The apple fell far from the tree, then it rolled back

Chapter 6 Part One

The kids were away for the day, their first day of school upon them. They were already surprisingly good at English, enough that Blue was only SLIGHTLY worried about them going to an all English speaking school. But, Deltori was a teacher there now officially, so they did have one familiar face...was that enough?

Blue thought about what could possibly happen during their first day while replacing one of their lightbulbs in the kitchen. Either, they were having a nice day, or they were getting bullied for only hanging out with their little brother at school and playing with rubix cubes away from everyone else.

Another loud cough from the second floor interrupted his normal amounts of thinking, and he finished the lightbulb quickly before finally deciding to go check out the source. The sound was uncomfortable and worrying, so obviously Blue had to go up there and check.

About 10 minutes ago, Cross had gone to the kitchen and filled up a glass of water, telling Blue not to worry about the coughing. He didn't think the glass was relevant, but now he found it, sitting on the floor, next to Cross, who was just waiting in front of the bathroom on the second floor. Cross looked resigned and slightly dissociated, until his gaze turned towards Blue.

"Why are you here? I told you it's fine"

Cross asked, taking on a defensive tone and getting up to immediately also take on a defensive stance. It was as if he knew whatever was happening was bad, but for whatever reason, he was determined to defend it no matter what.

"Well, I am worrying. Who is that?"

"Horror, he was bingeing again."

Cross said, casually, as if this happens often.

It had happened, now that Blue thought about it, once, but that was when he and Ink were sparring. Back then, he had done a quick check- Ink was in the same room as him, Dream and Nightmare were watching them. Everyone good was there.

As he listened to the coughs, he couldn't shake the feeling of immense guilt that emerged. He pushed it down, it was justified.

"What did he eat?"

Swap asked, and he wasn't trying to seem judgemental, but it still ended up coming off like it anyway. Maybe he did mean it. Cross narrowed his eyes, offended by it regardless.

"Just too much. It happens"

Cross said simply, shortly. He didn't like sharing that fact with him, who knows what he could use it for. He didn't know what will happen once their boss grows up. Blue decided to take the words at face value, if only for peace of mind. Cross had mentioned they needed to go shopping, when he was getting water earlier. But how did Swap not notice? He kept staring at Cross, which made Cross break eye contact and look right at Dust.

Dust, who had been lurking since Blue came upstairs, maybe before. Blue had been trying to ignore him, but now he approached. He shared a look with Cross that Blue couldn't quite decipher, before looking at Blue- he thinks, the hood and lighting made his eyelights hard to see sometimes. They weren't always the vibrant red and blue he saw in battle.

"His AU's lack of food made him used to being hungry, so sometimes he feels hungry when he's not. So he eats."

Dust explained curtly, as if that was obvious.

"Oh yeah, that explains it. And his body used to just convert some of the magic to mass, but there's a limit to that-"

Where did Killer come from? Blue felt a sudden sense of deja vu.

"KIDS ARE BACK!"

Ink yelled from the front door, and Blue totally didn't take the excuse to get away from that by greeting the kids. They were still wearing the backpacks made for the other twin, but nobody was really stopping them, it was cute. Dream was very obviously happy and immediately ran to hug Blue, who laughed and picked him up before quickly setting him down.