Chapter Text
With a shrug, Red took off his heavy jacket and laid it over a still snoozing Sans… that he knew wasn’t completely asleep at the moment, but was still acting like it. “…g’back t’sleep, sweetheart… jus’ helping fix an old tractor…” He totally didn’t ‘accidently’ caress his soft cheekbone for a moment when he didn’t tuck Sansy in either.
Crop made sure not to act like he saw the grumpy Fell Monster acting like he wasn’t a big ol’ softie with his Mate and gave a quick kiss to his own Mate. “…me an’ red are gunna go fix th’ tractor, sweetpea… ya c’n stay here with classic and go back t’sleep if ya wan’…”
Horror nodded and instead of lying back down on the porch swing, pulled out some knitting he was working on instead. He made and dyed the yarn himself from the few sheep they had on the farm… Ewegina, Baathany, Ewestace, and Gordon Ramsay. They didn’t have enough to make a business out of it, but it was good for keeping him focused on something. It also made him feel productive in a different way than just taking care of the animals did. He’d eventually have a finished product of some sort… like a hat or scarf or blanket or some weird pot holder thing…
He didn’t have the skill or dexterity for something like gloves or sweaters… maybe someday but he wasn’t worried if he didn’t. They weren’t the smoothest or prettiest things and the yarn was chunky and thick in some places and thinner in others or it wasn’t evenly dyed. Still he did it all on his own without help or reminders on what he was doing or where he was. His mind didn’t wander off like if he was just sitting there doing nothing… he was too lazy to chase after it after all.
Meanwhile, Crop let Red borrow an old stained shirt and a pair of overalls while he changed into the same so they didn’t ruin their ‘good clothes’ on tractor oil and grease. He grinned at the surprised look Red had when he showed him the ‘new’ repair and storage barn. He’d have t’show Red and Classic the new barn for the animals later if they had time.
Red was surprised to see the tractor wasn’t sitting outside somewhere and he was being led to the barn. He hoped one of the animals didn’t try pestering him in there or messing with the tools while he worked on it. To his surprise there wasn’t any animals at all and it was cleaned up… at least of hay and stuff the animals needed. Instead it was organized with tools… both the farming kind and the repairing kind. There was other farming machinery and random spare parts and even a heavy duty pulley and chain system to safely hoist the tractor up off the ground if needed. He knew Crop was strong enough to lift it but you couldn’t exactly do that and fix it at the same time.
“…since me an’ my brother have two extra helpers now that do a bang up job takin’ care o’the animals, we needed a bigger barn fer the new critters we added… ended up gettn’ a new one built with better heatin’ and kept this old one fer this stuff.” After showing Red where any tools were he might need, they got started on the much needed repairs.
At some point, Horror and Sans brought their Mates something to drink and some leftovers to snack on as they worked. They happily hand fed their Mates so they didn’t end up accidently eating any of the gunk that got on their hands from the repair work. Thankfully, between Red and Crop, they managed the get the old tractor running like new again before it got too dark out to get ready for the stargazing that was planned. They had a quick tour of the new barn before Crop and Red went back to the house to get cleaned up and back in their normal clothes.
While they did that, Horror showed Sans where he could set up his telescope for the best view. As Sans fiddled with the settings and such, Horror set the big picnic blanket back up and put the rest of the leftovers out along with the pie they were having for desert. He’d warmed it up in the oven before bringing it out since it tasted better that way. Especially warm apple pie with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice-cream.
They all sat down and chatted about random things while enjoying the leftovers and pie as they waited for it to get dark out. There was a pretty nice sunset to enjoy while they ate and they all reminisced about each of their ‘first times’ seeing one. Granted Crop and his bro had always been on the surface, but he could at least try to think about the first one he could remember seeing as a babybones.
Eventually it was finally dark enough and to their absolute delight, there was not only a wide open and perfectly clear sky full of more stars than they usually saw, but a full blown meteor shower to enjoy. Sans wondered if this specific day was picked by their hosts on purpose or not. He and his Mate were excited to see the event so clearly and he swore he saw Red’s eyelights change to Soul shapes and even stars at one point.
Crop was glad he double checked what night this shootin’ star thing was happnin’ since he remembered the two of them liked that stuff. With a grin, he piped up with “…since i know y’all not big on the veggies… i figgered you’d like somethin’ a bit more… meteor…”
After the four of them eased up on the laughter, Sans and Red turned to the fellow grinning Skeleton and nodded in agreement. This was the best date night ever even if they shared it with another couple.
