have a cup of tea
On Ao3.
The room was so saturated with magic that the air was sizzling. It flow through the cables, vibrated around the monitors, and completely filled the three tanks. Each of them contained one, different colored heart, all the three pulsating slowly.
The leader royal scientist put out his cigarette and lit up another one. His hand trembled for a moment as pain flashed into his forehead, but he tried to shake off the waves of pain. They were becoming stronger and more frequent. He focused on the data with his left eye as he put his lighter in the pocket of his worn-out lab coat.
'We were only able to extract a miniscule amount of DT from the three souls. We are sure that DT is more abundant in the souls of infants than adults, however, if the subject… '
The cursor slowly pulsed.
…the subject….the subject…it…It's that damn headache again. I don't have time for this!
Dr.Gaster blew out a breath of frustration and reached for his painkiller.
His phone rang, Lerian sent an SMS based on the display. Gaster read through the message several times, but kept his right eye closed. He had been awake for more than 29 hours and it was taxing on his body, but he couldn’t let that stand in his way. His fingers started dancing on the keyboard again.
'… If the DT in the subject's soul's is not its primary aspect, it can only be found as a cohesive force. The amount needed for this cohesion is miniscule. In comparison to the other parts of the soul, DT is hardly measurable. Still our research has shown that for the soul of a monster even such tiny amount can be suitable for maintaining it for an unknown time, possible forever. '
Not far from his door, three figures stuck their heads together.
"He's not listening to any of us, Neo."
"Well, that’s far from being a new situation, especially these days," the answer was full of sarcasm, but there was also genuine concern, just carefully hidden.
Cigarette smoke rose up.
"Orchid, do you have to smoke even when we are inside?"
"Sorry, when I'm nervous I just have to…"
The three royal scientists looked at each other in silence and just stayed like that for a while.
The first voice, which belonged to an older lizard monster and bearing the name Orchid, took the chance to speak again as he blew out another dose of smoke. He moved his dark blue, scaly tail behind him as he talked.
"As we were talking about, he isn't listening to any of us, so we are forced to turn to the only voice he always hears."
"I feel like some kind of tattletale." Neo, the cat-monster, currently a full-time scientist, scratched his head with the temple of his glasses.
They had to do something; they were in agreement about that.
Their last colleague, a newbie, Alphys, stood nervously placing her weight from one leg to the other. "But-but we have to do it… Dr.Gaster…"
"Yeah, he's starting to overdo things again. We all seen his injury, I think it got worse again. If we don't do something, he'll lose his right eye completely!" Orchid glanced at his colleagues, slowly blowing out a puff of smoke. "The only question is who should go?"
There was a heavy silent which sit down on each of themes shoulder.
"I will, the king trusted me with it anyway." Neo put his thick glasses back on his nose. "You keep an eye on him in case he finally decides to go home."
Orchid snorted a little, putting out the cigarette on the wall and for once ignoring Neo's disapproving look.
"I don't think he will leave; in fact, if you ask me, he hasn't even got up from his desk in hours."
"Mhm," Alphys rubbed his hands together. She fantasized a lot about what it's going to be like working in the lab, but keeping an eye on the lead researcher never came to mind as a possible aspect of her job.
"All right, all right, I won't be long… or more like we won't," Neo hurried away.
When the two of them were alone, Orchid patted the young monster on the shoulder amiably.
"Everything will be okay, Dr.Gaster just have this habit of getting too into his work, and forgetting that there are those who are worried about him. His heart is in the right place, but no matter how big his skull is, he never pays attention to his own well-being."
Alphys smiled slightly. "We really owe a lot to him, the Core was a huge step forward in the monsters' lives here."
"As you say…but I think he's always focused on the next step. He really wants to get us out from here."
"But, if-if he continues like this-"
"Yeah…but everything will be all right, the king always can talk some sense into him."
An hour later, there was a knock on the door of Dr.Gaster's office.
"I'm busy right now."
"What a shame…I've even prepared a special tea."
