Chapter Text
Twirling an album with fresh sketches from the new AU in his hands, Ink stretched sweetly, flexing his body after a long day’s work. He should definitely get some air in a quiet universe where he won't be pestered by the locals. From the worlds of the main group, the choice fell on the nice and beautiful Outertale.
Disappearing into the flow of paint, Ink felt the icy peace of space wash over him. The timeline goes unchanged, everything is fine. In search of a better place, the artist, deftly jumping on the stones of the flying bridge, reached the most picturesque place in this world: the cliff into the starry abyss.
And what was his surprise when, on the ground not far from the edge, he saw one very strange person suspiciously reminding him of an old acquaintance. Ink immediately took out the brush, preparing to defend this beautiful creation, but for some reason froze in indecision. The destroyer was sitting peacefully and seemed to be doing something harmless. At least it didn’t look like he was splitting the AU to an elementary code, which is already pleasing.
Pushing off from the surface of the asteroid and taking advantage of this remarkable feature of gravity in space, Ink gently and almost silently landed next to the glitchy skeleton, looking over his shoulder.
Error himself, completely unaware of anything, was knitting a sweater for another doll at a measured pace. He often used this AU as a place for meditation, and it even became something he was used to.
"It looks beautiful!" the guardian said abruptly, completely forgetting about all the norms of decency, which scared the poor fellow deeply. Jumping up and hanging somewhere in weightlessness, the glitch reflexively sent a number of strings towards the offender.
"Rainbow idiot! Don't you dare scare me like that!" Lines of code flashed in the destroyer's eyes, which spoke of his temporary blindness. It's a wonder he didn't crash.
"Sorry, sorry!" The one nicknamed in such a comical way realized his act and, dodging the attack, stretched out his hands. "Let me help you! After all, weightlessness has a bad effect on the inner world. What if your heart fails!"
Ink's bad jokes are a whole art.
"I'm not going to accept your help!" Error started another row of threads and groped around the space with them. Finding the surface of the cliff, he pulled himself to it and rubbed his eyes.
"Okay, okay... Don't glitch at me," the other replied, picking up an unfinished sweater from the ground and guiltily sitting down directly opposite.
"What did you even want from me?" For Error, everything was cloudy, but vision gradually returned. He looked at his enemy, who had his stuff in his hands. "And be so kind, give it back."
"Well... I thought you wanted to destroy this universe..." Ink squeezed the sweater, examining it, and then handed it to the owner. "However, you were sitting and knitting. It's certainly not in your style to create something new. But it's sooo cute!"
Error looked at the artist as if he was an idiot, but took the unfinished product from his hands using strings, returning the fallen loops of wool back to the needle.
"You don't know anything about me, ink stain. As for this universe... I will destroy it, but later. Now leave me alone," with this, he sat down on the ground, pointedly turning away and continuing his activity. He wasn't going to leave just because this jerk showed up here.
Ink puffed out his cheeks resentfully, but the inquisitive look didn't attract glitch's attention. The artist continued to sit and began to run his finger along the dusty surface of the asteroid, creating a specific drawing. Meanwhile, having finished the last row, Error took out a doll of some Chara from his pocket and put a sweater on it, hemming the roughness, completely ignoring the unwanted proximity.
The artist finally got carried away with drawing, trying to recall the details from memory, although the object of his artistic activity was sitting right behind his back. The final touch, and cat ears decorated the top of the picture.
"Are you done?" the artist asked, when his glitchy companion became completely quiet.
Annoyance was growing, despite the calm environment.
"I can hear that disgusting curiosity in your voice. And knowing that you won't drop it..." The destroyer sighed. "Here, look, a rainbow nuisance," he turned around, showing the doll.
The homemade soft toy completely captured his attention: Ink took hold of his cheeks, looking at the piece with awe.
"Great work! How long have you been knitting? How many dolls do you have? Can I take a look? Oh, can I, can I...?" A hail of various questions put the glitch in a real stupor. He watched in disbelief that his worst enemy, the only one able to fight with him on equal terms, was now behaving like a little child. Who even took him to be the defender of the universes?
"I don't have to answer you. And why would I?" he quipped. But the fact that his work was so highly appreciated still warmed his soul and made him treat everything a little softer.
"Oh, don't be shy!" his companion smiled, continuing to sway sitting in place.
Glitches eye twitched noticeably. He didn't know how to react to this, so he silently looked into the distance of space, trying to ignore this strange look in his direction.
"Aaaaw! Don't be so modest. Besides haptophobia, you don't need any other problems... or has the fear of friendly personalities begun to manifest itself as well?" Ink laughed and moved a little closer, adjusting his scarf.
