Time passed, and soon the prince of the Underground, Asriel, was born.

These past months were quite stressful for you, spending most of your time at Toriel's side.

Asgore was, of course, also there but there were moments and situations where even he couldn't help her so you helped out however you could.

Toriel was very grateful for all of your help, and you tried your best to ease the couple's anxiety of becoming a parent.

You barely saw Gaster during that time.

He spent most of his time in the Hotlands, working on his laboratory and supervising the construction of the Core.

Asgore wanted the Underground to be a better place for his son, so he set everything in notion and gave permission for Gaster to do whatever was necessary to get things started.

Constructions over constructions followed and the only times you caught a glimpse of Gaster was when he scurried into the castle with all his blueprints to let them be permitted by the king.

There was too much to do and no time to talk.
You would be lying if you said you wouldn't miss him, but you were more than willing to put your own feelings aside for the time being.

Now the whole Underground was gathered in the castle, celebrating the birth of Asriel.

Of course, you were also there to congratulate the couple and supervise the festivities or help Toriel and Asgore out.

The halls were crowded, and monsters of all kinds were lost in happy chatters. As you entered the main hall, you nervously tugged on your dress. Usually, you wouldn't wear such things, but Toriel insisted that you should wear one of her favorite gowns on this special occasion. Just for once.

Of course, you couldn't refuse her so now you were walking around in a dress that you hoped somewhat looked good on you without drawing too much attention to you.

But being the only human, plus wearing something you have never been seen in before, gave you lots of attention.

You mumbled silent apologies as you squeezed past the monsters whose eyes were glued to your figure. It was rather uncomfortable, so you mostly looked down onto the floor and only occasionally looked forward to see, where you were walking.
You scanned the crowd and bit your lip, hoping you would see Toriel or maybe Asgore but you had long lost hope.

They were somewhere between these masses and you did not know how to find anyone.

Suddenly you saw a white coat flash by and disappear somewhere near the tables of the different beverages and food. He is not in Hotlands? He is here? Or was this just a trick of your imagination?

Determined, you walked towards the buffet, and you couldn't quite believe your eyes as you saw Gaster standing there with a glass of wine in his hand.

He looked deep in thought and sipped rather hesitantly on the beverage to appear occupied and unapproachable.

"Hey", you hesitantly approached Gaster and waved at him, trying to draw his attention to you.
He was the only kind of attention that was most comfortable to you.

You could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't exactly pleased to be here either, so you figured Toriel also tried to convince him to come here instead of working on projects or experiments.

Gaster, who did not notice you before, turned to you and almost choked on his drink.

As an attempt to stop coughing, he hit his ribcage gently with his fist and tried his best not to spill the rest of his drink.

'Oh, [Y/N]! I didn't see you.', he started signing nervously, and his gaze met yours. You smiled slightly but he instantly averted his eye and looked down onto the floor instead.

You saw him blush slightly and he took a step back, adjusting his collar. 'Uhm you...'

I looked at his hands in anticipation, as he struggled to finish his sentence.

'...look beautiful.', he finally signed and his eye started glowing slightly pink-ish.

As quickly as the glow appeared, it was gone again. Gaster had turned his head to the side to hide his embarrassment and tried to suppress the glowing.

You couldn't quite grasp what just happened. You don't think you ever heard the W.D. Gaster compliment you. This pessimistic, calculated and somewhat socially awkward skeleton that lately only found time for his inventions.
After such a long time, it felt good to hear that from him and your heart fluttered gently in your chest.

"Oh, um thank you. It's honestly nothing I am used to, but Tori made me wear it."

Gaster laughed a little: 'Guess she both got us, one way or another. Usually, I wouldn't attend such a big festival. She caught me right after I delivered some blueprints, hence my unsuitable attire.'

You replied with a smile.

'This is neither a comfortable nor ideal situation for me.'

He nervously scratched the back of his neck and set his glass down. "Yeah, you have no idea how many stares I got because of this thing."

'I am sure I got more, wearing a lab coat during a royal ball.' He laughed gently and looked away, an awkward expression plastered on his face.

'Well, if I may say...the color suits you.' You blinked at him a few times, then looked back down at the dress. You blushed and nervously twirled to hide your obvious embarrassment.

"You really think so?", you asked happily but Gaster remained silent, with a saddened expression on his face.

You looked at him in confusion.

'Your scar...', he started signing and his eye was glowing a faint red. He was referring to the scar you got when you tried to protect Gaster during the war. It never fully healed.

The dress might have not covered your back entirely.

You immediately grabbed his hand and squeezed it gently. His boney fingers were soft to the touch and felt warm.

"Please, don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault. It was to save you and I would do it again in a heartbeat because I couldn't stand by and watch you get hurt. Seeing you safe and well right in front of me right now is all the reassurance I need."

He was still blaming himself for the attack during the war which happened more than a hundred years ago by now.

He was blaming himself for a lot of things that happened during that time, as you could tell by the uncontrollable glow of his eye.

It flickered between red and yellow, before he tried to suppress his glow once again.

