Are you not into BATIM anymore? It’s sad that you closed the ask blog.
I don’t know why the last couple months people have been asking me about BATIM so much xD It’s not annoying or anything it’s just really confusing why there’s so much interest in it again, or more specifically why there’s so much interest in the stuff i made for it again.
Anyway yeah no I moved on from that blog, it was fun while it lasted but I wanted to do other stuff with my time. I’m still,,, KINDA into it? like I keep up with news for the new games and i’ve drawn a smidge of fanart here n there but that’s it lol. probs wont be drawing anything else for the AU ask blog tho, i more or less like where i left it. with all the time and effort i and so many other people poured into it though, i’m happy people are still enjoying it! even if my art and writing has evolved A Lot since then asdfklsldkfj
it’s three-year anniversary was actually a couple weeks ago on june 1st,,, time really flies huh
i’m so glad i found this blog, even if it’s goofy, because i’ve made so many friends since then and i don’t know where i’d be without all of you. it’s sad to see it go, but the closure made me look back and realize that we’ve all come a long, long way since then. it’s nuts.
AN: ITT au is mine. @ask-joeydrewstudios is @cozylittleartblog .
It had been a month since Inky had been sent home (about six months since he had first been summoned) and things had pretty much returned to normal, though there were still signs of his influence everywhere. Allison and Tom were dating steadily and a betting pool (started by Wally) had sprung up in the studio on how long it would be before they got married. Shawn would constantly talk to his two plushies and it was more common to see them moving. Bendy still pranked like normal, but now he also helped clean up afterward. Even though the little Ink Demon had had only been there for a short time, people had grown attached to him and they were now missing him.
"How do you think he's doing?" Bendy wondered out loud as he held a plushie that looked like Inky, sitting on his bed. Inky had made all the toons gifts after they had found out he could make things out of his ink. Bendy had gotten the plushie, Alice had gotten some hairpins, and Boris had gotten a bone.
"I'm sure he's doing just fine," Joey assured, rubbing the devil between the horns before tucking him into bed. "He's back home with his own family again. I'm sure he's happy."
"Do you think he misses us?" Bendy continued. "Like we miss him?"
"I'm sure-"
"Can you make a way so we can visit each other?" Bendy continued, jumping up in excitement with his tail twitching rapidly behind him. "You're good with the magic stuff Papa Drew… surely there is some way…"
"I'll look into it," Joey chuckled, getting Bendy back under the sheets. "But you need your rest. Sleep well… goodnight my toons…"
"Goodnight Papa Drew…" the toons chorused back as Joey gently closed the door. A smile was on his face as he headed back to his office. He had some time to do a little research before he went to bed himself. He was sure Bendy wouldn't drop the subject of seeing Inky again until he had some way of making it possible and he was sure he could. And with how well things went with Inky… maybe Joey could help a few more other Bendy's…
AN: And that’s the end. I had a lot of fun doing this and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
When Joey Drew Studios heard the news of the toons coming back they scurried upstairs, except for Wally who Shawn had to carry due to the janitor spraining his ankle from running to bring the good news. They opened the door and surely Wally was telling the truth. The toons we’re home fine and tired.
Susie felt like crying seeing Alice was home. She couldn’t hold in her joy as Sammy hugged her making her cry into his shoulder.
Joey smiled crying himself seeing his precious children home. Henry stood by him, putting his arm around his shoulder. The later turned to his boss, asking him “so are you going to lecture them?” Henry asked.
Joey chuckled wiping away a tear. “Not tonight. In the morning, yes.” Henry chuckled over Joey’s response. Everyone was just happy that the toons we’re all right.
The next morning, Joey kept his word and scolded the toons for running off like that and giving the studio a scare. They almost spilled his secret, which they did to Damien and Jenny, but the toons weren’t going to tell Joey that. Joey worried them too much as it is, and they wondered what Joey would do to Damien and Jenny since they know the secret.
“Grounded?” Boris asked.
Joey nodded. “Big time.” He added.
The toons sighed, but weren’t upset. They got up from their seat and hugged their Papa Drew tight. Joey was confused over the affection, but he hugged his kids back. Like most parents when their kids run away, and come back home after a long time of pain and worry he was just happy his kids were okay.
2 weeks into the toons grounding, the toons stopped thinking of escape plans of trying to see the outside world, they’ve seen enough as it is. Now its just them being toons, relaxing at the studio, pulling pranks, in Bendy’s case, or chatting with the studio family.
What the toons didn’t know Joey had something special planned for them with the help of Thomas and Wally. The head of the studio opened the door, making the toons look up seeing their father. “I have a surprise for you three.” He exclaimed.
Boris ears picked up, his tail wagging as he ran to his father. “What is it? What is it?” He asked bouncing up and down.
Alice walked by wondering what the surprise is for. “Its not our birthday is it? Or is there a holiday we don’t know about.” The angel thought.
Joey chuckled. “Nope. Come with me and I’ll show you.” The toons followed their father downstairs to the hallway where the offering pedestals were. There they saw a door to the right of the room.
“What is it Joey?” Alice asked.
Joey put his hand on the doorknob and turned it slowly. “You’ll see.” He opened the door and the toons eyes widen over what they saw.
The toons remembered this part of the studio as the dumpster site, but now it was clean and had concrete, a slide and a porch swing. There were also flowers blooming all around.
“What’s this?” Bendy asked.
“This is the studio backyard. I thought since you guys want to be outside, and I need you in the studio. Henry and Susie suggested I could make a backyard for you guys.” Joey explained.
The toons were impressed over the backyard. Why haven’t they asked Joey for this sooner then going on one big adventure? They all thought. The trio smiled and ran to their papa giving him a hug. Joey chuckled and hugged them back.
“You like it?” Joey asked.
“Like it? We LOVE IT!” The toons cheered at the same time. The three ran to the swing and sat down as it moved back and forth. Joey smiled watching his toons have fun on this glorious sunny day.