True they could visit OuterTale and get a much closer view of the stars… and possibly a candid view of a certain God of Destruction discreetly enjoying the sights while working on a knitting project with his strings. But there was just something about seeing them from the Earth that hit differently. Like the difference between watching a movie on the big screen in a theater and watching the same one at home while cuddled up with your loved one. They both had great things that were better than the other, but there was no absolute winner between the two.
After a few hours of watching and rattling off puns, the meteor shower ended and it was getting pretty late so they reluctantly packed up their things to head home. Sans gave a wistful sigh and said “…i’d say this restaurant was stellar… i’m gonna give it a five star review…”
With a chuckle, Crop gave his mate a sly wink before stating “…y’know… our bros ain’t gonna be home ‘til t’morra afternoon if’n ya wanna stay over… s’long a ya b’have y’selves i won’t have ta throw ya out inta the barn neither…”
“…doubt we’d wake at the crack of dawn like you guys, but if ya don’t mind, sure…” He was pretty tired and didn’t feel like making the trip back to his AU where he and Red lived. They might even get another meal before they left if they were lucky. Crop might make them work for it but considering he took time out of his busy day to do this he was sure Red didn’t mind too much either.
Axe grinned and added “…ya c’n use… m’old… room…” Since he and Crop became Mates, they shared a room now and the one he was originally given was turned back into a guest room again. Most of the farms in the area had a guest room or two considering how some folks had to travel pretty far to visit each other. Especially if they were from the farms on other side of the town where it might take most the day to travel from one side to the other.
No one was about to let their guest travel late at night for several hours with the risk of them falling asleep at the wheel or getting lost in the dark. And no one was traveling though bad weather when it was safer to stay the night and head out in the morning or when the weather cleared. The only payment was helping with a chore or two and the knowledge that they would do the same if things were reversed.
With a big yawn, Crop scratched the back of his neck and pointed them to the guest room. “…g’night yall… i jus’ ask ya keep it quiet since summa us gotta get up with th’ rooster…” He gave his guests a wink before shuffling off to his own room with his equally sleepy Mate. They had a long day t’day and he hoped their guests gave them a hand for a bit after they got up in the morning. He couldn’t finish the one field with the tractor broke down so he hoped mebby Red might like t’try workin’ it since he seemed to like tinkerin’ with it.
Red had asked a lot of questions while they fixed it, including how to run it and how fast it could go. Crop didn’t miss his eyelights lighting up when they got the engine runnin’… especially when he told him it sounded as good as they day he bought it. He also got a chuckle outta him when he told Red he wasn’t allowed to paint flames on the side like them hotrodders do. The conversation devolved into Red joking about ‘tricking it out’ and some other nonsense.
In Classic’s case, he’d likely be better off with Horror and tending to the animals… even if it was just feeding them or acting as a distraction while his Sweetpea collected the eggs for example. The chickens loved when there was someone new to give them attention and skritches after all. With a plan in mind, Crop got ready for bed and happily snuggled up under the covers with his Mate as they both fell fast asleep.
Meanwhile, both Red and Sans were barely awake only because the excitement of seeing the meteor shower was still thrumming through their bones. They were both too tired to get up to anything more than some good quality cuddling. They also didn’t want to get thrown out into the barn with the animals by an irate farmer either.
As Sans nuzzled into Red’s neck, he didn’t miss the deep purr that started rumbling in his Mate as his own softer one joined in. It was both quiet yet not as there wasn’t any traffic or music blasting in the far off distance, but they could hear crickets chirping and an occasional owl somewhere. Neither of them thought they could live here but it was a nice change of pace for a visit on occasion.
Back when Sans had to help check up on the HorrorTale Monsters… and later drag Red with him at times… he was too busy worrying about what he might find or what needed adjusted or changed. He had to keep track on if everyone was settling in or if there was any conflict where a matchup wasn’t working out and someone might need rehomed to another ‘foster family’. He didn’t have time to relax and enjoy the sights… mebby not the smells though… that wasn’t something he thought he’d ever get used to.