"Fear of crazy personalities — yes!" Error wanted to move out of harm's way, but there was an abyss behind, so he didn't take his chances. He needed to get out of this universe away from Ink, but he didn't want to miss one important phenomenon of this world, after all, knitting was just for killing time. The first signs of an upcoming event have already appeared in the sky.
"So the fear of the crazy too? A walking variety of phobias indeed, what else don't I know about you yet?" The artist continued to smile.
It became completely uncomfortable. The smile of this creature didn't inspire confidence. Although Ink looked at him with interest, it seemed to the destroyer that that was clearly not the only motive.
"Rainbow, will you leave me alone or not? I'm not in the mood to fight right now, so go away while I'm nice. Or at least shut up and stop looking at me like that!" The lines of code began to rise again, threatening to deprive him of sight, so Error took a deep breath and tried to pull himself together.
Ink already wanted to say something in his defense, but then he saw a wave of glitches and fell silent after all, which was in no way easy. From a sitting position the artist lay down, staring at the starry sky, and began to understand why Error was here.
Meanwhile, thanking the higher powers for this divine silence, the glitch himself, putting on his glasses and dangling his legs, fixed his gaze into the abyss of space, from where thousands of wandering comets were already flying. Majestically cutting the space with bright twinkling tails, they, like precious gems, left behind a beautiful iridescence of light.
Ink silently watched this beauty, and although he really wanted to add a couple of colorful comments, he also didn't want to additionally bug Error. The guardian didn't expect that the other was interested in such phenomena.
Comets began to fly less frequently, the tails gradually dissolved into the twilight of distant planets. Error had already forgotten about the existence of Ink and, filled with inspiration, took out the knitting needles and hook again, starting a new doll.
"I understand you!" After a moment, the protector sang, breaking the silence. "It's a beautiful sight! Who are you making now?"
Error twitched again and ground his teeth. He didn't want to argue and shout at all, so he mentally gave up on everything.
"Something complicated... Argh, it doesn't matter."
"Something complicated… Like your feelings?" Ink tried to joke, but suddenly fell silent and frowned. He remembered his old drawing. Reaching out with a brush, he removed it from the surface of the asteroid. It's not good to destroy something, even if it's just a dusty picture, so Ink hurried up to fix it by starting another drawing. The starry sky is indeed inspiring.
"Or like your impudent face..." Error hissed softly, and then it dawned on him. Once upon a time, he had already tried to make a puppet of his enemy, but back then he didn't know his appearance well, and during the battle there was no time for contemplation. However now he had both the appropriate skill level, as well as the object of interest nearby to catch every detail. Adjusting his glasses, he set to work. The only thing remaining was to ensure that Ink doesn't interfere much.
The artist finished the work quickly. The picture was very simple: stars and planets against the background of the iridescence of the endless void. Ink inspected this drawing, thinking what else was missing, not noticing how he began tapping his palms on the ground with an uncomplicated melody that he had heard somewhere before…
Meanwhile, Error had already finished the shape of the head, marked the places for the eyes and proceeded to the body, deftly wielding a bone needle. It's convenient when magic allows you to make absolutely any tools. Having sewn on the little body pre-made limbs, more specifically torn off from another unsuccessful doll, Error started clothes. After a quick glance at Ink standing with his back to him, the destroyer noticed a T-shirt, an outer jacket, the name for which he didn't know, and several other items of clothing. Opening a small portal and taking the right color fabrics from his Anti-Void with threads, he sewed this strange jacket right on the puppet.
Feeling the gaze on his person, Ink turned around. The artist had long felt the aura of inspiration. But apart from the two of them, there was no one around. Interested in what his glitch companion was doing, Ink approached him as quietly as possible.
The destroyer tightened the knot and cut the thread with the tip of the bone. The puppet was already wearing shorts with suspenders, making it easy to identify its belonging to one famous person. Stretching a slightly glowing blue string through the needle eye, Error proceeded to stitch these strange lines onto the glove sleeves.
Ink really tried to hold back the storm of emotions, but a strangled happy squeak slipped through.
Error raised his head in perplexity: Ink was standing right behind him and saw everything perfectly. He felt uneasy from the wild awkwardness. Of course, he wasn't going to explain anything to the other, and also the artist behaved surprisingly quietly. It was strange, and it became impossible to ignore it anymore.
"Get away from me," the voice crackled like a telephone noise.
"Then you won't be able to make my costume. Waaai, Glitchy..." Ink obstinately tried to control himself. The doll turned out great, after all, the master endeavored his creation. The artist held out his hand, showing the glove that Error was working on, so that he could see all the details and stripes.
Rolling his eyes, he was about to say something sarcastic, but noticed that the pattern was really slightly different, so he just nodded and added another strip. A perfectly logical question popped up in his head:
"Why do you need so many clothes, Rainbow?"
