#cupheadxbendy

The cold, unwelcoming air of mid-late January hit the cracked windows on the safehouse harshly, making the sills rattle and whirl a mourning song. The night was just cracking into the sky, as people hurried inside before stone cutting snow was angrily thrown on the ground by clouds that were frozen in place since this morning. And life in the middle of no where, surrounded by trees and endless hills sprinkled with white was no different. 

Bendy hurriedly swallowed another bite of buttered toast, like a pelican that barely chewed lazily on a fish two times before sliding it down with a drop of seawater. “Too salty-” He complained halfway through taking another bite, as he made his way to the small entry hallway threshold. Another sleepless night spent outside for him, even if is was freezing cold outside – anything was better than to be stuck alone in the safehouse with people he barely knew, barely recognized as allies.  

He needed a breather so damn much. And the stale smell of mildew in this abandoned warehouse in the forest that by some miracle could be called a safe spot for hour main cast, sure as hell didn’t help his situation. He fumbled with his coat, trying to close it, but the zipper was so brittle, it snapped. Bendy let out an audible sigh and clicked his tongue when he slipped his shoes on and went outside. 

Not even a second, the snow crunched under his shoes that somehow were too thin, leaving space for the coldness to seep in. He shuddered and slowly made his way on the same drag path his brother Boris and that Mugman left behind when gathering some wood from the forest; to unsafely light a fire inside the house. Very adulting adults mind you. What else screams “responsible” if not making a fire in an iron cast barrel that they randomly found in a room that held fermented bottle’o’botulism and depression.  

“Fucking January…” he complained as he walked deeper into the forest. Bendy was a very cold blooded demon, even more than your average darling devil; so it is no wonder he absolutely hates winter and snow and very cold weather. Nor even halfway to the forest, he felt this eerie feeling something crawling after him. Searchers were still lurking in the shadowy area of the ToonCity outskirts, so feeling followed wasn’t something necessary outlandish. What could be seen as both weird and downright insane was walking alone in the dark outside of the already scarce population of the outskirts. 

Yet, like the snow that fell from the sky, Bendy did not stop not even once, and entered the territory of many people’s fears.  

The trees were beaten down, scratch marks and rough bites – the same as a child biting into a caramel apple candy at a fair – decorating the deep brown bark. Some younger trees that clearly were going through one of their first winters were bent and deformed under the weight of the monsters roaming the woodland, used, abused as resting points for bodies that long should have been in the ground and not walking it. The snow left behind frostbitten bones tat still had some unfortunate creatures flesh on them, lying in a small dark rouge splash of colour over the awfully pristine white. 

It almost hurts the eyes to look at it, let alone smell the decay and sliver of live that clung to it- Bendy took a small step towards it before crouching to its level and pressing the palm of his hand into the stained, not perfect snow. “Bear..” He stated almost monotonously. Now we don’t know if he meant that it was a bear attack or a break cub that was hunt by something bigger that resulted into the small pile of nothingness to stop him from his walk.  

Bendy sighed heavily, curling his tail upwards, closer to his midriff. The poor limb would always get much colder outside, especially when it was snow on the ground or puddles of icy rainwater due to it trailing, blooming the ground most times. He shuddered and stood back up, bumping into something almost soft. “Now ain’t you just a ray of sunshine, mister Bendy the Dancing Demon.” Cupheads awfully rough voice echoed in his ears. 

“You followed me?  “Rule number one: no one walks alone, at night, in the fucking forest. Not to mention unarmed.” He crossed his arms and looked over at the eaten creature. “Tsk… sucker, we should get that as far away as possible. It can attract wolves or something.” 

Bendy cringed at that a little bit. Not all wolves were eating half rotting corpses off the floor of the forest like some sanitary fish in a household fish tank owned by someone so lazy they buy a fish that cleans the glass and pebble floor for them instead. The shorter man grumbled something about his brother being a wolf before complaining that he wasn’t going to be the one to grab it. “Alright, princess.” Cuphead cooed, before unceremoniously picking up the poor dead animal and walking with it deeper in the forest. 

And as rules stated (rules imposed by the one man that seemed to never follow rules to begin with) he needs to follow and make sure they both get back home safe and sound – aka, with as little trauma as possible. Mission impossible, many times.  

Cuphead was fast. Yes, he was a collector. Yes, he was significantly taller or at least taller enough to move faster than Bendy; but this was different. He was moving even more now that Boris somehow found the patience to mend the shards of his head together. Ad most probably out of pure guilt for being the one to shoot the cup in the first place. “So, any other reason why you decided to stroll around here, edgelord?” The voice was muffled by the snow, but Bendy could still hear him very clearly.  

Good question, why was he here for again? He forgot… or tried to forget anyways. 

