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Life on the surface was… pretty stressful, Gaster came to realize. It was true that this had been his dream for many, many centuries and that the blue sky decorated here and there by cumulus clouds and the occasional cumulus monster was really worth the sacrifices, but… he supposed everything had it’s ups and downs.
With the gold most monsters had accumulated on their lifetime, they managed to buy themselves a good house, transportation, commodities, and trips. Some were even set for life. On Gaster’s case… it was the later. His position as Royal Scientist net him and his siblings a very big amount of money no one remembered but it existed, effectively eliminating the need to work.
But what are monsters but not persistent beings. A lot of them decided that working and studying with the humans was a good way of passing time. Toriel, for example, opened her school, where monsters and kids could go to study and have fun. There were still more monsters in it but little steps were being made. Helping on PE classes, Undyne decided that it was the next best thing after stepping out from her Captain role. Asgore, bless him, after the treaties were made, he finally decided he had enough of leading a nation and opened a beautiful flower shop, and next to it, Muffet and her family’s coffee shop.
Gaster himself had decided to help Toriel with her classes, taking math and chemistry from her workload. His younger brother, Sans, had managed to work on the observatory at the edge of town and did errands and babysitting now and then. For someone used to doing nothing most times, he managed to pick himself up quite nicely and Gaster figured it had something to do with Toriel. He teased Sans a lot about it. It was fun seeing him all flustered and evasive.
And then there was their baby brother, Papyrus, who decided to pursue a career in gastronomy after he finally got a taste of his own spaghetti. His other dishes weren’t half bad but… he said he wanted to get better and who else to ask… than someone with an actual career in it. Grillby. He was a bit distressed about learning how to make grease and not healthy food, until he also found out the fire monster knew how to prepare many other things that related more to Papyrus’ tastes.
Talking about the fire monster, it had been a while since he send him a message. Not that he expected to hear from him every 5 minutes, Gaster wasn’t that needy of a partner but… it was around the time Grillby was on break. Unless there was a sudden rush hour or something than he can understand that… Agh! Might as well send a motivational message consisting of a joke, a winky emote and kissy one. Gaster rolled his eyes before he erased the last emotes and just sent a take care. Pocketing his phone, he sighed. There was really no need to worry about him since he was still working on his dream job but he was concerned Grillby was pushing himself a lot more now that he had finally made a name for himself in the surface, but that wasn’t what Gaster was worried about. No, that wasn’t it at all.
Even though most humans were pretty much okay with monsters living amongst them, there were still a few who were not as pleased to the point a few incident had occurred between both species. Nothing too alarming compared to other cases but it was a threat that existed. Monster were safe to walk around safely and that’s what mattered, Gaster thought.
Tapping his pen on the desk as he absentmindedly looked at the yellow flowers in front of him instead of grading papers, Gaster was about to fall asleep to the rowdy sounds of the city at night when his phone vibrated, followed by the annoying tingle Facebook had. Why did he decided updating that thing was worth it? He pulled out his phone, more out of curiosity than actual need to check it. He adjusted his glasses to read the notification screen. It seems Red Bird tagged him on a livestream. What was so important that he needed Gaster to see?, he thought as he unlocked his phone.
Instantly, hundreds of angry emotes were flying around the screen. The video seemed to be focusing two people at a bar- wait, Grillby’s bar. Those two people were human and they looked angry by the way the held themselves: shoulders squared, clenched fists, raised voices. He could barely make what they were yelling but he could tell who they were yelling at. Standing still as he listened to his customers aggravating words, Grillby face the anger of the two humans as they reproached something about overpriced cheap food or something. The nerve! How dare they insult his food-
A hissing sound came out from the receiver, followed by a barely audible yell. That had been Grillby’s voice. One of the humans had splashed their drink on him, making him take staggered steps back. The human was about to take a step towards him when he was met with angry violet eyes. Without thinking it, Gaster had jumped into the space between Grillby and the human. The skeleton could feel the stretch on his being from the distance he had traveled but that didn’t deter him from glaring down at the human.
