#I was very excited to combine fish with a CH drawing

[rexbalistidae]

She caught it with one hand

Bonus comic to go with it

[fullmetaldevil-blog]

A Musical Babysitter (Stitched AU short)

 *Aurhors notes: This is a short I wrote entirely on my cell phone during my lunch breaks starting from 12/25/2018. If you haven’t read Ch. 5 of the Stitched Au please stop now, and read it before you read this short!*

Summary:

Sammy wished he never picked up the phone, now he found himself spending the weekend babysitting, but it was who he was babysitting. Benny the Stitched Demon. The little devildoll was known by his family to be an absolute sweetheart and loving toon, but even he isn’t as always sweet as everyone claims he is. A 30 year old grudge crawls back to the surface alongside a father’s troubled past.

I hope you ladies and gentlemen enjoy the short.

Now on with the show~!

Sammy wished he never answered the phone, now he found himself committed on a one hour drive to baby sit. Now he wouldn’t have complained considering that not only was it for an old coworker and that he was being handsomely paid, but it was who he was charged with looking after. Benny the Stitched demon.

It had only been a little over a month since everyone’s escape from the studio and admittedly some members of the group was still wary of the two demons that escaped with them, Bendy the dancing demon and Benny the stitched demon. While Bendy was the primary problem child of the studio, Benny wasn’t anything to sneeze at. The stitched devil was just as dangerous as his counterpart, but unlike Bendy he suffered from separation issues after the escape and nearly wrecked portions of the house due to horrid nightmares. While Bendy had similar problems after his escape as well, he wasn’t the one that was gonna be left alone for a few days. Henry nearly became a complete home body for the past few weeks to take care of Bendy alongside his wife Linda.

Naught but a few hours ago he had received a phone call from Tom. The man sounded exasperated and deeply worried, telling him that Allison was out of town due to a movie shoot and he got a large remodeling job that will have him out of town for at least the week end. He begged if Sammy could watch Benny for the weekend not wanting to leave the plushtoon alone through the night. When asked why Norman or Wally couldn’t babysit the demon he was told that both were regrettably busy as well and couldn’t make the trip in such short notice. Henry was left out of the question since he was still trying to get his own demon to recover from the mental blows the studio had done to him, as well as repair the bond between them. There were a few other notes that had been added onto the conversation but Tom told him to see for himself what was going on.

Sammy sighed inwardly as he turned down the road heading for the hills. It was still early morning out and the entire area was coated in Tule fog making the hour drive even longer. Relief was insight as he came across the fork road leading to the hills and carefully made the accent, he took each turn with care as he climbed higher and higher eventually clearing the fog blanket. He passed a few homes that dotted the hills here and there, including the largest home that was simply called ‘grandmas’ house. He knew that once he passed that house he needed to look for a small driveway that led further into the hills. He spotted a small driveway and he turned to the drive and made his way up, silently cursing why the family had chosen such an isolated area.

The modest English style home quickly came into view. The house had a long driveway and sat on a sizable property with the hills just behind it. The front yard was decorated with flower beds and fruit trees of different types. Towards the back side of the home was a large ring of weeping willows and shrubs that outlined the property. It was perfectly isolated, yet at the same time was only a 10 minute drive from the closest market and town center.

He pulled up next to Toms car noting that it was already loaded nearly to the floor with tools and equipment, the man clearly needing a truck rather then a car. He shut the engine off and mentally prepared himself to be stuck at the house for the weekend with a living stuffed animal toon that he didn’t really know much about say for the conversations he had with the toon’s respective parents. He could only hope that he wouldn’t loose his mind by the end of the weekend.

Resigning to his fate Sammy approached the door and knocked a few times before standing back to look over the doorway. Just as he was admiring the architecture the door slowly crept open revealing what Sammy thought was a monster. The man backed up ready to run when he realized it was Tom.

“You look like you’ve seen hell.” Sammy cocked a grin while he chuckled looking at Tom. The man looked worse for wear and had very clear bags under the eyes.

“Rough night.” Tom sighed stepping aside gesturing for him to enter. Taking the invite, Sammy entered the home with worn out man closing the door behind him.

Sammy noted that the interior of the house looked like a wreck. There were open boxes, papers and materials scattered everywhere. “I take it you’ve been busy.” Sammy spoke while staring at empty toy boxes.

“Yeah…It’s that having to find a home for more the just 2 and am still trying to get the place livable.” Tom wandered to the kitchen with Sammy in tow. He gestured to a chair for Sammy to take a seat while he drifted through the kitchen. Tom grabbed 2 coffee mugs and filled them both with the dark brew and sat in front of Sammy passing him a mug which he gladly accepted. Tom on the other had had his face thoroughly buried in his mug.

“Well we all had to relocate, and didn’t you and Allison always want kids?” Sammy lifted a brow taking a sip of coffee.

“Yeah we did, before the studio bullshit happened, now both Allison and I are too old to try now.” Tom let out a heavy sigh “It’s just a lot has happened.”

“Well we all are trying to used to the outside world.” Sammy fiddled with the rim of his mug “I mean, we were trapped there for years, the world continued on without us and now everything is so different. It takes time to cope with what happened and now we have to adjust to our new world.”

“Well aren’t you the preacher man.” Tom shot a sly grin across the table.

“That’s the last time I try to sympathize with you Mr. Connor!” Sammy crossed his arms in a huff. “Besides I’m no preacher!”

“No, you were some half-baked Bendy obsessed prophet.” The older mans grin nearly splitting his face, clearly enjoying pushing Sammy’s buttons.

“Oh for God’s sake man, won’t you and Henry let that go?!” Sammy’s face blazed red with a mix of embarrassment and anger.

“For a second I though you would say 'Oh My lord’, and the answer is no.”

“You’re a devil.”

“Thanks, I live with one”. The mechanic tipped his mug in a small cheer while waggling his brow in sheer pride. His already too wide a grin seemingly getting wider.

Sammy sat with his mouth gaping like a fish trying to come up with some sort of retort, but instead resorted to simply glaring at Tom knowing full well he was not winning this little game with the man. Tom was very quick witted and had an even faster mouth.

Sammy let out a sigh running his fingers through his blond hair. “So in all seriousness, how is your little devil doing? I know Henry is knee deep dealing with Bendy, plus he had to move as well.”

Tom took a long swig of his coffee chugging nearly all of it before setting the mug down, taking a beep breath before sighing. “Slow.”

“Slow how?” Sammy raised a brow.

“Neither Bendy nor Benny have seen the world beyond the Studio, so everything is new to them. Both are excited about the world but at the same time withdrawn. They both suffered a lot in different ways, Bendy’s little sessions and Benny being nearly killed twice, all at the hands of our former boss. Thanks to that bastard, the toons are scared of new people. Getting them to go outside beyond the comfortable barrier of their home and yard can be tricky.” Tom rested his head on one hand while the other lazily traced the rim of his mug. “Bendy seems to be handling social interactions better, after all he was the star of the show, so he knows how to put on a brave face. Benny didn’t have that luxury. He didn’t have any additional material during his creation, unlike Bendy, so he didn’t have a 'predetermined personality’ if you will.”

Sammy waved a hand in front of Tom stopping his explanation. “I hate to interrupt, but what do you mean by 'material’? They are just living ink aren’t they?”