BOOM
Then rain came pouring down, the toons screamed as they ran out of their new yard back inside the studio where it was nice and safe. Not realizing they locked Joey out in the pouring rain. Joey tried to open the door, but saw he was locked in. He tried knocking on the door hoping someone could hear his cries to help him get out of the rain.
“Come on! Can anyone help me! Hello!” Joey yelled.
Part 2 of my sendoff for @ask-joeydrewstudios! I asked @girlwiththegreenhat which dress I should draw Susie in as she had suggested Sammy be in one, and so “Crystal Rose” got picked for the Starlight Susie Campbell!
Ey look it's almost done! :D Also I'm thinking about labeling one of the soda cans...Mtn.Drew XD The Henry’s: @ask-joeydrewstudios @halfusek @squigglydigglydoo My Henry @yunisverse @shinyzango And @thelostmoongazer Pose belongs to @fishsticxz (I hope I tagged the right person if not I'm dumb!)
In honor of a very special event that occurred today in the @ask-joeydrewstudios blog, I have actually decided to do my job and write something, dammit. This is the chaos I have created as a result this evening, at 11 p.m. Enjoy the chaos!
Every little sound was setting him on edge. Every creak of the door and every rustle of paper, was a break in the silence so thick Joey thought it must be made of cotton. He tried to direct his focus elsewhere—paperwork, scripts, reports from the maintenance crew. The words skittered and danced along the pages, mocking him.
Goddammit.
Joey was pretty sure he was losing his mind.
He tossed aside his pen, absently noting the ache in his hands. He rubbed the complaining joints and scanned around his office. Surely he had some sort of mindless busy work in need of attention around here.
Next thing he knew, he was walking out of his office and heading toward his apartment. He wasted an unreasonable amount of time making a fresh pot of tea, and by the time he was done, his counter was spotless, the trash can emptied, and the items in his refrigerator rearranged. Three times.
He didn’t even bother stepping back into his office. Instead, his cup in hand, he went straight for the animation department. If he sped up a little the closer he came, no one was there to see. His heart faltered when he rounded the corner to zero in on Henry’s desk. Empty. Not a single page of work was set (Henry always took his work home with him), and the chair was still pulled aside so the animator could slip into it as smoothly as possible.
Bendy sat next to the chair, not daring to touch a speck of dust. The little toon’s eyes brightened at first until he recognized that it was just his father. His tail fell limp and wrapped around his left leg. Joey’s shoulders fell at the sight. Bendy and Joey looked at one another, but didn’t say a word.
In the room across from Henry’s desk, the rest of the animation team was busy but tense. There was nothing but frowns, and Joey caught a few tense murmurs rumbling among them. One man even snipped at his neighbor.
“Mr. Drew?”
The man behind the voice stood behind him sorting through a collection of papers. Oh, this was one of the newbies. What was his name again? It started with an A…
Joey stepped out of the way, but had to ask, “Has Henry showed up yet?”
The young man quirked a brow, unsurprised. “Sorry, sir, but no.”
“Has anyone gotten any calls from him?”
The man shrugged. “As far as I know, no.”
Joey nodded, his grip on his cup’s handle tightening. He let the young man return to his work, and retreated back to his office where he soon set aside his untouched cup next to the other four.
Joey Drew might have thought he was doing well, keeping his worries in check and away from everyone else, but unfortunately, his mood was a plague that spread fast and infected everyone else in the studio.
As a matter of fact, things were already coming to a head in the break room.
“Can you believe it!?” Sammy raged, slamming his cup of coffee onto the table. “Joey has come in and out of my department six times—six times—today, telling me how to do my job! I swear if the tapes weren’t still rolling, I would have clobbered the bastard!”
“No, you wouldn’t have.” Susie grabbed Sammy by the arm and dragged him into the nearest chair. His scowl never wavered, but his leg was bouncing so fast, the table rattled.
Shawn, who had been listening to Sammy’s incessant tirade, frowned. “I’d hate to say it, but I can understand that completely.” He groaned as he leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. “It’s one thing to get a surprise visit every once ’n a while, but this is ridiculous. Hardly an hour into my work, and Mr. Drew is in and out, scannin’ over every doll we make.” His face screwed up in distaste. “Not a word said between a hello and a goodbye.”
Lacie scoffed and joined the table. “At least you don’t have Mr. Drew ask’n for progress reports every hour. Can’t do a lick of work with him breathin’ down my neck.”
“Joey’s just been having a weird day,” Susie said calmly. Another unnamed employee offered Susie a drink that she politely declined.
“Yeah, but it was creepy,” Shawn said.
“And annoy’n” Lacie added while Sammy nodded.
“If ya wanna talk creepy—“ Wally walked into the break room, mop clasped in an iron hold. “Get this: Henry’s not here.”
All movement in the room stopped. Everyone stared at Wally, before Sammy broke the silence with a snort.
“Very funny, Franks.”
“No, I wish I was that funny! He’s really not here.”
“What are you talk’n about, Wally, that man’s always here,” Lacie replied. “It’s a wonder he ever leaves.”
“Oh yeah? I can prove it!”
“Oh here we go.”
Wally stuck his tongue at Sammy and said, “Just look.” He marched over to the cabinet. With a grand wave of the hand, he threw open the door. It swung open with a clatter. It almost rattled shut, but Wally caught it. He gestured toward the top shelf.
Everyone became quiet.
Susie, hesitant, slowly rose from her chair. Her heels clicked loudly along the hardwood floor as she walked. She almost wavered before reaching for the item on the shelf, and she examined it as though it was a cursed, foreign object.
With wide eyes, she looked at the group, and held up the item. “It’s…it’s Henry’s mug.”
A chair shrieked, and Sammy was at her side in a flash. He snatched the mug from her hands. After a solid five minutes of scrutiny… “Holy shit, it’s clean.”
