Handplates!Gaster x female!reader|| Giving a Piece of Me

Drowning in Denial

{Handplates chapter references: Hypothetically, Step it up already}

There was silence before Gaster could hear his own voice erupt from the recorder that was laid out on the table. It was laced with static and slightly muffled but he could clearly replay the events that happened on this tape:

"You can't just refuse to participate."

2-P glared at Gaster, putting his hands on the table to, rearing up slightly: "I DON'T WANT TO KILL ANYONE! I'M NOT GOING TO PUSH EITHER BUTTON!"

Gaster was clearly frustrated with 2-P's behavior but he tried to remain calm: "The point of the question is that that's not an option."

"YES IT IS!"

"You have to kill someone. That's why it's a difficult choice-"

"NO I DON'T! THERE'S ALWAYS ANOTHER WAY! I'D FIND ANOTHER WAY!"

Gaster hated how this enthusiasm and determination made him think of how he was before the War.
Before everything went so horribly wrong and got plagued by nightmares, guilt and trauma ever since.

"You can't answer every hypothetical...", Gaster sighed and put his head on his hand. This conversation was giving him a headache.
"This is a waste of time. You're never going to learn. You just refuse to deal with the real world."

2-P frowned: "THAT'S NOT WHAT THE REAL WORLD IS LIKE."

This confidence surprised Gaster. "How would you know?"

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT. I JUST KNOW IT."

"Do you?"

It was fair for 2-P to assume that the world is indeed like this.
That there is only one right and wrong and the choices are always clear and...good.

Such childish thinking was probably justified considering he had a child sitting in front of him. The truth was, everyone thinks that way.

Until the world decides to show its true colors and you are thrown into an impossible situation. Not knowing where to turn, what the consequences could be.

Suddenly the world isn't just right or wrong anymore, black or white – suddenly you find that there are many shades of gray and all of them bring their benefits, and their consequences.

One desperately tries to navigate through this maze, trying to find the best outcome for oneself but also for others.

But in this world, you can't make everyone happy.

You can't save them all.

And Gaster had learned that over and over again. He refused to give up on his beliefs, that there could be a different way.
That if he just waited long enough, a different way would miraculously appear in front of him and no one would get hurt.

No one would die.

But this patient waiting was actually hesitation, a refusal to act.
And his hesitation got people killed.

He had so many chances to react, but he always waited.

Eventually, he gave up on this ambition.

Life had thrown way too many situations at him to show him that conquering life isn't as easy as he assumed.

And now he had all these ridiculous and foolish beliefs embodied by the small skeleton in front of him, who just as stubbornly refused to give in and attempted to find a different way.

Gaster sat up: "Alright then, here is the next hypothetical."

Gaster mentally braces himself as he puts out this new hypothetical, trying to disconnect it from himself as much as he could but he could not help the curiosity that rose inside of him.