The child nextdoor

chapter 27

Third pov

The next few days autumn stayed at home, taking private lessons instead of going back to school after she had arrived back home, once arriving home, everyone including those who didn't live with them crowded around her, wrapped their arms around her, trapping her in to a gentle but firm embrace. " OH MY SWEET STARS AUTUMN WE WERE SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU-" papyrus spoke with tears rushing down his face, alongside with pumpkin, kofi, stretch even edge and red were on the verge of tears that day.

They kept a VERY close eye on her the next couple of days, not letting her out of their sight for a single moment, unless if it was to use the bathroom of course and when she needed to change, but otherwise she was under complete super vision. It was a little confusing at first for autumn to understand, she pushed it off as a normal thing for her papa's to be overprotective after a big sleepover. Papa dream had to stick around for a little bit as well, to help with her positivity or something like that. While autumn was standing over the stove cooking her own breakfast (with supervision of course) dream had come up behind her, leaning over to watch her closely as she cooked.

"What are making little one?" He asked suddenly making autumn jump up a bit. " Oh, sorry little one"

" It's ok papa dream, but I'm making breakfast for today, papa pumpkin doesn't want me skipping breakfast anymore, so we made a deal!"  Autumn explained with a soft smile while she pushed the eggs around to cook. Dream smiled back at the child watching her closely to make sure she didn't burn herself, the positivity levels he felt from her were a little more than normal to say the least. It was a little strange to dream, he knew most children were more positive than adults but this little one is as positive as dream is. Her levels before while they were still higher than ever at his brothers hide out, (probably abandoned by now) her levels were high but not as high as they were in this moment. Something about it feels....off to dream, it makes him want to investigate it further. Ink might get involved but dream will try his best to keep his investigation away from inks eyes.

Once autumn finished up her breakfast, she scoots herself behind dream for a moment to reach for a hello kitty plate edge had gotten for her to eat off, plus it gave her just the right amount of nutrients. While piling on her eggs, her papa's red and mutt stepped in the kitchen from the basement. Mutt peered over at dream with a suspicious frown looking dream up and down a bit while autumn tried to waddle past mutt and red towards the living room. Red placed his arm around her waist, carefully pulling her back to the kitchen table. " nu uh kiddo, you gotta eat breakfast at the table"

" Awe but...I wanna watch my cartoons...please papa red...pleeeease"

The small one gave him her best puppy face making both mutt and red look away from them. " come on kid, we'll save your cartoons ok? our brothers don't want you eating anywhere but the table" mutt explained placing a gentle hand on to her head. Autumn looked down at the ground for a moment, thinking about what she had been told before she nods, heading over to sit down at the table.

'Hm, very well behaved, still positive as ever...something still feels off..'

Dream, mutt and red all sat at the table with her, watching her closely as she ate her breakfast. Chuckling a bit while she stuffed her cheeks full of eggs, red pats her head a bit telling her to slow down a bit before she chokes on her breakfast. She was a sweet kid, but her table manners need work, it's going to be a long process for the boys to figure out, but it'll click after a few lessons or so.

Once autumn finished eating, she quickly got up from her seat, placing her plate in the sink before making a beeline for the living room, only to be caught and pulled into a tight embrace of her papa kofi, who gladly tickled her while hugging her close.

" w...where are you going munchkin?"

" Hehe! To watch my cartoons papa kofi!"  Kofi shook a scolding finger at her playful, booping her on the nose before holding her on his hip. " y...you little miss, have a school lesson with papa wine today and it starts in.....fifty six seconds-"

" Awe but papa kofi..."

" Ah ah, no buts munchkin, education over wants" he looked over at dream for a moment, studying him before carrying autumn up the stairs while she whined out in sadness, making one of her hands grab at the TV. " Nooo! No no!"

" Yeeeeeesssss, it's time for lessons munchkin" with that the two of them faded out of earshot, leaving dream, red and mutt to themselves. It was silent for a few moments before red cleared his throat, catching dreams attention. " spit it out already dream, what's up with your sudden interest in our kid?"

" What do you mean by that red? I'm here to keep an eye on her positivity levels, make sure she isn't infected...."

" ....and... somethin else.."

Curse their ways of reading people's body language, no matter how calm he tried to make himself be, these two were the ones to point off his off-putting behavior. Dream sighed in defeat, placing his hands on the table while he looked his fellow clones in their sockets. " There's something off putting about her..."

" Whaddya mean by that dream?"

" I mean her positivity levels are high, higher than a normal level for a child."

" What's that supposed to mean?" Mutt asked, sitting up straight in his seat alongside red as well, they were confused by dreams words, so dream continued on with his explanation.

" It's very off putting, a child's normal level is higher than an adult, but Her's is just extremely... fascinating and...off..."

Reds bone brow raised up in curiosity, a bit of worry as well. " meaning?"

" I'm not sure yet, I'm planning on investigating more if that's alright, it's maybe nothing but just to be safe than sorry I need more time with her"

" yeah, think that's the best option, make sure it's not something new nightmare and the others may have created something new" red replied stretching a bit " I'll let sans know to keep an eye on her as well."

"No no, I don't need him getting involved, I need to study autumn in a dl type investigation. "

While the lot of them spoke to one another quietly, said child came running in, laughing silently as she hid herself behind the kitchen counter. Shortly after she had ran in wine Walts in with his hands behind his back, he seemed amused but a bit impatient. " MY DEAR CHILD, AS MUCH AS I LOVE TO TEACH YOU BASIC CAMOUFLAGE TACTICS. I MUST INSIST THAT WE CONTINUE OUR LESSON ON MATHEMATICS"

Dream couldn't help chuckling a little, placing his hands on his chin as he watched wine appear behind the child, who was currently peaking around the corner to see if wine was still there. Wine shook his head while tsking he leaned over, plucking the child up in to cradle in his arms. She lets out a squeaky laugh, struggling around a bit while wine carries her back to their lesson of math. Dream looked back over at his friends, smiling as he spoke.

" She's absolutely adorable."