Archive of Our Own ^beta

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.

Chapter Text

Blues didn’t even need to make it to the front door to know the twins were waiting for him— he could hear their energetic chatter from the top of the stairs. Frankly, at the level they were talking, he wondered if they could be heard throughout the entire lab.

“You mean you really convinced Blues to join us? That’s amazing!” Roll cheered, hands clasped together in excitement. She was wearing a deep red overcoat with fluffy white ends, and a pair of identically colored snow boots with the same material. Underneath her outerwear, she had a pair of jet-black gloves and tights to keep her warm. Her trusty green bow fastened her hair into place, adorned with a pair of golden jingle bells in the center.

“Yeah!” Rock replied, grinning from ear to ear. “It took a bit of convincing, but he eventually agreed to come outside with us.” He was wearing black sweatpants with white stripes down the side, and bright red converse tennis shoes. Which seemed a bit impractical given the weather, but who was Blues to argue. He still wore his scarf in the summer. Rock had his hands tucked in the pocket of his thick neon blue hoodie, which had white fluff on the end of the hood for warmth. To top it all off, he had dark blue padded earmuffs resting over his ears- each with a bright red circle in the center.

As the siblings continued to chat excitedly, Blues stood at the end of steps and contemplated staying silent until they noticed him. Due to their excessive energy, both of the younger Light siblings had a tendency to get engrossed in whatever conversation or task was currently drawing their attention, often failing to notice what was going on around them. Blues' quiet nature also made it easy for him to sneak up on people, so he was curious to see how long it would take for them to actually address him this time. Five minutes? Ten? Maybe if he was lucky, they'd get so involved in their conversation they forget he even agreed to go outside and he could go right back up to—

"Oh, there you are! Perfect timing! The snow just stopped for a bit, so this is the best time to go outside!" Rock cheerily waved at Blues during his statement, motioning for him to join them.

Ah. Well, scratch that idea.

“Well that’s unfortunate. I hoped if I stood here for long enough, you two would talk so long you’d forget to go outside,” Blues remarked, leaning on the stair railing smugly.

“Hey!” Both twins shouted in reply.

“What? It’s not like it’d be the first time,” Blues quipped, a smirk growing across his face. He would never admit how much fun he had teasing the twins. Dr. Light would never let him hear the end of it.

Unfortunately for Blues, Dr. Light chose that exact moment to walk right through the hallway door.

“Going out to enjoy the snow, are we?” Dr. Light's jolly voice echoed throughout the room. “Well, I’d join you, but I’m afraid I have work to attend to. Besides, I highly doubt these old bones are capable of going out in that kind of weather anymore!” Dr. Light laughed heartily, leaving Blues to wonder if people in the city mistook him for Santa Claus during the holidays.

“Be sure to enjoy yourselves! I’ll be in my lab if you need me.” Blues watched as the doctor made his way past the three of them into his study. He could have sworn — though he couldn’t be sure — that right as Dr. Light closed the door behind him, there was the faintest, softest smile etched across his face.

But Before Blues could even figure out if he imagined the entire thing, Rock’s voice suddenly perked up, pulling him out of his thoughts.

“Well? What are we waiting for?! Come on, let’s go before the snow picks up again!” Rock flung open the door, enthusiastically motioning at Blues to follow him outside. He didn’t have to even bother with their sister, who had barreled through the door the second Rock opened it. She was already dancing around in the snow, giggling to herself as she kicked piles of white fluff off the ground.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m coming,” Blues replied sarcastically, grabbing the door from Rock’s hand as the younger brother moved outside. “Try not to trip over yourself in the first five minutes we’re outside, alright?” Blues teased, closing the door behind them.

Rock looked over his shoulder and stuck his tongue out, already moving towards Roll in the distance. Roll was kneeling on the ground, packing the snow together with her hands. As her brothers approached, she looked up at the eldest with excitement.

“Blues, do you want to help us build a snow fort? It’s always the first thing me and Rock do when it snows!” She asked the question so eagerly and sweetly, Blues knew there was no point debating his answer. He could set aside his pride and act like a child for a bit if it made them both happy. He’d let them have most of the fun, though — he could sit on the sidelines.

“Sure, why not. It’s not like I have any better ideas for what to do.” He played off his agreement as nonchalantly as possible — he didn't want either of them to know it was that easy to win him over.

“Perfect!” She smiled. Rock had since joined her on the ground, and was already helping her push snow together to form a little mound. But, as Blues quickly noticed, a lot of the snow they piled together simply rolled off the top, so they weren’t getting anywhere fast. If things continued at the same pace, it’d probably take them the whole afternoon just to build the fort. So of course, before he could even think twice, Blues had to suggest a solution.