“Why?”  “I saw you awake and getting ready to leave… if something happens to you-” 

The collector stopped himself before he found say something even more sappy that would ruin the mood with the whole friendship and companionship thing during this whole quest. The snow was slowly tying to set a thin layer of ice over Cupheads soul liquid from staying outside for too long. Oh how much he wouldn’t give to be back home and Elder Kettle brewing some nice chamomile tea for him and Mugshot, the warmth would be seeping into their heads, into their souls… But those were the wishful thinking of someone who was anchoring himself in a past that was long gone. Now… he was a corpse cleaner with some demon he didn’t know in a forest he hardly recognized and fighting with whatever remains of the so-called STARS government that they all believed in like mindless drones.  

And in a few moments they were near a small gulf with icy swords erupting from the ground – an outcome of the heavy snow that fell and deposited on the rocky bottom. “This is as good as we’re gonna get. Throw it in before we fuckin freeze out here.” Bendy muttered trying to hide his face from the cold, in that coat with little and beat down fur. Something about that gulf, the small yet deep hole that seemed to be a perfect place to be thrown and forgotten lured him in more than he wanted to admit. “Fucking hell” 

As the falling body of the unfortunate animal made a deafening thud sound hitting the icy stones underneath them, the inky demon sat down by the edge of the gulf and stared at it. The rotten blood mixing with blueish hued ice and their blackening shadows. Only in moments, Cuphead sat down next to him, wrapping an arm around the other muttering an excuse about it being to cold outside and not wanting him to die or something since he is the only one able t read the forsaken map. What a silly excuse of a man that thinks such a corny thing can be mistaken as care and not as flirting. 

And in a moment’s heartbeat, the collectors voice cracked under the snowflakes “My, your eyes do shine like stars…” His soul liquid suddenly warmed up realizing he said that out loud, bubbling and seething under the pressure the silence put them in. “I’m sorry-” “Don’t be… that’s a very nice thing to say actually. You’re… eyes are-” And as Bendy looked into his eyes, seeing the age of a killer, red and full of corpses-    “Your eyes are the sky mine want to be in” 

And so they inched closer, and closer – and Cuphead quickly pulled away and cleared his throat “We really shouldn’t, not right now… fuck why am I like this…” but as someone might dream only in some popular drama. With a witty tail and a charming please, he gave in, reluctantly so. What if he hurts him, he is unlovable, after all. What if… what… if- 

Bendy shifted his weight slightly, wrapping his tail around the cup’s waist, pulling him closer into the awkward, very nonchalant kiss. It was only a short peck on the lips that could barely even think of warming their lips from the cold snow. Cuphead finally stopped thinking of what ifs and let himself feel the moment, feel the ink demon against him.   “Now it wasn’t so bad, right?” 

“Shut up-” 

They both started snickering like idiots, like children that were just playing a game and for a moment, all the pain in the world ceased to exist and it was only the two f them, sitting down in freezing snow, outside of their safe house but so protected with love from one another:no map, no blot, no STARS and no one to tell them what they could and couldn’t do in the world they lived in. Cease the day, as one says. 

Bendy’s gaze fell again over the poor mingle of meat and bones that once used to be a living and breathing little animal that loved and felt and cried most likely. “I feel bad for it you know? We-I… I feel like it’s not fair for it to be down there and for me to live. Poor thing is down there and I am up here.” 

“What do you even mean? Don’t do something stupid, Bendy-”  

“Stupid?!” He laughed, barely containing himself at that moment, but that was no happy laugh; it was the roar of a very tired bear that was going to run straight into a mountain side or a huge boulder, letting his head smash and curl around the rocky surface, grin matted splattering around and finally finding peace and relief from the pain as some searcher gnawed the corpse left behind. Bendy really wanted to be that bear right now. After all, he was already sick with the blot, he was already one foot into his grave; yet he was on top of the gulf and a small and innocent animal was being forgotten at the bottom, decaying and covered by snow. 

“I am not stupid, I am pragmatic. And tired from having to fight with an enemy that is inside me. I’m dying, Cuphead.” He was dying… that was true, but that didn’t mean he should put an end to it al now. “That’s why I came here in the first place. I wanted to get lost in the forest and stop fighting.” 

“You’re suicidal…” 

“And you have a gun made out of a spiral straw..” another moment of silence made him realise how much of an asshole he was right now- “‘m sorry-” “No. You never apologise for how you feel, do you understand, short stack? Never! If you’re sad then you’re sad, if you feel like a wet burrito tortilla, hen you’re a wet burrito tortilla. Got it?” 

The cup quickly held him in his arms, more than a hug, it was reassurance; more than a hug, it was safety; more than a hug,it was the primordial need to care for someone you care.”what if… I wanna be one of the flowery snowflakes falling in the gulf…?” And the two shifted together closer and closer to the edge.  

“Then I’d hold you close and tell you: I’m coming too”. 

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