All of the prep work was done. Dr. Gaster had removed the base materials needed, a process he did not care to think back on, combined the two samples into one large enough to provide the mass needed, and after giving it the magical treatment needed inserted the sample inside himself, another process he didn't care to think back on. Now all that was left was to wait and see if his theories and calculations were actually correct, to wait and hope. It took all of Gaster's self control to wait a whole week before checking, but he managed it.
He stood before the full length mirror in his bathroom, the only full length mirror in his home and the best place to do this. He angled himself so his good eye was facing the mirror and tentatively lifted his shirt. There, nestled in the incorporeal collection of magic that held his bones together, sat the sample piece, the "seed" if you will. It had grown. It had definitely grown! The seed was bigger and rounder, the sharp edges softening as the top and bottom bulged out. He had done it!
Gaster lay a trembling hand against his belly, right next to where the seed is suspended, as one of his rare, gentle smiles spreads across his face, softening his normally sharp, brooding features until even the scar over his eye didn't look quite so rakish anymore. In just a few short months he wouldn't be the last skeleton alive anymore!
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The tall, lanky skeleton stood before his bathroom mirror again, a scowl firmly on his face. He had his hand pressed against his belly again, the reason for his scowl abundantly clear as he stared into the mirror, then with a sigh lay his skull against the cool surface. The seed had split apart and now floated in two pieces, each with a precise, flat, circular end showing where the two halves used to be connected. Something had gone wrong and Gaster wasn't sure where. Had he not fused the two halves together hard enough? Was his soul not capable of putting out the magic necessary for such a delicate process? Were the two halves together simply not enough base material? Gaster heaved out another sigh, no matter where he had gone wrong didn't matter at this point, there hadn't been any second chances for this project and he had obviously failed. With a heavy sigh he pulled down his shirt. The seed pieces would need to be removed, he was sure, but he just didn't have the time or energy to deal with it today. There was the meeting with the king and the brilliant Dr. Alphys to attend and checking over the Core… well the seed wasn't going anywhere, he would see to removing it that evening.
That evening came and Gaster found himself too exhausted to think about his failed project so instead he went straight to bed. The next morning found the tall skeleton rushing out the door without a thought and that evening going straight to bed again. The next day followed the same, it wasn't until the fourth day that he finally cleared his morning schedule so he could start the planning process, beginning with a thorough inspection of the failed seed. With a heavy sigh, he lifted his shirt as he stood before the mirror again. With a gasp he dropped his shirt hem, then frantically lifted it again as he pressed closer to the mirror. The two seed halves had grown in the last four days, the flat ends of both now bulging out and the harsh corner nearly completely smoothed out. He hadn't failed after all! Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes as he gently laid one hand against his belly and a gentle smile spread across his face. When he started this project he had had such small hopes, if he was very lucky he would have one little clone of himself so he wouldn't be quite so alone in the world. Not once had he dared to dream of twins!
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Rather than the usual blaring of his alarm clock waking him up, Gaster found himself stumbling out of bed and blindly rushing down the hall to the bathroom. He just barely made it in time, just making it to the toire right as the first round of puke forces itself up and out. Fortunately this round is very short and he's soon flushing the puke away before brushing his teeth and gargling mouth wash in an attempt to get the horrible taste out of his mouth. The second day in a row this had happened, if it followed like yesterday then he would feel fine once he forced himself to eat despite the very thought of food sending his non-existent stomach roiling, King Asgore would likely stop by with soup and tea again, and in all likelihood tomorrow would be the same as well. Ugh, morning sickness.
"I hope you two appreciate everything I'm going through for your sake," the lanky skeleton said to his belly as he bent forward to get a better look. He moved over to the mirror as he continued talking. "But your worth it, I'm sure if it." He gently ran a hand over his still flat belly as he smiled down at his precious cargo. They hadn't grown much in the last week, instead the two indistinct blobs had morphed and changed until they were almost baby shaped. They both had large, bulbous heads attached to little potato shaped bodies with four little nubbins that would likely become arms and legs soon. He spent another moment admiring them before the sound of his alarm going off rang distantly from his room. Time to start his day.
Since he had called in sick yesterday King Asgore had insisted that Gaster make it two days at least, which Gaster had not objected to. There was some work he could do from home since he was feeling better, and when the king inevitably stopped by later to check up on him the doctor could tell him he's completely recovered and feeling just fine. The king didn't need to know he had woken up and was immediately sick again, and likely would every morning for the next few months.