Gross bodily functions with Humans was one thing, but animals… especially large ones… that couldn’t and didn’t use a toilet and just did their dooty wherever. Animals like cats and dogs could be house trained and some people even taught them to use an actual toilet. At least the smaller farm animals like chickens weren’t as bad as say a full grown cow. The only patty he wanted from a cow was the kind slathered in ketchup and served on a bun.
After a full night’s rest, at least two of the Skeletons woke before dawn with the crowing of a rooster named ‘Alarm Cock’ as usual. After Crop and Horror got dressed for the morning and headed down to make breakfast, a second crow went out. They gave each other a fond smile as they reminisced about how they ended up with more than one rooster.
On rare occasions, especially if one of the girls seemed particularly broody, they’d separate one of the hens and let her and Alarm make some fertilized eggs. If none of them were broody in a long while they sometimes did it on a rotation so that all the hens got a chance to raise some chicks and deterred that from happening. They’d make sure to safely mark the fertilized eggs so they didn’t get mixed up easily with the unfertilized eggs the rest of the hens had. The first time they did this though, they kept the hen and her clutch away from the others. That did not go well and left them with a coop of very cranky chickens that seemed to hold a grudge for weeks even after bringing the hen and her clutch back.
On occasion they’d sell or trade off the fertilized eggs to those wanting to start up their own coop from… heh… scratch. Usually they found safe homes for most of the chicks after they hatched… they did keep one or two hens that grew on them. Generally most folks wanted to start with chicks or nearly mature hens so they could start getting eggs sooner. That and there was no way of knowing if the chick was male or female until after it hatched. Didn’t do no good if someone wanted a coop full of egg layers and all they got was roosters. The males they did end up with were all sold or traded as long as they weren’t used for eating. They didn’t need more than one male since they weren’t in the business of being an actual breeder.
The eggception to this was one poor cockerel that was born disabled due to an unfortunate accident that happened while still in his egg. It was before they had the new barn and there was a nasty storm where likely a particularly close and loud boom of thunder had spooked the girls. The poor egg had gotten knocked out of the nest and onto the wood floor below in their panic. True there was normally a good bit of straw covering the wooden planks but in their fright, the scrambling and beating of wings caused some of the straw to be blown around, leaving bare spots.
They didn’t find the poor thing until the storm eased up and even though the shell had a hairline crack in it… the chick was still alive. They were surprised the chick made it to hatching, granted it was the last to hatch of the clutch and needed a tiny bit of help getting out. Other than a few minor physical issues, as far as they could tell the baby rooster was perfectly healthy… even the vet agreed when they had him checked out. Crop didn’t even need to look at the bloated red puppy eye his Sweetpea was giving him… they were keeping the little guy and at first named him Roo.
They thought the name was funny since not only was it short for rooster, but he did this cute little hop that made Crop think of those kangaroos he saw on a nature video they watched. Roo needed a little help getting around sometimes but he was pretty stubborn and tried to do everything Alarm did. Once the cockerel was around five months old, he was old enough to start trying to do his own crowing. Once he did they found one other little… issue… their cute little rooster chick had. He didn’t crow as early in the morning as most roosters did… he crowed about 15-30 minutes later. They affectionately changed his name to Snooze Button and loved him even more.
Even a year or two later and Snooze still did his thing 15-30 minutes after Alarm did. Eventually they figured out that in the summer when they days were the longest and the sun rose much earlier in the morning, he crowed 30 minutes later and in the winter when the days were shorter and it was still dark out he crowed 15 minutes later. In the spring and fall it was about 20 minutes which made sense at that point.
Snooze was a big help when someone didn’t want to get up immediately, especially if they had guests over that weren’t used to getting up that early. There were even times he pranked a guest that tended to sleep in too often and not want help out by sneaking Snooze into the guest room before he did his thing. Crop was pretty sure he didn’t need to do that with his current guests… not yet anyway. Depended on how much they helped if they decided to stay another night.
After hearing what had to be a rooster, Red held Sans a little bit tighter and grumbled out a “…f’ve m’re minnits…” Just as he was dozing back off a few minutes later, he heard another crow that sounded a bit off compared to the first.
With a sleepy chuckle, Sans mumbled “…the first one’s named ‘alarm cock’… th’other is ‘snooze alarm’… so y’got more than five more minutes…”
Red couldn’t help but chuckle at that and rolled over with a groan “…do we have’ta get up now?” He’d rather sleep in for another hour or so with Sansy curled up in his arms. They both managed a light doze for another half hour or so until the smell of freshly brewed coffee and sizzling bacon reminded their non-existent stomachs it was breakfast-time.
