Chapter Text
The mobile gently span around over the crib just as Abel slowly woke up “Mmm” he mumbled with his pacifier muffled his voice still feeling a little sleepy, he felt the soft feel of his pillow under his head as the soft blanket draped over him slid down a bit has he lifted his wings slightly not wanting to leave it’s coziness ….. wait….his pillow and blanket what were they doing at Jeanne’s? from where he was facing saw baby blue wooden bars before turning his head to look up he saw the mobile spinning above he suddenly realized that he was back in his crib in Bend..in his home with Bendy, Boris and Alice “How long was I out for?” he thought to himself rubbing his eye with one of his fists, the last thing he remembered was being at Jeanne’s house, Learning the truth of his True Form, getting diaper changed, getting a bottle and burped then getting his binkie but for some reason the rest is blank. Rubbing his head Abel figured he should head down stairs and ask ether Alice or Boris what happened when he zoned out at Jeanne’s? he also wanted to know why he suddenly felt the need to fall asleep when he was only awake for 4 hours?! He saw the clock in Jeanne’s living room it was 9am, Abel got up onto his feet and attempted to fly over the bars but it felt like his wings were heavy, he could flap them around yet couldn’t fly, he kept trying even when his own mind was telling him he needed a little help but he didn’t want to bother Boris or Alice just cause they’re in the middle of something important all because he wanted to get out of his crib so he kept trying.
After a few failed attempts and falling on to his butt on the sixth attempt Abel felt frustrated and upset, this should be fudging easy! He has flown over buildings, in warehouses, up into a bar ceiling even over the top of monsters! So why was a crib so hard! Abel could feel his tears starting to form in the corners of his eyes he was frustrated and ashamed of himself for practically failing the one skill every winged toon can do by instinct. Just then the bedroom door opened and Bendy walked in “Hey Abel, how was your morning nap?” the ink imp asked smiling then noticed the small tears in Abel’s eyes, with a worried frown, lowing his non-existent eyebrow as he walked up to the crib “Abel are you ok? Need me to get Boris or Alice?” he asked causing the tiny angel to stare at him in shock and started waving his hands in front of himself saying that there was no need to bother either of them over something as stupid he can’t do but Bendy shook his head with a sigh “Abel asking for help when you need it doesn’t make you a bother or a waste of time. Secondary or True asking others for help will never make you seem wreak or a burden sometimes it’s the bravest thing to do but asking for it can also be the most difficult step” he softly smiles at Abel and stuck his fingers through the bars to rub the back of his hand “you don’t always have to go through things alone.” Abel stared at Bendy his friend, his big brother with shimmering eyes before blinking and turning his head away “I can’t gets out” he says rubbing his left arm Bendy smirked saying that it was the point, like the baby gates and playpen it was to keep babies safe then he left the room and walked half way down the stairs, he saw Alice sitting on the right side of the couch reading a novel she was almost at the end of but Bendy decided to wait since she only had one page left, once the book closed he said “Abel’s awake! And He wants out” Alice nodded saying she’ll be up there in a few seconds then Bendy went back into his and Abel’s room.
Once he was back in followed by Alice it was then that Abel asked why he fall asleep at Jeanne’s when he woke up at 6:40 am and what time was it? Bendy answered that “You’ve been asleep for two hours cause it was your morning nap time. It’s about 11 am now” this surprised Abel so much that he didn’t notice Alice checking his diaper which most likely got changed when they got home before putting him in his crib but luckily for him was clean and dry. “Hold on, morning nap? But I thought I only napped in the afternoons right after a bottle of milk?! And if I did fall asleep at Jeanne’s then why were you still awake?” Abel Asked really confused as Alice and Bendy started leaving the bedroom suddenly Bendy chuckled at what Abel said then replied “Actually you have two naps because you’re a 10 month old so you have a nap in the morning and one after lunch but I only need an afternoon nap since I’m five, you need those two short sleeps during the day” he said as Alice unlock and opened the first baby gate then once she, Bendy and Able past it she shut it before locking and they made their way down stairs. As they headed down the stairs Abel took in what Bendy had just said about the naps and yeah as an adult, he’d kill for a nap especially back at his old studio even Joshua tried to get him to have one after doing an episode but Smith kept telling his dad that they were unnecessary even if he looked completely exhausted during the three-month toon development period which he still didn’t understand what it was he better ask Luna about it, yet the idea of that he’ll be having naps as part of his daily routine sounds amazing!
