#chickens!!

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“After spending the entire week scolding me to stay on the sofa, now suddenly you want me mobile?” Edge carefully maneuvered through the sliding glass door on his crutches out to the back porch. The entire patio was shoveled free of snow, not a single patch of ice lingering to slip him up.

Stretch only looked at him with the purest mock indignance he could muster as he closed the door behind them. “scolding? ‘scuse me, i think what you meant to say was i’ve been gently but firmly encouraging you to follow the doctor’s orders.”

“I see,” Edge settled into one of the cleared off chairs with a grunt, “it only becomes scolding when I’m the one who does it.”

“now you’ve got it, thanks for coming to my tedtalk.”

Edge allowed Stretch to fuss over him, setting his crutches to the side and carefully propping his foot on a low footstool brought out from their living room.

Normally that sort of coddling would aggravate him, but Edge’s irritation at the fretting ended when it dawned on him that Stretch likely needed this. He was the one injured, true, but Stretch hardly came through the event unscathed. Humoring him a little cost Edge nothing but perhaps a little stubborn pride and if he couldn’t spare that for the one he loved, then perhaps he needed to reorganize his priorities.

It made it much easier to allow Stretch to help even though his foot wasn’t paining him much at all. The residual healing magic was doing its work and while Toriel might still want to offer uncomfortable gratitude over saving her child, Edge considered any debt well and truly paid. He’d seen the damage beforehand and there was little doubt that if she hadn’t begun healing him almost immediately, he would have lost the leg.

That was an observation he planned to keep to himself.

His current lack of pain gave him hope that his checkup would allow for them to replace this bulky plaster cast with a walking one and after that perhaps he’d be getting to work on his new normal, which the doctor was certain would only be a little scarring and not so much as a limp to hold him back. Time would tell, there was no point in borrowing any trouble.

“And why are we out here?” With the gray skies overhead, it was hardly a welcoming day.

“‘cause you’re going bug fuck inside,” Stretch said frankly. He tucked his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels. “i can see it in your eye lights. thought maybe a change of scenery would help. out here we can at least sit with the ladies a while.”

The ladies in question were at the coop door already and growing louder by the minute. They didn’t spend as much time outside in the winter as they did summertime, mostly because Stretch wasn’t able to sit with them as long in the cold. But the day was a balmy enough one for the season and he could see from here that all of them were fluffed up and ready to spend a little time in the chill.

“okay, okay, calm down,” Stretch laughed. “He can’t exactly run away.” He shortcutted over to open the coop gate and three chickens came galloping out towards him. Edge was already braced for a lapful of feathery adoration when suddenly their mad dash slowed, then stopped, all three hens milling around in confusion.

“that’s new,” Stretch frowned. He walked over to where they’d stopped and crouched down, running a hand down Noodle’s back. “what’s up, guys, normally he can’t keep you away.”

But none of them came closer and Edge was struck with an incongruous twinge of hurt; the chickens had adored him from the beginning, what could possibly—?

Nugget resumed the approach first, creeping warily closer. The moment she was in range, she began pecking furiously at Edge’s cast, attacking it with all the ferocity her tiny body could muster.

“huh,” Stretch’s mouth twisted wryly, “guess your new leg apparel has them on edge.”

“Hilarious,” Edge said dryly. He reached down and clicked his tongue softly. It seemed Nugget’s wariness wasn’t a match for her obsessive affection. She hopped easily into Edge’s lap, crooning softly as he stroked her.

That was enough for the other two. Noodle was next to scramble up, giving the cast a beady-eyed look before hopping into his lap, which left Dumpling on the ground, cackling her distress at not being able to join the others.

“sorry, chickie, his lap has a two bird limit.” Stretch sat and patted his own lap and Dumpling grudgingly went to him, her sulking vanishing as Stretch gave her gentle scritches.

Edge gentle stroked their glossy feathers while both tried to crowd in closer, demanding an equal share of petting. He couldn’t keep from smiling faintly at their antics. The day was grayish and cold, their breath steaming in the chilly air, but Stretch was right.

A change of scenery did make for a better mood.