Secretly, you were happy that he glowed so much in front of you, meaning he isn't afraid to show so much emotion in front of you.
You rarely saw him glow in front of others.

But then again, maybe you were still just giving him a special kind of trauma, considering everything that happened related to you and your species.

Gaster took a deep breath and sighed. He pulled his hand away from you, fiddling with the scarf around his neck.

Then there was a weird silence between you and him.

You needed to get him off his trail of thought or this would end up badly.

"Hey..." Gaster looked back at you. "Wanna dance?"

Confusion was written all over his face. It seemed like your method worked.

'I don't even know h-', he started signing but you already took him by the hand and pulled him towards the dance floor, causing him to stumble and almost trip.

You giggled: "Neither do I, but let's try make the most of it tonight."

As you were in the middle of the dance floor, you looked around to see what everyone else did.

Gaster just stood next to you, being slightly overwhelmed by the situation.

You decided to copy the couples that were dancing along the classic music and tunes.
You gently grabbed Gaster's arms and wrapped one around your waist and intertwined his other hand with yours.
Then you placed your free hand on the shoulder of the arm that was around your waist.

You looked around once more to the other couples to see if that was the correct stance, before facing your dancing partner.

As you looked back at him, your heart stopped for a moment.

His face was so close to yours and even though he was taller than you, you could still feel his breath against your face.

You blushed once again and as his eye met yours, you couldn't help but look away from him.

Gaster's chest rose up and down gently as he was waiting patiently for you to collect yourself again.

He took one step back to create more space between you two, hoping it would make you more comfortable and then started to try the steps and movements that the monsters around him did.

You were rather surprised by his sudden initiative, so you looked back at him. He only gave you a rather flustered and nervous little smile, his eye glowing both green and pink.

You heard the music play. You smelt his scent, that gently engulfed you and the crowd around you disappeared as you both swayed across the dance floor.

Even though, he was just bones, his touch and embrace felt strong and firm, and the way he moved with you almost confident.

Your heart was pounding hard in your chest but at the same time you have never felt that calm and safe before as you watched him closely.

Gaster kept guiding you both across the dance floor, his eye never leaving you.

He adjusted his grip around you slightly and pulled you a little closer, then smiled at you again as an attempt to calm both himself and you as well.

You couldn't help but return his smile and you felt like you could let your guard down after such a long time.

It was like all of your worries vanished for this very moment and whatever happened in the past, remained there.

For once.

His breath hit your face.

He was so close.

You wished it was closer.

The music faded out and you both came to halt, looking at each other intensely.

Then you waited for the next song to play and the magic happened all over again. You didn't know how long you have been dancing like this, but it felt like just a moment.

The halls cleared overtime and a few monsters remained, watching you silently.

That night, both of you wished this moment would last forever.

B̸̞̜̳̤̣̖̂̃͠Ȗ̴̧͍̬̭͎̦̺̻̦͍̓̎̃̆̆̀̎̔̄T̶͈̳̘͎̥̦̒̎͆̀̔̒̚͘ ̷̢̱̑́

N̴̢̋́̾̈́͆̾͐̌̈́̃Ȍ̷͚̲͇̰̻̮̗̝͇͈̎͗̾̔̚Ṫ̵̹̻̱͎̣̠̣̪H̵̨̧͉͉̮̽̀͌̾̈́̓̕̕͘I̵͔̓̈́̈́͑N̴̘̝̠̤̲͚̈́̈͐̐̎̋̉̄ͅG̴̩̤̮͙͈̗̣͊̀̆̄͘ ̶̛̝͔̲͈̄͛̀̆̒̈́̈́̚͠

L̷̺̪̜̊͊͆͗̈͜A̷̝͂̈́͜S̵̖̤͙̹̘̯͍͉̻̀͗̌̿̏̾̋͜Ṱ̷̢̨̈͛̅̍̈́̀S̷̰̬͇̼̼̱͉͚͂̀̍̓̈́͌̄̇ͅ ̶̩̬̫̥̼̣̟͎̼̩̏̉̓̈

F̵̢̢͇̖̬͈̯̌͆Ŏ̶̭̥͙̻́̆̉̒̕͝Ŗ̵͔̫̥̭̭̦̪͉̲̿͛̿̿̈́̍͗͝Ę̸̱̯̘̽͌͂̉̈̌̿̚V̸̟̲̗́̾E̷͔̤̤̝̯̺̅̈́̈́̈́̔̕͝͠R̷̺͖̹͈̞͋̓̒͗́̀͌̉̒,̴̛͎̯̙͐͒ ̷̘̞̮̞͙̣̮́̓͊͒̾͑͝

R̵̩̪̰̟͕͓̘̈́̊̍̃̈İ̸̩̦̮̥̬̥̹̉̐̎̾̄̕G̴̨̩̩̓́̇̄̉̓͜H̵̲̺̖̋̅̋͒T̵͉̒̿̈́̕͠ ?̸̪̖̤̬͓͙͍̉͛̐̈̊̿̑͜͝ͅ