food was, just in case.
--
Goop let Kid do all the talking, something they didn’t even have to discuss anymore. When it came to bullshitting, they both just knew it was best for him to do the talking.
Goop had always been a shitty liar.
They crashed on the couch that night and watched this Underground’s version of TV.
It was weird that Mettaton wasn’t the one dominating the nighttime programing.
--
At this rate, it might be best for people to guess if they were lying or not based on who was talking.
Unless it was to a Papyrus.
...role reversals were weird like that.
This world’s underground TV was a lot more subdued. There was a nice lightshow and the music was pretty good, and there were a couple dancers, though Napstablook himself seemed to hide from the… everything. A lot.
It was sort of funny when they had a call-in session, and people just sent in praise and well-wishes.
Napstablook didn’t seem to ever know what to say.
--
Goop commented on how he enjoyed it a lot more than the usual. There wasn’t as much talking, or gossip, and while the music just sounded like noise to him, it wasn’t any worse than having to listen to Mettaton go on and on about how great he was.
It was a nice change of pace.
… He wondered how in-touch with his kids this Gaster was, and if one of them would call him or something tomorrow to warn him about what had happened.
--
Kid hoped not. Even if they were in touch fairly often, he was hoping that as long as Sans and Papyrus had no reason to think their dad was hosting the attacking monsters that they wouldn’t have any reason to tell him about it.
Likewise, hopefully if this Gaster did mention having guests, they wouldn’t automatically assume it was the two Papyrus had seen.
--
It would depend on how small this Underground was, and how honest these two were with their dad.
But for now Goop was content to watch TV, let Kid get some sleep on the couch where it was nice and soft and then switching off to get a small nap in himself.
Two more days.
Hopefully they would go smoothly now that they knew what to avoid.
--
The night went smoothly.
Kid fell asleep on the couch for a little while, and tried to nudge Goop into resting a bit as well.
The next morning, he was still a little curled up after having raided the other Gaster’s bookshelf for something new to read.
Gaster told them he didn’t have to work today, so would not be doing much but a few errands. That was fine.
It was midday when things went wrong.
Gaster was in the back tinkering with something when the doorbell rang.
--
Goop felt kind of bad for intruding on this Gaster’s life, but the guy didn’t seem to mind it too much. They only took up the couch, they didn’t eat. Things would be fine.
… Right?
When the doorbell rang Goop looked over to it, then back to where this Gaster was tinkering.
“Uh…” He looked at Kid, voice dropping. “Think we should hide…?”
--
“...Uh… I don’t know,” Kid said, but he did duck lower on the couch out of habit, trying to be harder to see.
Gaster emerged from his work area, wiping his hands with a towel before sticking it in his belt loop and opening the door.
“hey pops.”
“Ah! Kids!” Gaster said, grinning. “I totally forgot, I’m sorry!”
--
Goop felt his body ripple and his eye widen.
He quickly looked down at Kid. “Oh shit.”
--
Kid stared back with the same expression.
“I’ve got some other people over, they probably won’t join us for brunch, but they’re here in the living room.”
“oh? cool.”
“IT IS WONDERFUL THAT YOU FINALLY HAVE OTHER GUESTS, DAD!!” said Papyrus, going in for the hug the minute he was inside.
--
Goop sunk lower into the couch and tried to decide what was best; hide and act very guilty, or act completely normal like nothing had happened.
…
Instead he settled for freezing like a deer in headlights, his eye locking onto Papyrus and looking no short of absolutely panicked.
--
Papyrus spotted Goop over his father’s shoulder.
His eyes bulged.
For a monster with no actual eyes, it was a very impressive feat.
Also horrifying, because the way Papyrus stared at him meant he definitely knew exactly who it was who had attacked the human the day before.
...oh, god, Hopefully he hadn’t brought Chara with him--!
“uh, paps?” Sans said after a moment. “ya gonna let other people have a turn?”
Papyrus blinked hard and let go of his father.
“HAVE PATIENCE, SANS!!”
--
Oh fuck. Oh fuck oh fuck.
