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W.D Gaster let out a sigh as he cleaning up the living room. He straightened up and looked around for any other books or stray bones that he could have missed. He loved his kids, but really needed to work on clean up time with them.
He turned then to look outside where snow was, as usual, slowly falling. A quick glance at the, slightly crooked now that he looked at it, clock on the wall told him that they should be back soon. He glanced at the living room, taking in how clean it was before they returned. It probably wouldn’t stay that way for long when they did. He started towards the kitchen when the telltale sound of snow crunching and loud talking neared the front door.
“SANS COME ON WE NEED TO GET HOME OR ELSE DAD WILL MAKE SOMETHING OTHER THAN SPAGHETTI. “
“aw come on paps, dad knows how much you love it I bet it's already waiting for you”
“ALL THE MORE REASON TO HURRY UP THEN. BESIDES I WANTED TO HELP MAKE IT LIKE I USUALLY DO.”
Gaster chuckled, and turned back toward the living room just as the front door opened. Two small skeletons walked inside. The taller one was bundled in three winter coats, with little red boots and thick pants to keep him warm. He was top heavy, and nearly fell over in his excitement to get inside. He would have fallen had the slightly smaller skeleton not grabbed him by his bright red scarf and pulled him up.
“gee paps, I know skeletons have a tendon-cy to fall apart, but at least wait till you get inside the house to do that.”
“SANS NO ONE LIKES YOUR PUNS.” He cried out, whirling around to face his brother.
“Actually,” Gaster cut in, “I find them quite humerous.” Gaster chuckled at his own pun while Sans grinned and Papyrus wailed about being surrounded by annoying pun lovers.
“Anyway, come inside and tell me what you two did today.”
Papyrus grinned and started pulling at the coats, only getting himself stuck in the tangled up in the process. Gaster stepped forward to help as sans took off his heavier blue coat to show a light blue one underneath. He kicked his boots and socks off and immediately put on the pair of pink bunny slippers waiting by the door. Gaster stepped forward and grabbed the wet coats and boots.
“WE WALKED ALL THE WAY INTO SNOWDIN, AND WE MADE WONDERFUL snowskeletons. AND BY WE I MEAN I DID. SANS SAT THERE WATCHING LIKE A LAZYBONES!!”
“aww paps I supervised. It’s one of the most important jobs when making snowskeletons. Besides the tree I was sitting next to seemed pretty bonley.”
“SANS!!!”
“Papyrus, we all know you are grinning at your brother’s puns.” Gaster interrupted, as he placed the wet coats in the hamper next to the door.
“ANYWAY,” Papyrus huffed fighting to keep the grin off his face, “THERE WERE SOME OTHER KIDS THERE TOO BUT THEY DIDN’T SEEM TO LIKE USE VERY MUCH. BUT SANS MANAGED TO CALM THEM DOWN.”
Gaster turned toward his oldest in concern but Sans just shrugged, his grin still in place if a little strained at the mention of the bullies. With a sigh, Gaster made a mental note to speak to the other parents in town. If anyone was bothering his children, well, he wanted them to know just how bad of an idea that was.
“Well I’m glad you two had fun. I'm sure those snowskeletons were the best in the whole town.”
“YOU’RE RIGHT, THEY WERE. ANYWAY DAD I'M HUNGRY, WHAT'S FOR DINNER”
Gaster grinned and, like he almost couldn’t help it replied with, “Hi Hungry, i’m Dad.”
Sans burst into a fit of laughter, while Papyrus let out an outraged yell. Gaster just grinned, pleased at the dad joke and his children's reactions.
“Alright, why don’t you two head upstairs and change. I thought we could have spaghetti tonight. How does that sound?”
“THAT SOUNDS LIKE A PERFECT WAY TO END AN ALMOST PERFECT DAY. IF YOU TWO,” He glared at Sans and Gaster,” WOULD QUIT WITH THOSE STUPID JOKES”
“aww but paps ive got a ton of them, a skele-ton of them” Sans grinned, laughing as he followed his grumbling brother upstairs.
Gaster turned and walked into the kitchen, a smile on his face. He children were great, things were going well with the core, everything was looking up lately and he couldn’t be happier.
He pulled out the needed items for dinner then got the water started boiling. He was in no rush, no doubt Papyrus would come running down, demanding to help. He turned back to the fridge and grabbed a container of ketchup then pulled a glass down from the cabinets. He filled the cup with ketchup, then placed in down at Sans' usual seat: next to Papyrus who always sat across from Gaster. He pulled out and filled another glass with milk and placed it as Papyrus' seat.
“I really need to figure out where Sans got the taste for condiments.” He mumbled to himself while pulling out a pre-filled glass of mayonnaise and taking a sip. He was just starting to make the sauce when Papyrus ran into the kitchen.
“DAD, HAVE TO FINISHED? IF YOU HAVEN'T CAN I HELP?” Papyrus asked, looking eagerly at the ingredients laid out.
“Of course Papyrus, it wouldn’t taste the same if you didn’t help.”
