Chapter Text
The current mood at Joey Drew Studios was that of an uncomfortable family reunion right before that one aunt brought up grandma’s inheritance again. There had been an odd atmosphere ever since Joey introduced his ink machine to the studio. Now, for the last couple of days, Joey had barely stepped outside his office while Henry tried to be everywhere at once. It wasn’t official but if Joey wasn’t around, people turned to Henry.
Then there was something odd going on with the animation department. They were working as hard as ever but seemed a bit more on the edge than the rest of the studio.
All the while the ink machine kept churning out ink and dismay that trickled all the way down to the music department.
It was one big mess that she wouldn’t be able to untangle even if she gave it a try, Susie thought. The only thing she could try was to keep the music director’s spirits up which was a special kind of challenge. Susie had lost one or two good skirts to the ink but Sammy seemed to have an unfortunate talent to be right were the next pipe was about to burst.
“Hello, Sammy!”
Susie almost had to start a light jog to keep up with Sammy’s brisk walk. He glanced in her direction but showed no signs of slowing down. She’d been a bit put off by him until it became clear that he spared no one. It also helped when she discovered that as a man in a constant state of aggravation and frustration, Sammy had next to zero defenses against her unrelenting cheeriness.
“What can I do for you, Susie?"
“You told me to come around today for warm ups and coaching, but I can come back later if you’re busy?”
“No, no, we can do it now”, Sammy said.
He hurried into his office, seemingly assuming she would follow, and set his stack of notes down on his desk in an orderly pile.
“Well, I am busy but come in anyway”, he added.
“You sure know how to give a warm welcome”, Susie said, coming in to lean against the piano. “I hope I’m not bothering you too much."
“It’s not like there’s anyone else to do this with. Not that Joey ever thinks of that”, Sammy grumbled. “Let’s start with warm up.”
He seated himself at the piano while Susie started to hum her latest favorite tune. This one only made Sammy look slightly pained.
She was really improving, Sammy thought.
“That was alright”, was what he said but as always, Susie smiled brightly at him.
“Thanks a bunch for helping me, Sammy,” she said. “I’m sure that mother hen will sing just beautiful in the recording today. I’ve been practicing my clucks and everything.”
They were pretty good clucks too in Susie’s opinion. She gave Sammy a couple of samples. The corner of Sammy’s mouth twitched but it could’ve been a trick of the light.
“One of these days I’ll get a chuckle out of you.”
Sammy smirked.
“Well, it’s good to have goals in life, I guess. Now scram, I’ve got work to do.”
However, the good mood Susie left him in was steadily chipped away by the constant drip of ink from the ceiling. Sammy found himself staring at the slowly growing puddle of ink in the corner of the room. Every time he thought he had something there was another impossibly loud splash when the drop of ink hit the puddle.
He wasn’t going to get anything done like this. Sammy pushed himself away from his desk and headed outside.
Usually he smoked whenever and wherever but recently he’d started to slip off to the back alley behind the studio building. Just to get away from the ink or that damn pump Joey graciously installed right in his office. The back alley wasn’t exactly the scenic choice but it was good enough once the raccoon that lived there accepted his presence.
An added bonus was that he didn’t run the risk of running into Joey out there and anyone else who was thinking of taking a smoke break changed their mind when they saw him. As Sammy finished smoking and started contemplating lightening up another one before heading inside, the only person who ever bothered him out there was in fact coming out of the back door.
“Thought I might find you out here”, Henry said, looking a bit sheepish, “I don’t suppose you could… ?”
Sammy sighed and handed his cigarettes over to Henry.
“Only because you look like you need it.”
Henry took one and handed the carton back.
“Thanks, Sammy.”
“You look like a mess”, Sammy continued and lit one for himself before giving Henry the matchbox.
“Thanks, Sammy.”
Henry took a deep drag and leaned back against the brick wall. He did look like a mess. Shirt only partly tucked with ink stains here and there along with some stains with an unknown source. There were dark circles under his eyes but despite all this and his slouched posture, Henry looked energetic. He looked exhilarated and afraid at the same time.
There was definitely something going on here.
“So… “ Sammy started and then found himself staring helplessly at Henry who blinked slowly at him.
How did people do meaningless small talk again? He’d gotten lazy with it since he could dismiss even Joey with a biting remark.
“How’s it uh… going?” Sammy finally managed. He decided against tagging on a pal at the end because that would only cause suspicion.
Henry exhaled slowly before answering.
“Good?” he said, straightening his back with a groan. “Well, you know how Joey gets when he sets his mind on something.”
“Ah yes, his little project with the ink machine. When is he going to set his mind on what we’re actually supposed to do at this studio?”
