Anomalous - ErrorXReader

Chapter 2 - Error

[Sorry it took so long! I got distracted. By everything.]

  I woke up in a cold sweat. My chest was heaving, and I remained immobile, wheezing. I didn't know what the nightmare had been about, I only remembered the sensation of drowning.

  Finally, I caught my breath and sat up. My bedroom was dark, save for the dim light that came from my alarm clock. I checked it, and lo and behold, I had woken up at. Five O'clock in the morning. I sighed, knowing full well that I wasn't getting back to sleep anytime soon. 

  This wasn't the first time it had happened either. It had been getting more and more difficult for me to get a good night's sleep the last few weeks. I hadn't mentioned it to anyone though, because I didn't want them to worry.

  I got out of bed, making it only because I knew that I wouldn't do it at all if I put it off, whether I wanted to do it or not. Afterwards, I proceeded with my morning routine; shower, get dressed, etc. I had cold pizza for breakfast since I was feeling too lazy to put anything together. I hung around the house for a few hours, but eventually gave in to my restlessness and headed out.

  Sans and Papyrus had been going out of their way to keep me busy the last couple of days, so I hadn't been out near the cliffs since the embarrassing encounter had occurred. As such, I couldn't help but be a little nervous about running to that guy again.

  When his spot came into view, I couldn't help but be just a little bit relieved to see it empty. And maybe a bit disappointed, but we don't need to talk about that.

  I kept walking, but I hadn't gone twenty steps before I heard someone calling after me. I turned, and there he was, one hand slightly raised as if to reach out to me. He seemed to hesitate as I turned, and came to a stop where he was.

  I walked back toward him, leaving a few feet of space between us. I didn't want to make him uncomfortable. 

  "Hi."

  He shuffled his feet, looking everywhere but at me. "Hey," He mumbled. 

  There was a moment of silence.

  "Um--" he glanced at my face, then away again, and took a breath before meeting my eyes determinedly. "I'm Error." He held out his hand somewhat timidly, and I could see that he was trembling. I took his hand briefly, shook it once, then released it.

 "I'm (Y/N)," I said. "It's nice to meet you."

  When I released his hand, he shoved it deep into his pocket. 

  "So um, I'm not dead, so you didn't poison me. Which is nice." He coughed. "Um, the cocoa was nice."

  I smiled. "I'm glad."

  "I brought you this," he said, holding out a cup. "As a thank you, I guess." I took the cup from him. It was a disposable one like the one I brought him, and it had little paw prints on it. 

   It was cute.

  "It's not cocoa, but it's chocolaty. It's what I always get from this place I like." He smiled a bit. "I thought you might like it too."

  I took a sip. It was hot, but not too hot. And it was very chocolaty. I loved it.

  "It's lovely," I said. "Thank you."

  "Thank you," he replied," I didn't get the chance to before." 

  "Oh yeah," I laughed nervously.  "Sorry about that."

  He shrugged. "I don't blame you. That was awkward for the both of us."

  "Yeah." I paused. "I was a little nervous about running into you again, to be honest. Especially since I haven't been out here the last couple of days. My friends have been keeping me busy lately, so I haven't been able to make it out here in a bit."

  "Yeah," he replied. "That's probably because Outer caught me--" He cut himself off. "Um, never mind."

 A little sus, but whatever. He hangs around I guess. But who is Outer?

  "So um, what do you like to do for fun?"

  We ended up making small talk for a while, until Sans called, asking where I was. He sounded worried, so I decided to head back to the house. I offered to let Error come along, but he refused.

  "Your friends wouldn't like me hanging around," he said, "I'm not exactly popular around the block."

  "Well, if you say so," I replied. "Still, you should come over some time. You could show me that show you like." 

  He smiled at that. "Maybe," he said, "We'll see."

  With that, we said our goodbyes, and I headed home. I decided not to tell Sans about meeting Error. He gets protective of his friends sometimes, and if Error is that worried about my friends not wanting him around, then Sans probably doesn't like him.

  Frisk says he can be intimidating sometimes. I don't see it, but they've known him longer, and they seem to have a knack for figuring people out, so I trust their judgment.

  When Sans asked me what I had been up to, I just told him I was wandering like usual. He didn't seem to believe me, but he didn't press the issue. 

  The bros ended up keeping me busy for the rest of the day, and when I got home, I barely made it to the couch before passing out. It had been a long day, and Papyrus was hard to keep up with even with proper sleep.

  It was cold. 

  Someone was talking to me.

  I couldn't see their face.

  What were they saying?

  Pain.

  Nothing.

  . . . 

  . . . 

  Stars. Billions of stars…

  I gasped awake, completely rattled. Sitting up, I scrambled to pull together my dream, but it was already gone. 

  I checked the time. 11:30, nearly midnight. I sighed and got up to go to bed. I had to at least try to get some sleep. I wouldn't be able to make it through tomorrow if I didn't.