"You two had better appreciate everything I'm going through for your sake."
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Gaster stood before the full length mirror as had become a morning ritual, gently running his hands over the swell of his round belly and smiling at the two little baby bones nestled inside. He had to admit he was rather surprised he wasn't showing more by this point, with twins on the way he was sure he wouldn't be able to hide them anymore by now. As it was he was having a hard time keeping them secret, his normally loose clothes only did so much when he had such a thin, lanky frame to begin with, but the twins seemed to prefer to cling to each other rather than spread out and take up as much space as he was sure they could. For now the doctor was content to keep them to himself, while he could be sure that King Asgore would be delighted at the thought of babies since he was such a softie, and Dr. Alphys was so kind and empathetic that she was sure to be supportive, but there was no knowing how the rest of the Underground would react to his unconventional experiment.
But the morning was getting away from him and he needed to get going if he wasn't going to be late, so he put on his losest shirt, which was starting to get a bit tight around the belly, his favorite lab coat, and finished everything off with his shoulder bag. The lab coat and bag really were doing most of the work to hide his growing baby bump, the bag was at just the right height to obscure it. Now ready to start the day, the doctor left for his morning meeting.
He was the first to arrive, which was nothing unusual for him. The handsome skeleton took his seat, his baby bump was barely noticeable while seated, and started pulling various reports and paperwork from his bag.
"Ah, Gaster, good morning."
Dr. Gaster looked up as the imposing yet ever gentle boss monster ducked into the room, careful to keep his magnificent horns from damaging the door. "Good morning, Asgore. How are you today?"
"I am quite well, thank you."
"Ohayo gozaimasu," Dr. Alphys intoned perfectly as she entered the room.
"Good morning, Dr. Alphys," Gaster and King Asgore both greeted with bright smiles on their faces.
"Goodness, you seem in a good mood this morning, Gaster," King Asgore commented as he and Alphys took their own seats. "It seems to be happening more and more lately."
"A good night's sleep and a good breakfast do wonders for a monster. Now, if we're all ready, I wanted do discuss these Core readings..."
The meeting proceeded as normal, with the two brilliant scientists and the king discussing various, brilliant scientific projects until Dr. Gaster gasps in surprise and drops his pen! The meeting grinds to a halt as Alphys and King Asgore stare at the skeleton while a look of pure wonder washes over his face.
"Gaster, are you alright?" King Asgore asked in concern.
The rakish skeleton cleared his throat as he felt a blush spread across his cheek bones. "Yes, I'm quite alright, I just suddenly remembered something I must attend to right after we're through here. If you'll just let me," he quickly rifled through his papers until he found one with an empty corner and hastily wrote the date and the word "first kick" in his own font on the corner. "There, now, as I was saying..."
Dr. Gaster spent the rest of the meeting with one hand absently rubbing his belly where a continuous flurry of tiny kicks came from one of the babies. Each little kick sent his Soul fluttering and it took all his effort to keep a straight face through the rest of the meeting.
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Dr. Gaster absently shut off the alarm, glad that the bouts of morning sickness had finally stopped altogether, but now he was faced with a new problem, the mere act of getting out of bed was harder and harder every day. The problem with baby's first kick is that it's only the first and usually the gentlest. One of the babies seemed to be very active and didn't like letting his poor father sleep, kicking and squirming about every time the doctor lay down! On top of waking up still tired, the active baby's squirming about seemed to annoy the other one as they were no longer clinging to each other, leading to a big, round belly that made rolling out of bed into a literal act and simple movements like standing up into an ordeal. Once finally upright he put a hand at the small of his back to help propel him forward while the other supported the twins as he waddled down the hallway, all sense of grace lost along with his sense of balance.
He rifled through his kitchen cupboards, pulling out a single serving container of instant ramen, one of many which were generously gifted to him by the thoughtful Dr. Alphys and just about the only thing the twins seemed to want him to eat, just as well that it's so delicious and he rather liked the exotic food. As the doctor daintily slurped his noodles he went over the day's agenda, the most interesting item on it being reporting the latest Core readings to King Asgore. That would certainly be the highlight of Dr. Gaster's day.
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"Gaster," King Asgore said with a sigh, running one of his big, gentle paws through his luscious hair. "Old friend, I worry for you."