“True, but the ink needed a base. With Bendy we used a massive collection of film reels with every scene of Bendy we had at the time. That was combined with every individual cell and sketch, hell joey even went and found one of Henry’s first drawing of Bendy. All that information served as the mold for the ink to fill and gave Bendy his personality matching how he was in the cartoons. Benny on the other hand was merely a doll that was fed to the machine to test the conversion process. None if us thought it would actually make a living toon, a 3D toon maybe, but not one that was alive. So Benny had no predetermined mind set so he started from scratch. But as you already know Joey tried to kill him so that first memory of near death left a lasting impression on him. He is a bit withdrawn and clingy, in any situation that stresses him out he will latch on to Allison. You should have seen the first time she had to leave the house for an extended amount of time.”

“That good, huh?” Sammy lifted a brow.

“He transformed into his what we dubbed 'ragdoll’ form and pitched a hell of a tantrum. Him crying in his little form I can handle no problem, but when he’s in his bigger state that is another story. He clung to her wailing away in his bigger state and the sounds he makes in that form I won’t soon forget. Trying to pry a 3 foot tall devildoll is easy, trying to pry a 7 foot tall broken ragdoll is a major pain in the ass.”

Sammy leaned back in his chair clearly looking like he wanted to just get up and leave. “And you called me all the way out here to babysit your personal nightmare because?” The musician looked at Tom, his eyes saying 'you better have a good reason or I’m leaving’.

Tom let out a tired sigh and gestured to Sammy “Cause he recognizes you.”

Sammy rubbed the space between his eyes, completely bewildered by the mans answer. “Tom, I never met the devil.”

“Not personally no, but he does know you. Allison apparently carried Benny to her recordings everyday once they figured out to transport him safely. So he was able to see slightly out of the bag, he saw your face from time to time and he knows your voice. He should at least be a bit more comfortable around you versus a total stranger. Plus very few people know of the toon and we don’t want anything bad to happen if he’s with someone he isn’t comfortable with.”

A deep sigh escaped Sammy as he looked towards the ceiling. “Fine. I’ll watch your personal hell spawn for the weekend, but if anything happens expect to shell out more money”. He firmly pointed a finger at Tom.

“Deal”. Tom got up from his seat and offered a hand to Sammy, the man was hesitant but ultimately shook it sealing the deal. “Now. I got to get dressed to head out. I’m gonna get Benny up and feed him before I go, just make yourself at home.”

With a small nod Tom excused himself from the table disappearing down the central hallway stopping at the first door letting himself in. Sammy sat back in his chair at the table and resumed his survey of the kitchen and parts of the den and living room. The place looked like it didn’t have all the furnishings yet as there were boxes of appliances unopened and china sets yet to be used. He knew the couple had a time finding a new home and furnishing it proper seemed to be an even longer process. It wasn’t a secret that both Tom and Allison had no choice but to use most of the little savings they had prior to the studios downfall to buy a house. With most of their money gone on at least a roof over their head, they had to go from paycheck to paycheck to slowly buy food, furnishings, clothes and other necessities. All the while trying to care for a little toy toon. Henry offered to help, but was turned down since he too had a toon to care for and had to move to a larger home.

The musicians blissful silence was shattered by a horrific wail, the sound sounded like nails being dragged across a chalk board combined with a low rumbling like noise that made the floor vibrate. The man froze in his seat contemplating on whether or not he should escape while he could, his eyes glued to the hallway where the sounds were emanating. It took quite awhile for the wailing and rumbling to die down and a shuffling sound replaced it. Tom emerged from the hallway looking even more tired then before with a large pair of hands clinging to his lower legs, the man struggling with every step. Tom stopped and grabbed the hands clinging to his legs and managed to pry them off but not letting them go.

“C'mon Benny, you acting like a baby.” Tom now pulling on his hands straining from the amount of resistance he was getting from the devildoll.

Sammy watched in horror as the presumed right arm split apart at the wrist with an eerie ripping sound, exposing large cords of some sort of black material mixed with what looked like ink. Tom kept pulling and the the cords seemed to just keep stretching. The left arm split at the elbow area and was doing the exact same thing at the right, exposing the interior of the limb which was a oddly white inside with what looked like ink swirling within. Tom kept pulling on the threads all the while grumbling curses under his breath.

After a time it seemed that the strands couldn’t stretch any longer and there was a dragging sound coming from the hall. Tom had since neatly rolled up the the black cords and segments of hands, and arms and had finally succeeded in reaching the body.

The ebony torso was larger then a normal humans with a round head sporting 2 long curved horns. The figure appeared to be laying face down as hints of yellow was facing downward and what looked like a bow tie was at the base of the slender neck.

“C’ mon Benny you’re making this harder then it has too”. Tom sighed while bending down to pet the creature’s horn getting a strange gurgling sound.

Sammy had little clue what he was looking at. He knew Bendy had his ink demon and beast form, but he never really saw Benny, let alone another form except for the loose descriptions he had heard. Words couldn’t have prepared him for the reality of it all. His face was frozen in a mix of fear and curiosity and took a chance to get up from his chair to slowly approach Tom and demon, yet kept at a safe distance on the off chance Benny turned violent.

Tom continued to caress the horns with one hand and then with other tried to turn the demon over finding that Benny was heavier then he looked. Failing. He used both hands to turn the large demon on his side revealing the front of the face and body.

If Sammy had reservations about taking care of Benny, they were on overdrive. Benny’s face was sepia yellow with a large singular black eye and yellow iris with what appeared to look like stitches crisscrossed across the left side of his forehead and over half of the eye. His mouth was turned into a very prominent frown and the left side was warped in comparison to his right revealing hints of his large triangular teeth. The most frightening part of all for Benny’s body was his chest and stomach area. He was nearly split in half by a large gash and the edges had large white teeth lining the rim. Large cord like threads were the only thing keep the maw of his stomach mostly closed with a small amount of inky drool oozing out the opening which oddly resembled a frown. The demon seemed to making strange groaning noises from both mouths now that he was looking at Tom properly.

“C’ mon little guy. I know you’re tired and frustrated, but do this for me? Please.” Tom put on his best warm smile for the demon while he went back to petting him between the horns resulting in more gurgling noises from the demon. Tom finally decided to sit on the floor and wait for Benny to eventually revert back. Benny was looking up at Tom with a singular tired eye with what looked like a little blush and black smudges around his cheeks. Tom looked up at Sammy “Give him a few minutes, he’d been crying all night when he realized that both of us are gonna be gone for bit. He cried himself to sleep”.

Sammy nodded and backed away from the over-sized demondoll, giving Tom and Benny as much space as they needed. The tired mechanic continued to caress Benny’s horns while whispering small comforting words and even hummed a few times while the demon tiredly watched him. Sammy watched in shock as Benny closed his eye and scrunched his face slightly before his stomach mouth shut tightly before opening suddenly and ink poured out if him like someone opened up a faucet on full. Ink washed over the area and Tom’s clothes before dissipating leaving a tiny toon laying on his side in the middle of the remains of a puddle. Despite the amount of ink the devil expelled, the area was spotless including Tom’s clothes, the magic of toon logic.

“Good boy.” Tom tiredly smiled while he got up from the floor groaning, his body protested his waiting game with Benny. He reached a hand under the toon lifting him into his arms. Benny was completely unresponsive and hung limp in the man’s hold, his eyes tightly shut and a prominent frown on his face.