Once in the living room Abel assumed he’d be put into the playpen but instead he was put down onto a soft large foam rug, Alice saw the confused expression on the baby angel’s face then explained “Well, since I’m here supervision in the room it’s safe for you to play or watch something with bendy but if nether me or Boris are in here with you two then you’ll need to be put into your playpen Abel” Abel just looked at her with wide eyes “Yoo Mean I can be outta hewe and not in the pway pen?” he asked barely noticing his lisp a big grin on his face, Alice giggle telling him yes while taking her cell phone out of the pocket of her yellow sleeveless dress and took a photo, Abel imminently started blushing and asked her to delete the pic but Alice had no intention of getting rid of it. Just then Bendy grabbed Abel’s hand and led him to the toybox “Come on, think of these two weeks getting used to your new home as that vacation you’ve been wanting” he says opening the lid “after all it’s our secondary forms that deal with the grown up and mafia stuff so let’s enjoy ourselves” after a little hesitation Abel admits that Bendy is right, yes they had a lot of responsibilities to help run the family before Abel was really stressed, barely sleeping because of his nightmare, wasn’t eating properly or looking after his health… and it wasn’t just his health he was ignoring but these last few hours he already felt better and right now he wasn’t the Rebel angel, he was just Abel “Oh I already called Dr Quill she’ll be sending your updated True Form’s ID Card so it will have your full name on it at the end of the two weeks” Alice told Abel making him blush yeah he wasn’t ready to let people know his full name yet but right now all needs to do is relax and have some fun. Bendy reminded Abel that it’s his turn to pick tonight’s bed time story and he thinks the one about those bad mice sounds good.
The two weeks slowly past and Abel for the first time was enjoying his time in his True Form now that he knew what it was rather than being scared of this new change and was learning his way around the house he’ll be living in from now on, he was thrilled when he and Bendy were in the backyard it was huge! Well in their True Forms it was huge but even then, Abel would have thought it was really big considering that he had never had or been in a backyard even after escaping his studio and started living in Toon Town he’s manly stayed in apartments which don’t have backyards unless a balcony with a few potted plants courts as a garden but this just blows his mind away especially what it has: there’s a short green slide which looks like a dinosaur, a yellow cubbyhouse with a red roof, two gardens one with edible flowers while the other had vegetables, an outdoor dining set up on the patio with a grill against the wall and a red sandbox with a little wooden box holding the sand toys, Abel’s tiny mind was having trouble hold back his excitement with a smirk Bendy leaded down to where Abel’s ear would be and told him that he or should he say they had a kiddy pool that had a large shading over it to keep the sun off them for summers. Which caused Abel to shout with eye sparkling “WE HAVE OUW OWN BEACH WITHOUT NEEDING TO DWIVE ANY WHEWE!” and when Bendy laughed saying “Yeah” the baby angel squealed happily making Boris and Alice laugh as she photographed Abel’s Adorable expression which was just as cute when he found out the oven had a pizza setting on it in fact Alice had been documenting certain moments Abel had over the two weeks and in each photo Abel was happy and relaxed. Not only that Bendy was being an amazing big brother, one afternoon during an incident where they both wanted to used a red crayon Bendy told Abel to trace he picture he was colouring until he was down, at first Abel grumpily said fine then started going over his picture with a pouty face using a black crayon but when Bendy at last handed the red crayon over and Abel looked down at his drawing, he saw that he outlined the fire breathing giant cop frog he even drew where the fire and Lazer bo staff were going to be coloured in! “Whao, how did you know that?” Abel asked Bendy just shrugged saying that he watched both his dad and Audrey draw a lot so he picked up a lot of things, Abel thought it was really cool then Bendy asked Abel to use the black crayon one more time to put his name on the bottom which Abel was more than happy to do. Sometimes Abel would watch Bendy play one of the video games that were for kids like the remastered Crash Bandicoot, spyro and Abel would help by giving an idea for a level or even co-opt in one of the Lego games though if it’s four minutes before nap time Bendy would quickly save the game and turn it off.
It wasn’t just playing they did. Sometimes if Boris or Alice wanted them quite for a bit, they would put an audio book on or put a kid’s show on like Sooty, Grossology, Cyberchase, Spongebob, transformers or Bluey which the two of them became a fan of (though Boris and Alice were sure was a Favorite of adults too and not just because it was a show they can actually like having as background sound.) Abel was appreciating going to bed early including the naps, he did wonder how they will affect his Secondary Form once he’s able to change back into it, from what Boris told him Bendy would only change into his True Form on the weekends once every eight months but it had been letting less if he needs to be Benicio but he had been in his True Form since the night Abel started straying with them, how will this affect Bendy? How will it affect him?
