#glitcheddeath

Somehow, this was even more awkward and uncomfortable than Reaper had thought it would be when he sent the ad out. Sure, living with another person you barely knew was going to be weird from the get go, he knew that coming into it, but… this crossed the threshold of weird and into supremely uncomfortable status.

See, he knew his roommate. Or, at least, the person his roommate used to be. Geno, good old Geno, with gnarly ass scars on his eye and always wearing the scarf his dead brother used to wear. He was a pretty metal guy, something Reaper could respect. He and Reaper had been going steady for a few months when it happened.

A car accident, that’s what he’d been told. Somebody hit Geno’s squat little smart car with a pickup and sent it flying. Reaper might have laughed if he wasn’t sitting in a hospital room chair, holding Geno’s hand and waiting for him to wake up.

Geno’s bones had been blackened by the fire that erupted from the burning car, his eyelights blurred and damaged from the smoke. He was almost unrecognizable, if Reaper hadn’t known every part of Geno intimately. And yet… when Geno woke up, he didn’t know who he was.

It’d been hard, watching his significant other devolve into tears and snatch his hand away, screaming for someone to come save him. Reaper had left, sneaking out with a shortcut back to the house he’d shared with his brother. The last he’d heard about Geno, when he finally let go of the hurt and asked, was that he was now going by Error and didn’t remember a bit of his old life.

Reaper had requested they not tell Error about him, and moved away. Anubis helped him move to a city that was hours away, far from the hurt and temptation that was trying to get his Geno back.

Of course, when he was still on his brother’s dime for paying the rent, things were fine. But Anubis had moved to an even farther away city, and while the two of them stayed in contact, Reaper understood completely when his brother stopped paying his rent. He made enough money with his side gigs that he’d have probably been fine, but it was always better to be safe than sorry, in his opinion.

He’d left the Want Ad for a roommate up for a few months, and in the end received only a single application. The handwritten letter for approval had been chickenscratch to read, but he’d gotten the gist. Rent was coming up, groceries were running low and his last job had been two weeks prior, so Reaper had picked up his phone, texted a quick “You’ve been picked to be my roommate.” to the number listed on the application, and waited for them to show up.

When Error showed up to his front door the next day, Reaper had been… very confused. He’d stuttered through his greeting, Error giving him a weird look as he explained that he’d been the one to send in the application.

Well. Since he didn’t really want to let Error know that they had a… history , together, Reaper’d had little choice but to accept. So Error moved in, and they’d studiously avoided each other ever since.

If Error remembered seeing him (being afraid of him) in the hospital, he never showed it, instead keeping to himself and always leaving his portion of the rent in an envelope on the kitchen counter when it came time to pay. Which, that suited Reaper just fine, since seeing what used to be his lover still ached deep in some untouchable part of his soul.

But of course, there were always pitfalls in the road. Such as, the weird moments where Error decided he wanted to be a part of Reaper’s life, whether Reaper wanted it or not.

Such as now.

“But no one else said they could go, right?” Error asked, a bit of a whine to his voice. Or at least to Reaper it sounded like a whine, but he could have been biased, after listening to Error try to harass him into letting him come with him to a death metal concert for the past hour and a half.

“You’re right. They did. So I figured I’d just go by myself, make a night of it.” Reaper said through slightly clenched teeth, packing his to go bag with a little more vehemence than the activity really called for.

There was a huff, Reaper’s eyelights headed for the ceiling as Error crossed his arms.

“I won’t be a bother! And you shouldn’t go alone, who knows what kind of people might be there!”

Reaper felt his entire body tense up, before he made himself relax. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to just let him come along?

In the end he agreed to let Error come, if only so he’d stop looking at him like a kicked puppy. Error had happily, or as happily as he got, packed his own bag and a bottle of water and the two of them had taken off.

Of course, he’d known the entire time it was a bad idea. There was no way Error would enjoy the loud, intense music and vocals, or the push and pull of the crowd that surrounded them. Error was an introvert at best, and a social shut in at worst. There was no way he’d be able to handle all those people screaming lyrics all at once.

He was proven right, unfortunately, when Error turned pale about an hour in and hurried for the nearest bathroom. Reaper dutifully followed him, an “I told you so” on the tip of his teeth before he saw that Error was squatted down, head between his legs. Damn fool was having a panic attack, and it was the old, nearly forgotten love he had for him that had Reaper moving forward, placing one hand on Error’s chest and pressing him up against his own.

Error was so out of it he complied, Reaper exaggerating his breaths to get Error to breathe in deeper, breathe out calmer. It’d worked with Geno, and it seemed to work with Error equally, until the blackened skeleton finally breathed easily on his own.

