the protector

(Don't mind if i just-)

       ZERO  would  be  the  first  to  admit  that  he  himself  didn’t  have  much  of  a  heart.    he  was  far  from  compassionate  or  empathetic  in  many  &&  most  situations.    it  wasn’t  always  beyond  him,  but  it  often  just  didn’t  happen.    but  if  anyone  could  make  him  feel  anything,  it  was  usually  ink.    whatever  little  happiness  zero  ever  experienced  was  either  with  ink  or  when  he  was  doing  something  more  or  less  just    …    time  filling.    stealing  from  underfell  or  watching  undernovella  or  interfering  somewhere  he  probably  shouldn’t.

           ❛    i’m  sure  they  will.    they  all  love  you.    ❜

 or  if  he  was  with  ink,  almost  anything  with  him.    it  soothed  something  in  him.  

 OF  COURSE  ink  had  a  heart.    it  had  been  obvious  to  zero  from  the  moment  they  met,  whether  ink  believed  it  or  not  &&  he  knew  well  that  ink  didn’t.    ink  didn’t  have  a  soul,  not  really,  or  at  least  not  one  that  was  inside  of  him,  which  admittedly  was  something  to  discuss  in  terms  of  something  lacking.    even  zero  had  a  soul,  technically  speaking,  as  broken  &&  small  as  it  may  have  been.    but,  in  zero’s  opinion,  ink  had  all  the  rights  &&  claim  to  having  one  either  way.

           ❛  what?  of  course  you  do.    i’m  not  that  stupid,  you  know.    your  vials  may  fuel  your  heart,  but  if  you  didn’t  have  one,  there  wouldn’t  be  anything  to  change.  ❜

🖌 *･｡ﾟ  ✱             there  was  a  time  where  ink  might’ve  agreed  that  zero    (at  least  colloquially)    met  the  definition  of  heartless.    but  that  time  had  long  since  passed,    zero  wasn’t  the  most  empathetic  monster  in  the  multiverse,    but  that  didn’t  mean  he  didn’t  care.    sometimes  it  felt  to  ink  as  if  the  monster  cared  too  much,    about  too  many  things  to  react  in  a  way  that  met  the  traditional  expectations  of  either  empathy  or  logic.

perhaps  he  was  being  bias,    zero  certainly  was.

the  guardian  laughed,    the  kind  that  made  ink  well  up  in  his  ribs    &&    rattled  his  bones,       ❛❛  you’re   sweet,    but   I   think   you’re   projecting   a   little.  ❜❜

still,    his  hands  balled  the  error’s  scarf  up,    thumbing  over  the  familiar  fabric  to  fulfill  his  desire  to  touch  his  friend    &&    partner.    or  at  least,    to  placate  it  for  the  moment.    his  eyelights  lift  from  it  when  zero  speaks  again,    &&    he  frowns  thoughtfully,    snorting  out  half  a  laugh.

*so̴me̵ti͜m̢e͢s̀ ͞i̵ ̨j̀u̕s̶t͏ w̶a͢nna p̧ra҉nk so҉me҉ ơf t͠h҉e͞ s͜hi̷tt̵ier͏ au̡s,͏ ̀j͘us͘t̢ ̶g̕ŕa̧b̷ all͡ ͜t̶he͝ ҉f́uck̛i͜n͝'̛ t͞èmmie͟s̀ ͞f̡r͜o͢m eve͟r̶y҉ ųn͠iver̷se ̕an̕d ţhr͡ow̡i͜ng t͞h̛e͢m ͠in̷ u͝ǹder͠f͝e̡ll ͢wou͘ld͡ ҉b̧ȩ f̷uçk͠in’ ̡hil͠ar̵iou͘s͏

Today was a special day, there's a thousand different reasons why for everyone in the multiverse right now, but right now? There was only one for him. Ink, the first friendly face when he was barely aware of himself, his first friend as they both came into their own destiny's as guardians, his first love and with any luck? His last. 

He'd cast the boys out of the castle for the day, so he'd had it all to himself, his corruption had slithered into a fancier more princely outfit then his usual attempt to blend in with the sanses of the multiverse. He'd even put on his crown! He'd cooked, it nowhere near compared to Axe's work but it wasn't meant to be, in fact it was a rather odd display. After all he only knew recipes from his world so he'd made haddock fillets in sauce and rose pudding. Though he'd made ink's dish special, he knew the artists penchant for intense flavors so he'd taken the usual amount of spice recommended and upped it by. Well he's not exactly sure, he just went with his gut and hoped for the best, the rose pudding had gummy worms in it, topped with whip cream and he'd wrapped a few gifts in wrapping paper he'd taken the time to make himself (it took forever, goo and scissors didn't mix). Cut from various pieces of differently colored and textured paper and carefully taped together until he had enough to wrap the gifts, it was mostly art supplies he'd admit, a few new t-shirts (Mostly white like ink always wore but he had chanced getting him one tie-dye patterned one, it was rainbows okay!) And some paints made by some famous human artists that if he remembered correctly had a funny story behind them as to why they were created. 

All things he'd hoped ink would like, now it was just summoning him here. So he took to lightly tossing a glass of water on the ground and when the artists inevitably bubbled from it's otherwise impossible depths. He smiled at him.

