Chapter 22: 90's Flix and Chill

The house, after everything was put inside, looked less like a house and more like a chaotic mess of two very, very different colors and styles clashing together... The soft, rainbowy pastel couch contrasted starkly with the bright blue carpet. The simple black TV stand clashed with the huge red box TV Fresh had found in the dump. The plain white wallpaper was decorated with crazy abstract art, pictures of furbies, and lots and lots of colorful streamers, as well as a surplus of Error's strings that had been hung from the ceiling. Even the bathroom was a mess, with a huge amount of colorful rubber ducks filling the tub, a surplus of children's shampoo, a bright red shower curtain, black wallpaper, some Pokémon stickers decorating the mirror, and even more blue strings hanging from the ceiling. Not to mention the worst part...a picture of Guy Fieri framed opposite of the toilet, staring with dead eyes directly at whoever was sitting there.

The mess was horrifying, an awful abundance of disaster at every turn. It looked almost as if the fashion police themselves would step out from nonexistence and arrest everyone inside. It was terrible, it was appalling, it was...

"Radical!!!" Fresh cheered as he dashed around the living room, looking at all the different furniture in awe. He looked as if he'd never been happier before as he bounced around from place to place, excited about every component of the house's design choices.

Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Chara, and even Blueberry watched his excitement with discomfort, seeing the mismatched room clearly for the mess that it was, but to their horror, Error just shrugged.

"It's a bit...crowded, and way too colorful, but...it's not that bad." He stated plainly.

The others looked over at him in shock, but a glimpse of his red, yellow, blue, and black outfit, his socks with slippers, and the worn red sweater and oversized jacket he was wearing reminded them all that he was just as much of a fashion disaster as Fresh was. Maybe even more so.

"Wow, you guys are perfect for each other." Papyrus remarked with a roll of his eyes as he leaned back against the colorfully decorated wall.

"Jealous?" Error responded with a smirk.

The younger brother looked around the horrendous room with a raised brow before looking back over at Error. "Uh...no. I'm good."

Before Error could say anything sarcastic in response, Fresh ran over and tackled him to the floor, hugging him tightly. "Yo, dude, this is rad as all heck!!!!"

Error blushed bright blue and hugged him back, chuckling a bit. "Yeah, it's...definitely something. I'm glad you like it."

"Heck yeah it is!!! This place is bodacious!" Fresh got up from the ground and turned to the rest of the people in the room, bouncing up and down in joy. "Yo, dudes we should have a movie night tonight to celebrate this rockin pad! I'll pop some popcorn, order some pizza, and we can chillax on the couch with some fresh 90's flix! I got Home Alone, Titanic, Jumanji, Aladdin, Pulp Fiction, A Goofy Movie, The Lion King-"

"Do you seriously only have 90's movies?" Error asked, glaring at Fresh as he got to his feet as well. He knew the parasite was obsessed with the time period, but...seriously. "We could watch the new IT movie. There's a clown in it so I'm sure you'll relate. Or like, we could maybe watch anything else? Anything instead of 90's movies? I've got some episodes of Undernovella recorded."

"Nah" Fresh responded, still grinning wide.

Error stared at him for a long time, his eyes narrowed in irritation, but then Chara spoke up.

"I haven't seen The Lion King in a while." They remarked cheerfully. "I'd be fine with that."

Papyrus looked over in surprise at the small child, not expecting that at all. "I didn't know you were a Disney fan."

"The hyenas are cool." The green-sweatered human explained with a small shrug. "Plus I like stories with themes of found family and taking back what's yours, with murder and betrayal added in for extra drama!" Their red eyes glinted mischievously at that last part and Papyrus rolled his eyes at their enthusiasm.

Blueberry however, looked absolutely ecstatic. "I'd love to watch the Lion King as well!" The small, hyper skeleton expressed, looking almost as excited as Fresh for the prospect of a movie night. "I know all the words to most of the songs, and so does Alphys!"

"You bet I do!!!" The yellow dinosaur monster proclaimed loudly.

"I-I'm fine with that as well." Undyne added. "It's not the type of animation I usually watch, but...D-Disney's pretty cool."

With that, everyone looked over to Papyrus and an expectant silence overtook the room. It seemed as if everything had stopped as they waited for the other's answer. The silence felt like it lasted a millennium, a century passed with no answer, and all eyes were on Papyrus as they waited for his decree. The fate of movie night hung in the balance, and he was the only one that could bring their decision the justice it deserved.

