Greetings! It is time for a new story of the decidedly trashy kind. So enjoy a bunch of drabbles about scientist nerds slowly falling in love with one another! In case you missed it in the summary, yes, this will be Sanster. Which is the pairing ship of Gaster x Sans.

Enjoy!

And, hey, if you enjoy this story and want to see more chapters and more stories like this, consider donating to my patr(e)on : mjanderson

You can also check me out on tumblr at ibelieveinahappilyeverafter

Chapter One

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"Sans! Haven't I told you a hundred times to pick up your sock before-" The rest of Papyrus' words were dying in his throat at seeing his brother, who was currently scrambling around his room and throwing things into a bag. The smaller skeleton looked, well… He looked nice for once. "Sans- What on earth!"

"Huh? Oh, hey, bro. Sorry, running a bit late." Sans was dressed in a nice pair of black dress pants, a fluffy white turtleneck, and had a pair of red reading glasses on his face. Papyrus knew the glasses were held there by magic, but they still looked ridiculous on a monster who had neither ears nor nose. "That job I told you about starts today."

"Ah, so that's why you're dressed so nicely!" Well, except for the shoes, which were his usual, unlaced sneakers, but Papyrus supposed that beggars couldn't be choosers. Besides, the outfit was far nicer than anything Sans usually wore - his blue jacket and shorts for example. "You must be so excited!"

"Heh, yeah. Let's call it that." Truthfully, Sans was pretty nervous. He liked to think he was a pretty laid back kind of guy, but the thought of working with the one and only W. D. Gaster - the Royal Scientist - well...it was enough to turn any skeleton's head. It had only been on the urging of his brother that he had applied for the job as lab assistant. Sans had mostly done it as a joke, thinking he'd get turned down. Apparently his slight fascination with science wasn't for nothing.

"You're going to have such a great first day! You must tell me all about it when you get home!" As usual, Papyrus' enthusiasm never failed to put a smile on the older's face. The younger may have been loud, bold, and brash, but he was good at getting someone inspired and motivated.

"Yeah… Yeah, I'll tell you all about it, but now I really gotta go if I don't wanna be late." Sliding the strap of his messenger bag over his shoulder - a neat little thing he had found in the Dump one day - Sans headed for the steps. "Don't wait up for me, Pap. First day, so I'll probably be there pretty late."

"Have a good day, brother!" Smiling back at his brother, Sans was opening the front door and stepping into the crisp, clean air of Snowdin, snow crunching under his feet. Another step and he was on hard rock, the humid and burning air of Hotland surrounding him. Standing outside of the laboratory (and oh god he was actually here, wasn't he? he was actually going to do this ohgodohgodohgod) Sans took a deep breath before knocking politely on the door.

It wasn't long before it opened, a much taller skeleton blinking down at him before he was smiling and opening the door wider. "Greetings. You must be Sans."

"Heh, yeah, that'd be me." Right. No puns, today, Sans. Resist the urge to make an idiot of yourself in front of the most esteemed monster in all of the underground. "It's Sansational to meet you." ...Too late.

He wondered if he would be able to jump into the lava before the embarrassment was fully able to hit. Before he could, however, he heard a soft chuckle, the other skeleton nudging him in. "Well, you are the last to arrive, so shall we introduce ourselves?" Oh, good, he hadn't fucked up. Yet. "I am Doctor W. D. Gaster, the one you two will be working with."

Two. That meant him and one other person. A glance showed that it was a somewhat familiar monster, someone he had seen exploring the Dump same as he did on some days - although it seemed she was there far more often. She also looked to be more nervous than he was. "H-Hi. I-I- I'm Alph- Ah- Alphys. Me. Yes. Alphys." At the expectant look shot his way, Sans gave his most friendly smile.

"Yo. I'm Sans. It's nice to meet you." Prooobably better to not bring up the Dump meetings in front of Gaster. Said scientist seemed rather pleased by the two, smiling as he led them further into the lab. As they walked, Sans ran back over the greeting Gaster had given him and realized that the way he spoke was slightly… Well, slightly off. Hesitant. As if the common monster language wasn't his native tongue. Which Sans wouldn't be surprised by, really.

"For today, you two shall be catching up on my work, both past and current. As lab assistants, I'll be needing your help frequently when it comes to the experiments we have going on, and you'll need to adapt quickly to different tasks. One day you may be doing simple paperwork, while the next you may be trying to escape a possible earthquake." At that, Alphys and Sans were sharing a startled - horrified on Alphys' part - look. "It can be rather shaky, but I'm sure you'll come to enjoy the work as much as I do."

There was a small noise from Sans, the two looking back at him before he was smiling and waving them off, slightly coughing into his fist. And goddammit that was a pun. Sans knew his puns. He knew them well. And that? That had been a very subtle, easy to miss, but still there pun.

"Now, I've examined both the work you two have submitted and have decided that for today, you'll be working on different things. Alphys, I believe you shall best be suited to studying and catching up on the biology experiments we have going on. You showed remarkable aptitude for it." At the compliment, Alphys was blushing and nodding, looking determined as she was waved off to a small area that was filled with folders and notebooks. There had to be at least fifty, and Sans didn't envy her in the least.