Now that they were both reluctantly awake, the two of them shuffled along and made their way to where the tasty smells were coming from. The moment they plopped themselves onto one of the wooden chairs at the kitchen table, two empty mugs and whole pot of coffee were set in front of them.
Horror chuckled at the set of mumbled thanks as he pulled out the pan of freshly baked biscuits from the oven. He carefully got them all into the cloth lined basket they used for them and set it down with the rest of the platters. Plenty of fluffy eggs, crispy bacon, flaky biscuits and thick country gravy sat in the middle of the large round table. Even though the Papyri lamented the name of it, the large Lazy Susan in the middle of the table was incredibly helpful when it came to making serve yourself meals.
Red was thankful he still had some mustard left from yesterday, though the food was so good he didn’t need very much. He didn’t miss there were three fresh bottles of ketchup out for the others.
Crop waited until everyone was mostly done eating before clearing his non-existent throat. “…iffin y’all don’ mind… i’d ‘preciate if ya could give us a bit of a hand for a bit t’day… ‘specially since m’tractor broke down b’fore i could finish an’ it was too late in th’evenin’ t’do anything after it got fixed…” Focusing on Red, he added “…i’ll even teach ya how t’drive it and letcha do that while i do the hands on parts…”
Red was about to roll his eyelights until he heard the part about letting him actually drive that beast of a machine. It wasn’t very often he got to ‘test drive’ things he repaired unless it was something of his own. He’d never got to drive something that big before and he doubted he ever would. “…sure… might be fun… that an’ we’ll know fer sure if i missed anythin’ or somethin’ else needs a tune-up on it…”
Turning to Classic Sans, Horror added “…ch’k’ns…” He only had two hands and sometimes the girls got fussy he couldn’t give them all attention at the same time. If they had their way they’d prob’ly want to all get skritches and pets nonstop at the same time. He sighed as he realized today wasn’t gonna be one of his good days and hoped Classic understood.
With a shrug, Sans agreed “…s’long as ya don’t make me get too close to some of your bigger critters… don’t wanna get stepped on by accident…” He’d seen enough movies and nature documentaries about how strong some of those animals could be and what happened if they got spooked. Considering Horror never said anything about getting hurt… at least by anything besides Sushi Face’s spear… it was prob’ly fine. Still it’s not like his HoPe was the best even with a sleep buffer.
Thankfully, neither Crop nor Horror was offended at Classic’s hesitation. There were some types of farm animals you didn’t wanna get to close to, though the ones they had were pretty calm. It was understandable due to how short most Sans’ were compared to say a full grown cow and Classic was no exception. Horror was about the same size as Classic and remembered how intimidated he felt the first few times he went near the much larger animals. He was happy they’d had him start with the chickens and work his way up the size scale.
Once everyone was done eating and everything was cleaned up and put away, they headed outside to get started on their chores. Red followed Crop back out to the barn they fixed the tractor in while Horror led Classic to where they kept the chicken feed. After carrying the tractor back out of the barn and taking some time to show Red how to work it, he let the edgier Skeleton give it a try.
He wasn’t about to have him attempt to drive it out the large barn doors and risk any damage being done to the barn or tractor. At least not after plenty of practice once he knew that Red knew exactly how to handle it. Large equipment like that couldn’t make sharp turns or stop quickly like some fancy car. It was second nature to him on all the tricks and quirks the old tractor had, but some of it wasn’t exactly things that were easily explained or taught.
Eventually Red started to get the hang of using the tractor even though it felt weird to be so far up in the air with nothing around him but a roll bar. He had a feeling there was some sort of canvas top or something for when the weather was lousy, but it was freeing sitting up here without anything around you. He didn’t think he could do this all the time/every day though… but helpin’ ev’ry so often wouldn’t be too bad.
Sans followed Horror as they each carried a bucket of chicken feed and a small, soft lined basket in case there were any eggs for them to collect. Granted his food bucket was much smaller, probably so he didn’t waste it or throw out too much. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to try and collect the eggs in case he dropped them but he could at least attempt to distract the feathery beasts while Horror did. The moment they entered the fenced in area where the coop was, a half dozen plump balls of feathers came scrambling out. He watched how Horror spread out some of the feed before dumping the rest in a feeder.