“Yeah, and so’s his desk,” Wally said, a smug grin on his face. “See for yourself.”
One of the unnamed employees ran out of the room and down the hall. After a tense minute, the remaining group heard the guy scream, “OH MY GOD!”
In record time, the entire studio was uncomfortably aware that Henry Batim was not at work today, and Joey definitely had not scheduled a week off for him. Some checked their calendars and annoyed the secretary three or four times just to be sure. The animators were harassed, but not one of them could explain this phenomenon away. The gossipers got more incredulous as this sick game of telephone circulated.
Some even say that Grant Cohen stepped out of his office to ask around himself.
The members of the main crew who were still gathered in the break room stared at one another, in disbelief, worry hanging over their heads like a dark, stormy cloud.
“Should…” Susie began, “Should someone call his house to check on him?”
No one moved.
“I’ve tried a coupla times already.” Wally shook his head, leaning heavily on his mop. He made the cut-throat motion with his hand. “Nada.”
“This is bullshit,” Sammy said, still staring at the mug.
“I’m telling ya, it’s a sign of the apocalypse. And you can bet that when the sky falls, I’m outta here.”
Bendy sat at Henry’s desk, trying not to fidget. He wanted to curl into a ball but didn’t dare when there were so many people in the next room. So many witnesses… When that one rando employee had run off screaming, Bendy felt his panic rise, but he stubbornly refused to move.
“He’s just a little late,” he mumbled. “Papa said so, so he must be.” He wrapped his arms around his legs. “He’s gotta be.”
“Bendy? Are you still here?” Bendy looked up to see Alice standing over him. Her hands were on her hips, but her frown was a concerned one. She got herself situated on the ground with him. “It’s been hours, Bendy.”
“I’m waiting for Henry.” He scowled and faced the wall.
Alice sighed. “This is getting ridiculous.” Bendy ignored her. “Haven’t you set up that ink bucket yet?” she asked.
Maybe if he ignored her, she’d go away.
“I think there’s a slice of cake that Sammy hasn’t eaten yet,” Alice said. “It’s double layer. You could scrape off the icing in the middle and replace it with ink, no problem.”
Wonder how much longer it’ll take for Henry to come? Hopefully Papa Drew will give him a earful for all this trouble.
Alice hummed and then gasped. “What about that invisible ink? You annoyed Wally for hours about it yesterday.” She poked the back of his head. “Don’t you wanna try it?” she asked playfully.
“No.”
Alice recoiled. Although Bendy didn’t see it, a scowl formed on her face. If she was a colored toon, her face would have become boiling red. “Okay that does it.”
Faster than he could have thought possible—and, for a toon, that was saying something—Alice scooped him up and threw him over her shoulder.
“Hey! Put me down, Al! Alice!” He pounded his fists on her shoulder and squirmed like a drowning snake. “Lemme go, you jerk!”
“Bite me. I dare you,” she shot back. “We’re fixing this right now, or so help me—“ As soon as she passed by the stairs, she shouted, “BORIS! DRAG YOUR TAIL UP TO PAPA DREW’S OFFICE. NOW!”
By the time Alice toed their father’s office door open, Bendy gave up struggling in favor of making himself dead weight for his sister to lug around. Boris caught up to them, tail dragging and ears pressed to the back of his head. Alice ignored them both and marched inside.
“Papa?” Alice called as she came in. Joey looked up just in time to see Alice hold Bendy up by the arms. “This”—She gave Bendy a careful shake—“and this”—she used Bendy to gesture to Boris—“is a problem.” She then dropped Bendy like a sack of potatoes, and he yelped.
“What was that for!?”
Alice ignored him and marched over to the door. “Oh, and did I forget about this?”
She wrenched the door open, and if one listened carefully, they could hear the sound of someone screaming in the hallway about Henry’s empty desk. Her point made, she snapped the door closed and moved aside a seventh untouched cup of tea so she could place her hands on their father’s desk.
“Papa,” she asked softly, “where’s Henry?”
Joey was quiet for a minute there, the senseless scribbles on his papers long forgotten. He was an absolute mess. Although he’d begun the day no better or worse than any other day, his vest was now hanging on a chair while his sleeves were pushed back as far as possible (the ceiling fan was at its highest setting as well), and his bowtie hung loose. His hair looked like it’s been combed through with his fingers multiple times, and he kept tapping his pen against the blank paper at an obnoxiously rapid pace.
Tptptptptptptptptptptp
Joey took in a deep breath, the taps slowing. “Honestly, sweetie…I…I don’t know.” There was a moment allowed for it to sink in. “I don’t know…and it’s driving me crazy.”
Bendy and Boris jumped while Alice slid easily out of the way when their father suddenly stood to pace.
“I don’t know where he is, why he hasn’t come in, and he isn’t answering his phone—believe me, I couldn’t begin to recall how many times I—” He sucked in a deep breath. He rubbed his temples, brows furrowed, and let out a loud sigh.
Bendy and Boris exchanged worried looks. What could they do? Papa Drew was usually so calm and easy going. If things were this bad, then…what did that say about Henry being missing?
“Papa,” Alice said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe it would be a good idea if you headed over to Henry’s house.”
Joey blinked, dumbfounded.
“It’s mayhem in here,” Alice said, flinging her arms in the air, “More than usual! Everything’s gone bananas because Henry’s not here. You need to check up on him.”
There was a long stretch of silence. Joey looked from one toon to the other. Bendy shuffled his feet, anxious. Boris’s eyes shone, worried and sad. Alice offered her father a confident nod. After a second, Joey slowly began to nod as well.
“You’re right,” he mumbled slowly. The toons jolted when Joey suddenly slapped his hands on the desk. “You are absolutely right.” He seemed to spring back to life as he went about gathering items around the office. He opened up his desk drawer and started rifling through his things as he rambled on, “You three go let the others know that I’ll be out for a bit. Oh where are my keys?”