With Benny is his arms Tom retreated to the kitchen and motioned for Sammy to follow. While a bit hesitant Sammy returned to his seat at the table while Tom got a empty box for Benny to sit on and set him in the chair. The demon still hung limp all the while, even when sat at the table. Benny’s head just stayed on the table lightly rolling from side to side while the rest of the body sat limp in the chair like a broken toy. Sammy could see the regret on Tom’s face along with exhaustion, the mechanic sighed and cracked a few eggs over a sauce pan to cook them while grabbing 2 slices of bacon to cook in a separate pan. While Tom was busy fixing breakfast Sammy decided to try and start a conversation with the clearly pouting toon.

“So….Benny. How have you been?” The musician tried to smile.

His only answer was merely a single half lidded pie-cut eye looking at him and a groan before he closed his eye again. Benny clearly was still throwing a tantrum and wasn’t in the mood to socialize.

Sammy didn’t say anything more, but just slumped in his seat the only thought that ran through his mind was that it was going to be a long weekend.

Tom finished cooking the eggs and slid them onto a plate along with 2 pieces of butter and jelly toast and bacon. He set the plate in front of Benny’s head before heading to the cupboard. He pulled out a small glass and set it on the counter before grabbing a bottle of milk filling the glass part way and set the glass of milk in front of the toon. All the while it was clear Benny had no interest in the food and just had his head resting on the table with his eyes closed.

Tom sighed while he rubbed his temples, the grim reality was Benny was irritating him with the childish antics. Allison was far better at handling upset children then he was, but she wasn’t present to talk some sense into the upset demon. Tom sighed at looked at Sammy mouthed a small 'good luck’ before heading to his room to get dressed, leaving Sammy alone with Benny.

Sammy truly felt like he was caught between a rock and a hard place. He always wrote music intended for children, he never had the time nor inclination to take care of a child. He could tell Tom was at his wits end with Benny, and he frankly couldn’t blame the man. He and Allison had to hit the ground running with getting jobs and finding a home, all the while taking care of a refugee of the studio. Benny didn’t seem to understand that now that they are no longer prisoner of the studio that Tom and Allison have to support a home and its occupants, that food isn’t something that is found randomly on a shelf, and shelter, even if it is leaking ink, isn’t guaranteed. That life outside of the studio is supported by a form of currency and if you didn’t have money you had no home, but in order to get money you have to leave home to earn it. However with Benny’s separation issues it was making it difficult for both Allison and Tom to leave home even if it’s just long enough to get a day’s paycheck.

Sammy just sighed at looked at the little plushtoon in question. Benny was still ignoring his food along with anything and everything else going on around him. It almost felt like there as an invisible wall around the toon that he didn’t want anyone to enter.

A few minutes later Tom came out of his room dressed and ready for work. He frowned when he noted that Benny had yet to even touch his food. Tom sighed and looked at Sammy “All right, well I’m off. Benny be good for Sammy while I’m gone, ok?”

He didn’t get an answer. He sighed and gave Sammy a small nod before heading to the door. As soon as his hand touched the door knob and turned it something slammed into his leg grasping it tightly. The sheer force of the impact nearly toppled the man. Tom let out a yelp of surprise from the hit and immediately looked down to see a familiar sight. Benny. The demon and firmly attached himself to Tom’s leg and was refusing to let go. “Benny!”

The demon shook his head and tightened his grip on Tom.

“Benny, look we’ve already talked out this. I gotta go.” Tom tried to plead with the barnacle of a toon, his voice stern and trying not to show the growing frustration that was building within the man. Benny was not even looking up at Tom had maintained his face buried in the mans pant leg. Sammy got up from his seat to relief tom of his cling on when a loud voice made him stop in his tracks.

“Benny! Get off of me now! You are acting like a child, do you honestly think I like having to bust my ass running around?! I want nothing more then to stay at home and rest from the bullshit of the studio, but I don’t have that luxury!” Tom near shouted at the top of his lungs, his face full of anger and disappointment. His patience had finally run out.

Tom’s sudden outburst instantly made Benny look up at the man, his face full of heartache and twinges anger, small inky tears started to form in the edges of the toon’s eyes. Benny released Tom’s leg and backed away from the man slowly before running at a full sprint down the hall to his room slamming the door roughly.

All the anger instantly melted away to regret as soon as Tom saw the look on Benny’s face. He didn’t want to yell at the plushtoon, but when Benny was being stubborn about the situation he just couldn’t take it anymore. He had honestly tried taking the long road and practice patience, but he didn’t have the luxury of waiting all day for the demon to understand why he has to leave to work. Without saying a word Tom grabbed the door knob and looked back at Sammy for a brief moment of apology before opening the door and leaving.

Sammy stood there shell shocked which was soon relapsed by exasperation, he really was going to be in for a long weekend. He ran his hands on the sides of his face and let out a long groan, he steeled himself and turned to head to Benny’s room.

As soon as Sammy reached the door he could hear sobbing coming from within. He quietly opened the door and peered inside. The sight before him made him sigh as he thought to himself 'No wonder Tom had a long night’.

Benny was curled up on his bed once again in his ragdoll form, the demon clearly too large for the child sized bed which was sagging from his weight. Inky threads were laced throughout the room reminding Sammy of a spiders nest. He could hear small sobs from the demondoll as he seemed to be unaware of Sammy’s presence, swallowing his nervousness he decided to approach the demon.

“B-Benny?” Sammy tried to hide the underlying fear in his voice. He couldn’t lie that the plushtoon was making him nervous given the fact that he was in his more dangerous form, with Benny being as upset as he is, he didn’t want to take any chances.

“Go AwAy.” Benny’s voice came out garbled and deep, a clear threat in his tone. He didn’t even bother facing the man.

Sammy took a step forward to try and reason with the demon and stepped on one of the threads that lay on the ground. This triggered a snap reaction from the devildoll. “I sAiD gO aWaY!!!!” Benny spun his head around and roared at Sammy, both mouths speaking in unison made the entire room rattle from the sheer volume.

Fear and adrenaline kicked in and Sammy stumbled backwards and ran down the hall to the front door, nearly slamming into it as he tried to open the door. His hands fumbled the door knob in panic, he quickly unlocked the door throwing it open and dashed outside. He didn’t stop running till he reached his car and jumped inside ready to start the car to get away. He threw the key in the ignition and was about to start the motor when he realized the door was wide open, but there was no figure giving chase. Benny didn’t go after him. He waited nervously wondering if Benny wasn’t nearly as quick to chase as Bendy was, but the more time passed by the more he realized that Benny wasn’t going after him. He left the key in the ignition to state his own concerns and laid back in his seat keeping a watchful eye on the doorway.

Amber hues colored the sunset sky and the last fading beams of light managed to get the final blow to Sammy’s face waking the man before they faded. He sat up hastily realizing he had fallen asleep during his watch, but his brief burst of energy gave way to a yawn. He stretched as best he could in the car and looked towards the house rubbing the sleep out of his eye, surely Benny must have calmed down by now. He waited a bit longer inside the car before finally mustering up the courage to go inside. He frowned when he realized that the door had been left wide open, but then again considering who lived in the house, only a complete and utter fool would try to rob the place.

