Chapter Text
Eclipse arrived at the gym a few minutes earlier than Moon this time. He went to the locker room to change into his plain t-shirt and his new sweatpants. He tossed his clothing bag into his locker and closed it. He heard someone coming into the room and glanced towards the door.
“Wow. You got here early,” Moon commented in surprise. He headed to his own locker and changed into his own workout clothes.
“Not that early. I only got here a minute or so before you,” Eclipse chuckled lightly.
Moon nodded, closing his locker once he was finished. “I see you got new pants. Are they comfortable?”
“They are,” Eclipse smiled. “And they have a stretchy waistband,” he added as he showed him.
“Nice. Well, since we’re not gonna be here long as usual, I was thinking we should keep it simple today. Perhaps we could either jog on the treadmills, or we could ride on those exercise bikes,” Moon suggested.
Eclipse hummed as he thought about the options. “Hmm. How about a bit of both?”
“You mean spend roughly about 20 minutes on each?” Moon asked for confirmation.
“Yes, exactly,” Eclipse nodded. “Uh, how long do we have today?”
“An hour,” Moon responded. “So, we’d jog for 20 minutes, take five, then bike for another 20, take 5 again… That’s 50 minutes total…” he muttered underneath his breath, thinking out loud. “Yeah, that should work out perfectly! Uh, no pun intended,” he chuckled nervously.
Eclipse chuckled along with him. “Good. Let’s get started, then.”
……..
Meanwhile, back at home, Bloody and Harvest were playing Mario Kart with Solar on the Switch. All three of them were experts in the game, and they were getting slightly competitive during the last lap on Rainbow Road from the Wii.
“Almost there…” Harvest mumbled, trying to keep his first place spot.
Unfortunately for him, one of the NPCs sent out a blue shell. Well, the item’s actually called “spiny shell” in the game, but it’s very commonly known as the “blue shell”. He didn’t have a super horn item to protect himself from the blue shell’s impact. So once it rushed all the way to him, it exploded, causing him to lose his speed… and his first place as Bloody passed him. Bloody soon crossed the finish line, winning the race.
“Aw, come on! Damn these computers!” Harvest groaned.
Bloody laughed with joy. “Told you I’m the better racer in Mario Kart!”
Shortly, Solar was lucky that he got 4th place in the game. “At least you weren’t getting brutally killed by them like I was,” he told Harvest. He set his remote down on the coffee table to stand up and stretch.
“Maybe you should’ve gone with your main,” Harvest pointed out.
Solar shrugged. “Not sure if that would’ve made any difference. Besides, I wanted to try to be Toad for a change.”
“So, are we gonna play another round?” Bloody asked.
“You two can if you want. I was thinking about cooking lunch.”
“What are you gonna make?” Harvest wondered, raising a brow.
Solar hummed, take a moment to think. “Perhaps some chili? Earth just sent me the recipe for it this morning.”
“We never had chili before. Is it good?”
“Depends on how it’s made, I guess. Since this is Earth’s chilli recipe, I’m highly sure it’ll turn out good.”
“We'll try it. Can we help this time?” Bloody asked.
“I don't see why not. Just don't be eating the profits,” Solar chuckled.
The twins stood up with excitement. They followed their older brother to the kitchen. Solar pulled up the recipe on his phone, and set it on a book stand that he usually uses for cookbooks. He then took out the largest pot that they owned for the chili itself.
“Alright. First things first, we need to wash our hands,” he stated. He walked over to the sink and turned on the faucet to warm water. He squirted a few small drops of hand soap into the palm of his hand and began washing. Once he finished, he used the small towel that was hanging from the small towel holder.
Bloody washed his hands next. Harvest followed when he was done. He turned off the water when he finished. Both used the same towel that Solar used to dry the hands.
Solar nodded as he watched the twins finishing up. “Now, we'll be needing a packet of ground beef from the fridge. We'll also be needing a chili seasoning packet, some garlic powder, and onion powder from the seasoning cabinet.”
“On it!” Bloody found a pound of ground beef packet in the refrigerator. Harvest grabbed the seasonings from the cabinet. “Can we also use salt and pepper?” he asked.
“Does the seasoning packet already have some salt in it?” Solar wondered.
Harvest turned the packet over and read the labels on the back. “Uh… about 13% sodium,” he read out loud.
“Then no, we won't be needing any salt. If you want to add any black pepper, I suppose it should be fine. Just only add a small amount of it.”
“Okay,” Harvest nodded. He placed the seasonings on the counter.
“How are we gonna cook the ground beef in that pot?” Bloody asked.
“We're not. Here.” Solar took out a skillet that was big enough for the ground beef. “We'll be browning the meat in there before adding it into the pot.”
“Anything else we need?” Harvest wondered.
“Let's see…” Solar glanced over to his phone to read the recipe. “Yes. Either one or two cans of diced tomatoes. I'm not sure how much we're gonna end up making, so get two out to have on hand. Two cans of corn, and two cans of baked beans. We could add extra beans into it if you'd like.”
