Chapter Text
Ink ran through the golden, glistening hallways, his hair bouncing around his smiling face. For the third time today.
His father, the kind, ever-loving king, was livid. He was sick of Ink running off during the lessons he had to take in order to properly run the kingdom.
He was Dream.
“Ink! Come back here right this second!”
Ink, again, wouldn’t listen. He kept running down the halls, not stopping to even listen.
And then, this was when he turned the corner and noticed just a little too late the servant who was walking in the opposite direction, carrying a tray.
He crashed into the poor guy.
And they both fell.
Ink quickly realized what happened, and pushed himself off the ground.
“Oh, goodness- I’m so sorry, are you alright?!”
The servant, who Ink had now realized looks around his age, got up too, revealing his weird-looking eyes.
Ink stopped in his tracks, staring.
And it was the other’s turn to apologize. He bowed his head.
“I-I’m so sorry, sir, I wasn’t- I wasn’t looking where I was going, I’m so, so sorry.”
Ink was still stunned to silence, staring in admiration at the seemingly gilded eyes the person he bumped into had.
That terrified the boy.
Then, as if on queue, Dream came, still enraged that Ink had been trying to run away.
“Ink, what in the world do you think you’re doing?!”
Dream caught Ink by the wrist before he could run away. Then, he noticed the cleaner his son had bumped into, who was beginning to try to clean up the mess that used to be a tray of tea.
“Oh my goodness, Ink, what did you do?!”
“I’m sorry! I didn’t see him!”
“That’s no excuse! You’re not supposed to be running in the castle anyway, especially not at this time in the morning.”
Ink sighed dramatically and crossed his arms.
“Don’t you dare give me that, young man! How are you supposed to run this kingdom if you don’t even pay attention- much less attend- your lessons? Instead, you’re incessantly rushing around the corridors, running into people who were just trying to do their jobs?! Ink, what do I have to do to get you to take this seriously?!”
Dream proceeded to notice exactly who Ink bumped into. He offered a hand to the boy.
“Don’t worry about that, little one. I’ll have someone else take care of it. You’re Error, right?”
The prince realized his biggest mistake, and Error, although he didn’t like touching people, took the king’s hand, realizing it would be impolite to refuse an offer of help from the king himself.
“R-right… That’s, um, me.”
“Well, it’s nice to officially meet you, Error. I believe you’re taking over for my son’s current butler for today, right? I apologize for the… excitement. Ink here just got a little too… antsy.”
Speaking of Ink, he was currently trying to run away, but he was being held back by his dad, who was still holding his wrist.
“Ink, do you have something to say to this young man?”
Ink looked away, still trying to pull away.
Dream warned, “Ink, do you have something to say?”
“I’m… sorry.”
What Ink had said was barely audible. He was still trying to bolt, his father showing no signs of struggle from holding him back. He was looking away and slightly blushing out of anger.
“Ink.”
Error shook his head ruefully. “It’s alright, honestly. I wasn’t looking where I was going, I should have been more alert…”
“Nonsense! Ink should have been in his lesson anyway, you had no clue that he would be running around. Right, Ink?”
Ink stayed silent.
This time it was more forced. “Right, Ink?”
The heir sighed, “Right…”
“Good. Again, I’m ashamed about this, Error. Would you like someone to help you out?”
“Oh, no, no it’s fine, I got this…”
“Oh, alright then. Ink?”
Ink froze, still trying to get away. “Yyyyes, Father?”
He tried an award-winning smile. That was very obviously feigned.
“No more flaking on your lessons. Got that?”
Ink’s wrist got released. Only for his ear to be the next target, being dragged away from his (replacement) butler.
“Ow, ow ow ow- I’m aware.”
“I don’t think you are, Ink. This is not only the third time today you ran away from your lessons, it’s the third time this week you’ve hurt someone from your bêtise! You cannot keep doing this!”
The entire time Dream was talking, Ink was pulled along by the ear to his room. He was muttering cries of pain.
“Ow ow ow!”
“We wouldn’t have to do this if you would just do your job. You’re the heir, Ink! You’re going to take over the throne, and you’re going to be the ruler of this kingdom one day. Can you stop taking this as a joke? This is your life we’re talking about! Not only that, this is our people’s lives!”