With caution at his side Sammy slowly walked into the doorway looking around the halls. The house was as still as he had left it, he quietly closed the door and headed towards the kitchen. As predicted Benny’s breakfast still lay upon the kitchen table, the food long since cold and milk warm. He inwardly sighed and cleaned up the kitchen table pouring out the milk and throwing away the cold breakfast. Benny hadn’t come out of his room once which meant he hadn’t eaten anything all day. Sammy had been told by Allison several times about the plushdemon’s love of anything edible so he really was throwing one hell of a tantrum to forgo eating.

The musician sighed and thought to himself 'well If Benny isn’t gonna eat, I’m sure as hell gonna’. He rolled up his sleeves, made sure his hair was pulled back, grabbed a pan and got to work. While Sammy wasn’t much of a cook as his skinny frame was testimony to his culinary 'talents’, he knew how to make a few basic meals well enough to pass muster.

All the while Sammy was twirling pots and pans a small figure had emerged out of a bedroom hearing the familiar sounds of the rustlings of the kitchen. Benny peered around the corner with a small smile on his face hoping to see Allison at the stove, but frowned when he saw the tall skinny blonde man named Sammy. He turned around and headed down the hall towards Allison and Toms bedroom and curled up on the couple’s bed. He really wanted Allison home.

Sammy had pretended not to notice the little yellowish face and pie cute eyes looking at him before they disappeared. He knew Benny was probably drawn by the sounds of him cooking, which to the demon was most likely sounds he associated with Allison. Since he knew that Benny had now stirred by this point in the evening hours he should be quite hungry, and hopefully easier to deal with. After all either an empty or full stomach makes someone easier to sway and deal with.

Sammy pulled out an extra few slices of bread and tossed them in the batter he made with egg, sugar and cinnamon before laying them in the pan. While the french toast was cooking, he grabbed 4 more eggs and 4 slices of bacon and tossed them in a separate pan to cook. He made up a stack of french toast figuring that Benny would eat the rest, or at least he had hoped so.  Allison had eluded to him that Benny could eat enough for 2 full grown adults in a single sitting if given a chance. Once the food was all prepared Sammy laid out two plates and utensils facing opposite ends of the table, giving Benny as much space as he needed. Satisfied with the makeshift set up he now needed to find the little demon in question.

After wandering up and down the hall in silent contemplation, but not wanting to wait too long lest the food will go cold, Sammy cautiously approached Benny’s room to find that Benny’s bed was empty. The ink threads were gone and the demon in question was nowhere within the room. He then searched the living room and den which yielded no such luck. The last place he didn’t really want to look was the couples bedroom. It was always a unspoken taboo to enter another’s bedroom, but he at least needed to know where the devildoll was hiding and to inform him food was ready.

He cautiously cracked the door open and sure enough nestled between the pillows, lay Benny curled up. He was in his normal toon form which to Sammy gave him the glimmer of hope that the demon had calmed down. He wasn’t up for spending the night in his car in comparison to how he spent a good chunk of his day. The car wasn’t the best place to nap as his back’s cracks and pops were testimony to the uncomfortable position.

Sammy edged into the room slowly as to not startle the plushdemon. “B-Benny, there’s dinner on the table.” No response, but Benny buried himself deeper into the covers. The man sighed and walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge of the bed.

It was still quite obvious that Benny was still not wanting to deal with Sammy. The man felt a twinge of annoyance and now had a better understanding as to how Tom was feeling earlier. He could hear the toons stomach occasionally growl which would make the demon curl in on himself more. Benny was being just as stubborn as Tom about everything, it would be funny to laugh about the similarities between the two if one of them wasn’t in such a foul mood. Sammy crossed his arms and searched his memory about any clues about how Allison or Tom deal with their demon’s occasional fits.

His mind drifted to a phone conversation he had with Allison about her singing and movies role she had just got the job for. He remembered her telling him about Benny’s separation issues and had taken residence in her suitcase before she had to leave. She tweaked a song Benny knows ever so slightly, be it off key or missing notes, and that would got the demons attention. He actually got annoyed to a point where he started singing the song himself to show how it is supposed to sound and came out of his hiding spot. Only after he was coaxed out through irritation was she able to pack her bags properly and explain the situation to him.

A smile crept across the former musical director’s face prompting him to get up and head out the room. Sammy left the house and went out to his car grabbing his trusty banjo. With musical instrument in hand, he returned to the house and room sitting back on the edge of the bed. He was happy to see that Benny hadn’t moved, but he made sure to leave the door open just in case the demon had a bad reaction to what he was about to do. He didn’t know if Benny would have a repeat 'performance’, but considering he’s a toon he does abide by some toon logic, and falling for some tricks over and over might be one of them.

He rest his fingers upon the banjo and started to play one of Alice Angel’s songs. He would have preferred to play one of Bendy’s more lively dancing songs, but Benny was drawn to Allison whom sang quite a few of the Alice Angel songs, the songs he should be more then familiar with. He deliberately played a note off key randomly along with singing the song ever so slightly off pitch. Through the course of his butchering the musical piece which as the former director would have had his own temper doing a workout, he watched as Benny started to writhe under the sheets. The music was getting on the demons nerves, earning a smile from Sammy, but also with twinge of concern. He double checked to make sure the door was open in case he had a repeat response from earlier.

“That’s enough!” Benny threw off the sheets glaring at Sammy, anger and disgust all over his face, startling the man. “You were the director of Joey Drew’s Musical department and yet, you can’t play for beans?! If you’re gonna play a song, then play it right!”

Much to Sammy’s surprise Benny hopped off the bed and pulled open his stomach hammerspace and buried his hand within, with a bit of strain he pulled out a second Banjo allowing the void to close up again. He checked it’s tuning then started playing the song properly and sung all the while glaring disapprovingly at Sammy. The musician inwardly chuckled at the outburst of the demon and picked up his own banjo and played the harmony while Benny played the melody. He thought it was amusing that Benny had this insistence on a proper musical performance and could tell from sound alone if something was off. He must have picked that up from Allison.

By the time they reached the end of the musical number Benny had forgotten his earlier frustrations and fully leaned into the music. The demon stilled while he held the banjo looking up at Sammy, he opened his hammerspace and returned the Banjo to its void. Benny lowered his head in shame and rocked on his heel. “I’m sorry for snapping at you Mr. Lawrence”. he mumbled, realizing he had been deliberately set up.

Sammy scratched the back of his head and stood up. “It’s Sammy, and I’ll accept your apology after you eat your dinner. I did not just spend 30 minutes slaving over a stove for nothing.” He gestured towards the door and Benny quietly followed the musician to the kitchen after he too put his banjo away.

Benny stood dumbfounded at the pile of french toast that sat in the middle of the table. The demon’s eyes glistened at the sight before him, but he didn’t make a move. Sammy noted the reluctancey of the small toon and lifted a brow while clearing his throat gaining Benny’s attention. “Thank you Mr. Law-, I mean Mr. Sammy.” He sheepishly grinned.

Now Benny really felt ashamed for his earlier actions towards Sammy. He knew he was there to take care of him, but he hated the idea of Allison not being there. He still had mixed feelings about Tom, but the mere thought of Tom’s parting words brought tears back to the demon’s eyes. He didn’t know if he was angry or sad, his emotions were at war within him. He couldn’t bring himself to truly hate the man, but couldn’t find it within himself to support him wholeheartedly either.