"Umm…" Ink awkwardly adjusted his gloves, trying to come up with a plausible answer that would be hard to find fault with. "One day I got carried away, painted a lot of clothes... Erasing it now would be a waste, no? Heh heh."
Error looked at him like he was an idiot.
"Yeah, and it's so convenient to fight with me, carrying such a weight, right?"
"I can draw a pair of trousers and a hoodie for you too." Ink smiled widely again, forgetting about the silent rule. "We will be on equal terms! Hah. Or we can go back to the plan with the dress. Then I won't have to fight with the lady. It won't be right," the artist mentioned, accidentally remembering one of the stupid situations from the past.
With another loud sigh and a shake of his head, Error returned to work. At some point, he stamped upon a thought that the artist's proposal wasn't such a crazy idea. The destroyer had heard that Ink could make clothes that the characters liked, magically recognizing their tastes. After looking at the sleeves of his old and seen-better-days jacket, as well as estimating its age, the glitch came to the conclusion that he could try his luck.
"You know what... surprise me and maybe I'll even accept your clothes. But without dresses, or I'll wrap you in a cocoon!"
"In a cocoon?" the artist repeated in surprise. "Not the scariest thing I've experienced in my life and..." At that moment he noticed a very displeased look in his direction. "Okay, okay. Just kidding!"
Quickly jumping up from his seat, the artist walked around the future victim of creativity on one side, then on the other. After weighing all the pros and cons, Ink armed himself with a brush and ventured to put his concept into action. The costume, according to the artist's idea, should have pleased Error, because the outfit was in the same color scheme. Except for one detail... cat ears on the rim.
"It suits you very... well..." said Ink, trying not to laugh.
"So, what did you do?" Error stood up and examined himself. A rather stylish raincoat hung from him, shimmering blue with a gold frame. Fortunately, the artist left his favorite red sweater, which was now as good as new. There were strange patches on the sleeves, imitating his threads, but fortunately for the so-called fashion designer, the destroyer warmly appreciated this detail. But the scarf in his opinion was clearly superfluous. And as Error realized, judging by the expression on Ink's face, it looked ridiculous.
"Not bad, Shorty, you really surprised me. But this..." Glitch pointed to his neck. "Are you serious?"
"We'll talk about the 'Shorty' later, so you can start to sharpen your claws..." Chuckle. "And the scarf? Well, I thought this detail was just an aMEWzing idea..." Ink tried his best to keep a serious look, but it turned out worse than it could have been.
"Ink, your puns are even weirder than usual. Come on, admit it, what trick did you pull off?!.. Argh, it doesn't matter."
Error decided that messing with this little one was more trouble than it was worth, so he picked up the doll from the ground, of which only the eyes remained to be made, but which were problematic to make, because Ink's eyes were constantly changing. Having estimated in his head his most familiar appearance, which consisted in blue-ordinary and gold-star eyes, the glitch stole glitter stickers of the right size and color directly from the Mettaton hotel through the portal. Without much bothering with this, he simply glued them on top of the black eye sockets. Having once again lingered on his new outfit and weighed all the pros and cons, as well as noticing that the artist was about to leave somewhere, Error called out to him:
"Ink, wait," and while the enemy was slowly turning around, apparently expecting some kind of trick, he just threw him a ready puppet. "Here, you can have it as a keepsake, and I'll make another one."
Catching the doll in midair, the artist inspected the gift.
"Glitchy!!!" The artist jumped up, hugging the toy. "Thank you! Thank you!"
On a wave of gratitude, Ink almost hugged his good old enemy, but managed to stop just in time. Another more peaceful idea came to his head. Taking a soft version of himself by the paws, the artist let the toy hug its creator.
Error was horrified when the artist's claws reached out to him, and a whole mountain fell off his shoulders when he stopped. And when, instead of a personal hug, Ink touched him using the puppet, Error, to put it mildly, was surprised and delighted. It was weird, cute, and most importantly harmless! With a kind of childish and not at all vicious snort, he looked away, gathering his courage.
"Heh... okay, Rainbow... See you..." he opened a portal behind him and backed into the Anti-Void.
Ink continued to look at the departing Error in complete admiration. Huh, a cat walking by itself. Looking down again, he clutched the toy to his chest.
"See you later, glitchy tangle…"
The portal closed, leaving Error in a slight bewilderment and generally in a whole range of the strangest feelings. Noticing that he was still wearing his glasses, Error reached out to take them off, but his fingers bumped into something else. Amazed, he took off the headband with black cat ears in the color of his bones from his head. Frozen with the realization that this was why Ink had been smiling all this time, Error wanted to start getting angry and cursing everything... but he couldn't. The artist is an idiot, so there's no point in getting mad at him. And this rim… Pretty cute thing. Tossing it up and grabbing it with threads, he left the ears hanging among other memorabilia.
A good walk, you could say.