“But—“
“No ‘but’s, Ink! You can’t keep running off like this! You have to pay attention to your classes.”
“It’s not a class if I’m the only one in it— ow, wait, stop, ow—”
“Ink.”
“It’s not fair!”
“Well, that’s too bad, Ink. You have a duty to people. You have a role to fill. There’s nothing you can do about it. Now, will you take. This. Seriously?”
“But—“
“No ‘but’s, Ink! Can’t you get it through your head that you have to take care of people? It’s your responsibility!”
By this time, Dream and Ink had gotten to Ink’s room and Ink was sitting on his bed, crossing his arms.
Dream sighed.
“Look, kiddo. I know I’m hard on you, but I have to be. If I’m not, you’ll never learn that you have to be sensible. You have to do your job. Do you need another lecture?”
“I mean, you already lecture me more than enough, so why not make it even more than enough?!”
“Ink!”
Ink sighed dramatically once again.
“I told you, this is for your own good. You have to learn how to be a good ruler.”
A knock came to the door. The head of all the servants, Pale. His eyes were yellow today.
“Your majesty, your highness, the Kings of Death are here.”
“Kings of death…? Oh, shoot, that was today?!”
“I’m afraid so, your majesty. Do you need me to stall?”
Dream shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. Just… Ink, get off the bed. Go brush your hair. We’re going to go greet them.”
Ink crossed his arms tighter.
“Ink. Now.”
He huffed.
Dream turned. “Excuse me, Pale, would you mind getting him to brush his hair and get him out with me to greet them before they leave?”
He nodded. “Of course, your majesty.”
“Thank you.” Dream walked out of the room quickly, going to greet the kings of one of the neighboring kingdoms.
Ink huffed again while his (admittedly close) friend went to him.
“Your Highness, please, can you brush your hair? I’ve heard this meeting is really important.”
Ink shook his head, looking away.
“He really needs you over there, y’know.”
“No, he doesn’t. Everyone says that, but he fucking doesn’t!”
“Of course he does. Did you see him when you got back from visiting the other kingdoms? Before that, he was panicking out of his mind. I don’t think he’d be able to function if you were gone.”
“You mean he was panicking that I could’ve fucked something up?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Of course you didn’t. But that’s what you meant!” Ink crossed his arms tighter, looking away.
Pale sighed and rolled his eyes. He grabbed a hairbrush and walked back to Ink.
“Prince Ink, please, you really need to go and greet them.”
Ink, being the brat he is, huffed. He got up, took the hairbrush, and sat at the mirror, staring into it.
He didn’t brush his hair.
Pale decided to take some mercy on him and walked over, taking the hairbrush back and deciding to brush Ink’s hair himself.
“Oh, come on, kiddo. I know it’s tough, and I know we’re all tough on you. But you have to do this, kid. I heard Dream was thinking about sending you off to a boarding school if you continued to be reckless.”
The last part was in a sort of a joking tone, but…
It got Ink’s attention.
“What?! No, he can’t!”
“I think he can, Ink.”
Ink started to tear up. Pale realized his mistake of a joke. and wrapped his arms around him.
“He’s gonna send me away…?” Ink whined.
“Shh, kid, I didn’t mean it. It was a joke- a mean joke. I’m sorry. He’s not going to send you off to boarding school. He loves you too much to send you off.”
“But you said…”
“I know what I said, he’s not going to do that.”
“He’s not gonna send me off to boarding school?”
“Of course he’s not. He would never. I may, though.”
“Pale!”
Pale laughed.
“Alright, that’s enough.”
Pale finished doing Ink’s hair, pinning it down in places that stuck up and making sure it looked good.
“Go on, kiddo. Er- your highness. You have to go introduce yourself to those kings Dream seems to hold so highly.”
Ink sighed one last time. Then put on his best smile.
“There we go! There’s the happy prince everyone loves.”
Ink raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, mostly everyone.”
Ink raised both eyebrows.
“Just go!”
Ink was pushed out the door and into the hallway. He got pointed to where his father and the other kings were waiting.
He got rushed there and was quickly pushed next to Dream, whom Ink gave an apologetic smile to.
