Work Text:
Gold has been alive again for all of four months, and in all that time, her new sister (sister, sister, not a replacement, a sister, not a result of her being forgotten, a sister) hasn't slept in a bedroom.
Gold still had her old room. It remained unchanged from the day she rolled out of it and died to the day her dad unlocked the door for the first time in years to present it to her again. It was so familiar. It was home.
And, quite frankly, she didn't understand why Purple hadn't taken it. Purple was very ready to take other things — materials, ores, food, even her friends' electronics and trinkets — but she'd never so much as stepped foot in Gold's room. Not more than once, anyway, according to the two of them in a shallow conversation where her dad looked at Purple and Purple looked away, hands folded behind her in a way Gold was coming to recognize as a habit of some sort. In fact, this whole time, she had been sleeping on the floor next to her dad's bed— apparently since she had met him.
Well, this just wouldn't stand. Purple was out for a day, and so Gold was going to recruit her dad and turn the attic into the best darn bedroom her new sister could ask for.
Dad said this project would take more than a day. She told him to keep it a secret from her, then.
They were lucky. She hadn't come back for the night, off wherever else she stayed when she wasn't with them or in Minecraft, so Gold and their dad went to the store, bought a bed frame and a new mattress and new, fluffy blankets in iridescent colors they thought Purple would like, and new, big pillows with nice butterfly-patterned pillowcases, and a new, big circle rug that didn't seem too hard to vacuum but didn't have the weird, rough surface Gold's bedroom floor did. And they hauled it all home in their car (Gold had to carry the box for the bed frame at an awkward angle the whole ride, since it didn't fit in the trunk with all the other stuff) and dragged it up the ladder to the attic.
They found an old, ratty mattress on the floor with no cover, pushed up some ways near the attic window, with a single small desk by it that held a single vase with a flower in it that was probably alive, once. Gold didn't know that Minecraft flowers could die from neglect, but this one certainly did.
They made sure to give their dad the most scathing glare they had for that sad display.
Once said sad display was gotten rid of, the dead plant water tossed out the window and the dead plant absorbed into Gold's new funky glitch powers, they got to work setting up the bed frame. The attic was already pretty high up, but they knew Purple liked to be up high regardless, unreachable in the air, so they'd gotten a bunk bed. Besides, it made for good sleepovers! She could have her friends over more!
That one took a good amount of the day, and way into the evening. Gold ended up falling asleep, and waking up on the old mattress with their dad cuddling them close like he had when they were extra little. It was only sunrise, by then, so they'd gotten back to work. Dad said they weren't allowed to assemble the bed frame themselves, so they got the pillowcases on the pillows, the rug all spread out on the ground, a bed sheet on the new mattress, and even opened up the blankets before realizing they probably should've saved those for after the bed itself was done, and folding them again as best they could.
When her dad woke up, he insisted on breakfast, and then they got back to work. Praise the Cursors for PBJ sandwiches.
Purple knocked on the door soon after breakfast was over, though, so Gold told her dad to keep working on the bed frame while she ushered her new sister down to Minecraft. It... worked? Sort of? Purple was definitely suspicious, and Gold was not doing a good job hiding her excitement, but she'd managed to get Purple in the basement and then rush up back to the attic to keep helping her dad.
That gave them several more hours to try and figure out what could've probably been a fun, 1000-piece puzzle if it wasn't bigger than her dad twice and made of metal that hurt to be hit with when it fell. Still, though. They finished up the bed frame, and then it was Gold's job to get the new mattress up on the top bunk. With her dad's help, she hauled it up, and only almost fell twice!
It got properly situated, bed sheet perfectly fitted, and with Gold's butt now squarely on a solid surface, her dad tossed up the pillows for her to arrange. Purple liked things nice and neat, so Gold would do her best and then let her new sister move it around however she wanted.
Finally came the blankets, and her dad half-climbed the ladder while holding them to make sure they got up there safely. They weren't too heavy, but they were cozy, and there were a lot of them for her to choose from. Gold knew by now that Purple had issues staying asleep — she'd wake up screaming in the middle of the night, sometimes wordlessly, sometimes for her mom, and Gold was almost always awake at those times, having been silently shocked up by her own nightmares — and that heat made it worse, so she made sure to choose things that weren't super heavy so Purple could throw them off her if she needed to.
