Love at first sight is so, so strange in my mind. People can't fall in love just by taking a look at someone's face and thinking "wow, they are cute". People don't even become friends like that, so why do people think they can fall in love just with that?
I believe love at first sight is a bunch of mushy romantic lies. It's the same cliché I've seen in countless bored nights in Underswap; girl sees boy, boy sees girl, BAM! Instant, undying passion. They would kill for each other!
No.
That's bullshit.
Or so I thought.
Me and Nightmare are buddies, if you could ever call our relationship remotely that. We were only on okay terms because he was a Crusher. We mutually hated Ink and his Guardian, Dream. I never met the skeleton, but from Nightmare's description of him, I don't think I would want to. He was just some annoyingly optimistic fuckhead.
I'm a Destroyer of Worlds. I'm obviously supposed to dislike Guardians and the Protector of Worlds by default.
...
I shook my head as the voices quieted down. My train of thought ended at that. I looked back down at the tangled mess of yarn and strings between my legs. I knew I probably should've paid attention when I wanted to make a doll, but I started to space off at the questions.
I sighed, retracting my strings. Well, Outertale Toriel was a bust.
I frowned, feeling much more down than usual. You just have to fuck up everything, Error, don't you? A voice in my head said.
I heard someone teleport behind me, and I replied to the skeleton, thinking it was Nightmare. "Hey, Nightmare, do you mind?"
"Nightmare? No, I'm not him."
I turned around, clearly annoyed, until I realized I came face-to-face with Dream. I nearly laughed at the sight. Here he was, Dream the Guardian, coming towards me in his full- loudly colored- regalia? Instead I glared at him.
I didn't think he would take that to heart.
A few times I had ran into him in a few other AUs, and he'd shudder and shy away. I was confused by this behavior, so much so that I had asked Ink how I could change that behavior.
"Maybe try to stop looking at him like you're ready to strike him down with strings and rip out his soul, Error?"
Thanks, Ink. Really appreciate that.
I just glared at him once. Once! And the other times I just merely watched him. It was strange, watching him skitter and squirm when he noticed me. Apparently my normal gazes turned out to look like I was ready to mass-murder everyone he loved.
...
I sighed at my thoughts. I was supposed to be enjoying the stars out tonight. I looked back up to see the clear twinkling stars. Why was I stewing on this? Then it happened. Dream had found my favorite star-gazing place. We didn't noticed each other, so it came to a surprise when he accidentally kicked my spine. I yelped and stood up, while Dream skittered away.
"What the hell, Dream?!" I rubbed my vertebrae hoping it would help with the pain.
"I didn't mean to do that! I'm sorry!" Dream looked on the verge of tears.
"Sorry..? Why are you sorry?" My anger dissolved at the sight of him, shaking and tearing up.
"For disturbing your peacefulness..." Dream looked down, away from my gaze.
I absentmindedly tilted my head to the side in surprise. I sat back down on the grey grass, patting a spot next to me. "Sit."
Dream looked vaguely surprised at the action but decided not to question it, hesitantly walking over and sat down, turning his attention to the stars.
Time had passed before we spoke a word to each other. Dream was the one to break the silence. "Why do you hate me, Error?"
I was surprised at the question, and it took a while for me to build a reply. "I don't entirely hate you, Dream. I just... well, I don't actually think I ever hated you. Why do you ask?"
"You never talk to me and always look like you are going to kill me."
Told you.
"I'm not a talkative person and my gazes are often confused for glares. It's nothing personal, Dream. I don't hate you."
Dream smiled shyly and I didn't realize he was right beside me until he wrapped one of his arms around my waist. I tensed up from the physical contact but I allowed it. "Do you mind if we stay like this for a while?" Dream asked.
"No, I don't mind. I'll just be looking at the constellations."
Dream looked up at the stars. "Which constellation Is your favorite?"
"Probably Draco. Yours?"
"Ursa Minor."
"A classic," I mused, "Draco's a favorite of mine because I like serpents. Do you know where it is in the sky?"
"Er-" Dream suddenly said. He tried pointing in a direction but was sorely wrong. "S-sorry..."
"It's okay," I smiled and put my own arm around his neck as he rested his head on my shoulder. I looked up to the stars again and gazed on.
As it turned out, Dream is one of the biggest cuddling person I've ever met. Ever since that one night I let him cuddle with me while I stargazed, he'd come to be every time I was here and cuddle with me. I'd get questioning gazes from Ink when he was here but who cares? We enjoyed the silence between us. We didn't talk. We didn't know anything about each other's lives, but we shared peaceful moments together and no one could take that from us.
When Dream was sick of just laying his head on my shoulder, he got up and gazed at me. "Error?"
I tore my eyes from the stars to look at him. Our eyes met. Something inside me sparked and I believe I saw something spark inside him too. Dream lowered his head, licked his teerh, then looked ay me again. "I want to see the constellations but I can't quite figure out where they are. Can you help me with that?"
"Of course I can."
So I showed Dream where all the constellations were in the night sky. Dream turned out to be a good student. It brought an amused smile to my face when he whispered under his breath the names of the constellations as he watched the stars. He was dangerously adorable.
Nightmare and the others questioned us about our habit of looking at the stars together nowadays but I always hush them. I just liked the stars and so did Dream. That was all there was to it.
It wasn't until Dream was able to actually point out all the constellations one by another and voice out the names did I realize how attached we became to one another. Dream was on his knees, next to me and leaning over to see which stars I was looking at, blocking a good chunk of the view. I complained loudly, trying to push him over but he wouldn't budge so I poked one of his ribs. Dream squeaked and fell over when he tried to get away from the ticklish feeling. "Don't do that!"
I chuckled and pulled him closer again. "If you really wanna see what I'm seeing, then come sit on my lap instead of blocking my view."
Dream shrugged and placed himself quite inelegantly onto my lap. He snuggled closer and smirked. "I could get used to this."
"Me too", I heard myself say.
So no, I don't believe in love at first sight. You don't see someone walking and fall in love with them without knowing anything about their lives at all. I don't believe in that kind of love at first sight, but I did discover a different kind. Someone who's been there for a long time but you just never noticed him before. You've seen him every day. You've had mild conversations with him but you don't know anything about his life. You might share a moment with him, but when your eyes meet, the love sparks. Ever since that spark, I've felt different about our mutual stargazing. It was no longer a shared interest. We did it to be together and we made no secret of it anymore.
Not even when Dream clanked me on the teeth and I returned the kiss.