"Sans, I believe you'll be better suited to the more, hm… Experimental work, we'll say." At seeing the desk he was directed to, he had to work at keeping the smile on his face. If he thought Alphys' workload had been bad, this was… Oh, jeez. Now he very much envied her. There were three tables that were all filled with folders, notebooks, and anything that looked to be able to be written on. It was also three feet high on each desk. "A lot of it is working with numbers and redefining dimensions inside one's mind, which you showed to very adapt at in the work you submitted and answered."

And while normally Sans would be thrilled at hearing those words - Dr. W. D. freaking Gaster had complimented him - he was a little too busy trying not to faint at the prospect of catching up on all this work. He did manage a smile, though. Maybe. It was a bit hard to tell. "Now, I know this is a quite a bit to catch up on, so I shall be giving you both the entire day to read through everything." A day. One day. A single day. "Let me know if you need any help or have any questions about the work."

It wasn't until Gaster was out of hearing and sight range that he was looking to Alphys and drawing a finger across his neck, the monster looking startled before giving a tiny little giggle, "Sans, right?"

"Yup, that's me. Think we've met a time or two here and there." A blush, and a nod, both knowing quite well where they had met. "Welp, as much as I'd love to play catch-up, I think we have a ton of work to do." Judging by Alphys' expression, she knew what was coming. Which, good. "A skele-ton." The groan of pain was a gift, truly.

It took a moment to decide where to start, but when he did, Sans was utterly captivated by everything in the folders. If he thought Gaster had been a genius before, well, that had just been the tip of the iceberg. The theories, the experiments, the hypotheses, the calm and controlled manner in which he wrote on how everything was conducted. He knew he had seen the monster as a bit of an idol, but now it was more like hero worship.

Unfortunately, his excitement didn't last long considering just how complicated everything was, and how long it was taking him to understand it all - pft, and he thought he had been smart… What a joke that was now. When Gaster had come down to check on them and relieve them for lunch, Alphys had been all too happy to take a break, Sans only waving them off and saying he had eaten a big breakfast and would snack on something later.

Later turned out to be never since the day was almost done and he was only a quarter of the way through the work he had been assigned. Sure it was just reading, but Gaster had seen him as competent enough to understand and comprehend everything within a day and… No, no, it was fine. He could do this. Nevermind that he had been fighting off the urge to pass out for hours, now, and still hadn't eaten. It was just reading. Really, it was nothing different than what he normally did. (He might have read every published thing Gaster had ever written even before the job.)

"Sans!" At the snap of his name, the skeleton was darting up and looking to see Alphys, who was looking a bit worried. "Didn't you hear? Dr. Gaster dismissed us for the day." ...Oh. Well then. That was a pretty big failure for day one.

"Oh? Aha, sorry. I guess I was a little busy hear in my work." At the groan and eye roll, Sans gave another smile. "Yeah, I'll leave in another few minutes or so, just have to finish this folder."

"Oh, good! I was afraid you hadn't finished in time!" Alphys was smiling in relief, Sans not having the heart to tell her that he was probably going to get fired on the spot in the morning - please god don't let there be a pop quiz on all this. "I'll see you tomorrow, then." Sans gave a bright smile, the look dimming bit by bit before he heard the door finally close, Sans banging his head on the table. He had barely even finished half of what Gaster had assigned him…

"Welp. That's me screwed, then." The lab was completely silent, the lights all turned off with the exception of a lamp or two. He had been so caught up in trying to catch up that he hadn't even noticed when everything had started being shut down. "Good fucking job, Sans. Another thing fucked up." A dull thump of his head hitting the table, a groan of frustration leaving him.

"Shouldn't even bother trying… This always happens." It's not like he had always been lazy on purpose, it was just… Things never quite went his way. Ever. Ever. So, why even bother when everything failed, really. Least it was less stress. Unlike this fine mess he had gotten himself into. "Well done, Sans, you managed to not only embarrass yourself on the first day with a stupid pun that wasn't even that good, but you also managed to fail a simple task and disappoint your freaking idol. What a 'brilliant' monster you turned out to be…"

Maybe he could just… Was there a way he could stay for the night and keep reading? That would work, right? He could be all caught up by tomorrow morning and, sure, his sleep would probably suffer, but he had slept enough to make up for lifetimes. He could probably just… Oh, who was he kidding… This really wasn't going to work out for him. He had known from the start and yet he had still- Who had he been kidding.

Grabbing his bag and pushing himself up to stand, Sans paused at something that hadn't been there when he had set his head down. A small Cinnamon Bunny (some of the most delicious treats ever made in his humble opinion) was sitting on his desk, a little note of encouragement under the treat. A note that was written in very familiar handwriting. Handwriting that he had been reading all day. The handwriting of flippin' W. D. Gaster. W. D. Gaster who had apparently heard every self-depreciating word out of his mouth and had… And had left him a treat and note to cheer him up…

Well, then. So much for it being just hero worship.

He had it bad.

Honestly I can see Dadster or Sanster, I just happen to like writing for the second one, it seems.