Chapter Text
Edge couldn’t recall another time when he’d slept so deeply, for once throwing all his carefully cultivated cautions to the wind and dropping into Sans-level snoring unconsciousness. He would have to be forgiven for it, by himself if no one else. It had been a very long day, time stretching out like taffy and when he woke again it was somehow impossibly late afternoon on the very same day. He would have sworn a week had gone by already if not for the calendar he could barely see through the cracked screen on his phone.
Edge let his phone-bearing hand drop to the mattress and considered getting out of bed. His magic was starting to stir hungrily with the approaching dinner hour, something would have to be done about that eventually, and the chance of anyone bringing him dinner in bed were nil, not that he would have accepted it.
When he and Stretch brought the baby back into the house hours ago, Blue had been back downstairs preparing lunch for them all. Canned soup and sandwiches, with a side of chisps, hardly the stuff of legends, but also difficult to mess up. Edge had eaten hungrily, sharing little strands of the soft noodles with Snow. She’d eaten them with adorable messiness that was preserved permanently in the pictures the Swap brothers took with their phones. They’d texted some of the better ones to him and Red, and one was now the background on Edge’s, carefully positioned so that her chubby face was set between the cracks.
After lunch, Red and Blue offered to watch Snow so that he and Stretch could nap. Whatever protests Edge might have offered were drowned out by Stretch’s fervent agreement and reluctant as he was, Edge allowed it. He was tired, that he couldn’t deny, and tired people made mistakes. Unlikely as it was that such errors might end up with him in a pile of dust in this universe, he quailed at the thought of the baby getting hurt by any exhausted carelessness.
So sleep it was and despite his brother lewdly waggling his brow bones, sleep was the truth. He and Stretch handed the baby over to their brothers' care and stumbled upstairs, the two of them stripped out of whatever clothes they could reach before falling into the bed together. Edge was certain he was asleep before his head ever landed on the pillow.
Now he rose up on his elbow and looked at his…at Stretch. He was still asleep, curled up in more than his share of the blankets and did not seem as if he would be waking anytime soon. That wasn’t unexpected, his lower HP meant he needed more rest than Edge ever would, whether or not a hungry child was around to interfere with it.
Edge crawled out of the bed cautiously, cursing the lack of bedframe as he was forced to roll awkwardly to the floor rather than immediately stand. Behind him, Stretch made a soft sound of complaint at the loss, a hand sweeping half-heartedly over the sheets in a vague search, but he quickly abandoned pursuit, rolling into the warm spot Edge left behind and settling in with a sigh.
The room was dim, but there was enough light coming in around the curtains for him to see clearly. Edge hesitated for a moment, watching Stretch sleep. The peacefulness on his pretty face, the little lines that formed sometimes between his brow bones eased. More bones peeked through the haphazard covering of the blankets, smooth and pale. He was lovely, and tempting, but Edge resisted, allowing him his rest. Besides, there were things that still needed saying between them and as soon as Edge figured out what they were, he'd get back to it.
For now, the niggling urge to check on the baby was growing to a full-on need. He gathered up his dirty laundry to wash, then left Stretch to sleep, heading downstairs to check the progress of the babysitters.
The first thing he saw was a sort of wooden chair was now next to the sofa. Instead of a normal seat, this one was padded and there was a harness attached to it that was buckled around Snow, holding her upright. Over the chair arms was a tray that was scattered with what looked like dry cereal and Snow was pinching each round piece between her little fingers one at a time before cramming it happily it into her mouth. It would take forever for her to complete a meal, but he supposed the value of entertainment might outweigh nutrition in this case.
The enjoyment was not only for the baby. Red and Blue were both sitting on the sofa watching her with similar adoring expressions, cute on Blue, disturbing on Red, as rivetted as if it were a new Mettaton Holiday Special.
Edge made his way downstairs, dirty clothes in hand. “That’s new.”
Blue reluctantly tore his gaze from the baby feeding show. “Yes, the Bun family dropped off their highchair, their youngest doesn’t need it anymore,” Blue beamed. “The families in Snowdin heard about our baby emergency and they’re bringing over supplies!”
