King almost forgets he's asleep on a couch for a while, before realizing there's an armrest underneath him, a blanket covering him, and Purple fast asleep in his lap.

Okay, why is this kid so fucking adorable-

King sighed, pulling the blanket over Purple's shoulders, and taking a brief glance at his phone.

2:12 am

Jesus Christ.

Had Purple actually slept for that long?

That's...that's actually a good thing, why are we freaking out about that.

Calm down, King.

Purple's fine.

Well...Purple is fine...until he starts shaking.

Bad.

King jolts for a second, thinking it's just cold, before realizing he'd just covered Purple up with a blanket a minute or so ago.

Why would he be shaking from the cold if he had a blanket over him?

Unless...

King pulls the kid closer, already running a hand through his hair. "Purple? Hey, love, wake up. It's just a dream, wake up."

Purple immediately wraps his arms around King's stomach, tightening his grip and whimpering.

"Baby, it's alright. I'm here, wake up."

Come on, kid, it's gonna be fine.

I promised you that everything would be fine.

Why is that going wrong right now?!

God damn it, King, you do this to yourself!

Purple's grip tightens again, and King is shocked back into reality.

"King...help."

King panics, already lifting Purple up to check for an injury that he knows isn't there.

God fuck, he's done this too much.

Wiping tears off of Purple's cheeks, King gives him a brief check over before pulling him back into an embrace.

"You're okay, you're okay, flower. It's okay."

Purple visibly relaxes at the nickname, again laying his head back on King's chest, but his arms don't move from the embrace they were in earlier.

King doesn't really mind that. He just runs another hand through Purple's hair, holding him close.

We're gonna be okay, kiddo. I promise.

"Dad...I found it."

Gold dragged his dad around the corner, before they both stopped.

"Oh, come on!"

King was already have a struggle for a day, and this was probably going to just make it worse.

Just fucking great.

He'd barely been able to actually have a decent conversation with Gold since the entire thing had started. The only real conversations they'd had were over text.

And even that wasn't enough for them to actually talk to each other.

So, naturally, King joined Alan in helping fix the city, since they'd finally cleared enough for King to actually access his house...which wasn't as bad as he thought, but still kind of in ruins.

King sighed. "Lovely. My entire house is destroyed."

"It's not that bad!" Gold tells him, pulling King by his arm into the destroyed living room, and King jolts when the contact breaks, and a slab of wood from his roof falls to the ground.

"Jesus fucking Christ."

"It could be worse! The entire house could have been ripped off the foundation!"

"Lovely. As if I didn't already have enough of my sanity lost living with Second and the others."

"I'm sure it's not that bad."

"Uh huh. Sure."

"They're smart and mature!"

"In the face of danger, kid," King snapped, pulling out a broom from what was the hall closet. "When not fighting, these guys are loud, annoying, and chaotic. I'm surprised Purple can sleep through the night."

"And how many times have you slept on Purple's floor?" Gold asked with a smirk, pulling King's cleaning supplies out from the sink cabinet.

"Damn you. How do you know me so well?"

"With how protective you can be of Purple, it's not hard."

"Really?"

"You do realize it took you less than a 10-minute span of time after the castle collapsed on him to realize we needed to go back and rescue him when he was brainwashed and ready to kill someone?"

"Sure it did."

"It did! I'm telling you! I was there!"

"Oh my God." King swept some of the dust in Gold's direction. "Can you not? I get it. I'm protective of him. But do we remember the last time I left a child to their own devices?"

"Yeah...that."

"Anyways." King dropped the subject, already moving to the coffee table next to the couch. "I'm gonna need to wash these cushions all over again." He grumbled as he double checked the folder inside the table. "Oh, thank Becker you survived."

"What are those?" Gold peeked over.

"Why do you wanna know?"

"It's adoption papers, isn't it."

"How the fuck-"

"It was not obvious!" King snapped, tossing a book over to Gold.

"It's more obvious than Navy's inability to see when his wife is fucking someone else!" Gold snapped back. "You know how many times you've called Purple your kid?!"

"Not that often!"

"Probably over a hundred times!"

"I have not!"

"Yeah, you have!"

King glared at him, putting the papers in a satchel. "Tell Purple, and I swear to stick-"

"I won't! I don't have a reason to!"

"Sure you do."

"I don't!"

"Uh huh."

"Dad-"

"Okay, okay, you won't say a word to Purple. Or Green, because we both know he'll tell Purple regardless."

"Got it."

King sighed, placing another book back on the shelf. It was gonna be a hassle to fix most of the stuff in his house...like his walls, and door, and the roof, but the best thing they could do was salvage what they could, and clean up as best they could while they were able to, because repairs were going to be chaotic.

Thank fucking God Dark and Yellow were able to get Alan in there to help.

Gold moved a piece of wood, and tossed it into their pile of salvagable construction materials before speaking again. "Seeing as your trying to do something for the family, I might as well tell you my plan."

"Oh God, what are we planning?"

"How do you propose to someone?"

The house went silent as the father-son duo stared at each other.

"How do you what."

"When the fuck-"

"Dad, chill-"

"How am I supposed to chill when I biological son wants to get married?!"

"At least it's not Purple!"

"Purple could care less about marriage!"

"Dad, can you help me or not."

King sighed. "Best advice: don't fuck it up."

"Dad!"

"That's how I did it!"

"Sure it was!"

"It was! I planned the entire thing out the best way I could!"

"How do you plan a marriage proposal?!"

"Uhm...ask her on a date?"

"Oh my God-"

"I did! I got this cool little lookout area at the park and planned this entire elaborate marriage proposal!"

"And how did this happen?"

"...I skydived off an airplane, and when I landed, this banner showed up behind me."

Gold stared at him for a moment, before bursting into fits of laughter.

"Hey!"

"Sorry, I just-I find it hard to believe that you skydived off an airplane and survived!"

"Well, I did!"

"Sure you did!"

"Gold-"

"What?"

King sighed, glaring at him. "I'm just saying: make it elaborate, don't fuck it up, pray she says yes."

"Sapphire will kill me for pulling off a stunt like that before I even get the chance to propose."

"Well, then, don't skydive."

"I literally cannot do that."

"How did my skydiving genetics not reach you-"

"Dad."