Chapter Text
“You never told me you were returning a celebrity with a fanclub to boot, Starshine.”
The cheeky voice startled Grillby out of his half daze against the side of the knoll, hidden away from the main camp for some damned peace and quiet. He blinked up, flames resettling at the sight of an equally cheeky and unrepentant grin that shaded his face from the sun. The warrior sat up, forcing the skeleton monster a step back, both relieved and a little peeved. “Dings! You absolute bastard! Where were you, I was looking for you for hours yesterday!”
WingDings Gaster continued to smile that toothy grin, eyelights dancing with mirth at having caught his friend off guard. He sat himself next to the fire elemental in a graceless sprawl. “Oh, you know. Gathering, chores, the usual.” A bony hand waved dismissively through the air.
Grillby caught it, running a gloved thumb along the edge of the perfect circle in the center of it. “What-?”
“Ah.” Gaster pulled his hand out of Grillby’s grip, rubbing it with a matching holed hand before tucking both into the sleeves of his cloak. He wouldn’t meet Grillby’s eyes. “Nothing. It’s really nothing. Just something stupid. You know how I am. Don’t always think things through, so…”
He wasn’t getting the whole story and it twinged something in him that Gaster didn’t seem to want to tell him. There hadn’t been anything about injuries in his letters. They used to be joined at the hip. It shook him a bit to realize there were things he now didn’t know about someone who he’d known down to habit not so long ago.
An awkward silence settled between them that Grillby didn’t like. He hadn’t seen Gaster in months. He’d missed his childhood friend something fierce and had been looking forward to seeing him again the moment they’d called for a return to the camp he’d been summoned in. He’d bugged his unit commander to write a letter for him, since he couldn’t really do it for himself, just so the skeleton would have warning of his visit. He’d fought so many battles, against so many soldiers, with the fear of mages hanging over him that he’d been looking forward to running errands with Gaster, or sneaking into the wine cellars in the small village the camp rested besides, or even going fishing if it just meant getting to spend time with the skeleton.
At some point, Grillby could admit to himself that his feelings for his friend had developed into something more.
A clearing of a non-existent throat cut through the growing silence, recapturing Grillby’s attention. Gaster had turned back to him, a cheeky smile firmly back in place. “So. Your fanclub.”
What- oh. Right. “They’re not my fanclub.”
“Oh
reaaaaally
?”
The living flame rolled his eyes. “Yes really. They’re in my unit.”
“I’ve never heard a unit gush so much about someone else in their unit. Unless…”
“Oh for fuck’s sake, Dings.”
“You can’t tell me I’m wrong. You, Grillby Blaze Carver, have a fan club.”
Grillby groaned, flopping back into the grass and running his hands down his face. “
Not you too!
”
“Now now, it’s only natural when one becomes a warrior of your calibre to be bestowed a title!” Gaster’s voice lilted into something teasing, familiar and welcome.
“It’s a stupid title.” The eternal muttered, fingers combing through his agitated flames.
“It is a bit on the nose, isn’t it.”
“It’s not even official. They just came up with it.”
“You’re not aiding your argument here that you don’t have a fanclub.”
Grillby snorted, a jagged grin spreading across his face as he turned to look back up at his friend. “Stars, I’ve missed you, Dings.”
Gaster’s grin melted on the edges into something bordering a happy waver if he’d had lips. His eyelights softened, glow dimming and his shoulders hunched in that way that was so distinctly WingDings brand embarrassment that Grillby felt his soul growing soft along with it. “I’ve missed you too, Starshine.”
Another silence fell, this one comfortable and companionable with only the wind and distant sounds of camp nearby to break into it. The sun was beginning to set behind the mountain line and soon enough, Grillby’s flames would glow bright enough in the evening light to give away where they were hiding from the world. There was so much he wanted to tell his friend, so many places he had gotten to see and thoughts he wanted to share, but just having him close by again was nice too. Gaster, however, was not one for long silences.
“So about your fanclub-”
“Dings…” He huffed.
“No, no, hear me out.” Gaster gestured widely, having seemingly forgotten he had been hiding his hands from view not several minutes earlier. Grillby tried not to stare at the holes as the skeleton spoke. “So I heard them talking in the tavern, right-”
“I’m a little miffed you saw them before you saw me. I searched for hours.”