“NYEHEHEHEHE OF COURSE IT WOULDN’T!”
The two worked quickly, with Papyrus and his little ‘nyhehe’s every so often while Sans sat out in the living room taking, from the sounds his snores, a nap. Dinner was finished without much fuss and served with a smile from both Gaster and Papyrus.
“Sans come on dinner is ready.” Gaster called out to his oldest.
“thanks” Sans’ grin widened and he sat down in his seat.
“so is there anything new with the Core?” Sans asked looking to his father with thinly concealed excitement.
“Well,” Gaster started with a grin, “most of the experiments are similar to what we have been doing. However, we did get some better results this time. I will be heading into the center of it in a few days to check the machines there. Since it is so hot we can’t transfer the readings to the lab, they have to be manually retrieved.”
Sans’ eye sockets widened. “you’re going into the Core? can we come?”
“No, it isn’t safe for little bittybones like yourselves. But I will tell you all about it when I get back.” Gaster replied with a fond smile.
If there was one thing Sans loved more than his brother, it was the science Gaster did. When he first learned about the Core, it took a lot of patience on Gasters part to keep Sans from teleporting there.
Sans sighed, but knew not to argue. When it came to his and Papyrus’ safety, his Dad could get really strict.
Dinner went on and finished with Papyrus talking about all the plans he had for tomorrow, and what kinds of snowskeletons he wanted to perfect.
Both brothers helped with cleaning, although Sans couldn;t help but throw a few more puns around.
“come on paps, you worked me to the bone today already, do i really have to help clean?”
“ENOUGH WITH YOUR JOKES SANS, AND YES YOU DO HAVE TO HELP. NOW PUT SOME...BACKBONE INTO DRYING THOSE NYHEHEHEHE!!”
When the dishes were done, Gaster brought them upstairs and helped them get ready for bed.
“DAD I AM A GROWN SKELETON, I DON’T NEED HELP GETTING READY FOR BED.”
“Then i suppose you also don’t need a bedtime story, since you’re a ‘grown skeleton’?” Gaster replied with a knowing smile.
“W-WELL I’M NOT THAT GROWN. BESIDES NO ONE CAN BE TOO OLD FOR A BEDTIME STORY, RIGHT SANS?” Papyrus questioned, turning towards his brother.
“of course not pap, bedtime stories are the best.” Sans replied as he settled in next to his brother.
“So which one do you want to hear tonight?” Gaster asked as he walked over to the small shelf of books.
“THE FLUFFY BUNNY OF COURSE. IT’S A GREAT STORY TO END A GREAT DAY.”
“but the story isn't a great as you paps.” Sans said, as he tucked Papyrus in.
Papyrus let out a resounding ‘NYHEHEHE’ to his brothers comment, and Gaster chuckled at the two of them.
He pulled the requested story from its place on the shelf. It was old, and the edges were worn from use. Some of the pages were ripped, but Gaster bet that he could say it from heart. Still, Papyrus loved the pictures along with the words, so he walked over and settled on the bed next to his boys.
As he read through each page, he could see Papyrus’ head slowly falling, and held back soft chuckles when it bobbed up as he tried to stay awake. He hadn’t even gotten through half of the story before Papyrus’ snores filled the room.
Gaster finished the story, despite what Sans would say otherwise, Gaster knew he enjoyed story time just as much as his brother.
Sans was still awake when he finished, though it was clear he was close to falling asleep. Gaster stood, walked over to the bookshelf and placed the story book back into its place. He turned and stopped, taking in the sight his children made.
Papyrus was sound asleep, tucked into the blankets and looking like an adorable burrito. Sans was next to him, above the blankets, and looked like he was almost asleep, snuggled into his brother’s side.
Walking over, Gaster was careful as he picked up Sans. Papyrus was a heavy sleeper, but sometimes the littlest things woke him up. Sans shifted and grumbled about not needing to be carried anymore, but Gaster just chuckled and walked over to the other side of the room, where Sans’ bed was. He placed his eldest down and tucked him in, just as Sans had done for Papyrus.
Gaster leaned down, placed a kiss on Sans’ skull and whispered good night, then he walked over to Papyrus and did the same thing before stepping back to the door. He clicked the light off, the looked to the corner of the room.
A tear appeared, and through it came a large, smooth, floating skull. The Blaster was not the biggest one he had, but he didn’t want one of his kids to wake and see a giant skull in the room.
This one was the smallest one he had, and it was designed just for them. It was smoother than the others, Its eye sockets glowed a soothing yellow, and its teeth weren’t nearly as sharp. It wasn't meant to look threatening, but it was powerful. And most importantly, it was designed to keep his boys safe.
The tear closed behind the Blaster as it settled down to keep watch over the two small skeletons. Gaster nodded at it then left the room, shutting the dorm behind himself with a soft click.
He headed to his room and, as he prepared for bed, couldn’t help but think about what they would be like when they were older. Already he knew they were both destined for great things, and he couldn’t wait to see it.