Chapter Text
Rolling over, Bendy groaned as he felt his head throbbing. Knowing all too well that this was a sign that he let his powers overwhelm him.
That, was NEVER fun.
Uuuuugh, he felt like shit.
At least he was warm. The ink demon assumed Oswald carried him to bed, since he had no memory of climbing into bed himself. He hoped he didn’t scare the prince badly when he passed out.
…. He was warm but why did he feel heavy?
Lifting his head up, and discarding the ink-soaked rag that fell off his forehead, Bendy realized that the reason he felt so heavy was because Spike was right on top of him, while Tyke was curled up right by his chest. Both dogs had woken up when Bendy started to move and were now staring at the ink demon, until Tyke’s tail started to wag and he moved closer to Bendy’s face to start licking him.
A few giggles escaped Bendy as he carefully sat up, pulled Tyke into a hug, and reached out to pet Spike. “I’m okay. Sorry for scaring you guys. You’re such good boys.”
With Spike getting off of him after he was done petting him, Bendy threw off his blankets and carefully got to his feet with Tyke still in his arms. Moving across the room, Bendy reached the door and gently opened it to peek out.
In the living room area of Oswald’s part of the castle, Felix and Oswald were sitting together at the table and talking quietly, Boris, Alice, and surprisingly CUPHEAD were also there playing on the floor with some of the bunnies, who were playing with toys and with Jerry the mouse and Quacker the Duckling. Cuphead though seemed on edge and agitated while a bunny kid sat in his lap playing with a toy dragon. Boris seemed to notice, rolled his eyes, and nudged him while pointing at a nearby drink of hot chocolate next to the red cup brother. Which got Cuphead to huff but grab the drink to take a sip.
It was good to know despite how Cuphead wasn’t Boris’ favorite person, Boris was still willing to look out for him.
As Bendy started to push the door all the way open and left the bedroom, one of the bunnies noticed him first and excitedly called out. “BENDY’S UP!”
THAT, got everyone’s attention. Before Bendy knew it, everyone was on their feet and rushing to his side. Alice and Boris engulfed him in a hug, while Felix gently cupped his face and looked him over. “Oh, thank God. Are you okay Bendy? Are you feeling sick at all?”
Though he wanted to assure everyone he felt fine, his stomach choosing now to growl ended up ruining that. Oswald chuckled a little as Bendy blushed over that. “I’ll ask someone to bring you something to eat and get Mickey and Minnie. They’ll want to know you’re awake.”
When his brother and sister finally let go so Cuphead could hug Bendy himself, the ink demon asked. “They were worried about me?”
Felix frowned. “Considering you were found having a meltdown in the dungeon, where you weren’t supposed to be, we were ALL worried. The minute they get here, we’re having a long talk.”
Ooooooh Bendy was in trouble…
It didn’t take long for Mickey and Minnie to arrive and fuss over Bendy as well. Once the King and Queen were assured that he was okay, and Bendy finished inhaling a bowl of stew, the bunnies were sent to go play elsewhere for the time being while everyone sat down in the living room and listened to Bendy as he explained his actions. Though the ink demon chose to leave out the parts about Chalice to avoid getting her in trouble if she hadn't come forward yet.
When his son was done talking, Felix sighed and pinched the space between his eyes. “Oh kiddo…”
Feeling anxious, the ink demon ran his fingers through Tyke’s fur to help himself relax. “I know, it was stupid, but I couldn’t get myself to stop thinking about it. I needed to know why she wanted me.”
With a frown on his face, Oswald spoke up. “Bendy, that doesn’t mean you can sneak into the dungeon. There are many dangerous people in there, and that’s the last place we want any of you.”
Looking directly at Bendy, Felix took over in speaking. “Mickey, Scrooge, and the royal guards were doing everything they could to find out why Magica was trying to kidnap you. They would have told us as soon as they got the information, but instead you took matters into your own hands, went behind all our backs, broke the rules of the castle, broke into the dungeon, and broke Magica’s HAND.”
“I didn't mean to hurt her…”
Watching his brother’s head bow in shame over the scolding, Boris growled as he shot up to his feet and glared at Felix. “If you ask me, that witch got off easy! If I were in Bendy’s shoes I would have done something worse than break her hand! So stop getting mad at him!”
Alice reached out and gently held Boris’ hand. “Violence isn’t the answer to this. Neither is getting worked up.”