"Happy birthday Mocha, I. Uhm, I understand if your busy, I just. In case you weren't, I thought you might like to celebrate it?"

🖌 *･｡ﾟ  ✱           to  ink;    today  was  just  another  day.    the  importance  of  holidays  was  ...    well,    for  lack  of  a  better  word,    geographic.    he  observed  the  holidays  of  the  aus  he  visited,    the  birth  of  their  characters  but  that  didn’t  generally  apply  to  him.    to  have  a  birthday,    he  assumed  ...    generally  meant  one  had  to  be  born.   

luckily,    he  wasn’t  doing  anything  of  major  importance.    he  was  still  cleaning  up  the  doodlesphere,    fresh  had  offered  to  take  the  worms  off  his  hands,    &&    thank  the  creators   because  there  were  a  lot  of  them,    when  he  received  nightmare’s  summons.    the  guardian  had  taken  to  asking  for  his  audience  more  casually  since  they’d  gotten  together    &&    it  made  ink  happy  in  a  way.    it  was  nice  to  be  called  for  something  other  than  help.

he  arrived  in  the  castle  with  every  intent  to  tease  his  partner  about  having  missed  him  already,    only  to  find  himself  dumbstruck  by  the  surprise.    his  mouth  shut,    the  artist  hiccupped  on  his  ink  as  his  skull  blushed,    rainbow  freckles  speckling  his  periosteum  like  paint  chips.

Oh star had been practically vibrating all day from the sheer amount of positive energy he was getting from all this planning, it wasn't quite a feedback loop (that was reserved for uh special occasions as he'd learned), but he couldn't help himself, ink deserved to be celebrated, sure they hadn't always gotten along. Mostly by fault of his own he'd come to realize since he'd gone off-script, since blue had become an error. 

But he'd been getting better at it, better at a lot of things his story would have never let him otherwise, so he'd take full advantage and he had, he'd gotten pretty much everyone from the Omega timeline in on it, decorating, working on a banner, gifts, food. It was basically the full nine yards, he nearly fell off the roof he'd been helping decorate in colorful birthday streamers as blue came into view, rapidly waving for star to get into place which meant only one thing, that ink was here! Which meant scrambling off of the roof and dipping to hide with blue. In fact everyone in the Omega timeline was hiding, behind various houses, shops, etc and it was only when ink came into the main square. 

Guided or better distracted by core though likely still wondering what was going on and where everyone was that they all jumped out with the ensuing pops of confetti, balloons and other festive merriments, star ensuring to practically tackle ink, knowing he'd catch him and if he didn't, well it'd be his own fault.

"Happy birthday ink!!! I hope you like it!, It was so hard to keep it a secret!"

🖌 *･｡ﾟ  ✱           you  might  think  that  to  try    &&    surprise  the  keeper  of  the  scripts  would  be  a  fool’s  errand,    but  ink  didn’t  always  recall  events  in  their  proper  order.    sometimes,    an  entire  au  would  vanish    &&    ink  wouldn’t  feel  it  until  later,    once  it  was  too  late.    he  certainly  didn’t  know  what  day  it  was.

the  last  couple  weeks  had  been  fairly  quiet,    though  not  really  enough  to  arouse  suspicion.    the  omniverse  had  its  seasons    &&    with  them  its  lulls,    so  ink  was  surprised  to  hear  from  core  of  all  people.    ink  didn’t  trust  the  child,    but  to  their  credit,    he  was  certain  the  feeling  was  mutual.    you  aren’t  as  long-lived  as  ink  without  making  some  ...    irreparable  errors.    &&    core,    in  spite  of  their  omniscience,    just  wanted  a  happy  ending.    ink  couldn’t  blame  them  for  that.

in  spite  of  their  differences,    there  was  an  unspoken  agreement  between  them.    if  one  called,    the  other  came.    so  here  the  birthday  boy  was,    ink  still  bubbling  on  his  clothes,    frenzied  until  ---    until  he  saw  core.    the  monochromatic  child  stood  serenely  with  hands  clasped  behind  their  back,    a  whimsical  smile  pulling  at  their  lips.

      ❛❛  is  ...    is   something   wrong?  ❜❜          skeptical  eyelights  shifted  to  question  marks,    he  glanced  around  ---    nothing  felt  out  of  place,    but  the  emptiness  of  the  omega  timeline  had  suddenly  dawned  on  him.    frisk  didn’t  give  him  an  explanation,    only  an  outstretched  hand    &&    a  request  to  follow  them,    so  he  did.

his  initial  apprehension  was  beginning  to  become  unease.    the  omega  timeline  wasn’t  supposed  to  be  so  quiet  --    where  was  everyone?    why  did  this  feel  familiar?    core  releasing  his  hand  would  have  sent  him  into  a  panic  if  not  for  what  immediately  followed.    streamers,    some  band  playing  some  slightly  off-key  orchestral  rendition  of  for  he’s  a  golly-good  fellow    &&    star  launching  himself  at  him.    he  caught  the  smaller  guardian,    using  his  momentum  to  to  swing  him  in  a  spin  before  squeezing  him  to  his  chest.

anyone ever: *breaks or takes broomie*

✱  @multiverse-of-souls  called   //   prompt   (accepting!)

answer  under  the  cut.