Our Little Toys

CHAPTER 18

  Cross walked to Inks room, Ink’s lunch in hand. He sighed as he entered the room, hesitating with his hand on the door handle. Cross barged in, not bothering to knock on the door as he knew that he would gain no answer. He looked at the bed, not seeing the familiar lump of Ink laying on his bed. He looked around frantically, his body tense, trying to make sure Ink was actually in his room. He sighed in relief and his body relaxed when he saw Ink in front of his easel, trying to paint with his shaky hands. He placed the plate on the small table next to Ink and put his hands on his shoulders.

  Ink turned around, taking his headphones off and meeting Cross’ eyes. He leaned back into him and returned his gaze to the painting he was working on. It was a landscape, a field of colourful flowers surrounding a large apple tree. The tree’s roots were twisty and large, breaking through the ground.

  "It looks beautiful Ink." Cross said, marvelling at the half finished painting.

  "Thanks. It was Dream and my favourite place. I thought it might help me right now." Ink said.

  "Is it? You know, helping you?" Cross asked, Ink nodding a little in response.

  “I’m gonna take him here. When we find him, I’m gonna take him here. It’s been a while since we’ve been there, I miss it, I miss him.” Ink said, Cross hearing small sniffling coming from him.

  “It’s alright baby, we’ll get him back. I promise you, we will help him. It’s only been four days, we will find him, alright?”

  “Okay, I trust you.”

  “Hungry?”

  “Yeah, I am, you get me anything? Or should I order something?”

  Cross picked up the paint palette and replaced it with the plate of food. Ink smiled as he started to eat the fries and moved from the stool he was on to his bed. Cross walked with him and sat down next to him, putting his arm around Ink’s shoulders and pulling him into this tightly.

  “What do you think he’s doing… right now…” Ink asked quietly, barely over a whisper.

  “Hmm…” Cross hummed, “I don’t know. He’s smart, I think he’s trying to either find Error, or trying to get back to you.”

  “Trying to get back to me?” Ink asked, looking up at Cross.

  “We can't find him, I… I should probably tell you.”

  “Tell me what?”

  “We haven’t been able to find him. The general consensus is that he’s been kidnapped or ran away.”

  “O-oh…”

  “Don’t worry Ink, we will find him.”

  “Alright, yeah.” Ink said hesitantly, taking a bite of his burger. “Have you eaten anything yet?”

  “Yeah, I ate when I was driving home. Don’t worry about me.”

  Ink gave him a concerned look, but just went back to his food. He instead stared at the painting, trying to keep the image in his head of the field and tree.

  “I miss him.”

  “I know, me too.”

  “I want to help find him.”

  “He took his laptop with him so you can’t look at any of the camera footage. I’m not taking you with us when we search, you’d probably get lost or something. You’ve put up posters, filed a report and you’ve gone around trying to look for him. This is not your responsibility, it’s up to the police now. It’s not up to you. You have done everything you can Ink.”

  “I know, bu-”

  “No buts. You said you trust me. So trust me. Let me do this for him. For you.”

  Ink looked down, his guilt eating him alive despite the loving reassurance from his boyfriend. He just wanted to help. He didn’t want to be useless. He didn’t want Dream to get back and have to tell him that he didn't help. That he couldn’t help. No one liked feeling useless, especially not Ink. He couldn't deal with it. Yes, he said he would let Cross be the one to help him. But he wasn't going to just sit around and do nothing.

  He was determined to get him back. Fuck the legal system, it wasn't helping. Dream wasn't back yet so it was just bullshit, right? He'd find him on his own if he had to. But he wasn't going to be some useless little bitch who can't even protect his best friend.

  He may have no leads, nothing to start on. But he could start breaking into houses and looking for him. It wouldn't be the first time. Though he failed to remember that this time he didn't have Dream to protect him from legal trouble. He may have Cross, but he didn't really want to get yelled at if he gets caught.

  Though he wasn't exactly thinking about that. All he was thinking about was getting Dream home safe. For both Dream's and his mental states. He was just going to find his car, then he could work from there. That's all he needed to do. He was going to find him. Whether Cross liked the fact that he was doing it or not.

  He was his friend. He was the most important person in his life, and he was not going to turn his back on him. And in his mind not helping him was turning his back on him. He would rather die. He would rather be in Dream's situation than ever turn his back on him.

  Ink wasn't going to let this on to Cross. He was going to fix this. He wasn't going to get screamed at. He wasn't going to get guilted about how Cross couldn't lose him too. Ink wasn't some pussy who can't deal with his own issues. He wasn't a child anymore and he wasn't going to let anyone treat him like he was weak and useless like he was one.

  Ink was going to get him back, even if it fucking killed him.

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997 words
Have a good day/night and I hope you enjoyed :]