A Tiny Error

Chapter 18

Despite Nightmare's harsh tone, Dream beamed brightly and shook his twin's hand, earning a slight hiss of annoyance from Nightmare.

While all the commotion was going on outside, Error woke up with a yawn. The first night out of his cast and he felt quite well-rested. He stretched a bit, crawling out from under the blanket Ink had draped over them both last night. He padded over to Ink's face, and licked the sleeping creator's nose to wake him up. It worked, and Ink stretched as he opened his eyesockets. He took a deep breath, letting it out in a satisfied hum.

"Good morning, Error," he mumbled, gently stroking the pup's head. Error went up closer, and touched his wet, little nose to Ink's cheek. Ink laughed groggily, then sat up. "So, what should we have for breakfast?"

Error shrugged slightly, and Ink hummed in thought. He suddenly lit up, his eyelights turning to gold and green stars.
"I've got it! How does bacon and eggs sound?"

Error wagged his tail and tried to smile, and Ink took that as it sounded good to him, too. He stood up, bringing Error with him to the kitchen. He set the dog down on one of the stools, and Error hopped up onto the counter to see what Ink was doing. The creator hummed a familiar tune as he worked, bringing out the eggs and mixing them up. He sprinkled salt and pepper in, then poured the eggs in the pan. He took out a second pan for the bacon, and started frying it up. Soon, the bacon was sizzling nicely, and Error's stomach growled as the smell of bacon permeated the air. Ink set out two plates and spread the finished scrambled eggs onto them. Once the bacon was fully cooked, he put two strips on each plate, and slid one to Error. The pup sniffed the eggs, and took a bite. It tasted delicious, so he dug in for more. Ink had cleaned up the mess, and sat down across from Error.

"Do you like your breakfast, Error?"

He nodded vigorously, trying the bacon and taking little bites at a time. Ink laughed and dug into his own food, humming in delight from the flavour.
"Welp, I think I did this right!" he said cheerfully between bites.

Before they could finish their meal, a knock came from the front door. Ink paused, in the middle of taking a bite, and stood up slowly. Taking out his paintbrush, he approached the door. Stealing a glance at Error, he noted the pup was curling up into a terrified ball. Error no doubt thought it was Fresh at the door, and Ink couldn't help but agree. Dream hasn't been here in awhile, and Nightmare... eh, would he even be bothered to visit, even if he knew Error was here?

Ink readied some red paint, intent on protecting the pup in his charge.
"Who is it?!" he yelled, slightly annoyed that someone interrupted his time spent with Error.

"Uh, a friend, I guess?"

Ink's expression went from surprise to joy and amusement when he recognized Sci's voice. He opened the door, putting his paintbrush away.
"Hey, Sci! How's it goin'?"

"Uh, good, sorta," Sci said nervously. Ink was about to ask what he meant, but Sci stepped aside to reveal five other skeletons. Ink was astonished to see Dream and Nightmare within ten feet of each other without looking like they were gonna kill each other, and he expressed this to them. Dream laughed, and Nightmare snorted.

"Well, when ya have the damn destroyer in your house without wanting to kill him, I'd say you're a hypocrite for judging us for sort of making up," Nightmare said, a tone of arrogance putting a lilt in his voice. Ink noticed it, and shook his head in amusement.

"Me and Error were just eating breakfast. Would you guys like to come in?"

He led them inside the living room, and went to go get Error. The poor pup had jumped back onto the stool to hide under the countertop, burying his head in his paws. He was shaking in fear, voices in his head tormenting him as he cowered.