That…Edge wasn’t sure what to make of that. In Underfell they would have kept the child’s existence a secret as long as possible even if she hadn’t been stolen from the smoldering remains of the lab. A new child was a weakness to exploit and even their closest allies weren’t necessarily unkind, but there was so little to share. They needed to care for their own families first.
Red was busily stirring a small bowl of indeterminate goo, no banana this time, it was a bright, horrifying green. He handed it off to Blue and warned, “careful she don’t decorate you with that. she’s still figurin’ out the whole better in than out part.”
“aye aye, captain,” Blue said pertly, saluting with the little spoon. They seemed to have things well in hand and with only a touch of regret, Edge left them to it and headed to the back of the house to the washing machine. He’d surely have plenty of time to feed Snow tonight.
It was the work of moments to toss his clothing into the wash, adding in the nearby hamper to make it a full load. He had less reason for regret when he came back out to find speckles of mushy green added to Blue’s color scheme. Red, no fool, was in the far corner of the sofa, safely out of the splash zone and unabashedly snickering at Blue’s efforts. For every two bites, Snow cheerfully blew a raspberry with the third, chortling along with Red as Blue sputtered and wiped green goo from his sockets.
“Perhaps I should have waited to start the laundry,” Edge said with as much apology as he could, struggling to hold back his own amusement.
"nah, ain’t no point, it’ll be a load every day for a while.” Red sat up, his humor easing, “so, me and blue've been talking ‘bout how things are gonna be around here, and we’re thinkin’ that you should be the one playin’ suzy homemaker."
Of all things Edge expected to hear from his brother, that was far down on the list, definitely below him starting a career in stand up, but above a marriage announcement, “Me?”
“Yes,” Blue said as firmly as someone wearing a fine coating of what smelled like green beans could, “Since Papy and I already have our sentry jobs, it wouldn't be practical for either of us to stay home."
“and since i can take shortcuts, be easier for me to find some supplemental income,” Red put in. “that leaves you to stay home with the kid during the day. mebbe do a little housework or work on that cookin' you been trying so hard to learn."
Him as a stay-at-home parent, in Underswap. That was what his brother and Blue thought was the most reasonable plan. All his training to be in the guard, wasted, his hard-won skills, his ability to create traps for Humans and the goals here for Human souls weren’t so very different from Underfell. He could be useful here in ways that wouldn’t add to his LV, he could bring his many skills to the Royal Guard here, surely this Alphys would see that. He could do so much to bring G to this household.
Edge looked at Snow. Her chubby face was painted with splashes of green that were also smeared across her teeth and down her bib. She beamed messily up at him, bright as any story he’d heard about the sun, holding up her arms to him fearlessly, without a single doubt that he would pick her up. She needed a bath and a change of clothes, she was going to be ready for a nap soon, and there would be more laundry to do. Different foods to make for her, playtimes to indulge in, and who knew when her magic would reveal itself. She would need to be taught, there was so much for her to learn. She was so tiny, so vulnerable, she needed someone who could keep her safe from anything.
He unbuckled the harness holding the baby in and lifted her into his arms. "That sounds like a reasonable plan, for now," Edge allowed.
"Wonderful!" Blue beamed and Snow squealed her own delight, snuggling in and smearing green across Edge’s borrowed shirt. He sighed to himself and pressed a kiss to the top of her little skull. Plenty of laundry, indeed.
A sudden knock on the door startled them all, a brisk rap before it opened and Papyrus stuck his head inside, followed by the rest of him with Sans at his heels. "Hello! We’re not early for movie night, we’re here to help make popcorn!”
“figure we’re butter together, what’s poppin’…” Whatever horrid pun Sans was about to make trailed off, he and his brother standing inside the door with the various bags in their arms sagging, their sockets a matching set of wide and shocked as they took in the four of them, three skeletons and a baby, who all simply stared back.
In unison, the Undertale brothers said, "Is that a baby?"
Edge sighed.
tbc