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It was December.
Well, December Dreamtale-time, anyway, but that was the time inter-universal events followed, which could only mean one thing for Sanses and Sans-equivalents alike.
The annual Multiversal Christmas party was upon them.
Ah, yes, the single most chaotic event of the year. Also somehow the most looked forward-to - it even beat Halloween. This time, however, it was a bit different, because it was the first Christmas since the Multiversal Truce, and therefore, the first Christmas which would truly include everyone.
Not just the Council, but also Nightmare, his gang, and of course, Error.
Even though it had been months since the Truce, and everybody knew about the true nature of the “dark” Gods’ roles, that didn’t mean this gathering wouldn’t be awkward. Years of war doesn’t just undo itself. Regardless, nobody wanted the party to end poorly - in fact, many saw it as an opportunity to build trust between them and their ex-enemies. They’d even told Nightmare’s gang about their ugly sweater tradition, only for it to be revealed they did the same thing.
Well, Killer, Dust, Horror, and Cross, anyway - Nightmare had to be wrestled into one each year, and Error apparently “did his own thing”.
Nobody was quite sure what his “own thing” was, though they were all interested to find out, if a little apprehensive.
Eventually, after much planning, the date rolled around, and the annual celebration began. Tinsel lined the walls of the manor Ink had specifically made for this event, and the snack table was chock-full of sweets, pastries, and drinks. Bottles of wine and champagne were set out next few flavours of punch, though all the non-alcoholic beverages were immediately spiked upon Blue’s arrival, as usual. The party was in full-swing, with only Nightmare and his group yet to arrive.
Nobody really noticed their absence, since there were plenty of party-goers to interact with, and the Gang tended to keep to themselves for the most part. The only thing of significance with their presence was Killer bothering people and the occasional nod of acknowledgement at the snack table, so there wasn’t much missing. Fresh’s mere existence was enough chaos in and of itself. The only people who truly cared for their absence were Blue, who wanted any excuse to hang around with Error and increase the ex-Destroyer’s likability, and Dream, who wanted to finally spend a holiday with his brother.
“I suppose they’re just running behind?” He asked the swap Sans, who he had met back up with after doing another lap of the house.
Blue nodded in agreement. “They would’ve texted me if something serious happened.”
Dream smiled at him, though he still looked a little disappointed. His friend placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “They’ll turn up eventually. Killer would never miss an opportunity to be a public nuisance!”
That got a giggle out of the positive God. Encouraged, Blue gestured dramatically at the manor’s entrance. “You know what? I bet any moment they’ll come bursting through the front door!”
Indeed, only a second later, the door was loudly kicked open, revealing none other than the previously-dubbed “Bad Sanses”. Killer – whom it was apparent was the one to take a foot to the door - quickly rushed forwards, donning a red and grey sweater with the words “DIE HARD IS A CHRISTMAS MOVIE” written in a large, bloody font on the front. In one hand he (precariously) held two bottles of what looked like gin, and balanced on his other was a tub of donut-y things. A glance at the rest of the new arrivals showed that they were all also assisting in the deliverance of copious amounts of food, which was no doubt cooked by Horror.
“Where’s the snack table?” No greetings, no formalities, just straight to the point. Typical Killer. Blue nodded his head to the left, in the direction of the desired table, and the knife-wielding maniac dashed off. Somewhere in the other direction somebody must have inquired about the loud “bang!” of the door being kicked open, because Lust poked his head into the entrance to check, yelling back that “Nightmare’s lot had arrived”.
That would explain it.
Horror – whose sweater was blocked by the substantial number of containers he was carrying – and Cross, who wore a fittingly-coloured sweater with “MERRY X-MAS” written on it, followed Killer towards where they could finally let their arms rest. As usual, Dust – sporting the pun “DUST THE HALLS” - was on his phone, lingering behind the negative God like a teenager waiting for their parent to move so he they could follow. Well, he was going to have to wait, because Dream and his brother had a lot of catching up to do.
“Brother! I’m just so glad you made it- I was almost afraid you wouldn’t come!” He wrapped Nightmare in a tight hug, who froze, still not used to positive contact with his twin. Dream gave him a squeeze before pulling back, reading the words on his chest: “BAH HUMBUG”.
The literary reference made him smile just a bit wider.
“Yes, hello to you too, Dream.” Nightmare already looked exhausted, likely from the cheery atmosphere. The shorter twin’s grin shifted into something more sympathetic. “How have you been?”
“Oh! I’ve been well, everybody’s mostly sitting around and having a good time. No incidents so far!” The positive God joked, “Something will happen eventually, though. There’s always something.”