… Though, by the way at how he didn’t jump to react, maybe he didn’t want people to know about it?
Or know about the human.
Goop gave Papyrus a very, very apologetic smile and mouthed ‘sorry’.
It probably wouldn’t mean anything, but… but still.
He cared what Papyru thought of him.
--
Papyrus seemed to catch the look and it was pretty clear he was confused--but he stepped away from his dad and let out a laugh, allowing Sans the space to give his dad a hug instead, as well.
“oh hey,” Sans said as he caught sight of the two on the couch. “you didn’t say this was where you were staying.”
“YOU KNOW THESE TWO, SANS??”
--
“Ah, well, didn’t want to make you worry or anything. We were fine with staying in a broom closet, but… Gaster insisted.” Goop said, trying to smile a little more sincerely and not so… panicked.
--
“oh, cool,” Sans said, with very little emotion. He glanced up at his brother. “yeah they were lost out in the traps yesterday.”
Gaster turned, looking a little startled. “How did you end up all the way out there!? I thought you were just going to Hotland!”
“Uh,” Kid said. “Geography got a little mixed up. Sorry.”
--
“Uh, yeah.” Goop said, not sounding very convincing. “Also remember the whole teleporting thing? Gets us around fast.”
--
None of them looked especially convinced, but thankfully, Gaster seemed to write it off as them being too embarrassed about how they actually got out there. Or if they were actually caught in one of the trap and had to be rescued.
“Well, we’re not here to play 100 questions. Will you two help me make something real quick? I forgot to get things ready beforehand.”
“sure thing, pops.”
As Sans followed Gaster towards the kitchen, Papyrus did pause for just a moment.
“...HOW LONG WILL YOU BE HERE WITH DAD?” he asked.
--
“Just one more day after this.” Goop said, looking up at Papyrus. He glanced to where Sans and Gaster were headed, only speaking once they were out of the room, and his voice was low.
“... Sorry about yesterday.”
--
“HM?” Papyrus said once Goop kept talking. “OH, DID YOU WANDER INTO ONE OF SANS’ TRAPS? A FOOLISH MISTAKE!! FORTUNATELY, ONE I HAVE NEVER MADE. BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME!!”
Papyrus quickly left the room.
Kid looked up at Goop.
--
Goop watched him run off.
Slowly turned to Kid and stared at him.
‘Interesting. He hiding the kid I guess?’ He signed rather than said, just in case.
--
Kid nodded slowly. ‘Seems like it…’
...he hoped it wasn’t because the kid was a danger? But… still. What were they exactly going to do if they found the kid? It seemed like this underground hadn’t personally killed one, yet…
--
‘Think we should talk to him about it? If he even will talk to us.’ Goop asked.
--
Kid’s eyes darted away for a moment. ‘...I kind of want to play it safe.’
--
… Goop nodded at that and settled back into the couch, sighing. ‘Okay. I won’t bring it up. We’ll play it safe and act like nothing happened.’
He wasn’t about to interrupt a Gaster having a good time with his kids.
--
Kid nodded.
“...one more day,” he said, trying to be encouraging. “Maybe we can spend it in the ship.”
--
Goop looked at him. “Want me to go ask and see if he wants us to leave? At least for awhile. That way we’re not getting involved or messing things up with his kids.”
--
“He’s going to say it’s fine. I say we ditch now and come back once we’re sure they’re gone.”
--
“Don’t think they’ll get worried?” Goop asked, “... Papyrus might think we’re up to something. Hell, Sans might too.”
They weren’t exactly two normal guys doing normal things.
--
Kid wished he could say he wasn’t letting nerves drive him, but Goop was pointing out things he really should have thought of.
“...are they going to think we’re telling the truth if we do say we’re headed out, then?”
--
“Will they even ask for clarification if they don’t?” Goop said. “They might be too polite to pry about it.”
--
“I guess?” Kid said. “If that’s the case, wouldn’t just leaving a note be enough?”
--
“That might come off as suspicious too.”
They were really over-thinking this. Both of them were being a bit paranoid.
He took a breath and stood up. “How about I just tell them we’re headed to the ship for awhile? Then we can come back late when we think they’re gone.”