The orange-sweatered skeleton shrugged. "Yeah, sure, okay."

Error started to protest, but Fresh put an arm around him with a grin, pulling him close. "Looks like you're outnumbered, my dude." He stated cheerfully, booping Error on the noise.

Error crossed his arms across his chest, looking fairly irritated with this outcome. "Uggggghh, fine... We'll watch the freaking Lion King." The glitchy skeleton grumbled.

And thus, the cheers from the newly-moved-into house were heard across all of Snowdin as Fresh put the DVD in and the legendary movie night began.

Several hours later, they had already gone through The Lion King, Aladdin, and a Goofy Movie, and they were having a blast. The Disney movies had included a sloppy sing-along of almost every song and an infinite number of corny jokes and puns were made during the night (much to the irritation of Papyrus). Even Error was having fun by the end of it, chuckling at the comments made by everyone and losing it at Fresh's ridiculously accurate impressions of the characters.

It was the most fun any of them had had in a while, but as the hours passed, it became later and later into the night and Chara (despite their murderous tendencies) was still very much a kid. So after A Goofy Movie ended, Blueberry and Paps said their goodbyes and left, the orange skeleton carrying the sleepy child on his shoulder as they walked home in a display that was probably the cutest thing they had ever seen. Alphys and Undyne left a little while after that, not wanting to stay up too late with work early in the morning, and with that, Fresh and Error were alone in the crowded house, still cycling through their stack of movies.

Titanic was playing now, which was a stark contrast to the colorful animation and childish demeanor of the previous movies, and the serious tone led to a few tearful moments with Fresh (who even after a few months was still getting used to emotions). Luckily, a few more cheesy puns were able to lighten the mood, and the movie watch continued without too many emotional outbursts.

The two were cuddled close on the couch now, a blanket wrapped around them and their arms wrapped around each other as the light of the TV illuminated the darkened room. The scene playing now was a dance scene between the characters, upbeat and happy and beautifully romantic in a way that a tragedy didn't have to right to be. It was ridiculous how in love they were, so ridiculous that Error had to lean over to Fresh with an awful pun on his mind and a grin on his face.

"Y'know, I've got a sinking feeling about how this movie's gonna end." Error remarked, and Fresh tried to hold back his giggles as he shook his head.

"Bro, that's terrible. You shouldn't joke about all that shiz." The parasite said, just barely keeping a straight face.

Error sighed sadly, leaning back onto the comfortable couch. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I was just trying to..." He smiled suddenly, looking over at Fresh again. "...break the ice?"

The other burst into laughter at that, burying his face into Error's sweater in order to stifle his chuckles. "That's so unradical, my dude!! People died!"

"We've killed people before! I don't see the difference between making jokes during murder and making jokes during a horror movie. Other than the fact that these ones take time to...sink in." Error joked, causing Fresh to look over in confusion.

"Wait, Titanic isn't a horror movie."

"It's still pretty chilling though." Error pointed out with a smirk, and they both burst into laughter again.

Fresh took his glasses off, wiping them on his colorful jacket as his giggles died down. Then, a thoughtful look appeared on his face as he glanced over at Error with his bright purple eyes. "You know, we haven't actually...y'know...done any murder for a while, bro." He mused.

The glitch frowned, thinking back on the past few months, and realized with a start that Fresh was right. "Huh...I didn't realize... Ever since we settled down together in the anti-void, we haven't done anything other than sight-seeing and stealing from IKEA's, have we? You haven't even changed your host in a while..."

Fresh winced a bit at the reminder of his true nature and settled back against Error's side, cuddling closer next to him. In the dim light of the TV, Error could see the familiar yellow eye of the parasite's true form slither into view, gazing at Error with a look resembling regret from the eye socket of his host. "Well, it ain't exactly easy listenin' to the screams of people in pain once you actually feel bad for 'em... I've been slowin' down a bit on devouring any funky fresh souls since I got all that emotion shiz. It ain't like I'm starvin' myself or anything though, broski. It's just slow enough that the dude doesn't feel anythin' and it won't kill 'im for a while. You dig?"

