Chapter Text
Cuphead finally came to but with the worst headache in existence. The first thing he did was grimace and groan in pain. His entire everything hurt even while he wasn’t moving. He cracked his eyes open a bit and from looking at the ceiling—this very familiar ceiling—he could tell that he was no longer in that old rustic bar, and that he was now instead in Porkrind’s Emporium.
How’d that even happen? He thought to himself.
“Cup?” Said a familiar gruffy voice. Cuphead blinked and attempted to sit up, despite the sharp pain that instantly shot throughout his sore muscles and wounds when he did so. He hissed out a groan, tightly shutting his eyes close and clutching his stomach.
“Hey, hey, no don’t move. Ya’ still haven’t healed fully yet.” Porkrind said as he sat down beside the other toon.
Cuphead nodded, relaxing back down slowly.
“You took quite the beating yesterday.”
Yesterday? Oh, right. He went at it for a while with that debtor, until midnight he believes, but it was kind of hard to tell from within the bar.
Porkrind adjusted the bandages on the younger toon’s head that wrapped around his right eye. “I’m not lettin’ you go out fighting in this condition, by the way. Ya’ gotta heal up a bit ‘till then.” Cuphead groaned again, but from frustration this time. “Yeah, yeah. Get mad all ya’ want. I’m only doin’ what’s best fer’ you.” Porkrind sat up after that and grabbed a healing potion from a cabinet.
“Drink this. It ain’t as good as my usual, but it’ll have to do for now until the next batch comes in.” The pig sat back down at Cuphead’s side, helping him sit up and drink the potion. But Cuphead stopped him, grabbing the bottle himself and chugging it. He then went into a coughing fit. “It’s all yers’, buddy. No one’s takin’ it from ya’.” Porkrind joked as he watched Cuphead catch his breath.
Cuphead sighed. Even if it wasn’t as effective in its healing properties, it still helped ease most of the pain, also helping to relieve his aching headache. It felt more like a migraine than anything, though.
Speaking of headaches… He did remember when his head was getting smashed-in like there was no tomorrow by that stupid mutt. He wondered if Porkrind was able to find all of the shards from his porcelain.
Porkrind gently touched the cup toon’s head where the bandages were wrapped around it, frowning while doing so. “Fixed it up the best I could. That beetle from the bar managed to get all of the pieces except for a small chip on the top. It isn’t that noticeable though, you’ll live without it.”
Feeling better now due to the potion, Cuphead carfully touched the top of his head and felt the missing piece Porkrind was talking about. It wasn’t anything important, but he still felt somewhat wrong with it gone. He just shrugged and leaned his back against the wall.
“You should rest up. I’ll keep checkin’ if the package for the better healin’ potions come in. Just hang tight ‘till then.” The pig patted Cuphead's shoulder then stood up and walked to the main room of his tiny shop. Cuphead watched him leave.
He can’t just sit around doing nothing! Stupid dog… Cuphead grumbled, crossing his arms and glaring down at the blanket covering his legs. He was already a week in and he hadn’t even gotten half of the contracts yet… At this rate, Bendy will probably just take all of the contracts for himself.
He sighed, laying back down.
He hoped those healing potions wouldn’t take too long to arrive, at least. He wasn’t just gonna sit around all day doing nothing but recovering. He was already starting to feel restless.
—
The last time when Cuphead had awoken in the middle of the night trying to sneak off, he’d been caught in the act and sent back to bed like a child. This time though, he wouldn’t let that happen.
Even though his body was still very much sore —especially his stomach— he forced himself to stand up and walk out of the tiny shop and go literally anywhere else.
Being in such a state while being basically coddled was already getting annoying and extremely embarrassing. He couldn’t go on like this anymore, he needed a distraction.
Cuphead slipped off the bandages wrapped around his head.
He wondered where to go from here. This small village was really the only place he knew on this island, and he had yet to properly explore the rest of it. Even when he was defeating debtors a couple days ago, his mind wasn’t exactly focused on memorizing the paths he took to find them. So, perhaps a walk around the entire island would do, just to get a bit of alone time to himself for a bit.
He first walked over to the docks at the beach, which had been how he got here in the first place. He’d taken a small boat with a clock toon in a long blue robe. He’d met the man before (from a previous adventure with a certain chalice), so when taking the day trip to the island, he easily struck up a conversation with him.
They talked about Cuphead’s unfortunate situation and the events leading up to it, to which the clock expressed deep empathy for the red cup and even offered a bit of advice on Cuphead’s new adventure to come. He’d said something about the new debtors being on the Devil’s to-do list for a while, since every other debt collector before him was simply unable to defeat them. Cuphead didn’t pay any mind to that advice then, but now he sort of wished he’d have taken it a bit more seriously.