The blankets were arranged on the bed, three of them folded at the foot of it near the ladder so Purple could choose which one to sleep under, and the fourth saved for the lower bunk, which took a bit of squishing and shoving until the old mattress was in place. Her dad left to find a bed sheet for it, and Gold was distracted picking lint and stuff off the fabric by the time he got back.
Purple wasn't home, hadn't had a clue, and her new room was done. Gold grinned as she imagined the look on her face.
"Come on, come on!!" They squealed, pulling Purple by the arm practically as soon as she stepped foot on the ground floor of the house. She was confused, obviously, and stubborn, but Gold was strong and wily and managed to yank her over to the attic ladder, where they could hear their dad calling for them to be nice to her. They let go of Purple's arm and scrambled up, turning and beckoning before even seeing if Purple was following. (She wasn't, she was still at the bottom of the steps, looking very bewildered.) When their new sister finally started upwards, Gold rushed to the bed to show her when she got to the top. It was hidden behind a wall of boxes, which their dad had arranged, saying she might feel more comfortable if she couldn't be seen immediately. The boxes were heavy from all the stuff in them, so there wasn't much chance of them getting knocked over.
Their dad waited by that wall. His arms were crossed, but he looked relaxed, smiling with a barely-restrained glimmer in his eye.
"What's all this about, da- Mango-?" Purple asked hesitantly. Their dad simply smiled more and waved her over as he stepped behind the boxes.
(Honestly, Gold didn't understand why she kept stopping herself from calling him dad. It wasn't like they had many problems with it anymore.)
Obedient as ever, Purple followed, her hands behind her back. When dad stopped, she stopped, and then she finally saw the bunk bed standing where the old mattress used to sit.
That was the expression Gold was hoping for. The widening of her eyes, her mouth opening in awed words that wouldn't quite make it out. Her shoulders tightened, but she walked forward, unfolding her arms to graze the ladder with the very very tips of her fingers.
"Who...?" She glanced at them, then looked at dad. "Whose is this...?"
"Yours!" He and Gold said at the same time. Gold couldn't stop themselves from jumping up and flinging their arms around her neck.
"'Cus you're my sister, see? So you have to have a really nice room like I do!!"
Purple was silent for a moment. Gold waited, and waited, and waited, and then felt her arms moving to return the gesture. With a little laugh, she squeezed her tighter.
"This really should've happened a lot sooner," her dad said, sounding guilty. "I'm sorry it didn't."
"Don't be," Purple replied automatically. She did that a lot. "We didn't have the money. Or the time, or the- the space-"
"Well, clearly we had the space." He chuckled, patting the bed frame. "It's all yours, sweetheart."
Gold finally let go and bounced on her shoulders for a moment, then over to the bunk bed. "Yeah, and see!? You have extra space now so you can invite your guys over whenever you want!"
"Well, maybe not whenever-"
"Whenever!! You want!" She insisted. "And here, here here go up-" She flung her arms up the ladder, urging Purple to climb it. With a second's delay, she did. She saw the moment her hand brushed the blankets and the quiet gasp that escaped her. The grin on her face grew wider. "Do you like it? We spent HOURS yesterday picking everything out and then putting it all up here!! You better like it!"
She turned and stared down at her with an expression she hadn't really seen on her before. It was hard to place.
"You... did this for me? Specifically?"
"Yep!!"
"It was all her idea, actually," her dad said, moving to ruffle her hair. Gold stuck her tongue out, still smiling.
Purple made a little "oh" noise. A few silent seconds passed, just the three of them breathing while she surveyed what they got for her... and when she looked back, it was with a smile.
"I do, actually. I like it!"
Gold threw her fists in the air and cheered. Their dad laughed. "Good to know."
He stepped closer and reached up. Purple pressed her face into his hand. For a moment, the two just smiled at each other.
"Welcome to the family, Purp. For real, this time."