Everyone in the room went quiet at the sudden appearance of the Doctor. Not even a whisper could be heard, only the sizzling sound of Grillby’s fire recovering itself. The music kept playing, something about soft jazz in the background of a tense moment made it a bit more cardiac.
“Where the fuck did this guy came from-” one of the humans said.
“How dare you-” Gaster growled between teeths. “-hurt him.” Two small ping could be heard. Most monsters knew what it was and from who it came from, but the humans seemed perplexed until they felt a heaviness in their SOUL unlike anything before.
“What the-” “Is he fucking doing this?” “The fuck are you doing you creep?” they cried angry. One of them tried to walk towards Gaster, a clear intention in his eyes, but they didn’t know with who they were dealing.
“Back off!” Throwing his arm to the side, the two human were launched towards the exit.
“The fuck is your problem?”
“My problem? My problem is that you hurt MY boyfriend, you fuck-” Gaster was about to launch them further when he felt a hand on his arm. A very hot hand. Way too hot.
Grillby was at his side, his other hand clutching his chest. The pain he was in was clearly visible from his eyes behind those glasses. “ Stop… Gaster. It’s not worth the trouble. I’m fine...”
“Fine?! They threw water at you, Grillby. Water!” He looked at where Grillby was holding himself. White, searing plums of fire danced from beneath his shirt, biting around his cuffs and collar. The tips of his flame burned hotter and with a tint of crimson as his body tried to regulate his fire. “You expect me to not do anything about it?!”
“I expect you not to end up in jail, Wing Dings. Calm down!” Grillby scolded, gripping more at Gaster’s arm, trying to pull him back. His hold felt worse from the heat that it might be actually burning the skeleton. “Just let them go.”
Turning to look at them, still being held down on the floor by Gaster’s blue magic, he considered them and what they were capable of doing. Reluctantly, he let them go. He was going to hear about this from Frisk and the former Kings later, might as well not make it worse. For Grillby’s sake.
“Get out of here.” He scowled at them, not letting them go from his sight. As they scampered away, Gaster yelled behind them. “And don’t you fucking dare to come back!” There was still a tightness in his chest as the excitement started to fade away.
The fire monster’s hold on his arm faltered. Turning to look at his lover, Gaster noticed how badly he was hurting. Looking around at the patrons in the bar, completely forgetting they were in public, he made a quick, shy apology before holding Grillby’s elbow and jumping to his apartment, which was (fortunately for Gaster since that little stunt drain a great part of his magic) behind the bar, teleporting right in the middle of the living room.
Helping unbutton his shirt and vest, Gaster gasped as he saw the damage. It wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be but it was there nonetheless; Grillby’s had a big patch of hardened, dark grey “skin” similar to drenched coal that covered the center of his chest but it wasn’t wider than a hand. It had small cracks that were starting to burn red on the edges, sending plumes of white sizzling fire. There were a few tiny white patches around it where the water had splashed. It covered half of the older scar that he had.
“how… how did you know...” Grillby asked, sitting down on the edge of his dining table. “ That I was in trouble?”
“The power of love, firefly.” Gaster sing-songed, passing a hand covered in green magic on top of his injury. He got a poked on the ribs for that. “Okay, okay. Um… someone was streaming the fight to catch my attention. Otherwise they wouldn’t have tagged me.”
“Say thanks to them for me… even though what you did was pretty reckless…” the fire pulled him closer, hugging him by the waist.
Unfazed by Grillby’s action, he rested his other hand on his still very hot to the touch shoulder. Without his shirt, the warmth was a little unbearable. “I’m not really that sorry this time.” The fire monster frowned at him. “Okay, maybe a little sorry. I just got so mad when I saw it! By the time I realize where I was, that brute was already in front of me.” Gaster thanked the stars for not having skin. “Beside, you would do the same for me.” he said smiling.
“Nah, a little water won’t hurt you once in awhile.” the fire chuckled, making a few plumes flutter from his shoulders.
“Rude.” Gaster frowned, his smirk not going away. Pulling a bandage from his inventory, he used two pairs of magic hands to dress Grillby’s wound. Cupping Grillby’s face into Gaster’s own hands, he leaned down, touching their foreheads together.
“You know I would.”
“I know.”
That was the scary part.