Since I'm going to be spending most of tomorrow traveling, you guys get the final chapter a day early~
***
"Mom, I don't think it's all going to fit," Goth mumbled as they all watched Geno maneuver baking racks around in the oven to keep the all of the prepared food warm for the fourth time.
"Nonsense; I made it fit last year and I can make it fit this year," the parent denied, shifting a rack up to the top notch to hold the smaller dishes.
Palette leaned over, whispering to his boyfriend with a smirk, "I'm guessing this is where you get your stubbornness from?"
"Probably," the smaller groaned softly, leaning into him as his mom continued shifting things around.
Before Geno could test out the newest layout, the doorbell rang. Without looking up, Geno called out, "Goth, can you get the door? It's probably Xahji."
"Alright," Goth nodded, straightening himself and taking a breath as Geno began pulling food from the oven.
"Good luck," Palette whispered, pecking a kiss on his boyfriend's forehead before the small skeleton made his exit with a mousy 'thank you'. Not wanting to just stand around, the artist asked, "Do you want me to grab something?"
"I like your enthusiasm," Geno praised, placing the bowl of succotash on the counter, "Could set out the trivets and place settings on the dining table?"
The young skeleton blinked, at a loss as he said, "Um... what are trivets?"
"You put them under hot dishes," Shino stated, hopping off the counter, "I can help and show you where everything is."
"We should only need about eight of them; two in the center for the turkey and the rest spread out... and nine place settings," Geno instructed as he lifted the mashed potatoes onto one of the burners. A squeal echoed down the hallway.
"Sounds like Goth doesn't have to worry about Xahji being upset," Reaper commented from where he was carving the turkey at the kitchen table.
Palette followed Shino into the dining room with a spring in his step; happy that another reunion seemed to be going well. The younger skeleton began unfolding one side of the table, indicating where each item in the china cabinet was located while repositioning the table in the center of the room.
As he rounded one end of the table to gather the items, he caught sight of a female skeleton in a long black coat with light purple hair containing yellow streaks pulled into a loose bun and an inverted heart-shaped glitch over her right socket. She had one arm wrapped around Goth, rubbing his skull with her free hand as if she were ruffling hair while wearing a cheeky grin. A taller male skeleton with green lines trailing up his cheeks and connecting between his sockets stood next to them in a dark green jacket and black slacks with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face; saying something that made the smaller's cheeks puff out as the female laughed.
Having an idea who the two new faces were but eager for introductions nonetheless, Palette retrieved the trivets and set them out across the table; joined by Shino soon after in distributing the placemats, plates, and silverware onto nine spots. Just as the last place setting was set out, Geno and Reaper entered with a dish in each hand.
"Thank you Shino; thank you Palette. If you two can start getting everyone into the dining room, that would be great," Geno requested, setting down the bowl of creamed corn as Reaper set a large platter of turkey slices in the center.
"I'll get Raven and Blueprint Onii-chan!" Shino chimed, racing out of the room before anyone else could say a word.
Palette snorted as he took the opening leading directly into the foyer. "Hey Goth, Mi- Geno's having everyone gather in the dining room," he said as the three present skeletons turned to him.
"Who are you?" the female skeleton asked, having already let go of her brother by this point.
Walking over and grasping his hand, Goth introduced him, "This is my boyfriend, Palette. Palette, this is my older sister Xahji and her husband, Snazzy."
The artist wrapped his free arm around his companion, warmed by the title as Xahji gasped, tugging on her husband's arm, "You have a boyfriend?! Snazzy, he has a boyfriend!"
"I heard," the taller male, Snazzy, confirmed, "And here I thought you were too serious to be into relationships. You seemed like a total workaholic before you crashed; guess you finally chilled out."
"Snazzy!" The older sister snapped, giving him a dirty look.
The taller skeleton looked perplexed at the outburst, "What?"