Moving closer to his father, Boris scanned the desk, and his eyes eventually lit up. “Oh right there!” He pointed them out to Joey.
“Thank you!” Joey fished them out. “It shouldn’t take too long. Their house is about…eh, twenty minutes away—”
Alice offered Joey his vest. He slid into it as best he could, still rambling, “I’ll call to let you all know what’s going on, so stay by the phone, and I’ll—“
Prrrrrrrring Prrrrring!
Joey and the toons jumped when the ringing began.
Prrrrring!
Speak of the devil.
Prrrrring!
The four all looked at each other, and then they looked at the phone vibrating on the wall. Joey practically charged after the phone, the toons skittering behind him. He snatched the phone off its cradle and pressed it into his ear so fast, he was almost certain he’d snap the chord.
“Henry!?” he asked immediately. His heart was pounding as he waited to hear an answer.
“Joey—”
Oh thank GOD! “Oh my GOODNESS,” he cried, relief flooding his veins. His boy’s voice was the greatest thing he’d heard all day. The toons looked at one another, eyes alight.
“Where on earth are you??” Joey demanded, “Are you OKAY!? Do you even know how late you are!?”
Did Joey even know how late it was!? When was the last time he looked at a clock? “I have been worried sick all day—”
“Joey.”
Joey had half a mind to tell Henry to not Joey him young man, but he was already on a roll. “I was about ready to come check in on you two.”
The toons were trying to listen to Henry’s end of the line, but clearly they knew better than to get close while Joey’s voice was starting to rise.
“I mean, you NEVER just NOT COME IN without some kind of call prior—”
—And nothing short of death would usually stop Henry from coming i—Oh god. Dianne. The baby!
“E-even if you couldn’t, then Diane would—”
But she didn’t. Oh god. Oh god!
“And yet, WHAT ON—“
“JOEY!”
“WHAT!?”
From the other end of the line, Joey could hear Henry take in a deep breath. When he spoke again, Henry’s voice was soft, almost in reverent disbelief. Quietly, he said, “You’re a grandfather, Joey.”
His panic jerked to an abrupt halt, and it took him a moment for the words to register. The toons became nervous when Joey didn’t say anything. Meanwhile, Joey could only imagine the grand smile spreading across Henry’s face. It took a second for him to realize that his own lips were pulling into a small smile.
“…Really?!”
((Aaaand then Grandpa Drew runs out of the studio and leaves his kids to explain what the heck just happened. It takes a bit for everyone to calm the frick down. Joey might have forgotten his wallet.
Happy Birthday, Ben. Welcome to the nuthouse—I mean family
Oof! This sure took me a while! Not really because it’s long (although it kind of is, whoops!), but because I have terrible time management skills XD
I always plan what I’m going to say for this little introductions and then completely forget what I was supposed to say...
Well, this is my fic for the Joey Drew Studios AU at @ask-joeydrewstudios! I knew for quite some time that I wanted to do something for this AU because the characters are very well developed and consistent, the art is fantastic and it’s always a good time whenever I receive a notification telling me there’s a new post! I could spend a looong time telling you why I love this AU so much, but instead I’m just going to recommend checking it out! I wan’t sure whether to draw something, or write something, soooo I did both! Oh! I’m also going to put it over on AO3 and ffnet if that’s more your thing!
I really hope you like it!
Cough Don’t use or repost my drawing without my permission, please! Cough
It had been a very productive Friday in the studio. Most of the animators had managed to get ahead on their work, the voice actors had very smooth recording sessions and Joey found himself praising a lot of people when he checked on them. The ink spills where almost null, the projectors all in outstanding condition, the pipes hadn’t emitted any creaking noises or given any signs of damage. The toy department had just finished some new concepts for a limited edition line of toys that could boost their income quiet a bit. The studio was reveling in a contented mood, and the employees certainly appreciated the relaxed work environment, so different to the usual stress of having to meet an approaching deadline. But that productivity came at a price.
A price called Sammy Lawrence.
Due to the presence of a certain prank loving toon, people who worked at Joey Drew Studios knew to have spare clothing at hand, even more so if you worked in the Music Department. But that usually meant just an extra shirt for the week. This day? Sammy had already had to change his shirt twice before lunch break. The first time was due to a bucket of ink being dumped on his head; the second because Henry just so happened to be passing through the same hallway as him with a bowl of (thankfully not boiling) soup, and Bendy just so happened to run by them and “accidentally” push Henry. The entirety of the contents of the bowl, of course, ended covering Sammy. From that point on, the positivity in the air was slain by Sammy’s irate aura and the employees instinctively stepped aside whenever he walked by. And now that he had finally been able to eat something and calm himself a little, he sat at his desk and grabbed a pen only to discover half of his stuff was coated in honey. He groaned in exasperation and cursed the substance while trying to detach the pen from his fingers.
Sammy didn’t know why the little brat suddenly decided to focus all of his attention on him, (this considering the music director was a favorite target), but he knew it needed to stop that instant. In fact, it should have stopped days ago. Since wednesday, Bendy had been making his working hours a living hell. It ranged from hiding random ingredients in his food, to messing with the lyrics in his incomplete songs, to hiding every single one his goddamn cigarettes in a different location each. The only reason he had managed to not fall behind was that he locked all of his important documents and work in the upper right drawer of his desk. He bet that the little devil would have turned them all into paper airplanes if he didn’t.
Grumbling, he stood up once again and started walking towards the nearest bathroom to wash his hands. Of course, it would be his luck that said bathroom was the one in the worst condition in the whole studio. The door, specifically, was a bother to open since there wasn’t enough space between it and the floor, making it drag noisily; not to mention the rusty hinges and knob people had tired of reminding Wally to oil. Maybe the fact that it was the bathroom closest to the music department had something to do with that. Sammy wouldn’t put it past the janitor to be petty like that. He would normally go the extra mile to go to a decent bathroom, but he had wasted enough time as it was, so he resigned himself and stepped in, careful not to close the damaged door all the way.