The only thing that was on his mind at that time was how he was gonna fix things and how he’d been so dumb and naive. He thought and worried about a bunch of things that just seemed to keep piling up. He then decided it was just best to not think about it at all.
Cuphead stared at the docks one last time, before turning on his heel and walking along the beach’s shoreline.
He thought about Elder Kettle’s well being, his brother, his debt, the Devil, and fighting off new enemies. He thought that was a lot on his plate already. But then a certain ink demon just had to come in and make things even more complicated than they already were. And now he was competing against him for contracts.
Cuphead glared at the ground and kicked the sand.
Yeah, perhaps it was the right choice to keep this type of stuff out of his mind. He was already getting upset just thinking about it.
Cuphead kept on walking until he led himself into a forest. The beach was nice, but he didn’t very much enjoy getting his shoes filled up with sand. As he walked through the forest, he lit up a small blue flame on his fingertip. The moonlight barely helped him see his surroundings, as the trees just shaded Cuphead from its light.
It was awfully quiet out tonight. The only thing that he could possibly hear was the soft buzzing of crickets and the quiet waves from the shore, as well as whistling, which Cuphead had assumed was just the wind. But once he’d actually started listening to the noise, he felt himself freeze in place and the light from his fingertip went out.
That wasn’t wind.
Cuphead strained his hearing to decipher where the whistling was coming from. He turned his head to look off to his left, and stayed in place for a few quiet moments, then cautiously sneaked towards the source of the noise. The whistling sounded a lot like a song Cuphead had heard somewhere, but he couldn’t quite place where exactly he'd heard it.
He kneeled down behind some bushes, peeking through a gap in the leaves. He had to forcefully suppress a groan from escaping his lips when he saw who it was. There laying down in the grass, was none other than Bendy the Ink Demon.
Cuphead rolled his eyes. Well, he was already here, he may as well fight this guy and take back all of his contracts, just to get it over and done with. Even though he knows it’ll be real a pain to deal with.
Cuphead raised his gun.
“Who’re we spyin’ on?” A voice behind him asked in a hushed tone.
Cuphead squeaked, slowly turning to look over his shoulder.
“Yer kinda bad at being sneaky.” Bendy stated with a sly grin. He ducked his head down when a blue bullet shot his way. Cuphead then stood a couple feet away from the demon, his gun fixed on it with an icy glare.
“So, what’s the goal here? Just came to get a good look of lil ‘ol me?” Bendy cackled, standing up from the grass and dusting himself off. “You’re in no shape to fight. And that wouldn’t be any fun for me, now would it?”
Cuphead lowered his gun, only very slightly.
He couldn’t possibly look that beat up, could he? Well- okay, maybe he did. Porkrind’s healing potions still hadn’t arrived yet.
Bendy shook his head, turning his back on Cuphead, as if dismissing him as non-threatening. Cuphead didn’t like it. Even though this irritating demon was right that he was in absolutely no shape to fight, he couldn’t just walk away. No, of course not.
So it really shouldn’t be a surprise when he shot a bullet at Bendy, but embarrassingly enough, he missed. Huh. His aim was off. Y’know, usually Cuphead is really good at aiming and getting a good shot in. So this was quite odd.
“Ya don’t wanna do this, Cupface. I’m not one to fight injured people, so scram.” Bendy said without turning around. His sharp tail flicked from behind him, striking a few strands of grass and cutting it clean.
Cuphead scowled, “give me the contracts.” He took aim once more, straight at the demon’s crescent head.
Bendy looked over his shoulder, side eyeing the other toon with a hint of curiosity. “Is that what you were after? My hard earned contracts?” A smirk grew on the demon’s face.
“You did the same to me, jerk. It’s only fair that I give you a taste of your own medicine.”
Bendy’s smirk grew wider and a playful glint appeared in his eye. He fully turned his body around to face Cuphead with his hands behind his back. “That’s some pretty big talk for someone who got their ass handed to them by a dog.”
Cuphead’s eyes widened and he glared daggers at the demon. “Wh- how- where’d you hear that?!”
“Let’s just say a little birdie told me.” As he said that, a crow landed on his shoulder. “Oh, and also a beetle.” Cuphead half expected an actual beetle to crawl up his leg or something, but he knew Bendy was referring to the bartender at the old bar. Who Cuphead still didn’t know the name of… He should probably ask the next time he happens to be in the area.
Cuphead eyed the crow, feeling a bit betrayed in a way. I gave you my sunflower seeds. Those were originally his snack for later that day.
