Positively Crazy Part Six
TW: None
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As soon as Cross left, Error sighed in relief, shoulders slumping. Finch realized she must have been holding her breath. "Okay," she said softly, as if to herself. "Problem solved." She looked down at him. "Stay here, I'll be right back." And then off she went deeper into the basement, leaving him aching and alone at the bottom of the stairs.
Finch realized his opportunity almost immediately; Error was distracted for the moment, Cross and Nightmare were presumably out of the house. He could try the stairs again, and maybe even get out of the house. A tempting idea, and he started trying to get back up. If he could just get his good leg under him…
"Ah, ah, ah," Error's voice was sharp, but not unkind as she approached, holding a pair of crutches. "You're going to ruin your leg forever if you keep that up."
Staring intently at the crutches, Finch's brain went blank. He sat up a little straighter, his eyes widening. Error left the crutches on the floor beside him, stepping back as she tugged gloves out of her jacket pockets. "You're… going to let me go?"
"Upstairs," Error said, adjusting her gloves fully over her hands before helping him to his feet and setting him up on the crutches. "You're not going to get far if you try to run." As soon as he wasn't at immediate risk of falling again, Error withdrew her hands, rubbing them together quickly. Finch tried not to stare at the glitches racing over her fingertips.
As Finch adjusted his stance, he eyed the stairs again. Standing and walking was now far less painful, but he was still not looking forward to the clumsy ascent. Shooting him a look, Error stepped forward and held her hand up. Magic fizzed in the air, and a portal formed. Finch didn't recognize the wood-floored room, and looked at Error.
Error stood beside the portal, raising a brow. "Just upstairs. Figured this'd be easier than fighting the stairs."
"… Unless portals are very easy for you, that seems like a waste." Finch said slowly, frowning.
"Well, you standing there isn't making this take any less energy." Error said. When Finch looked over at her, he saw her hand shaking slightly, glitches racing up and down her arms. Her tone might have been flippant, but he could see that there was more than a grain of truth in her words. Taking a deep breath, he adjusted his grip on the crutches and walked through the portal. The movement was a great improvement over his unaided limping, even as he felt the faint buzz of magic across his skin.
The portal closed as soon as Error passed through behind him, and sure enough it popped out on what appeared to be the ground floor of a small, but cozy home. There were two armchairs and a couch, none of them matching in any way, but they did look very comfortable. Error didn't stop there though, walking through the living room to a kitchen that was almost completely barely-tolerable shade of beige. Without much choice, Finch followed.
"So we're probably on our own for an hour or two," Error said, pulling a bowl out of a cabinet as Finch eased himself onto a chair at the table. "And I figured we should try to get you and Cross on semi-decent terms, if you're going to stay."
Finch scoffed, leaning the crutches against the table carefully so he could grab them again if he needed them. "I'm not planning on staying."
"Well you aren't really in a state to leave," as she spoke, Error continued to open cupboards and pull out packages and containers of various things: flour, sugar, chocolate chips. "So until you are, I'd like to be able to sleep without worrying about my friend adding murder to her record."
Finch scowled deeply, eyes tracking her slowly across the room. "She already has."
Error's hands paused, and Finch tensed instinctively. Stillness from someone who's just been told something they probably don't want to hear is something he's learned can be benvolent or malicious. When she finally spoke, she didn't look at him. "More than she has, I meant." A pause. "And it was self-defense."
"Resisting arrest." Finch should have stopped. Picking fights over specifics when he was in Error's home with no proper way out was a stupid idea, but a stubborn part of him didn't want to let up. "Three officers dead from injuries in the last year."
"Not her fault." Error set down a can of cocoa powder a little harder than necessary. "They started shit when she wasn't even doing anything illegal, she defended herself. Shit goes wrong in fights. She left them breathing." A frown settled on her face. "Which is more than I can say for some people we knew that JR found."
Tilting his head, Finch studied Error closer; the way her movements were made in a fashion that kept her well away from his reach and avoided making her look at him. "If you associate with murderers, thieves, and corrupted entities."
A snort escaped Error as she propped her phone up against a bowl with a handful of bananas and oranges and started measuring out ingredients. "Corrupted entities, huh?"
"Yes." Finch said stiffly, crossing his arms. "Corrupted entities are a risk for the multiverse at large and must be dealt with, and the people who associate with them are always criminals or seduced into a life of crime."
Error's face twisted into a grimace, fingers tightening in the measuring cup. Finch shifted his weight, ready to dodge an attack.
When she spoke, her voice was cold. "Don't say shit like that. I'm not going to kick your ass for it because I know that'll just make Nightmare keep you here longer, but if you say that to Cross she will kill you."
Finch let out a frustrated huff. "Why did you even bring me here? Why not just dump me at the nearest hospital and call it a day?"
Error returned to measuring ingredients carefully. It didn't take an expert eye to see her hands shaking. "That'd be a question for Nightmare, not me. He didn't even text us first."
"Really?" Finch's brows raised before he could regain control and force a poker face.
"Not a damn word. Just waltzed in the door as if he wasn't carrying you like a sack of bloody potatoes!" Error slammed the bottle of vanilla extract onto the counter with enough force that Finch was surprised it didn't break in her hands. All the training JR gave him wasn't enough to mask his flinch. Error didn't seem to notice as she continued. "And of course Cross is at his throat about it, but she doesn't let him fucking explain, and by the time she's done bitching he barely says a word." She cracked an egg with a smidge too much force, then cursed under her breath as she picked eggshell bits from the heap of ingredients in the bowl. "I love them both to hell and back, but god it feels like I'm trying to fly a plane with half an engine just to get them to talk to each other."
Finch was pretty sure she wasn't talking to him anymore, but he wasn't sure he wanted to interrupt. He told himself that he was gathering intelligence for later, and definitely not intimidated. Definitely. In fact, he didn't move or say anything to her until she shoved the bowl and a spoon into his hands. "Here. Mix." Her voice was short, clipped. Finch found himself doing as he was told without a real thought behind it, unsure what would come if he didn't.
Silence rose between them for a few moments, with the only sound being the scrape of the spoon against the side of the bowl. Error's hands curled tightly against the edge of the table as she breathed in and out slowly, looking away from Finch. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "I didn't mean to blurt that out at you."
Finch shrugged, not looking up from the bowl. "It's fine." Once the mix looked decently combined, he pushed it towards her. "That good?"
She nodded, pulling the dough over and moving over to the oven. Setting up a tray and rolling the dough into little balls, silence once again fell over the two.
Finch broke it. "Do you really think that Cross will like me because of some cookies?"
"No, but it'll be worth trying." Error shut the oven and turned on a timer. "It definitely won't hurt." Turning around and meeting Finch's eyes, she added, "Want to watch some TV?"
A few short days ago Finch would have laughed, or stayed sullenly silent. Now, he shrugged and grabbed his crutches. "Why not."
Error led the way to the living room, letting Finch settle himself on the couch before grabbing the remote.
The first thing to come on was a news broadcast from JR.