Old Stories

Gerson Comes over for tea and tells Frisk a few things about the Dreemurrs
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	Frisk sat at the dining room table, her legs swinging idly. Asgore and Toriel were working hard in the kitchen, Gerson had been invited over for tea today, and they clearly didn’t want to disappoint an old friend. Clinks and clanks sounded from the nearby kitchen, sweet smells of golden flowers and butterscotch watching from the stove, the two monarchs busy at work.

	A few knocks sounded on the door, and Frisk straightened up out of her daydream. She ran to unlock it, and the old turtle appeared, smiling back at her from the doorway. “Woah there!” laughed Gerson, ruffling Frisk’s hair, “Didn’t know you lived here too, squirt! Wa ha ha!” Frisk giggled at the charismatic old monster, walking back to the living room.

	Asgore emerged from the adjoined room, a wide grin on his face. “Gerson!” he exclaimed happily. “Glad you could come! I thought you would lose your way somehow.”

	“I couldn’t get lost if I was promised Mrs. Fluffybuns’s cooking, I wouldn’t give that up for the life of me!” Gerson laughed, taking Asgore into a quick hug before sitting down at the dining room table. “So what have you been up to, Dreemurr?”

	“Oh, same old, same old. Gardening, drinking tea, and being lucky enough to have the best family a king could ask for.” He placed a big, warm hand on Frisk’s shoulder. The child giggled, cheerily smiling back at her dad.

	Toriel popped her head from the door. “Asgore, I think your tea is… Oh! Greetings Gerson, it’s nice to see you again.” She stepped from the short hallway, giving Gerson a warm smile.

	“Pleasure to see you again, Tori, long time no see. Though, that’s a bit of an understatement, wa ha ha!” Toriel joined in his laugh, covering her mouth with a hand. She leaned against Asgore, who happily wrapped a hand around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. “And I see that you two are back to being the disgusting old Dreemurrs you used to be.”

	Asgore chuckled, “Back and better than ever.”

	“Indeed,” Toriel added, her eyes turning dreamy as she looked into Asgore’s, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek in return.

	“I can tell.” Gerson glared at the two. “Well, if you two are done being insufferable, what about some sweets. I didn’t come here to watch the Tori-Gorey Dreemurr show, now did I?”

	The Dreemurrs brought out the refreshments, the tea and pie piping hot. Small wafts of steam rose between the lattices on the freshly baked pie, Asgore nearly drooling just looking at it. Each member of the table got a hefty slice, along with a sizable cup of steaming tea, the porcelaine almost blisteringly hot from the flowery drink.

	Gerson took a short sip, sighing at the subtle taste. “I see that the extra sun to your garden makes your tea just that much better, eh?”

	Asgore reclined back in his chair, blowing on his cup. “It really does, I forgot how much better it was on the surface.” He took a sip, letting a long breath out. “The petals are softer too, it’s so much easier to make now.”

	“Does that mean I can come over whenever more often?” Asked the old tortoise, a greyed eyebrow raising.

	“Oh, of course!” Asgore said, his toothy smile spreading, “You’re always invited.”

	“Along with the pie?”

	Asgore turned to Toriel, who was in the middle of her own long drink of tea. She placed the cup down with a soft clink, looking up at the two old monsters. “I suppose, I already make it often for Asgore as is.”

	“And I’ll be here as often as I can be then,” Gerson said, taking a large bite of the sweet butterscotch cinnamon filling, “I’ve got well over a century of pie to make up for!”

	“And I’ve got a century’s worth of pie to bake,” giggled Toriel, watching as the rest of her family dug into the sweet dessert. “Though, it won’t be long with these two wolfing it down whenever I make it.”

	“I can’t help it!” exclaimed Asgore around a large mouthful, several small crumbs scattered among his beard. “You’re just that great of a cook, honey.” Frisk nodded enthusiastically, her own set of crumbs speckled on her cheeks and chin.

	Toriel smiled, wiping a bit of filling off of Frisk’s cheek. “I can see that. It’s written all over your faces.” Frisk giggled as Toriel made sure the child was spotless, the human taking another messy bite soon after. The motherly monster just chuckled, sitting back down and scootching closer to Asgore, offering him the remainder of her pie.

	Gerson looked over at the young savior of monsters, a grin growing on his cheeks as a devious idea. “So Frisk, you want to have a little bit of a history lesson?”

	“Heck yeah!” the child said, excited about hearing another tale from the wise old monster.

	The wrinkled turtle chuckled, smirking as he reclined back against his shell. “Well, let’s see. How about some fun facts about dear old Mom and Dad over here, eh?” Frisk nodded, leaning forward to listen intently. “Thought as much, wa ha ha! Alright, how about the time when Gorey met Tori.”

	Asgore’s face flushed, his eyes widening in shock. “M-Maybe for another day, Gerson. I don’t think that Frisk would like this st-”

	Toriel cut him off, giggling at her bashful husband. “Oh, come on, dear. This one’s cute. I think Frisk would love to hear it.” Asgore grumbled under his breath, but let the story happen.

	Gerson cleared his throat, giving a playful glare at the two other monsters at the table. “As I was saying, the time the two lovegoats fell in love. This was way back when, well before I walked with a cane, and when your dad barely even had a goatee to his name! Fluffybuns and I were on our daily walk, enjoying the capitol before it sank down underground. We were used to the old shops and old people, monsters and humans alike strolling on the streets and trying to sell their wares. Though, a new shop had opened up, something that caught Asgore’s eye.