He got as far as rubbing the soap on his hands before the water stopped flowing from the tap. Frowning, Sammy tried opening and closing it, but quickly lost his patience and tried the other two. Nothing. Anger rapidly increasing, Sammy took a moment to count to ten, planning to calmly go to the bathroom in the floor above. But while he focused on counting, he failed to notice the rattling of the pipes in front of him. 5… 6… 7… 8… 9… The sudden loud creaking finally caught his attention and alarms rang in his head when he saw all three sinks slightly shaking. He managed but one hasty step towards the door before the three taps were sent flying and three forceful water streams drenched him from head to toe. Sammy instinctively covered his face, desperately trying to maintain enough visibility to walk the short distance to the door. Unfortunately, with all the chaos he wasn’t able to notice the bar of soap that had landed on the floor, and thus couldn’t prevent stepping on it. He yelped when he felt himself tripping forward, barely being able to slam against the door with his shoulder rather than with his face.
A dull pain spread through his upper arm but nothing too serious. Sammy rubbed at it and stood up, his mind trying to process what had just happened. If he had had a moment to collect himself, rage and annoyance would have probably consumed him, but he heard something above the sound of the flowing water. Laughter. Really loud laughter. The door of the stall closest to the wall slowly swung open and hanging from the inside was the little devil himself. He obviously couldn’t hang there for much longer, shaking with laughter as he was, so he jumped to the only corner of the floor untouched by the water to continue from there.
“WOW, Sammy! I thought I had something great by breaking the sinks, but you made it even better with that soap bit!!!” he managed to say through his giggles. “You sure you don’t wanna be a toon? You’d make a great target for gags!”.
Sammy remained silent. He remained silent and looked at the mess around him, one of his eyes twitching. He remained silent because even if he was normally able to yell at Bendy for his pranks, he couldn’t believe the absolute stupidity of the whole situation. He remained silent because even if he would usually call the demon a little shit, he still had to remember he was a kid and at the moment he didn’t trust himself to not say something he could regret later. And the absolute least he needed that day was for Joey to visit him to berate him on his conduct. So he bit back the venom that threatened to escape from his mouth and limited himself to glaring at the demon as harshly as he could. Bendy’s laughter did wither under the look that Sammy was giving him (and the lack of an explosive reaction), but he kept a defiant attitude by crossing his arms and returning the stare with a smile. This only further irritated the music director, so he turned around to open the door, not wanting to see the smug brat’s little face anymore. He wasn’t used to repressing his anger, and since he was absolutely furious, he needed an outlet fast. Except… the doorknob wasn’t working. In fact, it felt pretty loose, probably detached from whatever internal mechanism was inside the door. He struggled with it, as if he could force it to work just by violently moving it, but he ended loosening it it to the point it came off. Sammy glared at it for a second before flinging it against the wall. He heard snorting behind him.
“What?” came Bendy’s voice. “Can’t even open a dooooor, Sammy?”
He then started blabbering about how Sammy needed to start lifting weights and eating more vitamins. Sammy sighed in frustration and turned towards Bendy to yell at him to undo whatever he did to the door so he could go tell Joey to ground the demon for the rest of eternity. He froze, however, when he saw the floor of the room. The flow of the water had considerably diminished, but it was still consistently adding more liquid to the floorboards. The growing puddle was silently creeping in Bendy’s direction, but the demon couldn’t be bothered to notice. For a split second, he toyed with the idea of just watching him notice and freak out about his crucial mistake. But a pang of guilt immediately hit him, knowing well that it would be the equivalent of letting a fire get close to a human. He was furious, but not even he was that cruel. Sighing, he sacrificed the one spot on his clothes that had been spared from the water attack to dry his hands. He crossed the distance between them, tuning out Bendy’s incessant rambling, and lift him up before the puddle could reach his shoes. Three seconds later, there wasn’t a dry spot on the floor.
“Hey!” Bendy exclaimed. “Put me down!! I don’t like bein’ carried around, ya hear me?! Let go!”
He then proceeded to poke Sammy’s head with his tail and trying to wiggle out of his hold. Sammy tightened his grip, afraid he might actually drop him and then held the demon to arms length in a way that wouldn’t allow Bendy enough movement to bite him (which he was known for).
“Okay, you little brat. You are going to look down for a single second and then I dare you to say that again to my face,” Sammy deadpanned.
“What, you think I wouldn’t?” Bendy crossed his arms. “Fine! I’ll look down and then I’ll tell you to your face to put me- Oh...”
“‘Oh’ is right.” Sammy glared at him as he stopped struggling to fall to his demise. “Now, if you could stop throwing a tantrum and fix the freaking door so we both can get the hell out of here, that would be great, wouldn’t it?”
“What?! I didn’t do anything to the door!!!”
“Oh, yeah? Then why won’t it open? Can you really not stop playing dumb even when you turned the floor into something you can’t so much as touch without melting?!” Sammy made him face the door, hoping that he would pull out a tool or something that would let them get out,
“Ugh! I told ya, I didn’t break the door! You’re the one that slammed his ugly face against it! Maybe that’s why it broke, huh?”
Bendy stuck his tounge at him and looked away with a huff.
“So what? We’re just trapped here now?!” Sammy looked at the demon incredulously. “Are you happy now? Is this what you wanted? Well, congratulations! I bet Joey will give you a trophy!”
Bendy scowled at him, but quickly looked away under Sammy’s scolding stare and resigned himself to pout in silence. This was doing nothing for Sammy’s mood. Now there was no way he wasn’t going to fall behind in his work. Besides, the water was already up to his ankles and the cold from being soaked was starting to get to him. His arms were also getting tired.