“You should check if the snow is dense before you pack it together.”

Both twins stopped and looked up at him, confusion on their faces. Now forced to elaborate because of his comment, he immediately realized he was going to be more involved then he originally intended.

Sighing internally, he picked up a bit of snow from a different area on the ground. “If the snow is dense, it’ll stick together when you compress it.” Demonstrating, he pushed the snow together between his hands — which held its shape almost perfectly when he pulled his hand away. “If you do it this way, you’ll build the fort a lot faster. You should also try to arrange it in a brick shape, if you can. We can stack them together as we build it, then use the loose snow to fill up any cracks. It’ll be a lot more stable that way.”

Grinning ear to ear, the pair of twins replied with a cheery “Thanks Blues!” before getting straight to work. Having already given them way more advice then he ever planned on, Blues resigned himself to his fate, and got down on his knees to assist them.

It took a while — though not nearly as long as it would have if Blues hadn’t assisted them — but eventually they finished the fort. Stepping back to admire their work, Blues was surprised at how well it came together. Sure, it wasn’t anything massive, but it was a decent size: a good few feet long on each end. They managed to construct a whole mini fortress with an opening in the back — not just one measly wall — that the three of them could easily fit behind if they ducked down.

“It looks awesome! And we built in half the time we normally would! Thanks, man!” Rock held out his hand for a fist bump, to which Blues rolled his eyes. He still put his fist up though, which his younger brother happily accepted. He was just making them happy. That’s all. He definitely wasn’t enjoying this more than he let on.

“Alrighty then!” Roll leaned over to whisper in Rock’s ear — though she wasn’t very subtle about it, so Blues could still hear. “You know what time it is, right?” she grinned slyly.

“Of course,” Rock eagerly smiled back. “There’s no point in building a fort if you aren’t going to have a snowball fight.”

“Uh… I hate to break it to you two, but who would we even fight?” Blues stated rather plainly. “It’s just us out here, and we only built one fort anyways.”

He then noticed both of the twins smirking at him, and recognizing the mischievous look in their eyes, he knew quite simply that he was done for. Being the older brother also meant that sometimes, unfortunately, the twins would gang up on him.

“Uh, we’re fighting you, obviously,” Rock snickered.

“And since we’re just the measly, tiny younger siblings,” Roll said, batting her eyes innocently.

Yeah, right.

“We’re going to be taking the fort!” She exclaimed. Before Blues could even react, they both ran for the fort and jumped behind a wall for cover.

“You can’t be serious. It’s not only two against one, but I have literally nothing to defend myself,” Blues reasoned, exasperated. “Isn’t that a bit unfair?”

“Well, yeah,” Rock replied straight-faced. Then, a cocky grin began to make its way into his expression. “But I thought you liked those kinds of odds.”

Damn it. His fault for being a show-off for all those years, fighting as one unit against an entire fleet of enemies, only to play it off like a piece of cake. Now his actions were getting thrown right back at him — this time by his little brother.

And with their intent made clear, Rock picked up a giant hunk of snow and flung it at his older brother. Hitting his shades with a resounding WHACK, the sudden impact of the snow flung his head back before it slowly slid down off his face and to the ground.

Completely aware of his situation — and the fact that he was going to be on the ground covered in snow in about a minute if he didn’t think fast — he came up with the only solution he could think of, and immediately made a beeline for the shed.

“Coward!!” Rock yelled from afar, chucking more snowballs at him as his sister helped build them.

“Stay and fight, you dork!” Roll added, throwing more snowballs at him — one of which hit his back and almost sent him falling flat on his face. Roll had a surprisingly strong arm when she needed it.

Finally reaching the shed, he slung the door open, and hurried inside. See, unbeknownst to them, he wasn’t running away. He was just… making a tactical retreat. All to get one single thing that could serve to defend him against the onslaught of snow from his siblings.

Glancing around as quickly as possible, he looked anywhere and everywhere to find his salvation. It’d been a good couple months since he used it — but he was too accustomed to having it by his side to get rid of it, even with his core fixed. And with Dr. Wily in prison, the need for fighting was on pause for a while (though knowing Wily, it would only be so long before he broke out). Lifting a couple of spare robot parts and boxes of tools out of the way, he found it leaning against the wall in the corner, in tip-top condition from the last time he repaired it. It would do just fine, just like it always had.

In the small, tiny shed, Blues grinned to himself smugly, picking up the precious cold, shiny metal and sliding it against his arm where it rightly belonged.

Rock was right. He DID like those odds.

Chapter Text

Slumped against the side of the fort, both Light twins sighed, becoming increasingly bored by every second. Their older brother had been missing for several minutes, and neither of them fully knew when or if he was going to return.