“Let me finish, sparkler!”
“
Hours
, Dings! My pride hurts!”
“Oh don’t be so
dramatic
-”
“Like you’re one to talk.”
“Hush!” A bony hand smacked his shoulder and Grillby chuckled, making a show of zipping his mouth closed. “Thank you. Now, I heard several tales regaling your many heroic feats on the battlefield from yourself of course,” Grillby rolled his eyes again, a bitter blue shifting through his flames briefly. They’d been acts of panic, not anything heroic. “And I’m forced to conclude that you have broken many hearts.”
That… that hadn’t been what Grillby was expecting. His expression pulled down into baffled confusion, his flames snapping and popping as he tried (and failed) to grasp Gaster’s train of thought here. Broken hearts? Him? He made it a point not to mix pleasure with battlefield units or people he worked too closely with. It was too easy to get attached if he saw them everyday. His eyes darted to and from Gaster’s teasing smirk. Exhibit A was sitting right beside him, after all.
“In fact, I rather think that little wolf monster is sweet on you.”
“I’m not interested.” The words were out before he could stop them, a hard bite to the crackling of his fire that he couldn’t help. He was finally back home, he was going to be shipped out again soon. He didn’t want to spend the time talking about his dumb title, or his unit and supposed fanclub, or someone else who might hold some kind of aspirations towards him. He wanted to talk about dumb things with Gaster, like how the clouds moved or listen to his friend ramble excitedly about the applications of his magic. He wanted to spend time with the object of his affections before he had to leave once more!
The bite had Gaster stopping short, gestures half finished and pulling close to himself. A defensive instinct that hadn’t been there the last Grillby had seen him. “I- sorry. I wasn’t trying to imply… Sorry.”
Ah shit. He hadn’t meant for that to come off as accusatory. “Don’t apologize.” He huffed, sitting up again. “You were just teasing. I know that.” He rubbed at the back of his neck, watching as the sun dipped lower and stars began to twinkle in its path. “Just… I’m not interested in them. There’s someone else.”
Curious eyelights shifted his way and he suddenly found his boots to be incredibly interesting. His hands had just begun to fidget with each other before bony fingers pushed themselves between them and squeezed. “Hey.” The soft voice encouraged him to look back at Gaster. “It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me anything. I mean,” His expression turned sheepish. “I admit I’ll be incredibly, overwhelmingly curious, but you don’t have to say anything you don’t want to.”
The warmth that spread through Grillby melted his soul all over again. He shook his head. “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you.”
Bony brows pulled down to shadow confused eyes, an unspoken question dancing in bright eyelights. Grillby watched them, taking in each flicker and pulse of the magic there as Gaster’s thoughts swirled behind them. Something sparked in his soul, bolstering a courage he mustered for hard battles and before he could think twice, his hand came up to cup the side of Gaster’s skull. The skeleton went stiff, orbits blowing wide and eyelights quivering from oval to round pinpricks of surprise. The world seemed to still, neither of them daring to breathe as Grillby leaned in and pressed his mouth to Gaster’s teeth.
As far as kisses went, it was rather simple. Chaste and short. It still felt incredibly monumental and Grillby was loathe to pull away, afraid that ending it meant he’d ended their friendship in one fell swoop. He was surprised, therefore, to find Gaster’s sockets closed when he did and a faint purple blush dusting his cheekbones. They opened slowly and the two regarded each other in a tense stare down. Grillby squirmed under the scrutiny, mouth opening to apologize, take it back, anything , but a strong grip on the collar of his tunic and a firm yank forward cut it off before it had even left his mouth. Gaster’s teeth pressed in again and occupied it with a second, longer kiss.
When they separated this time, they were both panting for air and a smile, jagged and warm, spread across Grillby’s face. “Oh.”
“Yeah.” Gaster sounded as breathless as he looked. “Oh. Took you long enough, Starshine.”
Grillby only took a moment to process that Gaster had apparently been harboring his own feelings before he ducked back in for another kiss, pressing Gaster back against the knoll. They spent the next several hours laying there, exchanging dumb stories and soft kisses as the night sky came alive with stars.