Goth grimaced, pressing slightly into his companion, "I suppose it's true; I have loosened up over the years and it wasn't until recently that I seriously considered a relationship. Regardless; it might've taken me a while to find the right monster, but I did and I'm happy now."
A spike of irritation ran through Palette at the smaller's discomfort, recalling this guy was the one Geno had initially disliked. Wrapping an arm protectively around his boyfriend's shoulder, he tried to maintain a pleasant facade as he reiterated, "We should head into the dining room, everyone's probably waiting for us."
He was glad when the conversation dropped off there and the newcomers hung their coats on the coat rack by the door. As they took their seats, with Shino thankfully claiming the spot next to Goth, Palette leaned over to whisper, "Are you okay?"
Goth smiled, leaning into his shoulder as they said, "I am; I don't think Snazzy meant any harm, he was blunt with his words back then too... but thank you for the save."
The artist agreed to let the matter go, giving his companion another kiss on the temple before taking the bowl of candied sweet potatoes that had been passed around to him.
---
The large group gathered around the laptop a few hours later; with Goth and Xahji on their respective partner's laps to fit on the couch while Raven, Blueprint, and Shino were situated behind the couch as Geno pressed the call button and scooted the laptop back. The ringing noise sounded four times before the last tone was interrupted by a click, static, and the picture of a red hooded skeleton with a black scarf tied by an electric blue skull clip and a large glitch covering both sockets showed up on the screen, "Hello?"
"Happy Thanksgiving, Sorell," Geno announced, "How have you and Rewrite been?"
The skeleton smiled, the glitch over his face slowly receding to one socket, revealing a red iris with an electric blue broken heart for the pupil "Oh! Hi mom; hi everyone. Rewrite and I have been doing well; How are you all doing?"
"Can't complain, but where is Rewrite?" Raven quirked his socket in confusion.
Sorell chuckled quietly, "He's here, Rave; he just has a bit of a headache and decided to lay down." A black hand with red and yellow fingers appeared over the back of the couch behind the hooded skeleton, waving with a groggy-sounding 'hey' before dropping back out of sight. Letting out a second bout of soft laughter, the red-clad skeleton turned back to the monitor and opened his mouth to say something when his face went blank.
"Honey, is everything alright?" Geno prodded in concern.
Sorell nodded his skull, reassuring them, "Yeah, I'm alright; but... am I seeing things or is that Goth?"
Taking a deep breath, Goth spoke, "You're not seeing things; I'm here."
Sorell's face lit up in joy, "Holy stars, it's been forever since I've heard your voice! How have you been, what made you decide to come back-... unless that's too personal, I'm sorry!"
"It's fine Sorell," Goth reassured his brother, the tension easing out of his shoulders as he went on, "I've been alright; I've been working at a coffee shop since I left. I'm here because of my boyfriend, Palette." The artist gave a small wave and a smile at the mention of his name.
"You have- oh, congratulations!" the skeleton on the other end of the call exclaimed, "so much has happened; how long have you been together? Did you both meet at the coffee shop or did you bump into each other somewhere else?"
"Yeah, I haven't heard how you two met either," Xahji whined.
"Me neither," Raven added on from behind them, leaning over the back of the couch, "I only know you both work at that coffee shop."
"Come to think of it, we never heard the end of your story," Reaper chimed in.
Settling back into Palette, Goth laughed, "Yeah, we both work there; we met a few months ago when Palette came in for a job interview..."
Palette wrapped his arms around the smaller's waist as Goth told their story, laying his chin on his companion's shoulder and enjoying the happiness in their voice. The food had been warm and the familial love was even warmer; outside of a few minor bumps, he couldn't have asked for a more perfect Thanksgiving.
***
I'm really hoping I did all the characters justice, I kind of had to dip into fan content for some of the characters due to insufficient information regarding personality traits. Here's to hoping you guys enjoyed the story and have a Happy Thanksgiving, or are at least enjoying whatever you're doing if you don't celebrate it~
Word Count: 1,503