“Do you really think Blues would leave us alone like this?” Roll asked, concern creeping into her voice.

“What?! Of course not! Blues is way too proud to admit defeat that easily!” Rock exclaimed, whisking his head around to face his sister. “Besides, even if he did, he would have stood his ground until he lost. No way would he have run without a plan.”

“I know that, dummy. I wasn’t talking about whether he would stand his ground in a snowball fight, Rock,” Roll remarked dryly. Done teasing her twin, her voice morphed back into one of concern. “Do… Do you think Blues left because it was too much for him? I mean, he isn’t really as into this kind of stuff as we are — and it’s not like he’s particularly fond of the winter, either. Do you think… maybe he went inside because he got annoyed by our antics?”

Rock paused for a minute, suddenly guilty, and began contemplating the concept. Sure, he didn’t repeatedly check on Blues to make sure he was okay — which he now felt bad for — but at the same time, he really thought Blues was having at least some fun compared to the two of them. Maybe he was wrong…?

“I… I don’t know. I hope not, I-”

Rock did not get to finish that sentence, because suddenly, a loud CRACK of a branch snapping echoed out from the woods behind them. Whipping around suddenly, the two of them stared off into the trees with wide, bewildered eyes.

“What was that?” Rock said, completely startled. His sister shook her head quickly, as lost as he was. He looked off into the distance, squinting. He swore he could see a figure in the distance, holding a large object, standing right among the branches of the trees, but—

He didn’t get to finish that train of thought, because unfortunately for him, a giant snowball smacked him right in the face, flinging him onto his back. Quickly regaining his wits, he hastily grabbed one of the snowballs Roll had made and threw it half-blindly in the direction of his attacker.

To Rock’s surprise, he heard the snowball make hollow, low THUMP as it hit something thick and metal. Wiping the remaining snow off his face, his vision slowly cleared, revealing his assailant to be none other than…

Blues. Who was currently leaning on the side of one of the tree trunks, balancing on one of its massive branches. In his arm, he held his massive trusty shield — and Rock watched, mouth gaped open, as the snowball he just threw slowly slid right off its side.

“YOU RAN TO THE SHED TO GET YOUR SHIELD?!” Both twins yelled in unison, stunned to their core. All worries of Blues’ abandoning them were gone — all that remained was their current feelings, purely astounded by the dedication of their older brother to get the upper hand.

“Hey, it’s not like you said it was against the rules!” Blues yelled, shrugging pridefully, relishing the joy he got from catching his twin siblings with a surprise attack. He grabbed some snow off the side of the tree bark, smushed it into a ball, and began tossing it up and down, smiling smugly to himself. After a few seconds, he grinned back at his siblings, and leaped down to the ground in the most over-the-top, dramatic fashion he could muster.

Peeking out from behind the security of his shield, his tone turned to an even more mocking quality, “Come on, did you really expect me of all people to just turn tail and run when I’m cornered?” He only needed to say a few more words to stir his siblings back into action.

“Didn’t someone say I liked those kinds of odds?”

And with that, the siblings resumed their snowball fight in full force. Unfortunately for the twins, having a giant shield you can drag alongside you with ease everywhere you go makes it a lot easier to defend yourself than a stationary fort. It wasn’t long before Blues claimed victory, and the twins had to surrender in defeat. Blues was never going to admit how much fun he had, but the twins could tell.

Slumping down onto the ground in exhaustion, Blues joined the two siblings currently spread out on the ground, laughing and giggling to themselves in their excitement. Once they had all settled down, Roll suggested one final activity before they retired inside for the afternoon.

“I know! What if we went sledding? There’s a really good hill for it right over there!” Roll pointed excitedly into the distance, right towards a small hill that went towards the direction of the main town. It wasn’t too steep, but not too flat either — they’d get some decent speed on it without it being too dangerous.

Rock’s expression turned to one of disappointment, as he responded in a small, low voice, “I’d love to, but you know Dr. Light hasn’t been able to fix up the old sled in the shed, or get us a new one yet. We don’t have anything to use.”

Blues was taken aback by this. The doctor definitely had money lying around to fix a sled— if not buy multiple. He was a genius roboticist, after all.

“The old man can’t spare some change for a new sled? Seriously?” Blues stated dryly, one eyebrow raised.

“Oh, no, it’s not that. It’s just when we went to check on it a week ago, we noticed some of the wood had come off. He thinks it rotted away, so if he couldn’t fix it, he was going to get us a new one. But winter’s the busiest time of the year for him, so he hasn’t been able to.” Rock didn’t seem upset that their father was busy, but he was still upset about the fact that they didn’t have a sled they could use.

