Work Text:
It started as many things in the house did, with an argument about something completely stupid.
Bendy had just gotten out of the shower, it had been a long day of training and studying and various chores and he had taken his time to relax. He had asked around earlier to see if anyone else would need the shower, and they all had said he could take it, and he was very appreciative.
His fur was cleaner than it had been in months, a new soap he had gotten as a gift making it extra soft, his face was smooth and his skin clear. He hadn’t felt this good since he could remember, and he was ready to go read while it dried and then take a very long nap. That was, until Cuphead decided to ruin everything.
See, Cuphead had been out of the house doing whatever it was he did at the time Bendy had asked everyone if they needed the shower, so when he got home he was exhausted and covered in sweat and really needed a good shower to feel better. But the second he stepped under the water, he shrieked, for it was as cold as hail on a winter day.
Cuphead immediately knew who had done it, so he finished his shower in record time, got dressed, and marched his way down the stairs to the living room, where Bendy had been reading his book peacefully, unaware of the grown man about to attempt to kick him into next year.
“You starfallen pitscum ,” Cuphead growled, coming around the corner, “You used up all the hot water, again! ”
“What?” Bendy asked, turning around in his armchair.
“Don’t play dumb, you always do this! You always take the longest shower out of anyone and you use up all the hot water and nobody gets to have a nice shower except for you!” The Cup was yelling at this point, even though it was dumb he really just wanted a nice shower and that had been ruined.
“I don’t always take long showers! Besides, I asked beforehand and everyone was okay with it!” Bendy defended himself, fruitlessly.
“You do! Your showers are always an hour long! Nobody needs that long of a shower.” Cuphead crossed his arms and glared at the demon.
“They are not an hour long , maybe thirty minutes at most.” Bendy put aside his book and stood up.
While the two squabbled, Felix, Boris, and Holly had been watching while sitting on the nearby couch. They had been watching a show together, but once Cuphead came in Holly turned it off in favor of the show in front of them.
Cuphead turned to the couch dwellers, “Are you hearing this? Thirty minutes, he says! Thirty minutes! ”
“Yes, thirty minutes! My showers are not too long!” Bendy was growing increasingly defensive.
“I don’t know, Bendy,” Boris chimed in, “I’ve lived with you my whole life and you’ve always hogged the shower.”
Now, this was blatantly untrue. When they first got their house, Bendy always made Boris shower first so he could have the hot water, since their busted heater only lasted about 20 minutes. Boris just felt like messing with his brother.
“What?!” Bendy shrieked.
Holly hummed, “That must be true, since the shower you took was about an hour long.”
Bendy was growing very embarrassed, but was determined to defend himself, “Even if my showers were that long, it takes a while to wash fur! You don’t have fur, so you wouldn’t know!”
Cuphead barked out a laugh, “Boris doesn’t take nearly as long as you and he has fur!”
“That’s because Boris doesn’t use soap half the time, he just sits in the hot water and forgets to actually wash! I used to have to force him!”
Now it was personal for Boris.
“This is slander! Besides, Felix also has fur and he doesn’t take very long in the shower.” Boris pointed to the cat sitting beside him. Cuphead nodded in agreement.
“Exactly,” The cup pointed accusingly at Bendy, “You should just admit that you take way too long in the shower. We all know it.”
“I do not! ”
Bendy’s scream and the previous arguing had attracted attention from others in the house. Coming through the kitchen door was Mugman and Cala Maria, and Finley stepped down from the stairs.
“Are we talking about how long Bendy takes in the shower?” Finley was quick to jump on the bullying train, as was his nature.
“You’re all actually lying right now. I don’t even take long showers, if anything
Cuphead
takes showers that are way too short, he probably doesn’t even wash himself.” Bendy pointed back at Cuphead, trying desperately to take attention off himself.
It didn’t work, as Cuphead laughed, “I learned how to shower quickly ages ago, it’s a useful skill to have in my line of work.”
Mugman nodded in agreement, “That is true, we can also get dressed in under three minutes.” Cala confirmed this information with a very serious nod.
At this point, Cuphead was just playing a joke on Bendy. He wasn’t even mad about the shower, but Bendy was terrible at picking up on things like this and thought everyone was actually bullying him.
“Felix, please, you don’t think I take too long in the shower, do you?” Bendy turned pleading eyes on his idol.
But Bendy did not have Boris’s signature puppy dog eyes, and Felix figured this joke was too funny to pass up, “Sorry, Bendy, but you do take quite a long time.” He shrugged his shoulders and then crossed his arms.
Bendy put his face in his hands, this was worse than hell. This was worse than anything he’d been through on the quest. His friends were bullying him, what was he to do?