Sammy noted Benny slightly shaking and the tears forming at the edges of his eyes. “L-look before you start the water works, why don’t you eat something first then we’ll talk about it afterwards. Ok?” The last thing he wanted was for Benny to all emotional again and not eat anything. He still couldn’t understand how children worked, but then again neither Bendy nor Benny were human children. Yet they seemed to have the mentality of a child despite their physical age. That was something he couldn’t understand, much be a toon logic thing.

Benny nodded and shuffled to the chair helping himself up while Sammy went to sit at his own seat. He watched Benny try and reach for the french toast failing cause of his short arms. Sammy let out a sigh and got up from his chair and dished out a helping of the sweet toast to Benny before sitting back down. Benny said a small 'thank you’ and quietly dug into his food. Sammy sat back enjoying his food and bliss of the twilight hours say for the occasional having to get up and add more food to Benny’s plate to make the demon stop reaching for the plate. Once Sammy was sure he had his own fill, he slid the rest of the breakfast for dinner to Benny who smiled slightly at getting the reminder of the meal. Sammy sat back and watched as Benny downed one toast after another and couldn’t help but wonder how he was able to pack in so much food. He had been warned by Allison about the toon’s food consumption but didn’t really see it first hand.

Once Benny finished the dinner Sammy took his plate and set it in the sink to soak and went to sit back at his chair. He leaned forward with his hands folded and looked the demon in the eye making Benny squirm slightly with the sudden attention. “Do you want to talk about earlier?”

Sammy’s inquiry made Benny bow his head with a sorrowful expression “Not really.” He leaned back in his chair trying to avoid the man’s gaze. He wasn’t up for rehashing the days earlier events.

Sammy raised a brow and decided to push the demon a bit. “Well from my stand point you were being overly stubborn.”

Benny mumbled “I wasn’t being stubborn.”

“Then what do you call it then? Cause I say you’re being inconsiderate about the whole situation.” Sammy leaned back in his chair crossing his arms.

Benny looked up at Sammy, tinges of a building anger in his eyes and no longer mumbling “I wasn’t being stubborn and I’m being inconsiderate how? If anything, you’re being inconsiderate by meddling in things that don’t concern you. You are only here to make sure I don’t wreck the house.”

Sammy was briefly surprised by the sudden snappy response, but could tell he struck a nerve. He himself was used to having his buttons pushed by others and often got to the root of the problem, and it was amusing to see that Benny was no different. The demon was getting agitated and defensive. “For starters you made it my problem when you snapped at me earlier. Also you weren’t taking into account that Tom and Allison have to do things to support themselves and you since they are out of the studio. You were only thinking of yourself and what you wanted, not what they needed. In short you’re acting like a spoiled brat.”

“Well it isn’t your problem Mr. Former Musical Director that fancies himself a musician.” The demon raised his voice slightly and waved his arms around as he spoke. “I’m not a spoiled brat, and I do care about what they need not just what I want. I’m more considerate about their situation then what you seem to think.”

Sammy leaned back in his chair with a smug grin on his face. Benny was acting exactly like Tom when the man starts to get angry, he starts coming up with insults mixed in with his arguments. “I beg to differ you spoiled brat. You can’t take care of yourself and need everyone to do it for you. Look at poor Tom, he’s doing his best to keep a roof over your head by doing back breaking work at his age and you aren’t the least bit thankful. Allison has to constantly go out to look for work regardless of how much she wants to stay home cause you can’t be left alone.” The musician watched as Benny covered the sides of his head with his hands as if trying to shut the man out.

Benny’s teeth slowly started taking on a more triangular appearance instead of the normal flats, ink drizzled on the side of his head slowly covering his right eye.“I am thankful for what she does and I can take care of myself just fine. I’ve done so for 30 years you ignorant pathetic excuse of a man.” Benny knew full well he could care for himself. He survived the horrors of the studio just fine even if he was often skirting the edges of life and death, but it was a reality he had come to accept. After all he was hated upon birth and had many near death attempts, yet he thrived and will continue to do so. By no sense of the word did he appreciate the man sitting before him openly mocking and insulting him.

Sammy instantly caught on to the lack of mentioning his appreciation of Tom’s efforts to house the demon. The man was a considerable amount of engineering jobs and construction to bring in large sums of cash and yet Benny seems to be ignoring that fact and only focused on Allison’s efforts. Something was causing him to have an cold attitude toward Tom. What happened so long ago to eat away at such a once sweet toon?

He remembered the phone conversation he had with Tom at the start of the month about how the man was tired and stressed from Benny’s unusual antics. The demon was very clingy and didn’t like to separated from Allison for extended periods, not to mention the occasional cold shoulder which was peculiar for the sweet devil. Tom loved Benny like he was his own, but something in Benny made him put up a wall towards the man. He was on his best behavior when Allison was involved or around, but if it were just him and Tom, he was unusually cold. Even Allison noticed the strange behavior of the demon and deliberately left Benny alone with Tom just to see how he behaved and it was very different from how she remembered her time with him. Allison alluded to her suspicion as to the root of the problem, but wasn’t in a position to confront the demon. Time to test that little theory.

“Admit it Benny the Stitched Demon, you can’t do anything without them, you’re a helpless little baby demon who needs coddling from mommy.” Sammy sneered at the frustrated devildoll. He made sure to pour on as much salt to the wound as possible emphasizing some words more then others.

“I aM nOt A bAbY.” Benny firmly growled out starting to bear his teeth.

This was perfect for Sammy, the demon was completely agitated and would be more likely to slip up. “Yes, you are. You’re a little baby demon that has mommy issues and doesn’t like daddy. You turn your back on daddy when all he does is hold you up to the best of his ability.” He taunted in a childish tone and as soon as the words left Sammy’s mouth Benny reared up in full Ragdoll form.

“He LeFt Me, Ok!"Benny bellowed out. ”I wAs LeFt BeHiNd! I wAs AlOnE fOr 30 YeArS bEcAuSe He FoRgOt Me, HoW aM I sUpPoSeD tO DeAl wItH tHaT?! HoW aM I SuPpOsEd To DeAl wIth HiM!? He BrOkE hIs PrOmIsE!!“ The stitched demon stood at his full height bearing down on Sammy while looming over the table with both mouths speaking in unison, both snarling at him.

The musician shakily stood his ground, cause this was the answer he was looking for. Tom had told him that Benny had two mouths in Ragdoll form. He speaks from his normal mouth and on rare occasion the second joins in. The mechanic had figured out that what Benny says is what’s on his mind, but when the second mouth speaks it’s what is in his heart. While the second mouth is silent most of the time its only when his emotions spike is when it talks, and as of the moment his emotions needed to be sorted out. If both speak then that is how the demon truly feels.

"So this is how you feel.” Sammy tucked his hands in his pockets to keep his legs from shaking under the table. While he was certain Benny wouldn’t hurt him, he’d be lying if he said Benny didn’t scare him. “I feel sorry for you, but don’t blame Thomas for what happened. He didn’t know, and it wasn’t like he did anything bad on purpose.”