“OH, so it's okay that they're pissed at Bendy for standing up to the woman WHO TRIES TO TAKE HIM FROM US?!”
Before Felix could attempt to calm Boris down, Mickey spoke up. “None of us are angry, Boris. We were scared for Bendy’s sake. Not only is Magica a dangerous person, but a jail of any kind is the last place any of you should wander around, especially after everything you three went through growing up-”
The ink wolf snarled at the king as his ink started to get runny. “DO NOT ACT LIKE YOU KNOW WHAT WE'VE FUCKING BEEN THROUGH!”
Acting quickly, Bendy put Tyke down and grabbed Boris by his arm while Alice grabbed his other arm. “THAT’S ENOUGH BORIS! We may have gone through hell but that's no excuse to take it out on one of the few people that care about us!”
Though still growling and tense, the ink wolf forced himself to calm down when he noticed just how alarmed Mickey looked over Boris yelling at him for the first time. Still unable to get himself to completely relax though, when he noticed movement in the corner of his eye, Boris looked over and saw Cuphead holding out his hand to him, with Jerry in his palm and looking at Boris in concern.
When they felt their brother physically relax and saw his ink stopped getting runny, Bendy and Alice let him go. Boris carefully took Jerry from Cuphead, and sat down on the couch again as he petted the little animal to soothe himself and comfort the mouse.
With things calmed down again, Bendy then focused on the adults once more. “I didn't mean to hurt her, but that doesn’t change the fact that I did hurt her… Magica just wanted my power, so she could get revenge on her enemies and hurt innocent people. When her plans to take me away backfired, and when I tried getting answers from her, she tried using her honey coated words, she tried to use her LIES, to get me to help her. She claimed she wanted to make me the most PERFECT version of myself…”
Ah, now some things were making sense to Felix as to why Bendy lashed out.
Moving closer, the cat man gently took hold of Bendy’s shoulder, while carefully cupping his chin to tilt his head so he’d look at him. “You and your siblings are already perfect the way you are. Especially to those who love you like your friends, and your family. I know this was difficult for you, and I'm sorry you felt that you had to go to this length to get some peace of mind…but this doesn't excuse the actions you took.”
Expecting this, Bendy nodded. “I understand…”
Thrown off over this, Cuphead looked at Felix baffled. “Wait, you're actually punishing him for this??”
Felix frowned at the red cup brother. “Yes, because he went behind our backs and put himself at risk. This isn’t something I'm willing to just brush off.”
As it looked like his siblings and boyfriend would object, Bendy pulled away from Felix and stopped them. “Guys, it's fine. I messed up, and I have to accept the consequences. Even the royal family has the right to discipline me.”
Queen Minnie shook her head. “We already discussed this with Felix while you were resting. As long as you swear not to do this again, we'll let this incident pass and let him handle disciplining you.”
Bendy bowed his head respectfully to them. “I promise. You guys have been insanely kind to me and my family. I'm so sorry I betrayed your trust in me…”
Getting caught by surprise when Minnie pulled him into a hug with her and Mickey, Bendy felt his face warm up from being shown affection by the king and queen as Mickey spoke. “We forgive you. Just don't be afraid to talk to one of us in the future if something is wrong, and we'll do our best to help, even if we don't fully understand. Okay?”
Nodding and muttering a quiet okay, when Minnie and Mickey let Bendy go, he then looked at Felix with a tense and nervous expression.
Not looking forward to this himself, Felix got it over with. “You’re staying inside the castle until Christmas Eve. No going into town, no exploring the castle grounds, no dates with Cuphead, and no playing in the snow.”
Ignoring Cuphead’s whine in protest over the no dates part, Felix continued. “You will also be helping clean the ink stains off of what the castle staff haven't taken care of yet. They're going to need all the help they can get, since many of them took their holiday vacation early from… work stress.”
Seeing the confused look on Bendy’s face, Alice explained. “Your powers making the walls bleed ink kinda spooked a lot of maids and servants. Mickey and Minnie gave them extended holiday vacations so they could recover, aaaand not quit.”
Horrified and embarrassed, the ink demon covered his face and groaned LOUDLY. “Oh my god nooooo. I'm so sorry!”
Resting his hand on Bendy's head, Oswald rubbed it affectionately. “I still say we should have let those cowards quit. They couldn't wrap it around their heads that a kid was in distress. Instead, they kept whining and complaining about getting the shit scared out of them and the mess they had to clean.”
