Were We Doomed From The Start?

9.- Sleeping Inside The Inn

"A...disguise?
I'm not sure I would be able to, what with my height and all.
Happen to have any ideas Ninja?"

Gaster glanced at Shadow to ask for help in coming up with an idea, but Shadow was almost completely asleep, standing up.
He turned back to Ninja, who seemed to have devised a plan already.

"I have an idea, though it is a smidge unorthodox."
Ninja replied as he went through his backpack, organising it.

Gaster raised an eye socket at Ninja's mention of an unorthodox idea, his curiosity having gotten the best if him.
"An unorthodox idea...? And what would that idea be, Ninja...?"

"You can fall apart at will, right? Since you're a skeleton I assume you can."

Gaster nodded in response.
"Indeed, it's one of my unique features, being a skeleton and all. But what does that have to do with disguising me, Ninja?"

"It's a bit weird, but what if I wear your coat and hide you under there? If you manage to keep yourself barely together, I can wear your bones like armour under the coat."

Gaster smiled at Ninja's idea as he thought for a moment about it before speaking.
"Well you know what? I think that sounds like a great idea. It's creative and it would certainly catch others off guard if I fell apart like that. We'll give it a shot, shall we?"

They nodded and Ninja turned around to inform Shadow of the plan, but ended up catching him just as he fell asleep. Ninja and Gaster folded Shadow, then put him in the backpack neatly.
Walking towards Snowdin, they put their plan into motion, and Ninja hid Gaster under the coat, grabbing his clothes and tossing them into the backpack.

They got to Snowdin and Gaster was trying his best to hold himself together while under the coat, his bones not wanting to fall down and become separated from one another, and seemed to be succeeding at it.

When they arrived at the front desk at the Inn, they were greeted by the innkeeper and Ninja asked for a room, but he didn't have any gold. The innkeeper looked at him, covered in small cuts and some bruises from all his "adventures" and couldn't help but sympathise.

"Oh! You poor thing"
She said as she noticed more cuts on his face.
"I can only imagine what you've been though.

One of the rooms upstairs is empty. You can sleep there for free, okay?"

A soft rattling was briefly heard, as Gaster seemed to be falling down a bit under the coat.

Ninja nodded, ignoring the soft rattling as if it hadn't happened and was brought upstairs to a one-bedroom room, where the innkeeper handed him the room key before going back downstairs.

He closed the door behind him, locked it then pulled back the coat, allowing Gaster's bones fall to the floor then slowly and carefully reassemble, getting his clothes out of the backpack as Gaster put himself together.

Ninja put Gaster's clothes on the ground in front of his reassembling bones while looking away, allowing him to change into them in peace.
Gaster adjusted his sweater as Ninja unfolded Shadow and put him on the bed, Shadow still in a deep slumber.

Ninja then motioned for Gaster to also sleep on the bed, and grabbed his small blanket out of the backpack, using that to slightly cushion the floor where he was going to sleep on.
Gaster was confused, why would Ninja sleep on the floor if there was plenty of room left? Shadow didn't take up much of the bed at all, basically merging with Gaster's sweater and hollow bones.

Ninja stretched out the blanket a bit and was about to lie down, before realising he still had Gaster's coat.

He got up to hand it back over, but Gaster insisted he keep it. Ninja disagreed about it for a little bit, claiming Gaster needed it more since he was a skeleton, but Gaster insisted he keep it due to how cold it can get, and how Gaster was already used to it. Thus, he kept the coat, snuggled into it on the floor, holding the ends of it tightly.

Gaster smiled at the fact Ninja liked his coat, yet couldn't help but feel bad that Ninja was sleeping on the floor. And so, he got up and out of bed, then sat next to Ninja, to keep him company on the cold hard floor.

"What are you doing? You should be sleeping comfortably on the bed..."
Ninja mumbled.

Gaster smiled softly and replied.
"Oh, I was just concerned that you were lonely on the floor. Shadow is still asleep, and I thought the bare floor might be uncomfortable for you. So, I joined you so that you wouldn't be lonely. Are you alright with that?"

"You're supposed to be sleeping on the bed."
Ninja grumbled.

Gaster raised an eye socket at Ninja's response, and spoke again.
"Ah, I see...if you really want me on the bed, then that's fine. I just didn't want you alone on the floor while Shadow is asleep in bed.
But if you do want me on the bed...you could also join me...? If you would like, anyway."

Ninja shook his head, then got more comfortable to fall asleep, positioning himself in a curled-up ball. Gaster got back onto the bed with a soft sigh, and eventually fell asleep, but kept tossing and turning in the middle of the night, not feeling comfortable enough to fall asleep as something kept bothering him.

Gaster opened his eyes, feeling as if something woke him up.
He stopped for a moment, thinking it might be the fact he was in a new environment, carefully listening to his surroundings for a little bit, the snow quietly falling on the window, Ninja quietly snoring and his own bones slightly rattling when Shadow leaned into him.

Gaster carefully got up at the end of the bed, to not step on Ninja. Then, he glanced around the room, trying to find out why he was unable to sleep. However, he couldn't find out why, until he looked at Ninja. They didn't know each other very well and hadn't spent much time together but it bothered him to see Ninja sleeping on the ground while he got to sleep on the quite spacious bed.

"Hey, Ninja. Are you awake?"
He whispered.