Sammy looked carefully at Henry. At the mention of the machine he flinched, some of the ash falling off the cigarette and getting on his shirt.
“Oh… “, Henry got a faraway look in his eyes. “I think Joey is going to get back on track real soon."
“There’s something you’re not telling me.”
Henry busied himself with trying to get the ash off his shirt, only succeeding in rubbing it into the shirt fabric.
“It’s something about the ink machine."
“No, Sammy, it’s just that- “
“Something that got the whole animation department rattled.”
“Really- ”
“Maybe I should just ask Joey about it?”
Henry moved from the brick wall.
“Out of my way, Henry.”
“Now isn’t the best time, Sammy. Let me- ”
“No, let me tell you something. You’ve been acting strange lately and Joey hasn’t showed his face in ages. I want to know what’s going on.”
“I’m not trying to keep anything from you, we’re trying to- “
“So you’re in on whatever Joey’s cooking up?”
“No, I- “
“What’s that? “, Sammy looked over Henry’s shoulder toward the end of the alley.
“Will you let me finish?” Henry said through gritted teeth.
Sammy was almost impressed; he’d never managed to tick Henry off before. Still, he had a certain studio head to put against the wall. He pointed towards the end of the alley.
“Are those storyboards Wally is throwing in the dumpster?”
Henry’s eyes widened and he swiveled around to look where Sammy was pointing while Sammy took the opportunity to push past him, back into the studio. It said a lot about Henry’s stress levels that he actually fell for that one.
Sammy wasted no time getting started. Ranting at Joey Drew was basically second nature to him by now.
“Joey! What the hell do you think you’re doing? We’ve got little to no time and a ton of work while you’re distracted with God knows what. I want to know right now what this damn ink machine of yours is supposed to… “, he lost his voice mid-sentence.
Sammy felt the anger leave him and an entirely different feeling took its place. Something that made his legs go weak at the knees and his heart speed up.
“… do”, Sammy finished with a hoarse whisper.
“See? This guy gets it.”
The voice seemed to reverberate off the walls and Sammy could feel it in his teeth. Somehow he recognized it; he had heard that voice before.
“Hi, Sammy!”
Joey smiled and waved like there wasn’t a dripping ink monstrosity looming over him with teeth bared in a familiar grin. It had no eyes or maybe they were under all that ink running down its face. Eyes or no eyes, Sammy knew it was looking right at him.
Confronted by all this, Sammy did the only thing he could do.
“I’m not doing this”, he declared with a flat voice.
The inky being somehow pushed back the mass of ink covering half of its face, like lifting a veil, and a black pie-eye peeked out at Sammy.
“I’ll show myself out”, Sammy said weakly.
“Okay, bye!” Joey replied.
As he left, Sammy could hear Joey talking to whatever that thing was.
“That’s Sammy by the way, the music director.”
“Strange fella. Is he always like that?”
“Pretty much.”
As Sammy stumbled out of Joey’s office, closing the door behind him with a shaking hand, Henry caught up with him. He looked irritated until he caught sight of Sammy’s face.
“Sammy? You okay?” Henry grimaced. “I take it you’ve met Bendy?”
“That was Bendy?” Sammy said hesitantly. “You know what this cartoon is supposed to look like, right? That’s not it!”
“Oh boy”, Henry rubbed his neck. “I can explain. Sort of.”
Sammy took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
“I’m going to need a drink and to think about what I’m doing with my life. In that order.”
“Uh… can I join you for that drink? I think I need it too.”
Sammy locked the door to his office even though Henry told him there was nothing dangerous about the thing he’d seen in Joey’s office. He gave Sammy a recap the past weeks which had apparently been leading up to demon summoning.
“According to Joey, it isn’t an exact science but he’s working on it. Bendy isn’t thrilled about his current look either.”
Henry paused for a moment.
“For a cartoon who’s just been around for a few days, he’s got a lot of opinions on how we do things at the studio. I mean, they’re good ideas and he’s been real helpful even if it was uh… a little terrifying to have him leaning over my shoulder and critiquing my work at first.”
“How can you be so calm about this?”
Henry smiled wryly at Sammy.
“You forget that I’ve known Joey for years.”
“You’re right and I’m sorry for you. Here, have another drink”, Sammy sneered and refilled Henry’s glass.
Henry accepted the music director’s sudden hospitality without complaint.
The worst part about it, in Sammy’s opinion, was how quickly the whole studio got used to Bendy. Especially after Joey finally got him looking like he was supposed to. They all accepted that the very cartoon they’d been drawing was suddenly taking charge of the animation department. Sammy was relieved that Bendy at least seemed to focus only on that part of the studio work.
