The ABC's of Mr. Erratum

Error's forgotten experience of Ink Comyet

As far as either of them were aware, the first time Error and Ink had met each other was when Ink first joined the school the age of twenty-one. There was no reason to expect this fact to be wrong, and so it continued to be the truth for the both of them.

Neither of them had thought they had met each other until they started to work at the same school. There was a fourteen year difference between the two of them, so they wouldn't've met at school, like Error and Reaper had. In fact, Ink was closer in age to Error's son than he was to Error himself. 

Despite the difference in age, the two got on well. They were both loud and well meaning in their own ways, and both of them being friends with Blue and Dream helped. Nightmare didn't particularly like Ink, but Nightmare never liked anyone who was friends with Dream anyway, so that point didn't matter all that much.

As far as Error and Ink were aware, They had met each other when Ink was twenty-one, and Error was thirty-five. This is not true. 

The first time they had met, Ink hadn't been older than eleven. 

Let's set the scene.

Error had just recently turned twenty-five. His son, Paperjam, was just shy of six by a few weeks. His fiancée, Paperjam's soon-to-be step-mum, was heavily pregnant with their son Gradient, who would be born in two months.

Ink, on the other hand, was eleven. And had no understanding of such things.

Ink had been eleven for almost a year. It was January, and the cold weather was at it's worst, something that Ink had to get through every year before they reached his birthday in April. Ink was familiar with the cold. And he was familiar with hunger. Something that Error's son, Paperjam, had never been familiar with beyond the usual for a loved child his age.

Ink had met Paperjam before he met Error.

Even at his young age, Ink had already learned that he preferred the outside to his own home. Despite the blistering cold, Ink found it preferable to the at best frightening silent house, or unsafe feeling his guardian made him feel at worse. 

Ink had learned to blend into a crowd. He was at the current age where, while someone might raise an eye-brow at him being alone, no one would go up and question him if he didn't bring attention to himself. 

It was one of the colder days of January, snow was fresh on the ground and the sun wasn't visible behind the grey clouds in the sky. School was already finished, and Ink was spending his time at a park that was considerably far away from his home. 

Not many people came to the park in winter, Ink had learned. In winter, Ink was much more likely to be able to distract himself from hunger pains and the cold air with swings and sand pits than he would in the summer. This was normal, to Ink at least. He had never known anything different.

Not many people came to the park in winter. No one but parents who were unable to say no to their children's best puppy dog eyes.

Paperjam was a wonderful child who had managed to wrap his dad and soon-to-be mum around his tiny little fingers. There wasn't much that they would say no to, not if it made Paperjam smile and was reasonable.

And to Error, a trip to the park in winter was reasonable. With the correct clothing, of course.

Unlike Ink, who had spent almost two hours to get there, Error and his family got there in fifteen minutes by car. The park had been untouched when Ink arrived, with no footprints in the snow, and every piece of equipment clear. When Paperjam and his parents arrived, an hour later, they were barely aware they weren't the only ones there.