The chickens started to peck at their breakfast for a moment until they focused in on the fact there was someone new in their area. After they all stared at the new person for a few seconds, they scurried their way over clucking as loud as they could. Horror tried not to laugh at the wide eye socketed look of panic on Classis’s face and mimed scattering feed.
Chickens might not be big and intimidating like some other animals but if you got a half dozen or more running right at you it could be scary if you didn’t expect it. That’s why he didn’t give much feed to Classic… it wasn’t the first time he saw someone unexpectedly panic and launch the feed bucket into the air or at the poor curious and hungry birds.
At first the large birds seemed pretty chill until they all zeroed in on him like he was either an enemy or a tasty treat. He didn’t know if they could smell fear and he quickly looked at Horror for help. As the flock of tiny dinosaurs ran towards him, he saw the other Skeleton grin and do the same motions he did a moment ago with the feed bucket. He nearly pelted the birds with the food before they seemed to calm down and peck at his feet where some of the seed landed.
Not bothering to hide his chuckles, Horror made a scratching motion and pointed to the chickens in hopes he might get it. If he gave the chickens skritches or reminded he was there, he wouldn’t be able to get in and out with any eggs without being pestered for attention. He couldn’t remember if he collected any yesterday so he made sure he had two baskets just in case. Even though he wasn’t really doing much, Classic was still being a big help as a distraction.
He saw Horror doing a weird motion with his hands as the chickens continued to gently peck at him and make a lot of clucking and chirring sounds. They kept looking at him like he was supposed to be doing something until he finally realized they wanted pets. Horror was acting like he was petting and scratching something like a dog or cat… did that mean these overgrown birds like that too? He barely got a chance to squat down before he was covered in chickens fighting over shoving their heads in his hands.
Once Horror gathered all the eggs and safely placed the baskets on the other side of the fence, he tried to keep quiet while he pulled out his phone and started to record and take pictures. Sans was sitting on the ground and covered in chickens while trying to keep up with giving them their much loved skritches. The little bit of feed that was still in the bucket had spilt out but that was fine. He couldn’t wait to send the pics and video to both their Mates… he could show it to Crop’s and his own bro later when they came home.
After he got over his initial panic, it was kinda calming being covered in chickens and he could understand now why Horror kept saying they were his favorite. His hands were cramping up and he just realized that the other Skeleton was just standing there with his phone out… “…are you filming this?!?” He managed to grab the handful that was left if the feed and whipped it towards the culprit.
Half the chickens stopped and turned their heads towards the launched food, realizing their favorite person was just standing there and denying them of their pets and skritches! The ones not getting any at the moment ran towards him and started clucking insistently until he gave them what they wanted. The new person was nice but it just wasn’t the same as how the one that fed them every day did it.
With a halfhearted glare, Sans asked “…you knew that was gonna happen, didn’t you…” All he got was a typical smartass Sans grin and nod in agreement. “…so if ya got the feeder thing, why do you needed to do this every day?” Next thing he knew he heard some chuckling from behind him.
“first, th’girls love ‘tention an’ will hold a grudge if ignored, next we gotta check fer eggs b’fore they d’cide t’get rid of ‘em or we get rotten eggs stinkin’ up th’place…” Crop grinned at his Mate “…also routine is good fer m’sweetpea’s recovery an’ memory an’ lastly if too much feed sits in there ya run th’ chance of rodents gettin’ at it or mold growin’ if it’s too damp from rain or dew and can’t dry out. we put some onna ground since they like to scratch and peck fer bugs.”
“…huh…” Sans decided to point out the other odd thing he noticed. “…i know y’like gardening but i dunno if chickens know how to do that…” At least Crop came to explain since it looked like Horror was having a mostly non-verbal day.
He couldn’t help but chuckle, “…naw… they’re good fer chickens t’peck an’ eat fer a balanced diet…” Glancing at the slightly blushing and twitchy Skelton next to him, he said “…gowan… get in there, join yer mate with cuddlin’ the girls…”
Red whipped his head towards Crop with huge eyelights before quickly and carefully plopping himself down next to his Mate. To his delight he was immediately surrounded by soft feathers and relaxing chirring as he and Sansy tried to keep up with giving them all skritches… and trying to ignore the other two recording the whole thing with huge grins.