Though he also insisted on sitting in on a recording as well, to get the whole picture so to speak. Sammy nearly started tearing his hair out when the band went completely nuts over having the dancing demon himself hearing them play.
“Let them have a little fun”, Norman said.
“This is isn’t a playground!” Sammy hissed, watching as the band members were practically falling over themselves to impress Bendy.
“See, you say that but you also keep calling my band all sorts of names, exactly like a playground bully.”
"I don't- "
"Last week you called them sheep."
"Only because they're a bunch of idiots!"
During a break in the recording Bendy leaned over to Sammy.
“I get the feeling you don’t like me, Sammy. Which is, you know, crazy? I’m a likable and marketable kinda guy.”
“Don’t expect me to get down on my knees and worship you like the rest of these yahoos”, Sammy snapped, glaring at the band members looking their way.
Bendy shrugged.
“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.”
He turned to Norman sitting on his other side.
“How about you, Norman? Do I give you the heebie-jeebies too?”
Norman chuckled.
“Not really. I’ve already been working with a demon for a while now.”
Bendy snickered as Sammy started to sputter.
In the end, no matter how much he despised it, Sammy didn’t have a choice but to get used to it as well. He refused, however, to get used to the ink floods that plagued his department.
With ink dripping from his hair and clothes, Sammy stomped along the now familiar path to Joey’s office. Only this time it was Bendy sitting in Joey’s usual spot.
“Where’s Joey?” Sammy demanded as he marched up to Bendy, slamming his fist on the desk for good measure.
“Hello to you too, Lawrence. Joey’s with Henry. You know, drawing and stuff. Those crazy kids, am I right?”
Sammy narrowed his eyes at Bendy who only grinned in response.
“So you’re in charge now, huh?” Sammy asked.
The grin widened a bit.
“Got a problem with that?”
Sammy snorted.
“What I got a problem with, boss, is that damn ink flooding my music department again! How am I supposed to get anything done like this? If you don’t fix it I’m going to-”
“Okay, okay! Maybe try that a little louder? Sheesh! I don’t think they heard you over in Paris.”
“Listen, you- wait, where are you going?”
Bendy stopped on his way out.
“You wanted the ink problem fixed, right? Joey’s busy but I can take look at the machine. I’m due for an ink break anyway. Animation is thirsty work.”
“You drink the ink?”
“It’s got a kick to it”, Bendy said. “Anything else on your mind?”
With his anger getting off track, Sammy straightened his tie with a huff.
“Well, the janitor keeps leaving his supplies everywhere”, he muttered.
Bendy leaned out the door and cupped a hand around his mouth.
“Hey, Wally!” Bendy shouted down the corridor.
“Yeah?”
“Stop leaving your bucket everywhere!”
“Sure thing, boss!”
Bendy grinned at Sammy.
“See? Problem solved”, Bendy said. “You keep making those marvelous melodies. Let me worry about the ink.”
“I’ve never seen Sammy leave my office with so little shouting,” Joey said later.
“That’s because you’re a natural at driving people insane.”
Joey beamed and clapped Bendy on the shoulder.
“Thanks!”
“No, that’s not- “ Bendy sighed. “Fine, let’s go with that.”
If only it had just been the ink machine that created problems at the studio. There were regular, everyday problems on top of that mess. The animators didn’t finish on time, people misplaced their work and then there were the scheduling conflicts with the voice actors.
“I’m telling you, Henry. There ain’t enough dark magic in this world, even with Joey around, to make things go smoothly at this place.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine! Why do you ask?”
“Hm… “ Henry glanced down at the inky trail behind Bendy. “Maybe you should take a break?”
“I don’t need a break. I told you I was fine. Besides, it’s not like we have time for breaks”, Bendy laughed shrilly. “Breaks are for people who aren’t walking the thin line between finishing on time and complete chaos!”
Given how concerned Henry looked and how quick he was to get him to go outside the studio despite Bendy’s reassurances that he was fine, Bendy suspected that he wasn’t a pretty sight at the moment. Henry didn’t even comment on his choice of disguise this time around.
They went to one Henry’s usual spots when he wanted a break and draw something that didn’t have anything to do with studio work.
Bendy gripped his pen tightly until Henry nudged him into to loosening his grip.
“It’s hard to believe now but Joey got pretty stressed out too", Henry said. "Back when having our own studio was just a pipe dream."
“That had to be something special”, Bendy's regular grin was beginning to find its place again.
Henry chuckled.
“Like you would not believe.”
“What did he do? I mean, it feels like I’m going nuts sometimes.”
“Well… “, Henry smiled weakly. “Joey picked up a hobby.”