One of the down sides were the diapers: they’re bulky so walking can be a little harder with how little his legs were, it feels gross after you use them and the diaper checks can be embarrassing but during the two weeks Abel got used to being changed and he even started to feel less and less embarrassed about being changed by Alice now plus if he’s in the middle of something like a level that needs both him and Bendy, playing, colouring or at an important part of an episode he didn’t have to stop and go to the toilet for Bendy who was still toilet trained. Thank goodness all their shows were or DVD so Abel could pause it while Bendy uses the bathroom and Abel can wait for him by colouring in a colouring book or just play with Barnabas until he comes back. Speaking of Barnabas, he became Abel’s emotional support plushie who helps with his anxiety while the Seth plushie is more of a nighttime protector who keeps all those nightmares away but the Seth plush is only a bedtime plushie while he only Takes Barnabas to places he knows he won’t lose him or get stolen and Bendy also has an emotional support toy but it wasn’t a plush toy but a small wooden train, he told Abel it was the only comfort thing he had back when he was in the cycle where he met Audrey……h..he doesn’t like talking about that place but like how Bendy never pushed Abel to tell him about his past until he felt comfortable and safe enough to tell him Abel does the same. And he also has a bedtime plush: a yellow and white lamb dressed as a train conductor call Conductor sheepy he drives the dream train to the dream worlds or at least that’s what Bendy told Abel.
Another pro/con were the clothes sure he didn’t have many ‘tiny him’ clothes yet but the three PJs he had and four other outfits were the most comfortably things he ever wore but some of them were a little embarrassing to him getting used to them will definitely take a year or two. Apart from those things Abel was surprised with himself on easy it took him to adapt to this new life but even though it’s wonderful he couldn’t help but fear what the other family members would say or think about this real him, what would his friends outside the family say? What would SHE think?
Before any of them knew it the two weeks were up When Boris saw the other circled date on the calendar which showed that Abel’s third two weeks were done and wouldn’t happen again until the 6th of May next month it was also the same day that Abel’s updated True Former’s ID card came now with his full name on it. So, after Breakfast Boris followed by Bendy took the Baby Angel to the bathroom to get rid of the messy diaper and clean him up but instead of putting another one on Abel, he changed the angel into the usual outfit he wore in his secondary including a pair of underwear, his gloves, socks and shoes then placed him on the ground while Bendy changed into a very large old fashioned red nightshirt and with a little encouragement and demonstration from Bendy who transformed into his fourth form Benicio (his ink gentle shimmered around him like snowflakes, melting a little under his feet before changing into the mafia boss Abel had known) Abel closed his eyes. He felt some of his ink lift up like snowflakes and the melting then it stopped, opening one eye he saw in the bathroom mirror his adult appearance! Abel noticed that once again his hair was longer and was trying to find some scissors in the drawers asking if either of them know why his hair always ended up long when he turned back into his Secondary Form? “Hehehe, isn’t that obvious?” Boris said opening a drawer pulling out a comb and started to comb Abel’s hair as the Rebel Angel stopped looking for the scissors “ya’r real design has ya with long hair so when ya turn back to Secondary that small detail stayed even out of True Form” he told the toon angel once he was done combing Abel’s hair until it was neat and in it’s usual hair style, the more Abel thought it his original hair design was long so it could be put into a ponytail but Abel said in a low voice that he shouldn’t have long hair, his Secondary Form, the form every toon knows that the Rebel has short hair then Benicio asks him if he likes having long hair? Abel almost sounding embarrassed said he did, asked him if he felt more comfortable with it being long? The Angel said he did then Benicio asked if Abel felt more like himself with it long and when he said he did Benicio ask putting his hands on the angel’s shoulders “So, who cares what other folks thinks about it? It’s still you but it’s better cause it’s the real you” Abel smiled at that but still felt too self-conscious to even have his long hair seen by anyone except for Bendy, Boris and Alice yet but until he was Benicio taught him the first ability to use in his Secondary Form which was very basic for any True Former to learn: appearance cloaking to hide small details linked to your True Form like marks, things on your face, on your body or hair, Benicio learnt it to hide the drip of ink on his forehead when he was first making his Fourth Form. It was really easy to learn and Abel nailed it on his first try, his hair slowly shrunk down to the short hair do he always had since he first came to life then he changed it back to long and all three left the bathroom and headed down stairs.