“Why am I even carrying you still?” he said more to himself. The little guy didn’t really deserved the effort after landing them in the situation they were in. He walked towards the stalls, hoping that he could set him down.
“Hey! What are you doing?” Bendy asked once he felt they were moving.
“I’m getting tired so I decided you are going to stand on one of the toilets,” he said matter of factly.
“WHAT? But… but toilets are filled with water!”
If Sammy didn’t fear he would drop him he would have smacked his own forehead with his hand.
“I’m not putting you inside the toilet, you moron! You’re gonna stand on top of the lid.”
“Ew! No way! Joey told me what goes in there and I’m NOT touching those things.” Bendy scrunched his face up in disgust and clung to Sammy’s hands, refusing to be put down. “And the water is rising so fast! What if it reached me if I was standing there? Oh no! What if it goes all the way up to the roof? What if nobody saves us?!”
Sammy rolled his eyes at the toon’s exaggeration. This wasn’t a worrying predicament, only an infuriatingly annoying one. At this point, he would even accept if Joey offered to teleport them out of there.
“Calm down, we are not going to drown,” Sammy told him. “The door isn’t fused to the floor. There’s gotta be some water leaking, and the moment somebody notices they’re going to-”
“WHAT THE HELL?”
Wally’s voice reached them right on cue. Bendy’s face lit up in an instant.
“Wally! Wally, we’re trapped! You gotta save us!” He yelled.
“Bendy? What-? How-? Oh, shoot! Are you ok? You aren’t like… half melted or something right?” Wally’s voice became a bit panicked with the possible implications of what he could find on the other side of the door. They could hear him frantically turning the useless knob.
“Thanks for the mental image, Franks…”
“Wait… Sammy?! How many people are in there?!”
“Oh no, just the two of us!” Bendy exclaimed happily, as if he hadn’t been freaking out just a few moments prior. “I’m using him as my personal island!”
“Uh, yeah, you keep doing that buddy…” Wally said. “How did this even happen?”
“Sammy broke the door!” Bendy immediately answered.
“Excuse me?! You’re the genius that thought exploding the sinks was a good idea!”
“He WHAT?” Sammy could tell by the distress in Wally’s voice that he knew who would have to deal with the mess. He would have found it amusing if his shoes weren’t completely submerged.
“Franks, my clothes are soaked and I am locked in here with a three foot tall nightmare incarnated. How about you get us out, and then you play detective?”
Sammy didn’t doubt the silence that followed was Wally trying to come up with a good comeback to not just accept an order from the music director, but in the end he had to acept this wasn’t a good time for that.
“Fine, fine,” he finally said. “You might want to step away from the door! I’ll get you out in a second!”
The door creaked when Wally pushed forcefully against it, but with no results, A groan of frustration was heard before repeated pounding against the wood, which the trapped pair could only guess was Wally either tackling the door or trying to kick it down. Bendy started cheering him on. After the fifth hit, one of the rusty screws of the upper hinge was sent flying while the other hinge got crooked and Sammy swore one of its sides got lodged into the wood frame. From that point on, nothing else even budged.
“... Maybe I won’t get you out in a second…”
“Wow, it’s almost like it’s important to do your job maintaining the building, huh?” Sammy said bitterly.
“Agh, shut up. Look, there’s an axe somewhere in the studio. Joey told me where it was, but I uh, kinda forgot where it is… I gotta go ask him.” Silence. ”Dammit. He’s not going to like this…”
“I would prefer it if you cut the water first. It’s almost up to my knees already.”
“Uh, right, right. First things first, and all that.”
“Hurry up, Wally! I don’t think Sammy has the strength to carry me for much longer!” Bendy called.
“Wha-? You little-!”
“Try not to shove Bendy into the water while I’m gone Sammy!”
Wally’s voice faded along with his hurried steps. Sammy’s shoulders sagged. Great. More waiting. He guessed he could try doing something productive. Maybe see if he could loosen the hinges. Oh wait! He couldn’t. He was carrying some dead weight. And as much as he hated to admit it, said dead weight was indeed putting a strain on his arms. He let himself lower them just a bit to get his blood circulating better, hoping that the demon wouldn’t notice. With his luck that week, of course he did.
“Uh, you did hear what Wally just told ya, right?” Bendy said glancing down and lifting his feet.
“Oh, sorry! It must be that I’m not strong enough to carry you. I could just drop you any minute now.”
Bendy pouted up at him. Sammy retaliated with a glare, but found that just looking at the demon reminded him of the terrible week he had had. He decided that he had enough of the staring contest soon after and looked around for, well, literally anything else he could do. He spotted the towel that was placed for people to dry their hands, which had miraculously been spared of the shower, and he got an idea for a solution for the tiredness of his arms. He crossed the room towards it and held Bendy in front of it.
“Grab it.”
“Huh?” Bendy gave him a confused look.
“Grab the towel.”
“What? Why?”
“I’ll let you in on a secret,” Sammy lifted Bendy up so that they were looking eye to eye. “I despise carrying you as much as you despise being carried. So you are gonna take that towel, put it on my shoulder and sit there until we get out of here.”
“Why don’t you grab the towel if it’s your idea?” Bendy’s cocky demeanor started chipping away at Sammy’s last bit of patience, and he was desperately trying to remind himself he was supposed to be the adult. “Why do I gotta do all the work here, huh? How lazy of you! Are you sure you’re fit to be the director of anything?”
“Ok, that’s ENOUGH! Why are you being such a prick?! This whole situation was YOUR fault! Least you could do is cooperate with something as easy as this!”
Bendy flinched at the louder tone of voice, but he wasn’t deterred.
