Chapter Text
No matter how many times the human summoned him, it still generated a low, excited buzz to see someone genuinely happy to see him.
“Hey cutie.”
Especially when the human greeted him with things like that.
Such attention consistently obliterated whatever practiced statements Night had been taught over the years, partially because he didn’t want to brush this affection away. Too many times in the village, Night had desperately wanted to be anywhere else, and allowed himself to fall into rehearsed protocol (which was another thing Dream did better than he did). The sweetness here, though? It was terrifying… Or exhilarating. Like one of Mare’s intrusive thoughts, but with the dread implicit rather than overwhelming.
“Ah.” Night wasn’t blushing, but he was close. “Dr Gaster?” he managed to get out.
The human nodded to a corner. “He’s been conked out for the past hour and a half. I figured I’d let him sleep, given how much he needs it.
“You wanna wait beside him? I’m sure he’d feel better waking up to another skeleton.”
Night sidled over to the corner where Dr Gaster sat half-slumped against the wall, draped in a purple blanket emblazoned with the Delta Rune, fast asleep. He felt a tinge of disappointment, as he had hoped to speak with Dr Gaster some more, but, well, he didn’t doubt the human’s evaluation of Dr Gaster’s sleep schedule. Night himself had developed semi-nocturnal habits due to constantly getting caught up in his books. A scientist falling into similar patterns didn’t seem unusual. And besides, it wasn’t like Night had much else he cared to do right now. He could wait, and read as he waited.
Night. Night. Hey, Night.
Touch him.
This intrusive thought was harder to ignore. Most of Mare’s communication felt like alien thoughts settling, cuckoo-like, in his head and displacing his own thoughts. This time, it felt like Mare was voicing an urge he tried to smother.
Pat him on the head.
Do it.
He can’t stop you~.
I’m not going to pat him on the head, snapped Night. Petting someone while they’re sleeping is weird at best? He hadn’t wanted that tail bit of uncertainty to come along, but it did regardless.
The human pets you while you sleep all the time.
Wait, really? Night glanced at the human. They caught him looking, smiled, and slid a bowl of shining pomegranate seeds to his side.
One for each month of winter… mused Mare.
There’s no winter near the Tree, Night said. Even if the human did mean to reference Persephone… He trailed off and considered the human. (Night wasn’t sure when or why he had picked up Dr Gaster’s habit of referring to them as ’the human’ - he knew plenty of humans back at the village. But maybe that was it - he saw these villagers every day and knew them as Smudge or Foxtooth or Beatrice or Chara or Whin. This entity, with its uncanny power and strange block around his perception was like the Ur-Human, the Omega Human, the platonic Human That Which All Others Are Mere Reflections Cast Darkly Through A Mirror.
Or at least, that was his impression from how Dr Gaster talked about them.
Do you think there’s also a platonic Skeleton out there who’s just as eerie? Mare had asked him.)
To be fair, Mare wasn’t wrong, exactly. This was a strange dimension of some sort, and it was possible being absent from the Tree for a lengthy period of time might lead to consequences beyond leaving the apples open to predation.
“Winter fruits…?” he murmured aloud.
“They’re in season,” said the human.
It seemed like all the answer the human thought he needed, which seemed pretty decent evidence there was no deeper meaning behind it. Night nibbled the corner of a seed, splitting open the fruit flesh and giving him the brief taste of the juice. There was no way it wouldn’t end up staining his teeth and phalanges a bloody burgundy. He grabbed another handful and nibbled them one at a time.
Dr Gaster twitched in his sleep. Night could feel Mare craning its attention towards him.
Bad dreams, it said in response to his unspoken question.
What about?
Touching him is too intimate but you have no objection to prying into his subconscious?
Night couldn’t come up with a counterargument and sulked into his book.
I can only feel the accompanying emotions, regardless. No specific scenarios or events he might be dwelling on.
Not interested, Night said, lying.
Fear. And pain. Loss. Betrayal, as both the traitor and the victim.