Benny scoffed at Sammy bearing his teeth. Benny was still sore with Tom with what happened in the studio. He told himself for 30 years it wasn’t the man’s fault but the more he tried, the more it hurt. The more years that passed the more he felt like the toys in the factory he came from, doomed there to sit and gather dust. To be forgotten and never have a family to love or to love him in turn. The memory of Allison, the band and Norman were the only few lights he had is his small world and they too had gone out once the studio fell. He had never expected to be reunited with Allison and Norman 30 years later, he had assumed they left the studio behind and never looked back. It never occurred to him that they were imprisoned like he was, but despite that new knowledge he still couldn’t find it within himself to forgive Thomas Connor for what he did.

“I do know that Thomas loves you very much. He deeply regrets what happened in the past and is doing his best now to fix it, but you have to be the one to open the door for him. If he doesn’t know what key to use then you two will always be on opposite sides.” Sammy let out a long sigh, trying to steady himself against the overbearing devildoll. “You have to talk to him and tell him your side of the story or things will never heal.”

Sammy’s words seem to sink in and Benny’s snarling died down, his body and face frozen while he looked down at the man. His mind drifted to the many times he watched Tom come home after a long days work completely  exhausted but happily handing his paycheck to Allison for her to buy food, furnishings and to pay the bills. He remembered the first big check Tom had gotten he ran out and came back with a child sized bed just for him. The man made sure to get the best the store had to offer and all the pillows, sheets and warm blankets that came with it. He had bought him a bed before he and Allison bought their own. The man wanted to the toon to be completely comfortable before he and Allison could enjoy their own comfort. The days they spent sleeping in sleeping bags on the floor before they had a couch or a bed, while Benny had his own bed and all the timings. Benny realized that all the earliest purchases that arrived in the house were for him and that Thomas had put Benny’s well being before his own.

After several moments of silence the demon’s body started twitching and large inky tears formed at the edge if his eye. The next thing Sammy saw was black. Benny wailed away with large inky tears pouring from his eye and ink expelling out of him in large messy globs, like someone had opened the faucet on his emotions and everything was draining from him. After a few moments the familiar shape of the plushtoon sat on the floor crying. The ink somehow disappearing leaving not a single trace behind.

“I-I really am a s-spoiled brat.” Benny stuttered and hiccuped on his words. “All this t-time Tom has done nothing but ensure my own well being before his own, but h-how can I apologize t-to him when he’s mad at me?” He looked up at Sammy with large inky tears streaming down his face. “I hated him for so long when it was an accident. I blamed him for something he didn’t know. H-How am I supposed to make up for that?”

Sammy sighed and bent down to look at Benny near eye level. “You first need to apologize for your actions then tell him how you feel.” Sammy reached out his hand and gently rest it between Benny’s horns “I’m sure he won’t be mad. Tom is more understanding then you know. It’s not a fast recovery but you two have to start somewhere.” Sammy chuckled at his own words. Sure he and Tom didn’t always see eye to eye, but he knew the man very well. He was sure Tom would better understand his little demon if they talked things over.

Benny nodded in understanding of the musicians words and his weeping died down. Sammy watched Benny start to nod off a bit, the demon now having a hard time sitting up. Sammy smiled 'All the transformations and yelling must have worn him out’. Then his thoughts drifted to the pile of french toast he made earlier 'or food coma if he can get that’. He gently lifted Benny up by his sides and was surprised at how light the demon actually was in comparison to Bendy whom was a bit heavier.

He cradled Benny in an arm and headed for the toons bedroom. Benny’s room was a bit of a mess from the toon’s earlier tantrum, but Sammy rummaged around inside the dresser and found a large orange night shirt and tried to have Benny slip into it. The demon was too tired to argue with the musician and was more and more like a rag doll in the mans arms as sleep was rapidly taking him. Sammy ultimately laid Benny down on the bed to dress him since the plushtoon was no longer responsive. The musician silently cursed as how it was like trying to play dress up with an over-sized doll, and was thankful no was around to watch him the last thing he needed was someone with a camera. Sammy grabbed a little plush Bendy doll and placed it next to the toon which slowly grasped the toy giving it a light squeeze. He covered him up with his blanket and watched little Z’s start floating above the toon’s head telling him that the devildoll was out like a light. He turned on his heel and quietly left the room after turning the light off.

Sammy retreated to the living room not before grabbing the blankets and pillows Tom left out for him. He pulled out the compartment under the couch turning it into a full sized bed. He was thankful the couple planned ahead and got a couch that folds out into a bed for any guests that would be spending the night. He figured that Tom and Allison knew that both of them wouldn’t have a choice but to occasionally leave Benny alone and with his issues they needed to have someone watch him. He laid out the blankets and pillow before turning off the light and called it a night. He had no trouble falling to sleep since he had a pretty long day.

———————–

Sammy didn’t know how long he was asleep before he felt something tug at his blanket stirring him. He turned over and sleepily looked at Benny standing at the edge if the couch looking very upset. “Ugh, whaaat” Sammy groaned out. “Benny? What are you doing here?” He rubbed his eyes trying to get them to focus. He looked at the illuminated hands on his watch, his eyes nearly bugged out when he saw the unholy hour. He groaned and looked back at Benny wondering what the demon wanted in the dead if the night.

Benny wrung the bottom of his night shirt and had plush version of himself tucked under his arm. “I-I had a bad dream…” He looked down sheepishly squeezing the plush gently to where it made a soft squeak. He was hoping he could sleep with Sammy to try ease his nerves, but after his tantrum earlier he didn’t have any high hopes. He knew he really was acting like a 'spoiled brat’ as the musician called him, but at the moment he didn’t know what else to do. He was simply too afraid to sleep alone.

Sammy tiredly sighed rolling his eyes “Fine, c'mon.” he lifted up a portion of his blanket in invitation.

Benny was shocked that Sammy was inviting him despite his earlier behavior. He made a small happy squeaky toy noise and gingerly crawled under the raised sheets and whispered a small 'Thank you’ which earned a chuckle from the musician and a small 'Good night’. Sammy looked at the small figure now nestled against his side. He reached over and made sure Benny was tucked in before he rest his arm pulling the toon closer to himself and closed his eyes and letting sleep take him.

———————–

Morning came and Benny found himself being irritated by a constant nudging to his shoulder. The demon lazily swatted at whatever was bugging him and rolled back over under the covers to continue sleeping. Sammy had heard that Benny was a challenge to get up in the morning, but had never seen it. He could only inwardly laugh at how similar Tom and Benny truly were, it was like dealing with a sweet child version of the snarky mechanic. However he was thankful of Allison’s book of 'how to feed  Benny" detailing how she prepares foods for the demon through the course of the day.

Leaving the demon curled up within the blanket, Sammy wandered to the kitchen and rolled up his sleeves, grabbed a few pans and set the fire to the stove. He threw 6 eggs in one pan and made 5 mini pancakes in the other. He was so thankful Allison left him a mini cookbook detailing how to make in large quantities to feed Benny. When he skimmed the cookbook his eyes nearly bugged out when he read that Benny can eat up to 15 6" pancakes, along with 6 eggs, 2 sausages, and 2 slices of bacon in a single sitting. However after such a large meal he seems to suffer harshly from food coma and will fall asleep for a few hours, but eats very lightly for the remainder of the day. It was best to divide up his portions evenly versus the over sized single portion. Sammy couldn’t help but smile at this little tidbit, it partially explained why Benny tired out so quickly after his outburst the previous night.

