Of Soulmates and Bonds - Errorink

13. Late night conversations

Sans' bedroom was the most comforting sight the Royal Guard trainee had ever seen.

The group had managed to arrive to Snowdin without any more incidents, even though the journey was way more quieter than before: both him and Error had felt the absence of Ink's comments and carefree laughter, and the silence was honestly worrying for both of them, no matter what Error tried to say.

Ink may be oblivious, but Sans wasn't, and had noticed the glitch turning around to check on the Creator multiple times, and also trying to start a conversation to distract him; the result was a complete failure, as Ink offered only one-word answers and Error eventually grew frustrated and insulted the other, but the attempt was sweet nonetheless.

And Sans couldn't forget the face of both of them when they finally reached the town: Ink lit up and immediately went toward the sign to touch the Giftmas lights, while Error let out a fond sigh and a small smile, obviously happy to see Ink back to normal.

Sans had tried to stay focused, but was swept up by joy and relief at the sight of his hometown, and he cried a bit, then started laughing and dragging Ink around to show him everything: it had been about a week since everything (at least, he thought so, they had been in a lot of places where you couldn't tell time), and actually seeing his town, his house with his own eyes, took a weight off his shoulders he didn't know he had been feeling this whole time.

Error had let them run around a bit then, as gently as he could manage, reminded them they should rest before continuing their journey, so Sans brought them to his house.

It was exactly has he had left it that fateful morning before patrol, though not seeing Papy on the couch with his crossword when he entered made him deflate a bit. Still, he knew it was alright: Papy was just inside the Antivoid, and he had definitively managed to run into someone else by now, just like Sans did, and was waiting for them to solve the situation, so there was nothing to worry about.

Nothing at all.

Error had immediately claimed the couch to sleep on, and promptly laid back without leaving any space for them to sit, smirking at them. Sans was unable to stop his snicker at his face: his friend looked like a smug cat.
That prompted Ink to laugh along, and then Error started laughing too, and soon the three of them were hysterical, releasing all their tension and stress and fear.

They calmed down quickly, but they all felt a lot better. Sans then brought Ink inside his bedroom, so they could sleep too. They'd have to share the bed, but Sans didn't mind, and was pretty sure neither would Ink.

"Alrighty Ink! You can leave the satchel and Broomie by the door. Do you want one of my pajamas to sleep, or are you going to make your own?". After his panic attack, Ink had complained that the snow was "biting his feet", so Sans suggested he cover them to avoid feeling cold; the artist had conjured a brush out of nowhere, and used it to paint two slippers into existence (though they had gotten lost). Even if Sans had already seen him create stuff out of thin air, it was still a bit unsettling, but Sans supposed that it really shouldn't be: Ink was called the Creator for a reason.

"Sleep? What's that?" Ink's pupils became a yellow question mark and an orange spiral, and he looked down at his scarf, probably to check if he had any information about sleep.
"Well... Uh... Sleep is..." Having a friend that was also an all-powerful being was weird sometimes. "You just kinda, lay down and close your eyes."
"Nice!" Ink closed his eyes and Sans realized what he was about to do, catching him before Ink let himself fall on the ground. He knew Ink took things very literally, but the tiredness was getting to him.

"Am I sleeping yet?"
Sans sighed and righted him. "No. You should lay on a bed or something comfortable, and then do nothing. The whole point of sleeping is to relax and rest your brain. If you're able to talk then you're not sleeping yet."
Ink sat on his racecar bed, bouncing up and down.
"So you just close your eyes till you faint."
"Eh... pretty much?"
"So cool! I wanna faint too!"