“‘Why are you being such a prick?’” he imitated in a high pitched voice, using his hand to simulate a mouth. However, he did grab the towel and threw it on Sammy’s shoulder, hitting him on the face (not so accidentally) during the fact. Making sure it was placed well enough that his wet shirt wouldn’t come in contact with the little toon, Sammy let him climb on his shoulder and he finally could put his darned arms down. His relief was short lived, though. Now he had a whining demon right besides his ear.
“That’s it,” he said not even paying attention to whatever Bendy was saying. “I’m quitting the moment we get out of this stupid bathroom…”
“Yeah? Well maybe you should,” Bendy suddenly muttered with a scowl. If he hadn’t been so close, Sammy may not have heard it. “That way you wouldn’t break Boris’ stuff.”
Sammy startled so forcefully he had to quickly hold Bendy in place so he wouldn’t fall.
“Break Boris’- What are you even talking about?” he asked frowning.
“Oh, just admit it!” Bendy turned so he was sitting sideways and could look at Sammy better, He poked his face in an accusing manner. “You broke Boris’ favorite banjo! You know how long he had been practicing a new song to show Joey? Like a month! You even know how long a month is? He had even prepared a mini stage in our apartment, and I was gonna do an opening act and Alice was going to be there too!” Bendy threw his arms in the air as if he could convey the grandiosity of their planned little show by waving them around. “It was going to be great, but then you went and ruined our good time! Boris has been so bummed out since Tuesday he won’t even play with me!”
Sammy was taken aback. Not only could he already feel the headache coming from all the yelling in his ear, but he also realized a very important thing. He pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Is that really why you have been insufferable all week? Because you think I’m the one who did that?”
“I know you did it! Joey said you are the one responsible of all music stuff, so obviously it had to be your fault! If you are innocent, why don’t ya prove it, huh? Oh right, because you can’t! You’re guilty!”
Sammy gave a big sigh, wondering if he was about to waste his breath.
“Tuesday? You mean this tuesday? The same tuesday I had to leave early?” He narrowed his eyes at Bendy and saw the devil’s confidence falter. “You know what happens on tuesdays? There’s a weekly maintenance of all the instruments. You know what else happens on tuesdays? The imbeciles that conduct those checkups often stay and organize a mini ‘act like an idiot’ party after the oh so hard work that task represents for them, even when repeatedly told not to. So more than likely, it was one of them that broke that banjo, and more than likely, if I find out who did it and made these days hell for me because of it, I’m gonna move heaven and earth to make Joey fire them! So there! I hope you are proud, because not only did you waste my time making me clean after your little ‘revenge pranks’ for hours and then make me lose hours of sleep to catch up on work, you also wasted your own time doing something completely worthless. I don’t think you even wanted to put the effort to find out who it was. I bet you just wanted it to be me, because for some goddamn reason you just want to make me quit. So congratulations! You might have just succeeded this time!”
Sammy took a deep breath once his rant was over and noticed at last how Bendy had gone really quite. He wasn’t looking at him and had his head hung low.
“So you really didn’t do it?” came Bendy’s meager question.
Sammy didn’t even dignify that with the obvious response. Instead, he focused on how the water flow from the sinks weakened until stopping altogether, Took Franks long enough. The silence that followed was tense, but Sammy greatly preferred it to having to deal with more tantrums from the toon on his shoulder. Sighing, he moved to the center of the room and settled for impatiently staring impatiently at the door. A chill went up Sammy’s spine, and he cursed his body’s inability to maintain a decent temperature. He would normally find it annoying, but with all that had happened and his head starting to pound, he had ran out of steam. He shifted his weight uncomfortably in place, his feet already feeling numb in his shoes. If he got sick and Joey didn’t give him some kind of compensation, he would make sure he never heard the end of it. Fortunately, he wasn’t needed the next day. Well, he was always needed since his department was filled with idiots, but they could usually handle by themselves whatever there was to do on the weekends, so he’d be able to rest until monday.
“Soooo,” Bendy’s voice broke the silence. It had been nice while it lasted. “Whatcha, uh, whatcha thinking about, Sammy?”
“Oh, nothing. Just wondering whether it’s worth it to write a formal resignation letter or just use the honey on my desk to paste a piece of paper that says ‘I quit’ to Joey’s office door.”
“O-oh…”
Bendy fidgeted in his place, refusing to look at him.
“W-well. You can’t do none of those!”
Sammy raised an eyebrow.
“Really now? And whose stopping me? Because it’s certainly not you.
“Because, uh, because…” Bendy frowned in concentration, before he snapped his fingers. “Because Boris would miss ya! Yeah! You wouldn’t make Boris sad on purpose, would ya?
Wait. Did Bendy actually think he was going to quit? Sammy threatened to quit almost daily. One would think that Bendy would know better. Nonetheless, Sammy decided to play along.
“Boris would miss anyone that worked here even if they had never talked with him. Maybe if I quit the experience will help him to get over it if it happens again, huh?”
Sammy was aware that sounded harsher than he meant it. Boris was one of the few people in the studio that he didn’t feel like yelling at all the time. But he couldn’t help but smirk when his answer had the desired effect. Bendy was trying to come up with another reason of why he shouldn’t quit. Was it immature of him? Absolutely! But he was standing in a flooded bathroom, clothes soaked, a literal little demon on his shoulder and no cigarettes at all. He figured he deserved to have some petty revenge.
“Uh, A-alice, then! Don’t you think it would be bad luck to upset an angel?”
“I already have to deal with a demon on a daily basis. I don’t think I have the luck of any angels on my side. Besides, I think it would only actually affect her if it was Susie who quit instead of me.”
“Wait, that’s it!” Bendy’s tail briefly formed the outline of a lightbulb. “Susie! You can’t leave her here all alone! That would make you the worst boyfriend in the world!”
Sammy huffed.
“We only spend time together on our break time, which we can still do even if I worked elsewhere.” He hummed thoughtfully. “Actually, she also does some extra work in some other places. Maybe she can recommend me to a boss that doesn’t practice black magic as a hobby.”