“I think that should be enough,” Harvest said. Bloody nodded in agreement with his twin.
“Alright. That's all we'll be needing, then.”
Both twins worked together to grab the necessary cans from the pantry. They carried them to the counter.
Solar started on cooking the ground beef in the skillet. He used a turner to chop up the meat while it cooked.
“Smells good already,” Bloody commented.
Solar chuckled lightly. “It won't be done for some time. You two can go ahead and open up those cans and put the tomatoes, corn, and beans in the pot.”
Harvest took out a can opener and used it to open up the cans of diced tomatoes, corn, and baked beans. Bloody took the opened cans and dumped them into the large pot. He then tossed the empty cans into the trash can.
“Alright. Good job. Go ahead and add the seasonings in,” Solar told them.
Harvest went ahead and opened up the seasoning packet and poured it into the pot. “How much garlic and onion do you want?” Bloody asked.
“Uhm…” Solar thought about it for a moment. He got an idea almost instantly. He took out a regular spoon from the drawer and handed it to him. “Fill that up about halfway. We can always add more if we need to.”
Bloody nodded, taking the spoon. He held the spoon steady over the pot as Harvest helped him with pouring the garlic powder in it. Harvest eyeballed it and stopped pouring when he saw that about half of the spoon was covered in garlic powder. Bloody then dumped the powder into the pot. The twins repeated this process with the onion powder.
“Can we mix it now?” Bloody asked, placing the spoon on the counter.
“Yes,” Solar nodded. He grabbed a stirring spoon and handed it to him for him to use.
Bloody took it and began stirring everything that was in the pot. Harvest watched over his twin's shoulder. “It looks so good already,” he commented.
“It does,” Bloody agreed. “Did you also want to add black pepper?” He mentioned as he continued to stir.
“Oh yeah!” Harvest grabbed the black pepper and sprinkled some into the pot.
“That should be enough,” Bloody told him. Harvest stopped and put the black pepper away in the cabinet. Bloody continued mixing everything together until it was completely mixed together. He set the mixing spoon on the spoon rester when he was done.
“How's the beef?” he asked Solar.
“It should be done in about 5 minutes. Go ahead and turn the pot on to a medium if you haven't already.”
Harvest turned the burner on to medium heat. “Should we get a lid out?”
“Yes,” Solar responded. “There should be a lid in the same cabinet where the pots are. Will either one of you be able to bend over and get it?”
“Maybe not Bloody. But I can try!” Harvest walked over to the cabinet where the pots and lids were stored. He opened up the lower cabinet door and leaned over to see that the pot’s lid wasn't too deep inside. He kneeled down on one knee so he could reach for it easier. He got the lid out with no problems and placed it on top of the counter.
“I got it!” He exclaimed proudly. He then used the countertop as support to stand back up. He closed the cabinet door.
“Impressive, brother!” Bloody smiled proudly to his twin.
Solar nodded with a smile. “Good job. Now, go ahead and put the lid on the pot so it can start boiling.”
Harvest took the lid off the counter and placed it on the pot.
“Good. Now, turn the heat up to high.”
Bloody turned the knob on the stove up to the high setting. “How long will it take to boil?” he asked curiously.
“Shouldn't take too long. By the time the meat's done cooking, it should be hot enough to add it in,” Solar replied.
“Is there anything else we can do?” Harvest wondered.
Solar hummed in thought. “I don't believe so. We'll have to let the chili itself cook for a little bit. If you two want to get yourselves a snack, feel free to do so.”
Bloody and Harvest didn't hesitate to head towards the pantry together. They each picked out their own snack and walked to the living room to sit down on the couch. Bloody grabbed the TV remote and put on a channel that had The Nightmare Before Christmas on.
…….
Eclipse returned home roughly about 25 minutes later. He saw the Bloodmoon twins were eating a few snacks in the living room and softly smiled. “Hey,” he greeted them with a quick wave.
Bloody glanced over and noticed his older brother. “Hey!” He gave him a small wave in return.
“Did you have fun working out with Moon?” Harvest asked after he swallowed.
“Yeah,” Eclipse nodded. “Have you guys had lunch yet?”
“Actually, lunch will be ready in about 20 minutes,” Solar responded, glancing up from his knitting project.
Eclipse nodded. “What did you decide to cook this time? It smells good.”
“Chili!” Bloody exclaimed excitedly.
“We helped with cooking!” Harvest added proudly.
“Wow. Impressive,” Eclipse commented in surprise. “I'm going to shower and change clothes,” he mentioned as he began to walk upstairs.
“Alright. We'll be down here,” Solar smiled.
…….
The chili turned out to be a success! Bloody and Harvest loved it so much that they both asked for seconds. Both Eclipse and Solar also loved it, though, one serving was good enough for them. They were currently cleaning up the kitchen while the twins continued to eat their lunch at the table.
“Oh, Bloody, Harvest. By the way, I'll be needing to do a maintenance check on both of you today,” Eclipse mentioned as he remembered.
“Does it have to be done after lunch?” Bloody groaned.