“Most people wouldn’t call summoning rituals a hobby.”
“Maybe, but most people haven’t summoned a demon who turned out to be a pretty decent animation director.”
“Nice try, mister, but you won’t get any special treatment by flattering me.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, boss.”
“Though Joey might have the right idea. He’s got a couple of good ones knocking around in that skull of his.”
It started soon after that excursion outside the studio. They were annoying but harmless pranks. Most of the studio didn’t mind them, especially as it soon became clear that Sammy was Bendy’s favorite target. It was beginning to become a regular occurrence in the temporary lull after a deadline had been passed.
Being pranked by a demon could’ve driven a man insane but Sammy seemed to keep a tight grip on his sanity by being in a constant state of low level rage at all times. His quite spectacular reactions to every whoopee cushion, exploding cigar and joy buzzer-incident seemed to ground him.
Still Henry didn’t think it was the best idea to antagonize the man to the degree Bendy did.
“Not again. Why do you keep doing this?” he said when he stumbled onto the ink demon lurking near Sammy’s office.
“It relaxes me”, Bendy answered with a serene smile that slowly but surely twisted into a more familiar devilish grin. “And I can’t help that Joey created me as a mischief maker. Like how you can’t help chugging down all that bacon soup.”
“Joey bought it in bulk and it was cluttering up the place”, Henry protested.
“Sure, that’s a reason.”
They were standing around a corner but with a good view of Sammy’s closed office door. Well, not the door itself as it was completely blocked with stacked phone books. Where did Bendy even get that many phone books?
“Anyway, I can’t exactly pull this stuff on you or Joey. Joey keeps complimenting me for being clever. It’s getting awkward. You on the other hand only react with the same disappointed look”, Bendy glanced up at Henry. “Yes, that’s the one right there.”
Henry could feel his brow settle in a troubled frown.
“Oh but Sammy”, Bendy looked wistfully towards the music director’s office. “It’s art, I tell you, real beautiful stuff.”
There was movement from within Sammy’s office and even if Henry couldn’t see the door opening, he could hear what sounded like Sammy trying to punch his way out. The blockade started to crumble and a few of the phone books fell down on the side Sammy was on, possibly hitting the music director because he started up a long string of profanity. There were a couple of especially imaginative curses detailing what Sammy would do to a certain someone once he got his hands on him.
Bendy wiped away a tear.
“Eat your heart out, Michelangelo.”
He then put his hands together and stretched out so he was on the tip of his toes before sinking back. He did look more relaxed now than he had in the final stretches towards the deadline.
“Glad you could join me for this, Henry, but I’ve got to shake a leg before Sammy- “
“Before I what?”
The self-satisfied grin didn’t falter even as Bendy turned around to face a deadly calm, but red in the face, Sammy.
Henry put his hands up in complete surrender.
“I had nothing to do with this!”
Sammy barely spared him a glance.
“Wow! You got out faster than I expected”, Bendy sounded impressed. “And you can move those bean poles pretty fast when you want to. I thought for sure those ears of yours would offer up enough wind resistance to give me time to get away.”
“You’re not going anywhere, you little- “ as Sammy advanced he tripped on one of Wally’s forgotten buckets filled with grayish water. It wasn’t the first time and it wouldn’t be the last. This seemed to tip him over the edge and as Sammy tried to get up again he ended up slipping on the sudsy water, falling back down with an angry yell.
“What did I tell you, Henry? Art! Sammy is a canvas upon which I must paint,” Bendy said before hightailing it.
He left a Bendy-shaped hole in the air that hurt to look at and Henry had to blink a couple of times for it to go away before he could attempt to help Sammy get back up. This only got him yelled at which was rude but not surprising. Sammy kept tripping himself up and every time it seemed to drive him further into a red fog, causing him to do it over and over again.
It was terrible and Henry couldn’t look away.
Maybe Bendy was onto something because Henry was definitely getting ideas for their next cartoon from Sammy’s wild flailing.
Eventually Joey started to feel the intensity of the pranks was becoming a problem. Mostly because Norman told him Sammy had punched a hole in a wall as a result of one of Bendy’s little masterpieces. It hadn’t been clear if had been during or after the prank itself.
“Henry told me to get a hobby,” Bendy said defensively as Joey made him sit down at the piano.
“I don’t think he meant that you should drive our music director mad. We need him relatively sane", Joey said. "Let’s try this and see how it works out?”
Bendy would continue to drag his feet and groan whenever Joey sat him down for a piano lesson, even if he started to enjoy them. It didn't stop him from needling the music director but it gave Sammy some breathing space.
This in turn spared Joey from getting yelled at and saved a lot of money on wall repairs.