	“It was a quaint little flower shop, a bakery built in right next to it. I wasn’t sure if it was the smell of pie or the flowers that donned the windows, but the big lug was entranced, couldn’t even get his attention if I tried. Then I gave the shop a look. It was nothin’ special, freshly built, the wood not even faded yet and the windows not smudged. Then I noticed her. Tall, beautiful, and stark white your mom stood, offering scraps of bread and pastries to the little scamps that wandered the streets, whether they be monster or human.

	“It was then I knew that your dad had fallen in love, he couldn’t walk straight for days! And I bet your mother couldn’t a little while after they got together as well.”

	“Gerson!” a red faced Asgore gasped, Toriel laughing at Gerson’s storytelling.

	“What? I’m just telling the truth, no need to yell.” He chuckled, looking back at Frisk. “Where was I? Oh yea, walking.

	“We walked past their everyday, Asgore slowin’ down slightly to get a peek into the windows. Finally the old goof got the guts and talked to her, a small bundle of violas from his garden in his nervous grip. He was stammerin’ and shaking, trying his best to hide the worry in his movements. Turns out that Toriel wasn’t interested in flowers at all, her mother owned the shop. You should’ve seen the look on your old dad’s face! Wa ha ha!

	“Anyway, she still invited us in, her cheeks slightly rosy from his gift. He was the prince after all despite being a flustered old dolt, and having someone like that chasing your tail is always flattering. Well, the two had a blast talking up a storm, her about pies and him about her. It was love at first sight!... well, talk. Then Mrs. Fluffybuns over here made him eat a slug.” He snickered.

	“It wasn’t a small one either…” Asgore said, trying his best to appear smaller in his seat. Toriel giggled, leaning up against the embarrassed ball of fluff next to her.

	“It sure wasn’t! Your face was priceless!” All of them but Asgore laughed, his blush darkening, the tips of his ears turning pink. “Though, that was a pretty good start to the relationship. The crazy old goat came back for more, though their meetings were luckily slug free. He would sneak out when he was supposed to be studying or sleeping and met with her at night, like a cute little Romeo and Juliet… but with less death. And, well, the rest is history! Nose nuzzling, being all cute and cuddly, embarrassing themselves along with their kids.”

	“Absolutely disgusting.” Frisk giggled, Gerson joining her.

	“You learn fast! Before long you’re gonna learn to hate how cute they are, and by before long I mean before you move out! Wa ha ha!”

	“You have any more stories about them?” The child asked, her eyes hopeful.

	Gerson scratched his chin. “Well, there was this one time where Toriel accidentally cast what was supposed to be a noise cancelling spell as an amplifying spell…” he looked over at Toriel’s disapproving glare. “But I think I’ll save that one for when you’re older…

	“Let’s see… there was this one time when disco finally fell into the underground, and these two were all over it. Did you know that your dad rocked an afro for a good while there, and Tori here couldn’t keep her fingers out of it! They converted the royal ballroom into a makeshift dance floor, and would fumble over each other along with the guests for nights on end. Toriel fell plenty of times, taking Fluffybuns down with her!” He laughed, and it was Toriel’s turn to blush. “I bet both of them regret that now, but at the time they were happier than ever. I might even say that was when they were the most insufferable.” He stroked his beard, looking up and trying to remember any other good memories. “Lemme think, there’s another story up here somewhere.”

	“Oh! The day that Tori made her ever famous butterscotch cinnamon pie for us! It’s not as long or as extravagant as the last one, but it’s still great. We were doing our usual rounds at the time, heading towards Toriel’s little shop as the day started to end. Though this wonderful smell was comin’ from the bakery. We walked in, Toriel was just pulling out the pie, and boy did our mouths water. She giggled, and gave Asgore a cute little look, offering us each a slice, on the house. I swear, the minute after Fluffybuns took the first bite he decided to marry little Miss Toriel.”

	Asgore grinned, coming out from his bashfulness. “That was… one of the factors, yes. Though, there were some sweeter things I liked about her…” He said, giving her a little pinch on the side, a quiet squeak escaping from her. He snickered at her blush and received a playful bat, his cheeky smirk still ever present.

	“Oh, get a room you two,” said a disgusted Gerson, his once cheery gaze turned caustic.

	“Glady,” Asgore joked as he chuckled, giving Toriel a small kiss.

	“Gross,” Gerson and Frisk said in tandem, both of them giving the goats blank stares. The old monarchs laughed, Asgore scraping the last of the golden brown crumbs off of his plate with his thumb and picked it up after cleaning it off, before clearing the table of the pie smeared china. Toriel followed him into the kitchen, balancing the cake tin along with the their cups in her hands.

	The two were still slightly visible, Toriel washing the plates in the warm, soapy water. Asgore came up behind her, wrapping his arms underneath hers and burying his nose into the crook of her neck. A soft giggle echoed from the doorway, Asgore slowly rocking the two side to side.

	“Tori, did I ever tell you why I call you ‘honey’?” The old king asked, his head now resting on top of hers

	“Well, no. I thought it was just a little pet name.”

	“It’s because there’s nothing else I’d rather have tea with than you.” He smiled down at her as Toriel chuckled at his little joke. He released her from the hug, picking up one of the plates. “I’ll do the dishes tonight, dear. You did it last night.”

	Gerson sighed wistfully, looking over at Frisk. “You know, despite how absolutely unbearable those two are when they’re together, I don’t think I could wish that they were apart again. They just seem too happy. You know what I mean?”

	Frisk nodded, watching as Toriel wiped the suds off on her apron and gave Asgore a short kiss as he rolled up his sleeves.

	“I wouldn’t give them up, no matter how gross they can be.”

	Gerson smiled, looking back at the couple in the kitchen. “I think I have to agree.”