“Oh, yes.” He got a chuckle out of his brother! Knowing the children-in-adult-clothing Nightmare surrounded himself with, Dream was willing to bet he understood the sentiment quite well.
Out of things to currently say, Dream reached for the container in his twin’s hands. “Well, brother, how about I take this food over to the snack table so you and Error can-“ He looked over at the ex-Destroyer, who was innocently chatting with Blue, only to freeze when he saw what he was wearing, “…find somewhere to sit.”
“That would be helpful, thank you.” Nightmare nodded, seeming rather amused by Dream’s shock. A tentacle reached over to the glitch, curling around the container in his hands in order to give it to Dream. Dust wordlessly held out his box of food to be picked up as well, not once looking up from his phone. Still flabbergasted, the positive God took the containers from his brother, telling him that he would come and find them, before walking off to the snack table.
A sexy Santa costume. Error was wearing a god-damn sexy Santa costume.
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Nightmare, Error, Dust, and Blue walked through the manor, scoping out possible places they could sit. They received a few greetings, as well as some odd looks, the reason of which the ex-Destroyer seemed to be entirely oblivious. The negative God remained silently entertained by the other Sanses’ shock, and eventually, they found a corner to set up in. There were a couple couches and an armchair (which Nightmare was quick to claim), as well as a glass coffee table, which held a small, fake pine tree, and a smaller, decorative silver reindeer.
It didn’t take long for the rest of the Gang to find them and settle down on the couches, bringing with them some snacks and a few drinks. Cross was notably missing- apparently, Epic had dragged him off somewhere to do who-knows-what.
A pleasant atmosphere overtook their little corner, until Killer seemed to remember something. “Oh, yeah! Hey, Error?”
The ex-Destroyer looked over with a questioning beep.
“Guess what there was a whole lot of at the snack table~”
He blinked.
“Chocolate~”
Error’s eyelights dilated.
He looked to the side, in the rough direction of the snack table. There was a fizzle of glitches, and Error shot off, a few shocked exclamations being heard in the distance as the glitch almost ran into people in his mad dash.
Killer fell backwards laughing.
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“-long story short, he swears at me a whole lot – and I mean a whole lot, even for my universe’s standards - which does nothing for his argument because at this point everybody fucking hates this guy.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah. He ends up causing such a ruckus that Grillbz throws him out the fucking window.”
Classic whistled, not sure what to say.
“Anyway, yeah. That’s how me and my Grillby became friends – well, as close to “friends” as you can where I’m from.”
“I keep forgetting your universe isn’t just edgy, and that stuff like that’s normal there. It’s kinda insane.”
Fell snorted. “Yeah, guess so from an outside perspective. ‘m used to it, though. Doesn’t make it good, but I’m used to it. It’s kinda funny, actually, realising just how short-tempered everyone in my AU is.”
Classic chuckled, and there was a brief silence, before he spoke up again: “D’ya wanna get some more food? I wanna try some of the stuff Horror brought.”
“Eh? Oh yeah, sure, why not.”
They started walking towards the snack table, only for a blur of red and black to come speeding past them, nearly causing a collision.
“HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU’RE FUCKING-”
The blur crashed into the snack table, pulling a yelp from poor Sci, who happened to be taking some food from it, and began aggressively shovelling anything even remotely chocolatey into its mouth. That already-bizarre occurrence wasn’t what made Fell falter, though, no – rather it was the realisation of who had just zoomed past them.
It was Error.
Ex-Destroyer of Universes.
God of Destruction.
…in a sexy Santa costume.
...
He was even wearing little black heels.
Fell and Classic shot each other utterly baffled looks as they processed the sight before them. The outfit looked well made, too! The fluff was nice and clean, looked incredibly soft, and the dress itself fit Error very well – it was apparent that the glitch had made it himself, especially knowing that he had a knack for textiles. There was also absolutely no way a mass-manufactured costume store would sell such high-quality pieces.
Classic looked over at Sci, who was wearing the same expression of bewilderment that he could only assume he himself was sporting. Geno, who was seated elsewhere in the room, cackled into his hand, trying to prevent blood from spraying everywhere while also unable to stop laughing at the others’ faces.
“What was that… crash…” Outer poked his head into the room, only to immediately assume the same flabbergasted expression, seeming completely unable to comprehend the situation occurring at the snack table. He locked eyes with Classic and Fell, mouthing “what the fuck?”, to which the two exaggeratedly shrugged, Fell thrusting one of his arms forwards to mime how Error had sprinted past them.
Throughout all of this, the glitch continued demolishing the chocolate.