The crow side eyed Cuphead then turned into an inky mess of goop on Bendy’s shoulder, almost like he was fusing with Bendy’s body. It was kind of freaky to see and it left Cuphead with a disturbed expression on his face. Bendy giggled seeing it.
“What the hell was that.” He found himself asking out loud, still staring at Bendy’s shoulder. Bendy’s clothes didn’t even look stained from the… weird, uh… thing- that happened.
"Don't you worry your pretty little face about that,” Bendy replied with a grin, taking a step forward. To which Cuphead visibly tensed up at, so much so that he didn’t even register what the demon had called him. “You want these contracts? Take them then. I’d really like to see you try, but considering your injuries, I doubt you’ll even lay a finger on me.”
To say Cuphead was offended would be a big understatement. Now, everyone knows what kind of person Cuphead is, he never backs down from a challenge, especially when it depends on his very ego. Anyone could tell that much just by a few interactions with the toon. And Bendy knew very well on how to push just the right buttons to get him boiling like a kettle. It was almost like he was some kind of expert on getting on people’s nerves or something. At least, that’s what Cuphead assumed.
Cuphead gritted his teeth and fired a shot at the demon, only for it to melt into the ground. “Stop with your cheap tricks!” Cuphead yelled out furiously, looking around.
“Right here!” Said that annoying voice from behind him. Cuphead whirled around, shooting at Bendy. The demon looked down at the bullet wound in his stomach with a blank expression. He brought a hand to touch it, and as he did his body melted into blank goo. Cuphead growled.
“You’re such a coward! Come fight me!”
“Relax, toots. I’m just messin’ with ya!”
Cuphead turned to his left and looked up at a tree to see Bendy sitting on a branch, swaying his feet in the air. Cuphead grumbled. “Well, aren’t you gonna take the contracts from me? Or was all that talk just for show?” He smirked, his head high while staring down at Cuphead.
Clearly, shooting this guy was ineffective. Or maybe it was, because it worked on those clones… He didn’t know! This whole thinking stuff isn’t his style, so maybe it’s just him overthinking everything that’s messing him up.
Cuphead fired at Bendy again, but this time the demon dodged.
“That was a close one! But may I remind you that you can’t shoot ink?” Bendy taunted, jumping off of the branch.
“Don’t care.” Cuphead replied, shooting at the demon, to which Bendy just dodged again. He snickered, walking towards Cuphead while grabbing something from inside of his suit. Cuphead took a step backwards, still aiming at the other. Bendy pulled out a contract, waving it in front of Cuphead’s face.
“Here, have it!” He said with a toothy grin. Cuphead was skeptical and stared at the demon suspiciously. “What? I’m handing it right to you, just take it.” Cuphead frowned, looking at the contract. He then brought a hand up to grab it, but as soon as he did, Bendy intertwined their hands together tightly. With the contract in between them. Cuphead’s face bloomed a bright pink and he fought to wretch their hands apart.
“What are you doing?! Let go!”
Bendy giggled, “I said you could take it.”
“Well- wh- I can’t with our hands like this!”
“I never said I was gonna make it easy for you.” Bendy said with a playful smirk. Cuphead glared at the offending demon before he was abruptly pulled into his chest, with his free hand being held by Bendy’s. Cuphead eeped, his face growing a deeper shade of red. “You’re really easy to tease!” Bendy cackled upon seeing Cuphead’s flustered face and his tail wagged.
The demon took a couple steps backwards, pulling Cuphead along with him then he started to dance, albeit a bit messily becuase Cuphead kept tripping over his own feet. But also becuase he was currently trying to unattach their hands while also trying to slip the contract out as well.
“Has anyone ever told you that ya got two left feet? Becuase you’re absolutely horrible at dancing,” Bendy remarked, looking down at their feet and trying to avoid tripping over the other’s legs.
“I’m not TRYING to dance with you! You just suddenly started dancin’ and pulled me into it!”
Bendy laughed, “well you could at least try! It couldn’t hurt to loosen up a bit.”
“Are ya crazy?! I’m not dancin’ with you! I’d rather the Devil take my soul than ever do that!” Cuphead spat out, his head now simmering. His insult didn’t seem to faze the demon as he just barked out a series of laughs at his frustration. “It’s not funny!”
“Trust me, shortstack, it is hilarious to see you so worked up.”
… Shortstack.
“I’M NOT THAT SHORT. You’re barely even taller than me, asshole!”
“The fact I have to crane my head downwards to look you in the eyes is enough evidence that I’m at least a couple inches taller than you. You’re short.”
