hey take this pupcup drabble okay 1k words sorry I'm still working on all my other stuff chew on this until I'm done. arry told me to so now I have to!
Cuphead's covered in blood, like many nights before. He's pushing, screaming, his finger burns with the heat of unfamiliar magic, he's twelve again and he's fighting for his- and Mugman's- life. But this debtor doesn't look like one he recognizes. Animalistic, dark, growling and slamming its great fists where Cuphead stood a second earlier. He knows the routine by now. Dodge, shoot, don't look too closely into the face of who you're fighting, or they might wear a look too familiar for comfort.
Cuphead gets the last hit and it goes down with a tortured howl. The scene changes, whirls and warps until- Mugman's gone. Cuphead might've called for him in the blur, but it doesn't matter, he couldn't hear his own voice. The, ironically, sunny picture from before melts into night. The moon hangs overhead, the forest presses him on all sides, and Boris is bleeding from a gunshot wound in front of him.
Cuphead sucks in a breath through his teeth. Boris, what the fuck, what did he do- Boris is trying in vain to stop the bleeding, pressing a hand to his side and crying out quietly. Cuphead's legs won't move. His hand won't either. He's standing above Boris, just a few feet away, but the distance seems impossible. Boris is trying to- crawl, hobble- it feels too horrid for Cuphead to really look at. He keeps looking up at Cuphead with wide, terrified eyes- Looking back at the ground, then him, like he expects Cuphead to shoot again at any moment. Cuphead can only watch as Boris' hand slips out from under him with a sad, animal whine.
He's saying something, it's so weak and shivery- Cuphead can't move, but he needs to know what Boris is saying.
"Why.." He croaks. Oh. Oh, Cuphead's heard this one before. An old classic of his cruel brain, except it has it's own original twist now that someone new, someone who hasn't gotten too close yet, is saying it.
The tip of Cuphead's finger is burning against his chest when he jolts awake. That's another perk of night terrors, you get trigger happy off of memories. Cold sweat pours off of him and the blanket, although mostly kicked off, seems to cling to his clammy skin. His breath is coming hard and fast, loud, too loud.
"Shit." Cuphead digs his teeth into his bottom lip hard enough to sting and smacks himself, once, twice, one more, on the head until he's right again. Until he can think again.
He can practically feel the memories scrambling all over him. Cuphead needs to escape before they grow fangs. He needs to run, to leave right now. Anywhere but here.
He needs to go somewhere safe.
Cuphead might've almost tripped in his haste to escape that room, but he still lingers in front of Boris' door like he expects it to open if he just stands there long enough. At last, he grits his teeth and knocks. His nerves still scream at him to bolt and vomit his guts out in the toilet, but Cuphead pushes it down and tries to focus on the wallpaper. Everything feels too loud and harsh during a night like this.
It doesn't take long before Boris opens the door. Normally, he's a heavy sleeper, but Cuphead likes to think that Wolfy's trained those big ears enough to know which movements are Cuphead's, and which are others.
Cuphead forces a cracking smile onto his face and stands up a little straighter. "Hey, puppy! Mind if I, uh.." His voice wilts in his throat. Boris is alive. He's standing right in front of him. Cuphead maps his body out, tracks every artery he knows, just in case, from Boris' ribcage to his adam's apple, and stops at the heart beating behind the fur. No round, bloodshot eyes fearing the next rip of gunfire. He's okay.
Boris blinks the sleep out of his eyes enough to process who's in front of him. He sees Cuphead, pale and clammy, bouncing on the balls of his feet, wringing his hands with new dark wells forming under his eyes, and doesn't ask any questions. He just opens the door wider for him.
Once, it might've been frustrating how easily Boris read him. Now, it's a comfort, when the words Cuphead can't say are clogging up his throat and making it hard to breathe.
There's a deep rumble in Boris' chest when he pulls him close in bed. It's still warm, not the fleeting heat of spilled blood, but from the real, tangible, strong body in front of him. Cuphead relaxes at the sound, taut muscles and strung nerves relaxing. Boris holds him. He's soft, and still pliant from sleep, and alive, and breathing, and he's here. There's no blood matting his fur. His breathing is slow, not quick and panicked. Cuphead's cold hands find their way to Boris' pulse, and his head to the steady thump, thump, thump of a stubborn heart.
Cuphead won't let himself cry, but his traitorous body damn sure makes an effort to. The trembling comes back with a vengeance. His fingers and legs clink against themselves. His entire body seizes with an oncoming sob that he'll be damned if he lets out, and Cuphead can't breathe, just holds it in and lays there. He grits his teeth and buries his face into Boris' fluffy chest because what is he even doing, it's gone, the nightmare is done, what's wrong with him, swallow it down- Get over it, he's been through this before, Boris is going to see he can't let Boris see-
Boris hums against the tremors and curls closer around Cuphead. "I've got you, sweet thing... It's alright. " He murmurs. "You're okay." Cuphead stills. Before the shaking comes back so forcefully he gives in, and with a fleeting thought of for fuck's sake, he lets himself sob into Boris' fur. He feels scrubbed down, raw, aching all over in the way that comes with cracking open damaged goods like him. If he focuses, Cuphead thinks he can hear his weak, shivering heart, trying to scrape itself off whatever dirty floor Cuphead dropped it on and back into his body.
The shivering lessens slowly. Cuphead feels himself breaking off bit by bit. He knows Boris will catch him. He wouldn't have gone in there if he didn't.
end! thanks for reading!🩷 be nice I'm still new to this fanfic stuff okay I know this is short forgive me I vomited this up in a day