Looking a bit concerned, Outer slowly approached the ex-Destroyer as if he was a wild animal, bending down to talk to him. “Uh… hey, buddy, maybe ease up a little-“ He reached forwards to take some of the chocolate out of Error’s reach, only for him to clutch as much as he could to his chest and hiss ferally at him, eyelights going from dilated to constricted scarily fast.
Startled, Outer backed up, hands raised in the air. He looked over at Sci, who still had not moved in his shock, and then back at Classic and Fell, who now looked even more disturbed. Without any words, the starry Sans left the room, now on the search for Nightmare’s Gang in order to inquire about the situation.
Classic looked over at Fell. “Welp, guess we know what his "own thing” is, now…”
Fell’s expression shifted into one of horror as he caught a glimpse of Error's tongues.
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It didn’t take too long for Outer to find who he was looking for, sitting in a cosy corner. The whole gang was there (minus Error, obviously), with the additions of Blue, Dream, and Epic. Nightmare noticed his approach and looked up from his book – A Christmas Carol, Outer read from the cover. The irony of the choice, considering the negative God’s sweater, briefly amused him, before he remembered why he was there, and who he was talking to.
“Hey, uh-“ The rest of the crowd looked at him. Outer coughed. “Error’s being weird…”
“Uh-huh… "weird" how?” Nightmare inquired.
“…he’s bent over the snack table, eating as much as he can. He hissed at me when I tried to stop him.”
Nightmare sighed exasperatedly, holding his face in his palm. Dust muttered something along the lines of “Toby Fox…”, and Killer simply laughed.
“Yeah, that’s normal, just let him wear himself out.” The maniac stopped laughing, now looking very serious. “Whatever you do, do not try take any chocolate away from him.”
Cross perked up suddenly: “There’s chocolate??”
Outer blinked. “Uh, yeah-“ He didn’t get to finish before the guardsman ran off, now unable to help but feel that he’d doubled the problem. Killer and Epic started cackling again, before jogging after their friend, Outer following.
When they arrived at the snack table, there were now two skeletons shovelling chocolate into their mouths, though Cross was at a clear disadvantage due to Error hoarding as much as he could, smacking away the other’s hands whenever they got too close to the food he'd claimed as “his”. Killer snorted and doubled over, unable to stop the fit of laughter the sight triggered in him. Epic also found it funny, because he started snickering as well.
Outer was simply back to being baffled.
They stood there for a moment longer, before Cross apparently managed to snag one of Error’s chocolates, because there was a static-y growl, and the two were suddenly still, staring at each other unwaveringly. They tucked their chins to their sternums and drew up their shoulders, still maintaining intense eye contact. The nonsensicality of the situation started to get to Outer – who exactly it was that was at the table, the apparent chocolate obsession, the almost animal-like behaviour, and to top it all off, the fact that Error was in a fucking sexy Santa costume.
The starry Sans locked eyes with Epic, and held back a laugh, shoulders trembling.
The growling at the table kicked up in intensity as the two starting tilting their heads at odd angles, and the group stopped giggling, now all wearing the confused-concerned expression that Outer was well-acquainted with. They looked between each other, before slowly backing away and leaving the room.
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Lust walked away from where he had been spectating a board game between Ink and Ccino, looking for something to eat. Word had spread through the party that Error was “being weird” around the snack table, the specifics changing as time went on. From what he had heard, the ex-Destroyer had gone into some kind of frenzy over the chocolate, was hogging as much as he could, and was generally acting, well, weird. Lust hadn’t gone to the snack table since before Error had turned up and started “being weird”, so he had no idea what he was in for when he entered the room.
He walked through the doorway, and…
...couldn’t see Error.
The table was an absolute mess, though. Plus, Cross was passed-out on a beanbag in the corner.
Confused (and a little disappointed, if he was being honest), Lust wandered up to the table, looking for anything that was both salvageable and appealing to him. As he pondered his options, he noticed a strange, humming sound, which was definitely louder at the table than it had been at the door. It was rumbly, monotonous, and he could swear that it almost sounded like purring.
Eyes squinted in suspicion, Lust lifted up the tablecloth’s overhang, and sure enough, there was Error. He was curled up in a ball on the floor with fuzzy, dilated eyelights, absent-mindedly chewing on a bar of chocolate, drooling all over it in the process.
And he was wearing a sexy Santa costume.
Lust now understood what was meant by “being weird”.
“Hey bud, you doing okay?” He asked, not entirely sure what to say. Error’s eyelights slowly shifted towards him, remaining very unfocused, and he babbled incoherently around the chocolate in his mouth, still purring.
Lust nodded as if he understood, took a donut off the table, and left.