Just after dawn, Verdana took his yawning twin sister, Vivaldi, by the hand. They tiptoed downstairs and breathed a sigh of relief once they reached the foot of the stairs since they knew their father, Sans, slept like a rock, but not their mother, Frisk. In fact, Frisk had grown wise to Verdana's habit of rising early when he wanted to get away with something. Verdana grinned, though, knowing this was for a good cause. His mom would be happy about it in the end, he was sure of it.
So sure, in fact, that he reached up to the front doorknob without thinking, only to have his human hand smacked away by his sister's bony one. "Ow, Viv! What's wrong with you?"
"Sssh!" shushed Vivaldi, turning her hand back to flesh even as she held her finger to her lips. "Silly," she hissed, "Daddy turned the alarm on! We gotta turn it off first!"
"Oh, right." Leave it to Viv to think of these things. Taking a lightweight, straight-backed chair from the kitchen and dragging it backwards until it stood beneath the alarm box, Verdana climbed onto it and squinted at the keypad. "What's the code?"
"Our birthday, but it's 8 digits, and it's backwards," Vivaldi said, bracing the chair as she read aloud the numbers for her brother to press.
Bingo. The alarm's screen turned green. Both siblings carried the chair back into the kitchen and then crept outside.
The first morning rays cast long shadows through the trees and hedges that bordered the front yard. Tips of dewy grass shone gold in the springtime chill. Hand in hand, the twins scanned the lawn and frowned. Nothing useful here.
"I know!" Verdana gave Vivaldi a pointy toothed grin and dashed across the road. Vivaldi had the sense to look both ways, but the road was empty. If anyone were outside at this hour, they would have seen two minature Frisk Dreemurrs running at top speed, only to be told apart by Verdana's black t-shirt and Vivaldi's white one, while their matching red stripes made a long, red streak.
The twins finally skidded to a stop in the nearest park, a place where they had played for as long as they could remember. For their first six years of life going on seven, anyway. It had a twisty slide, swing sets, a jungle gym, and a sandbox that the twins favored.
But Vivaldi beamed at the sight of its lawn, realizing why Verdana had led them here. "Perfect!"
The sun had fully risen and burned away the dew by the time the twins finished their work, covered in dirt, sweat, and grass stains. Verdana tried turning skeletal for a bit but, as Vivaldi warned, they really needed the grooved skin of their fingertips for this work.
"Done!" the twins cried, high-fiving each other.
A split second later, a giant blur blocked the sun and materialized as their father. The red lights in his eye sockets streamed with anger.
"VIV! VER!"
The trembling siblings knew only too well what that meant. Their mother used their full names at such times, but their father preferred to vocally punch their nicknames.
Dad was serious.
"What the f—hell are you doing out here?! You worried the sh—your mom was worried sick!"
Sans was getting a little better at editing himself. Not much.
The twins stared down at the work they had taken so much pride in a moment ago, and their wide, red eyes filled with tears.
Sans' frown slackened. He was smart enough to know when his kids were faking it to get out of punishment. These tears were real.
"M-mom's worried?" Vivaldi said, scrunching up her face. Verdana said nothing as he full blown bawled. Looking each other in their identical, chubby faces, the twins wailed. "We ruined it!"
Sighing, Sans sank on one knee and saw what the pair had been working on. Shaking his head, he ruffled the twins' hair and said, "This is for your mom, right?"
Viv and Ver nodded, their faces now streaked with mud.
"They're gonna love this, okay?" Sans pulled the children close and let them sob on his sweater. "Next time you wanna surprise 'em, just let me know, and I'll help. No more sneaking out."
And no way was Sans going to tell the twins-specifically, Vivaldi-how impressed he was that they remembered the alarm code.
Frisk paced the front walk in their pajamas and robe and wrung their hands. Sans had assured them he could find the kids more easily by teleporting around, and they were too worried to give him the usual warning about freaking out their neighbors. So when Sans reappeared with Verdana held snug under his right arm and Vivaldi under his left, Frisk's first reaction was to release the breath they had not realized they were holding. But then, despite having their worst nightmares relieved in a snap, Frisk burst out laughing.
Sans, burly skeleton though he was, made a stunning appearance with his brand new crown of daisies.
Setting the children on the lawn, Sans removed the flower crown and placed it on Frisk's head. When he nudged the children forward, they threw themselves at Frisk's legs and cried, "W-we're so sorry we scared you!" Looking up with tear-stained faces, they said, "Happy Mother's Day! We love you, Mommy!"
"Surprise?" Sans said, his hands in his pockets. He gave his wife a look that read, 'We're changing that alarm code.'
"I love you, too. Just don't ever scare me like that again!" Frisk knelt to wrap the children in a massive hug and smother them with kisses. Cradling their trembling chins, Frisk smiled. "The flowers are beautiful. Thank you."
Vivaldi and Verdana gasped with happiness and hugged Frisk again. "You're welcome, Mommy!"
Glancing up at Sans, Frisk's eyes met his in silent agreement. The children huddled against their mother were truly their best flowers.