When Cider and Geno woke they were both famished. Unfortunately there wasn't much to eat in the Death brothers' kitchen, but there was plenty still sitting around in the Save Screen kitchen. It only took three trips to grab enough to sate Reaper's two very hungry datemates (two datemates! He was still excited about that). He wasn't even sure they were actually full, they both kept falling face first into their plates so Reaper moved them both back to bed and tucked them in. It was adorable how they curled up around each other, his cute little kittens. His!
But the pressure of too many dead Souls calling out to him was getting to be too much. For all that he'd rather crawl back into bed with his darlings he had a job to do that wouldn't let him ignore it. Reluctantly Reaper went downstairs, he should at least move the dirty dishes to the sink, right? It wasn't procrastination if it was productive!
Respite was standing in the kitchen, hands on hips as he glared down at the dirty dishes and crumbs scattered over the table. "REALLY NOW!"
"hey bro, sorry about the mess. seems healing makes mortals both tired and really hungry."
Respite sighed, "WELL IF THAT'S WHAT IT IS LIKE FOR MORTALS THEN I SUPPOSE THERE'S NOTHING TO BE DONE ABOUT IT. ASIDE FROM CLEANING THIS UP, OF COURSE."
"yeah, guess so."
Respite made the most outraged, scandalized noise when Reaper dumped the whole pile of plates into the sink. It was kind of funny watching him angrily pull them out and set them aside so he could fill the sink with water. Reaper just scooted the trash can over and half heartedly swept the crumbs in. A lot missed and ended up on the floor but eh… someone would sweep the floor sooner or later.
"THERE'S EVEN STILL PERFECTLY EDIBLE FOOD ON THIS PLATE," Respite grumbled as he stole the trash can to drop said perfectly edible food into.
"hey bro, what'd you do with my datemates' clothes?"
"I THREW THEM OUT."
"you what?"
"SA- REAPER! THERE WAS A GIANT, RAGGED CUT ACROSS THEM THAT HAD YOUR DATEMATES' MANA SOAKED INTO THEM."
"bro, those were their only clothes!"
"WELL, YOU SHOULD FIX THAT."
"… huh, i can do that, can't i?"
Respite sighed and rolled his eyes, "YES, YOU MOST CERTAINLY CAN."
"did you at least save their shorts? those didn't have cuts and are black so any possible stains won't show. and cider doesn't have any pants right now, so unless you want him to wander around the house pantsless until i get back…"
"YES, I SAVED THEIR SHORTS. THEY'RE IN THE WASH AND WILL BE DONE SHORTLY."
Reaper snickered.
Respite gave him the side eye, "NOW GO GET YOUR DATEMATES SOME PROPER CLOTHES."
"ok." Reaper paused, then cleared his throat, "i might be a while. work, you know."
"I DO NEED TO GO DOWN INTO THE UNDERWORLD SOON, IT'S GOTTEN A BIT ROWDY DOWN THERE."
"yeah, so i might be a while. oh!" Reaper quickly popped back into the Save Screen, gathered up what little food was left, then shortcut back to dump it on the kitchen table. It was monster food, it'd be fine. "there, in case my ⁺✩*•̩̩͙ •̩̩͙*˚datemates˚*•̩̩͙ •̩̩͙*˚✩⁺ are hungry when they wake up."
"THAT'S VERY THOUGHTFUL OF YOU."
"heh, thanks."
"so i was able to shortcut to the save screen, back to the bathroom, over to life's garden, then back here," Geno said as he collapsed on the couch.
Cider reappeared at Reaper's side, "got to life's garden, the save screen, back to life's garden, the bedroom, then down here."
Reaper nodded, "okay, life's garden is part of this universe, and the save screen is its own weird thing. we can figure out if you guys can get to other universes when we go on our first shopping trip. "
They both groaned, Cider flopped down onto the couch next to Geno. "we just did sooooooooo much work, do we haaaaaaaaave to go shopping right now?" he whined. They were both wearing Reaper's clothes again. Rather than buying his datemates clothes, he'd decided to just expand his own wardrobe. Reaper now had several outfits of "not work clothes" that were mostly soft shirts and comfy sweatpants, all a bit comfortably loose on Reaper. Geno and Cider looked adorable in them, especially with the sleeves and pant legs rolled up. But he had at least gotten them replacement slippers.
"no," Reaper replied, "but we will have to go soon." He sat down between his datemates and pulled them both close to cuddle. "we can go anywhere in the whole multiverse. we can go to any tale or swapverse if you want someplace small and familiar, or we can go to a universe on the surface where they have huge stores full of more options than you can imagine, there are even some that cater just to skeletons. oh! i bet you guys would love outertale. though i'm not sure how you'd feel about their fashion."
"maybe not a big shop," Geno said quietly.
"yeah, that doesn't sound like the best idea," Cider added.
"i'm not surprised. for now how about i show you two around here?"
"what? around the house? we've seen the whole house."
"it's just like our house back in uh… our home universe? birth universe?"
"it's just like most skeleton houses in most universes," Reaper said. "but have you been outside? it's not snowdin out there. "
"we've seen out the window, it's just a bunch of dead trees."
"it's like the outside of asgore's house in the underground, only less leaves on the ground and more weird twig trees."
"yes, but there's more to it than that. i should at least show you the entrance and the border."
"the entrance and border… to what?"
"the underworld." Reaper stood and held his hands out, "c'mon, it's not far."