A voice from the other side of the door immediately woke the scientist up from his work-haze, and almost it almost made him fell out of his chair. It didn't take three seconds and he was already on his feet at the entrance.
"Your Majesty!" Gaster opened the door and looked up at King Dreamure who head a wide smile. "Wha-"
"It's good to see you too, Gaster. I've heard you buried yourself into your work, so I thought I better visit."
"You've heard…" the scientist stepped aside and glanced behind the king down the hall. Three of his colleagues were making sure to look everywhere but at him "so my colleagues have sneaked up on me and furthermore they have bothered you with some nonsense."
"Now-now, they're just worried you might overdo the work, and they haven't, and no, it is not some nonsense." Answered Asgore kindly.
"I'm fine, sir," said the scientist with a small huff.
"Good to know," the king smiled, and put down the small box in his hand, starting to unpack. "In that case, how about we drink a cup of tea? Then I promise I won't bother you anymore."
"I-" but as their eyes met, Gaster knew well he wouldn't be able to get out of it. "All right, as you wish, Your Majesty."
He pulled another chair closer to his desk and made sure to only sit down after the king. The squeaks, vibrations, and clicks that filled the room before all seemed to fade into the background the pleasant smell of peach tea took their place.
"How are you, Gaster?"
"Everything is fine, Your Majesty. The research progress at a rate that could be expected, soon we will be able to extract the determination out of the souls without losing any of it. If that happens we will have some options in our hands to try to break the barrier."
"Commendable." Asgore glanced at the three souls for a moment, but decided not to let the past distract him from the present. "And how are the boys, Sans and Papyrus?"
"They…" Dr.Gaster took the cup and held it in his hands. Thought for a moment as he gazed into the dark, steaming liquid "They're fine too, they're growing nicely. Sans is getting more talkative, Papyrus loves to hide from me all over the house every time I'm home."
"Then you're not getting bored. It's good to hear you're not alone at home." The king smiled warmly, but in the meantime he carefully inspected the skeleton sitting in front of him.
The lead researcher looked just as exhausted as his colleagues had painted him. The dark circles now sat much deeper under his eyes, the sleeves of his lab coat were covered in stains of oil, dust, and coffee. Still, the most worrying thing was the injury running along the right side of his skull.
The crack that stretched all the way to his right eye was not new, but it had gotten worse lately, which filled Asgore with worry.
During the fighting, when survival was the only thing before their eyes. Gaster, teleported far more monsters to safety using his magic than his power would have normally and then a crack appeared on his forehead. It was neither this deep nor so wide then. It all started to get worse during his underground research. The unhealthy lifestyle; minimal or irregular sleep, bad eating habits, plus the constant stress had an increasingly serious impact on his soul and body. No one could really determine what shape his soul was actually in. He refused to show it even to the king.
And the crack just drew deeper and deeper.
"I can assure you, your Majesty, I am fine. I feel like I'm nearing a breakthrough and I don't want to lose my momentum."
"I know you carry the weight of the fate of monsters on your heart, and you have the best of intentions to act like this. I'm just asking you to sometimes think about your own well-being when you do your research." Asgore raised his hand before the monster could answer. "Before you answer we should drink, if the tea cools down, it's all just wasted."
"As you wish." Gaster took a slow sip of his tea. The warmth quickly spread through all his limbs and for a few second the painful tightness in his chest eased. He didn't even notice the feeling before. When did it appear? Maybe it's always been there. "Really delicious."
"I'm glad you like it." However, Asgore didn't touch his cup.
The room began to slowly sway in front of Dr. Gasters eye.
"What…?"
The cup clinked on the floor spilling the remaining tea to the floor.
"What…Asgore..."
The king watched him in silence, an apologetic light glinted in his eyes.
"oh…you gotta be-" the world darkened before Dr.Gaster's eyes, but before he could collapsed to the ground the king caught him and held him safely.
"I'm sorry, Gaster, but I had to act fast and I haven't got any better idea."
His limbs were pleasantly numb, and the throbbing of her eyes were a thing of the past. His hands felt some kind of soft material, but so far his head didn't feel like getting up. His scientist self, however, could not stay asleep very long and tried to discover the reason for him suddenly falling asleep. He was in the middle of his train of thoughts when he heard some nearby voices.