“Admit it, pipsqueak, you hog the hot water.” Cuphead put a mocking hand on Bendy’s freshly washed head.
Obviously the only answer in sight was to try and fight the one who started it.
And so, Bendy tackled Cuphead and the two wrestled on the ground. Cuphead trying to throw Bendy off or roll them around, and Bendy clinging to him like a mouse in a sticky trap. Finley began to cheer them on, and very soon Mugman joined in.
They rolled around on the floor for a good few minutes, Felix trying to break them up while Boris went back to his show. Holly started yelling at Bendy to kick Cuphead in the face, Finley and Mugman quickly catching on and doing the same. Cala walked around the two and sat with Boris to watch the show.
“Why is nobody cheering for me?” Cuphead yelled, pushing Bendy’s face away from his arm, which he was trying to bite.
“Because nobody likes you,” Bendy replied, finally seeing the humor in the situation.
Cuphead protested that and picked Bendy up to lightly throw. Bendy startled, not expecting it, and grabbed onto Cuphead’s arm to try to stop him, but he accidentally grabbed too hard. Cuphead let out a cry and Bendy quickly let go, but the damage had been done.
“Ow, cuss..” Cuphead held his wrist in pain. He quickly stood up from the floor and pulled his sleeve back to look at it.
The spectators had stopped cheering, and looked at the cup with concern, Mugman stepping forward to assess his wrist. He held his brother’s hand lightly and examined it, “Oh, that’s messed up all right,” He said with a grimace.
“It’s fine,” Said Cuphead, rubbing his wrist once more before letting it drop, “Probably didn’t even bruise, it just surprised me,” He looked at the demon, “Are you okay? Didn’t think I’d scare you like that.”
Bendy had stayed sitting on the floor through the entire interaction, but upon being acknowledged he stood, “I’m fine, didn’t even really scare me. Are you sure you’re okay?” He looked more nervous than Cuphead thought he should have.
“Yeah, it’s fine,” He shrugged, “It doesn’t even hurt.”
The small crowd dispersed quickly after that, going back to what they had been doing before, except for the two in the middle of it. Bendy retreated to his room rather quickly, forgetting to even grab his book beforehand, while Cuphead went to the kitchen to grab a snack.
Despite what Cuphead had said, his wrist was absolutely not okay. After only a few hours, it had become increasingly obvious he had sprained it, the entire area was swollen up and started becoming red and painful to the touch. Granny had forced him into wrapping it, and he sat at the dinner table later that day with an ice pack on top.
Bendy had stared at his wrist almost the whole meal, eyes only darting away when Cuphead looked at him questioningly. Something was up with the demon, and Cuphead could guess what. He hoped that his wrist would heal quickly and they could put it all behind them without it turning into a big mess.
Cupheads wrist did not heal quickly, and his friendship with Bendy had very obviously strained because of it.
Whenever he would walk into a room Bendy was in, the demon would either find an excuse to leave whatever conversation he was in, or just slip out quietly without a word. If Cuphead tried to talk to him, he’d pretend he was busy or that someone had called him. Never let anyone tell you Bendy was good at lying, because he wasn’t.
Everyone in the house had noticed, but nobody had any insight on it except Cuphead. Finley had tried to talk to Bendy about it, but without knowing the root of the problem there wasn’t much he could do. Granny forced them both to help her with cooking, but Bendy was infuriatingly silent the whole time.
Even Mugman and Boris had tried to help in their own ways. With Cuphead being forced out of training due to his wrist, Mugman had him sit on the back porch stairs to watch and make comments, but even when Cuphead would insult Bendy as much as he could without being outright cruel, Bendy rarely yelled insults back at him.
Boris had had enough at that point and before going to bed had told Bendy to get over whatever problem he had with Cuphead, which led to the current situation.
Cuphead knew Bendy often had trouble sleeping, and sometimes he would come downstairs to get something to drink to help settle his nerves. Tonight, Cuphead sat waiting in the living room for him.
Sure enough, Bendy trudged down the stairs with an exhausted sigh, grabbed a glass from the cupboard, and filled it with a pitcher from the fridge. Granny wouldn’t let any of them drink from the tap, so she kept ice water in the fridge. Bendy hadn’t tried drinking from the tap at night ever since Granny brought it up one morning. He still had no idea how she knew.
Rinsing the glass and putting it back in the cupboard, Bendy walked back to the stairs. This was when Cuphead decided to strike.
“You know, I would have thought all our training would make you more aware of your surroundings.” He teased.
