A skeleton walked through the blowing, cold wind of the mountain winter. His boots were tall and red. His pants were tight and black, riding low on his pelvis. His uncharacteristic sweater was thick and warm, a cashmere wool number in a light orange borrowed from a friend. His teeth were sharp and three lines bisected his left eye socket.
Edge stepped into the basement. He closed the door and knocked the snow off his caked boots, then tramped down the stairs as loudly as he could so he wouldn't startle his datemate. When he got to the bottom of the stairs he sighed. Classic was still hunched over his project. Edge had no idea what it was. At the moment it looked a bit like a steampunk teapot, but earlier today it had looked like a projector box, so that didn't mean much. Edge didn't really care what it was. All he knew was that his datemate was absorbed in fiddling with it to the point of being totally unaware of such paltry details as what time it was and whether he should eat. So Edge had decided to fill that role himself.
The tall skeleton slipped a plate of food into the space between Classic and his project. It held a hummus and tomato sandwich with baba ganoush and tzatziki sauce on it, just the way Classic liked it. There was also a piece of baklava off to one side.
Classic made a startled noise when the food inserted itself into his world. He turned to see who had brought it. Edge took the opportunity to steal a kiss from his datemate.
"IT'S TIME TO EAT, MY LOVE. YOU'VE BEEN WORKING AT THIS FOR FOUR HOURS NOW. YOU NEED TO TAKE A BREAK AND FUEL YOUR BODY AND MIND BEFORE THEY GIVE OUT ON YOU. PLEASE, TAKE THIS."
Classic reluctantly grabbed a triangle of the sandwich and peered at it. "hummus and tomato?"
"ALONG WITH YOUR SECOND AND THIRD FAVORITE CONDIMENTS. A NICE, HEALTHY MEAL," Edge confirmed quietly.
Classic let out a startled moan when he bit into the sandwich. He stared at it with wide eye lights before turning his brilliant smile on Edge. "thanks, edge. i really appreciate it," he added with a genuine twinkle in his eye, "especially the baklava. you know a good piece of that sweet honey goodness makes me go absolutely nuts."
Edge put on his best disapproving face to hide the startled laughter in his soul. He secretly loved his datemate's puns, but he knew Classic absolutely loved it when he played the straight man to his comedian.
"I DON'T SEE YOU BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS JUST YET. PLEASE REFRAIN FROM DOING SO. I'M NOT SURE THE CORKBOARD COULD HANDLE IT."
Classic chuckled. "sure thing, babe. but seriously, thanks for the food. i must be starving if i've been working that long. it has to be…" He pulled out his phone and checked the time, "...5 o'clock? sheesh, that's late. how was your shift?"
Edge smiled mysteriously. "OH, YOU KNOW. A BIT OF THIS AND THAT. THE ELEPHANT CERTAINLY WAS ENTERTAINING."
Classic narrowed his eye sockets. "what elephant? i thought you worked in an antique shop."
Edge's smile widened into a grin. "YOU WOULD BE CORRECT. AN OLD HUMAN LADY WITH PINK HAIR BROUGHT IN A NOVELTY LAMP THAT HER NEPHEW HAD BOUGHT HER. IT WAS ONE OF THOSE VINTAGE ART DECO DEALS. YOU WOULD HAVE LIKED IT."
"i bet," Classic said around a mouthful of food. Edge knew he only did it to get his goat, but it worked. Edge glared into the smiling face of the monster he loved.
He sighed. "JUST EAT YOUR SANDWICH. I'LL COME BACK FOR THE PLATE LATER."
Classic waved to him as he left the basement. "bye! don't stomp too hard on the stairs. you might break through!"
Edge's only response was to slam the door on the way out.
An hour later Edge returned to the basement to fetch the plate. Classic had set it off to his left and had cleared it. Edge smiled. He was always happy when Classic loved his food. He might not be a professional chef, but he still took pride in his cooking. It was eclectic and simple. Classic seemed to love it.
Speaking of Classic, he was bent over his project with a pair of tweezers and a bunch of wires. The project now looked like one of those rides you see at fairs that have a bunch of chairs suspended by wires that spin around and out at an angle. Edge had no idea what it was.
"HELLO, LOVE. HOW IS YOUR PROJECT GOING?" Edge asked quietly, not wanting to startle Classic and mess something up.
Classic set down the tweezers and swiveled in his chair to face Edge. He had a smile on his face, and his eyes were twinkling. "well, wire you asking? tweeze projects of mine don't usually interest you this much."
Edge scoffed, secretly impressed that Classic had managed to come up with two puns that fast. It never ceased to amaze him how gifted his datemate was in the pun department. Edge could appreciate a good pun when he heard one, but he was absolute garbage at coming up with them himself. His coworkers at the antique shop seemed to send them flying back and forth all day long, but Edge's best attempts always fell flat. He'd given up on coming up with any, leaving that to those who had the skill, like Classic. His puns were better than their puns, anyway. Edge wasn't biased. Not at all.
