Chapter Text
You stand up. You don't know quite where you are, other than a strange grey room. There's not much, only a panel of buttons, each with a different picture of a skeleton. One has a scar under his eye, one a splotch of paint on his cheek. Hmm. You guess you're supposed to pick some.
This one has yellow eyes and a golden band around his head. Seems nice. You click it and a dinging sound goes off, though nothing else. So you press another one.
That one, with the black bones and the crazy eyes and the "ERROR" floating around his head, he looks cool. Once you press it, you hear another sound, and the buttons retract into the panel. Guess you did it?
Suddenly, the wall in front of you slides up, slamming into the ceiling and startling you. You take deep breaths, calming yourself from the shock. Looking through what seems like a one-way mirror, you see a room, mostly empty, with only a couch in the middle.
From opposite sides of the room, two doors open, and a skeleton emerges from each.
From one side, in walks a skeleton with white bones and yellow eyes. He looks around, tugging anxiously at the sides of his cape.
From the other, a black skeleton enters, glitches floating around him. He looks like he wouldn't mind being somewhere else.
The first skeleton settles himself down on the couch, sitting slightly off-center. The other one also sits down - at the edge of the couch.
The first faces the second, smiling, and says, "Hi, Error. Nice to see you."
Error glances at him, then turns to face away again. "Hey. Sup, Dream?" His voice sounds cold, but there's a smile on his face.
Dream smiles, patting the top half of his legs, and swinging the bottom part back and forth. Eventually, it seems, sitting in silence gets boring.
"So, how ya been?" He asks.
"Oh, y'know, I've been good. Goin' around, destroying things. Havin' fun."
"Ah." He looks a bit disappointed, but only slightly.
"How about you?"
"Huh? Oh, I've been good. I mean," he chuckled, " I have to be don't I?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, well, uh, I mean - heh - what's the point in being happy if you're not happy yourself, right?" His smile was unnaturally wide.
Error's eyes glitch out for a moment. "Yeah." He says it in almost a whisper. Quietly, he thinks. It takes him a moment to realize that Dream has gone silent. He looks over at the other skeleton, who is staring at the floor, his hands folded in his lap.
Error moves a bit closer.
"Are you really okay?"
Dream is shocked. "What? Of course I am!" He both looks and sounds incredibly defensive.
"Dream..."
"I'm fine, wh-why would you dispute that? I'm fine, I -"
"DREAM!"
Startled, he moves back. He stares at Error. Tears begin to collect in his eye sockets. His breath can be heard. Quietly, he lets out,
"I've never been okay."
He starts to cry. Trying to wipe away the tears is useless, as more just come.
Error moves closer.
"Nothing's okay, okay!? Nothing good happens! That's why I'm here. I just- I - I'm trying to make everyone to smile! And how- how am I supposed to do that if I can't even g-get a smile on my own face?"
He buries his head in his knees and sobs.
Error moves closer still.
He takes a moment. Then, slowly, carefully, he begins to wrap his arms around his crying counterpart. He squeezes him.
It takes a while for Dream to calm down. It's only until after he does that he really notices Error's arms around him. He stares.
"You're hugging me."
His eye twitches. "I noticed." More glitches have been forming around him.
Dream smiles. "You can let go, now."
Error shoots away like a bullet. He tries to compose himself, and to wipe the tears from his clothes, though the latter doesn't work as well as he would like it to.
Dream chuckles. "Y-you shouldn't have to do that."
"No, you shouldn't have to deal with that."
They look at each other.
"You're always there for everyone. Even when they don't deserve it."
Dream stares.
"Someone ough to look out for you."
He smiles and wipes his face again. "It's my job."
"So? You've got the right to enjoy it."
...
"Hey, take it or leave it. But I'm always available."
He reaches out a hand. Dream looks at it, smiles, and takes it. "That's awfully kind of you."
"Only retuning the favor."
They stand up and walk out together.
You stare. Interesting, but you still don't know why or how you got here.
Until, suddenly, a door behind you swings open. "Good job, great pairing, can't wait to see what comes next," a fast-talking woman jotting notes on a clipboard comes rushing into the room saying.
You continue to stare. Slowly, you open your mouth, and say, "who are you?"
She points her pen at you. "Aren't you the new shipper we got to help pair people up?"
You shake your head.
She sighs, rolling her head to the sky, before shouting out the door. "Charles!? We got the wrong one again!"