“Ah, Ink, nice of you to show. Gentlemen, this is my son, Ink.”
Ink studied the two in front of him. One wore a black cloak, flowing gracefully and finished off with a silver crown adorned with flowers. His skin was dark, but his hair was almost completely white. He looked… extremely cool, in Ink’s opinion.
Both he and his husband, who was wearing something similar to him, except lighter, looked cool. He seemed to not have gotten any sun in the last… 37 years, about?
“Ink, this is Reaper and Geno.”
Ink nodded and smiled gently, holding out his hand. “It’s wonderful to meet you two.”
Both of them shook Ink’s hand, also glad to meet.
Dream sighed a sigh of relief, comforted by the fact that Ink wasn’t completely fucking up everything.
Yet.
An hour or so later, all three of the kings and Ink were sitting in a meeting room, talking over a certain deal of something or another. Ink had gotten lost around 5 minutes in.
However, something King Reaper said ticked Ink off. He couldn’t remember exactly what it was, but it sure did piss Ink off.
And, in Ink’s classic style, he had said something along the lines of “fuck you” in the politest way possible.
Dream stopped. Reaper stopped. Geno stopped.
Geno put his head on the table and put his hands over it, realizing exactly what his husband was going to do. He was softly laughing or crying, Ink couldn’t tell.
Reaper got pissed.
At least, Ink thought he did.
Reaper said something along the lines of “In all my years of being the king of death, I have never had anyone say anything as rude as that to my face !”
Dream panicked.
“Oh my god, I’m so, so sorry about him. He’s been having a hard day and that’s no excuse to speak to you like that, I’m so, so sorry. Give us a second, will you?”
Ink got dragged out of the room by his ear, his dad giving looks of “you’re so fucking dead” to him. The door shut behind them. Dream started shouting.
“Ink, what the hell do you think you’re doing?! This is so incredibly important. Do you understand that?!”
“Yes, I-“
“I don’t think you do , Ink. Do you even realize what you could’ve cost us? Do you realize exactly what you’ve done?”
“Yes, Father, I-“
“No, Ink. You don’t. You weren’t even paying attention through that entire thing! You never pay attention. For god’s sake, Ink, you’re the heir to the throne. You have to pay attention and know what’s going on. ”
“I’m trying!”
“Are you? You don’t seem to be. You seem to be goofing off instead of doing your job. For Christ's sake, you essentially told one of the most powerful kings to fuck off.”
“I didn’t mean to, I-“
“Ink. Go to your room. I have to fix your mistakes. Again. I have to make sure we don’t lose a very powerful ally due to your incompetence! I should send you off for this, Ink. You could’ve just cost our entire kingdom everything.”
Ink huffed. “Fine!”
He stormed off to his room, making a scene about it. He threw himself onto his fluffy, cream-colored bed, sobbing. He threw his crown. Error, who was (to Ink’s obliviousness) in the room, caught it. He placed it on Ink’s dresser, then left, staying outside the room, realizing that the prince didn’t want to be talked to.
While the father and son were talking, the meeting room was in a ruckus.
“Oh my gods, Geno, babe, did you see their faces?!” Reaper was cackling.
“Reaps…”
Reaper continued to laugh loudly. “Dream looked so pissed . I fucking love this kingdom!”
Geno was snickering softly.
“It was pretty funny, but I don’t think Dream found it very amusing. He looked like he was about to kill his kid.”
“Exactly! It’s hilarious.”
“How in the world does our kingdom have any allies when you keep reacting like this?”
Reaper continued to snort and chuckle until Dream walked in again, apologizing and begging for forgiveness.
Reaper found that even more funny.
Error, eventually, went back into Ink’s room.
Ink was still throwing a fit. He had his head in a pillow and was very obviously crying into it. Error could pick up a few things, mostly “it’s not fair”s and whining.
“Uh, your highness, I don’t really know what exactly happened, but you sound pretty sad…”
Ink’s feet went up in the air then fell back down onto the bed. He was still sobbing.
Then, he realized the person who was talking wasn’t his butler. He flipped over, looking at who was talking.
