#even longer

“Would you hurry up?”

​Rex scowled at his father’s words, hurriedly scuffling after him. It wasn’t easy, thanks tothe heavy backpack attached to his back, thanks to his mother who so graciously filled it with items for his first day. Today was Rex’s official first day of kindergarten. He had been excited to meet kids his age to play with, since his brother was too young to rough house with and his father was too rough to play with. Yes, he was ecstatic.

Unfortunately, his father was very quick to sour the five year old’s mood in an instant.

“Why couldn’t mom take me?” He yelled at his father’s back, adjusting the strap on his shoulder.

The older skeleton exaggerated a heavy huff, not turning to face his son with an answer, “Because your mom just had to stay with your shitty little brother at home, and I was forced.”

Rex sighed, not exactly happy with the answer. At least it was honest. He knew his mom was too caught up in his baby brother to actually pay attention to his needs, or even his dad’s. They both had been cast to the wind since Sans had been born. Being an only child for awhile, Rex wasn’t used to not having his mother’s constant attention. In some ways, he heavily disliked his baby brother for it.

“Alright, were here.”

Rex stopped beside his dad, looking up at the large building that towered over him, shrinking whatever joy Rex had left for his first day. Rust sniffed, fixing his cap, face showing no emotion as he shoved his son forward, “See ya later,” He said already walking away.

The younger skeleton panicked, “W-wait aren’t you gonna walk me in?”

His dad snorted, “don’t be a pussy, all you gotta do is walk.”

“But-“

“Later!” His dad continued to walk away, ignoring whatever he was going to say. Leaving Rex to deal with his first day, alone. With an exhale through his nostrils, he walked towards the entrance, his grip on the straps of his backpack tightening. With each step, Rex slowly brought his confidence back. Who cared if his dad was an ass? Who cared if his baby brother got all his mother’s love? Who cared? He wasn’t going to let this ruin his experience. He was going to have a good time, he was… his thought process was interrupted when three boys stopped him right before he entered the school. All looked to be around his age and he offered a smile, hoping to make some friends.

“Hey, my name is-“

“We know who you are.” The middle kid, a grey cat said, cutting Rex off.

The kid on the left, another cat, stepped forward and roughly poked the young skeleton’s shoulder, “Your fresh meat.”

Rust threw away his dead cigarette, taking out a fresh one from his jacket pocket, taking a large inhale. The father skeleton seethed the smoke out through his teeth, dreading returning home to a wife who had her nose up his little spawn’s ass. Little fucker was taking all the attention. Not to mention, he was pretty much his other spawn’s little keeper. Fuck, he knew should have worn a fucking condom.

God damn it, this shit sucked. At least he had some down time without the little shits…

His foot kicked something pretty heavy against the concrete and his face fell when he caught sight of Rex’s lunchbox.

“Fuuuuuuucccckkkkk me.” He whined.

Rust knew all too well if he didn’t return the lunchbox the school would call his home and tell Vinyl, and Vinyl would kick his ass and make him go back with a different lunch anyway. So with a low growl, he flicked his cigarette and snatched the orange bag off the ground, turning back towards the school. He hadn’t walked very far, and his plan was just to drop the bag off at the office and give them their son’s name, but that had been erased when he saw his son. His first born. On the ground, tears streaming down his face in complete utter fear as three children towered over him. Each one taking turns sending a kick or punch.

Rust saw red.

“Look he’s crying!”

Rex grunted when a swift kick was delivered to his ribs, knocking the wind out of him.Their laughs ringing through his skull. This was supposed to be his first day, his special day to meet new friends, learn exciting new things….not get beat up before he could even enter the fucking building.

One of them held his head up, “Why you crying kid? We haven’t even left any bruises…yet.”

Rex whimpered, preparing himself for the next hit, “Pucker up, Buttercup!”

He gritted his teeth, closing his eyes, waiting for that initial force to connect with his face, but it never came. The hold the other kid had on his face had been ripped away, and Rex was dropped back to the dirt. Gasps and a frightened yelp was heard as Rex looked up to see his father holding the one that had him.

“So, you have to have a little gang to beat up on a small kid?” Rust asked with a stone cold glare. He had the leader by the scruff of his neck, the child squealing in pain as all his weight was being held by just the tiny amount of skin.

One of the other kids, completely caught off guard by the skeleton parent’s arrival,stepped up to him, “Hey, let him go! Or I’ll tell-AHH!”

Rust had stomped his foot down onto the kid’s tail, a crunch heard.

“Tell you’re fucking parents, or it’ll be more than your tail that’s broken, bitch.”

Removing his foot off the cat’s now shattered tail, he turned his attention back to the kid in his hand, “And you,” He pulled him closer so their faces were practically touching, “You ever touch my son again, I’ll be sure to cut every single one of your cute little paws off and shove them where the sun don’t shine, same for your friends…got it?”

The cat kid furiously nodded his head, “y-yes s-sir!”

“Good, now get lost.”

He dropped the cat to the ground, watching as he hurriedly scurried away, his two friends following after.

“Pussies….literally,” He muttered to himself, taking out a fresh cigarette and looking down to Rex.

He was sniffling and shaking, yet staring up at his father with wide eyes. Rust sighed and knelt down to his son’s level, “Listen, you can’t let little shits like those, gang up on you. I’m not always gonna be around to have your back, so I’m gonna start teaching you to kick ass. No more bullshit, alright?”

Rex sniffled, wiping away a few tears, “Alright,” He agreed with a hiccup.

With a nod, Rust grabbed his son’s arm and lifted him up, “Good,” He then shoved the lost lunchbox into his arms, “get going.”

The young skeleton didn’t say anything, just solemnly got up and went to walk away. Rust watched him leave, his chest feeling heavy at seeing his son still down. Fuck, this was dumb, but he couldn’t let his son go through this.

He caught up to him, stopping Rex, earning a confused look, “Why don’t we skip school and get some ice cream?” ​Rex’s face lit up, “Really!?”

“Hell yeah, fuck school, ice cream rules!” Rust took his cap off and placed it on top of his son’s head.

“Yeah! Fuck school, ice cream rules!” Rex repeated joyfully.