“Oh.” Blues replied. “Does he have a bunch of meetings during the winter, or something?”

“The opposite, actually,” Roll chimed in. “He puts all his meetings on hold so he can do a bunch of volunteer work. Ever since you came home, he… he’s actually been making an effort to help robots during the winter.”

Ever since he came home? Why?

Roll continued, somewhat shyly, on her explanation. “He repairs as many robots as he can find to make sure they stay warm, and for those he can’t get to right away, he makes sure they have a shelter to stay in that can keep them warm. It’s part of a volunteer project he started the first winter you were actually home.”

It all clicked for Blues in an instant, just why the doctor was doing all this. Suddenly, he felt very, very guilty for suggesting a different reason. He quickly turned his head down to stare at the snow.

After a bit of silence, and while desperate to lift the mood, Rock glanced over at his older brother. Once his eyes met Blue’s hard metal shield, he instantly had a perfect idea to salvage the situation.

“What if we used Blues’ shield as a sled?” Rock suggested eagerly.

“What? Hell no! It’s my shield, and it’s only supposed to be used for something important!” Blues shot back.

Rock stared at him, completely deadpan, eyes expressionless.

“You literally just used it for a snowball fight, dude.”

Okay. He got him there. He did, in fact, do that.

“Okay, maybe I did, yeah, but still, I don’t know—” Blues tried to fight back, but already knew he was, once again, in a losing battle against his siblings’ wishes. Damn it.

“Pleaseeee,” they both pleaded at him, with innocent, puppy-dog eyes.

“...Fine,” he agreed, reluctantly.

They both cheered in excitement, and tackled him in a hug — which he received very awkwardly. He wasn’t exactly the best at physical contact.

They both bounced up and sprinted towards the hill, leaving Blues to pick up his shield and follow them from behind. Lugging it over to the edge of the hill, Blues placed it down and Roll immediately hopped in front. Rock quickly followed in place behind her.

“Wait, why do I have to be in the back? It’s my shield!” Blues accused.

“Well sure, but you’re bigger than both of us, and the heaviest always goes in the back, in like, canoeing and stuff,” Rock replied plainly, stretching his head back to look at his older brother.

“This isn’t a canoe, Rock.”

“I know.”

Blues sighed. There was no arguing with either of them on the matter, as he was inevitably going to end up in the back anyways. Wedging himself in what little space was left in the back of the shield, he tried to get a decent grip on the sides.

“Ready? Okay! Three, two, one—” Roll began counting quickly, not waiting for a response.

“WAIT-!” Blues tried to yell out quickly in hopes of preventing his little sister from sending them speeding down the hill. He barely had a grip on the sides and did NOT want to go flying out the back.

Unfortunately for him, Roll was not listening for a response.

“GO!” she yelled excitedly, and titled the shield forward down the hill. Rock began cheering and hollering the second they started picking up speed, while Blues just had to grit his teeth and tighten his grip so he managed to stay inside the makeshift sled.

He was really hoping his shield would be fine after everything. He did not feel like doing repairs because of this.

Thankfully, his shield turned out fine. And although he still wouldn’t ever bear being able to admit it, he had a lot of fun — once he stopped freaking out. The twins didn’t have to hear him say it, though — his laughter on the way down spoke clearly to the two of them. He even agreed to go a second time — even if he tried to pretend like he didn’t want to.

Once the trio was sufficiently tired from the day's activities, they agreed to resign inside for the night. Blues placed the shield back in the shed, this time in a place that would be easier to access. He definitely wasn’t planning to bring it out again this winter.

Walking back to the house, Blues trailed a few paces behind the twins. Roll was humming to herself, and soon perked up to ask her brothers for their input. “I’m thinking about making hot chocolate when we get back inside— you two want any?”

“Sure!” Rock replied, cheerily. “That sounds really good, honestly. I’m kinda cold.”

“Yeah, thanks, but I’m good.” Blues responded, disgusted. “That stuff is way too sweet for my taste. I don’t know how either of you can drink it,” Blues gagged.

“Well, you can enjoy a nice cup of black coffee, you weirdo.” Roll teased.

“Ha-ha.” Blues laughed mockingly. Although… That doesn’t sound half-bad, actually.

As the three siblings approached the front of the house, an elderly, white-haired inventor peered out from his lab window, having watched them spend the evening playing from behind his work desk. He smiled softly to himself, content to know they were getting along, despite all their troubles and differences.

Getting up from his desk, he turned off his monitor, filled with notes on the current robot he was repairing. He supposed he could pause his work for the night.

After all, shouldn’t a father spend the holidays with his children?