Grillby's

“It is weird,” he affirmed, shoulders still shaking somewhat. Once he was certain his chortles wouldn’t spill the drink Gaster picked up the glass to take a filling gulp.

“But the Royal Court thinks we live a thousand years in the past, so it is unsurprising their codes of conduct have become stale.” He rolled his eyes at the Court’s decisions. They had lived for so long and yet found it fit to live in closure whilst demanding others do all the work, content in growing moss and talking amongst themselves. Gaster almost envied the other for leaving. Politics were boring. “I shudder to think that will become us one day, if we ended up… living…. that long…” 

The scientist’s words tapered off as he was presented his meal. The inviting aroma, coupled by his body realizing it would receive food with more nutritional value than a cup of tasteless noodles, caused his mouth to water he had to be careful less he drool all over the countertop.

“Thank you for the meal.”

Those were perhaps the last coherent words Gaster could offer before he picked up the burger, of which size managed to dwarf his hands. It didn’t outmatch his mouth though, opening wide to practically show the back of his throat while he sunk this porcelain fangs into the meat. He didn’t exactly care for propriety at the moment but he tried his best to keep the sauce from staining his coat; Grillby had already seen him at worse, back when he hunted his own food and didn’t bother cooking it. Gaster still preferred his prey raw, but since he couldn’t chase after live prey anymore, this was the best substitute available.

Well, Grillbert’s food was still his favorite. If he didn’t have to trek into Snowdin to eat it he was positive he would eat it every day of his life. The siren song of grease continued to be the only thing to yank him out of his lab every few weeks.

*Gaze falling over the scars of his eyes, they shudder slightly as tunnel vision takes over their senses, leaving them aware of nothing else but the memory of those scars still fresh, the screams, the humans, everything jarring and vivid as if they’d just been doused with particularly cold water. Why now? Why couldn’t Grillby’s mind let them have one moment of enjoyment without immediately bringing up the pain that had come before it?

*Trying to push the vision from their mind only made it more vivid, curled the scent of cooked meat into the memory of flesh as they tried to fix what had been done, the smell of wine bringing back the memory of alcohol to numb the pain as they brushed white-hot fingers over too-deep wounds trying to keep Gaster from bleeding out or getting infected, the ugly sounds that he’d made at their own hand. It was a vivid sound that you never could scrub from the back of your mind, something like choking. The world went sideways abruptly, but the sensation of their arm crumpling under them reminded them of the sensation of humans piling blankets over them when they’d been found hiding in the alley. Grillby thrashes out instinctively with the other arm in panic, smashing the heat out of it until it’s no longer burning.

*They stare blankly at the floor, sideways against their face, and the fridge door they’d just dented. Well, that was certainly a thing that had happened. It would probably be prudent for Grillby to remove themself from the floor and apologize to Gaster. Yes, that would definitely be the thing to do right now. Grillbert stares at the dent, at the soft flicker of their flames reflected, trying to remind themselves that they shouldn’t just lie there, but the sudden presence in reality was very distracting and soothing.

*It takes another minute before Grillby finally lifts their head from the floor, rolling themselves up into a sitting position with momentum before they shake their sleeves out to return heat to their arms and give them shape once again. They focus a little too long on straightening out their shirt, avoiding standing up again, knowing Gaster might be looking at them. Ugh. Why did their memory have to do this to them constantly? They just wanted to read books and be happy. They didnt ask for this sort of mess.