Cuphead’s face flushed a bright red and through a state of pure rage, he stomped hard on Bendy’s foot. Which surprisingly worked and the demon stopped his movements to shriek in pain. His grip on both of Cuphead’s hands loosened, so of course Cuphead had to take advantage of that to swipe the contract out of the other’s hand.
Bendy held his foot, grimacing in pain. “Okay, that was dirty-“
“Well you were bein’ a big jerk! You got what you deserved.” Cuphead rolled his shoulders and pocketed the contract. He didn’t care if it was a lower rank or not, it was his now. That’s all that mattered. He was also just glad that he wasn’t moving around so much anymore, his muscles ached and his stomach felt sore. He needs to quickly get this interaction finished so he can go see if Porkrind has the healing potions yet.
“Heh, alright. I can’t really complain about that. So, are you happy with your C-rank contract? Or are your injuries finally catching up to you?”
That sounded like a challenge…
“Of course not!” Cuphead straightened himself, taking a fighting stance. Bendy smirked.
Porkrind and those healing potions can wait. The contracts go first before anything.
Cuphead readied his gun, aiming it square at the demon across from him, that familiar blue flame igniting on the tip of his finger. Bendy’s tail swished lazily from behind him with interest, and he too took a fighting stance.
“Okay, I think I’ve had my fun messin’ around with you.” As the Ink Demon said that, a blue ball of fire ignited on his hand. Cuphead’s eyes widened and before he knew it, a blue flame was being thrown his way. He panicked and jumped to the side to avoid it. WHAT THE HELL??! He thought to himself, looking back at the demon who was staring at him with an oddly creepy smile.
“C’mon, Cups. You can do better than that! Don’t make me regret taking interest in you.” He said as he slowly walked towards Cuphead, another ball of fire already in the palm of his hand. Cuphead scrambled back up, running to take cover behind a tree to recover his composure.
“He can make fire from his hands?! What the hell even is this guy?!” Cuphead thought to himself. He needs to think of a better way to try to defeat him. His bullets don’t work on him, which is just fantastic. And- WAIT!
Cuphead’s eyes widened and he grabbed his straw from his head.
How could he forget?
Cuphead peeked from behind the tree he was hiding from but as soon as he did a blue flame was being thrown in his face. He shrieked and ducked behind the tree trunk, watching the blue fireball destroy a tree across from him. He gulped and ran to hide behind another one.
“Aw, what was that you were saying earlier? Something about me bein’ a coward for hiding?” Bendy taunted and cackled. He summoned another flame in his hand, about to shoot where Cuphead was hiding until he saw something red being thrown from the corner of his eye. He quickly made a portal in the ground to dodge the attack and reappeared from the top of a tree branch above. He looked down to see what it was that almost hit him. An axe? He thought to himself.
“I’m NOT a coward.” Cuphead said as he ran to get his axe back.
Bendy stared in awe at the axe in the cup toon’s hands. A big toothy grin grew on his face and he began to laugh. “You’re just so full of surprises!” Cuphead turned to face him with a glare. Bendy hopped off of the branch he perched on, landing on the grass below. “Please, entertain me more. I’m honestly rooting for you to get a contract or two.”
—
Porkrind pulled out a watch from his pocket and grumbled when he saw the time. Cuphead had been out for hours by now when he wasn’t even supposed to be gone fighting in the first place! He’s gonna give that dumb kid a stern talking to when he gets back.
He must’ve snuck out when Porkrind was fast asleep. Which makes things even worse because he doesn’t even know where Cuphead had run off to.
Porkrind sighed.
What is he gonna do with that kid?
—
Cuphead heaved and huffed, putting his straw back in his head. He gulped and held his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. His arms and legs trembled, but he tried to ignore both that and the sting from his muscles.
Bendy didn’t seem to look as winded as the other toon did, in fact, he didn’t seem fatigued at all. “Ya can’t already be tired, right? You can’t be. It’s only been an hour! Pull yerself together, Cuphead.” Bendy walked up to the other toon, gently grabbing his chin and lifting his head up to look at him. “Fight me.”
At this angle, Bendy could see a small chip on the other’s head. He hummed, thinking back on the piece of porcelain he grabbed at that rusty old bar. Cuphead only stared at him as he huffed in big, greedy breaths. He gulped, shaking his head and lazily slapping Bendy’s hand away as he composed himself.
“S-Shut up… ‘m not tired yet.” He pulled himself up, getting his gun ready again. A satisfied grin spread across Bendy’s face seeing this.