“No, not straight after,” Eclipse responded. “We can do it within a few hours.”
“Didn't we just do one recently?” Harvest asked after he swallowed.
Eclipse shook his head. “Not a proper one, no. It's been at least a few months since I've run any tests on your systems. I'd very much like to do a proper maintenance check just to make sure everything is functioning as it should be.”
Bloody let out a small groan, clearly not happy about doing anything maintenance related. He was definitely more like a child who really hated going to the doctors, even if it was for a checkup visit. Harvest didn't like it either, but he hardly complained about it. On rare occasions, he would. Speaking of…
“Do we have to? Can't it wait?” Harvest asked, finishing his lunch. Bloody finished eating his lunch at the same moment.
“No, it can't wait,” Eclipse responded, grabbing the dirty bowls and putting them in the dishwasher. He watched as Solar was the one who added the dish soap into the dishwasher before running it. He then sat back down at the table. “It won't take long, I promise. If all goes well, it should only take 15 minutes,” he reassured them.
The twins weren't having it today. Both were pretty stubborn about it, refusing to cooperate this time.
Solar spotted this while he was finishing tidying up the kitchen. He thought of an idea of how he could get his younger brothers to cooperate with Eclipse. “How about this…” he began as he walked over to the table. “You two let Eclipse do the maintenance check, that includes being on your best behavior for him, I'll give you some dulce de leche as a reward. Deal?”
The twins glanced over at each other. Both of them thought about Solar's deal before they made their decision together. They turned their heads back to him and nodded. “Fine, we'll let him do maintenance on us,” Harvest responded. “Just get it done and over with,” Bloody grumbled under his breath.
Solar nodded in please. “Good. If you need anything, I'll be working on my knitting project.” He walked out of the dining room, heading into the living room to resume the knitting project he's been working on.
“Alright. If you want to hang out with Solar for a little bit, feel free to. I'll let you two know when it's time, okay?”
“What will you be doing?” Bloody asked.
“I'll be getting everything I need ready in my workshop,” Eclipse replied, standing up. “It'll take a while, so if you want to grab a snack or two and watch something on TV, you can.”
“Alright,” Harvest nodded.
Eclipse smiled softly. He headed towards his workshop room to prepare everything he needed.
Meanwhile, Bloody and Harvest stood up and made their way to the pantry. Harvest picked out a bag of pretzel sticks, and Bloody got himself a bag of Cheeto Puffs. They walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. Bloody grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. After flipping through some channels, he landed on one that was playing Beetlejuice. He and his twin watched the movie while eating their own snack.
……..
“Brother, I feel a bit bloated,” Harvest groaned, rubbing his stuffed belly.
“I feel bloated, too, brother,” Bloody groaned in response, also rubbing his stuffed belly.
Solar glanced up to find that there were two empty bags on the coffee table. He soon noticed that both of the twins were lying back on the couch. “Did you two eat too much again?” he asked in slight concern.
“Not exactly,” Bloody answered. “We're just very full,” Harvest added.
Solar nodded. Before he could say anything else, Eclipse entered the room.
“Alright, everything's ready,” he announced. He quickly realized that the twins looked pretty stuffed. “Uh, do you wanna wait for a little bit?”
“We're not that stuffed. We can handle it,” Harvest responded. “We rather get it done and over with,” Bloody agreed.
Eclipse nodded. “Follow me, then.”
Bloody and Harvest stood up from the couch. They followed Eclipse into his workshop room. Once inside, they took a seat on the chairs that Eclipse provided for them. They watched as Eclipse began the procedure.
……
“Everything's normal. Perfect,” Eclipse mumbled to himself, observing the results on the monitor.
“Are we done yet?” Bloody asked, getting slightly impatient.
“Yes, we're finished,” Eclipse nodded. “All of your systems are normal, even with the extra weight.”
“Does that mean we get to have dulce de leche?” Harvest stood up from the chair.
Eclipse let out a light chuckle as he nodded. “Yes.”
Bloody stood up as well. He and his twin rushed out of the room with excitement. Eclipse followed them from behind.
“Solar! Solar! We get to have dulce de leche!” Bloody exclaimed excitedly.
“Can we have some now? Please?” Harvest begged politely.
Solar looked up to the twins and nodded. He placed his knitting project down on the coffee table and stood up from the recliner. “Of course. Wait here. I'll be right back.” He smiled as he walked into the kitchen.
Bloody and Harvest both sat down on the couch. Eclipse took a seat next to Harvest. He turned on the TV, putting on a jack-o'-lantern carving challenge show.
Solar shortly arrived back with a small plate of dulce de leche for each of the twins. “Here you go,” he smiled, setting the plate on the coffee table. He sat back down on the recliner and resumed his knitting project.
Bloody and Harvest grabbed their own plate and began eating their sweet treat. “So good,” Bloody muffled with his mouth full.
Eclipse smiled softly at the sight of his younger brothers enjoying themselves. They all continued to enjoy their evening, just relaxing and enjoying each other's company. Just like the previous night, it was a nice and peaceful night.