The smell of the pancakes drifted through the air making the kitchen smell divine. Sammy finished off stacking off the last of the pancakes when he heard the small pattering of shoes. He looked over his shoulder and saw Benny sleepily creeping into the kitchen in his over-sized night shirt trying to rub the sleep out if his eyes.

“Morning Mr.Sammy” Benny stumbled past him to the kitchen table.

“That’s Sammy to you young man”. The musician jokingly scolded while he watched Benny slowly lift himself onto his chair struggling, the groggy demon only getting one foot on the chair while the other dragged behind him. Sammy walked over and assisted the demon in his scaling the chair so he could eat properly at the table.

Benny rested his head on the table while the rest of his body hung limp in his chair, he was not ready for the morning by no sense of the word. It didn’t help his night was plagued with thoughts on how he was going to deal with Tom once he returned home. He was now feeling guilty about his treatment of the man who did nothing but love and care for him. His memories of the studio and what happened to him clashed with the recent ones of him and his family. The only thing that gave him peace was Sammy’s words; 'You have to talk to him or things will never heal’. The demon quietly groaned as his head lightly rolled to the side on the table. He had never really spoken of the hell he had seen and gone through and didn’t really know where to begin. In truth he didn’t want to talk about it, but it was the elephant in the room that needed to be addressed.

Sammy looked over at the little devildoll he was in charge of. He figured the demon didn’t get much sleep after yesterday’s events and he couldn’t blame him. His own memories of what happened in the studio were foggy, but Benny and Bendy both remembered everything vividly. Both demons literally had their own pasts to deal with at it would take time to fully understand how they feel let alone what they went through.

Sammy walked to the cupboard and pulled out a glass and a mug setting both on the table. He poured himself a cup of coffee and Benny a glass of milk. He set the glass in front of the toon, but Benny looked too sleepy to register it’s existence. A sigh escaped the man and he and used the glass to gently nudge Benny’s head waking the toon somewhat as his hand gently grabbed the glass and he lifted his head up to start drinking. Making sure Benny wasn’t going to spill his drink with how incoherent he seemed to be, Sammy placed the finished breakfast in front on the toon.

Benny quietly dug into his food his pie cute eyes barely open. Sammy wanted to laugh at the sight before him. He watched Benny occasionally fumble his food or simply drop it all together. Clearly failing with a fork Benny just rest his head on the table and opened his mouth wide shoveling his food in rather then sit properly and eat. Once he was done he finished off the last of his milk and laid his head back down on the table exhausted.

A glance at the clock ticking in the corner served as a small reminder as to the fact that that Tom should be home later in the evening. Sammy took the opportunity since it was peaceful in the house to clean up the table around Benny and wash the dishes making sure the kitchen was restored it it’s former working order. While he worked he occasionally looked over his shoulder and watched Benny’s head nod off and on occasion a small 'Z’ would float above him before it would disappear and his eyes would open slightly then he would nod off again. The toon was still tired and wasn’t ready to be up yet.

Sammy returned to the living room and cleaned up the bed removing his borrowed sheets, blanket and pillow. With a tug of a handle half the bed collapsed and slid under it’s counterpart restoring it back to a couch instead of a bed. Satisfied Sammy set the pillow against the side of the couch and laid out a blanket to lay under while he planned on enjoying his book he had brought to read. He returned to the kitchen and scooped the now sleeping toon and cradled him in an arm. Sammy returned to the couch and laid down setting Benny on his chest covering himself and the toon back up in the blanket. Benny seemed to be having a fit full sleep at the table, but once he was on Sammy’s chest he relaxed and curled up sound peaceful asleep.

Sammy looked down at the demon that lay on him. It was hard to believe such a small character was also a monster of fabric and ink. Sammy couldn’t lie that both Benny and Bendy scared him, but seeing one of them have so human like problems felt surreal. He had thought that since they were toons that they would always be happy and energetic regardless of what came their way. However seeing them getting angry, sad or throw tantrums it was oddly endearing. They truly felt real with real problems and not the cartoon characters they were meant to be. He lightly rest his hand between Benny’s horns gently scratching the area getting a small purr from the sleeping toon. He couldn’t help but smile, they aren’t so scary when they have the same emotions as a child, and like a child they need an adult to help them. At least they each had a set if adults that were willing to take the time to learn about them and care for them.

Sammy opened up his book and got more comfortable on the couch committing himself to a light read occasionally glancing past his book at the little toon snoozing on his chest. The longer he read the more his eyes drooped and soon he too fell asleep with the book firmly glued to his face.

————-

“Hey sleeping beauty, wake up.” a gruff voice chuckled shaking Sammy’s shoulder.

Sammy groaned turning his head to be met with a pair of tired brown eyes and a smug grin. “Wha…oh!” Sammy immediately sat up eyes wide at Tom standing before him. “How long was I out?”

Tom shrugged “A few hours I guess.”

“Oh…” Sammy’s eyes opened wider and immediately looked at his chest to find that Benny was no longer on him. Brief panic set in and he quickly looked around before his eyes settled on a little figure curled up in Tom’s arm.

Tom noticed Sammy’s brief frantic search before his eyes settled on Benny in his arm. “Yeah I found the little one curled up on you out like a light with a book on your face, makes a good picture by the way. I’m looking forward to it being developed.” A grin crept across the mans face as he looked as Sammy whom was rapidly turning red.

Sammy’s eyes were wide in a mix of disbelief and anger. “That’s dirty pool Thomas!” Sammy shouted, but immediately shut up when Tom held a single finger to his lips shushing him and pointed at Benny. Sammy took a deep breath to calm himself down and looked back up at the smug man. “That by no sense of the word fair and that had better not be used as blackmail later. I demand that photo.”

Tom wagged his finger from side to side. “You’ll get a copy of the photo, but the real one is going in the photo album.” Tom’s words left Sammy quietly seething yet at the same time a small grin had peaked at the edges of his mouth.

With Benny in arm Tom excused himself for a moment to put Benny to bed leaving Sammy to straighten the couch back up and he pocketed his book. The man relaxed on the couch and waited patiently for Tom’s return already knowing he was gonna get an earful. With a certain level of predictably Tom returned to the living room looking exhausted. He sat on the other end of the couch and took a long deep breath before turning to look Sammy in the eye.

“What happened while I was gone? His room was a mess.” Worry all over the mechanics face.

Sammy leaned back on the couch and looked up at the ceiling as he let out a deep sigh. He slowly recounted the events that followed Tom leaving the home for work and Benny’s snappy and erratic behavior that ultimately lead to him bellowing at the man. Tom’s eye’s were wide and he muttered small apologizes for the toons bad behavior, but was surprised when Sammy waved his hand as if it wasn’t a bad thing.

“How come your being so nonchalant about the whole thing? I mean for as sweet as Benny is he could have easily hurt you in a fit of rage. Unless you forgot our warnings about that 2nd mouth if his and his very long reach.” Tom threw up his arms in confusion. He simply couldn’t understand why Sammy was abnormally calm about the encounter. The man should be huddled in a corner or locked away in a room demanding compensation for the nightmarish weekend.