"JUST CURIOUS. IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE YOU'VE BEEN THIS DEDICATED TO A PROJECT. NORMALLY YOU'RE BETTER AT REMEMBERING TO EAT AND TAKE BREAKS. I KNOW IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE YOU ACTED LIKE THIS."
Classic grinned. "aw, edgelord, that's sweet. too bad i can't tell you. it's going to be a surprise~!"
Edge narrowed his eye sockets at his datemate. That was such a typical Sans move. Well, two could play at that game. "WELL, THAT'S GOOD. I HAPPEN TO HAVE A SURPRISE OF MY OWN WAITING FOR YOU UPSTAIRS, SO DON'T STAY DOWN HERE TOO LONG."
With that, Edge grabbed the plate and sashayed his way up the stairs and back out into the deepening snow.
It was late at night when Classic trudged up the stairs and through the snowstorm to the main house. He still wasn't entirely convinced that he should be stopping. The interdimensional phone didn't have nearly the clarity of tone that he wanted, but he really couldn't fiddle with it any longer. When he was younger, maybe, but now his eyes gave out much sooner than they used to. It was better to take a break and sleep off the shivers than to push himself.
He felt absolutely caked in snow by the time he opened the front door. He couldn't even see through the snow plastered to his face. Knowing that his brother was likely staying over with his datemate, Classic immediately started stripping off his ice-cold layers before he got chilled to the bone and soaked through.
It wasn't until Classic was down to his t-shirt and shorts, after he had used a clear patch of his hoodie to wipe off his face, that he could see the room in front of him. It was… not what he had been expecting. If he'd been expecting anything, it was that the room would look as it usually did; the new couch that they had gotten when they reached the Surface, the old tv that worked better than it used to thanks to a little tinkering on Classic's part, the joke/quantum physics book on the table in the corner, and the pet rock on the dining table. Most of those things were probably still there. Probably. It was hard to see them around the giant blanket nest that took up the majority of the room. Edge must have put in every blanket, pillow, and cushion in the house!
Classic grinned and crawled over the mounds of fuzzy fleece and warm wool that grew into a giant mountain of comfort. Sitting on top of (and slightly within) the pile was Edge. He had a self-satisfied expression on his face, like a dog with a big stick or a cat with a "dead" string. He had a large bowl of popcorn in one hand and the tv's remote controller in the other.
"SO. DO YOU LIKE MY SURPRISE?" Edge asked his datemate.
Classic chuckled. "it certainly is surp-rising. how long did it take you to build this thing? i can see you used the pool noodles to maintain the pile's structural integrity without sacrificing softness."
Edge preened under the compliment to his engineering even as he glared at the pun. Classic knew he would. Edge loved it when his datemate praised him, and he was especially proud of his skills as a puzzle engineer. This might not be a puzzle, but the same principles applied.
"IT IS A RATHER INGENIOUS IDEA, ONE TRULY WORTHY OF THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE EDGE," his datemate said as he set down the remote, freeing up one hand to help Classic over the last few feet of pillows and into the little divot in the covers that Edge was sitting in. "I HAD THOUGHT OF USING THE THROW PILLOWS, BUT THEY DID NOT HAVE THE LENGTH I NEEDED FOR THIS WORK. THE POOL NOODLES SEEMED AN OBVIOUS NEXT CHOICE."
Classic smiled. "you don't give yourself enough credit. i know i never would have thought to use them. i probably would have given up on the mountain-like design and just made a pillow fort."
"OH," Edge blinked, stunned. "THAT WOULD CERTAINLY HAVE BEEN EASIER THAN STICKING WITH MY ORIGINAL DESIGN. THE IDEA OF A PILLOW FORT NEVER OCCURRED TO ME."
Classic chuckled as he settled into the curve of his datemate's arms. He loved how nicely he seemed to fit in the other's grasp, like both of them were designed perfectly to fit one another. His legs could curl up right next to Edge's while his skull rested on the other's ribs, and when he did so Edge could rest his skull comfortably on top of Classic's. His brother had called it perfectly, sickeningly sweet, like eating a whole bag of pure sugar. He'd meant it in a good way, though.
"that's okay, edge. if we all thought the same way then the world would be a really boring place, no bones about it. now, what did your insightful brain come up with for us to watch?"
Edge's face went from a small frown at the pun that didn't reach his eye lights to a brilliant smile. "WELL, I WAS THINKING OF STARTING UP…"
Edge had no idea what time it was when the credits started rolling. It was dark outside still, but with the way the snow was falling it could be high noon and still be dark out. He didn't have his watch available to check. That wasn't because he didn't have it on. No, he couldn't check the time because Classic had fallen asleep while wrapped around that arm like a little koala bear. It was absolutely adorable.
Edge set aside the empty popcorn bowl and grabbed the remote controller with his free hand. He switched off the tv and relaxed into the mound of pillows, content to lay here with his datemate forever.
The sound of the snow hitting the windows and the lullaby of Classic's snores quickly lulled Edge into a doze. His eyelids drooped. He fought the sleep, wanting to stay awake, but it was a futile effort. He gently drifted into sleep while curled happily around his datemate in a mound of blankets while a snowstorm raged outside.