No Strings- An ErrorInk Fic

Chapter 16- Fake Friends

Ink's POV

I don't know what's going on anymore.
Blue and Dream finally talked to me. But they looked very... suspicious. I had no clue what they were doing. They seemed ignorant whenever I tried to mention what's been happening this past week and a half. Their strange actions, Error's in focus.
"Look, Ink," Dream said, looking off. "We don't have any clue what's going on. We're not the ones to ask."
Blue was surprisingly quiet.
"Oh... okay..." I said slowly. I started to turn around and walk away.
"Ink, wait!"
I turned. Blue's face looked worried.
"We're sorry! I'm sorry we haven't been straight with you! Dream," he said, elbowing him slightly. "Doesn't know how to act."
He paused, walking up to me.
"I'm sorry we confused you. But we're just as confused as you are. We don't know why Error's ignoring you, and as much as we'd like to help, we feel like we know that if Fell can't find out what's going on," he paused, looking at Dream. "Then I doubt we could."
I nodded, but looked down. "I still wish we could though. I'm still really confused."
"I know." Blue said, patting me on the the shoulder. "We do too."
He thought for a second.
"Hey! Wanna go to lunch with us? I think it's warm enough today to sit outside!"
I shook my head. "As much as I'd love to, I've got to go to Mrs. Alphys to work on something for her." I smiled sympathetically. "Sorry."
His smile didn't budge. "That's okay! What about tomorrow?" He said with enthusiasm.
I laughed. "Tomorrow's Saturday, dummy!" We both just started to laugh endlessly.
"Still," Blue said after our fit of giggles. "Why don't we have lunch at Grillby's tomorrow?"
"The bakery?" I said, thinking about the googly eyed fire monster. "But isn't that place really expensive?"
"Meh," Blue said with a shrug. "It's good food at least."
"Okay then!" I said with a nod. "Grillby's it is!"
I waved as Dream suddenly pulled Blue around the corner mumbling something like, "I need to talk to you." I followed, listening from the corner.
I didn't hear everything, since they were whispering. But I heard the occasional sentence or phrase.
"But Dream-"
"Blue! What about the plan?"
"I remember..."
"Then you should remember Error wanted to..."
"We're going to have to tell him eventually!"
"He's going to want to tell him, not us."
"You know I hate keeping secrets!"
"Then keep your mouth shut."
"I don't like how this is playing out..."
"And?"
"...We're his only friends..."
"...He's going to ask us about this..."
"... It's better this way..."
"What are they talking about?" I thought out loud.
"Unfriending you."

"Excuse me?" I said, turning to my left to see a kid who looked like a combination of Fell and Blueberry.
"Don't you realize they're excluding you because they just want to get rid of you?" he said. "They're just faking it, and you just your proof right there."
I looked at him strangely. He stopped himself.
"Oh! Where are my manners? My name is Swapfell, pleasure to finally meet your acquaintance." He stuck his hand out his hand and I shook it, uncertain.
"What do you mean, faking it? What proof?" I asked.
"Why, the ignorant things your friends have been doing, of course! Are you saying you don't see it like I do?" he said, pointing in their direction as they continued to speak to each other. "Excluding you from conversations! Leaving you behind! Being extremely rude too, if I had to say so myself," he said, tapping his arm impatiently.
Realization started creeping on me. "Well... yes..." I said slowly. "But Blue just invited me to Grillby's! That was nice!"
"It was a distraction. And Dream, as you can see, is trying to talk him out of it right now," he said counter-argumentatively.
"And what about Fell?" I said, trying to hold on to the last piece of evidence that still seemed to prove him wrong. "He helped me out with this!"
"Just an act." Swapfell said a-matter-of-factly. "He wanted to hide the fact that Blue, Dream and Error hate you now. In fact, Error hasn't seemed to want to hide it at all."
And it hit me. The ignorance., the avoidance, then the sudden invite- it all seemed like an obvious act now that I thought about it.
I suddenly didn't feel too good.
And to make things worse, I saw Blue and Dream walk off without me. Like they just... forgot about me.
I shrank. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Swapfell patted me on the shoulder.
"I'm so sorry... fake friends are the worst to deal with, especially after keeping that act up for so long."
But... why?
Why would they do this?
"Don't worry," I heard Swapfell coo. "I'll be your real best friend." He paused.
"Would you like to go to lunch with me? We can talk about it."
But I couldn't take it. "S-sorry... I'm suddenly not feeling too well." I said in a choked voice. "I have to be somewhere anyways, so..."
"Oh," he said, his voice dropping an octave lower. "Oh well. See you later, Ink."
I didn't reply. Instead, I ran into the bathroom and locked myself in the farthest stall.
I didn't eat.
I didn't even leave.
I just sat there and cried.

Error's POV

This plan is absolute bullshit.
I still can't believe I was able to get Blue and Dream to agree to this shitty plan in the first place.
Even now I'm starting to see how dumb it was.
But the thing is, it's not working anyways. I haven't seen Ink since this morning.
...
That's making me kinda worried. Both Ink and Dream don't know where he's gone either. The last time thy saw him was right before lunch. After that, he disappeared. We went to Mrs. Alphys, but she said that Ink didn't come to her class during lunch. Now he's missing, and we don't even have a single idea to where he might have gone.
Maybe he wasn't feeling well. Maybe he went home early.
Then why didn't he tell us, or at least Blue or Dream?
Maybe I'll go visit him after school, just to make sure he's okay. Because he's definitely not at school anymore.
Blue and Dream said they were just going to go home. They said they wanted to give us some time to ourselves. Probably to apologize.
But wouldn't they want to apologize too?

Do I really have to do everything myself?

What did I tell you?
ANGSTY BULLSHIT.
Don't tell me I didn't warn you, cuz I'll call bullshit on that too.
Why?
Fuck you, that's why.
My teachers are shit, so I'm in a shitty mood right now, so don't think I'm mad at you CUZ I'M NOT.

i'm sorry
;-;
-The Author