Chapter Text
As the light filtered into his optics, the first thing he took notice of was the noise- or lack thereof. Save for the hum of his internals whirring to life and a steady breeze outside the window, his room was… completely silent. In times past, he might have believed the silence to be a bad omen, a reason for him to be on edge. But now- it was peaceful, almost… serene.
Moving to sit up in his bed, he glanced out the window and caught sight of the white sheet of snow layered on the ground outside. Based on the soft light peeking through the blinds- as well as his own internal clock- he gathered it was early morning. It was unusual, to not be woken up by a strict alarm he set for his systems, to not have to manage and restrict the hours he spent offline. To shut off and repower based on nothing but the rays of sun picked up by his internals- to "sleep", as it was called- was… strange.
He was unsure how long he spent there, sitting up in bed, staring through the glass panes to watch the light snow that fell and coated the trees outside. Knowing that the other residents of the house wouldn’t be up yet, he was content to simply take in the morning. But eventually, his quiet mediation was interrupted by the sound of loud, hurried footsteps bounding up the stairs.
That, and his door being slammed open by his little brother.
"Blues, Blues, oh my god-" Rock leaned over the door, panting from the run up the steps. Forcing out the words between each breath, (because yes, despite being robots, they were still designed to breathe) he continued his ecstatic ramble. "Blues, get up it's-"
"Calm down, I've been up for a while now. I realize it might come as a shock to your hyperactive child self, but you can actually take time to, you know, breathe," Blues remarked, gesturing to Rock's hunched-over frame with as much exaggerated sarcasm he could muster for this early in the morning.
Rock gave him an annoyed look at that- What? It's true- but otherwise took a long, deep breath before standing up straight to steady himself.
"It’s snowing!" Rock exclaimed, child-like wonder in his eyes. Like this was some miracle of nature. Blues’ didn’t get what was so exciting about it, though.
"I’m well aware it’s snowing, Rock. I’ve been sitting here for a while before you literally tried to break down my door." Rock stuck out his tongue towards Blues for that comment. Blues just shrugged. "But yeah, I saw it falling through the window." He cocked his head to the open window curtains, where the snow had slowed down a bit- not before it had coated the entire woods in a sleek white, however.
For some reason, Rock seemed half-offended at Blues’ nonchalant statement. "Well if you’ve been up this whole time, why didn’t you say anything?! Me and Roll would have gone outside with you the minute we’d woken up if you’d told us!"
Blues still didn’t get it. It was just snow. "Why would we go outside? You can see the snow from here, and it’s not like snow is uncommon. Snow happens frequently in the winter here, we live far enough up north for that." That fact was true. Snow was a normal process of nature, there was nothing to be excited for. To be honest, as far as Blues was concerned, he was about the complete opposite of excited for snow, normally.
"Besides, that just means it’s freezing outside. It’ll just take more energy from our heating systems to stay warm, so why would we waste our core’s energy going outside? After all, the lab is perfectly capable of heating itself for us, and it would save energy." Blues paused for a bit after that, remembering all the blisteringly cold winters he spent buried under whatever material he could find thrown around. He needed to keep warm, but he couldn’t risk expending that much energy to run his heating systems with his failing core back then. He just had to hope that whatever shelter and material he found would prevent him from freezing. Most of the time, it only barely did.
Blues shuddered at the thought. Thankfully, that wasn’t really a problem anymore. At least, he hoped it wasn’t. He could never be too careful. "Trust me, you don’t want to waste the energy if you don’t have to."
He could see the moment that it dawned upon Rock of what Blues was alluding to, and his expression of confusion melted into one of concern. Blues knew Rock was smart enough to figure out why he wasn’t as fond of the snow as his little siblings. Rock had never needed to worry about those things before, so of course he would be excited. Kids loved playing in the snow, after all.
But apparently Rock really didn’t want Blues to miss out on it with him and Roll, so he tried a slightly different approach to convince him. "Blues, I… I know it was more difficult for you back then. Everything was more taxing on the little energy you had. So I doubt the snow would have been very comforting to you." Well, that’s an understatement. "But still, it’s- it’s not like that anymore. We have plenty of E-Tanks at the lab when your energy runs low- and you don’t run through energy that quickly anymore since Dr. Light helped repair your core. You’d be perfectly safe outside, I promise." Rock gave him a small sympathetic smile, hoping to ease Blues’ worries.
"Look, Rock, I-" Blues started, reaching a hand up to scratch behind his neck as a sign of his restless nerves, hesitant and unsure.
"Come on, it’ll be fun- I swear!" The childish enthusiasm was back, even if Rock was trying to hold it in a bit for Blues’ sake. "Me and Roll can show you how we build a snow fort every year, and Roll always likes to make snow angels by the fort, and oh-! After that, we can have a snowball fight, which is like super cool, and I’d know you’d enjoy it a lot because you love messing with us cause, duh, you’re the older brother, so it’d be perfect for-"
Blues was already losing track of Rock’s sentence as he rushed out each word as quickly as he could, and he wasn’t sure how much more he could take. He should have realized he’d basically already given into his little brother’s pleas when he first burst into the room. Rock was almost always too energetic about the things he liked for Blues to actually manage to say no.
"Alright, alright, Rock I get it, I’ll-" Blues cut his brother off before he would no longer be able to stop him from rambling. "I’ll go play in the snow with you two, if that’s what you both want. I don’t mind. Just, slow down and wait a second, please. At least let me put on something a bit warmer first before you drag me outside."
"Yes!" came the almost immediate elated shout of triumph from his little brother. "Uh, I mean. Yeah. That sounds good, you- you do that. I’m, uh- I should probably get something warmer on too, actually." Rock looked down at his t-shirt and shorts with a frown, before perking up and giving his older brother one last thumbs-up of encouragement as he practically threw himself out the door to get ready.
Blues gave one last sigh before forcing himself off the bed. He really needed to stop being so nice to the twins. They might think he was turning soft- and that was a blow that his carefully crafted aloof old brother demeanor absolutely could not take.
Taking the time to neatly put the sheets back together (which he was sure his little brother wouldn’t do), he finished tidying his room and went to his dresser to pick out something warm he could wear.
Unlike Roll, he didn’t care much for fashion, and unlike Rock, he didn’t have a bunch of clothes representing each and every one of his interests. He didn’t feel the need to publicly advertise his hobbies. So as long as it was comfortable and looked decent enough, it would do the job. Picking out a pair of black pants and a maroon sweater and putting them on, he then moved over to his closet to find extra outerwear. Grabbing his favorite black trench coat from the rack, he threw it on over his sweater before finally reaching to the top shelf to don his trusty shades and yellow scarf. Even after all these years, he still kept them- he couldn’t bear to part with them. He didn’t think he ever would.
Taking one last look around to make sure everything was in order, he headed out into the lab’s hallway. He made his way to the living room, where Rock would in no doubt be eagerly waiting with Roll to practically drag him out the lab’s front door.
He just hoped his brother didn’t rip his arm off on the way out.