31 Shiptober Errorink Writing Challenge

1. Holding Hands

(i hav decided to write about what i draw for erink prompt thingies i found somewhere lmao
I obviously drew the terrible art up there so dont steal thank you)






Error paced the Anti-Void, rubbing his sweaty palms on his pants as he did so- how skeletons could even sweat remained a mystery to him.

He glanced at Ink who was still calmly sitting beside him.

Was he getting impatient?

Was he being annoying?

Did Ink just want to leave already?

He was taking way too much time wasn't he? Its just handholding, nothing big, and yet he couldn't even do that without freaking out!

"Error, seriously, its okay if you dont want to do it right now."

"B--t I do wan-nt to do i-t!"

He forced himself back in front of Ink, sitting as well.

He was painfully aware of how he was now bouncing his knees- too nervous to stay still.

"Error its okay, all you have to do is touch my hand. We've done it before, if you want we can just hold each others fingers again?"

Ink held out his hand, all but the pointer finger tucked as he offered just some simple finger touching.

"N-o, I wan-t to try han-d hold-in-g, ju-st... gi-ve me a min-ute."

"Alright."

Ink switched back to just holding out his hand.

"Take as long as you need."

Error tentatively reached his hand forward, trying to soothe the amount of shaking that was making his bones rattle.

His instinct was screaming to move away, the fear rising with each second that their hands drifted closer to each other.

In a sudden fit of extreme fear he drew away quickly, jumping to his feet in the same movement- he could see Ink had jumped just a little- and began pacing again.

He glanced at the other who he had left on the floor yet again.

Ink just gave him a reassuring smile.

Error still felt like he was annoying him.

Surely he was getting irritated by now?

All he was doing was getting a few inches from the very easy goal of handholding (though it was more like trying to faze through a tree; impossibly hard.) and then running from it.

He sat down again, covering his skull with his hands.

Error was starting to get disappointed with himself at this point.

He peeked through his fingers at the other.

"A-m I be-ing ann-oy-ing? Be hon-es-t."

He had too know.

He felt scared of the answer despite half feeling as if he was worrying over nothing.

Ink hadn't looked visually irritated at him constantly pacing.

But he doesn't know whats going on inside his head...

"No, your not being annoying Error. I know this is difficult for you, I dont mind staying here for as long as your sure you want to try this."

Ink offered his hand again.

"Try not to start pacing again, im not going to do anything sudden okay? You've gotta face your fears if were gonna do achieve anything, not trying to rush you though."

He watched the other give him a bit of a goofy smile, it made him feel just a bit less overwhelmed- he was starting to feel suffocated in the anxiety he was feeling just from this, and thinking he had been annoying the other with his nervous antics.

"Bu-t im sca-red..."

"If you cant face your fears do it scared."

He somehow doubted that Ink came up with that.

He listed too it anyway.

He knew Ink wasn't going to hurt him.

He believed him with 50% certainty he wouldn't do anything sudden- there was definitely a chance that the other would just puke all over him when he finally got his shit together.

He reached forward, a bit less tentatively before but still hesitant nontheless.

He paused just a few centimeters from Inks outstretched hand.

Giving the other another glance he saw the same reassuring smile from earlier.

Right, he can do this.

Even if he has a panic attack immediately after- actually lets not consider that very likely outcome.

He finally let his hand slip into the others, entwining their fingers., literally having to choke down the burning urge to get away, far away.

He blew out a long breath, not so effectively trying to fight the rising panic.

"Good job."

The words were soft, effortlessly identified as pride for the GLITCH managing to do this.

Error, too busy trying to stay in control as the fear bombarded him, did not respond.

He locked gazes with the other.

"Remember, you can let go at any time."

He snapped back to reality, for the moment anywho.

"-I-I kn-oow-w..."

He gave Inks hand a little bit of a squeeze.

So far mentally yelling at his arm too stop shaking like a leaf was inevitably failing.

Ink squeezed his back- he had done it so gently he almost didn't feel it.

Ink beamed at him.

He carried out a nervous smile- wanting to at least give him some sign he was enjoying this moment despite the fear boiling in his soul.

Truth be told he was enjoying it, he enjoyed being able to hold the others hand in his- to be able to feel him. Not just see, hear or (rarely, because skeletons didn't really have a particular scent) smell him, but f e e l him, something more real.

He rubbed his thumb against Inks palm, wanting desperately to portray his heartfelt emotions for Ink taking time out of his life to help him with this before he inevitably had to pull away. The friction between his thumb and Inks 'fingerless' gloves quickly giving him a little warmth.

He jerked his hand, intending to let go before his still conscious mind denied that need to escape the touch and told it to stay, he didn't want to let go.

He was half relieved and half upset when Ink let go instead- he wanted to keep touching him, he really did but instead he just couldn't because of his stupid fear.

"Error."

He glanced at the other, Error now rubbing his hand ferociously as if Ink had cooties and had contaminated him or something- it burned but he ignored it, subconsciously rubbing the 'burn' seemed to help enough.

Ink was looking at him very seriously.

"I thought we agreed to not forcing yourself to do this, the point of this is to ease you back into being familiar with touch, not giving you a stroke. If you need to let go, let go."

Error held a faint hint of concern at the image of Ink suddenly breaking off into Frozen music.

He opened his mouth to oppose their words.

"Uh! Uh! Uh! Shush! Just breathe right now okay, you held my hand and thats progress- thats the point of this remember, progress, not if you can do it or not, progressing enough to at least try."

He was given another sweet look from the other.

Ink really needed to stop being so good at melting his soul with a simple look.

Error didn't say anything (though he gave the other a doubtful glare to hide his secret adoration for the smiles given to him daily)- he instead focused back on soothing his now very wild breathing.

It helped when, with a simple glance asking a silent request and a moments confusion, Ink starting blabbing on about who knows what while he continued to soothe himself.

While he was glad Ink knew how to help him calm down, he was still upset that he couldn't even hold his hand for more than a few seconds.

"Error stop giving the floor a depressed look, it cant tell you to feel better so you should start giving me one instead."

"Har- ha-a-r, very fun-ny."

The other grinned from ear to ear, starting to talk nonestop again- which was what he needed at the moment, background noise helped.

What didn't help was when Ink started rambling on about when they would eventually progress enough in his 'touch therapy' that they'd be able to kiss, because its kind of hard to calm yourself from a near anxiety attack when one is choking on themselves, sending even more glares to who was now very visibly stifling laughter.

owo 1315 words :3