Chapter Text
Stretch wasn’t sure what had gotten into Edge today but he sort of hoped they dosed the water with it regularly, because he liked it.
He really really liked it.
When he’d gone downstairs that morning, still yawning and bleary, Edge had still been in the kitchen.
“what are you doing here?” Stretch had asked blankly, which, thinking back on it seemed a little unfriendly, but hell, he’d been surprised, nay, shocked, to see Edge there when he was three hours past the point of being at work.
Edge was taking a bowl out of the refrigerator and he carried it to the stove where a hot griddle was waiting, pouring three perfect rounds of batter on it. “I stayed home.”
“you stayed home?” Stretch parroted, like an idiot, but eh, he hadn’t had coffee yet. Something that Edge quickly rectified, handing him a warm mug of gorgeous liquid love that was swimming with cream and sugar. He gave Edge a quick, grateful kiss and drank half of it with one gulp.
“I stayed home,” Edge agreed, giving the pancakes a quick flip. “I called and told them I was taking a mental health day.”
“you…you’re playing hooky!” Stretch said gleefully. He set his coffee cup aside carelessly enough to send warm liquid sloshing over his fingers, and wrapped both arms around Edge from behind, ignoring his impatient huff.
“What I am doing is cooking.”
“cooking while you’re playing hooky,” Stretch corrected, and nuzzled a kiss against his cervical vertebrae before relenting and letting him go. “why are you playing hooky, what’s going on, what are we doing? i get to play too, right?”
“Sit down,” Edge told him, and he did, snagging up his cup again as Edge set a plate of pancakes in front of him. There was the brush of teeth against his skull as he dug in. “And of course you do. I stayed home to spend the day with you.”
Stretch paused in the middle of chewing. He’d get a smack if he talked with a mouthful and so he settled for giving Edge wide, happy eye sockets that he hoped stated clearly, who, me?
With a small, secretive smile Edge sat across from him with his own plate, “Eat up.”
Oh, that was cruel, his baby had a hell of a mean streak. Stretch ate quickly, mentally considering and discarding ideas of what Edge might have in mind. He never could have guessed the reality of it. But he liked it.
Spending the entire day lazing together on the sofa, making out like teenagers, was not something they’d ever done before, and Stretch would be perfectly happy to do it any and every time Edge wanted.
Edge being the exhaustive sort of planner that he was even his spontaneity had a strategy. The coffee table was loaded with snacks and drinks, and he’d set up a playlist of holiday movies and cartoons that would last most of the day. Those kinds of shows were sort of fascinating to Stretch; he remembered seeing some of these in Underswap only they’d been different, a little, here and there.
For one, he was never going to get over the fact that in this universe it was Charlie Brown
They watched movie after cartoon, sharing kisses and snuggles under the blanket, but never so much as delving beneath each other’s shirts. It was like when they were first dating, not the unholy catastrophe that was their first kiss, oh no, that was better left to dusty memories, but after that. It had taken months for them to make their way past kisses and petting. Never in his life before had Stretch spent so long sharing nothing but kisses with another person, working their way up to sex.
Then again before Edge, he hadn’t really dated that much, either.
Back then, once kisses were on the table it was as if Edge couldn’t get enough of them. Kisses and touching and cuddling, he soaked it in like a dry sponge and Stretch had damn well basked in it. Once Edge had started, he’d never really stopped, probably making up for years of being starved for a touch.
When they slept, Edge liked him pressed up against him, limbs tangled. Watching television, Stretch’s head was often in his lap or on the very best days, Edge liked to be the little spoon and have Stretch wrapped around him like a blanket. He loved those days; Edge had high HP and he was always so warm, like snuggling with his own miniature sun.
Mister Grabby Hands liked Stretch within reach in case there were any hug related emergencies and Stretch was more than happy to stay within arms-length. It was all fine with Stretch. He was perfectly content to be Edge’s cuddle bear. Like it was a hardship to endure sweet kisses and snuggles every morning and night?
The tragedy was he doubted Edge had ever had that before and Stretch was a selfish enough bitch to be glad he was the one to give him that.
He and Blue had always been the huggy kind of brothers, from childhood when he’d started taking care of Blue until the point Blue had pretty much started taking care of him. Hugs of greeting, his knuckles scrubbed roughly over his brother’s skull, nights spent leaning against each other watching Napstaton, or days of gathering his brother close to shortcut around Underswap. Stretch was used to casual touches despite his low HP.
If he honestly thought about it, Stretch didn’t think he’d ever seen Red and Edge so much as shake hands. So…yeah.
His biggest source of frustration was that Edge would never ask for what he wanted. He was a giving kinda guy but he never coughed up a wish list of his own.
Made Gyftmas shopping a bitch, too.
When the credits to ‘White Christmas’ started to crawl up the screen, Edge shifted from where he was curled up in Stretch’s arms, looking over his shoulder at him. “What do you want to watch next?”
Instead of answering, Stretch pressed their mouths together, kissing softly until the music finally faded. Only then did he draw back and whisper, “can we watch the grinch?”
“Of course.” Edge reached out and pressed a button on the remote and music swelled again, the screen filling with animation and fond memories. Stretch rested his chin on top of Edge’s skull, settling in with a contented sigh, one that was mirrored by the warm, wonderful person in his arms.
There were more movies and kisses shared, each one softer and sweeter than the last, and Stretch secreted the memory of this day into his soul.
He never wanted to forget a moment of this.
-finis-