Bendy nearly jumped a foot in the air and turned to face him, “An-” The scowl on his face turned to shock when he saw Cuphead sitting there. Cuphead didn’t know who Bendy had thought he was, but that wasn’t what he was here for tonight.
The room was silent for a moment before Bendy spoke, “Well, you haven’t been at training in a while, have you? Maybe I’ve just lost my progress.”
“But I have been there,” Cuphead stared him down, “Though I guess you wouldn’t know, seeing as you’re so keen on ignoring me lately.”
Bendy looked away, leaving Cuphead to sigh.
“Want to take this outside?”
And so they did.
The two men sat on the steps of the front porch, watching the street. Bendy refusing to be the one to talk first, and Cuphead staring down at him as if daring him.
“So, what’s it all about?” Cuphead started, looking away at a tree instead.
“What?” Bendy startled once more, he seemed jumpy tonight, “What is what about?”
“You're ignoring me, that’s what, and I’m sick of it.”
Bendy looked down at his feet, not replying. Cuphead groaned, “Come on man, you know fully well I’ve been through worse than a sprained wrist. Why are you acting so weird about it?”
“I’m not acting weird, I just-” Bendy stumbled with his words, “I don’t know.”
It was silent for a moment before Cuphead spoke up again, “Is it ‘cause you’re the one who hurt me?”
Bendy kept looking away, his silence saying enough.
“You know I’m not mad, right?”
“Of course I know that,” Bendy finally looked near him, but looked away again quickly, “It’s not about that.”
“Then what is it about?”
“I’m supposed to be better at this!” Bendy looked him in the eyes, “I’m not supposed to be able to hurt you.”
Cuphead stared at him flatly, “Well good news, you really can’t.”
“I literally did! Look at your wrist.”
“It’s not that bad, you know it isn’t.”
“It’s not about how bad it is,” Bendy threw his hands up, “I shouldn’t hurt you at all, even slightly!”
“It’s not like you did it on purpose,” Cuphead said, exasperated, “You have nothing to feel bad about!”
Bendy glared at him, “Am I not allowed to be upset that I hurt my best friend?”
The two stared at each other for a moment, before Cuphead let out a low whistle, “Wow, Bendy, I’m your best friend? That’s kind of embarrassing for you,” He smirked.
Bendy flushed, “Come on, this is serious. I’m trying to apologize here.”
“There wasn’t an apology anywhere in this conversation, but that’s okay because there’s literally nothing to apologize for.”
“Yes there is! I hurt you, I shouldn’t have done that, and I’m sorry.” Bendy crossed his arms and glared at Cuphead.
“It was an accident, you don’t have to feel bad about it,” Cuphead replied.
Bendy put a hand over his eyes, “You don’t get it at all,” he groaned.
“Then explain!” Cuphead threw his arms out in indignation.
Bendy went silent again, this time simply gathering his thoughts. When he spoke, it was softer, “You know how I have demon strength, right?”
“How could I not,” Cuphead joked, causing Bendy to glare at him.
“I’m being serious here, schmuck.”
“Sorry, sorry, keep going.”
Bendy took a deep breath, “Okay, well, all my life, I’ve been way stronger than anyone around me, and I didn’t always control it the best. Even when I met Boris, I was still struggling with it, but before that I had a habit of always breaking things when I just tried to hold them.
“It was like the whole world was made of wet paper towels, like the slightest touch could completely crumple it,” He looked back at the cup, “It wasn’t actually like that, I couldn’t pick up a tree or anything when I was five years old, but I could put a hole in it pretty easily.”
Cuphead sat in shock for a second, before nodding in understanding, “That makes sense, I guess.”
“Yeah, but again, at the time I didn’t really have a good handle on things, and I wasn’t very smart,” He was cut off by Cuphead snorting. He pushed the cup lightly and kept going, “Shut up, I meant that I was a kid, and kids are pretty damn stupid. I didn’t realize that I was too strong for my own good, and I didn’t have any forethought either, so I often just grabbed at things and completely broke them.”
“Alright, I think I get it, but you’re better now, right?” Cuphead asked, “You’ve got much more of a handle of yourself than it sounds like you used to.”
“Yeah, nowadays it only feels like wet cardboard.” Bendy leaned back on his hands.
“Then what does it have to do with me? Why are you so nervous now that you grabbed me a bit too hard?” Cuphead prodded a bit further.
“Well, when I was young and still in that stage of not really knowing my own strength, I lived in the woods,” Bendy changed his tune to sarcastic, “I don’t know if you know this, but there’s an awful lot of small and soft animals in the woods.”
Cuphead was starting to understand a bit more now.