They sat there, in the cold bathroom for a while, the music making the walls tremble around them as they sat in silence.

“How did I know you?”

Reaper’s eyes blinked open, previously on the edge of dozing off. He certainly wasn’t now, Error blinking back at him with a near innocence in his gaze. Reaper knew better, and answered accordingly.

“When, exactly, are you talking about? Cause I’m almost positive I never met you before you moved in, y’know, and-”

Error slapped his arm, turning to get up in his face with uncharacteristic anger. “You know exactly what I’m talking about asshole. You knew exactly how to calm me down, so you knew me before, now tell me how I knew you!”

Reaper sat, mouth open, before he gently pushed Error away and off of him. “I’m not dealing with your bullshit. Find your way back home yourself.” And with that he took a shortcut to the nearest bar, fully intent on getting wasted.

~.~

Shortcutting back to the apartment, Reaper was ready for a long sleep and a hard morning, shuffling into the dark living room and hissing when the light was suddenly flipped on. He glanced up from under his fingers, only to find a near furious Error waiting for him, pajamas on and arms crossed.

“You are going to fucking explain to me what our relationship was, or I swear to the stars I’ll leave and never fucking look back.”

Reaper wanted to scream. He wanted to lash out, wanted to hurt the person that had, albeit unintentionally, hurt him. But he was so tired, so exhausted, he just wanted to sleep and forget this night had ever happened.

So he waved Error off, hiccuping as he jerked a thumb back to the door. “No one’s stoppin’ ya. Go ‘head.” It would hurt, his Geno leaving again, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t survived it the first time. It’d hurt like a motherfucker but he’d survive.

Error stared at him, gobsmacked, before the tears began to fall, his eyes scrunching shut as he wailed, “JUST TELL ME!”

“WE WERE SOULMATES, OKAY??” Reaper huffed, all the air knocked out of him as he stared down a shocked Error. “We were soulmates. Ya didn’ remember me. Tha’s all.”

Error’s mouth hung open, gaping as he tried to make sense of what Reaper said. Then, without another word, he turned and sped back down the hall to his room, the door slamming shut. Reaper winced at the loud sound, hand coming up to cradle his skull as he switched the light off and headed for the kitchen.

Ginger ale was a balm to his soul, easing the nausea enough that if he laid down, he’d likely not have to get back up again. Sipping at his little cup of the stuff, he shuffled down to his room, pausing outside of Error’s door just long enough to catch the sound of muffled sobs before he moved along, wincing.

He settled on the edge of his bed, sockets stinging as he sipped at his ginger ale until it was gone, setting the cup on the bedside table before laying down. He didn’t know how to fix things, doubted Error would want to live here any longer knowing what they were. If he were in the same situation, he wouldn’t have wanted to stay, that was for certain. Even if Error did stay after this, things would be even more awkward and uncomfortable than they’d already been.

Reaper turned on his side, hiccuping as he blinked away the tears. It didn’t matter how he felt. Not when his soulmate was in the other room sobbing because he didn’t remember him. Of course, since when had his own feelings mattered?

Eventually, he fell into a fitful sleep, barely covered with a ratty sheet as he finally let the tears fall.

~.~

It was the light that woke him up first, the pressure on his chest second. Reaper blinked at the light coming through his curtains, cursing his own laziness in not just buying black out curtains like Anubis had suggested. He only noticed the pressure after it shifted, a puff of displaced air hitting his chest as whatever it was moved.

He glanced over, and was shocked to find Error laying next to him, a large pillow and a thick blanket between them, blocking any actual physical contact. It was so familiarly Error that for a moment, Reaper was unsure what was wrong about the situation.

At least, until Error’s sockets suddenly popped open, his blurred eyelight constricting as he looked up at Reaper. He looked scared, shocked, and most of all guilty. Reaper wasn’t really sure what it was he had to feel guilty about, except maybe pushing him the night before, but...

After a long moment of awkward silence, Reaper opened his mouth to say something, some sort of deflection, but Error beat him to it.

“I just… I felt safer in here…” His voice cracked, his hands trembling as he gripped the blanket that covered him from chin to toe. It was one of the blankets Reaper remembered Geno favored.

Reaper’s eyes widened, Error blushing as he glanced away, before turning his back to him, clearly intent on hiding away even if he didn’t get out of bed.

Reaper studied him for a moment, taking in the tense shoulders and trembling hands, and gave a mental shrug. “Okay. Just wake me up when you want breakfast.”

With that he turned over himself, closing his eyes and giving Error plenty of room in case he wanted to get out of the bed. There was a brief movement, then what felt like Error settling in behind him once more, sighing.