Hipno Meets Underswap Chapter 5
When they all arrive in Blue's house, Stretch immediately went to collapse on the couch, falling asleep soon after. Blue couldn't complain this time, he knows his brother is exhausted from today's events. Blue went to the kitchen to start making tacos, leaving Hipno with Nightmare. Hipno, although grateful that Nightmare helped him and the brothers, was still uneasy around Nightmare. He wasn't sure what to think about him. Sure, he helped him and Blue, but he doesn't look entirely friendly.
Nightmare sensed his emotions, and went to lean against the wall near the TV. He wanted to give Hipno some space between them, keeping his hands visible and his tentacles retracted. "It's alright, I won't hurt you. I understand that you are still wary of me, and that is completely fine." Hipno looks away for a bit, but is grateful that he understands. He looks back at Nightmare when he feels ready to at least talk to him.
"I... I want to say thank you. For, uh, helping Blue and Stretch. And me. I don't know how to repay you for that." Nightmare waves it off. "You don't have to repay me, I helped because I wanted to help. Besides, Blue is my... friend."
Hipno was confused by Nightmare's hesitation when he called Blue a friend. "Why did you hesitate? Are you not quite friends?" Nightmare shook his head. "No, we are, I'm just not used to admitting it aloud. Especially around someone I don't know. But I'm willing to swallow my pride this once. Anyway, I suppose I should introduce myself properly. I am Nightmare, guardian of negativity and King of Nightmares." He said the last bit in a formal way, extending his hand out for a handshake.
Hipno hesitantly shook his hand, and was surprised how lightly Nightmare held his hand, allowing him to retract his hand if he chose to. "I'm Hipno. Nothing really special about me." Blue called out from the kitchen, "You are special!" Hipno jumped, not expecting that. Nightmare couldn't hold back a chuckle, but called back to Blue, "You kinda startled him there." "Sorry!" Hipno called over, but in a quieter tone, "It's okay, just didn't expect it."
Soon, Blue came out with a tray of tacos, setting it down on the table near the TV. "Alright, tacos are ready." Hipno thanks Blue for the food and grabs one, and Nightmare takes one as well. "So, Nightmare, how is everything back at the manor?" Nightmare shrugs. "Same as usual, I suppose. Had to replace yet another table, though. And repair the kitchen."
"The others sure like roughhousing, huh?" Blue laughed a little. Hipno was confused, though, what's a manor? Who are the others Blue is talking about? He wasn't sure if he should ask, somewhat scared that Nightmare wouldn't like him interrupting their conversation. He decided he'd stay quiet unless he was talked to, figuring that it was the safest thing to do in this situation.
Nightmare noticed Hipno's confusion, but wasn't quite sure what he was confused about. "Hipno, if you want to say something, it's okay to speak. I'm not going to judge you for whatever you want to say." Hipno, startled out of his thoughts, took a minute to process what he said. "I-I, uh, don't know what a 'manor' is?" Hipno mentally slapped himself for stuttering as he asked that.
"A manor is basically a large house, originally used by Lords who ruled over some land. I use it as a base for me and four to five other people. Would you like to meet them? They may be rough, but they're nice when you get to know them. They won't hurt you, either, I promise."
Hipno thought it over, and looked over to Blue. Blue nodded, "It's true, they won't hurt you, especially since you're with me. Plus, you'd be Nightmare's guest, which means they'll behave. Er, mostly." Blue remembers when he first visited Nightmare's manor, they behaved, but they were prone to annoy each other. That usually led to playful roughhousing, which could lead to unintentionally dragging others into it.
Hipno made a decision, trusting Blue's judgment. "Yeah, I'll meet them. I trust Blue, and I'm willing to try trusting you. We can go soon, I just want to rest for a bit." Nightmare nodded, "Understandable, take your time, this was a rough day for you." Hipno let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, having been a little apprehensive of his response. Blue had decided to carefully maneuver his brother's body so that he wasn't taking up the whole couch, providing room for two more people to sit on. "Hipno, there's space on the couch for you to relax." "What about you?" I'll sit next to you, unless Nightmare wants to sit?"
Nightmare shook his head, "I'm good here." Blue nodded, and he sat down, followed by Hipno. Hipno found he was more tired than he realized, and soon enough, he fell asleep leaning on Blue's shoulder. Blue slightly blushed, which Nightmare noticed and gave a teasing smirk. Blue just stuck his tongue out at him. Nightmare let out a light laugh, not loud enough to wake Hipno up.
Hipno shifted a bit before opening his eyes, only to see Blue relaxing on the couch next to him. He was awake, quietly talking with Nightmare and Stretch, who woke up a little while ago. Hipno was embarrassed that he was basically sleeping on Blue. Blue noticed he was up and looked over. "Have a nice nap?" He nodded, "Sorry for sleeping on you." "It's okay, I'm not bothered by it."
Stretch chuckled, which brought Hipno's attention to him. "Are you alright? You were pretty exhausted from earlier." Stretch gave him a thumbs up, "yeah I'm good, still a bit tired, but that nap helped. how're you doing?" "I feel a bit better now, actually." He was telling the truth, the nap helped calm his Soul down from earlier. He also didn't have any nightmares, which he was surprised about, but thankful for.
"Do you feel ready to meet my group? We can always do this another day if you changed your mind." Nightmare wanted to make sure he wanted to meet them, instead of being only a decision made while in an emotionally vulnerable state.
Hipno took a minute to answer, but said "Yeah, I'm good to go." Nightmare nodded, and created a portal to the AU his hideout was located in. Blue and Hipno get up, but before they enter, Hipno looks back at Stretch, who hadn't moved. "You're not coming?" "nah, I'm just going to chill here." "Oh, ok."