“Shoot,” Bendy said under his breath. “But- But you can’t leave because you are already Joey’s favorite director! What if you are not the favorite of your new boss, huh? Maybe he’ll hate you!”
“Oh? So I’m Joey’s favorite now?” Sammy asked in an intentionally bored but fake tone, crossing his arms.
“Yeah! He said that, ah, that you were the best music director in the history of forever! That you were better than Boteevan!”
“Beethoven.”
“That guy! And he said that, um, that he was considering giving you a raise! It’ll be such a raise that you will be on the top floor of the studio!”
Sammy… wasn’t sure Bendy understood what a raise was. But he shook it off.
“So, those were Joey’s exact words?”
Bendy nodded enthusiastically, his usual smile a bit strained and his cartoony eyes unable to hide the alarm he was feeling.
“So, if I were to go to Joey and ask him about it, he would tell me the exact same thing?”
Silence.
“...Yes… Maybe…”
Ok, Sammy had had his fun. Now Bendy’s nervousness and guilt about ‘causing’ him to quit was starting to become too obvious and the hand that he was using to keep himself stable was latching a bit too hard to Sammy’s shoulder. He didn’t want to cause the kid a meltdown (which got a very literal meaning with the toons when they were stressed). He was about to give in and tell him the truth when a loud cracking noise caught their attention. They both slowly looked at the door.
“What was that?” Bendy asked warily.
“I don’t know, but it sure didn’t sound like an axe to me.”
Sammy backed away slowly from the door until his back touched the wall opposite to it. They flinched when they heard the sound again, and a crack cut right through the middle of the door. Then again, and splinters were sent flying everywhere. Once more, and the door was split in two. Sammy instinctively grabbed Bendy to shield him from the raining debris that exploded as a result. All the remaining water gushed out into the hallway, but Sammy didn’t take notice, nor did Bendy. There was something far more important that had just appeared. Right in front of the destroyed door was an enormous mass of ink, so tall and wide that it wouldn’t have been able to fit through the doorway if it tried. It vaguely resembled the top half of a human, it’s hunched torso being its support on the floor. Hollowed eyes looked at them with a dead stare. Sammy didn’t even dare to breathe.
“What are you doing standing there? Move aside!” Joey’s order returned them to reality.
The ink monster immediately obeyed, granting the space needed for a very panicked looking Joey to run into the bathroom. His glasses were crooked on his face, he was breathing hard and he was clutching a book with such force that his hands were shaking. The instant he spotted Bendy in Sammy’s hands, his face flooded with relief. On Sammy’s part, he couldn’t take his eyes off the monstruosity that had just appeared before him, so still petrified in his place, he could only ask:
“What the hell is that?!”
“Oh, well Wally said the door was stuck, so I figured we would need a little help.” Joey answered, waving his hand dismisively. “More importantly, Bendy are you ok?!”
Sammy, realizing he was still holding Bendy as far away from the door as possible, cleared his throat and shoved him into Joey’s arms. He didn’t stay to see Joey smothering Bendy in a hug and checking him for any damage. Instead he headed towards his sweet freedom, giant monster outside or not. He still practically hugged the wall to not come close to that thing, though. He got out just in time to see Wally Franks arrive running and lean against the wall to catch his breath, muttering something about Joey being fast for his age. Sammy didn’t spare him a second before pointing to the ink creature and giving him an incredulous look.
“What about that looks like an axe to you, Franks?!” His voice was just a tad more high pitched than he would have liked, but he ignored it for the time being. Wally looked at him to respond, but couldn’t stop himself from snorting.
“Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said you were drenched!”
Sammy’s death glare shut him up.
“R-right, uh, so I told Joey what happened and I thought he was going to yell at me and then tell me where the axe was, but he just got all pale and then he grabbed that book and started running while yelling some weird crap on another language. Next thing you know, big guy over there is growing out of the ground and following him down the stairs! It was crazy!” Wally scratched his head. “Umm, I also think someone fainted when it passed in front of them…”
Sammy let out a sigh and rubbed at his head. The pain that had been receding was now returning tenfold.
“Sammy!” Joey called out to him while he, too, exited the bathroom. “I’m glad everyone’s ok, of course, but I would like to know… how did that happen?” He pointed at the destroyed sinks.
Nope. He was NOT dealing with that right now.
“Oh, I’m sure little prankster there will tell you what he did with plenty of detail. I’m going home early.”
He glared at Joey, daring him to protest. But just looking at the state he was in, his boss nodded.
“Of course, you need to go get some dry clothes. And I’m guessing I won’t see you tomorrow?”
“You guess correctly,” Sammy said as he walked past his boss, not taking his eyes off the ink beast, just in case.
“See you on monday?”
At that Sammy stopped. That had been Bendy asking. He turned around to look at the demon in Joey’s arms, who was looking up at him with pleading eyes. Sammy remained silent for a moment. He guessed he could just ignore him, but he had punished him enough already.
“Yeah, yeah. See you on monday. Unfortunately.”
At that, Bendy visibly relaxed. Sammy rolled his eyes and kept walking.
Monday arrived way faster than Sammy would have liked, but then again, that was nothing new. What was new, however, was that he found his office exceptionally clean. He hadn’t bothered tidying things up before he left on friday, but now the honey was gone from his desk, and there didn’t seem to be a paper out of place or a speck of dust on any surface. A report of what had been done on saturday and a list of future tasks was already waiting for him, too.
But what caught his attention the most was a colorful piece of paper sitting on the middle of his desk. It was a drawing. It depicted him conducting a band, with random musical notes (some of which weren’t even real notes) forming an arch above his head. He stared at it for a long while,slowly processing the fact that this was most likely some sort of apology. He shook his head. He couldn’t waste more time on this. He had work to do. Sammy was going to just put it away into a random drawer, but looking at it again, he changed his mind. He put it in the upper right drawer instead.