"He left me, I was left behind.” Sammy calmly uttered, his eyes dead focused on Tom. His words made the man freeze in place wide eyed. Tom lowered his arms and turned away from Sammy causing the musician to raise a brow. “I take it you’re familiar with what he meant?”

Tom leaned forward and rest his elbows on his knees staring at the floor. “Yeah…”

Sammy looked over his shoulder and saw a small figure looking just past the corner, a smile crossed the mans lips. “Care to elaborate?”

Tom let out a deep sigh “See back when I made the prototype ink machine they had me use any object to test the machine. I picked up a cute little Bendy doll that would have been scrapped due to it being considered off model and gave it to the machine. To my surprise it produced a living toon that was very much like a newborn child. Joey hated him on sight and struck him with an ax to kill him. I protected him and he escaped. I was thoroughly convinced the toon died from the injury sustained. I wouldn’t have thought that the body was fabric and managed to hold itself together softening the blow. Somehow he ended up with Allison, but I had no clue. Once I got forced to make the 2nd ink machine upon completion Allison asked me to bring home a Plush Bendy doll she claimed someone made for her.” Tom’s voice slowly shrank and he started to choke on his words struggling as he kept going. “I-I had no clue it was Benny, t-that he was supposed to have been brought home with me that day. I-If I had known and wasn’t so ignorant to the realities behind the doll I held in my hand I-I would have never left him there.” Tom paused and took a deep breath to try and calm himself. “A-As we all know the studio fell after that and he never got out until now. H-He was left alone by himself in that studio for 30 years because of my neglect.”

Tom fell silent for a short while fiddling with his hands while his eyes never left the hole he burned into the floor. “To be honest Sammy, I’m not surprised he hates me. It was my fault he was stuck there instead of having a proper family he deserves. I’m not the most qualified person to be considered a father or father figure, so the least I can do is provide him a roof over his head. I think it’s oddly fitting” he leaned back on the couch a small chuckle escaping his lips as a few traces of tears picked at the corners of his eyes. “I didn’t acknowledge him then and he doesn’t acknowledge me now.”

Sammy quietly listened as Tom bore his chains of grief, the years of guilt and regret he carried brought to the surface. He wasn’t known for being a real emotional man and often hid his feelings behind a mask of logic and reasoning, but hearing more in depth of what happened made Sammy truly pity the man. He laid back on the couch and peeked over his shoulder at the figure that remained in the doorway. Benny stood partially hiding behind the wall and large inky tears were streaming down his face. He must have heard Tom’s confession. The toon looked too timid to come over and Sammy slowly waved a hand at him to encourage him to come over. Benny nodded and slowly but surely made his way to the couch out of Tom’s sight.

“Well I think someone would like to have a word with you.” Sammy spoke to Tom gaining the man’s attention. He looked back at the musician confused and followed Sammy’s gesture till his eyes laid on the little toon slowly walking to him with tears streaming down his face.

Tom wanted to get up and scoop Benny up to see what was wrong, but the memory of him snapping at the toon the previous day kept him grounded to the couch. He by far wasn’t the best person to try and call himself a parent.

Benny walked right up to Tom just before his legs, a gloved hand gently pulled on the pant leg. “I’m sorry about the other day, I was acting like a little brat. I was inconsiderate for all those times you worked yourself to the bone to make sure I had everything I needed. I-I really sorry.” the toon looked up at the man tears starting to reform at the edges of his mismatched eyes. “Back when I was left behind in that room I sat at the desk waiting. I waited for a long time until I realized you weren’t coming. I told myself it was an accident or some sort of mistake, but the more time that passed the more it hurt. I convinced myself it was all your fault and that you were to blame for my misery. I’m not the best toon in the world let alone a toon of my own and only an image of one, but..” Benny’s voice trailed off and he started to choke on his words, the stitching on his stomach openly slightly and both mouths spoke in unison. “I’m NoT QaAlIfIeD tO bE CoNsIdErD a ChIlD, BuT… CaN I CoNsIdEr YoU My DaD? I’m SoRrY AnD I FoRgIvE YoU.” the toon broke down crying sounding like a broken squeaky toy while gently clinging to Tom’s pant leg.

The man bent down and scooped up the distraught toon into his arms and gently rocked back and forth whispering small words of 'thank you’ or gentle shushing sounds. Tom himself was quietly crying while trying to comfort the toon in his arms. He felt like a huge weight was taken off his shoulders. Benny forgave him. The one thing he felt he didn’t deserve after 30 years of abandonment.

Sammy sighed at the sight before him and a smile crept across his face. It was comforting to see that the man and toon had reconciled. The process to truly heal from the damages was going to be slow, but at least they have a start. With a small groan Sammy excused himself from the couch and figured it was time to head home, he could hit Tom up for the bill some other time. He quietly snuck down the hall and saw his way out the home making sure to lock it behind himself. The drive home didn’t feel so long after how his weekend had gone. A few new pieces of music danced in his head as he hummed new songs down the length of road.

——– 3 Days later ———–

After dodging the postwoman for the umpteenth time Sammy collected his daily post and slipped inside his home. The mail was nothing but ads and the occasional bill with a pale blue envelope with a black trim mixed in. The envelope caught his attention and he set the rest of the post down to further examine the piece of mail. The envelope was a simple pale blue with what looked like a little stitched pattern had been drawn on the edges. The senders had been none other then the Connors as their names and address had been carefully written in delicate cursive. Amused Sammy opened up the letter and proceeded to read it’s contents.

Dear Mr. Sammy,

I’d like to apologize for my actions during your stay at the house. You left so abruptly I didn’t have a chance to apologize, to thank you or to say good-bye. I thank you for what you did, it really helped. Tom and I had a really long talk about what happened and we are on much better terms now. Things are still a little strange between us every now and then, but we’ll figure it out. Though Tom wasn’t happy when you disappeared on him. He said something about a photo and that if you wanted it you have to come back and get it. I don’t know what he’s talking about, but he did mention something about showing Henry some photos. If anything I look forward to seeing you again and will you bring your banjo? I’d like to play with you again.

Yours truly,

Benny

Sammy chuckled at the 'Mr. Sammy’ and thought 'that’s Sammy to you’, but that smile and chuckle gave way to a scowl upon reading about the photo that Tom had taken. His face morphed to a mix of anger and horror upon reading that he was going to show Henry. 'That blasted Thomas is a real demon, using blackmail photos.’ Sammy scowled to himself, but that frustration gave way to a twinge of amusement. 'Then again he is the father of a little devil, even if it happens to be a sweet little devil. Like father, like son.’ He tucked the letter away and found a smaller note tucked behind the letter. He set the letter aside and pulled the small note out and opened it revealing $40 and a message.

Hey Mr. Drama Queen,

Here’s a little thank you for watching Benny and for what you did, but next time let me know when you leave. If you do that again I’ll have Benny 'play’ with you and I don’t mean with musical instruments. He loves a mean game of tag.

Thanks again,

Thomas Connor

A whistle and hum floated through the air as Sammy pocketed the money and carefully put the 2 letters away for safekeeping. Despite Tom’s little dig at him he couldn’t find it within himself to get too angry at the rough and tumble mechanic. In the end despite how the weekend crumbled at the start, it came through in the end and a little step towards understanding was made. He may no longer be a 'crazed preacher man’, but he was devoted to the few people he cared for and now the 2 little toons that came with them.