They went through the portal, and they came out in front of the manor. Hipno was in awe of how big it was, he never saw a house this big before! "This place is huge!" Nightmare chuckled at Hipno's amazement. Blue smiled at his unrestrained excitement Hipno was showing, looking around and with a pretty big smile. Blue was glad that he was comfortable enough to let him be himself.
Nightmare guided them to the door, entering in first in case one of his gang was roughhousing with one or more of the rest of the others. Seeing the coast was clear, he waved them in. Hipno couldn't keep his excitement contained when he saw how amazingly decorated the place was. He may not be an expert in interior design, but he could tell that this place was greatly cared for. There were even paintings on the walls! As he kept looking at the decor, he bumped into someone, and would have fallen if the person hadn't caught him.
"Woah, there, shouldn't ya get to know me before fallin' for me?" Hipno looked up, and saw a skeleton who didn't have eyelights and had a strange substance dripping from his eyesockets. He also noticed the bright red target in front of his chest. "S-sorry." The skeleton merely chuckled, and released him after making sure he wasn't going to fall. "It's fine, just messing with ya. You must be the new guest Boss brought over. Name's Killer."
Hipno was concerned over his name, but still trusted that he wouldn't be hurt, Blue said as much. "I'm Hipno." "Nice ta meet you, Hipno. You looked like you were admiring the place." "I am, I've never seen a place so big before. Or as decorated as this!" "Heh, yeah, Nightmare likes keeping this place looking nice. C'mon, I'll introduce you to the others!" Killer didn't bother waiting for a reply before pretty much dragging Hipno through the manor, giving him a tour as he went to find Dust.
Nightmare and Blue followed, amused that Killer had immediately decided to 'kidnap' Hipno. Nightmare sensed that Hipno wasn't panicked about it, so didn't bother stopping Killer. Hipno was kinda distracted as he was led through the manor, looking at all the decor. Eventually, Killer found Dust, who was playing a card game with Cross. They looked up from the game when they heard Killer come in, and noticed the new person Killer dragged in.
Dust waved, while Cross jumped up to say hello. Hipno flinched slightly, but he calmed himself, just didn't expect the sudden movement when he wasn't paying full attention. Killer noticed, and slapped Cross across the back of his skull. "Hey, what was that for!" "You scared him with your sudden movement, you remember what Nightmare said, don't you?"
"No, no, it's fine, I wasn't paying attention, you don't need to fight." Hipno didn't want to be the cause of a fight. Dust came up to both of them, "Stop, you're upsetting him." They both felt bad about it, Cross looked over to Hipno, "Sorry, it wasn't my intention to have upset you." Killer joined in, apologizing for upsetting him with his actions as well. "I-it's fine, I wasn't paying attention, and I don't really like violence."
"Anyways, I think it's time we introduced ourselves. I'm Dust, the oreo over here is Cross." "Hey! I'm not an oreo!" "Then why do you look like one Crossy~." Crosstown his hands in the air and walked a bit away. Hipno looked concerned about him, but Killer just said, "He's alright, just a bit embarrassed. We're just teasing him." "Okay, then. Uh, what's an oreo?"
They looked at him, shocked. "How do you not know what an oreo is?" The question was asked by Dust, though Killer was about to ask that. "I've never had or seen one, how would I know what it is?" Cross is the one to answer him, "An oreo is a cookie. It has two parts of a cookie that sandwich a creme filling. It's pretty good. We don't have any right now, though." Hipno had a rough idea of what an oreo is now, so he thanked them.
Horror came in not too long after, letting everyone know that dinner's ready. Hipno couldn't help but stare at the hole in Horror's skull. When Horror noticed, he went over to him. Hipno noticed he was staring, and looked away. "Sorry, didn't realize I was staring." "It's fine, I probably look pretty scary with my skull the way it is. I'm fine, the wound is old and as healed as it's gonna get. And it don't hurt, either."
"Oh, okay. That's good. What kind of food did you make?" "I made some pasta, does that sound good to you?" Hipno nodded, feeling hungry. They all ate at the dinner table, talking amongst themselves, but mostly asking Hipno about his life. What brought him to Underswap, how he met Blue, those kinds of questions.
They were very sympathetic for his story, and promised they'd help him if he ever needed it. After they finished eating, and Horror made sure they ate every last bit on their plates, he won't tolerate anyone wasting food, they all decided to relax in the living room. Nightmare soon left the room to go check in on his "guests", only to find they somehow escaped. He was angry, but trusted that his gang made sure that they were properly secured, which left the only option: they somehow found a way out. He couldn't sense them in the universe, so he figured they had left the universe somehow. He didn't have to worry about them finding the base, he had Error hide the codes and coordinates to this universe long ago. He wasn't going to tell Blue or Hipno about this, at least, not yet. He'll let them relax, they had a rough day already. He returned to the living room to relax with the others.
Error showed up in the living room, startling Hipno, but he went back to relaxing shortly after when the others greeted him. They all talked, Error learned of Hipno's story, and they kinda all ended up in a cuddle pile. Except for Error, who made a hammock with his strings.
And here's the next chapter! Hipno gets to meet the rest of Nightmare's gang. Hope you enjoy this! Here you are, @iinkxerror. Also tagging @jann-the-bean and @yuriyuruandyuraart because they are the ones who inspire me to write.
Hipno belongs to @iinkxerror
Killer belongs to @rahafwabas
Dust belongs to @ask-dusttale
Horror belongs to @horrortalecomic
Nightmare belongs to @jokublog
Error belongs to @loverofpiggies
Underswap belongs to @popcornpr1nce
Cross belongs to @jakei95