“Good.” Bendy simply said before bringing a hand up to feel the small chip on the other toon’s head. Cuphead grimaced in pain, tightly grabbing Bendy’s wrist and darkly glaring at him. “Relax, I just wanna see.” Cuphead didn’t falter and just shoved his hand away.
“I’m here to fight, not let you be all touchy with me.”
Bendy cackled, “right, right. Of course. Let’s get things started then.” Bendy backed away and brought his hand up, that same blue flame igniting from in the palm of his hand.
“Two.” Cuphead said suddenly.
Bendy raised an eyebrow, cocking his head to the side. “What?” He dumbly asked.
Cuphead smirked. “Two contracts. I got ‘em.”
Bendy stared at the contract in the other’s hand, and as he did the fire in his hand went out. He then checked his suit pockets, only to find one of the contracts missing. He looked back up at Cuphead, surprised. He then grinned.
“You sneaky lil thing, how’d ya do that?”
Cuphead stuffed the contract in his pocket. “Not telling.” He nabbed it when Bendy was too focused with the chip on his head.
“Ya ready for another round, then?”
Cuphead looked off to the side, contemplating. He doesn’t think his body can handle anymore moving around and taking hits. But contracts… “Of course I am!” He replied, getting back into a fighting stance. Bendy did the same.
“Ya think ya could do that cool thing with yer straw again? That was fun!” Bendy remarked, throwing a ball of fire at Cuphead. He dodged it with ease though and in exchange, shot a bullet at Bendy. He still wasn’t actually sure if they did anything to the demon, but he did it anyway. Just in case it did. However, Bendy just dodged it again.
“I guess I could.” Cuphead said, grabbing his straw and transforming it into an axe then chucking it at Bendy. It hit him right in the head, but Cuphead knew better and he wasn’t surprised when Bendy’s body melted into a black puddle of ink. He rolled his eyes and caught his axe when it came hurdling back to him like a boomerang.
Bendy jumped out of a portal in front of Cuphead. “Can you do any other cool tricks?”
Cuphead backed away. “Uh- yeah. I got super arts that-“
“Show me! Show me!” Bendy asked excitedly, grabbing Cuphead’s hands into his own. His eyes were basically sparkling with wonder, and Cuphead would’ve found it a bit endearing if it wasn’t, y’know, Bendy.
Cuphead pulled his hands away, ignoring the heat that pooled in his cheeks. “Alright. Back up so I can do my thing then.”
Bendy nodded and backed away, eagerly waiting.
Cuphead breathed in a sigh then spawned in five red diamond cards in his hand, Bendy stared in awe as Cuphead’s soul escaped from his body, hovering over him. Cuphead seemed almost ill throughout the whole process though, like it was taking a toll on him.
Bendy took a step forward to have a better look. “Woah, that’s freaky.”
“Did you forget that this is a fighting match?” Cuphead smirked, sending his soul to punch Bendy in the gut. And while he was at it, he may as well take a contract while the demon was down. Cuphead snickered, controlling his soul to nab a contract from Bendy’s suit.
Bendy sat back up, watching as Cuphead’s soul retreated back into his body. Cuphead hugged his arms and shivered as it did. He shook his head, ignoring the weird tingling of it setting back in place. “That’s three.”
Bendy smirked, standing back up. “While I’d love to keep doing whatever this is with you, sweet cake, I need to end it here.” Cuphead looked almost offended at that.
“Hey, wait what? No! Don’t run away, I’m not finished!” Cuphead stomped over to the demon, grabbing him by the collar of his suit.
Bendy only giggled. Cuphead wanted to punch his stupid face.
“Me neither, because I have to give you something before I leave.” Bendy reached into his suit.
Cuphead raised an eyebrow, letting go of Bendy and backing away a bit. Which was kind of useless because the demon just got close again. Oh yeah, this guy doesn’t know a thing about personal space. Right.
Bendy tilted Cuphead’s head down and started to touch the chip on it. “Hey! What the hell are you-?!” But before he knew it, Bendy was done. He took a step back to give Cuphead some space. Cuphead glared at the demon before touching the chip which then he realized- wait, he fixed it. Cuphead’s eyes widened and he looked back at Bendy, who was just staring at him with a grin. Cuphead squinted at him curiously.
“Don’t think too hard about it.” Bendy waved his hand. He turned around and walked straight into a tree trunk, leaving only a big ink stain on its bark.
Cuphead stood there, staring at the ink. He didn’t know how long he did that for, only that it was for a while. He then looked up when he saw something shining above the leaves.
OH CRAP it’s morning already?!
Cuphead took off, trying to retrace his steps and get back to Porkrind’s shop.