"Huh, I didn't realize you could do that." Error responded, more than a bit surprised by that revelation. He supposed it made sense though. Before, Fresh had changed hosts recklessly, leaving their bodies as dust after only a few days, but...it never seemed as if he needed to. The parasite was never weak when he switched bodies, and there had been times when he'd stayed put for a few weeks, just because he liked a particular host. Not to mention the fact that he purposefully didn't kill Ink after his joyride in that body. He definitely seemed to have more control than he let on.

Fresh confirmed his thoughts with a nod and a smile, the yellow eye hidden deep in the shadows of his eyesocket glimmering with amusement. "I don't reveal my secrets that easily, brotato. Better for the prey to underestimate the predator, makes it easier to survive, y'know?" With that, the parasite slithered back out of sight and, in its place, those beautiful purple eyes returned once again.

Seeing those eyes reappear, Error was hit by the sudden realization of how much he actually loved Fresh, true form and all. There was a time when he found those eyes terrifying, when he found Fresh himself terrifying, but now the thought of the 90's obsessed dork made his soul shine with happiness. "Well, as long as you aren't hurting yourself or anything." Error responded reluctantly.

Fresh laughed, grinning wide as he put his glasses back onto his face. "Dawg, you don't have to sweat about any of that bogus doink. I know not to push myself." He replied cheerfully. But after a few moments, he looked over at the former universe destroyer with a concerned frown. "You're alright without any murder stuff though, right?"

Error hesitated, the question catching him more than a little bit off guard. Years and years of his life were dedicated to wiping out lives. The destruction that followed his wake through worlds was so much a part of him that it was hard to imagine a world without it. He thought about the feeling of walking through piles of dust mixed into pure white snow, of feeling warm blood splatter on his face. He thought about laughing maniacally as those filthy glitches screamed and writhed in his strings, collecting their souls before they even had a chance to shatter. He thought back on his destructive expeditions, and then of his years of loneliness in the anti-void, of voices whispering awful things into his ears, of ruin and devastation and awful regret.

And he thought about Blueberry. Blueberry who showed him forgiveness and friendship despite his deeds, who introduced him to the love of his life and, after everything, welcomed him into his home without a second thought. He thought about Papyrus, who once hated him with every fiber of his being and now thought of him as a brother, who hadn't killed him even after every chance he had and now, gave him a second chance to make things right. He thought about Chara, the demonic child that he had sorta become the weird uncle to, who stole chocolate and threatened people with knives, but still smiled brightly when they thought no one was looking. He thought about Undyne and Alphys and Metatton and every other resident of Underswap that against all odds had shown him mercy.

  ...And then he thought about Fresh, who overcame his unfeeling parasitic nature, who accompanied him through hours of Mario Kart and held his hand through good times and bad, who was sitting beside him now as they watched dumb movies and laughed over stupid puns and was telling him that he was giving up his entire life, his purpose for existing, in order to stay with Error. And to his surprise, Error realized that he was willing to do the same.

He turned towards Fresh, smiling, and softly clinked his skull against the other's head, pulling him closer into his arms. "Yeah, I think I can live with that..."

And as Fresh smiled in return, a soft purple blush on his cheeks, he opened his mouth to ask something and was sorely interrupted by the sudden sound of a knock on the door, shattering the romantic atmosphere as well as the silence of the newly-moved-into house.

Extremely startled by the noise, Fresh almost fell off the couch and Error let out a rather girly yelp of surprise. After a few moments,when the shock had settled and the silence returned to the room, Error and Fresh shared a confused glance before the glitchier skeleton shimmied out of the blanket cocoon he and Fresh were snuggled together in and cautiously approached the front door, not sure who it could be at this hour.

When the door was opened completely to reveal the figure on the other side, the mood immediately changed from uncertain confusion to fear, as five pitch black, glitching gaster blasters materialized around Error, a murderous fire lit in his narrowed yellow eyes. "What the fuck do you want?" The former universe destroyer growled, but his threatening voice was met only with a soft, unimpressed sigh from the outside.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, I know you're busy, but...I need to discuss a matter of urgent importance with you." In the white of the snow and the dark of the night, it was difficult to make out the figure in grayscale that stood in the doorway, a striped sweater the only thing breaking the monotony of the dull horizon. However, Error's eyes easily detected the figure of his bitter rival against the landscape, an enemy almost on the level of Ink himself.

Core Frisk opened their void-like hollow eyes and stared into Error's glowing sockets, their expression more grim than their usual blank canvas and, despite everything, Error felt an uneasiness settle into the pit of his stomach.

"It's important that you hear me out."

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