Benicio Mafia HQ 7:40 am
“Hey guys we’re back” Benicio said as he Boris and Abel walked into the meeting room where the other family members were sitting Gizmo welcomed the three back asking how their time off go? Benicio leaned back in his chair telling them it wasn’t really time off more like going off to get some new intel but it’s classified only he, Boris, Abel and Alice can know about it, he leaned onto the desk and said in a dark tone “Can’t even let any of ya know about it” his eyes glowed a low red which told them to not ask about it then Diana old them that she had done a little scouting by an unmarked dock that had a shipment of high quality ink and they had been planing on a heist to steal it the whole time the four toons had been gone and now that they were here they can execute the heist. While Fonzy and Gizmo were going over the plan with Boris and Benicio when the toon wolf noticed how nervous the Rebel Angel had gotten so, he walked over to Abel and led him over to a corner and asked if he was alright? Abel looked at his big br .. NO! not now at Boris then said “I’ve been behind with training for two weeks! How can me and Benicio keep up with the others when we had been slacking!” He whispered a little panicked at the thought of heading right into field work but Boris reassured him that his muscle memory is even stronger now with the addiction of photographic memory thanks to Abel being a True Former he still have the skills he had learnt over the years from being in his Secondary Form including the previous jobs he had done before joining the Benicio Family which can transfer down to True Forms for doing shows: by Learning the script, dance routines, performance scenes and toon logic for an episode in Secondary or other adult Forms that knowledge can transfer into True Form because the Body and mind have it memorize in their Muscle memory to the point of the actions for the scene being instinctive and Photographic memory that helps them with doing the performances on camera which is really helpful if a True Former’s Form is really young with a short attention span or has difficulty reading so they can perform for the episode with no worry but it can have a reverse affect by doing something if the actions and Photographic memory are performed in True Form which then can be translated to Secondary, which can be really helpful if the toon has performance based fears like stage fright, fear of performing in front of other or really too shy to even preform to help boost up self-confidence in their Secondary Form. “So don’t worry and Benicio had years of experience besides ya’ll be surprised by the boost you got from being in True Form” Boris said making Abel a little confused about what the toon wolf meant.
The ink Heist went even better than they one would have thought! Granted some amateur gangsters who tried to steal it before them but were no match to a Mafia, Gizmo and Fonzy were amazed by their boss and Rebel angel: both Benicio and Abel’s agility was ten times faster and their concentration had improved too even Benicio’s shooting was so much better no misses at all! When they got back to headquarters’s med bay the toon crow and fox started recall what they saw as the crates of ink were taken to storage and Luna was giving them a quick check over surprised that none of them got hurt this time then the two of them said they were going to get a drink at the Wishing Well, Benicio said that he and Abel will catch up in a little but he needed to see Abel in his office for a chat, Gizmo said that he’ll reserve a pair of seats for them as he followed Fonzy leaving a really confused Abel staring at his boss/ older brother as he was led to Benicio’s office wondering what The ink demon wanted to talk about.
4 months later……
Abel sat in the waiting chair nervously, he had his long hair out in the open in a high ponytail, wearing a sky-blue t shirt with lime green sleeves, denim jeans and slip on sneakers he didn’t want toons to recognise him not until he was ready to tell others about what he will be starting but maybe he could bring himself to tell Elymas and Luna, he rubbed a hand over his top arm a short sleeve. Abel was feeling more comfortable wearing more modern clothes outside more but mainly in the north side and in Boris and Alice’s house which was now his home, he even got a part time Barista job at one of the cafes in the north! (He only got that in that class by accident at the community college, he thought he was signing up to the Bartending course but got the two mixed up. He wanted to help Elymas out at his bar to pay back the food and drink he let him have at toon palace but at least he’s using that degree for something) he already felt embarrassed about that but Bendy did point out that being a barista in the north meant Abel could also keep an ear out for any info.
The toon angel shook a little but then a few gentle tap on the back of Abel’s finger-less gloved hand brought him out of his nervous state, looking over into Alice’s face she smiled at him saying that what he was doing was brave and if he needed her to go with him? Abel sighed saying this was something he needed to do himself “Mr Eubanks?” a lady toon doe called Abel stood up saying he was here “the Doctor will see you now” she told him and after giving Alice a soft smile he walked over to the door and opening it before walking inside closing the door behind him. On the tinted glass of the door read two words in bold uppercase letters in white.
TRAUMA THERAPIST