"Why does a skeleton always tells the truth?"
"I don't know. Why?"
"He wants tibia honest."
"Ohoho. I didn't even think about that."
"Nyeee."
"I think your brother likes puzzles more than jokes."
"He's, but I'm just being humerus."
"Nyeeeeehehe!"
"Sans…" Gaster turned his head to the side as he opened his eye.
"Don't bother your brother."
Said young skeleton-monster scratched the back of his neck a bit ashamed. "Sorry, dad."
He and his younger brother sat on the floor between a pair of coloring books and various pencils, in the company of the king, who watched the young monsters with a warm smile.
"Da!" Papyrus toddled to the couch, then raised his arms toward him.
"Hello, Papyrus." Gaster reached out carefully and stroked his son's head. Encouraged by this, the young skeleton struggled up the couch with some help from the king.
"Nyehehehe." He proudly raised his hand in the air and then crawled under the blanket next to his father. The royal scientist noticed that the fabric was blue with a large white bone embroidered on it. So, he was resting under Sans' blanket.
"So, Your Majesty," Gaster's voice sounded more different then when he was in the Lab "would you enlighten me how I got home and on this couch?"
"Well, I-"
"He brought you home!" Sans chuckled at the embarrassed Asgore who slightly blushed.
"Yes?"
"Well, I…" the king gave out a defeated sigh. "Your colleagues have messaged me that you don't move from your office, you don't eat and you don't sleep properly. While you can go or not go wherever you want, but not sleeping has a serious effect on your body. Not to mention that your sons were missing you. By the way I thanked Gerson, that he took care of the boys while you were away. "
"Nye."
"I think I can say that Papyrus agrees with me."
"Nye!"
Asgore's warm chuckle eased Gaster's tension.
"Hm, I see," he carefully placed his bone hand on his younger son's head and smiled faintly as he snuggled closer to him. Even though both of his sons born from his soul, he had no idea where Papyrus inherited his affection and kindness from.
"Thank you. Um, all right maybe I've really needed some time home." Gaster glanced at the king who watched the kids with soft eyes. "You're not staying for dinner, Your Majesty? As an apology for causing much inconvenience."
"There was no inconvenience, don't worry about it."
"But still."
"Nyeh!"
"Stay, let's make some spaghetti!" Sans nodded and climbed up next to his brother.
"Maybe, should we ask our guest abo-" Gaster's words seemed unheard.
"And there will be a lot of ketchup in it!" Sans raised his hands enthusiastically towards the sky.
"Nyehehe!" His younger brother joined him.
"Sans, Papyrus" Gaster snorted softly, but even his sons felt that his gruffness wasn’t really there.
"Come on, come on. Spaghetti sounds great, I haven't eaten in a long time, now that I think about it."
Asgore gave an encouraging look to the scientist.
"Hm, in that case we're making a giant serving of spaghetti, I think we might have everything for it already...or we'll improvise."
"You're good at that, Dad," Sans chuckled and his grin only grow when his father snorted while rubbing his son's skull.
"Okay, but no need to hurry, rest as much as you want. I'll make some tea before we start cooking. I still have a serving of raspberries."
"Raspberry?" The scientist closed his right eye and glared at the king, trying to hide his confusion.
"I'm sorry, over the years I've learned to improvise, too." The king walked toward the kitchen, "and I think I have some ingenuity in me, too."
Gaster also snorted, closing his left eye while called out to Asgore heading into the kitchen.
"The biggest gas-rose turns on a little suddenly," he took a few slow breaths and felt Sans falling asleep beside him as Papyrus wrapped the blanket around his brother and squirmed closer to them.
"The tea can in the cupboard below on the left..." the thought slowly faded to black and with it he himself. He could still feel the weight of his slowly breathing sons on his side, and the pleasant smell of raspberries. However, exhaustion and some quiet peace finally rolled over him. Taking slow deep breaths, he fell asleep.