--
Kid took a breath too.
“...okay, yeah. Sounds good.”
He stood with Goop and shuffled behind him towards the kitchen, where the trio had gathered.
They had Papyrus on cutting-board duty. It seemed to be reducing the damage of his usual cooking.
--
It was hard to call attention to yourself without speaking when you weren’t solid enough to really knock with your knuckles.
Instead he moved one of his pens to the end of his finger and tapped it on the doorway so he could get their attention.
“Hey, uh, so we’re gonna go check on the machine and probably do a little work.”
It wasn’t a complete lie.
Just.
Wanted to get out of their skulls.
--
Gaster blinked, but nodded. “Oh, alright.”
Papyrus might’ve looked a little relieved, but it was sort of hard to tell.
“See you later, then?”
Kid nodded.
“Yeah, we’ll be back probably later tonight somtime.”
--
Goop nodded too. “Yeah. Have a good lunch.”
He offered them a smile and then turned to get out of sight and take Kid’s hand before teleporting them away.
--
Kid had come a long way since the sensation of teleporting bothered him.
Now, it was honestly somewhat comforting.
He relaxed as they reappeared in the ship.
“Why is it even the calm worlds like to do this to us?”
--
Goop just shrugged and sighed and slumped into his usual spot.
“Every world with a Gaster just seems to attract a lot more shit. It wasn’t this bad when I wasn’t actively looking for others.”
--
Kid snorted, “What, so we just make the world a fun place and then it all settles down when we die?”
--
Goop laughed a little bitterly. “Maybe sometimes. Mine wasn’t like that though. Sans went through shit even without me there to add to the trouble.”
--
“Yeah, well,” Kid glanced out towards the door again. “Sanses are good at hiding that, anyway…”
…
Maybe it was the memories.
In a way, Sanses were the only monsters that seemed to live with a Gaster still, even after their deaths.
--
“Yeah…”
Goop leaned his head onto the wall.
“... Y’know, it might be good that Chara is here.”
--
Kid blinked, looking at Goop in surprise.
That was a phrase he never thought he’d hear.
“...why d’you say that?”
--
“Well, as far as I’ve noticed, the anomaly doesn’t seem to touch worlds where Chara’s alive. It could just be coincidence, but… maybe it isn’t?”
--
Kid refrained from pointing out that they’d never actually found a world where Chara was alive.
“Yeah, maybe… at the very least, it seems like they might get to the surface, soon?”
--
Not one Kid had seen anyway.
“Yeah, let’s hope.”
--
He nodded.
Sighed a little and leaned against their corner.
“Well… we’re here for a few hours. Want to something?”
--
“Yeah, let’s see…” Goop looked around, pulled out his notebook and tablet.
“Cards, we could go over that soul research a little more, TV shows we haven’t gotten to, sudoku, reading…”
…
“More wedding planning.” He snorted.
--
Kid snorted.
“I don’t know how to plan anything beyond what we already have. TV?”
--
“Me neither, honestly.” He opened up to the TV shows they had saved. “Any of these you didn’t finish?”
--
“Probably almost all of them,” Kid said.
--
“We shoulda probably downloaded more when we were home.” He commented, sliding through the list for something he hadn’t seen.
“That’s another thing we can ask Alphys, to hook us up with good shows. That aren’t anime.”
--
Kid snorted. “She won’t take offense? Or are you just going to reassure her you want to catch up with her on the anime in person?”
--
“Well she already knows I don’t particularly like the same kinds she does. Not all of them though.”
Goop looked at him. “You ever see Akira? That’s good. I might have it on this.”
--
Kid looked hesitant, but shook his head. “Probably not…? What is it?”
Kid had watched very, very little anime over his lifetime.
--
“It’s this futuristic thing, uh… she called it ‘cyberpunk’, whatever that is. Kid tries to get his psychic friend out of some prison and shit gets all fucking crazy.” He grinned as he said it.
“It’s, uh, kinda gorey.” He warned. “I guess.”
… It was actually pretty impressive he even thought to warn about it.