Though he understood his older brother's point, Mickey had to object. “We can't handle being understaffed and scrambling to find replacements during our busiest time of year. The staff that are still here are overworked already from people being gone for a few extra days.”
The prince huffed. “Fine, but I'm going to start working on finding replacements.”
A bit amused by Oswald’s response, Felix smiled a little at his boyfriend before focusing on his kids. “Oswald and I have also been talking. This isn’t a punishment, but after everything that's happened, we think it may be for the best that you three try speaking to a therapist.”
That got some blank stares from the ink siblings. Eventually Alice asked. “What’s a therapist?”
Cuphead answered. “It’s someone you talk to that can help you figure out your emotions and problems without getting badly overwhelmed. We had some in the Demon Hunting Knights since some soldiers would see brutal stuff in battles. It's like a doctor for your brain-”
“Oh HELL no!”
Knowing very well that response was coming, Felix started making his way to the ink wolf in an attempt to de-escalate things. “Bois it's not what you think-”
Getting up to his feet with Jerry in his hands, Boris ignored Felix as he headed for the door. “I'm not doing this, and you can't make me! No way in hell is a Doctor EVER coming near me AGAIN!”
SLAM
Cringing at the sound of the door cracking a bit from the force Boris used, Felix’s shoulders then slumped as he ran his hand down his face. Behind him, he could hear Oswald comment. “Well, the door is still standing at least. So he took it better than we thought.”
Seeing how Bendy and Alice seemed tense and nervous over the idea of seeing a doctor, Minnie gave them a reassuring smile. “It’s not the kind of doctor you're thinking of. This one will just talk with you. Many of us have talked to a therapist before and it helped us a lot. We're hoping it will be helpful to you three as well.”
Still feeling unsure, Bendy asked “Do we HAVE to?”
Letting out a sigh, Felix made his way to his other two kids and wrapped his arms around them. “If you three aren't comfortable then I won't force you. Like I said, it's not a punishment. I'm just hoping you’re willing to try. You guys have been dealing with a lot most of your lives, therapy could help make things easier to handle.”
Bendy and Alice exchanged looks, until they eventually hugged Felix back and Alice spoke. “I'll go talk to Boris. See if I can calm him down and get him to think about it.”
While Alice separated from the hug to go find Boris with Quacker in her hands, Felix gave Bendy one more squeeze while bunting their heads together. “Please, don't be afraid to talk to me in the future. I'm here for you whenever you need me. I love you very much Bendy.”
“... I love you too Dad.”
With all of that said and done, everyone carried on with their day. Deciding that now was a good time to start helping clean the remaining ink stains that were still around, Bendy left to find where they were cleaning the ink-stained castle decor and get to work, with Cuphead and the dogs right beside him.
Sitting on a stool and doing his best to scrub an ink stain out of a tapestry, while slightly amused by Tyke trying to play around with the soap bubbles, Bendy glanced at his boyfriend who was hard at work cleaning decorative armor. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”
“I know.”
The ink demon stared at Cuphead while waiting for more of a response, even Spike laying at Cuphead’s feet looked like he was expecting him to say more, but when Bendy got nothing he sighed and put aside the stained tapestry. “You’re mad at me, aren’t you?”
Stopping in cleaning an ink-stained helmet, Cuphead scowled at Bendy. “A little bit, yeah.”
“Are you going to tell me WHY or are you going to keep being vague about it?”
Clearly getting more irritated, Cuphead practically slammed down the helmet on the floor next to him, causing the dogs to jump. “We said we’d work on not lying to each other, Bendy!”
Bendy scowled back. “I didn’t lie to you!”
“You didn’t tell me the truth either! You didn’t talk to me or anyone about how Magica trying to grab you bothered you so much! Sure, the whole thing was scary, that’s understandable and a decent explanation as to why you looked sleep deprived, but something was nagging me in the back of my head that there was more to it than that! I considered asking you about it, but I didn't want to pressure you to open up and figured you'd come to me if you wanted to talk about it!"
Cuphead then threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. “And then I come back from dinner with Elder Kettle, finding the castle stained in ink! God Bendy I thought Magica escaped and tried hurting you! I was in a near panic until Cala found Mugsy and I freaking out and explained what she knew happened! I’m not even mad that you snuck into the dungeon, but I thought if you’d pull something crazy and stupid like that, you’d at least let me help so I could be there for you!!”