He groaned, then put the soft tan pillow he was sobbing into back onto his face. His words were muffled as he spoke, “I probably seem like an idiot to you, don’t I? After I bumped into you and now I’m just sobbing in my room. All I ever do is embarrass myself.”
“That’s not true…”
“Yes, it is. Everyone knows it. My dad knows it. Pale knows it. You know it. I know it, and according to my dad, I don’t know things. I’m a fool of a prince, and I don’t even want to be a prince.”
“I’m sure that’s not true. You’re trying your best, right? That’s all he could ever ask of you.”
“He thinks I’m not trying my best. I can’t help that the lessons are boring or that people don’t like me.”
“People like you.”
“How do you know?”
“I just… know.”
Ink turned over again, sobbing into the pillow.
“I… I don’t know what to say, your highness, but if there’s something you need me to do, go ahead and tell me.”
Ink groaned into the pillow.
“Uh, your highness?”
“I don’t know what to do about this.”
“About what…?”
“My dad hates me, I think I just fucked up a relationship with a very long-lasting ally of ours, and I might be sent off somewhere.”
“That’s… a lot.”
“Yeah, I know, and I don’t know if I’ll be a good king and the whole situation just makes me anxious and nervous and I don’t know how I’m supposed to handle this- do we have a royal therapist?”
Error snorted. “Good one.”
Ink pulled up from the pillow, glaring.
Error realized that it wasn’t a joke. He looked away apologetically. “Uh, I’m afraid not. I could bring it up to someone if you’d like.”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Are you sure? I’d be happy to.”
“I just.” Ink sighed and slammed his head back into the pillow. “I wish people would… stop treating me like a kid. I’m almost eighteen. I’m almost of age to take over the throne.”
“Goodness, really? That sounds tough.”
“I can’t take over. I’m not ready. My dad’s not going to let me take over. Ever. Then, when he’s gone, I’m going to fuck up everything. I can’t do this…”
“Of course you can.”
“No, I can’t. People are going to get killed because of me and my incompetence.”
“That’s not true. I’m sure you’re more capable than a lot of people.”
“No, I-”
At this, there was a knock on the door. Ink groaned loudly. “It’s dinnertime, isn’t it?”
Error nodded. “Most likely. Do you want me to answer the door?”
“Yes...”
Error went over to the door and opened it. Dream. Error bowed.
“Greetings, your majesty.”
Ink whined again, then rolled off his bed.
“Ah, hello, Error. Is Ink in here?”
Error nodded, “Yes, I think he’s on his bed. Do you need me to get him?”
“No, that won’t be necessary. However, would you mind getting him some tea? I realize he could probably use it.”
“Of course, sire.”
“Thank you, Error. Now, Ink?”
Ink groaned into his pillow, hiding next to the bed as Error left the room.
“Ink, don’t give me that. I know you’re right there.”
Ink took the pillow and put it on top of his head, pressing down around his ears so he didn’t have to hear what Dream, who had now moved onto Ink’s bed, had to say.
“Ink…”
He groaned again.
“Ink, I need to talk to you.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Yes, Ink, I do.”
Ink threw the pillow off his face. “What the hell do you want?!”
“I’m your father, Ink, don’t talk like that to me.”
“I know you’re just here to lecture me on how stupid and foolish I was. I know I fucked up, you don’t need to tell me anymore. I know that I could’ve just cost you a lot of things.”
“That’s not what I’m here to say to you.”
“Then what?!”
“You didn’t mess up.”
“What?! Of course, I did. He was pissed .”
“He was pretending to be. That’s how he is.”
“You’re just trying to make me feel better, aren’t you?”
“No, well, yes. But it’s true, kiddo. King Reaper is a mystery to a lot of us- he seemingly hasn’t aged in the past century, Geno’s only been being seen in the past month and they’re married, and there’s a whole other list of things. But, that’s why I shouldn’t have been mad. Ink, they were laughing about it when I came back.”
“What?”
“They weren’t mad.”
“What?!”
“They loved you, Ink. They want to talk to you more.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“It’s not! They wanted to know if you’d be able to make it for dinner.”
Ink sighed. “Sure, and you’re not just trying to trick me into apologizing and begging for mercy?”
“Of course I’m not.”
“Fine. I’ll go to dinner.”