Wow. It’s almost like he’s a person with feelings or something. A moment later, Night wished he hadn’t been so short with Mare. Are you feeding on his emotions? Could you… eat enough to take them away?
Give him better dreams by default? Mare supplied. Get closer, perhaps.
The suggestion might have been Mare’s further attempt to tease him, but Night thought he felt something like sincere curiosity in its tone. He placed his palm on the slope of Dr Gaster’s skull.
Dr Gaster swatted away his hand, muttering something like ‘subject one’. He dropped the latter half of his sentence as his eye lights flittered around and he gathered his bearings.
“Dr Gaster? It’s me, Night.”
Dr Gaster huffed, adjusted his collar, and rounded on the human. “Leave him out of this. He’s a child.”
“I have said nothing to him that he hasn’t already considered,” replied the human.
Being called a child stung more than Night wanted it to. He tried consoling himself that it technically wasn’t wrong, and that Dr Gaster had decades, if not centuries, on him. Maybe if he were content with the way he was treated by most adults… Maybe then it wouldn’t feel like a scrape rubbed raw…
Dr Gaster had brought out his phone again, ignoring Night completely, and that stung, too.
“Hey, Night,” the human said. When he looked over, they added, “I think it’s pretty sweet how you looked after him” with a nod to Dr Gaster, who scoffed. Night felt the purple blush come back to his cheekbones.
Whatever worry had creased Dr Gaster’s features eased. He put his phone away and finally regarded Night. “Time-sensitive work. That I really should be getting back to-” This directed at the human, who smirked. “-But since I can’t control the human’s whims, I must find workarounds.” He sighed. “Though, conversation with a bright pupil is a pleasant way to spend time all the same. Go ahead, Night.” Dr Gaster gave him that small smile that made something in Night’s soul flip. At least he was already blushing in response to the human’s flattery.
“Right, um. I was looking at the chapters on skeleton history and, um, I think I want to know more?” The chapters had listed kingdoms and alliances and legends, and events so deep in history that legend blended into fact. “Like, how much power each kingdom had and why, and how this alliance was formed, and what they figured out about, uh, taxes and stuff?” Night bounced between topics, trying to get all his thoughts voiced. He flipped out a notebook to let Dr Gaster read the notes he had taken while reading the book. When his rambling came to a close, Dr Gaster regarded him with a pensive look.
“You’re far more interested in politics than I was at your age,” he remarked. “Truthfully…” He paused. “I didn’t pay as much attention as I should have, and suffered the consequences. By the time I grew old enough to understand, all the skeletons were gone, and I had to piece together much of our history from fragments and interviews and the surviving literature written by people who knew us, once.
“That is to say, I don’t think I’ll be able to answer all these questions you have, but I can try.”
The human reached over and stroked Dr Gaster’s skull. He waved them off. “Not the appropriate time or place,” he snapped.
“You looked sad,” the human said.
“You manhandling me isn’t going to improve my mood.”
Mare sent him a question in the image of Dr Gaster and the human locked in a deep kiss. Night had the same supposition occur to him at the same time, and easily brushed past the thought.
“Why the sudden interest in politics?” Dr Gaster asked him.
Tell him we’re planning a coup.
I’m not telling him we’re planning a coup.
But we are planning a coup.
We are considering planning a coup. Out loud, Night tried to formulate his thoughts. “Well, um.” He had gone over what he wanted to say, but now he wasn’t sure where to start. It was one thing to recite boring, practiced speeches when on ceremony. Persuasion was something he had tried to learn from his books, but there was only so much he could glean about face-to-face communication from such a static medium. “Have you, um, ever been in a situation where… you know it’s the wrong thing to do, and it’s highly likely it’ll go horribly wrong, and the people who lo- people you care about would hate it if they knew, but it’s the only way you can see to move forward?”
Congratulations. I think you managed to stumble into the most alarming way to introduce that. And on your very first go!
Dr Gaster stared at him. Night couldn’t read his expression.
“Cigarette?” the human offered.
“Not in front of the child,” Dr Gaster said, as he held out his hand to take it.