Dr. Gaster looked down, ashamed to have caused his closest friend to worry so. "You do not need to worry so hard, I assure you I am quite well."
"Clearly you are not, you're tired all the time, you've taken to isolating yourself more than usual... and don't think I didn't notice the weight gain, I know enough to know that's not normal for a skeleton." The king pointed a finger at Dr. Gaster's large, rotund belly, not intending to invade his friend's personal space or touch it, but the flustered skeleton defensively smacked the king's paw away anyway, then put his own hands protectively over his belly.
A blush formed on Dr. Gaster's face as the king looked at him in hurt confusion. "I apologize, your majesty. Both for that and for keeping secrets from you, I shouldn't have hidden this from you for so long. It's just that..." The tall skeleton sighed and ran a hand over his skull as he gathered his thoughts. "It's just that at first I wasn't even sure that this would even work, then I was worried it could all fall apart still, then I just… never found the right time to tell you..." The king patiently waited for his old friend to finish rambling and finally tell him what had been going on these last few months, though he felt his anxiety grow at Dr. Gaster's unusual reluctance. "I suppose it would be easiest to just show you," the doctor said as he reached for his shirt's hem and lifted it, all the while the blush on his face grew all the warmer and brighter.
"Omigosh! Babies!" The king squealed with delight when he caught sight of the two little skeletons currently fast asleep. "But, I don't understand…" King Asgore kneeled before Dr. Gaster to get a better look at the little baby bones. "How did you… with who…? There aren't any other skeletons left."
"It's… complicated," Dr. Gaster answered as he gently laid a hand against his belly.
The boss monster frowned then, when he caught sight of the doctor's scared hand, and gently took it in his strong yet soft paw and held it up. "That's what these were about all along, am I correct?" Gaster just nodded, the blush that had been fading returning in full force. "And you chose to continue working while in this condition?"
"I've been very careful with both their health and my own," Dr. Gaster blurted out defensively.
"Yes, it was part of what had me so worried, you have always been the type to push yourself to your limits and beyond, then suddenly you are taking sick days and eating regularly and keeping a strict bed time. I had worried you had contracted some sort of illness. I suppose of all the possibilities this is the best. But honestly, look at you, you must find even walking difficult. You should go on leave, or at least switch to working from home, I'm sure we can manage without you in person for a little while."
"That… that does sound reasonable," Dr. Gaster gave in with a sigh. He should have known the king would insist he go on leave when he found out. "Let's just tell everyone I'm going on leave for health reasons, please."
"Oh, you want to keep these little ones a secret?"
"Just until they're born, I'm not sure how the Underground at large would react to this erm… experiment."
"Alright, I understand." The king put a hand on the doctor's shoulder, "But I think congratulations are in order."
"Thank you, my friend."
"Alphys! I need to speak with you!"
"O-okay, what is it Dr. Gaster?"
"Please, take your story down! Delete it!"
"W-w-w-what?"
"There were tubes. Full of a magically enhanced, nutrient enriched saline solution. I didn't… I would never… Skeleton biology doesn't work that way! Souls don't work that way!"
"OMG!"
"And I'm fairly certain pregnancy doesn't work that way."
"Y-y-you weren't supposed to read th-th-th-that one! Oh gosh!"
Inspired by two recent comics by Zarla: Don't like don't read, which features Alphys accidentally sending Gaster one of her smutty friend fics by mistake, and I mean TECHNICALLY, which features Gaster being flustered over the implication that he gave birth to Sans and Paps.
This was very, very, VERY hard to write. I actually had more planned but the strain of writing this purposefully bad was just too much. Part of the editing process was inserting mistakes into the writing, okay? Not to mention how out of character I had to write Gaster. I figured Alphys would only want to see her friend making mad science babies for positive, happy reasons and that she'd want him to you know… actually like his mad science babies. So fic!Gaster is way, way, way more tender and motherly than Zarla's Gaster would ever let himself be. I'm also a bit upset that I don't really think I wrote in Alphys's voice, it still feels very much like my writing. In short, this was a trial to write and there's only so much of that I can take. But it was still fun, I had too good a time imagining Gaster's blushing, flustered reaction to Alphys's fic.
Special thanks to TCRMommaBear, you were my Catty and Bratty for this fic! Thanks for listening to my ramblings and being supportive of this silliness, you horrible enabler!