After his rant, Cuphead took a deep breath to calm himself down so he wouldn’t get too mad. Looking back at his boyfriend, he saw how Bendy’s face had a blank expression on it as he avoided making eye contact with him. A sign Cuphead was all too familiar with that Bendy was trying damn hard to keep his emotions in check.
Mentally kicking himself, the red cup brother tried reaching for Bendy’s hands but stopped when Bendy pulled back slightly while clenching his fists, so instead, he slowly moved to sit closer to Bendy without making contact with him. “I’m sorry for snapping… I want to be there for you Babe and help out the best I can like you would for me, but I can’t do that if you won’t let me.”
They sat in silence for a while. Tyke was looking at Bendy curiously, while Spike sat up and rested his head on Cuphead’s knee.
The red cup brother silently petted the dog's head, until Bendy’s quiet voice could be heard. “I let everyone down, didn't I?”
Not expecting that, Cuphead turned to look at Bendy, seeing how his boyfriend was clearly fighting tears. His eyes had turned into the terrifying yellow look, ink was starting to drip down his head, and he had a pained smile on his face.
“Everyone says how worried they were, how scared they were for me, how UPSET they were, yet none of them would admit how I let everyone down. I went behind everyone's backs, I betrayed their trust, I made things WORSE . I always make things worse… ”
Oh shit, Cuphead may have just unintentionally cracked open something that Bendy had bottled up.
Acting quickly, Cuphead moved to kneel in front of Bendy, not touching him, but making sure he was in his line of sight. “That’s not true. You don't make things worse. So, what if you made a mistake? Everyone does. I don’t know a single person that doesn't screw up sometimes.”
Bendy’s fists clenched tighter. “I'm not a real person. I’m a mistake. A MONSTER.”
“You, are, a, real, person. You may have been born differently but you and your siblings are real people just like the rest of us. You laugh, cry, get annoyed, goof up, get excited, and so many more things that everyone else does. You're a real person who's allowed to make mistakes. A real person, who I love, no matter what.”
While Cuphead worried as Bendy still stayed tense and looked like he was ready to burst any second, both teens were caught off guard when Tyke stood on his back legs and rested his front paws and head on Bendy’s lap.
Ready to move the puppy in case Bendy didn’t react well, the red cup brother watched in surprise when Bendy’s hands started to relax, and the ink demon started to take deep breaths, allowing his pained smile to drop and for his ink tears to fall from his eyes that turned back to normal as he slowly petted Tyke's head. “...I'm sorry Cuphead…”
Relieved that Bendy was calming down, Cuphead gave a gentle smile to reassure his partner. “It’s okay… are you okay with touching right now?”
Nodding his head, Bendy made the first move by kneeling in front of Cuphead and wrapping his arms around him, crying softly into his shoulder. Cuphead in return hugged back, and soon maneuvered around so Bendy would now be sitting in his lap as they hugged each other as the dogs snuggled up to them.
They sat like that for a few minutes, until Bendy lifted his head up and rubbed his irritated eyes. “Ugh, I’m getting really tired of all this crying, my powers going crazy, and feeling shitty.”
A little amused by that, Cuphead rubbed Bendy’s back to help sooth him. “Yeah, I can imagine it's not fun dealing with all of that… Therapy can help make that feel less worse over time you know.”
Trying to wipe the ink off his face, Bendy asked. “Did you talk to a therapist before?”
“Tried to. Mugman thought it would help me cope with the curse, but the knights told us we were just in training. We didn't need to talk to a therapist until we saw the same kind of awful shit they've seen.”
Hearing Bendy call them assholes under his breath made Cuphead chuckle a little before continuing. “It could help you though. Maybe give it a shot? If it doesn't work, then I'll personally tell the therapist to scram!”
Bendy snorted and giggled. “You better not. That would be rude…. I'll talk to Boris and Alice about this then decide.”
Finding that as fair, Cuphead nodded in agreement with Bendy’s decision and kissed him on the cheek. Now that things were calmer, something Cuphead has been curious about came to mind. “By the way, how'd you sneak into the dungeon anyways? Even with your powers I figured the guards would have noticed ink stains or something.”
Cringing a little at that, the ink demon rubbed the back of his neck awkward. “Uuuuh, I take it you haven't talked to Chalice…”
At first shocked, it took Cuphead a minute to let that sink in. When it did, he then felt his head starting to boil.
Bendy wasn’t originally alone when he went into the dungeon.
“She DITCHED you?”