The twins took his hands and Reaper helped them up. They walked outside and down the little stone path that took them from the front door through the dead forest. The path was necessary too, even if it was all dead the undergrowth was thick and thorny. A stray breeze blew dead, crunchy leaves cross their path and rustled the empty branches overhead. After a short walk the stones of the path petered out until it was just a thin path of packed dirt that joined up with a hard dirt road bordered by trees dripping brightly colored leaves. Reaper stopped near the edge.
"that's the entrance," Reaper said as he pointed towards a rocky area with what was little more than a hole in the uneven ground, a few twisted, dead trees dotted around it. The road led right to the hole, slanting down as it met the hole and disappeared into its depths.
"oh my god," Geno gasped, "THAT'S the entrance to the UNDERWORLD?!"
"you mean like the actual AFTERLIFE?!"
"yup. it's uh… generally not a good idea for mortals to go there, it mucks everything up. so please don't."
"yeah no, no thanks."
They both shook their heads and clung to his arms.
"that's a relief, most mortals are pretty curious even if they don't have someone they're trying to go find. the other thing i wanted to show you was the border." Reaper pointed in the opposite direction, where the leaves went from red to yellow to a lush green. "as the entrance to the underworld this whole area is a liminal space. behind us is part of the godly realm, and that over there is the mortal realm."
"aren't uh… aren't all the mortals in your universe human?" Cider asked nervously.
"yup," Reaper replied. "and sometimes they get impatient and go trying to hunt up a recently deceased loved one so they'll wander down there."
"and there's a path straight to your front door from here?!"
"don't worry, this is the border of the godly realm, it's hidden from mortal sight. that uh… that probably includes you two so don't leave the path or you might never find it again."
"don't ever come out here again, ok, got it."
"no kidding, can we not be here anymore?"
Reaper shortcut them directly into the living room. They both breathed a sigh of relief and flopped onto the couch. Reaper shoved his hands into his pockets to keep from wringing them anxiously, "was that too much? i just wanted to make sure you two know where you can and can't go."
"so sometimes you'll just see a random human walking by?" Geno asked.
"well… yeah." Reaper motioned to the living room around them, "we picked this spot because it's a good vantage point for the cave."
"ugh! how often do they do that?"
"pretty often, we'll get one or two every few decades."
"wait, decades?"
"that's not so bad then."
"you said they can't see the house, right? they don't even know to look for it?"
"not even a little," Reaper said, a bit confused. He understood them being wary of humans considering what one very Determined human child was capable of (amazing what a universal constant that was), but decades were terribly short. Shouldn't they be upset just how often humans wandered by?
"so even if one went hunting for the entrance every day they still wouldn't come here?"
"every day?!" Reaper sputtered. What a horrifying thought!
"anything else we should know about?"
"as part of the godly realm the forest connects to the rest of the gods eventually, all except life and her hidden garden. so if you go far enough, like you can't see the house anymore, you'll probably run into other gods."
"that's good to know."
"i wouldn't worry about it too hard, if you can shortcut to life's garden you can get back here just fine on your own, and most gods are very polite."
"anything else?"
Reaper shook his head, "nothing else. though if i think of anything i'll let you know."
"ok." Geno patted the couch between him and Cider, "come chill with us for a bit."
"yeah, it's already been a long afternoon, perfect time for," Cider was interrupted by a yawn, "time for a nap."
Reaper grinned as he sat down between them again, pulling each twin snug under an arm. "go ahead and take that nap, i have plans to keep you two up all night long. "
The three of them must have made a strange sight setting up a picnic on the roof like this. But the brothers Death had no neighbors, no one to stare at them and shake their heads as Reaper and his two (two! ) datemates shortcut back and forth between the house and the roof with an increasingly elaborate pile of things. A familiar red checkered blanket was laid down, a variety of snacks and drinks, a pile of pillows both on the blankets and to prop up said snacks and drinks against the roof's incline. The show was already starting by the time they sat sprawling out, but that was alright, there would be plenty more in the future.
"so how are you two enjoying your first sunset? "
"eh, i wouldn't call it my first," Geno said as he refused to take his eye off the colorful western sky.
"how?" Reaper asked in confusion, "you were trapped underground."
"the kid liked to break the barrier sometimes, i think they got some sort of sick kick out of getting everyone out just to put them back under the mountain when they reset. anyway, for some reason it's always sunset when the barrier breaks, you can see it through the window."
Reaper scoffed, "watching through a window is not the same."
"it's really not," Geno breathed.
"look at those clouds," Cider spoke up for the first time, pointing high in the sky where some clouds were painted rosy pink against a darkening purplish sky, deep blue shadows already in stark contrast on the far side of the clouds.
There wasn't much talking as the evening wore into night. The two were so entranced by watching the last rays of the sun slowly fade over the distant mountains that neither thought to look up until Reaper said, "hey, look up. "
They did. The sky wasn't completely dark yet, but the brightest of the stars were already out and shimmering in the sky. Geno and Cider looked up with open mouth wonder, not even remembering they could lay back and save their poor necks the strain until Reaper pulled them down.
Cider was the first to speak, pointing up, "look! is that… is that ursa major?"
"i think so," Geno confirmed. "and if you use the last two stars as a guide they're supposed to point you right to polaris."
Reaper smiled, more distracted by his datemates than the glittering stars above them. He lay there with his skull cushioned on pillows, watching his two datemates laying next to each other, pointing out stars and constellations, spouting off facts and trivia they both surely knew the other already knew. He wouldn't give this up for anything.