Bendy continued, “Well, little kid me really liked the small and cute animals, and wanted to play with them, so I’d make a grab at them to try and hold them and,” He paused for a second, “No matter how hard I tried, whenever I held them I just heard and felt this disgusting crunch, I’d break all their bones and leave them dying painfully. They’d always make these horrible noises while dying, I never killed them instantly and they were in so much pain, I felt so bad but every time I tried to fix it I just made it worse.”
Bendy brought his knees up and rested his head on them, “So, I learned not to grab at things, I practiced with rocks and branches on how to not hold things too hard, but I told myself I’d never touch anything alive ever again,” He waved a hand, “Of course, that didn’t happen, not too long after that I moved out to Sillyvision and met Boris, and had to learn very quickly how to hold him without hurting him. I’m so lucky I never hurt him..”
They sat in silence again for a minute, Cuphead digesting the information and Bendy waiting for him to respond.
“You know, Bendy?” Cuphead started, prompting Bendy to look at him, “I think you’re the nicest guy I know.”
“What? How could you hear that and think ‘oh he’s so nice’?” Bendy stared at him with confusion.
“Are you kidding me? You’re stronger than anybody around you and you immediately decide to learn how not to use it? ” Cuphead waved his hands for emphasis, “Your immediate reaction was just that you didn’t want to hurt anything, not even an animal. That’s the nicest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s not that big of a deal, anyone with basic morals would do the same.” Bendy stared at him incredulously.
“Do you know what the first thing I did was when I got my powers?” Cuphead asked, “I found someone who was weaker than me, and I beat them up. Then I kept doing the same thing for the rest of my life.”
“Okay, but you’re a complete schmuck.”
Cuphead smacked him on the back of the head.
“Besides, it doesn’t matter,” Bendy shook his head, “Even when I tried to never hurt anyone, I still did. I still do, ” He waved at Cupheads wrist as an example, “Nothing I try will ever be enough, I’m always going to hurt people. All because I’m a stupid demon .”
Cuphead shook his head in disbelief, “‘Always going to hurt people’? You barely sprained my wrist, on accident . If you think this is unforgivable, then I’m terrified to see what you think of the things I’ve done.”
Bendy kept his eyes on the grass in front of him, refusing to say anything more. Cuphead decided a different approach was necessary, so he took a deep breath to prepare.
“That time, when I shot Mugman,” He started, voice shaky, “That was one of the worst moments of my life . I had accidentally hurt the person who I loved the most.” Bendy looked at him through the corner of his eye but stayed silent, “Back then, I kept thinking ‘He’d have been better off if I wasn’t around’, I keep thinking that to this day. The thing is, I can’t even tell myself it’s not true, there’s so many horrible things that have happened that wouldn’t have if I’d just not been there.”
Cuphead stared down at his hands as they shook, “It might have been an accident that I shot Mugman, but I was trying to shoot you. You have the benefit of saying you never meant to hurt anyone. I hurt my brother and the only person I can blame is myself.”
Bendy sat up straight and looked at Cuphead, “But you’re trying to be better, you’re actively working to be a better person,” He shook his head, “When you hurt someone you care about, all you can do is apologize and try to be better, because nothing can take back the fact that you hurt them. Trying to be better is what makes them keep loving you, even when you hurt them.”
Cuphead looked at him smugly, “What?” Bendy frowned, “Why is your face like that?”
“You know, once in a while you should really take your own advice.” Cuphead sighed, “You hurt me by accident, right? But you apologized and you’re always watching your own strength to make sure you don’t hurt anyone again, that’s what matters, right? ”
Bendy flushed and stuttered for a moment, trying to explain himself and failing, “Well- Yeah, but- The point is that no matter how hard I try I keep doing it. I keep hurting people.”
“And you keep trying to be better, according to your own rules, that's what you should be caring about.”
Bendy growled and lightly pushed Cuphead again, but to his dismay Cuphead only laughed, “Would it make you feel better if I said I forgive you? Even if I think you did nothing wrong, I still forgive you for spraining my wrist.”
Bendy sighed and gave up, the fight leaving him in an instant, “Sure, whatever, I’m too tired to argue with you.”
“Good, because I think this just drives home the fact that you’re a good person.”
Bendy groaned and the two lapsed into a comfortable silence. They stared at the sky for a few minutes in the quiet, it was very dark out, a sign that they should get some sleep before dawn. Instead, they sat, enjoying each other’s company, until Cuphead broke the silence.
“Guess what, short stack?” Bendy let out a light huff, but otherwise didn’t respond to the nickname, only waited for the other to finish his sentence.
“You’re my best friend, too.”