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Nightmare and Ink's Little Castle of Terror

Summary:

As everyone soon found out, no one should EVER have let Nightmare and Ink become friends. And they absolutely have not let the pair become something more than friends. But they didn't prevent it, and now they're paying the price.
Ink and Nightmare, meanwhile, are having the time of their lives.

(So, this was meant to be made for GallifreyanChild's birthday, but life got in the way and this is really late. It's too late to be a birthday present, but it's still for you, GallifreyanChild!)

Notes:

I have a bit of an important announcement. I now have a tumblr blog dedicated to my writing. It is called E_Bel Writes, or ebelwrites if you're trying to search in an address bar. I will still post all of my writings here as well as there, but I can now take prompts and interact with you guys a bit more. So if you have a ship you want to see written, a prompt you want answered, ship and pairing opinions, some headcanon talk, or even just to say hi, jump into my ask box. I'm eager to see what you guys have to say!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

The sound of their hurried footsteps echoed off the walls, their giggles and snickers masked first by the screams of panic, then by the cries of rage. Hands clasped tightly, though it was unclear as to who was pulling who, as they ran through the hallways, getting further and further from the sound of their success. There was another brief shriek of fear, an encore, and it caused an entirely new wave of snickers to wash over them as they ran. They had to hurry, though; their victim wouldn't be frozen in place forever.

"Come on," Ink whisper-yelled, tugging Nightmare by the hand to his side as they ran. "Faster, faster. They're gonna catch up."

"You're the reason we have to run at all," Nightmare grumbled, but his face was splitting into a grin. "What happened to watching silently?"

"Bah," Ink waved it away with his free hand, dragging his companion into a side hallway. "Too boring. Besides, we got a pretty good show out of it."

Indeed; who knew Cross could scream that high-pitched? A new scream, from someone new, came from another section of the castle. It appeared someone had fallen into their second trap.

"Boo, we missed the show." Nightmare frowned, upset at missing out on the live spectacle. Ink pulled him onwards.

"We can check the cameras later, just keep running." Ink turns to his partner in crime with a grin, making Nightmare grin in return. "Think these were some of our best pranks yet. But we're gonna be in a lot of trouble if we get caught."

"Indeed you are." Dream stood in their way, cutting off their path of escape with a heavy scowl on his face. The two pranksters blanched, faces falling as they slowly skidded to a stop before the unamused guardian. Dream's glare cut right through them. "Now, what do you have to say for yourselves?"

The two turned to look at each other, faces drawn in worry. Then Nightmare cracked a smile, and Ink cracked one in return. Both sporting devilish grins on their faces, they squeeze their joined hands before turning back to Dream and speaking in unison.

"It was all Ink/Nightmare's idea."

And then they split and run in different directions. Nightmare runs as fast as he can for the east wing, Ink for the west wing, and they leave Dream in the dust, unable to decide who to pursue first. Further off, a new bout of yelling occurs as a third prank is activated and the cackles of the two pranksters echo through the castle in response.

Notes:

So, the inspiration for this came from a podcast I heard with my mother about the two lead designers and effects artists for Disneyland's Haunted House. These two were pranksters and partners, and their love of their work, as well as their love of scaring the pants off everyone they met, reminded me of how I thought a genuine partnership between Nightmare and Ink would play out. I sent this idea into Gallifreyan's ask box long ago, and I'm so glad to have finally written it.